Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 10, 1900
“ARISE YE, AND DEPART; FOR THIS IS NOT YOUR REST.”
By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle
MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.
Sweet spring had come; the earth was fair;
The scent of blossoms filled the air,
And singing birds were everywhere,
My heart to cheer.
“How sweet a place is this for rest,”
I said; “I’ll end my weary quest
And bide me here.”
But scarcely had my tired feet
Found rest within an arbor sweet,
So cool, so quiet, so complete,
When quick I heard
A solemn voice: “Arise, depart;
O foolish, slumbering, slothful heart!
Hear ye my word;
“For this is not your rest, my child,
Go search o’er sin’s dark mountains wild,
For tempted, wandering souls beguiled
In error’s night;
Arise, depart; why bide ye here?
Canst find no weary heart to cheer
With rays of light?”
His voice smote on my slumbering ear;
I rose and looked; afar and near
Were sad hearts waiting words of cheer
And courage brave;
E’en while I lingered idly there,
A thousand souls in dark despair,
Whom I might save,
Were sinking in eternal night,
Without one gleam of blessed light,
Or one sweet star of hope so bright,
To calm their fear,—
Were hastening to the darksome tomb,
In hopeless, rayless, endless gloom,
With none to cheer.
And then I said: “My soul, arise!
The voice of God within thee cries;
E’en though the path of duty lies
’Mid dangers dire,
Who knoweth but thy feeble hand
May snatch some soul, like burning brand
From out the fire?” To lead some wanderer to the right—
Some priceless soul—from endless night,
To guide some bark, with beacon light,
Toward heavenly shore,
Be this thine aim, O soul of mine!
Then thou, like sun and stars, shalt shine
Forevermore.
PURE AND UNDEFILED RELIGION.
By Ellen G. White
MRS. E. G. WHITE.
“Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
Christ was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. His human life was one long travail in behalf of the inheritance he was to purchase at such infinite cost. He was touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And in consideration of the value he places upon those who are the purchase of his blood, he adopts them as his children, making them the objects of his tender care; and in order that they may have their temporal and spiritual necessities supplied, he commits them to his church, saying, Inasmuch as ye do it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye do it unto me. This is to be our watchword; and if we carry it faithfully into our lives, we shall hear the benediction, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
Speaking through his prophet of the work to be done by Christ in the world, God says: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.” And Christ himself declared: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”
This is to be the work of every servant of Christ; and his professed followers would do well to ask themselves, Have I the mind of Christ? Have I, with humble heart, sought to help and bless the souls that are oppressed, those who are tempted and tried by poverty and affliction? or have I heard the voice of my fellow men asking for pity, for consideration, and for mercy, and spurned their earnest cry? Have I made it harder for them to place their faith and confidence in a prayer-hearing God? Have I by harsh, unpitying words crushed the wounded spirit, and in hardness of heart quenched the last spark of hope in the soul? In the sight of God the richest treasure is a humble, contrite heart. The name of the Lord is magnified when the heart becomes tender, sensitive to another's woe, and pitiful of his suffering. When the Holy Spirit works upon our hearts and minds, we shall not shun duty and responsibility, and, like the priest and Levite, pass by on the other side, leaving the wounded, helpless soul to its misery. Angels of God stand ready to work with us as we minister to souls.
It is possible for a man to think himself a Christian, and yet have entirely incorrect ideas of Christianity. He may regard himself as a follower of Christ, and think he is doing an essential work, and yet do that work with such a spirit and in such a way as to stir up the worst passions of the human heart. There are many intelligent men who mean to be Christians, but who deceive themselves. Their religion is not after the order of Christ, but is a shadow of some other man's mind, and does great harm to the cause of truth when brought into connection with the work. If these persons would study the works of Christ, they would see that in their lives are revealed the attributes of Satan, rather than the beauty of the meek and lowly Jesus.
There are many who believe the truth, but their faith is not that faith which works by love and purifies the soul. At times they may speak the truth as it is in Jesus. They may be kind, and may deal with equity. They may have right ideas, and at times come to correct decisions in regard to the work. They may have ability to teach others, to educate the young, or to deal with the erring; but self is strong in them, and if in their work something arises which cuts across their plans, they place all the strength of their being on the enemy's side. They become unkind and unfeeling. They make unholy decisions, and act in a way to hurt souls nigh and afar off. They lie against the truth, while claiming to believe. Bitterness is cherished against the souls who are the purchase of the Son of God; and when, through misconception, their own spirit is brought into exercise, their unchristlike disposition manifests itself against those who are innocent. These men misrepresent Christ. By the heavenly universe as well as by men, it is seen that they have not renewed, sanctified hearts, but are coarse in disposition, unsympathetic, unkind, uncourteous, unchristlike.
God has represented this work in his word, saying, “Ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad.” This has been the course pursued by many professing Christians. They have driven souls onto Satan's battle ground, to be tempted, to falter, and to fall. For a time the work may not show the result of such a course of action; for God works to preserve the honor of his cause. But when messages of warning and mercy are repeatedly rejected, these defects will become apparent; alienation will be aroused, distrust226awakened. Those who have connected themselves with these men will find that they are losing personal piety and faith in Christ, that their characters are becoming molded after a wrong pattern. Temptations will be many and strong to be unmerciful, unsympathetic, untouched by the feeling of others' infirmities. Instead of learning in the school of Christ, they are being educated in wrong ways by teachers whose defects of character will close against them the gates of heaven.
When the judgment shall sit, and the books shall be opened, these men will be called to account for the blood of souls that is upon their garments. In that day God will ask them, “Who hath required this at your hand?”
No man is to be trusted with high responsibilities who does not take himself in hand daily, and through the grace given set his heart in order. Often those who do the greatest harm are those who accept positions of trust, but who have not inquired at every step, Is this the way of the Lord? The one who allows his heart to become hardened by Satan's temptations, who permits his natural disposition to gain the victory, fails to receive the impress of heaven. He becomes sapless and impoverished, and bears only wild fruit. The professed children of God who refuse the guidance of their Heavenly Father, and disregard God's message and messengers, will mourn too late the blessings they have lost. With anguish of soul they will call to mind the opportunities and privileges that were within their reach, but which they failed to improve, and which are lost to them forever.
Men are slow to learn the lesson that the spirit manifested by Jehu will never bind hearts together. It is not safe for us to bind up our interests with a Jehu religion; for this will result in bringing sadness of heart upon God's true workers. God has not given to any of his servants the work of punishing those who will not heed his warnings and reproofs. When the Holy Spirit is abiding in the heart, it will lead the human agent to see his own defects of character, to pity the weakness of others, to forgive as he wishes to be forgiven. He will be pitiful, courteous, Christlike.
Mark how tender and pitiful the Lord is in his dealings with his creatures. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and he stands ready to receive every wanderer who will return. The ear of the Lord is open to the cry of every one who is poor in spirit. Even before the prayer is offered, or the yearning of the soul made known, the Spirit of God goes forth to meet it. Never has there been a good desire, however weak, never a prayer lifted to God, however faltering, never a tear shed in contrition of soul, but grace from Christ has gone forth to meet the grace working in the human heart.
Our Heavenly Father appreciates his erring child, and encourages him to return. The Father's arm is placed about his repenting son; the Father's garments cover his rags; the ring is placed upon his finger as a token of his royalty. And yet how many there are, themselves needing salvation as much as he, who look upon the struggling soul not only with indifference, but with contempt. Like the Pharisee they say, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, . . . or even as this publican.” How hard and ungracious are the thoughts cherished toward the straying sheep! How can God look with pleasure upon men and women who, claiming to be co-workers with Christ, regard the prodigal with contempt; who, while the soul is making its first struggles against the flood of temptation, stand by, like the elder brother in the parable, stubborn, self-willed, complaining? Will he not judge for these things? If those in positions of trust had realized what God expects of them in rescuing the human race, many lambs that have been killed by neglect would now be safe in the fold of God. If one half the time and strength that is now devoted to sermonizing were spent in seeking to win back the straying ones, there would be rejoicing in the heavenly courts. These sermons lived would have a telling influence in winning souls to Christ.
We need to make great changes. We need to hold to pure principles in reverence for Christ and respect for the purchase of his blood. There must be a continual growth in those attributes that tend to perfection of character. When divine grace has opened our hearts, we shall impart to others of the grace we have received. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
HOW MANY LOAVES HAVE YE?
By L. A. Reed
L. A. REED.
IN THE REVIEW we studied, a few months ago, the principles of true economy. Our lessons were drawn from the miracle of feeding the multitude. Our text was the word of Jesus, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” Studying the same miracle from another aspect, and taking other words as our text, we have another great and important lesson.
The words of Jesus just mentioned, teaching the great lesson of economy, were uttered immediately after the multitude had been fed. But just before the working of this miracle, Jesus had uttered other and significant words, when he asked, “How many loaves have ye?” These words suggest a weighty truth, a wonderful lesson; namely, the strict continuity of the work of God in the natural and in the spiritual world. It is the lesson that to-morrow must, in some wise, come out of to-day; that the present has come out of the past, and is a product of the past; it is the truth that the future is to be formed from the present, that what is to be must come out of what has been. It may be that the old is to be enlarged or renewed, or is to receive great and startling changes, a revolution perhaps; but still from such, though little and insignificant and forever inefficient, God will make the greater things—the things more fully to his purpose.
Christ was the builder of worlds, the Creator of the universe. Thus he stood with all the powers of those worlds, that universe, at his command. He might have swept aside the few loaves and the small fishes. Yes; when they were offered, he might have said, and no one could have questioned the pertinence of the saying, What are these? Think you they are sufficient? The disciples had even said, in dismay, “What are they among so many?” Yes, with infinite power at his command, Christ might have utterly ignored the few remnants of food offered, and have bidden the desert burst into a glory of orchards, and fish pools, and crystal water flashing at the feet of the astonished multitude.
He could have done it; it were possible, but thus there would have been no lesson of hope and trust, no lesson for you and me. Instead, he takes the food, little as there is,—so little that no one thought of even mentioning it until he asks for it,—and with this little remnant he satisfies the hunger of these famished ones.
Take an illustration. Here is a man with a handful of corn. He says, Here is enough corn to fill the world. Here is enough to make the fields golden with a harvest of food. But he adds, When this is gone, I must starve. Boundless possibility bound up in a terrible fate! Corn enough for a possibility; but he has no soil, no soil to give this possibility reality.
Soil is mere dirt, it is the refuse and so-called waste of the ages, the last thing, were it not for opposite teaching, we should look to for possibility. But it is this very soil that life is seeking—seeking that it may there find its opportunity to burst into a fuller life.
And we, you and I, are only soil, dust, accumulation and remnant of six thousand years, the waste and relic of the ages. But even so we are soil, and so a place for the seed of life, a place where God may burst into unbounded possibilities. This is the lesson of the parable of the sower. Some seed fell by the wayside, and the fowls devoured them—the seed found no soil; some seed fell upon stony places, where there was little earth (soil), sprang up, but soon withered away, because there was no soil for growth; some seed fell among thorns,—there was soil for thorns, but none for seed,—and the seed were choked out; but some seed fell on good ground, and brought forth fruit, thirty-, sixty-, an hundred-fold.
Little as we may think ourselves, let us not regard ourselves as less than this—soil for the seed of God. It is soil for which God is seeking, and he is seeking only for soil. Our lives are small and insignificant; but because they are soil, he asks for them. And he asks for them, because otherwise we would not think them worth offering. The disciples would not have thought of the small store of food, had not Christ asked, “How many loaves have ye?” So we would not think that of ourselves could come any good thing, were it not that God asks, What have ye? And by every means in his power he pleads with us to give him this little, that out of it he may make much.
ARE YOU PUTTING OUT THE LIGHT?
By W. S. Chapman
W. S. CHAPMAN.
(Cleveland, Ohio.)
The law is the character of God thought out and arranged in words. Therefore Christ, manifesting the character of God in words, becomes the word of God.
The word of God lived out in the life of Christ (John 1 : 14) becomes the light of the world. Verse 4. “No other light ever has shone, or ever will shine, upon fallen man, save that which emanates from Christ.”—“Mount of Blessing,” page 61.
This light was the law of God made comprehensible to sinners. “His mission was to ‘magnify the law and make it honorable.’ He was to show the spiritual nature of the law, to present its far-reaching principles, and to make plain its eternal obligation.”—Id., page 72.227
Now, God being love, the thoughts of God are all love. Love being the life of God, the thoughts of God must be life. As love is the life of God, and life is power, the love of God must be the power of God. The thoughts of God being love, and love being the life of God, and the life of God being the power of God, therefore the thoughts of God are the power of God.
As the law of God is the thought of God, the law contains the power of God; hence, the law of God, which is the life of God, which is the love of God, thought out, is life to all coming under its influence. As the gospel is the law of God unfolded to sinners, it contains the life of God, the love of God, and the power of God unto salvation to sinners. 2 Cor. 5 : 19.
Therefore the law of God in Christ became the gospel, or the power of God unto salvation, revealed to sinners.
As the law of God in Christ was the gospel and light of the world, so the law of God in the disciples is the light of the world (Heb. 8 : 9, 10); and as the law of God in Christ was the gospel and the only light of the world, therefore the law of God in his disciples is now the gospel, and the only light the world has, or ever will have. So we read: “While our Saviour is the great source of illumination, forget not, O Christian, that he is revealed through humanity. . . . Every individual disciple of the Master is Heaven’s appointed channel for the revelation of God to men.”—“Mount of Blessing,” page 62.
“It was by receiving of his life that his disciples could become light-bearers. The life of Christ in the soul, his love revealed in the character, could make them the light of the world.”—Id., page 61.
As the law of God is the love of God thought out; as the covenant of God (Heb. 8 : 9, 10) is to plant his thoughts in human minds; as the love of God in the mind (Phil. 2 : 5) is the gospel; and as the gospel is the light, and only light of the world; therefore only those having the mind of Christ, having the law and the love of God in the heart, keeping all the commandments of God, can be the light of the world, revealing the true gospel.
Now what does God tell his people?—“Because Christ’s self-sacrificing love is not interwoven in the life practices, the church is weak where it should be strong. By its own course it has put out its light, and robbed millions of the gospel of Christ.”
What is the light thus lost?—Knowledge of the will of God. “He that hath my commandments” means he that hath light upon what constitutes the commandments of God, and will not disobey his commandments, although it might seem an advantage to do so.”
Have we the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus? Are we the custodians of the gospel, or have we put out our light? Does the angel still continue to pour the golden oil into the bowl, that it may flow through the golden pipes into the lamps to lighten the world, or are we a people that has put out its light, and sits in darkness?
“When warnings come no more to the people of God, when tender admonitions from the Spirit of God are silent, when the candle of heavenly illumination shines no longer upon their pathway, they will be left to kindle their own fire, and to walk in the sparks of their own kindling.”
“THE LOVE OF THE SPIRIT.”
By Peter H. Brooks
Praise the love of God “Our Father,”
Praise the love of God his Son;
Praise the love of God the Spirit,
“Showing” three such loves by one.
Halt not with a single lesson
Of his warm and wondrous love;
Nestle deeper and still deeper
In our hearts, most gentle Dove.
Equal love from equal persons:
Father’s shines in all he gives;
Jesus shone in all he suffered,
And the third within us lives.
Shall we be “endued with power,”
As we pray in waiting hands?
Be not slow to learn the secret—
’Tis love’s heart that moves love’s hands.
Let the soul from sin returning
Trust the Spirit’s love no less
Than the Father’s strongest yearning,
Or Christ’s blood and righteousness.
What his love “saith to the churches”
Greets us still if we will hear.
“Teaching,” “searching,” “filling,” “sealing,”
“Helping,” “guiding,” love so near!
— Rev. Peter H. Brooks, in N. Y. Observer.
THE LAW—THE PROMISES.
By R. A. Underwood
R. A. UNDERWOOD.
I WILL call your attention to the language found in Deut. 33 : 1-3: “And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.”
In what I have read are many thoughts that I would be glad to dwell upon. One precious one is that every saint of God receives the word of God. I wish to study with you something of the two phases of this fiery law. In the fourteenth of Exodus there is brought to view the cloud that went before the children of Israel by day, and behind them at night. That cloud, in which the Son of God was enshrined, was a cloud of brightness, of glory, of assurance, of promise, of protection, to the children of God, while the opposite side of it was a cloud of darkness, despair, and threatening ruin to the unbeliever.
Just so with this fiery law that God gave to his beloved people: to the believer in Christ, it is simply so many rich promises, which differ from other promises in some respects. Some promises are temporary, but every promise in this law is eternal. On the other hand, to the unbeliever the law speaks only prohibition and condemnation, with only a promise of utter destruction in the end.
I will turn to one text in the New Testament, which speaks of it as a law of prohibition to the unbeliever and disobedient: “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.” 1 Tim. 1 : 9, 10.
To the loyal believers that law does not stand as a law of prohibition. No; to them it stands as a law of promise and protection. I will call your attention briefly to a few of these promises, which I am certain you will be able to see. Take this third commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” To unbelievers it is simply a law of prohibition and condemnation, while to believers it is a law of promise that they shall not take the name of the Lord their God in vain.
The Lord, in Jeremiah 3, represents himself as married to his people. When a woman is married to a man, and she takes his name, what does that name mean to the woman?—It means that she is entitled not only to the protection of the man, but she is entitled to all that name stands for. When we are married to Christ, we take his name, not simply to be called by it; but to realize all there is in it.
Turn to Prov. 18 : 10: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” The name of the Lord is a tower of protection, a shelter of promise; and he that runneth into it, or takes that name, is saved. That the people of God take the name of God in a different sense entirely than do the ungodly and unbelievers we shall see from a few texts that follow. See Dan. 9 : 19: “For thy city and *thy people are called by thy name.”
God’s people are called by the name of God. Does that mean anything? Turn to John 10 : 34, 35: “Is it not written in your law, I said [who is talking?—Christ], Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture can not be broken; say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?”
To whom did the Word of God come?—“He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But to as many as received him, to them gave he power [“the right or privilege,” margin] to become the sons of God.” John 1 : 11, 12. Does the son inherit the father’s name?—Most certainly.
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” This is one promise in God’s law. Let me take a few other commandments: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,” etc. Why?—“For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” Do you see any promise in that commandment? There is condemnation to the ungodly and profane; but there is a promise of eternal wealth to those who love God and keep his commandments.
Take another one: “Children, . . . honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise.” Eph. 6 : 1, 2. Is that the first commandment in the decalogue that has a promise in it?—That is the first commandment on the second table of the law. In what sense then is this fifth commandment the first commandment with promise?—It is so with every soul that has ever lived. What is the first duty of every child?—To obey his parents; to honor his father and mother, even before he is accountable to God. During the first years of our life our parents stand to us as God stands to them. And this is the first commandment with promise, because it is the first commandment that any child can obey. To render obedience, respect, and honor to father and mother is the first obligation resting upon every child that is ever born into the world. Hence to every person it becomes the first commandment that has a promise in it.
Let us look again at the third commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Again I say, The name stands for the character, and all there is of the individual; and when we take that name, we are entitled to all there is in it. We shall not fully realize all the promise in this world, for228it is eternal; but we become an heir of all that is in that name.
I will turn to a few texts of scripture that speak of the name of Christ. Here is one, in Isa. 26 : 3, 4: “For the Lord Jehovah is the Rock of Ages,” margin. He is called a Rock in many places. That Rock that went with the children of Israel was Christ. In Isa. 32 : 1, 2, he is spoken of as a Rock: “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”
This world is one sad, dark, gloomy page of carnage, of strife and hate, all the way through. But here is a man who is to reign in righteousness. And, thank God, that reign is approaching. But notice what he is now. He is a “hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”
A few months ago, when some of the principles of this law were brought out, a man said to me: “Mr. Underwood, I think you are right, but I think I will go with the crowd.” I said, “My dear friend, if you disobey that law, you are not in the crowd.” It was a revelation to him. “What do you mean?” he said. “Do you mean that the most of the people in this world obey God’s law?” “Oh,” I said, “this world is the only spot in all God’s universe where sin reigns.” The shining worlds in space all worship the Lord of hosts. Neh. 9 : 6. When the servant came and said, “Alas, my master! how shall we do?” the prophet said: “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” But the servant said, I do not see anybody with us. Then the prophet said, “Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” The Lord opened his eyes, and what did he see?—He saw all around about the prophet of God the chariots of fire. 2 Kings 6 : 15-17. In this world, you may feel the scorching winds of time blowing upon you, seeming to blight all that your hand touches for the time being. But this great Rock is a shadow of protection to every one who has taken that name.
(Concluded next week.)
Education and Christian Service
“Christ can be better glorified by those who serve him intelligently. The great object of education is to enable us to bring into use the powers which God has given us, in such a manner as will best represent the religion of the Bible and promote the glory of God.”
CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP.
By D. E. Scoles
D. E. SCOLES. (Washburn, Me.)
There are thousands of supporters of “Christian citizenship” — as popularly understood — who are conscientious and enthusiastic in their work, little dreaming that in doing this work they are disobeying the “golden rule,” and going directly contrary to the principles of Christ. Many have never once thought that it might be wrong; and because there are so many good people favoring it, they have thought that it must be right.
We invite all such to an investigation of the principles of this question from the “word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”
God says, “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.” Ex. 23: 2. In other words, One man on God’s side is a majority against the world. Might is not right from God’s standpoint. Consequently the following proposition is true, and will be readily agreed to by all candid minds: Compulsion upon the part of God or his representatives, to secure worship, or service, is a thing utterly foreign to God’s character; because “they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
Therefore God can not accept of anything as worship that is not freely and willingly given with heart-service. “Of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take an offering.” Ex. 25: 2. “God loveth a cheerful giver.” “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. . . . Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray [entreat] you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” 2 Cor. 5: 11–20. And Jesus himself said, “If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge [condemn] him not.” John 12: 47. Hence it is positively unchristian to use force or compulsion in matters of conscience and religion.
As long as the Saviour’s words, “Broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because . . . narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it,” are true, there can never be in fact such a thing as a “Christian nation.” Men can never be made Christians by any act of legislature, congress, or government. Therefore any attempt to make this a “Christian nation,” by law, Supreme Court decisions, or any other means, except by the gospel of Jesus Christ, will result in persecution, or the making of men hypocrites to avoid the persecution that must inevitably follow such work. And, further, this very work will herald to the world that this is not a Christian nation, and that the leaders in this movement are not led by the Spirit of the Founder of Christianity; for he said, “If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge [condemn] him not.”
The effort was once made, when Christ was on earth in person, to bring in the kingdom of Christ “through the gateway of politics;” and to have a “Christian nation” with “Christ as king of its cloisters, its courts, and its colleges;” but Jesus, ever true to his eternal principles of a separation of civil and religious things, said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” John 18: 36. And again, “Render therefore unto Cæsar [the state] the things which are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” Matt. 22: 21.
There was once a theocracy,—a government with God as king,—and afterward “Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father.” 1 Chron. 29: 23. But the people were not content with this, and rebelled against it, and utterly rejected God, and God took away the last vestige of it; and it will never be again until Jesus comes and purifies the earth by fire, and destroys all wickedness and sinners together, and the everlasting kingdom is ushered in. “Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: . . . I will overturn [by Medo-Persia], overturn [by Grecia], overturn [by Rome] it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.” Eze. 21: 26, 27.
Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” That is, the kingdom of grace, or Christ’s rule, is in the heart to prepare men for the kingdom of glory at Christ’s second coming. And outside of that kingdom—the kingdom of our own hearts—we have no right to exercise any authority in religion, except to issue the gospel call, “Whosoever will, may come.”
Let us study the gospel of Christ until we become imbued with its spirit of liberty; for “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” And then we shall learn that it is not our prerogative to judge one another, and that God is the author of freedom of conscience. “To his own Master he standeth or falleth.” “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”
“THIS SAME JESUS.”
By J. E. Evans
J. E. EVANS.
(Phoenix, Ariz.)
The words, “this same Jesus,” spoken by the angels to the sorrowing disciples, who saw their Saviour taken up from among them into heaven, teach us that the Lord, when he comes in the clouds of heaven, will be the same Jesus that went away.
He will always be the Son of God. He has been, and will ever be, the Creator of all things; but he did not always bear human nature. This he took upon him when he came into this world a sacrifice for sinners. “He took on him the seed of Abraham.” “In all things” he was “made like unto his brethren.” “He also himself likewise took part of” flesh and blood. Thus he “was in all points tempted like as we are,” and can “be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” and “can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way.” “This same Jesus” is now our High Priest, and in the fullest and truest sense can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way. I am glad that we have a complete Saviour, the same to-day as when he was on earth.
This truth is also taught in Heb. 13: 8: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” In this time of changes and uncertainty, it is a great comfort to every child of God to know that there is one thing that does not change. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” Lam. 3: 22. “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Mal. 3: 6.
Constancy is a desirable quality when found in a righteous cause. Constancy, coupled with active vigor, tempered with wisdom, and molded by cool, deliberate thought, is synonymous with responsibility, reliability, surety. Perilous times have come, but Jesus is our surety. Instability and unrest have shattered the confidence of men, and uncertainty confronts perseverance and ambition. This applies to everything of an earthly nature. Banks fail, and investment in any business may prove disastrous. Only in God and his Son Jesus Christ can we confide with absolute certainty of no loss nor disappointment.
“Change and decay in all around I see,
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.”
Man has changed; the earth has changed; and even the products of nature have not escaped the change caused by adulteration; and only “pure religion and undefiled,” can give confidence to the people of earth. “They shall be all taught of God.” John 6: 45. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.” John 7: 17.
In taking our nature upon him, Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. See Heb. 2: 9. This is on the same plane with man—Verse 7. On the mount Jesus was glorified bodily. At the resurrection man will be thus glorified. Christ was glorified in character before that; so man must be glorified in character before the change in body. This is taught also in 1 John 3: 2, which says, “When he shall appear, we shall be like him.” Since we are then to be like him, it follows that he will be like us at that time. Christ was humanity united with divinity, and the divinity glorified the humanity. So we may, by the exceeding great and precious promises of God, become partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1: 4. It is by the promises of God that we are justified, “and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Rom. 8: 30.
Words of Courage and Hope
“If you cheer hearts with words of courage and hope, it is because the grace of Christ is to you a living reality.”
HE REMEMBERETH.
O BLESSED word “remembereth”! So often we forget;
We know our dear ones’ weaknesses, we would be kind
—and yet
Some quick, sharp word of chiding harsh breaks from
us unawares,
Unheeded, till “as we forgive” confronts us in our
prayers.
But he remembers, always, all the earthly, fretting care,
Burdens that press on nerve and brain until they scarce
can bear
Our weary striving day by day. He sees us weak and
frail,
Yet never for one moment do his love and pity fail.
And when sometimes the brain no more, so worn with
toiling days,
Can ’range in words our heart’s desires, our thoughts of
grateful praise,
When we can only call his name, as grieved children
cry,
Then, quick as mother-love responds to helpless infancy,
Which never yet has learned to doubt, or fear that love
to trust,
He hears our heart’s unuttered prayer, remembering
we are dust.