Review and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 7. (2/18/1902)

Review and Herald

Feb 18, 1902

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 18, 1902

TIME COMES BACK NO MORE.

On swift wing down from heaven above An angel gathered up the hours, And folded them to his white breast, Like faded wreaths of summer flowers.

And hour he gathered unto hour; Till all my life was garnered there— Each song, each smile, and all my care, Each idle word and every prayer.

With streaming eyes I reached my hands, And cried, “O, give them back to me, And I will give thee fairer ones To blossom in eternity!”

With pitying eye the angel looked Upon the drooping flowers he bore, And said, “God ever holds thy past, And days and years come back no more.” — Anon.

CHRISTIAN LIBERALITY.

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE.

“This I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; He hath given to the poor: His righteousness remaineth forever. Now He that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness); being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.”

God is in heaven, but He has delegated His work to those on this earth. This work is to represent Christ. Christ gave himself, a full, complete offering, for the life of the world; and God calls upon all men to make a complete surrender of all they have and are to Him, that they may be co-laborers with Christ. This call is just; for to whom is every member of the family indebted for his possession?—To God, who not only gave temporal blessings, but freely offered up His only begotten Son, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

God has intrusted men with His gifts, that they may represent His benevolence toward those who are poor and needy. If they have the Spirit of Christ, they will reveal it unmistakably by their helpfulness to others, by a faithful discharge of their duty, by acting tenderly and kindly toward God’s heritage. As God sees that His children manifest compassion toward those who are poor and needy, He will bless them as faithful stewards.

“Moreover, brethren,” writes the apostle Paul, “we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves. Praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. . . . For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.”

To a youthful ruler who inquired of Him, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered, “Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” This was not a hard requirement; for the ruler’s property was not his own; it had been intrusted to him by the Lord. The choice was left with him; he must decide for himself. Did he accept the eternal treasure, or did he decide to gratify his desire for earthly treasure, and in so doing, refuse the eternal riches?—When he heard Christ’s words, “he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” He chose the earthly good, and lost the eternal weight of glory.

Individually we are tried as was the young ruler. God tests us to see if, as stewards, we can safely be trusted with the eternal riches. Shall we do as the ruler did,—fasten our grasp upon the treasures lent us by God, choosing that which appears most agreeable to the natural heart, and refusing to use our possessions as God plainly states He expects us to, or shall we take up our cross and follow our Saviour in the path of self-denial?

Millions of people in our world are making the choice of the young ruler. They have intelligence, but they cannot decide to be honest stewards of their Lord’s goods. Many say, “I will bless and glorify myself; I will be honored as a man above his fellows.” Jesus paid the price for their redemption; for their sake He became poor, that they might be rich; and yet, though wholly dependent on Him for all their earthly possessions, they refuse to do His will by showing love to their fellow men. They are not willing to alleviate the necessities of those around them with the means the Lord has placed in their hands for this purpose. They refuse to appropriate the Lord’s capital for the benefit of those around them, and hold fast to their possessions. Like the ruler, they refuse the heavenly treasure, and choose that which is agreeable to themselves. By such selfishness they prove themselves unworthy of the eternal riches. They show that they are unfit for a place in the kingdom of God; if they were allowed to enter there, they would, like the great apostate, claim everything as if they had created it, and would spoil heaven by their covetousness.

Moses was called upon to choose between the world and God. Two conflicting objects were placed before him. The treasures of Egypt, the honor of a temporal crown, and the consequences that would follow his choice, were presented by the prince of this world. The opposite side was presented by the Prince of light, the world’s Redeemer. He held out the recompense of reward, viewed by the eye of faith, and the path of affliction, self-denial, and self-sacrifice, that must be traveled in order to gain this reward.

The decision was left with Moses. As a free moral agent, he was at liberty to choose. All heaven was interested in the matter. What would be his choice,—obedience to God, with the eternal recompense of reward, or obedience to that most agreeable to his own will? “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

“By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.” This is a lesson for all who would have correct ideas of true service. We must not venture to remain where our associations will tend to draw us from God, and to obscure our view of the reward of obedience.

There is no saving faith in Christ only as it is revealed by obedience. Every human being is under a solemn responsibility to obey God. His present and eternal happiness depends upon his willing obedience to all God’s requirements. Man’s will and inclination are to be wholly yielded to God. When this is done, man will co-operate with the Lord, showing, by precept and example, that he has chosen to be, in all his ways, under the control of his Maker.

God rejoices when, like Moses, His children choose to serve Him rather than to enjoy the pleasures of this world. Could the curtain be rolled back, could men behold the angelic host as they glorify God with songs of gladness and rejoicing, they would realize that obedience ever causes joy, and disobedience sorrow. God and the angels rejoice over every victory gained by the Christian, but when temptation overcomes the soul, there is sorrow in heaven.

Men are tested while in this world by the society they choose, and by the attributes of character they develop. All who belong to the kingdom of Christ are of one family. They love God supremely, and their neighbors as themselves. “Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also,”—the grace of Christian liberality. “To do good and to communicate forget not.” By this communicating the apostle means Christian liberality. God desires that the bounties He has freely given to His children be communicated to those who do not possess so many temporal blessings. By this communication, by the utterance of kindly words, accompanied with deeds of love, those who work for God will find entrance to hearts, and win others to Christ. This part of religion we are not to forget; “for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

“Charge them that are rich in this world,” continues the apostle, “that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.” God would have those whom He has blessed with means take of their abundance, and relieve the necessities of the poor, giving of their means to help the needy. As they do this, they receive their reward; for they are “laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”

God’s children should be educated to see that God has claims upon them. All our supplies come from Him. As regularly as the seasons come round, He gives us the harvest of the earth. His liberality is constant and systematic; and our returns to Him are to be made in accordance with the gifts which day by day He bestows upon us. The steady, unfailing flow of Jehovah’s goodness testifies of His love and benevolence. Then shall we not, with hearts filled with gratitude for all His blessings, respond by giving Him what He claims in tithes and offerings?

All classes are intrusted with the Lord’s gifts, and none are exempt from the work of Christian beneficence. There will be those who by their unfaithfulness will make God’s benevolence to them a curse. Let us carefully follow God’s directions in this work, and as we do this, He will supply grace for every time of need; for He is acquainted with the desires of the human heart to follow a wrong course, and with the temptations that surround us. Let us carry out God’s requirements by imparting our blessings to others, not from compulsion, but because He has, for our own good, made us a part of His firm. He has ordained that we shall sustain and carry forward His work by an active, living benevolence, which has for its foundation a “Thus saith the Lord.” In His strength we can do this; for He is able to make all grace abound toward us, that we, “always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”

Re-establishment of David's Throne and Kingdom

By Elder A. T. Robinson

GOD'S KINGDOM IN THIS WORLD.—NO. 5. Re-establishment of David's Throne and Kingdom.

ELDER A. T. ROBINSON. (Dunedin, New Zealand.)

“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. . . . And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.” Amos 9:11–15.

The re-establishment of the throne and kingdom of Israel upon this earth was a cherished idea of the disciples in the time of our Saviour. Notwithstanding His repeated assurances that it was not His mission to set up a kingdom on the earth at that time, and their hopes in that direction had been completely blasted by seeing Christ hang upon the cross, they so far misunderstood and misapplied certain prophecies and promises that after the resurrection of Christ, during those forty days when He was “speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God,” they asked Him, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?”

A more delusive and fatal error in our own day is the result of a similar misapplication of certain promises, forfeited by the natural Israel, and hence to be fulfilled to spiritual Israel.

Although God's plan to establish His kingdom in this world, first through Adam, then through Noah, and then through Abraham and the chosen nation, has to all human appearance failed, He has not abandoned His purpose concerning this world. The throne of the Lord will one day be established on this earth, and the nation of Israel will occupy and fill the whole earth.

This was all foreshadowed in the message of the angel to Mary, before the birth of Christ: “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.”

Inspiration states that “Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father.” 1 Chron. 29:23. Zedekiah was the last king to sit upon that throne. Concerning that wicked king the Lord said, “And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: . . . I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it [the throne of the Lord]: and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him.” Eze. 21:25–27.

These three overturnings were accomplished by the successive downfall of the three great world empires following Babylon. And the throne of the Lord is not to be again occupied until that day when the announcement is made that “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.” Rev. 11:15.

The Lord bore long with that rebellious and stiff-necked people, and finally He fixed the limit of their probation as a nation. To Daniel the angel Gabriel announced, “Seventy weeks are determined [cut off] upon thy people and upon thy holy city.” Daniel was informed that this seventy weeks (490 literal years) was to date from “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem,” which was in the year B. C. 457. Beginning in B. C. 457, this 490 years must terminate in the year A. D. 34. By turning to the record found in the eighth chapter of Acts, it will be seen by the date in the margin of the Oxford Bible, that it was in the year A. D. 34 when the gospel first went to the nations outside the Jewish people. Israel, as a nation, had then sinned away their day of grace. The sun had forever set upon that people. Their city, which the Lord had told them would “remain forever” if they would be obedient to Him, was overthrown. Henceforth the gospel must go to the Gentiles, and the number of the subjects of the kingdom of God be completed by His taking out from the Gentiles a people for His name. The reader is asked carefully to note the argument of the apostle James, recorded in Acts 15:13–16. After stating clearly that this taking out of the Gentiles a people for His name, agrees with what the prophets have spoken on this subject, he quotes (Amos 9:11–15) the passage given at the head of this article, as a specimen of all that has been predicted on this subject. “And so [by this last ingathering from among the Gentiles] all Israel [a perfect and complete number] shall be saved.” Rom. 11:26.

(To be continued.)

GOD'S PURPOSE IN NATURE.

By Floyd Bralliar

FLOYD BRALLIAR.

(Concluded from last week.)

BEFORE the fall, man did not need to know God as a saviour, but only as the maker and ruler of the universe. All nature revealed Him as such. After the fall, man's greatest need was a redeemer. As before, nature was to be used as an illustration; so all nature must be changed to meet his new needs. Adam must die, so death was written on the face of the whole earth. But man was not to be left alone to die eternally. Lest he should despair, the lessons of the resurrection and the new life were written on every hand. As Adam saw the first leaf die, his heart was wrung with anguish; but lo, hidden beneath its withering stem, he discovered a bud, and as he contemplated its purpose, a flood of light and hope beamed upon his mind. He wept to see the first withering flowers, but as he saw the seeds taking their place, a new meaning dawned in the promise of the “Seed of the woman.” Every seed in the world is but a type of the Seed who brings life and immortality to light through the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Every branch suggests the Branch, who, being of divine nature, yet being grafted into humanity, makes it possible for the whole tree to bear divine fruit. Every returning year should renew our hope and courage, assuring us that our Life is soon to appear. Can He who every spring brings new life out of the death of winter, fail to bring again His own people into their own land, and cause the desert to “blossom as the rose”? From the covering on every bulb and the hull on every seed, which keeps out the germs of decay and the inclement weather, can we not take courage, knowing that “the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them”? “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

God has written His love, His tender care, and His matchless goodness on every leaf of the forest and every grain of sand by the sea shore. Then why is man so slow to recognize in them the merciful care of the All-wise for the works of His hands?

In the constant improvement of plants and animals under good care and cultivation, and their sure deterioration under neglect, we should learn the lesson that we must “strive to enter in.” Yet, looking at all with unregenerated hearts, men have devised evolution, and have forgotten God entirely. In the “survival of the fittest” we have ever before our eyes the lesson that “the fire shall try every man's work,” and we must be of value if we are to have a part in the kingdom of heaven. These lessons we need, and

they are everywhere written before our eyes, yet how slow we are to read them! We are told that through nature, revelation, and God's dealings with man and nations, God has revealed himself to man. Then should we not study to see Him in them all? We do not read history simply for the facts and dates, we do not study the Bible simply for the words and the language. Neither must we study nature simply for the names and the forms. By the help of the Holy Spirit we can see God in them all.

Living Secretly for Christ

By E. P. Ingersoll

It is both a daring and a dangerous thing to try to live secretly for Christ. It breaks off the sprouting tendrils of the new life, and so there can be neither bud, blossom, nor fruit. A light shut up tight in a lantern only soots and burns that which contains it. So it is with the soul. It is its nature to shine forth; but turned back upon itself, it dims and dies.—E. P. Ingersoll.

Stand for the Work of Christ

“In all the organizations of God’s working forces there is no place for a coward. A failure on the part of any Christian to stand for the work of Christ is nothing less than high treason against the King of kings.”

The Two Adams.

By M. G. Huffman

Elder M. G. Huffman.

(Concluded from last week.)

A PROPER perspective is necessary to understanding. Perspective is a word used by architects. It means to see the whole object, or building, before the observer. It refers to seeing things in proportion, and as they really are. We must get a conception of the nature of things that corresponds to the contents, order, and relations of the whole.

Truth cannot be arbitrarily created, nor can it be established by mere authority. The truths of the Bible are accepted because they have been found, through the experience of the most competent, consecrated men on earth, to be in accordance with an eternal, spiritual order. And any honest, earnest man who will put the teaching of the Bible to the test, will find this spiritual order verified in his own experience.

The man who does not see in the second Adam all things restored that were lost in the first Adam, does not see the plan of salvation properly. In the blessed Scriptures, Christ is presented as all and in all,—all things in glory, all things in creation, and all things in redemption. He is called the Alpha and the Omega, the origin of all visible and invisible worlds and creatures. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, whether pertaining to God or to man, to heaven or to earth, to providence or the future, are in Him. He is the head over all things, because in Him all the fullness of the Godhead has a bodily expression. Praise His name. He bridges all extremes, and mediates between all that is highest and lowest. While it is true we cannot exhaust the fullness of His being, yet we can know that He is in it, living and moving; and through the holy height of His life, we can look out upon God, and humanity, and the universe, upon the past and the future, and thus get a view that harmonizes all the facts of existence.

Christ is the prototype of every man who has been born into the world, and in Him God, the universe, providence, Scriptures, and humanity center. As the oak is in the acorn, so all humanity was in Christ before the world was. Christ sees of the travail of His soul, and is satisfied in the case of every man and woman who realizes the eternal, essential self within them, through faith in their Redeemer. The triumph of the whole creative, administrative, and redemptive process, is seen in the complete realization of the image of God in man.

Nothing absolutely can add to the significance, the majesty, the glory, and the wonder of the simple, silent, blessed, eternal, and universal truth, as it is, and as it always has been, and as it always will be, in Christ Jesus our Lord. No wonder the psalmist exclaims, “Let the heaven and earth praise Him.” “Praise Him in the heights.” “Praise the Lord . . . all deeps.” “Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children! let them praise the name of the Lord: for His name alone is excellent; His glory is above the earth, and heaven.” “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad.” In the heavens His glory hath triumphed, and in the earth His glory will triumph in the life of man.

In order that we may have a universal view of the plan of salvation, and see in the eternal purpose of God the two Adams, we must look at all things through a principle, a life, a personality, in which all things are summed up.

The universal life is in man, but it is in the valley, covered and held down by mountains of sin. In Christ the universal in man is triumphant, enthroned in glory. But when the universal in man triumphs through faith in Christ, then he has within himself a standpoint from which to get a universal outlook. For the spiritual nature of man is more universal than creation, and is as high and deep as eternity. It was in the Word, which was in the beginning, and which was the archetype of man. By faith we see this sin-cursed earth converted into a paradise; we see the desolate places of this lost world covered with verdure and filled with song. Blessed thought! there is a company who, through faith, are moving forward in company with their Lord Jesus Christ, the head, the administrator, and redeemer; they are journeying to a city with beautiful mansions, whose builder and maker is God our Father.

Praise God for His infinite gift, and for the glorious fact that there is no trial or sorrow which Christ, the second Adam, has not experienced in us in Him; no sickness of ours that He cannot heal, and no weakness that He does not feel. In Him we are complete.

SEVENTY

By John Norton Loughborough

ELDER J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH. (Healdsburg, Cal.)

In my forty-fifth reading of the Bible by course, lately completed, among other things I noted the use of the word “seventy,” or its equivalent, in the Scriptures. There were seventy of Jacob’s posterity that came with him into Egypt. Gen. 46: 27. At the place of the second encampment of the Israelites after crossing the Red Sea,—Elim,—there were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten (seventy) palm trees. Ex. 15: 27. There were seventy of the elders of Israel that went up to Mount Horeb with Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, who “saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in His clearness.” Ex. 24: 1, 10. Then again, there were seventy of the elders of Israel upon whom the Lord put His Spirit, and they prophesied, thus being fitted to share in the burdens borne by Moses in leading Israel. Num. 11: 6. It was probably from this appointment that originated the Sanhedrin, or court of seventy elders, mentioned in later time.

Still further on we read that with seventy pieces of silver Abimelech hired vain persons, who went with him to take part in slaying seventy of his brothers. Judges 9: 4, 5. We read also of seventy of the heads of Ahab’s sons which were demanded by Jehu from the Samaritans. And as these seventy heads were laid in two heaps at the entrance of the city of Jezreel, Jehu said to the people, “Ye be righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these?” 2 Kings 10: 6-9.

We have the account of the seventy years’ captivity of the Israelites, when their land lay desolate and enjoyed its sabbaths, to compensate for the time in which they had violated the same. Jer. 25: 11, 12; 2 Chron. 36: 20, 21. Then, again, we read of a seventy years, perhaps referring to the seventy years just preceding, or the years of their captivity. Of this time the Lord said: “Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?” Zech. 7: 5, 6. On another occasion we read of the seventy out of the eighty that came to see Gedaliah (as they were told), but instead of seeing Gedaliah they were mercilessly slain by Ishmael, who had already slain Gedaliah. Jer. 41: 5-8.

The period of seventy weeks (Dan. 9: 24), in the fulfillment of its predicted events, fully established the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah. The same period is a matter of great interest to us, in that it is the key to the reckoning of the twenty-three hundred days of Dan. 8: 14, showing the time of their beginning, and their termination in the autumn of 1844, the period for the beginning of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary—the opening work of the investigative judgment, which is declared by the First Angel’s Message of Rev. 14: 6, 7.

In noting the space between Old and New Testament times we find, in response to a request from the Greeks, that six men from every tribe of Israel were selected—seventy-two in all—to make a translation of the Old Testament scriptures into the Greek language, to be placed in the library at Alexandria, Egypt. Two of the seventy-two died before the work was accomplished. It was the seventy men that made that Greek translation, which has since been designated as the “Septuagint”—the translation made by the seventy.

As we open the New Testament, we read the words of Christ to Peter, by which He showed the spirit of tender kindness and compassion we should exercise toward a brother, in that we should forgive him not only seven times for his trespasses against us, but “seventy times seven.” Matt. 18: 22. The Saviour, after selecting twelve constantly to accompany Him, that they might after be competent witnesses of His teachings and miracles, selected other seventy, and sent them forth, two and two, into the cities of Israel. He endued them with power to heal the sick, to cast out devils, and to preach, as they went, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Of these we read that they returned with rejoicing that even the devils were subject to them in Christ’s name. The Saviour kindly admonished them rather to rejoice that their names were “written in heaven.” Luke 10: 1, 20.

There is, however, one text in the Old Testament scripture that I passed over that to me is this day especially impressive. It is the one that gives the measure of the ordinary life of man. It is found in Ps. 90: 10, and reads, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten [seventy]; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” Often, in times past, have I heard Elder J. N. Andrews, when commenting on the twelfth verse of this psalm,—“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom,”—say, “Now I am nearly fifty years of age. Should I attain to the allotted life of man, five sevenths of my life is already in the past.” In his case, however, at that time more than five sevenths of his life was passed, as he died in his fifty-fifth year.

We often speak of persons who have attained to seventy years as having now entered upon borrowed time. On this twenty-sixth day of January, 1902, I have completed the allotted time of man’s life, being this day seventy years of age. I now enter upon the time covered by the “if”—the “borrowed time.” As I look over the past, I can say, as did Jacob before Pharaoh, “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been.” Trusting in the mercy of God, and the compassion of my brethren and sisters for forgiveness of past errors, I joy this day in God my Saviour. What strength He still may grant to me I regard as His own, to be used by Him in me, as His instrument, in “holding aloft the banner of Christ.” So may it be.

BEST CURE FOR BLUES.

By A. SWEDBERG

A. SWEDBERG.

The best cure I have found for the blues is Isa. 41:10. If the one thus afflicted has experienced religion, all we need do is to lay this remedy before him; and if it is taken and assimilated, it will most assuredly effect a speedy cure.

It is clear that if God is all-love and all-power, and a tender, loving Father, He will not allow anything to happen to those who put their trust in Him, not even to His disobedient children, but what may, can, and will be for their good, if they will only take the lessons He thus is trying to teach them, and let an overruling Providence take care of all the consequences. We cannot see the end from the beginning; but the omniscient Creator, who rules the universe and upholds all things by His wondrous power, knows what is best for us.

“Fear thou not,” He says, “for I am with thee.” If an almighty and loving Father is with us, what is the need of fearing? “Be not dismayed; for I am thy God.” If you are weak, bodily or spiritually, “I will strengthen thee.” If you need help in any way beyond your reach, don’t hang back and depend upon yourself or upon human power, for God has promised, “I will help thee.” He, according to His divine power “hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.”

But best of all, if you are worried because of inherent or acquired sin, and because of everyday failures to reach the divine standard, remember, “I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Ah, it is not your own righteousness that shall uphold you; for you have no real righteousness. Your own righteousness is nothing but filthy rags, which cannot shield your nakedness and deformity. But what a blessed thought that we have the promise of God’s own righteousness, a perfect and never-failing righteousness, to uphold us. Do you think there is anything in the universe that can overturn this righteousness? Of course you do not. If we, then, are upheld by this, are we not on a foundation, on a rock, that never can be shaken or moved? Oh, let us appropriate to ourselves this blessed righteousness by faith in the atoning blood of Christ, offered to us “freely by His grace.”

The blues come because we look at the dark side of life, at our own weaknesses and failures, and fear the consequences, and despair of ever seeing a change for the better. Let every one who is troubled with the blues forget himself and the troubles of life by looking up to Him who is able to help, and who can uphold with the right hand of His righteousness, remembering that “all things work together for good to them that love God.”

WHY DON'T YOU SING?

The Bible Echo.

Vocal minstrelsy takes its place among the very best of mental and physical tonics. Disease and despair both lose hold upon the heart that can constantly affirm, “I will sing and give praise.” Instrumental music exercises a wonderful influence over the soul of man. Inspired by its strains, the soldier rushes to the battle, and the weary marcher forgets his weariness; but vocal music has a still more salutary effect.

While singing, a greater portion of air is inhaled than in ordinary breathing. This occasions a quickened circulation, and provides better purified blood for the system. Then, too, the mental sky always brightens under the inspiration of holy song, and the haunting apparitions of evil fall back into their midnight of darkness.

Solomon tells us that a “merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” Every fiber of the body shares in the exhilaration occasioned by a hearty laugh, so that the happy heart has a continual feast. With some this pleasant disposition is natural, but those with whom it is not natural can obtain much of its benediction by cultivating a habit of singing.

Holy song is a lubricant that oils the wheels of life; it is a panacea that will cure many diseases, and ease almost all. It bestows both mental and physical inspiration, and makes life's sky, from every standpoint, look brighter. Paul and Silas sang in the prison dungeon at Philippi. Christ joined in singing a hymn with His disciples just before entering Gethsemane. How much darker these scenes might have been without the inspiration of holy song we cannot tell.

God has placed music in His creation. The birds sing; the trees clap their hands; the floods lift up their voice on high. Surely, then, the heart of man, the being for whom God has done so much, should be glad. Fungi and disease grow in the damp and darkness; roses grow and blossom in the sunlight. Soul-sunlight is just as necessary to the development of spiritual life as the natural sunlight is to the development of physical life.

Singing should not be regarded so much as a pastime. It should be adopted as both a physical and a spiritual exercise. Paul speaks about “singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Try his method, and you will find God's blessings great enough to fill all the years of life with the divinity of holy song.

There is no place where singing is more appropriate, or where its blessings are more beneficial, than in the home. Passion, anger, moodiness of mind, and crossness of temper give way before it as the mists pass away before the rising sun. There is something more than mere romance in a mother singing her child to sleep. Other things being equal, that is the most potent sedative that she could employ. Yes, sing your children to sleep, and sing them up again in the morning. Sing them through their labors in the day, and thus make life bright and holy. Satan cannot endure the triumphant strains of Christian song. So, though you may not always feel like it, sing; sing always, and if your own life is not brightened thereby, the cheering strains may chase some of the shadows from another life. Try it and see! The dark spirit of madness left the mind of Saul when David tuned his harp to the sweet songs of Israel.

DE PROFUNDIS.

By Elder L. D. Santee

ELDER L. D. SANTEE.

The wind has blown chill through life's valley, And scattered its snows in my hair, The song birds of spring are all silent, And my forehead is seamed with its care; But I dream not of days that are vanished, Swallowed up in time's pitiless years; All the thoughts of the past I have banished, With their story of gladness or tears.

All the years of the past, with their crosses, I would leave as a dream of the night; All the shadows of life and its losses, In the splendor of heaven grow bright. Hopes die, and their tombs are a token That this earth is no home for the soul; Love changes, and true hearts are broken, And the sadness of grief has control.

I look for a heaven more gracious Than the mutable things that I see,— A region of love, bright and spacious, Prepared by the Saviour for me, Where angels repeat the glad story, As they worship again and again, That Christ left the mansions of glory, And died for the children of men.

Far out past life's pain and its fever Is the beautiful land that we love, Where with Jesus forever and ever We shall dwell in the mansions above; Where the pure, with their beautiful faces, Are redeemed from the living and dead, To mingle with fervent embraces, Where sorrow forever has fled.

O heaven of love and of glories! O sheen of life's wonderful sea! Not once has the earth's fairest stories Told the pleasures that in thee shall be. The wind has blown chill through life's valley, And scattered its snows in my hair, The song birds of spring are all silent, But I wait for the home over there.

I KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED.

By John M. Hopkins

JOHN M. HOPKINS. (Westport, Minn.)

I know there's help in thee, my Lord, For every earthly woe, A balm for every aching heart Of mortals here below.

I know it; for thy word declares All power is given to thee; And all who seek thy face in prayer Shall thy salvation see.

I know it; for my soul has felt Thy gracious power to save; Thy loving care hath borne me up To walk the troubled wave.

Dear Saviour, may I trust thee still, E'en in the darkest hour; And when temptations press me sore, Then manifest thy power.

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