Earlier text: Foreign Publications and PeriodicalsThe Southwestern Union Conference
By Arthur G. Daniells
THE first session of this conference was held at Topeka, Kan., April 16, 1902. About fifty delegates were present from Oklahoma, and the States of Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas, and Texas, the territory embraced in this union. In addition to these delegates, there were several representatives from the General Conference and the Mission Board. Owing to some changes proposed for the redivision of the territory composing the Northwestern and Southwestern Union Conferences, a number of special delegates from Iowa and Nebraska attended the meeting. It was gratifying to meet so many of our brethren bearing the responsibilities of the work in this part of the field. This was the first time the ministers and conference officers of these States had ever come together in a union conference. At first we hardly knew our bearings as a body, but our experiences were very similar to those of the preceding conferences. We soon became acquainted, and during the whole meeting we enjoyed the influences of the Spirit of God. Indeed, we witnessed some very marked tokens of divine leadership in the Topeka Conference. All branches of the work received their due share of attention. Concise and deeply interesting reports were rendered by the presidents of the State conferences, also by the president of the union conference. These were printed in the Kansas Worker, Extra, several numbers of which were issued during the conference. The proceedings of this conference were published in a very readable form under the editorial management of Prof. C. C. Lewis. The meetings of the session were held in the Auditorium. This is a new building with every modern convenience, capable of seating four thousand people. We were granted the use of the Auditorium, heated and lighted, free of expense. While the building was not so suitable for our conference as a smaller one would have been, it was most generous on the part of the managers to place it at our disposal, free of expense. Elder E. T. Russell, president of the Kansas Conference, arranged with a number of the ministers for our ministers who were attending the conference to occupy the pulpits of their churches. Dr. Paulson, Brethren Spicer, Brunson, Lane, Porter, and several others preached in the various churches on Sunday. All reported a pleasant time with both pastors and people. In some instances the churches made donations to our mission fields. This was a new experience to many of us. I was pleased with the arrangement, and would be glad to see it tried in other conferences. During this conference the final steps were taken in the redivision of the territory of the Northwestern and Southwestern Union Conferences, making three conferences instead of two. This rearrangement will be set forth in detail in a separate report. The Southwestern Union Conference was not changed, with the exception of transferring Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado, and a part of New Mexico to what hereafter will be the Central Union Conference. The headquarters of the conference will be located in either Oklahoma or Texas. Elder G. G. Rupert was elected president of the conference. Further details will be reported in the official proceedings. This conference differed in its details very much from those preceding it, yet in some respects it was equal in real value to any of them. One of the sweetest features of the meeting was the warm, zealous missionary spirit pervading it from first to last. Ever since the last General Conference, Elder McReynolds, the president, has encouraged all the State conferences and departments to extend a helping hand to the missionary fields. Both laborers and means have been sent to the dark places of the earth. During the conference nearly four thousand dollars was given for the Nyassaland Mission, and several laborers volunteered to go to that field. The canvassing and the tract society work have enjoyed a good year in this district. Subscription books have been sold to the value of sixty thousand dollars. While no one is satisfied with this showing, and all feel that the results ought to be at least doubled this coming year, we are thankful indeed for the united, energetic efforts put forth in this union conference. It is not difficult to see the reason for this good showing. The manager of the Pacific Press Branch at Kansas City, Mo., the executive committees of the conferences, and the teachers of Keene Academy, have united in an intelligent, energetic effort to keep the work strong in each State, and to give it the earnest support which its importance demands. This union of effort is indispensable, if we are to see our book work develop as it should throughout the United States. Besides pushing the work within its own borders, the Southwestern Union Conference has contributed liberally to other needy fields. The State of Texas released Brother J. B. Blosser, that he might act as general agent for the Lake Union Conference. They also volunteered to supply a good man for the Canadian Union Conference; but I understand that no definite arrangement has been made as yet. Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas has each supplied one of their best men to canvass in the English field. This united, vigorous effort, and this cheery response to the calls from needy fields, are surely a good index for the future. This closes the union conference sessions in the United States, six having been held during the last six months. The first session of the Canadian Union Conference will be held a few months hence. These meetings have been seasons of great encouragement to many of our laborers, and of untold benefit to the cause in all parts of the States. Burdens are being distributed, and responsibilities are being placed where they belong. Many who, before these conference sessions were held, could hardly see the value of this phase of reorganization, are now clear, and are bearing their part of the work with courage and zeal. Much remains yet to be done, but we need not be long in doing it. If Christ is allowed to lead, he will make a short work in the earth. May it be even so. THE opening of school privileges to the people of Porto Rico is eagerly welcomed by them, according to the report brought back by one who has recently visited that island. As showing the appreciation and thirst for knowledge manifested by some of these poor people, he mentions the case of a girl of seventeen years who walks twenty miles to7and from school daily, sleeping on a bare floor, and begging most of her food. No truant officers are needed there, he says. In a night school which he visited, he found the pupils bringing candles to the schoolroom, and sitting on the floor in groups of three, with one candle to each group. Christian Unity and Indifference to Truth
As evidence of the “gradual disappearance of the high fences which once marked the division lines between creeds and sects in the Christian church,” the New York Times mentions that “at the recent installation of the pastor of a Universalist church in one of the New England cities, a Methodist delivered the prayer, a Congregationalist preached the sermon, the ‘right hand of fellowship’ was extended by a Baptist with well-chosen and appropriate remarks, short and ringing addresses were delivered by another Congregationalist and by a Unitarian, and a graceful letter of welcome and congratulation was read from the rector of an Episcopal church.” There is a sort of unity which springs from indifference to truth; but Christian unity is the unity of those who through the gift of the one Spirit, “all speak the same thing,” and are “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” 1 Cor. 1:10. RECENTLY a young candidate for the ministry in the Presbyterian denomination was refused credentials by his examining superiors because he did not believe that Adam and Eve and some other Biblical characters ever had a literal existence. Later, this refusal was revoked, and it was announced that the young man would be received into the ministry on the proviso that he would have not give expression to his heretical views in the pulpit; and on this condition he accepted the office. The point was not unnoticed by Catholic journals, and one of them remarks:— It is a strange, an anomalous position in which this young man wittingly puts himself; nor are those who were the authorities to pass upon his candidacy any better placed from the view-point of courage and consistency. The same journal then cites these words by a Protestant clergyman, Rev. Edward Cummings, of Boston, as showing the fatal effect of such inconsistency upon a healthy spiritual life:— What man of affairs would tolerate in business the ambiguity and pretense and mental reservation that are encouraged in our churches to-day? I am convinced that people are more honest and straightforward in thought and speech than their religious teachers. In order to retain connection with religious bodies, men and women must often submit—and are often urged to submit—to subterfuges and humiliating appearances of conformity which are not in good form in other departments of life. To our shame, it must be confessed that it would be difficult to devise a less helpful training in the great virtues of honesty, clear thinking, and plain speaking than that which many of our religious denominations furnish to-day. There is much in this to explain why so little of the power of godliness is manifested in connection with the preaching of the present day. The following extract from the latest of the pope’s encyclicals, issued since the beginning of the present year, defines clearly the papal position regarding republican government. Under the subheading , “False Idea of Authority,” the encyclical says:— Along with the family, the political and social order is also endangered by doctrines which ascribe a false origin to authority, and which have corrupted the genuine conception of government. For if sovereign authority is derived formally from the consent of the people, and not from God, who is the supreme and eternal principle of all power, it loses in the eyes of the governed its most august characteristic, and degenerates into an artificial sovereignty which rests on unstable and shifting bases; namely, the will of those from whom it is said to be derived. Do we not see the consequences of this error in the carrying out of our laws? Too often these laws, instead of being sound reason formulated in writing, are but the expression of the power of the greater number, and the will of the predominant political party. This is precisely the conception of government held and advocated by the societies which are calling for a religious amendment to the Constitution, for the purpose of making the nation Christian. They want the nation’s fundamental law to recognize God as the source of all authority in civil government, doing away entirely with the doctrine that such governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. The identity of such a system with the papal conception of government, which no one who will compare the two can fail to perceive, should be a warning to all Protestants to hold aloof from the plans of these misguided reformers. It is true that God is the source of all proper authority everywhere, since he is the sovereign over all things, and the source of all power. But it is not true that God has commissioned any mortal man to step in between his fellow men and their God, and dictate to them the divine will either in things civil or religious. Here is where the papal system of government, and every other system which sets aside the consent of the governed, is against God. God’s system of government puts nothing whatever between the Creator and the being he has created. The gospel means God with us, God in us. God’s purpose is that man shall be a sovereign, not to rule over others, but to rule over himself. In God’s government the test of greatness and of fitness for high station, is not the ability to rule over others, but the ability to serve. True republican government recognizes this fixed principle in the relationship of God and man. It does not interfere with that personal and intellectual freedom of man whereby he exercises the power of choice between right and wrong, and develops a character which will determine his destiny. It does not interfere with the working of those spiritual agencies through which God is seeking the salvation of all men, by all the power he himself has at his command. REPORTS which reach this country from various parts of Russia, indicate that the internal affairs of the Russian empire are in a condition of serious disturbance. In the southern districts there is great distress among the peasants on account of a failure of crops, no crop having been raised last year, and none being even planted this year, even the seed intended for planting being consumed to escape starvation. In their desperation the peasants have thrown aside all legal restraints, and thousands are joining in rioting and pillage. Eighty estates in the provinces of Poltava and Kharkoff have been sacked and destroyed. The whole region is under a reign of terror, and landowners and stewards are fleeing for safety. In central Russia the working population are in a state of great unrest, and revolutionary propagandas are making alarming progress. Every day, says the Moscow correspondent of the London Times, there are fresh reports of strikes and disorders. The attitude of the workmen toward their employers, he says, is openly threatening, in striking contrast to the subservience of their demeanor a few years ago. One great cause of this agitation, it is stated, is that most of the Russian factory hands have been brought in contact with foreign workmen, and have heard of the rights and liberties enjoyed by workmen in other lands. The czar, in view of the threatening situation at Moscow, has abandoned his intention of spending the Russian Easter in that city. A report which comes from St. Petersburg, under date of April 28, states that the czar is considering the advisability of issuing a pronouncement granting constitutional government to his people, on the lines of a plan of government prepared by a Russian official under the preceding sovereign some years ago. All this reminds us of the words of Scripture pointing out a sign of the last days—“upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity.” God alone holds the solution to the situation. Neglected Duties
By Ellen G. White
God’s people are called to aggressive warfare, not against one another, but against the armies of the enemy. Never are they to relax their vigilance. Never are those who claim to be Christ’s disciples to feel at ease in their church capacity, content to do nothing to rescue fallen human beings, and win them back to their loyalty. Heavenly angels are constantly ascending and descending between heaven and earth, engaged in unselfish service for humanity. Where are the men and women who will unite with these heavenly messengers? Think of what God has done for you! When you were perishing out of Christ, did not the warning message come to you, convincing you of sin, and arousing you to repentance? Did not Christ reveal himself to you as a sin-pardoning Saviour? And in the light and warmth of your first love, were you not filled with a longing to impart to others the grace that gave you newness of life? Do not allow your zeal for soul saving to decrease. You have become Christ’s helping hand, and you are to work earnestly for those whom before your conversion you looked upon with indifference. Remember that they are in as favorable a condition as you were to be brought to repentance, and that their salvation may be of higher value to the church than was yours. Grudge not earnest, tender words and kindly deeds. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Open the windows of the soul heavenward, that the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness may shine into your hearts. Fresh grace to impart will be given to those who keep their souls in the love of God. Duty and sacrifice are precious to them, because of their love for Christ’s purchased possession. Those who are truly converted are eager to communicate the knowledge of God. They feel the strength of the cords that bind men and women to Christ in loving, faithful service. Once they had no interest in sinners; now they are united with Christ, and they are bound up in love with his heritage. The heart once frozen by selfishness is melted by the influence of the Spirit. They rejoice that sinners are accepted in the Beloved. Let the soldiers in Christ’s army remember that while they are under his banner, they can never be conquered; for angels from heaven are fighting beside them. And let them remember also that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” What are our orders? — “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” The Lord Has Work for You
This is the work to which you are called. It is not for you to sit and listen to discourse after discourse, feeling content to do nothing, making no use of the word you hear, and often criticising the ministers. Go to work, helping on the right hand and on the left. Visit your neighbors in a friendly way, and become acquainted with them. Use every favorable opportunity, in co-operation with the heavenly agencies, to draw them under Christ’s banner. Those who do not take up this work, those who act with the indifference that some have manifested, will soon lose their first love, and will begin to censure, criticise, and condemn their own brethren. The Lord has a work for every one to do. As God’s people act their part with faithfulness, the light will shine forth, extending farther and farther, from neighborhood to neighborhood. In places nigh and afar off there will be revivals and conversions. The light and power of the message will be seen and felt. Let there be no indifference; for we are living amid the perils of the last days. Each one must act his part in extending and enlarging the kingdom of God. Every effort made by the human agent to co-operate with the Holy Spirit prepares him to accomplish the work God has been fitting him through his grace to do. God desires his people to use all their talents in his service. He wants them to labor for those outside the fold. He wants them to improve their capabilities, that they may become wise unto salvation, and by contemplating their duty to him and to their fellow men, learn to help others. Workers are to be trained who will train and educate others. Thus the good work will go forward, and whole communities will be blessed. Men and women will be brought into the fold at the eleventh hour, and if they are earnest and faithful, the Lord will accept them and work through them. As they put on Christ, their minds are filled with the treasures of heavenly truth, which they give to others, to be given by them to still others. We are living in the time of the end, a time crowded with events in process of fulfillment, all working to bring about that great day when Christ shall be revealed in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The last years of probation are fast closing. The signs of the times — the wars and rumors of wars, the strikes, murders, robberies, and accidents — tell us that the end of all things is at hand. Who can doubt the truth of the prophet’s words, “The wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand”? Many of the inhabitants of the world have given themselves into Satan’s control. They co-operate with him, helping him to carry out his plans against the government of God. Under his guidance, men have lost their horror of bloodshed and murder. Satan himself stands at the head of his army, striving with all his power to perfect the force over which he rules, that he may wreak his vengeance on God’s people. Knowing that his time is short, he has come down with great power, to work against all that is good. In the Scriptures, he is represented as walking up and down as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He fills the minds of his instrumentalities with hatred against God and with an intense desire for revenge. Determined to efface the image of God in man, Satan works with an intensity of effort to hide God from view. Not openly does he work, but secretly, mingling error with truth, so seeking to bring confusion and distress. But in proportionate power God works to counteract Satan’s plans and to bring to light his hidden purposes. When the enemy has seemed to be gaining a signal victory over righteousness, God has been working9with mighty power in behalf of his people. The stress of great temptation is already upon us. We are now to unite with one another in doing the work that Christ did when he was upon this earth. We are to be one in Christ. Thus we are to show our faithfulness to God, to our Redeemer, and to all who are born into his kingdom. Among the people of God there is to be no dissension, no controversy, no warfare against one another. Satan’s strong efforts against good, that terrible hatred of his agencies against God’s agencies, emphasize the need of union and harmony among the forces of righteousness. We have no time to wrestle and contend among ourselves, no time to work on suppositions, or cherish prejudices. It is too late for this, brethren; for Christ is at the door. A terrible conflict is before us. We are nearing the battle of the great day of God Almighty. That which has been held in control is to be let loose. The angel of mercy is folding her wings, preparing to step down from the throne, and leave the world to the control of Satan. The principalities and powers of earth are in bitter revolt against the God of heaven. They are filled with hatred against those who serve him, and soon, very soon, will be fought the last great battle between good and evil. The earth is to be the battlefield — the scene of the final contest and the final victory. Here, where for so long Satan has led men against God, rebellion is to be forever suppressed. God’s people are to bear a bold, decided testimony for the truth, unfolding the purposes of God by the witness of pen and voice. In place after place, they are to proclaim the message of God’s word. By converted, sanctified, holy men and women the message of warning is to be proclaimed, that the prayer may be answered, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” All heaven is in activity, and the angels of God are waiting to co-operate with those who will devise plans by which the souls for whom Christ died may hear the glad tidings of salvation. Angels who minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, are saying to every true saint, “There is work for you to do. Go, stand and speak to the people all the words of this life.” THE Light of the world shines brighter and brighter
As wider and wider God opens my eyes;
My trials and burdens seem lighter and lighter,
And fairer and fairer the heavenly prize. The wealth of this world seems poorer and poorer
As further and further it fades from my sight;
The prize of my calling seems surer and surer
As straighter and straighter I walk in the light. My waiting on Jesus seems dearer and dearer
As longer and longer I lean on his breast;
Without him I'm nothing, seems clearer and clearer,
And more and more sweetly in Jesus I rest. My joy in my Saviour is growing and growing,
And stronger and stronger I trust in his Word;
My peace like a river is flowing and flowing,
As harder and harder I lean on the Lord. The only way, then, to self-government is to reach beyond ourselves toward righteousness, to find the power of righteousness reigning in us, to govern ourselves and hold us in the way of righteousness. And that leads inevitably to a Person who is the source of righteousness, and that is God. Then where alone does self-government lie?—In God in Jesus Christ. Now, do not forget that. It is literally true. Self-government for man lies alone in God, as man, in Jesus Christ in the flesh. Therefore, self-government is not simply a divine principle. It is that, and it is more than that; it is a divine attribute. As certainly then as ever you or I, or any other man under heaven or in heaven, shall ever attain to self-government, it must be by being a partaker of the divine nature; that there shall abide in us the divine attribute of self-government from divinity himself. There are no two ways about that; and there is no stopping short of it. You can see that by a thought. Who alone in this universe has the power, of himself, perfectly to govern himself, without any reference to any other person or thing?—Only God. Then do you not see that it is settled and manifested to the whole universe, both in principle and in practice, that there is nobody in this universe who is of himself capable of perfectly governing himself—nobody but God? Then do you not see that truly self-government is a divine attribute, not simply a principle? It is divinity itself. And the only way that you and I can expect self-government, unto which by the third angel's message we are called, is by constantly partaking of the divine nature, by having God manifest in our flesh. Reorganization, we have found, pushes back power from the General Conference to the union conferences, and does not stop at the union conferences, nor at the State conferences, nor at the churches, nor at the individual; it stops only at God and in God. And that is where it belongs. Then you can see that, in a word, reorganization in the cause of God, in the third angel's message, means that God alone shall be all and in all to every soul that has named the name of Christ. And so it is written: “I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; . . . and the head of Christ is God.” Now let us look at self-government from the other side. Let us begin with the beginning, with man with God, and look at it from that side. God made the man, and put him in the garden—not to manage himself, nor to run things himself, apart from God; for we read, “I have created him for my glory.” “He shall glorify me.” Man is created to glorify God. Now what is it to glorify God? Jesus has defined that thing, and made it perfectly plain: “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself,”—not that he shall not talk about himself, but he shall not set himself forth and speak from himself apart from God, “but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me.” The Holy Spirit is sent into the world to glorify Christ. In whatever way it is that the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ, in that we have the illustration and the example of how we are to glorify God. There is given the divine example as to how to glorify God. He tells us: “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.” Then the Holy Spirit receives that which is Christ's, shows it to us, causes us to see Christ. And what also is in that?—The Father. Then the Holy Spirit is sent into this world to glorify God in Jesus Christ—and so are you and I. We are sent to glorify God; we are created to glorify God. Then as certainly as the Holy Spirit glorifies God in Christ by taking the things that are God's in Christ and causing us to see them, so man, created to glorify God, was created to receive the things of God, and cause all others to see them. Then man was made to make God manifest. And this was to be, and is to be, at the man's own choice. Here comes in now the secret of self-government in himself. When God made the man, he put him in the garden of Eden, and put there all the trees pleasing to the eye and good for food, and also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the man had perfectly free access to all. Man had just as free access to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as to any other tree in the garden. The Lord told him not to eat of it, that is true; but he did not set a fence around it, he did not shut it away from the man. Then when God fixed things that way, and made10the man to glorify God, to have God appear in the man, is it not plain that he made the man to have God appear, at the man's own choice? Man was left perfectly free to choose God's way, and to have God appear in him; or to refuse God's way, and choose another way. Then where does self-government lie?—In the choice. Do not forget that. The principle, the idea, of self-government lies in the freedom of choice. The power of self-government lies in God in Jesus Christ. As to who shall govern him depends upon the man's choice, whether it shall be the power of sin, which is the annihilation of all government, or whether it shall be the power of righteousness, which is the essence of all government. Whether it shall be self-government or annihilation for man depends upon the power with which the man allies himself by his choice. A little further: the man was made to stand with God, and to govern himself by the power of God, at his own choice. And the man was just as free to choose some other governor, and to attempt to govern himself in some other way. And he did choose the other way. Yet when he chose that other way, it was Satan's way that the man chose. Adam did choose that other way. The choice was his, but the way was Satan's. He chose the way of Satan; he accepted the word of Satan. In accepting that word of Satan's,—words express thoughts,—he accepted the thought of Satan. That thought was an expression of the mind which produced the thought. When Adam accepted that thought, he partook of the mind which produced the thought that was expressed in the word that he accepted. And that word, that thought, that mind, was Satan's. And that is how it is that the natural mind, the carnal mind, is “enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” And that is why it is that even God cannot make that mind subject to his law. It is Satan's mind, and that mind is confirmed, and absolutely hardened against God, in the way of sin and self. Was not Satan invited to return from his wrong course? He refused; and when he refused, he simply, with those who chose with him to refuse, confirmed himself in a darkness of sin that is simply impenetrable. There is no ray of light from God that can ever penetrate the realm of sin where Satan and his angels have chosen to abide. That being so, you see that the natural mind is the very mind of Satan, which has confirmed itself against God, against all government, against all righteousness, and abides in the confirmed enmity against God which Lucifer and his company chose for themselves. That is why it is that that mind cannot be subject to the law of God. Then that being so, what is essential in order that we shall become ourselves subject to the law of God?—Another mind. But in order to have another mind, which is subject to the law of God, what is essential as to this mind that is enmity against God, which is not subject to the law of God, and cannot be subject to the law of God?—Nothing short of annihilation. In reading of this false government, which is anarchy, we read two or three expressions which show us that we are enslaved, enslaved to sin, and in captivity to the law of sin. There is the difference: God's service, God's government, is absolute freedom; the other government, which is anarchy, is absolute slavery. God made the man to choose. He made the man to be happy with God and in God, at the man's own choice alone. Now in order for that to be, in order for you and me to be happy all the time, even with God, we must be free to choose all the time to be happy with God. Then it comes to this, that God will not hold you and me this minute to the choice which we made the previous minute to serve him. You and I choose this minute to serve God. We are just as free the next minute to choose not to serve him. And when we, being free that next minute to choose not to serve God, instead of choosing not to serve him, just as freely of our own choice choose to serve God, and we do that each moment, moment by moment as the breath we take,—that is freedom. That is perfect freedom. Then also you see that the man who lives that way can always do just what he pleases. He is perfectly free to do just as he pleases; and the only thing that pleases him, the only thing with which he is or can be at all pleased, is the service of God. And he chooses that, just as he gathers his breath, just as gladly as he gathers his breath, just as he takes in the air by which he is surrounded. Just as he takes that into his lungs, so gladly he gathers up his choice, and throws it on the side of God. That is perfect freedom. [Question: “Why should he not be free from the consciousness and the fact of sin?”] Thank God, he should be free from it. There is no reason why he should not be. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” That is, free from sin and sinning. That is God, and that is God's way, the way of perfect freedom. Now the Lord will not take even his way with us, without our choice. And Satan cannot take his way with us without our choice. But when a man has once chosen,—there is the mischief with him,—he will hold him, he will hold the soul in bondage to that choice forever; and nothing but the power of God can ever break off the bondage that Satan puts upon a soul by means of that one single choice. Satan cannot do anything with you and me without our choice, and he will spend a lifetime to get you and me to choose only once. That is all he wants. And when you and I have chosen the things of Satan only once, then he puts on the clamps; he binds about and confirms that bondage, that slavery, which we have chosen, and of his own will he will never let up nor loosen that power, to all eternity. But, thank the Lord, there is One who has come in, who can break off that cruel power of sin and Satan, and who will say to all around, Loose this soul, and let him go—as he did of Lazarus, who was bound hand and foot. Think of it. The record is not read closely many times. Lazarus was there in the grave. They rolled away the stone. Then Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth.” And the record is, Lazarus came forth “bound hand and foot” with the graveclothes. And after Lazarus had come forth,—I do not know how, we cannot tell how, except that it was by the power of God, we know that much,—when Lazarus had come forth by the power of God, “bound hand and foot” with the graveclothes, then it was that Jesus said, “Loose him, and let him go.” And that is the very power that goes with you and me in the preaching of this gospel of reorganization, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the third angel's message. To any soul in this world, bound hand and foot with the bondage and the ligaments of Satan all round about, there is a power that goes with you and me, a power which by the gospel of Jesus Christ is given to you and me, to say to that man, Come forth, and he will come forth. Though bound hand and foot, he will come forth, for that power of the gospel can cause him to come forth. And then that same blessed word which brings the power can say to all, to Satan with all his crowd, “Loose him, and let him go.” And there he stands a new man, loosed from his bonds, and free in God through Christ Jesus our Lord. That is self-government, thank the Lord. Now one more thing that goes with that. I want you to see how it all comes. Jesus Christ bought this right to loose men from the power of Satan. He put himself where we are, just as we are, and by human experience—divine-human, of course—he worked it out, and in that way he bought the right. He himself became subject to all that flesh is heir to. God made him to be sin. In all things like as we are, he met this governor, this anarchist, in his own territory, on his own ground, and put himself, finally, dead, into the power of him that had the power of death itself. And being there, dead, he broke the power of him that had the power of death. And when he, dead, can break the power of him who had the power of death, what can he not do since he is alive forevermore? Forgetting Those Things Which Are Behind
“THERE are many things about ourselves it were well to forget. An apostle said: ‘This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.’ There is no experience in the past, however glorious, which we may safely treasure in the memory as a substitute for present struggle, earnest aspiration, or eager hope. There is no experience, however humiliating, which would be dwelt upon to the paralysis of faith or the enervation of courage. There is a sense in which we should die daily to the past.” For All
By Margaret E. Sangster
For all true words that have been spoken,
For all brave deeds that have been done;
For every loaf in kindness broken,
For every race in valor run;
For martyr lips which have not failed
To give God praise in fiery test;
For knightly souls which have not quailed
At stubborn strife or lonesome quest—
Lord, unto whom we stand in thrall,
We give thee thanks for all, for all. For each fair field where golden stubble
Hath followed wealth of waving grain;
For every passing wind of trouble
Which bends thy grass that lifts again;
For gold in store that men must seek,
For work which bows the sullen knee;
For strength, swift sent to aid the weak,
For love by which we climb to thee—
Thy freemen, Lord, yet each thy thrall,
We give thee praise for all, for all. “I CANNOT feel Thee touch my hand
With pressure light and mild,
To check me as my mother does
Her little wayward child.” “But I have felt thee in my thought,
Striving with sin for me;
And when my heart loves God, I know
The sweetness is from thee.”