Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Oct 12, 1905
“The Manner of the Kingdom”
By Lindley M. Stevens
“AND Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord.”
“And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.”
There is much that is told
In that story of old,
As to me it is given to know,
With a pathos as deep
As the Keeper of Sheep
Ever sang in The Song of the Bow.
From the giver who loved
Were the weapons that proved;
And they won in the warfare, at length:
'Twas a girdle of might
With a sword for the fight,
And a bow that abideth in strength.
It was love in accord
With the will of the Lord,
When the prince did bestow of his own;
But they passed from his hand,
At his spirit’s command,
With a scepter, a crown, and a throne.
When on Gilboa’s height,
In the thick of the fight
With the archers that sorely oppressed,
Though no evil he’d done,
Like that other King’s Son,
He was numbered with those who transgressed.
Though the shafts that he flung,
Ere his bow was unstrung;
From the mighty not backward did turn,
'Twas a song that was wailed
For the weapons that failed
That the children of Judah did learn.
Then I read it once more;
And I ponder it o’er
For the lesson to me it shall show;
Then I lift up my eyes
On the fields, and the skies,
And the Life of the world that I know.
From the seed that is trod
’Neath the covering clod,
Where it dieth the blade to sustain,
To the bread that is mine,
In the order divine;
From the sheaves that have studded
the plain;
From the nestling at rest
’Neath the sheltering breast
Of the mother that buffets the storm,
To the she-wolf at bay,
As she dies, and doth slay,
For the whelps that she guardeth from harm;
From the mother who dies
Ere she knows the first cries
Or the touch that her firstborn may give,
To the upturned eyes
That behold not the skies,
That the land that he loveth may live;
From the striving with sin,
And the wrestling within,
That the life of the spirit be true,
To the life He did live
Who said, “Father, forgive,
For they know not the things that they do;”
From the counting as loss,
And from sharing the cross,
That the life of the Risen be shared,
To the, “Come ye, mine own,
And inherit the throne
That for you from of old was prepared;”
And I hear Him again
Who did walk among men,
As He spake to His learners below:
Unto them is the sign
Of the kingdom divine,
But to you it is given to know.
Then the truth doth unfold
From that story of old:
All the way from the throne to the clod,Where a David doth reignLies a Jonathan slain,For of such is the kingdom of God.
And I read it afresh.
Then, in weakness of flesh,
Do I say, with a strength that is given:
Even so may I live;
Even so may I give;
For of such is the kingdom of heaven.
— Lindley M. Stevens, in The
American Friend.
The Seed and the Sowers
“He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
WHAT are you doing in your “little corner” to help along in the missionary campaign? There is work which the Master is waiting for you to perform. No one else can do it so well. Will you disappoint him?
WHY not order some reading-racks, and secure permission to put them up in the depot, the post-office, barber shops, or other public places, and keep them supplied with tracts, “Signs of the Times Leaflets,” or some other literature? This is one good way to sow the seed beside all waters. The price of the rack is 20 cents, post-paid.
SOME will be interested in such a tract as the “Celestial Railroad” who could not be easily influenced to read one treating the subject in the ordinary way. “Celestial Railroad” is allegorical, after the style of “Pilgrim’s Progress,” but it can hardly fail to impress its lessons upon all who read it. It contains 32 pages, with illustrated heading for first page. The price is 2 cents each, or $1.60 a hundred, post-paid.
Life and Health for October is a special issue for use in the missionary campaign, and can be handled to advantage with either the Signs or the Watchman. It is attractive in appearance, has a full-page illustration for frontispiece, and is full of good, practical, helpful articles which all will appreciate. You can easily sell a hundred copies this month. Single copy, 5 cents, or 2½ cents each where 25 or more copies are sent to one address. Order through your conference tract society, or from Life and Health, Washington, D. C.
SOME who have never attempted to sell or give away tracts or papers will try this work and gain a new experience this fall. Others who have already been successful in this work will try to sell some of the books especially prepared for “Home Workers,” and will doubtless be surprised to find how well they can do. Still others who have already sold a few books in their own neighborhood will find their hearts longing for more experiences of this kind, and will arrange to devote their entire time to canvassing with some of our larger and more important books. These are the results for which we look, and thus our various corps of workers should be recruited, and a continuous missionary campaign carried on.
“SEED OF PATMOS,” Elder Haskell’s latest book, is ready for delivery, and thousands of copies of it ought to be circulated during this fall and winter. This story of the wonderful book of Revelation, written by a devout Bible student of so many years’ experience, together with the very voluminous Scripture references which accompany the text, is certainly a rich mine of Biblical treasure for every one who desires to understand this important last-day prophecy. It is written simply but forcibly, and the lessons drawn can hardly fail to impress and remain with the reader. All our young people should have this book, and our Bible workers, colporteurs, and canvassers should sell large numbers in the next few months. It is uniform in size of page and style of binding with its companion volume, “Story of Daniel,” and the price is the same, $1 a copy. Send your orders to your regular source of supply.
“SIGNS OF THE TIMES LEAFLETS,” sixteen in number, covering the vital points of the message in a pointed way, are furnished by the pound for 50 cents, post-paid. A pound comprises about 300 tracts, assorted, and it is expected that during this fall campaign every Seventh-day Adventist will buy and circulate at least one pound. Order your supply early.
THE Nebraska Conference recently ordered two thousand sets of “Religious Liberty Leaflets” for use in Lincoln. Sunday law issues are being pressed to the front in many places, and work of this kind will be more and more frequent as the conflict deepens. The set of four “Religious Liberty Leaflets” covers the ground quite thoroughly yet briefly, and they should be used liberally wherever there is need for such literature. Any of our publishing houses can supply them.
SAID Dr. Torrey in giving instructions to a company of new converts, “Go to work. You have taken Christ. Bring some one else to Christ between now and to-morrow night.” But the tempter says, “Wait until next week. Don’t be rash. What will people think of you?” And so we wait until the first love and zeal has grown cold, and we wonder why we do not enjoy Christian experience as we did at first. Here is one means by which we may retain all the freshness of the first love: “Try to bring some one else to Christ every day.”
WHEN some one who has but a little time to read asks you what are the fundamental principles of Seventh-day Adventists, loan him your copy of the 1905 “Year-book,” and let him read pages 188-192. This brief statement of principles may create a desire to read more on some special point of faith, and then the way will be open for further missionary effort. If you have not a copy of the “Year-book,” you ought to have one. It costs 25 cents.
Do you love the birds? Do you desire them to be on friendly terms with you, whether you live in the country or in a city tenement? If so, then study the chapter “Invitations to the Birds,” in Dr. L. A. Reed’s new book, entitled “My Garden Neighbors.” Young and old will be interested in this delightful volume just fresh from the press. Have you a restless boy who wants to be doing something all the time, and who is inclined to be mischievous, and possibly even cruel, with dumb animals? Place this little book in his hands, and see how quickly he will be interested, and how differently he will feel and act toward his dumb friends. Buy it for your children, or send it to your friends. It can not but be helpful. It is not a large book, but a good one. Price, $1. Order from your conference tract society, or our nearest publishing house.
ORDERS for any publication mentioned on this page may be sent to any conference tract society or to any of the following: Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D. C., and Battle Creek, Mich.; Pacific Press Publishing Company, Mountain View, Cal., also Portland, Ore., and Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, Tenn., and Fort Worth, Tex.
Editorial
By Editor
A New Song
THERE is instruction for us in the experience of David: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” From the pit and the clay to the solid rock is a change which warrants a continual song of praise, and such a song coming from the heart will influence others to turn unto the Lord. Thus the interests of the kingdom of heaven are advanced. “God desires his obedient children to claim his blessing, and to come before him with praise and thanksgiving. God is the Fountain of life and power. He can make the wilderness a fruitful field for the people that keep his commandments; for this is for the glory of his name. He has done for his chosen people that which should inspire every heart with thanksgiving, and it grieves him that so little praise is offered. He desires to have a stronger expression from his people, showing that they know they have reason for joy and gladness.” “Every heavenly intelligence is interested in the assemblies of the saints who on earth meet to worship God. In the inner court of heaven they listen to the testimony of the witnesses for Christ in the outer court on earth, and the praise and thanksgiving from the worshipers below is taken up in the heavenly anthem , and praise and rejoicing sound through the heavenly courts because Christ has not died in vain for the fallen sons of Adam.” “O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; show forth his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.”
A Note of Warning
Our Educational Institutions
A LARGE proportion of our schools and colleges are just beginning another school year, and many family circles are broken by the departure of one or more of the younger members who have gone to seek a better preparation for usefulness. In many instances it is only by rigid economy and by real sacrifice that it is possible to provide an education for the children, and this is especially true when it becomes necessary to send them away from home to attend school. That which induces Seventh-day Adventist parents to deny themselves in order to give their children the benefit of our schools is their desire that they should receive a Christian education—an education which will impart a knowledge of the God of the Bible and of the plan of salvation as set forth in the Scriptures, which will foster a love for the third angel's message, and give a suitable preparation for proclaiming it.
It was for the purpose of providing just such an education as this that denominational schools have been conducted as a part of this advent movement. This people did not attempt in their poverty to establish other educational institutions because they expected to build finer buildings, or provide better equipment, or present more extensive courses of study, but because they felt the necessity of shielding their children from those influences which tend to draw them away from God and his truth, and of imparting instruction of such a kind and in such a manner as would preserve them from the skepticism so prevalent in this last generation. The natural consequence would be that many so educated would devote their lives to the spread of the truth which they had learned to love.
It is now more than thirty years since the first educational institution was established among this people, and some interesting changes have taken place during this period. Colossal fortunes have been spent by the rich men of the world in building up great universities. Large gifts have been made to nearly all of the older colleges and universities, which have made it possible to erect fine buildings, extend their courses of study, and largely add to their faculties. But with all these additional facilities there has come a most marked departure from the fundamental and old-time standards of Christianity. The Bible has been deposed from its place of authority. A false science has been exalted in the place of Bible truth. A new philosophy has superseded the revelation of the gospel made in the Scriptures, and human speculation and human reasoning have been given the precedence over the Word of God. “The master mind in the confederacy of evil is ever working to keep out of sight the words of God, and to bring into full view the opinions of men. . . . Through educational processes he is doing all in his power to obscure heaven's light. Philosophical speculation and scientific research in which God is not acknowledged are making4skeptics of thousands of the youth.
In the schools of to-day the conclusions that learned men have reached as the result of their scientific investigations are carefully taught and fully explained; while the impression is distinctly given that if these learned men are correct, the Bible can not be. Skepticism is attractive to the human mind. The youth see in it an independence that captivates the imagination, and they are deceived. Satan triumphs; it is altogether as he meant it should be. . . . Far more than we do, we need to understand the issues at stake in the conflict in which we are engaged. We need to understand more fully the value of the truths that God has given for this time, and the danger of allowing our minds to be diverted from them by the great deceiver.”
Some of the most dangerous teaching is in these days clothed with the appearance of truth. A false philosophy is taught in the very words of the Scriptures, and the familiar phrases of the gospel of Christ are made to do service in behalf of deceptive errors. By a large majority of the leaders of the professed Christian church it is declared that these new ideas are simply a better interpretation of the Scriptures, the result of advancement in all fields of knowledge, while in our own denomination it has been claimed that they were in perfect harmony both with the Bible and with the spirit of prophecy. This claim has called out the following plain words of counsel: “Let none seek to tear away the foundations of our faith,—the foundations that were laid at the beginning of our work, by prayerful study of the Word and by revelation. Upon these foundations we have been building for the last fifty years. Men may suppose that they have found a new way, and that they can lay a stronger foundation than that which has been laid. But this is a great deception. Other foundation can no man lay than that which has been laid.”
In view of the situation as it exists both within and without the denomination it is plain that there is a more positive demand than ever before for schools where our young people can be safely sent without the fear that they will be educated away from this message, and be led to despise the simple faith of their fathers. After the experience of more than a quarter of a century, and after receiving so many warnings and counsels against the insidious character of this modern sophistry, will any of our people be caught by popular announcements and flattering inducements? We have resisted these inducements when they came to us openly from the world; shall we yield to them when they come from any other source? It may be time to repeat the instruction which was given about a year ago: “God forbid that one word of encouragement should be spoken to call our youth to a place where they will be leavened by misrepresentations and falsehoods regarding the Testimonies, and the work and character of the ministers of God.”
The efforts which are now being made to counterwork the leadings of God's providence, and to make of no effect his counsels concerning the education of our young people, lead us to sound this note of warning. We urge both parents and youth to consider well the principles involved before responding to any call, however favorable it may seem to be, to an education under influences which lead away from the message and work committed to this people. Furthermore, we urge upon all our schools to meet conscientiously the demand upon them at this time to provide such an education as will hold our young people loyal to this advent movement, and as far as possible to plan such means of support for students as will enable those with limited means to secure the benefits of a genuine Christian education. These serious problems should be grappled with and solved. The present situation urgently demands this.
Abiding in the Lord
It is not sufficient that we should occasionally come into fellowship with God. We must abide in him. “As the branch can not bear fruit of itself,” said Jesus, “except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” It is by abiding in him that we are kept from sin. “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not.” “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”
“I have learned the wondrous secret
Of abiding in the Lord;
I have found the strength and sweetness
Of confiding in his word;
I have tasted life's pure fountain,
I am trusting in his blood,
I have lost myself in Jesus,
I am sinking into God.”
“I'm abiding in the Lord,
And confiding in his word.
And I'm hiding, safely hiding,
In the bosom of his love.”
“And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”
The Near Eastern Question
By L. A. S.
For some years the political storm-center of the Old World has been in the far East, and the solution of the far Eastern question has been the problem which has occupied the attention of statesmen and inspired the utterances of political prophets. The agitation over that question has culminated in the Russo-Japanese War, and the result of that conflict, together with the new Anglo-Japanese treaty, having called a halt on the program for the dismemberment of China and apparently settled conditions in Asia for some time to come, the storm-center seems now to be shifting back to the near East, where the sultan of Turkey is the central figure, and the dismemberment of his territory, within which is the coveted prize of Constantinople, is the problem to be settled. Turkey has long been referred to as “the sick man of the East,” and the breaking up of his kingdom has been long anticipated, and is still regarded as a settled event of the near future, delayed only by the mutual jealousies of the leading powers. It is possible, however, that the sultan, now that Russia has been weakened and Austria is facing an internal crisis, takes a different view of the situation, and believes that the near Eastern question can be settled in a manner more agreeable to the Mohammedan mind. There is indeed some reason for thinking that the sultan is ready to make a new and startling move upon the political chess-board and defy the European powers. This is the view entertained by a press correspondent at Constantinople, who writes the following:—
Abdul Hamid is evidently preparing to defy the powers and to compel a settlement of the much discussed near Eastern problem at a time and in a manner which best suits the interests of Turkey.
There is no keener nor shrewder observer of world politics than the sultan; and the fact that he has recently defied Russia in the matter of building additional fortifications along the Bosporus, and absolutely repudiated the program for Macedonian reforms submitted by the powers, is taken as an indication that he has come to the conclusion that the time is at hand for the definite settlement of the status of Turkey’s possessions in Europe.
The rebellion in Arabia has practically been squelched, and the hold of the sultan on Mecca is as firm as ever it was. Russia has its hands full in dealing with internal conditions, and Austria is as badly off.
There is every reason to believe that the recent outbreak in the Caucasus and the Trans-Caucasian provinces has been fomented from Constantinople, and that the arms in the hands of the Mussulman rebels come from Turkish sources.
The Turkish army never has been in better trim than it is now. With Oriental wiliness reforms have been quietly introduced in the administration of the army, which will, it is confidently believed by those who are acquainted with the conditions, afford a surprise to Europeans, second only to that of Japan in the recent war with Russia. Thousands of fanatical Mussulmans from the sultan’s Asiatic dominions have been recruited within the past two or three years, and Turkey could within a very short time put into the field a most formidable army. In fact, Turkey is ready.
Thus there is every prospect that the near Eastern question will again come to the front in world politics, the final settlement of which is a matter of such momentous interest to the world.
L. A. S.
The Work of the Two Witnesses
By W. A. S.
Grandly the light of God's Word is streaming into the dark corners of the earth. The two witnesses—the Old and New Testaments—are bearing the message of the coming of the Lord to the uttermost parts. The rapid spread of the Scriptures is a constantly brightening sign of the times to cheer our hearts.
How wonderfully God has dealt with his Holy Book! In the long dark period of the papal supremacy he cared for it according to the prophecy: “I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days [the 1,260 years of papal supremacy], clothed in sackcloth.” And those days of papal rule and darkness as of sackcloth were shortened by the powerful witnessing of the Holy Scriptures that brought in the Reformation.5
Then came another effort of the enemy of light to put down the Scriptures in those atheistical days of the French Revolution. Infidelity thought it had begun a movement that would silence the two witnesses. But again the prophecy was fulfilled: “The spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet,” and their enemies beheld them exalted to the heavens; for just then began the great Bible society movement, which has now carried the Scriptures into more tongues than were known of in Europe a century ago.
God is hastening on the work of warning the world by many agencies. The annual report of the British Bible Society says of its work last year:—
To carry the Scriptures far and wide and to offer them from door to door, the society employed nine hundred and thirty colporteurs throughout last year, at a cost of about forty-five thousand pounds. If our eyes could trace these humble Bible sellers up and down the world amid the many-colored conditions of their service, we should see them busy among Indian rice-fields and along Chinese waterways, over Canadian prairies and through the Australian bush, and beside the great African lakes. We should watch them sheltering in native huts in the snowy defiles of the Andes, and threading their path under trails of purple orchids through the forests of Brazil. From South Malaysia one man writes: “I am now enjoying a semi-nomadic-aquatic existence, spending half my time in a bullock cart and half in a boat. I have not seen an Englishman for the last three months, and probably shall not see one for the next six.” Another writes: “All the time I was selling Scriptures in the market-place, showers of fine cinders fell around me from a volcanic eruption.”
Last year these colporteurs sold over 2,250,000 copies of the Scriptures—a total far above all previous records.
It is truly a work that is fulfilling prophecy. These colporteurs with the Sacred Word are pioneers in the final work of bearing the gospel to every nation and tongue. The world's Bible societies are agents of Providence for this last time. Everything is shaping for a quick movement in the finishing of God's work in the earth. W. A. S.
The Signs of His Coming
It seems strange that professed Adventists should question whether the darkening of the sun and moon and the falling of the stars have actually taken place, or whether they are still in the future, and stranger still that any who attempt to prove that the coming of the Lord is near should think it unnecessary to believe that these signs have any essential bearing upon a belief in the second advent as an imminent event.
Some things ought to be regarded as settled beyond controversy among Adventists, and especially among Seventh-day Adventists. One of these is that the “signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars” have already been fulfilled, and that they introduce us to the last generation which shall not pass away before the coming of the Master. Those who become unsettled concerning such fundamental positions as these can hardly hope to be certain of anything.
The testimony of history is very explicit concerning these signs. It is only necessary to read the authentic records of what actually took place on May 19, 1780, and on Nov. 13, 1833, and then to compare these statements with the prophecies, in order to see that they answer to each other. There could be no benefit whatever in studying the prophecies if it were not possible to recognize those events which constitute a fulfilment of definite predictions; and when such events do occur as meet all the specifications of any prophecy, we may rest assured that the prophecy has been fulfilled. On this basis we are sure that the darkening of the sun and of the moon, and the falling of the stars, foretold by Jesus, are in the past, and that they constitute definite signs of the near coming of our Lord.
Taken by Surprise
By L. A. S.
BEWARE of a surprise. In all the records of the past is written this warning. Both history and Scripture are full of admonitions upon this point. The worst calamities that have fallen upon men are those which have taken their victims unawares. Very little chance has one in such a case either for escape or for successful resistance.
The antediluvian world perished by a calamity which took its inhabitants by surprise. They “knew not until the flood came and took them all away.” The men of Sodom and Gomorrah came all unaware to the day when they were to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. Belshazzar, reveling in his palace, suddenly beheld the handwriting upon the wall, announcing his doom and the overthrow of his kingdom. Jerusalem of old had its day of visitation, and knew it not. Pompeii and Herculaneum were full of careless people on the fatal day when Vesuvius suddenly awoke from its long slumber.
The man who prospered and amassed great wealth, so that he knew not where to bestow his goods, was in the midst of plans for a long life of ease and pleasure, when suddenly death laid his hand upon him. The five foolish virgins went to buy oil for their lamps, thinking to return and participate in the marriage feast, but upon their return they looked, and lo, “the door was shut”!
A great and fatal surprise is before the world. The day of the Lord is approaching as a thief in the night, and that as a snare that is to be sprung suddenly upon its victim. The god of this world has blinded the minds of its people and lulled them to sleep, so that in spite of heaven-sent warnings, they will come unawares to the day of doom. Many, even of those who profess to be looking for him, will share in this fatal surprise, for many will say in their hearts, “My lord delayeth his coming,” and cease to watch and keep in readiness for his return. “In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” When it is least expected, suddenly the mystery of God will be finished in the earth, and the destiny of every individual will be unalterably fixed.
Beware of a surprise. “Now is the day of salvation.”
L. A. S.
A Rally in Behalf of the Young
By G. B. Thompson
NOVEMBER 4 has been set apart by the officers of the Central Union Conference as “Young People’s day” in all the churches in the Union. Judging from the program just received from Professor Kern, secretary of the Young People’s work in that territory, it will be a most interesting and exceedingly profitable day, not only for the youth, but for the churches as well. Professor Kern contributes an interesting paper entitled, “The Message of Elijah;” Sister L. Flora Plummer one on “Our Young People’s Call to Service.” These readings, together with extracts from the “Testimonies,” will be published in a special number of the Educational Messenger of Oct. 15, 1905. Other helpful articles, hints, etc., will appear in the REVIEW and the Instructor.
It is encouraging to see these earnest efforts put forth for the youth in this union conference. If each church will do what it can, it will be a success. As an elder, leader, or Sabbath-school superintendent, have you not longed for some one to help you in your labors in behalf of the young people in your church? Here is help within your reach, and this is a splendid opportunity to co-operate with those who are struggling to place this important work where it should be.
Why should not other union and local conferences take some similar steps in behalf of the young within their borders? It needs no argument to emphasize the need. We are losing more young Sabbath-keepers from our ranks in many conferences than will equal the number brought into the truth by the workers. Are these young people not worth saving? Why not put forth as earnest efforts in their behalf as for those who know nothing of this message? When we do this, we shall see large numbers of them turning unto the Lord. The spirit of prophecy has said, “Let the6overseers of the church devise plans whereby young men and women may be trained to put to use their entrusted talents. . . . Let the ministers put to use all their ingenuity in devising plans whereby the younger members of the church may be led to co-operate with them in missionary work.”
A great work is to be done both for and with our young people. If all will heed the instruction already quoted from the spirit of prophecy, much will be accomplished in this direction. “Young People’s day” in the Central Union is a step toward this, and we earnestly pray that it may be specially blessed of the Lord.