p. 643 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 41. (10/29/1885)

Signs of the Times

Oct 29, 1885

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 29, 1885

The Test of Christian Living.

By Mrs. E. G. White

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it.” Matt. 7:24-27.

In this text there is presented something for us individually to do in order to build securely, where the fierce tempest will not sweep away our foundation. The earnest, anxious inquiry of every soul should be, How am I building? Is my foundation sliding sand, or solid rock?

Let us consider more fully the lesson that Jesus gave in his sermon on the mount, as with great distinctness and power his words fell on the ears of the listening multitude. “Enter ye in at the strait gate,” he says; “for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

Many tell us, “You are too particular. God does not expect us to be constantly on guard lest we make mistakes. He is too good to hold us accountable for our course of action day by day.” But we are to remember that the way to destruction is broad, while the way to eternal life is strait and narrow. Listen again to the words of the great Teacher: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” This shows us that we are to be guarded on every side, lest we mistake the way. We must be careful not to listen to agents of the great adversary, who would guide our feet into forbidden paths, as our first parents were led into transgression.

Our Lord does not leave us in darkness as to whom to trust. Here is the rule by which to decide: “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” Here is the test by which to judge every man who claims to be a teacher and a guide to the people. And now listen to his startling denunciation of those teachers who make high pretensions to godliness, while their works do not correspond with their profession: “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” Do their high claims prove them to be genuine Christians and reliable guides? No, indeed! We must look carefully at the life and character, the words and deeds.

Jesus is guarding his hearers from deceptions that would endanger their souls; and he warns them to beware of false teachers, who are wolves in sheep's clothing. He would have every one for whom his precious blood is a ransom, constantly on his guard, comparing every man's pretentious claims with the great standard of righteousness. The question is, “What saith the Scriptures?” Human lips may utter perverse things, lying doctrines that have no foundation in God's word, and souls may be sincere in accepting these erroneous doctrines; but will their sincerity save them from the sure and disastrous result? The Bible is the standard of truth and holiness. If they were carefully and prayerfully living by this word, they would not be deceived.

The words of Jesus are full of awful significance: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven.” That will is made known in his law, which is the foundation of his government in Heaven and upon earth. Those who cheerfully obey that law are doing the will of God.

The lesson continues: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Here attention is called to a class who are actively engaged in religious work, making high claims to the favor of God, while they are all the time serving the great adversary of souls. They are transgressing the law of God, and are teaching others to transgress it also. Thus they are zealous workers of iniquity, while claiming Christ as their Lord, and professedly doing great works in his name.

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.” “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.”

Here are two houses. One is built on a rock, and is almost inaccessible; the other is on the level ground, in a much pleasanter location. To the thoughtless observer it seems that the man who built his house on the steep rock was odd and foolish, while the one who built on the low, level plain is considered wise and prudent. But by and by the storm comes. The winds blow and the tempests beat upon these houses. And what is the result? The beautiful home upon the plain is overthrown, and lies upon the beach, a useless ruin, while the other, perched on the high rock, stands firm, unmoved by storm and flood.

Jesus compared the man who hears and obeys his words to the one who built his house upon a rock. The floods of temptation may come, and the tempests of trial beat; but he remains unmoved, for his foundation is sure. But the man who built his house on the sand, where it had no firm foundation, but was quickly undermined and overthrown, fitly represents the one who hears the words of Christ and disregards them. Will we let this lesson impress our hearts, and have an influence on our character-building? Will we plant our feet upon the truth of God—the sure foundation, or will we trust in erroneous doctrines, which are but sliding sand? Holiness and sin are opposed to each other. “Sin is the transgression of the law,” therefore the “doers of the word” are not those who are making void the law of God. “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” The blessing is pronounced on those that obey, not on those that transgress, the holy law of God.

Everywhere error will be presented for truth; and unless we have a living connection with God, and are diligent in searching the Scriptures, there is danger of being misled. Voices will be heard on every side, saying, “Come with us; we have the truth.” Jesus is the true Shepherd. His sheep hear his voice, and follow him; but a “stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers.” But unless we are ever on our guard, there is constant danger of listening to strange voices.

The Lord commanded Adam in Eden, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat;” “for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” But another voice was heard saying, “Ye shall not surely die.” This strange voice tested Adam and Eve, and proved their loyalty. They had an opportunity to show whether they would be obedient to God, or would disregard his word, and accept that of the deceiver who came to destroy them.

The Lord did not prove Adam and Eve in a large matter. The test given them was the smallest that could have been devised. Had it been a large test, then men and women whose hearts incline to evil would excuse themselves by saying, “This is a trivial matter, and God is not so particular about little things,” and there would be constant transgression in things looked

upon as small, and which pass unrebuked among men. But the Lord has made it very evident that sin, in any degree, is offensive to him.

To Eve it seemed a small thing to disobey God by tasting the fruit of the forbidden tree, and to tempt her husband to transgress also; but their sin opened the floodgate of woe upon the world. And their posterity would have remained in hopeless bondage to sin, had not Christ had pity on them. He left his throne in the courts of Heaven; he laid aside his royal robe, clothed his divinity with humanity, and came to our world all seared and marred by the curse, to reach men where they were. He descended step by step in humiliation, that he might reach to the very depths of human woe, where man had been plunged by his transgression of the law, while with his divine arm he grasped the Infinite One, thus connecting man with God, and earth with Heaven. This great sacrifice was not made to verify the words of Satan by saving man in his transgressions. The design was not to do away and make of none effect the law of God, but to give man another trial, another opportunity to prove his loyalty to the God of Heaven.

“By the law is the knowledge of sin.” The law is the great mirror, into which man must look to discern the defects in his character. If he refuses to consult this divinely appointed detector, and thus learn his true state, can we be surprised that he proudly boasts of perfection? He must see his character in the light of God's law. He must have a new heart, one that is pure, loving, and obedient. The old life of sin and alienation from God must be given up, and a new life of loving, trusting obedience begin. Then the peace of Christ will rule in the heart and sanctify the life; and the path in which he treads will be the highway cast up for the ransomed of the Lord to walk in, where light from Heaven is ever shining.

THE MASTER'S QUESTION.

HAVE ye looked for my sheep in the desert, For those who have lost their way? Have ye been in the wild waste places Where the lost and wandering stray? Have ye trodden the lonely highway, The foul and darksome street? It may be ye'd see in the gloaming The prints of wandering feet.

Have ye folded home to your bosom The trembling, neglected lamb, And taught to the little lost one The sound of the Shepherd's name? Have ye searched for the poor and needy, With no clothing, no home, no bread? The Son of man was among them,— He had nowhere to lay his head.

Have ye carried the living water To the parched and thirsty soul? Have ye said to the sick and wounded, “Christ Jesus makes thee whole”?— Have ye told my fainting children Of the strength of the Father's hand? Have ye guided the tottering footsteps To the shore of the “golden land”?

Have ye stood by the sad and weary, To smooth the pillow of death, To comfort the sorrow-stricken, And strengthen the feeble faith? And have ye felt, when the glory Has streamed through the open door, And flitted across the shadows, That I had been there before? —Sel.

Walking in the Light.

By Dr. T. L. Cuyler

DAVID, the psalmist and prophet, desiring to know many things hard to be discovered, exclaims: O God, "in thy light shall we see light." The first thing to be done was to put himself into that great element of light which flows down from the infinite fount-head of truth. He recognized God. He looked Godward. He waited on him "more than they that watch for the morning." This life has too many mysteries, too many hard problems, too many precipices and pitfalls, for any of us to venture through it by the sparks of our own kindling. Happy will it be for us if we determine to walk only and constantly in the light of the Lord.

The supreme value of the Bible consists in the fact that it is divine truth put into a portable shape. We can carry it with us and find there just what we need for every emergency. The author of the 119th psalm, remembering how often he had threaded his way through the dark and narrow streets of the Holy City, exclaims: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." This is the unanswerable argument for the book, which no scoffer can overthrow; this makes it inestimably precious to those who study it and go by it. It is the only guide-book given under heaven and known among men, that is invariably safe to be followed and never misleads us; the only lamp that I dare to carry with me when I enter the valley of the shadow of death. To Coleridge's famous eulogy of the word of God, "It is the book that always finds me," may be added that it is the only one which always finds for me the one safe, sure path through a life beset with perils. The people who commit the worst blunders and stumble oftenest in times of temptation are not the people who walk in the light of the Bible.

But the supreme glory of the Bible is Christ Jesus. As the chief object of the Eddystone tower is to lift high that blazing Fresnel burner that flings its radiance over the stormy sea, so is it the chief purpose of the word to show us God in Christ. In the face of Jesus Christ we get the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. We can only see and comprehend God in the person of his Son; "the only begotten Son, . . . he hath declared him." There was no presumption, therefore, in the persecuted peasant of Galilee when he said: "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Reading about Jesus in my Bible is not enough. Admiring, reverencing his wonderful character is not enough. I need to have him formed within me, "the hope of glory." I must open my inmost soul to him—every door, every apartment—and let him fill me with himself, if I want to be illuminated and purified. The whole man is full of light only when full of Christ.

The faith that profits me is not an intellectual opinion or assent; it is the act of opening my whole nature to the Son of God so that he pours into me of his wisdom, his strength, his righteousness, his grace. There is a great temptation to us all to follow other people, to be carried by currents and fashions; a still worse temptation to be guided by the false principles of mere expediency instead of absolute right. These are all transient sparks, often delusive Jack-o-lanterns.

A genuine Christian may be, ought to be, so possessed by the Lord Jesus Christ that Christ shall shine within, and shine out from him. How else can we ever become lights in the world such as our Master has commanded us to be? When we surrender ourselves so completely to our Lord that his will is our will, and his word is our law, and his spirit rules, and purifies and elevates and sweetens ours, then we actually walk in the light of the Son of God.

Here is a good test of character. Our all-wise Master said of certain persons that they would not come to the light lest their evil deeds be reproved. I suspect that this is one reason why many people draw away from Christ; even some who profess to be Christians dread too powerful and searching a discovery of their own secret sins. Their blemishes look too ugly; they feel about their own inward selves as the slatternly house-maid did about her cob-webbed and dusty parlor, when she said, "The room looked decent enough till the nasty light came into it." Never can we hope to mend faults till we discover them, however painful to pride and self-conceit. Never can we see faults and deceitful sins in their false disguises until we look honestly at ourselves in the light of Jesus Christ.

A white-washed character is not a clean character; a covered cancer is not a cured cancer; a soul that will not bear the scrutiny of Christ's sin-revealing truth in this world will certainly not bear the tremendous glare of the last great day. The real difference between an unsanctified heart and the genuine, humble, docile disciple of Christ, is that the one dreads the light, and the other desires the light. "Ye were sometime darkness," said the great apostle to his brethren, "but now ye are light in the Lord; walk as children of light;" for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.

The world has a right to expect a great many things from all of us who call ourselves Christians. It is the business of a Christian, not to smoke, but to shine. The dark-lantern religion that never makes itself visible to others will never guide you or me to Heaven. We ought to reflect our Saviour as light-givers. When Moses came down from the mount, he brought God in his shining face. The impressive Christians—the Wesleys, Paysons, Albert Barnesses of the pulpit, the William E. Dodges and Theodore Frelinghuysens in commercial and civil life—have been men who made Jesus Christ visible to others. Sandy Hook lantern does not sound a gong; it shines. They that walk in the light of the Lord fling the rays of their influence; their example is even a richer gift than their gifts of money or their deeds of charity.

The world has a right to expect a cheerful, contented spirit; yes, more than that—a courageous joy in the Lord from all of Christ's followers. We ought to live above the fog-belt. The higher up, the holier; the higher up, the happier. A churlish, croaking, gloomy professor of gospel religion is a living libel; he haunts society like a ghost. But there is one who says to us: "These things have I spoken unto you that your joy might be full." Let us open our souls to him, and our faces will shine; he can make even tears to sparkle; we shall carry sunshine into the darkest hours; we shall catch installments of Heaven in advance.

"Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord."

A Cheerful Giver.

By J. H. Meek

It is evident to the casual observer that much that is contributed by professors of religion for the cause of Christianity is given reluctantly, and in such cases the donor does not reap that benefit and receive that blessing that he would should he obey the Scriptural command: "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver." 2 Cor. 9 : 7. It seems very strange that many are so slow to learn what is their Christian duty in regard to giving, and because it is a delicate matter ministers often fail or neglect to enlighten their people on the subject for fear of censure. All Christians ought to know their duties and privileges pertaining to this important subject. Most certainly the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost will make a man liberal. There is good reason to doubt a man's piety, although he might be what is termed "a loud professor," if he constantly and persistently refuses or neglects to contribute of his earthly substance for the support and spread of Christianity, and for benevolent purposes. "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" 1 John 3 : 17. "He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." Luke 3 : 11.

To be a Christian is to be Christlike. The example of Jesus is to be imitated in self-denial. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." 1 John 3 : 16. All of God's promises are true, and there is a rich reward, both in this world and that which is to come, to the faithful servant of God who seeks in every possible way to glorify his Maker with his money. Again we refer you to the word of God. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20 : 35. "Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." Prov. 3 : 9, 10. "The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." Prov. 11 : 25. "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again." Prov. 19 : 17. "And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." Matt. 10 : 42. Reader, are you doing your whole duty in this regard? Are you coming up to the Scriptural standard of benevolence? Never mind about how much another member subscribes or gives for the general and local interests of the church, but do your whole duty.—Rev. J. H. Meek, in Methodist Recorder.

Have Faith.

HAVE faith in God. It will be an anchor to the soul in times of distress, and in tranquil days and nights it will sweeten every innocent pleasure and exalt the whole life. Men of faith are men of power, and according as men believe in God are they strong. Mental power, the refinement which education and culture give, are not to be despised; yet they may be and often have been perverted to the most selfish and sinful end. They give strength, but do not and cannot teach those endowed with them how to use wisely their gifts. True wisdom is the fruit of faith, and the highest power within man's reach is that with which faith in God clothes him, because faith takes hold on God and draws nourishment from him. Nothing is impossible to him who believes. But this faith must be living, not a mere belief which sleeps in the mind like a corpse in its coffin and shroud; it must be in the heart, vital, growing, and swaying the whole nature and giving direction to its life and activities. Such a faith must be an inspiration to noble deeds, an armor in battle, and will bring the most powerful motives to bear on the daily life.—Sel.

Literature for the Boys and Girls.

By S. K. B.

A LADY was asked recently to what benevolence she would devote $50,000, if it were at her disposal. Her reply was: "I would use it in an effort to develop a taste for the better class of literature among our boys and girls."

We believe her answer struck at one of the main roots of the immorality of the day. The minds of boys and girls are being poisoned beyond belief. They become so familiar, through reading, with every form of folly and vice, and so feed their imaginations upon what is low and vile, that their moral sensibilities become blunted, and they are no longer shocked when they come in contact with the reality.

Pope wrote of vice:— "Familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace."

But the "endurance" and the "pity" are now too often experienced through the medium of the dime novel and sensational stories, within the very precincts of the home, and the young reader is ready to "embrace" at first meeting.

The question comes, How are we to meet this evil? We believe that the solution of the problem lies with the Christian workers of our land, and that they will solve it only when they make as great an effort to put that which elevates into the hands of the youth, as is now being made by the emissaries of evil to circulate that which degrades.

Parents must awaken to the fact that it is no less a duty to supply their children with pure and happy literature than to furnish shoes for their feet and bread for their mouths. They must learn that unless their boy finds plenty of attractive reading on the parlor table, he will be likely to exchange his dime for a thrilling story of the Jesse James type, which he reads on the sly, and then slyly exchanges with a neighbor boy for an equally pernicious tale.

The indifference of the masses in regard to this evil is truly alarming. A great cry is raised over drinking and gambling, while comparatively little is said of the influence exerted by vile literature, which, it may be no exaggeration to say, bears somewhat the same relation to the saloons and gambling dens that the preparatory school does to the college. Well-meaning parents in Christian homes, while careful to ask where their children go and what they do, quite forget to ask what they read; and we hear twenty ministers denounce from the pulpit the liquor traffic, where one raises his voice against this more subtle and therefore more dangerous evil.

Anthony Comstock is doing a noble work in trying to put down vile literature; perhaps no man in the land is more unselfish in his labors. But we ask, What is being done to put something of worth in the place of that which he throws out? Unless something wholesome and attractive is substituted, his work will have little of permanent value.

It is not simply by attacking the impure, but by setting forth the worth and beauty of the pure as well, that moral reforms are to be effected. Surely, if vile literature is one of the strongest forces of evil, pure literature may be made one of the most potent for good.—S. K. B., in Christian at Work.

PRAYER.

WHEN hearts with sins o'erburdened Yearn to be clean and whole, Prayer is the almoner who brings The life-draught of the soul!

It is a water nurtured Within no earthly sod,— This symbol of celestial life Out of the throne of God!

Delayed Results.

THE want of immediate or apparent success is among the severe trials which Christian workers are called to endure. To toil long without any obvious results is painfully trying; but it is a test of faith to which the faithful servants of God are often subjected. He that sows, is not always he that quickly gathers the ripened grain with rejoicing that he has not labored in vain. The bringing in of the sheaves from the field where tearful sowing is done, is often delayed. Success, at first, is dealt out but sparingly, in a multitude of cases. The sower is not so soon a reaper as he longs to be, in what seems to him a godly impatience.

It has always been thus. God tries the faith of his servants by keeping them in suspense. Jeremiah says, "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait." The most excellent and faithful have thus been tried. That for which they anxiously looked did not appear according to their desires or their expectations as to either the time or the way of appearance, if, indeed, aught on earth was ever to be seen. The preaching of Noah produced but little effect, from first to last, so far as gaining converts was concerned. He waited long before his words were confirmed and before the end of his ministry was accomplished. Very wearisome must have been that one hundred and twenty years of waiting. Many a time he must have felt that he was laboring in vain; and never, at all, did he see the world converted and saved. Without doubt, however, he was permitted to feel that the true end of the work given him to do, was accomplished; so that he was by no means to be considered an unsuccessful preacher.—Watchman.

Lovers of Pleasure More Than God

By Methodist Recorder

"LOVERS of pleasures more than lovers of God," characterized certain persons spoken of by the apostle. While professing to love God, they took far greater delight in the pleasures of the world. There are plenty of such people at the present day. They profess to be Christians, but they greatly prefer going to the skating rink than to the prayer-meeting or to the public worship of God. They have so much to do that they have not time to go to church, and yet they can spend hour after hour in a useless and dangerous pastime. They are too poor to pay their bills in the grocery store, or contribute to the support of the gospel; but they can pay to attend the rink business week in and week out. And yet they are Christians, and the skating rink a delightful place! Wait till God flashes the light of the Judgment on these things, and then they will appear very differently. You may not have long to wait.—Methodist Recorder.

Dare to Stand Alone.

"GATHER to me all Israel, . . . and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table." So far as Elijah knew, he was all alone in God's service. The court, and the priesthood, and the people were all against him and his cause; the church, the state, and the rabble, on one side; and he on the other. But what of that? He had no fear, and he asked no odds. Gather them all, he said, and I will face them squarely. No child of God need ever be afraid because of the numbers which oppose him. To take appearances into account, is to count God out of the conflict. There are two adages current in the world, and men's faith or faithfulness shows itself according to the adage they accept as their creed. "God is on the side of the heaviest battalions!" That is the godless creed. All history gives the lie to it; and it is a falsehood, history or no history. "God and one man are always a majority!" That is a creed worth standing by—worth falling by, if need be. The history of the world shows that God's best work in the world has been carried forward by one man at a time breasting the combined forces of evil. We have no right to expect popular support in God's service. Three things will be pretty sure to oppose us always,—the world, the flesh, and the devil. Unless we are ready to face these in their fullest force, we might as well be counted out from active service in God's campaigning.—Sel.

The Proverbs.

THE Proverbs are of highest use, and ought to be studied for their wisdom, their broad interpretation of life, and their ethical value. They are specially strong in the warnings they sound against indulgence of the passions,—lust, greed, anger, pride, envy, drunkenness. They protest against every form of social unrighteousness. They touch tenderly upon the family, and press its duties. They smite folly of all sorts, and many of them are rods for a fool's back. They insist on truth and simplicity and justice and moderation, on humility and patience and charity. Everywhere they identify wisdom with goodness, and folly with evil, and their universal characteristic is common sense. They are reverential, and many of them reach a long way toward the sermon on the mount, and some touch the deepest springs of the human heart. In practical wisdom, and in daily guides of conduct, they surpass any other utterances of truth that can be compared with them. If heeded and obeyed, they would bring the individual, the family, the community, the nation, into a state of ideal perfection.—Sel.

Act Reverently.

I could sometimes wish you did not leave your pew so abruptly and promptly as you do, the moment the last syllable of the benediction has been pronounced. There is no need that you should have your hat in your hand; no need that you should have the great coat upon the shoulder; nor yet that, the moment the last syllable is pronounced, doors should be thrown open as though you were eager and impatient until the thing had come to a close. It would be well—it would be better, more in harmony with those outward expressions of reverence—if there were a moment's silence, a silent pause, indicating that when the service is closed you have not been eager for its close; and then it is yours to go away in the hopeful confidence that God, who has been reverently waited on by you, and whose benediction has been pronounced over you in his name and by his authority, would go with you and help you to make the rest of your life not secular as distinguished from religious, but spiritual and godly through and through.—Homiletic Monthly.

Continue reading: The Empire of Rome