Our party of thirty sailed from New York, Wednesday, April 30. Six traveled by the steamship “St. Louis,” and twenty-four by the “Oceanic.” It is now Tuesday afternoon, May 6, and the “Oceanic” is nearing Queenstown, Ireland, where this letter will be posted. We are due at Liverpool early to-morrow.
So far our voyage has been about all that we could desire. The boat is clean and well ventilated; the officers, stewards, and sailors are pleasant and obliging; the weather has been pleasant, and the sea very smooth; and we have had a good class of fellow passengers. But very few of our party have experienced any unpleasantness from the motion of the vessel. Nearly all have taken their meals regularly, and have really enjoyed the voyage. For all these blessings our hearts have daily gone up to our kind Father for his loving care. We hope that those of our company who sailed on the “St. Louis” an hour before we left port have had as good an experience as we have. While we would not complain nor turn back if our voyage had been hard, yet we are thankful for the sunshine and the good cheer that have been ours.
Six of our company are delegates to the European Union Conference, which is to be held in London, May 15–25. These delegates are Brethren H. W. Cottrell, C. W. Flaiz, N. P. Nelson, H. Schultz, and E. R. Palmer, and myself. Brother Cottrell, president of the Atlantic Union Conference, attends in behalf of that conference. Brother Flaiz goes by request of the Northern Union Conference, of which he is president. Brother Nelson is a representative of the Central Union Conference, and the Scandinavians generally. Brother Schultz goes by vote of the Southwestern Union Conference, and especially represents the German brethren in America. Brother Palmer will give special attention to the book work.
I am glad that these brethren are visiting our European conferences as delegates from sister conferences in America. For many years our European conferences have been sending delegates to the General Conference in America. These delegates have come to tell us of their great fields and pressing needs. They have done their best to place the situation before us as it is, and thus to arouse us to provide more help to give this last message to the millions in their fields. They have been successful to some degree. But the response from America has been feeble compared with the needs of Europe and our ability to send them laborers and funds.
This step on the part of the Union conferences in sending delegates to Europe means a change in the order of things. These delegates are going to see the situation for themselves, and for those whom they represent. They will visit the different conferences, and join the committees in a thorough study of their fields, their needs, and the opening providences of God for the extension of the cause. As they sit down with their European brethren and seriously look into the very problems they are facing year after year, they will be able to understand the field as they could not by any verbal report given at the General Conference. This will enable them to give our brethren in Europe the counsel they so much desire regarding a forward policy. And when they have united with these brethren in planning for the advancement of the work, they can return to their fields in America to work earnestly to secure the help that must be provided to carry out these plans.
Again I must express my joy that it has seemed good to our union conferences in America to send brethren to inquire into the needs of the great European field. Each union conference pays the expenses of its delegate, and, better still, sends its delegate that on his return he may help all the people in the conference to do more for Europe than ever before.
But will not this move greatly increase the already large traveling expenses of delegates?—I think not. For many years our foreign conferences have been sending many delegates to the General Conference. But if our American delegates do thorough work while in Europe and on their return to America, the European delegation can be smaller hereafter. Thus this expense of sending delegates from America can be saved by making the delegation from Europe smaller. This will place a part of the burden of expense on our American conferences, and will give our brethren in America an opportunity to become better acquainted with the work in Europe. There will be gain from every standpoint.
In this company we have nine canvassers who have been appointed to the English field. Our brethren in the various State and union conferences have united heartily with us in selecting the best available men in response to this call. The names of these canvassers, and the places from which they have been sent, are as follows:— G. W. Bailey, New England; H. E. Holmes, his wife and child, California; W. B. Scott, his wife and two children, North Pacific; Wm. Olmstead and his wife, Oklahoma; Arthur Carscallan, Dakota; L. A. Hartford, Kansas; Earnest Taylor, Texas; W. O. James, Nebraska; and Joseph Brandt, his wife and daughter, Wisconsin.
As the traveling expenses of these workers will be quite heavy, and as the funds of the Mission Board are needed for the support of the missions, we decided to call upon some of the stronger States for donations toward paying the traveling expenses of these canvassers. We have already received the following amounts:— California, $250; North Pacific, $250; Oklahoma, $200; Dakota, $75; Nebraska, $75; Minnesota, $175; Michigan, $100; and New York, $75. Total, $1,200. The States of Wisconsin and Kansas also expect to contribute something toward the expenses, but the definite amount has not yet been reported.
Letters recently received from England indicate that our brethren there are rejoiced with the prospect of securing such a good corps of experienced workers.
May those who read these lines pray that the Lord will so guide these workers that a good work will be done.
A. G. DANIELLS.
L. A. S
By L. A. S.
PROBABLY the most highly civilized city on the earth to-day is Paris, if we may judge from the fact that all other civilized lands take their fashions from that place. But when we inspect the life of this most highly polished city, we are led to the conclusion that civilization is not the source of all that which exalts and adds value to human character; and that some people — the Parisians, for example — might even be better off if their civilization had not proceeded quite so far.
Here is an item reported from the French capital, which in our view points in this direction:—
The American visitors here cannot understand the seeming indifference of the Parisians in regard to the Martinique disaster. Beyond the half-masted flags over the government offices there are no signs of public mourning. The people flock to their usual resorts, attend the races, fill the theaters, none of which have been closed, no “extras” are issued, and there is no demand for them. But the evening papers, containing bulletins of the automobile race, are eagerly purchased.
We may well beware of too much civilization. Salvation — that which alone makes life worth living to any people — comes not from Paris, or London, or New York, but from the gospel of God, which teaches men to love their neighbors as themselves.
L. A. S
A Reform Needed
By Ellen G. White
MRS. E. G. WHITE
IF Seventh-day Adventists practiced what they profess to believe, if they were sincere health reformers, they would indeed be a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. And they would show a far greater zeal for the salvation of those who are ignorant of the truth.
Greater reforms should be seen among the people who claim to be looking for the soon appearing of Christ. Health reform is to do among our people a work which it has not yet done. There are those who ought to be awake to the danger of meat eating, who are still eating the flesh of animals, thus endangering the physical, mental, and spiritual health. Many who are now only half converted on the question of meat eating will go from God's people, to walk no more with them.
In all our work we must obey the laws which God has given, that the physical and spiritual energies may work in harmony. Men may have a form of godliness, they may even preach the gospel, and yet be unpurified and unsanctified. Ministers should be strictly temperate in their eating and drinking, lest they make crooked paths for their feet, turning the lame—those weak in the faith—out of the way. If while proclaiming the most solemn and important message God has ever given, men war against the truth by indulging wrong habits of eating and drinking, they take all the force from the message they bear.
Those who indulge in meat eating, tea drinking, and gluttony are sowing seeds for a harvest of pain and death. The unhealthful food placed in the stomach strengthens the appetites that war against the soul, developing the lower propensities. A diet of flesh meat tends to develop animalism. A development of animalism lessens spirituality, rendering the mind incapable of understanding truth.
The Word of God plainly warns us that unless we abstain from fleshly lusts, the physical nature will be brought into conflict with the spiritual nature. Lustful eating wars against health and peace. Thus a warfare is instituted between the higher and the lower attributes of the man. The lower propensities, strong and active, oppress the soul. The highest interests of the being are imperiled by the indulgence of appetites unsanctioned by Heaven.
Great care should be taken to form right habits of eating and drinking. The food eaten should be that which will make the best blood. The delicate organs of digestion should be respected. God requires us, by being temperate in all things, to act our part toward keeping ourselves in health. He cannot enlighten the mind of a man who makes a cesspool of his stomach. He does not hear the prayers of those who are walking in the light of the sparks of their own kindling.
Common Errors in Diet
Intemperance is seen in the quantity as well as in the quality of food eaten. The Lord has instructed me that as a general rule we place too much food in the stomach. Many make themselves uncomfortable by overeating, and sickness is often the result. The Lord did not bring this punishment on them. They brought it on themselves, and God desires them to realize that pain is the result of transgression.
Daily abused, the digestive organs cannot do their work well. A poor quality of blood is made, and thus, through improper eating, the whole machinery is crippled. Give the stomach less to do. It will recover if proper care is shown in regard to the quality and quantity of food eaten.
Many eat too rapidly. Others eat at one meal varieties of food that do not agree. If men and women would only remember how greatly they afflict the soul when they afflict the stomach, and how deeply Christ is dishonored when the stomach is abused, they would deny the appetite, and thus give the stomach opportunity to recover its healthy action. While sitting at the table, we may do medical missionary work by eating and drinking to the glory of God.
To eat on the Sabbath the same amount of food eaten on a working day, is entirely out of place. The Sabbath is the day set apart for the worship of God, and on it we are to be specially careful in regard to our diet. A clogged stomach means a clogged brain. Too often so large an amount of food is eaten on the Sabbath that the mind is rendered dull and stupid, incapable of appreciating spiritual things. The habits of eating have much to do with the many dull religious exercises of the Sabbath. The diet for the Sabbath should be selected with reference to the duties of the day on which the purest, holiest service is to be offered to God.
Eating has much to do with religion. The spiritual experience is greatly affected by the way in which the stomach is treated. Eating and drinking in accordance with the laws of health promote virtuous actions. But if the stomach is abused by habits that have no foundation in nature, Satan takes advantage of the wrong that has been done, and uses the stomach as an enemy of righteousness, creating a disturbance which affects the entire being. Sacred things are not appreciated. Spiritual zeal diminishes. Peace of mind is lost. There is dissension, strife, and discord. Impatient words are spoken, and unkind deeds are done; dishonest practices are followed, and anger is manifested,—and all because the nerves of the brain are disturbed by the abuse heaped on the stomach.
What a pity it is that often, when the greatest self-denial should be exercised, the stomach is crowded with a mass of unhealthful food, which lies there to decompose. The affliction of the stomach afflicts the brain. The imprudent eater does not realize that he is disqualifying himself for giving wise counsel, disqualifying himself for laying plans for the best advancement of the work of God. But this is so. He cannot discern spiritual things, and in council meetings, when he should say Yea, he says Nay. He makes propositions that are wide of the mark, because the food he has eaten has benumbed his brain power.
Relation of Health Principles to Spirituality
The failure to follow sound principles has marred the history of God's people. There has been a continual backsliding in health reform, and as a result God is dishonored by a great lack of spirituality. Barriers have been erected which would never have been seen had God's people walked in the light.
Shall we who have had such great opportunities allow the people of the world to go in advance of us in health reform? Shall we cheapen our minds and abuse our talents by wrong eating? Shall we transgress God's holy law by following selfish practices? Shall our inconsistency become a byword? Shall we live such unchristianlike lives that the Saviour will be ashamed to call us brethren?9
Shall we not rather do that medical missionary work which is the gospel in practice, living in such a way that the peace of God can rule in our hearts? Shall we not remove every stumbling-block from the feet of unbelievers, ever remembering what is due to a profession of Christianity? Far better give up the name of Christian than make a profession and at the same time indulge appetites which strengthen unholy passions.
God calls upon every church member to dedicate his life unreservedly to the Lord's service. He calls for decided reformation. All creation is groaning under the curse. God's people should place themselves where they will grow in grace, being sanctified, body, soul, and spirit, by the truth. When they break away from all health-destroying indulgences, they will have a clearer perception of what constitutes true godliness. A wonderful change will be seen in the religious experience.
The apostle plainly states that those who reach a high standard of righteousness must be temperate in all things. The Lord sends this message to his people: “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
“It is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”
“His People’s Portion”
By Eva Young
GIVER of all and Guardian blest,
Thy promise now fulfill,
To every soul by storm distressed
Speak the glad word, “Be still.”
In quietness and confidence
Behold thy strength shall be,
In quietness and confidence,
Be still and trust in me.
Behold the lilies of the field,
Consider how they grow;
Behold, my child, the birds of air
Which neither reap nor sow.
Be sure if God so clothes the earth
And heeds the raven’s cry,
He will receive his people’s prayer,
And all their needs supply.
O thou of little faith, be strong,
Believe, and thou shalt see,
Though scant the harvest field to-day,
God can provide for thee!
In humble patience strive to learn
Obedience to his will.
The Lord’s salvation is at hand;
Wait patiently; be still!
—Eva Young.
Praise
By Mrs. Howard Watson
As an angel beaming bright,
Spreading trails of golden light,
Sowing everlasting flowers
In the dullest, loneliest hours;
Cheering prisons, dark and drear,
Dismal dungeons, damp, severe,
Miry pits, unfavored plains,
So is praise, when sorrow reigns;
Blessing all the glooms of time
With its radiancy sublime.
And as more, in midst of pain,
Praises flow from out the heart,
So the more our spirits gain
With the angels' souls a part.
—Mrs. Howard Watson.
Self-Government Means Self-Support
In studying the message in general, we have found that self-government is an essential of it; that self-government is Christianity; that the power of it is divine; that it is a divine attribute made manifest in the flesh by divine power. There is another phase of our work that is wrapped up in that. You all agreed to-day that self-government is right; that it is Christianity. I am sure that to-night you all agree to that. And now, with that: just as certainly as self-government is the right thing, so certainly self-support goes right along with it. I am willing that you should think of that just as long as you choose, until you can all say, Amen.
I commit myself to the principle of self-government. How is that government going to be run financially? how is the government going to be supported materially? Since the government is self-government; and that government must be supported materially, there is no other way of support than self-support. Inevitably, the support must come from the same source as comes the government.
Then you see it is everlastingly fixed; we never can get away from it. As certainly as we believe in self-government, we stand flat-footed everlastingly upon the principle of self-support. Then every man who is a Christian will be a self-supporting worker; every man who is in the ministry will be self-supporting. We must all say Amen to that.
That is plain, just from the statement of the case. There are considerations that confirm it, that make it impossible for anybody ever to escape it with any face at all.
In our previous study we found that self-government does not end with the individual himself alone; but the individual finds only in God the power to govern himself; that the individual finds in God his sole, his infinite resource in everything that pertains to government. That is self-government. Then, what is the fountain of self-support?—The source of self-government is the source of self-support. We cannot escape that; and that source is God in Jesus Christ.
Is it not plain enough that any man who professes to be joined to God, who professes that God is his sole source of strength, who professes that God is his all in all,—what kind of a heart can the man have who will say that he cannot support himself with God? Is God stranded?—No; he can make his own way. Now, we are ministers of the gospel in the world. Whether a man is a minister of the gospel in the actual preaching of the gospel, set apart by the laying on of hands and the call of God, or whether he is a minister of the gospel simply because he has received the gospel as a plain, every-day Christian, it is all the ministry of the gospel. And “the gospel . . . is the power of God.” As certainly, then, as any person receives the gospel, he receives the power of God.
Think of it. Here is a man who professes that he has received the gospel, professes that he has received the power of God, and yet cannot make his way! How do those things fit? You see, on the face of it, that what that man professes is a fraud. I do not mean to say that he is consciously practicing a fraud, that he is intentionally passing off a fraud, that he is a hypocrite—not that; but I do say that the man who professes to have received the gospel, the power of God, and then cannot make his way in the world, whoever he may be, whatever his calling is,—the man who professes to have received the power of God, and then cannot make his way in this world, has simply allowed himself to be defrauded with a mere figment, with a mere profession without the reality; with the mere form of godliness without the power. That is perfectly plain; for the power of God is substantial, there is something to it.
So entirely is this principle true that we may illustrate it thus: Suppose a man in this world living without God, as the world does; and that man cannot make his way, is always in debt, always behind, cannot plan, cannot execute, so as to keep himself clear, but is dependent on all around him. Suppose that he receives the gospel. He receives the power of God. And that power of God will make him a successful man in everything that he puts his hand to from that day forward. And if that be not so, then he has not truly received the gospel at all; he has received a mere form of things. He has taken upon himself a mere profession of things, an empty figment of things, without the reality, without the real power that he professes to have received.
That is so; there can be no two ways about it. Otherwise, if it is so, and if we acknowledge that it is so,—that a man the day after he professes the gospel can do no better than the day before he professed the gospel, and cannot make his way, but is always behind, and always depending on those around him to help him forward,—if we are to allow that the person who receives the gospel is no better able to make his way than before, then I want to know what the gospel is worth? and what is the use of preaching the gospel? If the gospel does not bring into my life something that was not there before, then it is nothing to me more than it was before: and that is nothing—a mere figment, a hollow sham.
But the gospel comes to the world as the power of God. And that is what it truly is. The man who truly receives the gospel receives the power of God. And it is everlastingly true that any man in this world clothed with the power of God is able to do what he never could do before.
But the gospel is not simply the power of God, it is also the wisdom of God. We preach Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. He is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Then in the gospel there is power to enable man to do10what he never could do before, and there is wisdom to enable him to devise and to execute in a way that he never could before.
To say that a man has received from God power, and to say that God in Christ has become his wisdom and his knowledge, his instructor and his teacher, to show that man the way, to lead his mind in new paths and divine ways, is at the same time to say that that man can see a way to do better than he did before, to devise differently from what he ever was able to do before, to execute as he never was able to execute before, and has power to accomplish with all this what he never could accomplish before. And then to recognize, to allow for a moment, that that man cannot make his way in the world, is a disgrace to God and a fraud upon himself.
Shall I profess that the wisdom of God is given to me, that the knowledge of God is at my disposal, that the Spirit of God is put upon me to guide in wisdom's way, and that the power of God is given to me to reach forward in the accomplishment of divine things, and then actually give the impression by my actions in the world and by the fruits of those actions, that all that is not so? If I make all that profession, and then my work does not pay my way, if it does not bring results to the cause of God in any fair proportion for what I take out of the cause of God in wages and expenses, will those two things fit?—Those two things cannot possibly fit.
The only fitness of things, then, in your profession of the gospel, and in mine, as ministers of the gospel, the only fitness that there can possibly be in our profession, is that our work shall bring into the cause of God more than our wages and expenses can ever take out. And each one of us is to be everlastingly ashamed of himself if that is not so—until it shall be so.
And still further: the preaching ministry is the key of the whole work of the Lord in this world. I say advisedly, the key, for it is literally true that whichever way that key turns, things go. If the preaching minister is dilatory, trifling, weak,—as certainly as he is of that sort, so the whole cause wherever his influence reaches will become that sort; all the people will become that sort.
But if the minister is wide-awake, energetic, inventive, thoughtful to devise and powerful to execute, clothed with the power of God, and really preaches the power that does all this for those who receive it,—then as certainly as the key turns that way, so the whole cause wheresoever that minister's influence reaches will be of that sort. All the people to whom he preaches will be of that sort.
Now we have a problem. Every conference and conference committee knows that it is a problem in this work of reorganization to bring the ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist cause upon a self-supporting basis, to bring the ministry of the cause to where their work will bring into the cause more than their wages and expenses take out.
Upon what principle, by what process of reasoning, can I argue that I shall spend my time a whole year at conference expense, taking from the treasury in wages and expenses five, six, or seven hundred dollars, and bringing into the cause one, two, or three, four or five individuals, and perhaps none at all? I want to know upon what principle of fairness I can do that thing.
Of what is the conference composed?—The members, the Seventh-day Adventists that are within the territory of that conference. The conference committee are simply men chosen from the membership to have the care of the funds, the property, and the work of the conference. And they are to guard the funds, as well as to care for the business, of the denomination in that conference.
Those funds come from the people. True, they are tithe that belong to God; but those tithes you know come from the poor people. I mean poor people, because Seventh-day Adventists are generally poor, and that is why we have them, so much money. That is straight. You can always trust the poor. We are not to despise the rich. Thank the Lord that he can save even the rich; but we never can put our trust in rich men, nor in the money of rich men. Our trust can be safely put in the poor, and never be disappointed.
Thank God always when he does gather in a rich man, and save his soul; but of all things do not put your trust or any kind of dependence at all upon his wealth. I do not mean to say that he will give nothing. That is not it. But I do say that it is wrong in principle to rest any kind of hope upon the money of the rich. Our dependence is not upon money; it is upon God. Our dependence is upon righteousness; it is upon character. And that is one thing that Seventh-day Adventists everywhere, and in our institutions particularly, must soon settle once and for all: that money shall never be allowed any kind of weight as against character.
Character is the one thing. Character, righteous character, in an institution is worth more than all the money that that institution could make in a million years.
For an institution to compromise with falsity in character, and overlook unrighteousness, condone iniquity in employees, for fear that the abrupt stoppage of a press, or the disarrangement of a department, or even the stoppage of the whole institution for righteousness' sake, would cause the loss of “so much money,” of “such an important job,” or would jeopardize “so much of a steady income,” is simply deliberately to love iniquity and hate righteousness. And there is nothing that has cursed Seventh-day Adventist institutions in our day more than that very choice, which in itself is a choice of the love of iniquity and the hatred of righteousness. Not that they deliberately stand up and say, “I do love iniquity, and I do hate righteousness.” But if an employee uses obscene language, or plays wicked tricks, or does ungodly things, or carries on mischievous practices, and the management of that institution knows of these things, and then holds that man in their employ, just because to eliminate that individual would cause the loss of this job or that piece of income, or the favor of such and such a man, or such and such a set of people,—what is that but deliberately to put wealth, income, influence, money, against character; “business” against Christianity; and deliberately to commit the management and the institution itself to iniquity as against righteousness? It is as clear a decision, as clear a choice, of the love of iniquity and the hatred of righteousness as a man can make.
I was saying a moment ago that the tithes come largely from the poor, from the hard-working, self-denying people. You know it. Poor widows who have to labor at the washtub and practice self-denial and careful management in every possible way to support themselves and the children who are dependent upon them,—these faithfully turn over to the treasury of God the tithe that belongs to the cause of the Lord for propagating the gospel. Then I want to know what kind of a heart there can be in me if I have the face to drift along a year, much less year after year, as has been done, bringing practically nothing into the treasury, and taking out those sacred funds by the hundreds? Where is the spirit of fairness? Where is it only as between man and man?
Well, then, let us stand up and be men enough to refuse to have anything to do with any such thing as that. Let us be manly enough to decide that if our work cannot bring into the cause of God more than our wages and expenses take out, then we will put ourselves at something in which it will do it.
(To be continued)
The Harvest Is Sure
NEVER mind whereabouts your work is. Never mind whether your name is associated with it. You may never see the issues of your toils. You are working for eternity. If you cannot see results in the hot working day, the cool evening hours are drawing near, when you may rest from your labors, and then they will follow you.
Know this, that never yet
Share of truth was vainly set
In the world's wide fallow;
After hands shall sow the seed,
After hands from hill and mead
Reap the harvests yellow.
Thus, with somewhat of the seer,
Must the moral pioneer
From the future borrow;
Clothe the waste with dreams of grain,
And, on midnight's sky of rain,
Paint the golden morrow!
— Selected.
The Love of Christ Constraineth Us
By George W. Reaser
G. W. REASER
We have reached the time of supreme importance in proclaiming the third angel's message to the world. Each swift-f fleeting year brings us nearer the close of our pilgrimage, nearer the consummation of all things earthly, nearer the coming of the Lord. Each hurrying moment narrows the rapidly closing space between to-day and the limit of probation for all mankind, while it lessens the sum total of our opportunities for doing good, for preparing for the great change to be brought “at the revelation of Jesus Christ,” and for saving souls in his soon-coming kingdom.
Nothing of eternal worth, nothing that will be counted of enduring value before the judgment bar of God, is performed without the inspiration of an unselfish11motive. This being true, would it not be well for us, as individuals, to stop a moment, adjust the search light, and consider the motive power which prompts us to action? Is it simply the idea of securing our own salvation, or does a broader, higher, and more noble mainspring actuate our lives? Do we wholly consecrate our lives, our all, for Christ's sake, being inspired by the love which prompted him to exchange the courts of glory for the manger, Gethsemane, and Calvary? or is there another motive power seated on our heart's throne? Considering the thought that Christ could not enjoy the bliss of heaven while he beheld our lost estate, can we settle down complacently and be at “ease in Zion,” assuring ourselves that our personal salvation is secure, while we permit the blood-bought souls at our very doors to perish for want of a saving knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus?
Brethren, does the love of Christ constrain us? Do we fully sense the force of the truth that, since he died for us, we, to whom life is given solely by virtue of his atoning sacrifice in our behalf, should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but “unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood”?
We are debtors to all men. Are we each ready to say, As much as in me lieth, I am ready to carry the everlasting gospel to all men? The moment we lose our love for perishing souls around us, that moment we virtually dry up our own spiritual blessings, for the Lord will not continue to bestow spiritual blessings upon us, unless we, in turn, are channels of blessing to others. We cannot get a large supply of the blessing of the Holy One, and bottle it up in our hearts; it will certainly leak out, and leave our souls barren and desolate.
We are in a fallen world, peopled largely by lost members of the human family. We have only a limited time to remain here. The glorious possibility of eternal salvation lies just before us, if life is improved. In view of this solemn fact, the only course that wisdom can dictate is to improve the passing moments, to consider the present from the standpoint of eternity. The central figure in the great plan of salvation is an all-sufficient Saviour. The central thought in this plan is love divine. The Father gave the Son, the Son gave his life. That which prompted the Saviour to make the greatest sacrifice known to the universe, was the prospect of eventually seeing “of the travail of his soul,” in the blood-bought, redeemed throng, who will finally share his life and glory in his everlasting kingdom; and this alone will fully satisfy him. He will soon be satisfied. Shall we, in that day, share in the joy of our Lord?
The Morning's Message
“WHEN o’er earth is breaking
Rosy light and fair,
Morn afar proclaimeth
Sweetly, God is there.”
Power with God and Men
By Harry Champness
HARRY CHAMPNESS
“And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.”
It is night. A solitary man has thrown himself, helpless, on the ground. With strong crying and tears he is pouring out his prayers and supplications. The brook flows on unheeded with its babble over the loose stones and great bowlders. The cry of the jackal and of the night owl is unnoticed by that agonized heart. An awful sense of dread and fear settles upon that prostrate man as the past rises up before him. His iniquities prevail against him.
He sees himself again standing by the bedside of his aged father, with the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands and upon his neck. He feels again the guilty dread that had seized him that day when his father insisted on feeling him. He trembles once more as the words still sound in his ears: “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” Yet he knows that God has not forsaken him because of his sins, and so he gathers himself up to meet with God before he should meet with man on the morrow.
He has heard that Esau is coming with four hundred men. He humiliates his soul before God, and determines that he will humble himself before his brother on the morrow. “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant,” is the cry of his soul. God is going to demonstrate the truthfulness of it.
Suddenly in the darkness of the night a hand is laid upon him. He springs to his feet to meet his unknown assailant. They are locked together in an awful embrace until the breaking of the day. Then the unknown visitant touches the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, and the hollow of his thigh is out of joint as he wrestles with him. And Jacob, stripped of all his self-energy, no longer wrestling, but clinging, comes out of that encounter, then limping, halting on his thigh, a prince with God and a king with men. “By his strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him.”
The prey of a great spoil has been divided. The lame take the prey. We enter maimed into life. He revives the heart of the humble and contrite. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” We must be stripped of all our self-energy before we can have power. “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”
O, it is good when God steps into our lives, and puts his finger on the thing that has been thwarting his purpose! It is good to have a limp in all after-life as long as the power of Christ may rest upon us. The thorn in the flesh may remain, but his grace is sufficient; for his strength is made perfect in weakness.
God does not want our strength. He wants our weakness. There must be emptying before there can be filling. There are wonderful possibilities in store for those who will abandon themselves in God’s hands. We must have power with God before we can have power with men. Like Jacob, we set ourselves to work to wrestle for it. We find that it can come only by throwing ourselves helpless on God.
What the church needs to-day is power,—not the power of human schemes and plans, however good they may be; not the power of oratory, however pleasant it may sound; but the power of the Holy Spirit. This can be obtained only by utter abasement. We are too strong for God. We need to come down. We must humble the soul before God. There is too much self-energy in all our methods. When we are stripped of this, the Spirit of God will begin to work.
This is the day of his power. This is the time for the glorious closing triumph of this message. Who, then, is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?