Review and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 1.
Behold, He Cometh!Page 1
“Behold, He Cometh!”
By Frances Ridley Havergal
THOU art coming, O my Saviour,
Thou art coming, O my King!
In Thy beauty all resplendent,
In Thy glory all transcendent;
Well may we rejoice and sing!
Coming! In the opening east,
Herald brightness slowly swells;
Coming, O my glorious Priest!
Hear we not Thy golden bells? Thou art coming! Rays of glory
Through the vail Thy death has rent,
Touch the mountains and the river
With a golden, glowing quiver,
Thrill of light and music blent.
Earth is brightened when this gleam
Falls on flower and rock and stream.
Life is brightened when this ray
Falls upon its darkest day. Thou art coming! At Thy table
We are witnesses for this,
While remembering hearts Thou meetest,
In communion clearest, sweetest,
Earnest of our coming bliss;
Showing not Thy death alone,
And Thy love exceeding great,
But Thy coming and Thy throne,
All for which we long and wait. O the joy to see Thee reigning,
Thee, my own beloved Lord!
Every tongue Thy name confessing,
Worship, honor, glory, blessing,
Brought to Thee with glad accord:
Thee my Master and my Friend,
Vindicated and enthroned!
Unto heav’n’s remotest end,
Glorified, adored, and owned! — Adapted from Frances Ridley Havergal. Our Publishing Work
By Editor
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Psalm 68:11. Any publication mentioned on this page may be ordered through your conference tract society or from any of our publishing houses or their branch offices. See last paragraph on this page for addresses of our publishing houses. IN “Almost a Man,” parents will find a chaste and proper presentation of the mystery of life which they will not hesitate to place in the hands of a son who is approaching that time of life when his mind begins to inquire into such matters. The book contains a doctor’s talks to boys, and ought to be placed in the hands of every boy. Cloth, new edition, 50 cents. THE wonderful depth of meaning in that familiar text, “God so loved the world,” is beautifully and strikingly portrayed in a book entitled “The Lover’s Love.” Its apt illustrations help to forcibly impress what an outpouring of heaven there was in the “unspeakable gift.” It is a devotional book filled with practical suggestions which will be helpful to all. Full cloth, $1 each. WE are glad to announce that a mutually satisfactory agreement has been made with Brother F. E. Belden, by the terms of which this association will publish his two books “Christ in Song” and “Bible Object Lessons and Songs for Little Ones.” We hope to have an edition of “Christ in Song” ready for delivery by February 10, and an edition of “Bible Object Lessons” will be ready soon after. Orders for these books should be sent to your regular source of supply. WITH the January issue the Sabbath School Worker attains its majority. It is twenty-one years old. A brief retrospective glance at its history appears in the January issue. The Worker is well liked, and is almost indispensable to every Sabbath-school officer or teacher. The special Convention Number (October, 1905) is still in demand, and its most excellent suggestions have been greatly appreciated. Clubs of two or more copies of the Worker will be sent to any address at the rate of 25 cents a copy, a year. MUCH is made of the man who succeeds, and it is an inspiration to read of men who have had the courage of their convictions, and in their efforts for wealth or fame have pressed through difficulties, overcome obstacles, and attained the goal for which they started. In Elder Haskell’s book “Story of Daniel the Prophet” is the record of a successful career. Daniel was successful in the affairs of this life, and he was successful in his efforts to please God. This is a splendid book to put in the hands of young persons or old. While it explains in an interesting way the prophecies, it also dwells upon the life principles which actuated Daniel, and which made of him “a man greatly beloved.” The book is neatly bound and well illustrated, and costs $1 a copy, post-paid. ARE you a stenographer? If so, are you engaged in denominational work? If you answer this question in the affirmative, then you will need a little book prepared by one of the best stenographers in the denomination—Brother H. E. Rogers, secretary of the General Conference president. The book is “Special Contractions in Shorthand,” and explicit instructions are given regarding methods of practise which will be most helpful to those who wish to excel. By the use of this book, the briefest “shortcuts” can be employed, and the contractions are indicated in such a way as to be thoroughly understood by all writers of the Pitmanic system. Pocket size, flexible cloth, 50 cents. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” “In ancient times God spoke to men by the mouth of prophets and apostles. In these days he speaks to them by the Testimonies of his Spirit. There was never a time when God instructed this people more earnestly than he instructs them now concerning his will, and the course that he would have them pursue.” [Published in 1876.]—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IV, page 148. Concerning a view given about twenty years ago, the writer says: “I was then directed to bring out general principles, in speaking and in writing, and at the same time specify the dangers, errors, and sins of some individuals, that all might be warned, reproved, and counseled.” [Published in 1871.]—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. II, page 687. IN view of the special instruction which the “Testimonies for the Church” contain, and the urgent need for their careful study just now by all our people, we give herewith description and prices: “Testimonies for the Church” numbers one to thirty-four are published in six volumes, uniform in style. The price is $1 a copy in cloth, or $6 a set; these six volumes are also bound in library (sheep) binding at $1.50 a copy, or $9 a set. Volumes VII and VIII, containing Testimonies numbers thirty-five and thirty-six, are furnished in cloth at 75 cents a copy. The last four volumes published can be supplied in an especially desirable and serviceable binding—red flexible leather, round corners. This style is much appreciated, and the prices are $1.50 a copy for volumes V and VI, and $1.25 a copy for volumes VII and VIII. A complete set of these important messages ought to be in every Seventh-day Adventist home. 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. OUR present situation demands a special experience. We have reached another turning-point in the history of this advent movement. We may now expect striking developments and rapid changes. The hindrances to the progress of this work are to be removed, and a new power is to be revealed. In order to understand where God is leading and to know what Israel ought to do, we must live in the fellowship of God's Spirit, with the windows of the soul open toward heaven. It is not enough to know that others are departing from the truth, and are likely to make shipwreck of their faith; we must have a positive knowledge that we are walking in the light, and that we are “established in the present truth.” We need a wide-spread revival of the original spirit of sacrifice and consecration which was revealed in the early days of this message. The time has come for a quick work. The time of trouble is hastening on. The end of all things is at hand. Probation will soon close. The final invitation to accept the gospel of the soon-coming Saviour is to be heralded to the world in convincing power by those who are prepared to give the trumpet a certain sound. The heavenly agencies are ready for the finishing of the mystery of God, and the call now is for human instrumentalities as the visible agencies for accomplishing this work. Now is our opportunity. We have longed for this time; we have prayed for it; we have waited for it; now it is just here. But it requires a living, personal experience, and a faith which ventures all upon the assurance that the pillar of cloud is lifting, and that the command now is, “Go forward.” The great controversy is coming to its climax. The time is near for the development of the wonder-working power of Satan, and for the victorious working of the power of God with his people. O that all might appreciate our present situation, and might unite in earnestly seeking for that experience which will enable us to be laborers together with God in this closing crisis! “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.” Let us recognize the time of our visitation. Paganized Christianity
By Editor
We have steadily maintained that the teachings of the “New Theology” involved the essential principles of heathenism, and that the substitution of this new philosophy for the plain teaching of the Scriptures was in reality a return to paganism. As the advocates of these modern views are given opportunity to develop their doctrines more fully, we can see their real meaning the more plainly. The fascinating and apparently very religious doctrine of God in everything, which has of late found so much favor with some writers and teachers, is simply a variation of the pagan theology which deified the powers of nature. The ancient pagans regarded each of the many manifestations of force as a god; the modern philosophers recognize all forces as one, and to them God is Infinite Power, a Universal Presence, Infinite Personality, etc. In the light of scientific study and discovery, the many forces of the ancient pagans, which they regarded as personal agencies, have been reduced to one Personal Agency, who is the god of the modern philosophers. The difference is one of number, but not of kind. It is the heathen conception of God. The personal God revealed in the Scriptures is of a different order altogether. Our attention is again called to this subject by an editorial in a leading journal, from which we take the following extract:— In spite of the dictionaries, paganism was not merely “the worship of false gods.” The paganism of the Greek and the Norseman was not bare heathenism; its essence, as Carlyle says, was “a recognition of the forces of nature as godlike, stupendous, personal agencies.” In particular, Carlyle calls the Norse religion a “consecration of valor;” so Matthew Arnold calls Greek paganism “fidelity to nature—the best nature.” . . . Pagan myth, with its gaze of childlike wonder out upon the world, is gone; but that which was true in the pagan spirit, the recognition of the divine in the world, can be preserved to him who has the Christian faith. The new interpreters of religion declare their belief in the personality of God, but it is the pagan idea of a personal agency, rather than the Christian idea of a personal Being. It is the conception of God which is evolved by scientific investigation, rather than that which is revealed in the Word of God. And all this gives evidence of the paganizing of Christianity. It is a departing from the faith. We hear much these days about the return to nature idea; but taking Matthew Arnold’s definition of paganism as being “fidelity to nature,” there is more than a possibility that the return to nature may really involve a return to paganism. When men turn to human philosophy and scientific speculation instead of to divine revelation for their guidance, it is certain that their light will be turned into darkness. But we must recognize the fact that under no circumstances is darkness light, no matter how plausible the arguments which are advanced to prove it. Genuine Christianity has nothing in common with paganism. The pagan spirit did not recognize divinity incarnate when he came into the world, neither has it ever recognized “the divine in the world.” It has simply defied its own conceptions. Modern paganism is doing the same thing to-day, under the profession of a grander and higher Christianity. It has rejected the divine Saviour and his atoning work, and has put the human in the place of the divine. The result is a paganized Christianity. Do not be deceived by its beautiful phrases or its apparent sweetness and light. “Ask for the old paths.” A Firm Platform
By L. A. S.
THOSE who have accepted the reform message now going to the world to prepare a people for Christ’s return, have reason to thank God that they stand upon a firm platform. This platform is,4the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. All around them in the religious world they see confusion and uncertainty. They see multitudes of people “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness.” Insidious errors taint the religious atmosphere, undermining and destroying the foundations of faith. The Word of God is robbed of its authority; the forms and phrases of Christianity are used to clothe a system devoid of faith and piety. The most fundamental truths of the Christian religion are being lost to view in the fog of error. The true followers of Christ are now commissioned to go everywhere, giving the trumpet a certain sound. They go bearing a definite message. They raise aloft a banner bearing an inscription whose force and significance are plain to all,—“the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Under that banner people know where they stand, and what they believe. They understand the history of the past, and know what is to come in the future. Most important of all, they know what is present duty. The commandments of God—what a straight, solid highway is this for the feet of those seeking the better world to come! There can be no sin, no error, in that pathway. Keeping the commandments of God must bring the approval of God, and must put the soul in touch with the power and the wisdom of God. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” Nothing can overthrow the law of God, so long as God himself remains supreme. Nothing can prevail against that law, or against the keepers of it. So long as one keeps in that pathway, he can not be led into worldliness, nor drawn into any of the delusions that so abound in the present age. Study of the law of God and meditation upon its precepts are most highly conducive to soundness of the mental and moral faculties. But the law of God is not all of Christianity; there remains “the faith of Jesus.” The commandments of God mean perfection of character, and the faith of Jesus is the avenue through which perfection is reached. “The commandments of God” upon our banner means that we combat all that teaching which would sweep away in men’s minds the foundation of God’s government and the groundwork of their allegiance to him; and “the faith of Jesus” means that with our uplifting of the law we uplift Christ as the one and only means of our keeping it, the sinner’s only hope for future life, and proclaim the doctrine of salvation by faith in him. It means also that we proclaim not mere “faith,” as the term is now often used to designate confidence in something that rests on human reasoning or speculation, but “the faith of Jesus”—that which carried Jesus through the darkness and trials of his earthly life, and gave him victory over the world and the powers of evil. Let us raise aloft this banner. Let us be glad for a definite message, a firm platform, a light that illumines past, present, and future, and a clear trumpet call to Christian duty. WHILE the attention of so many of our readers is being directed to the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures by the study of the Sabbath-school lessons upon that subject, it seems a fitting time to dwell upon this general theme. We need to have an intelligent and well-grounded faith in the divine authority of the Bible. We need to be fortified against the inroads of that skepticism which in the experience of so many is overthrowing the foundations of the Christian faith. We need to have our minds exercised concerning these fundamental principles so that we may be prepared to help others to get upon solid ground. Many will welcome such helps, but we must have clear convictions of our own in order to give it. We present this week further extracts from the writings of Dr. Adolph Saphir, in which helpful thoughts are expressed concerning the general idea of inspiration. We emphasize the statement made by Dr. Saphir that “the inspiration of Scripture is a fact, not a theory,” and we desire to help all to receive the fact. When the Word of God is received as the Word of God, it works effectually. So may it be in the experience of all who read these lines. We quote again from Dr. Saphir’s book “Christ and the Scriptures:” — If on the basis of this declaration (which is in harmony with the whole tone and teaching of Scripture) [that “inspired of God” means that the Spirit of God is the author of this Scripture, influencing the men who wrote in such a manner that their writings are pure and absolute truth], we distinguish between the inspiration of the prophets and apostles as men and their inspiration as writers; such a distinction is absolutely necessary, and confirmed by the facts. As writers, they were perfectly and adequately guided by the Holy Ghost to write what is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; as men, they were eminent, but still on the same level with other disciples of Christ; and it was their work to meditate, pray, and watch, in order to appropriate for their own spiritual profit and growth that which was delivered to them. And that between these two elements there was not merely the difference of perfect and imperfect, but sometimes even of positive and negative, and is shown by the case of Peter. Fully enlightened by the Spirit as to the position of the Gentiles in the church, and their relation to the law, he was unfaithful to his own knowledge and testimony. And when Paul rebuked him, Peter acknowledged that his conduct had been erroneous, and that his apostolic teaching had been true. For the men, highly favored, and especially fitted for their position as they were, delivered a testimony which, in a special sense, was divine in its origin and substance, clothed in that form which God deems perfectly sure and adequate for all future generations. If we believed the men inspired, and their writings worthy of our acceptance, because proceeding from them, then our faith would rest on the men, and for their sake we would believe their message. But our faith rests on a divine testimony, and our authority is the authority of God. Peter and Paul believed the testimony they received from God, and so do we, in believing through their writings, accept a divine testimony. Still more explicit on this point is the teaching of Peter. He declares to us (1 Peter 1:10-12; 2 Peter 1:21) that holy men of old spoke as moved by the Holy Ghost; that this Spirit, who was in them, was the Spirit of Christ, in whom and for whom Israel was chosen; that he revealed to them the whole counsel (Christ’s sufferings and glory), and that they themselves did not fully understand their own writings, but searched diligently into them. How could we be taught more distinctly that the Holy Ghost (and not their own spirit) revealed to them what they wrote, and that their writings were high above their own measure of spiritual insight? The quotations of Paul show, moreover, that he regarded this inspiration as extending to the very form of expression. To separate thought and word, spirit and embodiment, matter and manner, is at all times a very difficult and dangerous thing. In killing the body we lose the spirit. The boundary line between the idea and the word is very difficult to find. But especially on the ground of revelation is such an attempt dangerous; for this simple reason, that God reveals himself not in spirit, but in flesh—not in abstraction, but in embodiment. As Martin Luther, foreseeing the approaching rationalism and pseudospiritualism, remarked, “Christ did not say of his Spirit, but of his words, they are spirit and life.” This is not deifying the letter as letter; apart from the indwelling Spirit, the letter throughout killeth. But God’s words are not merely letters, but spirit and life. Paul’s argument in Galatians (not to seeds, as many, but to the seed, as one) is not according to the taste of Japheth; Paul, who was determined not to be afraid of the offense and foolishness of the cross, has often been criticized as falling into Talmudical trifling, by men who little knew that their vaunted intellectualism and spirituality are allied to that rationalism by which Jewish, papal, and philosophical rabbis have made the divine truth of none effect. But the God, without whom not even a sparrow can fall to the ground, and who shows wisdom in the minutest words of his hand, may surely have watched over every expression used in his Scripture; and to discover the wonders of God’s Word by microscopic examination, is the sign not of a trifling but of a great mind. But Paul derives an argument not merely from a word, but from the silence of Scripture. The circumstance that Scripture does not mention Melchizedek’s parentage, is in Paul’s estimation significant; and thus, even as in music, not only the notes, but also the pauses, are according to the mind and plan of the composer, and instinct with the life and spirit which breathe through the whole, the very omissions of Scripture, be they of great mysteries, such as the fall of the angels, or of minute detail, such as the descent of the king of Salem, are not the result of chance, or of the accidental ignorance of the writer, but according to, and in harmony with, the wisdom of that eternal Spirit who is the true author of the record. The most common objection urged against this view is that it is inconsistent with the individuality of the writers. But whatever our difficulty may be in combining the two facts, the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and the liberty and individuality of the writers, both facts are sure and apparent. The books of Moses, the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, the epistles of Paul, are all marked by very decided peculiarities. The prophets and apostles not merely wrote, but in their writings we see the influence of their history, character, disposition, and mode of thought. It is evident that the Spirit did not destroy men’s individuality, and that their peculiar history, experience, and conformation of mind, formed not an obstacle, but a medium. In this we can only admire the educating wisdom of God. The inspiration of the Scripture is a fact, not a theory. We find great difficulty in framing a theory even of those influences of the Spirit which we ourselves have experienced, such as regeneration and conversion. How can we, with any degree of certainty, propound a theory of an influence of which we have no personal experimental knowledge? We receive the fact, asserted by the Scriptures themselves, and abundantly confirmed by them, that, though written by men, they are of God, and that the ideas they unfold are clothed in such words as he, in his wisdom and love, intended, so that they may be safely and fully received as expressing his mind, and the thoughts which he purposed to convey to us for our instruction and guidance. In every portion of the Word (including those whose genuineness has been most doubted, as the epistles of Peter and Jude) there is a solemnity and an authority nowhere found except in writings God-inspired. The Word appeals directly to the soul, as light and life. It is pure, it is perfect. Out of the fulness of the whole counsel of God it speaks, and we feel that the Spirit of the eternal God is teaching us. And the same Spirit who convinced the early church of the authenticity of the books, convinces the believer in the present day. For our faith is not based on human testimony, though we honor and value it. In fellowship with the saints of all ages, we hear the voice of the Shepherd. The flock will not follow a stranger’s voice, nor will it fail to recognize the voice of the Son of God and the teaching of the Holy Ghost. Knowing the Truth
By L. A. S.
THE truths of Christianity center about Jesus Christ. They are all related to him, because they all proceed from him. No truth of Christianity is fully grasped, therefore, unless its relation to Christ is perceived. The recipient of truth does not really know the truth until that truth has led him to Christ. Knowing the truth, therefore, in a Christian sense, is something more than knowing historical facts or believing doctrines. It is being led to Christ, led to accept and to exalt him as the Saviour of the soul. All Christian truth exalts Christ as the Saviour of a lost race, and this is a good test of any doctrine claiming to be of divine origin. We need not be afraid of any doctrine that lifts up Jesus Christ as the world's Redeemer, that leads one to put all trust in him for salvation, and no trust in the arm of flesh. The devil is not warring against himself. He is not foisting upon the world doctrines that undermine his own kingdom and advance the kingdom of Christ. On the other hand, we may well beware of any doctrine or teaching that tends to cast any obscurity over the person of Christ lifted up as the one only and all-sufficient Saviour. To know that the dead are sleeping unconscious in their graves, instead of existing as conscious spirits in another realm, is to know a fact, but this alone is not knowing the truth. The truth of which this fact is a part, is that which exalts Christ as the only avenue to immortality. So also of other important doctrines. We may know them as facts, as true, without knowing the truth. We may know that the seventh day is the Sabbath, but unless we know the Sabbath-truth in its relation to Christ as Creator and Redeemer, we come short of knowing the truth. We should study every truth to discover its relation to Christ as man's Redeemer, and how through it we may honor him. The charge has often been brought by opponents of the truth for these times, that those who preach it preach doctrines, but do not preach Christ. When the truths of this message are understood and proclaimed in their relation to Christ, this charge will be effectually refuted. Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life.” To know the truth is to become acquainted with him. And the only safety from error is to know him. We may know many things which are true, and yet be led into error. Logic will not save us from this fate. A half truth is often the foundation of a whole lie, and the deceptions of Satan are based upon much that is true. Our safety is in receiving the love of the truth, which is not the love of science or of logic or of mere intellectual discovery, but the love of that which exalts Christ and humbles self. The truth which is unto salvation, is known not by the intellect merely, but by experience of the heart. Let us not rest satisfied with a knowledge of facts and of argument, but follow on to know the truth. The Blowing of the Winds
By L. A. S.
The spirit of revolution which is so markedly on the rise in Europe at this time, recalls to mind the fact that once before, near the middle of the last century, there was a sudden and remarkable outburst of revolutionary sentiment over that continent, which threatened for a brief time to sweep everything before it. That was at the beginning of the special work of God in sealing a company from among all nations for salvation in the day of the appearing of Christ. The facts pertaining to that short but eventful period of European political history, as related to the work and providence of God, are of special interest. The revolutionary movement at that time was stayed, but not through natural causes. From that day to this, it has been waiting, and when the appointed day arrives, it will again break out, and no power will stop it. A writer who is familiar with the events of the revolutionary movement of the year 1848, gives this description of its sudden and unexpected beginning:— It is reported that one evening of that eventful year, when the courtiers of Louis Philippe, king of France, were gathered around him, he said: “I was never more firmly seated on the throne of empire than I am to-night.” In the twilight of the next evening, wearing a “pea jacket,” disguised as a hackney coachman, he fled outside the walls of the city of Paris, seeking a refuge for his personal safety. The cause of this great and sudden change is said to have been the result of some movement on his part favoring the papal usurpation, which offended his subjects and his soldiers. He had on that day completed, in the city of Paris, a grand military review of the French army; and when their arms were stacked, he retired to the palace, when suddenly a small boy jumped upon a cannon, waving a tricolored flag, crying, “Down with the pope! Down with the pope!” The soldiers taking up the cry, it passed swiftly up and down the lines, gaining strength as it went, until connected with it was the cry, “and down with the king!” In a few hours all Paris was a scene of wild confusion. The soldiers, with guns in hand, accompanied by a mob, were rushing for the king’s palace. He, on being informed of the turmoil, hastened to escape under disguise. The commotion and unrest of France spread rapidly to other countries, and within three months all Europe was astir, and over thirty empires and kingdoms were in the greatest disorder. Thrones were burned in the streets, kings and emperors were fleeing and6hiding for fear of losing their lives. Politicians predicted that there would be a general revolution of the governments of the world. Nobody could account for the sudden breaking out of the revolutionary spirit at that time, nor for its equally sudden subsidence. On this point Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, wrote: “It was a great wonder to us all what started so suddenly that confusion among the nations; but it is a greater still what stopped it.” Senator Choate, in a speech in Congress, referring to this time, used these words:— It has seemed to me as if the prerogatives of crowns and the rights of men, and the hoarded-up resentments of a thousand years, were about to unsheath the sword for a conflict in which blood shall flow, as in apocalyptic vision, “to the bridles of the horses,” and in which a whole race of men shall pass away; in which the great bell of time shall sound out another hour; in which society itself shall be tried by fire and steel, whether it be of nature and of nature’s God or not.
Only in the light of an understanding of the special work of God preparatory to Christ’s coming, can the causes of this extraordinary movement be understood. The “four winds” of confusion and strife were being loosened upon the earth, but the sealing work of the Sabbath and advent message had not been done. On this subject the following statement is made in “Experience and Views:”— I saw four angels who had a work to do on the earth, and were on their way to accomplish it. Jesus was clothed with priestly garments. He gazed in pity on the remnant, then raised his hands upward, and with a voice of deep pity cried, “My blood, Father, my blood, my blood, my blood.” Then I saw an exceeding-bright light come from God, who sat upon the great white throne, and was shed all about Jesus. Then I saw an angel with a commission from Jesus, swiftly flying to the four angels who had a work to do on the earth, and waving something up and down in his hand, and crying with a loud voice, “Hold! Hold! Hold! Hold! until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads.”
I asked my accompanying angel the meaning of what I heard, and what the four angels were about to do. He said to me that it was God that restrained the powers, and that he gave his angels charge over things on the earth; that the four angels had power from God to hold the four winds, and that they were about to let them go. But while their hands were loosening, and the four winds were about to blow, the merciful eye of Jesus gazed on the remnant that were not sealed, and he raised his hands to the Father and pleaded with him that he had spilled his blood for them. Then another angel was commissioned to fly swiftly to the four angels, and bid them hold, until the servants of God were sealed with the seal of the living God in their foreheads.
Now the sealing work is about to be finished, and again the spirit of revolution, of confusion and strife, is rising up in the Old World, and rulers are filled with apprehension. There is a breaking up of long-established alliances among the nations, and an unsettled condition which betokens an impending upheaval. The four winds which have so long been held are about to be loosed, to blow upon the earth. We are admonished now to make sure that we have upon us the seal of the living God. L. A. S. The Perfect Law
By L. A. S.
“THE law of the Lord is perfect.” Nature gives to us this revelation of God. All nature speaks to us of law. It is by law that all things move, grow, retain or change their forms. The chemist, the astronomer, the botanist, are impressed with the existence of fixed laws governing the relation of each unit of matter to all other units, whether small or great, and of every process of growth or disintegration. The industries of the world depend upon the unvarying operation of natural laws. The laws of nature are perfect laws. The sun and moon and all the host of heaven daily speak to us this truth. There is no uncertainty, no imperfection, in their motions. The exact day, hour, and minute of the coming of an eclipse, however remote in the future, can be known by calculation based upon the perfection of the laws governing the motions of the heavenly bodies. The study of plant life reveals to the botanist a perfect law of development. The lilies of the field, arrayed more gorgeously than was King Solomon, declare the perfection of the law by which they grow. The heavens and all nature declare the glory of God. All nature declares against the doctrine that the law of God is imperfect and susceptible of abolition. A universe without law would be impossible. There can be no organization, no government, without law, and without organization there could be no life. Man, the most highly organized of all bodies, is of all the most in need of law for his guidance, and demands a higher law than other orders of created things. This higher law of God is given him in the ten precepts spoken from Mt. Sinai. That this higher law is not perfect and unchangeable, like the laws studied by the astronomer and the chemist, is beyond belief. Those who rightly perceive the glory of God as declared in nature will the more readily seek to the higher and more perfect revelation of God in the words spoken by inspiration by the holy men of old. They will seek to come into harmony with that perfect moral law which means perfection of character in all those whose lives are ordered by its precepts. They will seek the one avenue through which this harmony may be attained—the avenue of faith in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of sinners. Christian Fellowship
By L. A. S.
It is the sharing of a common peril or a common sorrow, a common share in some trying experience, that creates between two persons a bond of fellowship. So if we would have fellowship with Christ, we must be partakers of that which he experienced. For this reason we may count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations, for such was the lot of Christ. He was tempted in all points of human weakness, and with this temptation came suffering. His greatest suffering was when7in Gethsemane he endured the temptation to renounce his mission to save the human family. If we have fellowship with Christ, it must be “the fellowship of his sufferings.” But fellowship with him makes the suffering well worth enduring, and even something to be greatly desired. It brings suffering to resist temptation, but it also brings oneness with divinity. The Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering. “In that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.” Tribulation was the inevitable lot of all Adam’s family who would renounce the carnal nature and enter the kingdom of God; and Christ, to identify himself with the human family, took upon himself human weaknesses, and was subject to temptations. He identified himself with humanity, that the sons of Adam might become identified with him, and become the sons of God. But without chastisement this relationship with God is not possible. Heb. 12:7-11. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.” The pathway is the pathway of temptation and suffering, but fellowship with Christ is worth much more than the price at which it is purchased. The Danger in Perverted Power
By L. A. S.
SOME of the greatest evils that are known in the world come from the perversion of that which is good. It is of the highest importance that organizations and movements should be kept in their proper place, and the more good an organization or enterprise is capable of doing, the more essential is it that it should adhere strictly to the line of effort in which such good may be realized, and the greater is the evil which results from the perversion of its appointed purpose. Lucifer, in his appointed place, was the most exalted of the angels of heaven, and perfect in all his ways; but when he perverted the purpose of his being, he became the devil, the greatest menace in the universe to all that is good. The Christian church has ever been the greatest and most necessary institution in the world; but when in the early centuries the church went out of its appointed pathway and joined hands with the state, it brought upon the world the long night of the Dark Ages. Those who stand at the head of the great religious and church organizations of this day should be especially mindful of the danger that the great power and influence of these organizations may be unwittingly lent to the furtherance of unchristian enterprises. The high character of those composing these bodies, and the high purposes these organizations have in view, is no safeguard against this danger of the perversion of their power and influence to some unchristian end. In their great power for good lies also the greatest power for evil, for the influence of an organization is usually in direct proportion to the degree of prestige it commands from the character and standing of its representatives. The leaders and members of these organizations need to be reminded and warned of the fact that Satan accomplishes his worst deceptions in the guise of an angel of light. L. A. S.