Review and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 53. (12/31/1901)

Review and Herald

Dec 31, 1901

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 31, 1901

GODLINESS IN THE EVERY-DAY LIFE.

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE.

WHEN a man accepts Christ, he pledges himself to live the life of a Christian. If he fails of doing this, he dishonors the name of Christian. In all matters of dealing he is to be true and honest, just and liberal, following the perfect example set by the Saviour. He is to keep vigilant watch over himself, lest in word or action he misrepresent the Redeemer.

Ungodliness is not Christianity. Do not think that you can stand under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel unless as faithful soldiers you obey His orders. In word and action you must say, “I am a Christian. I realize that I must love my neighbor as myself.”

Watch well your words; for Christ declares, “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” The Lord is greatly dishonored when cheap, frivolous words fall from the lips of those whose names are registered on the church books.

The talent of speech was given to be used for the benefit of all. Let your praiseworthy example, your peaceable words and unselfish deeds, be a savor of life unto life. Pleasant, cheery words cost no more than unpleasant, moody words. Do you dislike to have harsh words spoken to you? Remember that when you speak such words, others feel the sharp sting.

In this life every one has difficulties with which to wrestle. Every one meets with grievances and disappointments. Shall we not bring sunshine instead of gloom into the lives of those with whom we come in contact? Shall we not speak words that will help and bless? Such words will be just as much a blessing to us as to those to whom they are spoken. Shall we not in word and deed sow seeds which will spring up to bear fruit unto eternal life?

Parents, bring practical godliness into the home. Angels are not attracted to a home where discord reigns. Educate your children to speak words that will bring sunshine and joy. Begin the work of grace in the Church in your own home, so conducting yourselves that your children shall see that you are co-operating with the heavenly angels. Be sure that you are converted every day. Train yourselves and your children for life in the kingdom of God. Angels will be your strong helpers. Satan will tempt you, but do not yield. Do not speak one word of which the enemy can take advantage.

In His word God has marked out a plan for the education of children, and this plan parents are to follow. They are to teach their children to overcome all indolence. Each child should be taught that he has a work to do in the world. Mothers, there is nothing more important than training your children for usefulness. It is in the home that a child gains fitness to wrestle with the problems of life.

The Holy One has spoken words to parents and children: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; . . . that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Parents are to teach their children the need of obedience, and they are to live so that their children can honor and obey them. They are never to provoke their children to wrath, but are to deal with them as the younger members of the Lord’s family. They are to require obedience, being sure at the same time that their own will is in subjection to the will of God. Parents who desire their children to be patterns of piety must be patterns of piety themselves.

It is impossible to depict the evil which results from leaving a child to its own will. Some who go astray because of neglect during childhood, will, through patient, painstaking effort, be brought to the light, and led to walk in the narrow way; but many are lost forever because in childhood they received only a one-sided culture. The precious motive-power of the life is wasted, and the sin lies at the door of the parents, who must answer to God for their neglect.

To the parents who have received the truth of God, I am instructed to say, Be sure to give your children patient instruction and tender care. When the parents in our churches do the work the Lord has laid upon them, His work will advance with mighty power.

Let no parents betray their trust. Let them do their work with the fear of God ever before them. Let the determination of each member of the family be, “I will be a Christian; for in the school here below I must form a character which will give me entrance into the higher grade in heaven. I must do to others as I desire them to do to me; for only those who thus reveal Christ can enter the heavenly courts.”

Make the home life as nearly as possible like heaven. Let the members of the family forget not, as they gather round the family altar, to pray for those in positions of responsibility in God’s work. The physicians in our sanitariums, the ministers of the gospel, the workers in our publishing houses and schools,—these need your prayers. They all have temptations. As you plead with God to bless them, your own hearts will be subdued and softened by His grace. The more we pray, the nearer will heaven be to us.

Christ reads the heart. He knows the motives that prompt to action. Let us watch ourselves. Let us weed our own gardens before we attempt to weed the gardens of others. Let not a day pass in known sin. God says, “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” Before the setting of the sun, settle every difficulty. Thus will you gain a victory over self.

The commonness of sin does not make it less objectionable in God’s sight, nor render its penalty less sure. You may think your transgression small, but its smallness does not make it any the less a sin. Adam’s sin was seemingly small, but it opened the floodgates of woe upon our world.

The Church militant is not the Church triumphant. Unless the people of God wage a valiant warfare against every species of sin, they will never pass through the portals of the holy city. And we shall have no second trial. Now is the accepted time, the time in which we are to obtain the education that will enable us to live in the heavenly courts. The whole heavenly universe is watching with the deepest interest to see who in this primary school is practicing the lessons of Christ.

What does the Scripture say?—“Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?”

This is the great day of atonement. How much better it is for us to afflict our souls than to be engaged in strife for the highest place, causing heart-burning and discord. Never think or speak evil. When tempted to do this, go by yourself, and ask God to help you to overcome this hateful sin. Humble yourselves in the sight of God, and He will lift you up. Let us praise God that when we humble ourselves, His merciful hand lifts us up.

PRAYER

By Mrs. P. Alderman

MRS. P. ALDERMAN.

Could we ascend where faith can rise, And bear a message to the skies, With burning incense offered where The matchless love accepts our prayer, Could we behold that love aflame, We’d say, “O, hallowed be thy name!”

’Tis sweetest boon to mortals given,— That sinners’ prayers can enter heaven; And Son and Father listen when Petitions rise from sons of men; In hour of trouble, hour of need, That Jesus then our cause will plead.

I die to self and love of gold When I this greater wealth behold, That I may send a message free, Morn, noon, and night, dear Lord, to thee, And know the world can ne’er combine To intercept this sacred line.

O, shall we not in this our need, The earnest message upward speed? The world hath need that we implore For means and workers more and more, And ask that heaven’s windows wide Be opened now to Israel’s side.

ARE YOU TRYING TO HAVE ANOTHER'S EXPERIENCE?

By W. S. Sadler

W. S. SADLER. (San Francisco, Cal.)

Why is it that men and women, especially young Christians, have such unsatisfactory seasons in their Christian experience? A consideration of the causes that produce these deplorable results, may be helpful. If I have a headache and take morphine, that may cure the symptoms, but not the headache itself. So when you get your feelings changed,—if it is merely a matter of feeling,—you may think you are all right. But what difference does feeling make? Satan knows how to play upon feelings, but he cannot manipulate “the faith of Jesus.” We should take pains to find out the cause of our moral difficulties. We can treat spiritual symptoms till the end of the world, but we shall never obtain relief till we get the cause out of the way. Merely changing our feelings will do no good.

We should study to be sensible and rational in dealing with the soul, and help people to find the cause of their difficulty. Of course unbelief is at the bottom of all our spiritual troubles, but generally the immediate cause is simply a misunderstanding. The trouble with many Christians to-day is that they are trying to experience theology instead of religion. They have read in books, or heard in sermons, or perhaps in social meetings, accounts of what some persons think a Christian experience ought to be.

Suppose a man forty years old writes a book, giving an account of his conversion, in which he says that the next day thereafter he seemed to have a definite experience in receiving the Holy Ghost; that he went to a missionary field, and raised up a church, etc., etc. You read that book, and lay it down with a sigh, saying, “Well, I guess I have never been converted. I never had such an experience as that.” Then you try to experience that man's experience; but you can never do it. Just as God never made two leaves alike, He never made two men alike, and there never will be two men or women who will have a Christian experience just alike. The majority of young people have some ideal, and will not feel satisfied until they attain to that ideal. But we are to walk by faith, not by ambition, neither by feeling. However beautiful another person's experience, it will not fit you. David could not wear Saul's armor. Do not think you can wear another's armor. The Lord Jesus Christ has made a helmet of salvation especially for you. Our garments of spiritual warfare and righteousness are made to order in the looms of heaven. Therefore it is written, “Looking unto Jesus,” for there is where the Christian's armor and his righteousness are; for our armor and garments were made for us individually. Do not make the mistake of trying to experience some other person's experience.

You read in the Bible that the steps in becoming a Christian are, first, sorrow for sin (repentance); second, forsaking of sin (forgiveness); and third, deliverance from sin. You ask yourself, “Am I sorry for sin?” Perhaps you do not cry easily; and yet, in the depths of your heart, you are truly repentant. Some individuals cry at every turn in their experience. Your forgiveness and acceptance is not a question of temperament , but one of believing that Jesus Christ is your sin-bearer,—a question of believing God. A man can believe God, even if he cannot cry. The one thing is, Do you believe?

Or perhaps you try to repent according to some other person's repentance. You will never succeed. You must repent according to the light you have received. If the Lord shows you that a certain thing is wrong, repent of that thing just as soon as you see it, and all the powers of heaven will help you. Many have a Christian experience that goes no further than the head. Such an experience is the theory of religion; but if it gets into the life and heart, it is Christianity indeed. We may know all our doctrines in our minds; we may be able to give chapter and verse for everything we believe; but unless we have the truth further than merely in our heads, we are simply trying to meet an intellectual ideal; whereas we ought to look to Christ, and there would come a transforming power into our lives. There is no transforming power in mere theology, but there is a transforming power in pure religion, in true Christianity.

Some professed Christians have the truth in their heads. They are theoretically justified by faith, but in their hearts they are not living a life of justification,—freedom from condemnation. They can tell you many precious truths about justification by faith; they can tell you most beautiful things about the Holy Spirit; but many times they are miserable and unhappy, not believing that their own sins are forgiven. Theory is but an ingenious apology for the real thing. Scores of people are having an unsatisfactory Christian experience, who, if they would simply cast themselves at the feet of Jesus, and say, “Take me as I am,” would find relief from all these worries. The Lord is not trying to keep us out of heaven. He is a Saviour, and He came not only to save the lost, but to seek for them.

When you rise in the morning, you feel as wicked as you ever did. What difference does that make? The Saviour is alive, the Bible is true, and “God is love.” The cloud that is hanging over our head in the morning will bring refreshing showers in a little while. Even droppings of the latter rain will come out of some of the clouds of discouragement that hang over our heads. Let us have the Christian experience that Christ has designed for us. He knows all about us; and if we cannot have much feeling, let us go on and serve God just the same. It matters little whether we can shed tears or not. We need to learn to distinguish the voice of the Master from the voice of the enemy, so that when the One speaks, we can obey Him, and when the other speaks, we can turn our backs. How can we tell the voice of God? Do you think a man has any difficulty in distinguishing the voice of his best friend? Let us get acquainted with the voice of the Spirit of God, that we may know it. When the Spirit says, “Go forward,” even though a dozen enemies say we shall fail if we do, let us go. All this advice to stand still, to give up and be discouraged, is of the devil. The voice of God says, “Lo, I am with you alway.” Let us cultivate the acquaintance of the voice of the Spirit of God, and learn to follow His advice in every conflict.

I once heard a gospel worker give a most convincing argument on justification by faith, and it did me much good. Afterward he told me that all through his Christian experience he had never yet had a full and complete assurance that his sins were forgiven. He had the theory, but not the reality, of justification by faith. True religion is a matter of experience, and not of theory or theology. We have had so much of Christianity in our minds; let us get some of it into our experience.

You can read, “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations,” and be able to give a Bible reading on it; but the first time anything goes wrong in your experience see what happens. Let us try to put these things into our experience. Would you know how it is done? How do we get things into our heads?—By thinking about them. And this is how we get them into our hearts, into our experience,—by living them.

Do not be discouraged with your experience, if you are really honest. “If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.” If you have a willing mind to serve God, and to do your duty, do not be discouraged by anything that may come to you. Never give up.

Suppose I take an iron weight which I am not strong enough, physically, to lift. I go to the instructor of a gymnasium, and he says I am to lift it three times a day. He further says, “You follow my directions, and I will look after you.” So when we come to Christ, He says, “Follow me, and I will take the responsibility of your moral development.” He knows as much about your moral condition as the gymnasium teacher knows about my physical state. I try my best, but cannot lift the weight. He tells me to do my best. He asks me if I really want to lift it, and I say that I do. I have a “willing mind” to lift it. So I keep on trying, but I cannot lift it. I am not what I ought to be, therefore I cannot do what I ought to do. Yet I still keep trying until I begin to think it is useless to try any longer. Apparently, I fail every time I try. But I go over that thing every day because I have faith in the gymnasium instructor. So if you have a “willing mind,” just continue to do what Jesus tells you. Just continue to work at the weight every day; and every time you endeavor to lift the weight, you strengthen yourself. So I go right on, following the directions of the gymnasium instructor, until one day, to my surprise and supreme delight, I lift the weight. Did something happen all of a sudden that enabled me to lift it?—No; no. These many times I had apparently failed have not been altogether lost; for each time I tried to lift the weight, I developed another fiber of muscle, and thus, by and by, I was able to lift the burden.

In your Christian experience, study, work, and pray; do your best. Do not give up. Every apparent failure has been a step in the development of the moral muscle which will some day enable you, by His grace, to lift the whole burden of sin. Then you can sing the song of victory. These struggles are all a part of our experience. If I believe I can lift that weight, and I try every time, expecting I am going to lift it, every effort I make assists in developing the muscle that will enable me some day actually to accomplish the task. So in every struggle of life; expect a complete victory. Ask God to qualify you, as far as consistent, to gain that victory; and you will surely succeed.

GIVE; OR STOP PRAYING.

The Christian.

THE colored woman who, with eyes closed, was singing,— “Fly abroad, thou mighty gospel,” was nudged by the collector with his contribution box, while he said, “No use in singing, ‘Fly abroad, dou mighty gospel,’ widout you gib to make um fly.”

The little son of the man who had prayed one morning at the family altar that the Lord would supply the wants of the destitute and needy, said, when prayer was finished, “Father, if I had your grain bin, I would answer that prayer myself.”

It is worse than useless, it is impudent, to ask God to do what He has been asking and commanding us to do ourselves. Suppose your child should undertake to work on that plan, and when you give him his tools, his work, and his orders, should then kneel down and beg you to do what

he is able to do, and what you had just told him that he must do for you. Such a request to a father would be an insult; what, then, must it be when made in the presence of the great God?

There has been too much of this, and it is time it ended. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, nor negligent about His work; but He asks us to perform our promises, and to fulfill the duties which He lays upon us. And if we refuse to do what He commands us, it is vain to pray to God for money or for help. Let us do our part, and His aid will not be withheld.

REVELATION 20:1–3.

By William P. Pearce

ELDER WILLIAM P. PEARCE.

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, . . . and bound him a thousand years.”

John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” which Macaulay called “a miracle of genius,” is largely sublime imagery. John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” is doubtless, as Channing said, “the noblest monument of human genius;” but it is a word painting in which the author has framed a world of horror and suffering, where the infernal world and its king have a terrible harmony, amid “solid and liquid fire,” in contrast to his “Paradise Regained,” which breathes “vernal airs,” “odoriferous wings of gentle gales,” and depicts “shady bowers and roses without thorns.” But John’s apocalyptic vision is not a dream nor imagination; it is a revelation, some parts of which have been, and other parts of which will be, literally fulfilled.

What a stirring, exciting scene the text delineates. The heavens are illumined with a gleam of light as the divine angel, like a flashing meteor, wings his way to earth. Hark! ’tis the rattling of the chain as link strikes link, as when Paul the prisoner entered the parlor of Felix in defense of the gospel. View the combatants! The gladiatorial contests when Achilles sacrificed twelve Trojan prisoners, and Julius Cæsar gave a show of three hundred and twenty couples, and Trajan arrayed two thousand men to slaughter one another; the historic duels between Hamilton and Burr, between Andrew Jackson and Dickinson, between Henry Clay and John Randolph, were but child’s play compared to this.

Look at the participants a moment! From personal observation they are not as unequally matched as were Goliath and David. This monster, for monster he is, was once an angel in the service of God. But he revolted against His authority, and was exiled. That second person is another angel. His form is beautiful in contrast with the other’s ugliness. His eye gleams with a righteous determination, in contrast with the vicious hatred of the other. His attitude is bold, triumphant-like, in contrast with the faltering and cowardly manner of the other. This angel, doubtless, is the Christ-messenger. Malachi calls Him “the Messenger,” and the word “messenger” is simply the translation of the Hebrew melek, which we translate “angel.” And of this One we are reminded by Christ’s own words, that He has the “keys of hell and of death;” and is the One who binds the strong man and spoils his goods. I am so glad that the opponent of Satan in this duel is Jesus, or at least His angel. If it were some one else, I might feel doubtful as to the outcome; but since Paul said: “Christ, . . . who is over all, God blessed forever” (Rom. 9:5), I am as certain of the result as if he had said: Christ over the Cæsars, or the Alexanders, or the Louises, or the Bonapartes.

The combatants draw near. Heaven smiles, hades growls, earth shudders. A step together, and the battle begins. The long-enduring, long-defying pride of Satan, covering the diadem which scorches his thunder-blasted brow, measures its power against the eternal justice of an eternal Christ, who with one powerful swing of His mighty arm fells the revolutionist to the earth, binds him with the great chain, and thrusts him into a dungeon fouler than the one in which Paul and Silas were incarcerated, darker than Beauchamp Tower, where Lord Dudley was imprisoned, and more detestable than the old French castle at Lewiston, where William Morgan was last seen alive.

USURPER AND INTRUDER.

Such is the scene which has yet to be enacted. At present this dragon is a usurper, like Richard the Third; but as the Duke of Richmond wrung the scepter out of his hand, and gave peace to the empire, so will Christ wring the scepter from the hand of this usurper.

The time was when ministers believed in the personality of the devil, and were not afraid to preach it. The time is when he is doubted, and not preached. The old doctrine of Socinianism, that he is a “symbolic person,” “the principle of evil personified,” “an evil disposition,” cannot be reconciled with any rational principle of Scripture interpretation. He is an actual being, a live entity who has never left the measure of his grave with any earthly sexton, but has caused thousands to be dug for others.

If the Hebrew name Abaddon and the Greek name Apollyon refer to him, and the more than one score things he is likened to in the Bible mean anything less than a personal destroyer, I would like to know it. It was a personal devil that tempted Eve; that smote Job with boils; that resisted Joshua the High Priest until the Lord rebuked him; that assailed Christ on the mountain and on the pinnacle of the temple; that influenced Ananias and Sapphira to lie; that delayed Paul in his journey to Thessalonica, for, said he: “Wherefore we would have come unto you, . . . but Satan hindered us.” And it is a personal devil working in the children of disobedience to-day. Eph. 2:2.

I note him in his firmamental power, for he is called “the prince of the power of the air.” Eph. 2:2. Not that he can create one breath of air, but he can and does gather the breaths together, and make whirlwinds and cyclones damage property and destroy lives. That is not the work of God. Not that he can create a drop of water, but he can and does gather the waters into a Johnstown flood, or a mountainous ocean engulfing life. It is not the work of God. Not that he can make a spark of fire, but he can and does make a Vesuvius vomit her lava upon a Pompeii, and forests and prairies roar with tongues of fire. It is not the work of God, for God is not a God of evil, but of good; and as long as Satan “is the prince of the power of the air,” a prince’s prerogative will he retain.

I note him again in his hypocrisy. Paul says: “For Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Cor. 11:14. He is, as Luther calls him, “a white devil,” appearing in Samuel’s mantle, and silvering his foul tongue with fair language. He can palm himself off as a saint, and is tireless in his prosecution of making others appear the same. His name is Legion, and while he sometimes climbs the pulpit, he frequently visits the pew.

I note him again in his subtlety. Milton wrote:—

“Th’ infernal serpent; he it was whose guile, Stirred up with envy and revenge, seduced The mother of mankind.”

And not only her, but generations since has he deceived with an intent to ruin. “There was a day,” said Job (1:6), “when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” Going to and fro, goading souls, belching anger, sowing error, and disturbing peace; going to and fro, casting discord in this home, creating jealousy in that heart, throwing a short measure, a false balance, into a tradesman’s shop, marching to the bar and handing in a forged evidence, laying plans to rob life of virtue and happiness, aiding nations to unsheath the sword, stooping to the vilest crimes, and seconding the greatest deliberations to cause strife and bloodshed.

A PRISONER.

Do you think my subject sensational when I say “chaining the devil”? Ought he not to be chained, and should we not rejoice the moment he is made a prisoner? To sigh for Paul’s incarceration in the Mammertine dungeon, John Baptist in the castle of Machærus, Socrates in the Athenian jail, Bunyan in Bedford prison, and Dante in his exile, is nothing more than right; but the song of thanksgiving should go up to God for the incarceration of Satan, as the voice of Britains, and Germans, and Austrians, and Russians did when Napoleon was taken prisoner and placed on the Isle of St. Helena. “Why?” you ask. Read my text again; for it says he shall be bound a thousand years. Take your dictionary and look up the word “millennium,” and you will find it to mean a thousand years.

O that Christ would arrest and chain Satan now! Then mothers would be spared breaking hearts, and fathers throbbing brains; then would worldliness never mar the Church; then would theatrical stages, saloon bars, card tables, race tracks, and piety bazaars be unknown; then would pride on the person, pipes in the mouths, and whisky bottles in the pockets disappear. Then would honesty come to the front, virtue be dominant, the race assume the appearance of a peaceful family, and the world become one grand, triumphant, adoring assembly. O let us pray Jesus to come speedily!

ONLY FOR A SEASON.

But in closing, do not forget that this chaining is only for a season. When Richard the Crusader battled against Isaac, Emperor of Cyprus, he took him captive, bound in “silver chains,” and kept him thus till death released him. Not so with Satan. This chapter says “he must be loosed a little season,” the same incorrigible fiend, breathing his malice and utilizing his deceit upon a peaceful race, only to be recaptured, and cast into the lake of fire; and not only he, but, as the

fifteenth verse says, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” I want you, my reader, to read your destiny. You can if you will. Is your name in the book of life? You know whether it is or not. If it is, then praise God, and pray for the speedy arrest of this usurper. If it is not, then I tell you the truth: “And whosoever”—and that includes you,—“and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” What an awful condition,—irredeemable, inexorable, and real! You know as well as I do that there is no pain like that of burning. A burnt finger will affect the whole nervous organism; then what must the whole being feel when literally baptized, yea, and virtually annihilated, in fire? I pray you to forsake the ways of Satan; leave his company; for as a leader he is bad; as a worker he is worse; and as a paymaster he is worst of all, causing sorrow in life, wretchedness in death, and misery hereafter.

A domestic in a fit of displeasure left the home of Luther without giving notice. She subsequently fell into habits of immorality, and became dangerously ill. In her sickness she requested a visit from Luther. On taking his seat by her bedside, he said: “Well, Elizabeth, what is the matter?” “I have given away my soul to Satan,” she said. “I have deliberately sold my poor soul to the devil, and how can such a crime ever find mercy?” Luther showed her that by right she belonged to the Lord, that He had died to redeem her, and that if she would confess and believe in Jesus, He would receive her in spite of what she had done. The girl obeyed, was converted, and died full of faith and hope. And you, servant of the arch-enemy of your soul, if you will flee to Christ and commit your soul to His care, He will save you. Will you do it? Will you do it now? Will you? Will you?

PROPHECY A PROOF OF INSPIRATION.

By H. L. Hastings

H. L. Hastings, in “Inspiration of the Bible.”

THE Bible, to my mind, bears the marks of divine inspiration in the foresight which it exhibits. This book foretells things. You cannot do that. You cannot tell what will be next year, or next week. “The spirits” cannot tell who will be the next president, or governor, or emperor. They may tell a great many things which are past. They may tell you who your grandmother was, and may copy the inscription on your grandfather’s gravestone, and may tell things which are written in the family record. They may reveal many things in the past,—for the devil knows about the past,—but they cannot foretell the future. I did hear of one spiritual medium who foretold her own death, and she died within a few hours; but when they got the stomach-pump, they pumped poison enough out of her to kill two or three. That kind of prophecy requires no omniscient foresight.

Years ago I talked with an infidel in Plymouth, Mass., and he wanted me to give him some evidence that the Bible is true. After some conversation, I loaned him a little volume, an abridgment of “Keith on Prophecy.” Some ten years after, as I took my seat in a railway train, he sat down beside me and began to talk. He said: “If you want that book, you can have it; but no one else can have it at any price.” It had knocked his infidelity into atoms, and he had become a believer in Christ, and a member of the Church.

The revelations of prophecy are facts which exhibit the divine omniscience. So long as Babylon is in heaps; so long as Nineveh lies empty, void, and waste; so long as Egypt is the basest of kingdoms; so long as Tyre is a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; so long as Israel is scattered among all nations; so long as Jerusalem is trodden under foot of the Gentiles; so long as the great empires of the world march on in their predicted course,—so long we have proof that one omniscient Mind dictated the predictions of that book, and “prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.”

THE FORWARD MOVEMENT

By W. W. Prescott

A Revival of the Study and Practical Application of the Physical Side of Spiritual Truth in its Relation to the Second Advent of Our Lord

“PREPARE YE THE WAY OF THE LORD.”

We are living in the time when the earth should be lightened with the glory of the message which is to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. It is time for the truth to shine forth. The light of life must reach all those who sit in darkness. It is a time of privilege and a time of opportunity. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come.” We have been strangely slow to appreciate the meaning of the light committed to us, and slow to impart it to others. It is plain that a decided advance must be made. There must be an awakening and a new experience among all this people.

The very circumstances as shaped by the providence of God seem to indicate that the time has come for a genuine revival of interest throughout the whole denomination in that phase of the gospel truth which relates to the body as the temple of the living God. It has been a long time since there has been a general movement of this kind. In the meantime a whole new generation has grown up, and many thousands have received the message. It is true that these truths have been taught among us during these years, but their importance as an integral part of the gospel message has not always been appreciated, and in too many cases their practical application has been largely neglected. During these years there has also been a wonderful increase of light, and a development of the truths which were but dimly perceived in former years, so that to-day there is offered to this people a system of truth dealing with the principles which govern our physical well-being, such as has not been committed to any other people since the days of Israel.

These facts and their meaning were considered at the council of the General Conference Committee and other brethren, which was held in Battle Creek, Oct. 23 to Nov. 3, 1901, and it was decided to conduct a special educational effort in behalf of the gospel of health for at least six months, beginning with January, 1902. This work has since been placed under the direction of a central committee composed of the following persons: W. W. Prescott, Chairman; J. H. Kellogg, W. A. Spicer, G. W. Thomason, A. J. Read, E. R. Palmer. The general scope and purpose of this effort are indicated by its name, “The Forward Movement: A Revival of the Study and Practical Application of the Physical Side of Spiritual Truth in Its Relation to the Second Advent of Our Lord.” We hope to make this a real forward movement in Christian experience, based upon a study of the complete gospel for spirit, soul, and body. We hope to set forth the right way of living, the pathway of an intelligent faith in the revelation of God’s life, and thus to have the teaching positive rather than negative. It will be a study of the gospel of life, the gift of God’s life to man, and how to co-operate with God’s purpose in this gift.

In order to carry out the design to make this movement a general one, the central committee has suggested the forming of local committees in the different parts of the field, to direct the work in their several districts, especially in the matter of health conventions and other meetings for practical instruction in the application of the principles studied. The central committee has also asked the co-operation of the editors of all our publications in the United States, and as far as practicable in other countries, that space may be granted for articles by special writers, a large number of whom have been asked to contribute.

A book is also being written by Dr. J. H. Kellogg for use in this movement. This book will contain twenty-six chapters, thus providing one chapter as the basis of a study for each week during

the six months. The title of the book, “The Living Temple,” suggests the general plan of the work. Viewing the body as the temple of the Holy Ghost, the writer gives such instruction in the essential principles of anatomy and physiology as will enable one to apply intelligently in daily life those rational methods for the preservation of health and the cure of disease which are based upon Biblical principles, and attested by a long experience.

This book will be ready about the first of February. In the meantime there will appear in our different publications articles which will present some of the fundamental principles upon which the studies in “The Forward Movement” will be based.

The hearty co-operation of all the people is earnestly asked for, that this effort may prove to be the means of real and permanent blessing. More definite suggestions for organized efforts will be made later, and through other channels, which we hope will commend themselves as worthy of being adopted. It has been decided to merge the Reading Circle into this larger educational effort, and that work will therefore not be carried forward as a distinct department. It is for this reason that no announcements have appeared concerning it.

The headquarters of this movement will be at the office of the General Conference, and any correspondence relating to it should be addressed to “The Forward Movement,” 267 West Main St., Battle Creek, Mich., U. S. A.

In behalf of the Central Committee,

W. W. PRESCOTT, Chairman.

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