Another view of the history of empires and kingdoms was brought before the prophet Daniel in the vision of the eighth chapter. In this vision, a great prophetic period is given, the end of which reaches to the latter days, touching events of our own times that are of direct interest and importance to every one today.
The vision was given in the third year of Belshazzar, the last king of Babylon. Again, as in moving panorama, there passed before the prophet’s vision the scenes of history. Earthly kingdoms were represented by the symbols of beasts.
We shall find the prophecy and the history corresponding in every detail, revealing the overruling hand of God, who knows the end from the beginning, and whose living Word of Truth bears its witness through all the ages:—
“Truth never dies. The ages come and go;
The mountains wear away; the seas retire;
Destruction lays earth’s mighty cities low,
And empires, states, and dynasties expire;
But caught and handed onward by the wise,
Truth never dies.”
The opening scene by the river Ulai, in Persia, is thus described:—
Prophecy: “Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beast might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did7according to his will, and became great.” Verses 3, 4.
History: In the angel’s interpretation of the vision Daniel was told: “The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.” Verse 20. “The higher came up last.” The two horns represented the dual character of the empire: first the Medes in ascendancy, then the Persians rising to yet greater power. “So that no beast might stand before him,” says the prophecy. Xenophon says of Cyrus: “He was able to extend the fear of himself over so great a part of the world that he astonished all, and no one attempted anything against him.”—“The Cyropædia,” book 1, chap. 1. The line of Medo-Persian conquest was “westward, and northward, and southward,” just as the prophet saw the ram pushing its way. As one pen wrote in the days of Persia’s supremacy:—
“He [Darius] showed the world arms glory-crowned.
. . . Towns untold before him fell.
Burgs over sea . . . heard from his lips
their fate.”
—“The Persians,” by Æschylus.
But the ram pushing westward stirred up an antagonist that was eventually to overcome him. The prophet continues:—
Prophecy: “And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, . . . and ran unto him in the fury of his power. . . . And there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.” Verses 5–7.
History: The angel’s interpretation continued: “And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.” Verse 21. “With Alexander the New Greece begins.”—“Story of Greece,” by Harrison, page 499. “And it happened, after that Alexander . . . had smitten Darius, king of the Persians and Medes, that he reigned in his stead, the first over Greece.” 1 Maccabees 1:1. Under Alexander the Grecian goat ran upon the Persian ram “in the fury of his power.” At Arbela, wrote Arrian, the Macedonians charged “with great fury.” None was able to deliver the Persian ram. “Wherever you fly,” wrote Alexander to the retreating Darius, “thither will I surely pursue you.” See “Anabasis of Alexander the Great,” by Arrian, book 2, chap. 14. Medo-Persia fell before Grecia, as this sure word of prophecy had foretold two hundred years before Alexander’s day.
Grecia’s expansion and its later history were next unfolded before the prophet’s vision:—
Prophecy: “Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.” Verse 8.
History: Of the ram (Persia) it was said it became “great;” of the goat (Grecia) that it became “very great.” Justin, the Roman, wrote of Alexander: “So much was the whole world awed by the terror of his name, that all nations came to pay their obedience to him.”—“History of the World,” book 12, chap. 13. “Vain in his hopes, the youth had grasped at all,
And his vast thought took in the vanquished ball.”
—Lucan’s “Pharsalia.” (Nicholas Rowe’s translation), book 3.
But the unerring prophecy had said that “when he was strong, the great horn was broken.” Suddenly the youthful conqueror was cut down by death, just as he was preparing to celebrate at Babylon a “convention of the whole universe,”—
“being thus taken off in the flower of his age, and in the height of his victories.”—Justin’s “History of the World,” book 13, chap. 1.
The ancient pagan writers, in telling the story, make use of language very similar to that used by divine prophecy in foretelling it. Following Alexander’s death the empire was divided “toward the four winds of heaven.” Myers’s “History of Greece,” edition 1902, page 457, says: “Four well-defined and important monarchies arose out of the ruins. . . . The great horn was broken; and instead of it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.”
As the prophet watched these four kingdoms of divided Greece, he beheld the rise of another power coming into the field of his vision through one of the four kingdoms, and extending its authority more than any before it:—
Prophecy: “And out of one of them [one of the four kingdoms] came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.” Verse 9.
History: Medo-Persia was “great,” Grecia was “very great,” but this power was to be “exceeding great.” Rome followed Grecia. Polybius, the Roman, says: “Almost the whole inhabited world was conquered, and brought under the dominion of the single city of Rome.”—“Histories of Polybius” (Evelyn Shuckburgh’s translation), book 1, chap. 1. One of the odes of Horace [Ode 15, “To Augustus”] tells how the name of Rome grew to might:—
“Till her superb dominion spread
East, where the sun comes forth in light,
And west to where he lays his head.”
—Book 4.
Lucan’s lines measured its exceeding greatness from the other points of the compass:—
“Though from the frozen pole our empire run,
Far as the journeys of the southern sun.” —“Pharsalia,” book 10.
“The empire of the Romans filled the world,” says Gibbon. It was “exceeding great” according to the prophecy. And Rome rose to unquestioned supremacy out of its conquest of Macedonia, one of the four notable kingdoms into which Grecia was divided. Thus, in the vision, the little horn that grew so great came into the prophet’s view as proceeding out of one of the four horns that he had been watching. Rome spread forth toward the south and toward the east, and “toward the pleasant land,” Palestine becoming a province of the empire in the century before Christ. And it was a Roman force that destroyed Jerusalem and devastated the pleasant land.
Thus the “sure word of prophecy,” with exactness in detail, carries the history through the centuries to the last great universal monarchy, Rome.
But the prophecy does not deal so much with the earlier history of Rome as with the developments of later times. It was the same in the prophetic outline of Daniel 7. After briefly identifying Rome as the last universal monarchy, the vision of the seventh chapter dealt with the rise of papal Rome, described its exaltation of itself against God, and its warfare against the truth and the saints of God. And here again, in the eighth chapter, the same persecuting power is seen developing, exalting itself and persecuting the saints of God. The prophecy says that it “cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.” Verse 12. The papal history, as given in the study on Daniel 7, need not be repeated here.
As the prophet watched the work of this lawless power, his heart must have cried out to know how long it was to be allowed to prosper in its evil way; for next he heard the voice of a holy one asking the question for him,—
“How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?” Verse 13.
The answer was,—
“Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Verse 14.
In symbolic prophecy a day stands for a year. Eze. 4:6. This is a long period, therefore, of 2300 years. It reaches to the latter days; for the angel said of it, “At the time of the end shall be the vision,” Dan. 8:17.
The question was, “How long?” or literally, “Until when?” and the answer was, “Until two thousand and three hundred days.” Then what was to come to deal with the great apostasy?—“Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” The cleansing of the sanctuary, then, must have something to do with meeting the great apostasy, lifting up God’s truth that has been trampled underfoot, and cutting short the reign of evil. The cleansing of the sanctuary, with all that is involved in it, must be God’s answer to this lawless power.
Error may prosper for a time; but the just balances of the sanctuary will at last pronounce righteous judgment, and the prosperity of evil will be cut short. “I was envious . . . when I saw the prosperity of the wicked,” said the psalmist. “Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.” Ps. 73: 3, 17.
What, then, is involved in the cleansing of the sanctuary, the time of which is marked by the long prophetic period? It is for us to understand; for it is a work pertaining to the latter days.
W. A. S.
One by One
By Adelaide A. Procter
ONE by one the sands are flowing, one by one the moments fall;
Some are coming, some are going; do not strive to grasp them all.
One by one thy duties wait thee—let thy whole strength go to each;
Let no future dreams elate thee; learn thou first what these can teach.
Every hour that passes slowly has its task to do or bear;
Luminous the crown, and holy, if thou set each gem with care.
Hours are golden links, God's token, reaching heaven one by one;
Take them, lest the chain be broken ere thy pilgrimage be done.
— Adelaide A. Procter.
“There Is No Power but of God”
By ADOLPHUS SMITH
ADOLPHUS SMITH
It is absolutely true that “there is no power but of God.” Rom. 13: 1. There is no power in matter of itself to move. A watch is a wonderful piece of human mechanism, constructed of material drawn from God’s laboratory, with design to measure passing time. But of itself it is as powerless as a piece of clay. Human power must be stored up in the mainspring; and even then the watch cannot “run” unless the power is allowed to escape by way of the balance wheel. And when its store of power is exhausted, the watch will stop forever unless the power is renewed.
Of the dust of the ground God made man, a more complicated and wonderful mechanism than the watch. Ps. 139: 14. But man could not live and move until there was imparted to him a certain measure of God’s own power. See Gen. 2: 7. The immortality of the saints will be perpetuated by renewal of vital power through eating of the tree of life. Rev. 22: 2. The mechanism of the astral universe also is upheld by the same divine power. Heb. 1: 3; Isa. 40: 26. Our spiritual life and its perpetuation are by the same power of God. Eph. 2: 10; Rom. 1: 16; 1 Peter 1: 5; Jude 24; 2 Cor. 4: 16. The new creation in Christ Jesus imparts the divine nature to the redeemed. “In Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. . . . God has adopted human nature in the person of his Son, and has carried the same into the highest heaven.”—The Desire of Ages, page 27. All that man can accomplish mentally, physically, or spiritually, is made possible by the power of God that is imparted to him. Hence, man has no right to take glory to himself. See 1 Cor. 4: 7.
God’s power is grossly misapplied by the sinner. Isa. 43: 24. The power of Pilate to condemn and crucify Jesus was put God-given power misused. John 19: 10, 11. Each thought and act is a use of God’s intrusted power. They are golden grains of sand in time’s hourglass that measure out our destiny.
Freedom
By J. S. WASHBURN
J. S. WASHBURN
“Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34. Jesus here states a fact the truthfulness of which every man has proved to his sorrow. Sin is a cruel taskmaster, a merciless slave driver, and pays no wages but pain, sorrow, shame, and finally death.
In ourselves there is no escape, no remedy. “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” Prov. 5:22.
Haman built a gallows fifty cubits high, on which to hang Mordecai. But God delivered just Mordecai, and the very rope prepared for Mordecai brought proud, cruel Haman to the painful, shameful death he had planned for another.
Thus with remorseless literalness was the wicked taken, destroyed by the cord of his own sin; and not less surely will every unrepentant man find himself some day held in bonds, dying in agony and shame because of his own sin. Do you think you shall escape? “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Gal. 6:7. “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Num. 32:23. You cannot hide so deep but it will hunt you to your death. For, listen! sin is within you, a part of yourself. You cannot run away, you cannot escape, from it. While you live, it will abide with you, poisoning and destroying you.
You cannot cover yourself with falsehood, with denials. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Prov. 28:13. Others may be deceived, but God knows, and you cannot forget. The sting of conscience may be deadened by resisting the Spirit; but when in trouble or danger, there will face you, taunt you, mock you, crush you, like a hissing venomous serpent, this selfsame sin you thought forgotten by yourself and all others.
O helpless, wretched one! is there deliverance from this loathsome, clinging serpent with its deadly poison fang?—Yes, thank God. Christ can and will deliver. He who can raise the dead, can forgive sin; but there is one condition. It is this—confession.
Confession and forgiveness are married. God has joined them. No man can put them asunder. Read Prov. 28:13 again, also Ps. 32:3-5. While David concealed his sin, he knew only a terrible unrest that was consuming his very life. He confessed his sin, and then found peace and rest. “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. . . . I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. All sin is against God; therefore, all sin must be confessed to him. But if we have wronged any on earth, we are also to make confession to them.
The blessed proclamation of “liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound,” is an actual experience. “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.” Ps. 124:7. We are free. There is then no condemnation. Sin has then no dominion over us. Christ is our master, and his rule means liberty, life, and peace.
Thank God for the “glorious liberty of the children of God.” Even while still in this body, there is liberty from sin and sinning. Peace with God, perfect love which casts out all fear, gives us boldness and power with God and with men. And when he comes and changes this body of humiliation, and fashions it like unto the body of his glory, he gives us the actual, literal freedom of the universe. O, shake off the bands! Go free in the Lord now in time, and eternally in his glory.
“God’s almighty arms are round me.
Peace, peace, is mine;
Judgment scenes need not confound me,
Peace, peace, is mine.
Jesus came himself and sought me,
Sold to death; he found and bought me,
Then my blessed freedom taught me:
Peace, peace, is mine.”
A Suggestive Missionary Program
By A. M. DORMAN
A. M. DORMAN
AFTER a rousing missionary hymn and an earnest prayer, the leader calls for the relation of experiences which the members have had in actual service for the Lord during the past week. In some cases he may even begin with the front row and call upon each in turn.
Nothing else will so enliven and stir a company of believers as a meeting of this sort. Those who are unable to think of anything to relate, will be awakened to their real condition by the fact that they have nothing to tell.
A good experience in the Lord cannot be related without the manifestation of a certain degree of enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is contagious. It spreads quickly from one to another. The entire congregation catches the spirit of service.
After the relation of these experiences, the leader may call for expression on the part of the members as to plans by9which the message can be advanced in their locality. They may be asked to tell their individual plans for service. When one helps to plan for a work, he at once assumes more or less responsibility for the carrying out of the plan. Thus under wise leadership, let the church be organized for service.
It is true that in some cases missionary societies are organized for this kind of work. It is also true that often but a small proportion of the church members belong to the society or attend its meetings. Those who do belong are those who are already awake to the work. The crying need is for the arousing of interest and enthusiasm among those who are now asleep. Those who do not attend the missionary meetings must be reached at the regular church service.
The church exists for the sole purpose of saving sinners. Its work in saving men is twofold: First, it saves the individual sinner; second, it trains the regenerated heart for service. The church exists to complete the work begun by Christ. The purpose of God for each of its members is contained in the command of Christ, the Head, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.”
Are the churches fulfilling the purpose of God for them? This question is an important one. The church itself was intended to be a missionary society. A church may be prosperous and successful in many ways, but it is truly successful only as it reaches the real purpose of its existence.
“All the preaching in the world will not make men feel deeply the need of perishing souls around them.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. IX, page 117. “The best help that ministers can give the members of our churches is not sermonizing, but planning work for them.”—Id., Vol. VI, page 49. “Should all the labor that has been expended on the churches during the past twenty years, be again expended upon them, it would fail, as it has failed in the past, of making the members self-denying, cross-bearing followers of Christ. Many have been overfed with spiritual food, while in the world thousands are perishing for the bread of life. Church members must work.”—Id., Vol. IX, page 140.
When each church fulfills the purpose of God in its existence, the message will go forward as a fire that burneth.
Lamar, Colo.
The Sabbath-Keeping Heritage
By T. E. BOWEN
T. E. BOWEN
WHAT is involved in “the heritage of Jacob thy father,” which the Lord promises us in true Sabbath keeping?
That our father Jacob was especially blessed of God is very evident. The blessing of the birthright included, (1) spiritual blessings, for it was because of Jacob’s ambition to receive these that he entered into the conspiracy of his mother to obtain the blessing by fraud and deceit; and (2) manifold temporal blessings, as seen in the wonderful manner in which God blessed the labors of Jacob while with his father-in-law Laban in Padan-aram. He went there alone. He returned with a prosperous family, and an abundance of this world’s goods in flocks and herds.
But back of these manifest blessings from God were some very sterling principles built into Jacob’s character, which God esteemed most precious. There was Jacob’s vow at Bethel to give God a tenth of all. And he did it. He even paid interest on God’s tenth while he was in Padan-aram, where he could not put it into the treasury. “Jacob gave the tenth of all that he had, and then reckoned the use of the tenth, and gave the Lord the benefit of that which he had used for his own interest during the time he was in a heathen land, and could not pay his vow. This was a large amount, but he did not hesitate; that which he had vowed to God he did not regard as his, but as the Lord’s.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. IV, pages 466, 467. And while returning to Canaan, he won for himself the name Israel, having prevailed with God, through faith and prayer, on that night of wrestling with the angel. At this time he really obtained the spiritual blessing of the birthright.
Is this heritage of any worth? Was Jacob’s birthright, though lightly esteemed by Esau, of worth to Jacob and his posterity? It included a home in the kingdom of God. It involved the choice of obedience to God, of denying himself sinful worldly pleasures, of wrestling with God until he knew that all his sinful scheming and supplanting had been forgiven him in answer to his humble confession to God, and the seeking for pardon.
Involved in Sabbath keeping today are these same sterling character principles that were developed in the life of Jacob. Men and women move from principle, not from impulse and feeling, when they abandon worldly associations and customs to keep God’s holy day, thus incurring the scorn and reproach of the world. A sacrifice is involved in all this; and he who today makes it in faith, will receive the blessing of the Infinite One, just as surely as the Lord blessed Jacob spiritually, and also all that he put his hand to. There is no uncertainty connected with this. We have the promise of the Most High, a promise from his own lips: “Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isa. 58: 14.
Making God’s Day a Delight
“The Sabbath should be made so interesting to our families that its weekly return will be hailed with joy. In no better way can parents exalt and honor the Sabbath than by devising means to impart proper instruction to their families, and interesting them in spiritual things, giving them correct views of the character of God, and what he requires of us in order to perfect Christian characters and attain to eternal life. Parents, make the Sabbath a delight, that your children may look forward to it, and have a welcome in their hearts for it.”—Id., Vol. II, page 585.
Meetings Not to Be Long on Sabbath Days
It is not necessary to spend all of the Sabbath in meeting, to keep it holy. Long sermons, long meetings of any kind, and long prayers are out of place. “The mind cannot be refreshed, enlivened, and elevated by being confined nearly all the Sabbath hours within walls, listening to long sermons and tedious, formal prayers. The Sabbath of the Lord is put to a wrong use if thus celebrated.”—Id., page 583. Evidently the Lord is pleased to have families spend the day largely by themselves. The children are made happy to have father and mother with them. With the cares of the week day laid aside, fathers and mothers may impart knowledge that will be as good seed sown in the hearts of their loved ones. God will bless these words of counsel and love, and cause the seed thus sown to develop into pure, noble deeds in the lives of the children.
Providing Food Thought for Sabbath
There are topics in abundance upon which we may freely think and converse on the Sabbath. Good books may be read with the younger children, and procured for the older ones, in which pure delight may be taken. Through the week, parents can watch for some story or experience that will prove both interesting and profitable for Sabbath topics of conversation. Something good must be provided or the active minds of the children will surely drift into forbidden subjects for the Sabbath—the common everyday topics. And it might be added, so will our own thoughts wander into our work-day topics, unless we studiously plan otherwise.
In our Sabbath keeping let us see how near we can come to the ideal God has for us in observing his holy day. His Spirit will then lead us into the very storehouse of God’s most choice spiritual blessings for man, which we are quite sure to find bound up for us within his gift to us of the Sabbath.
Manifestation Of
By ELBRIDGE M. ADAMS
The Holy Spirit — No. 4
Manifestation Of
ELBRIDGE M. ADAMS
BOTH in the Bible and in the writings of the spirit of prophecy the Lord has made it very plain that the Holy Spirit is essential to us. A little attention to its history will suffice to show that its manifestations are varied. Paul speaks of the “diversities of gifts,” but by “the same Spirit.”
There are, at least, three ways that men are led by the Spirit — impressions, dreams, and visions. Of Nathanael it is said:—
“He prayed that if the one announced by John was the deliverer, it might be made known to him, and the Holy Spirit rested upon him with assurance that God had visited his people and raised up a horn of salvation for them. . . .10The message, ‘We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write,’ seemed to Nathanael a direct answer to his prayer. . . . Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! ‘In surprise, Nathanael exclaimed, ‘Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.’
“It was enough. The divine Spirit that had borne witness to Nathanael in his solitary prayer under the fig tree, now spoke to him in the words of Jesus.”
How many humble followers of Christ have almost, at times, doubted their acceptance, wishing that God might speak personally to them, not knowing that through his representative, the Holy Spirit, he is speaking to them individually in every good impression. Here Nathanael was longing to know the truth about the Messiah, and in answer to his earnest request that “it might be made known to him, . . . the Holy Spirit rested upon him with assurance.”
The dreams of Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar are fresh in our minds. Of the former it is said, “God hath showed Pharaoh what he is about to do.” And the explanation of the latter is very similar: “But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.” The wise men were “warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod.” In the same way God told Joseph to take Jesus into Egypt. Still others have been blessed with visions.
We are aware, doubtless, that Satan has counterfeited God's blessings to man. He can speak by impressions, dreams, and visions. And, therefore, we must not be led contrary to God's revealed word in the Bible and the Testimonies. These God has given to safeguard us from all the delusions of the devil.
As the Spirit leads in different ways, so it affects in different ways. Paul's conversion was accompanied with a bright, shining light and an audible voice. No one would question, however, the genuineness of the conversion of the eunuch to whom the angel of the Lord sent Philip, but who experienced no great demonstration, simply a moving of the Spirit through the written Word of God, and its explanation by Philip, God's minister.
“The wind is heard among the branches of the trees, rustling the leaves and flowers; yet it is invisible, and no man knows whence it comes, or whither it goes. So with the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart. It can no more be explained than can the movements of the wind. A person may not be able to tell the exact time or place, or to trace all the circumstances in the process of conversion; but this does not prove him to be unconverted. By an agency as unseen as the wind, Christ is constantly working upon the heart. Little by little, perhaps unconsciously to the receiver, impressions are made that tend to draw the soul to Christ. These may be received through meditating upon him, through reading the Scriptures, or through hearing the word from the living preacher. Suddenly, as the Spirit comes with more direct appeal, the soul gladly surrenders itself to Jesus. By many this is called sudden conversion; but it is the result of long wooing by the Spirit of God — a patient, protracted process.”
At the time of Pentecost the sound of the Spirit was as of a “rushing mighty wind,” while to Elijah on the mount it came as a “still small voice.” When it rested upon Jesus after his baptism, its form was that of a dove, but upon his disciples its appearance was “cloven tongues like as of fire.”
It is recorded of Samson: “The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him [the lion] as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand. . . . And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil. . . . And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.” Dorcas, whose life had been so full of good deeds that God saw fit to raise her from the dead, was moved by the same Spirit to work quietly with her needle in making coats and garments for the poor. On the kind of work required of us the following comforting words bear directly:—
“Those who are trying to purify their souls through obedience to the truth, yet who have had no opportunity of making special efforts and sacrifices for Christ and his cause, should find consolation in the thought that it is not necessarily the self-surrender of the martyr that is the most acceptable to God; it may not be the missionary whose life has been one of trial and endurance that stands highest in heaven's record; but that the Christian who is such in his private life, in his daily struggle with self, in the control of his passions, in cleanness of purpose, in purity of thought, in patience, meekness, and long-suffering under the test of provocation, in piety, in devotion, in holy faith and trust in God, in faithfulness in little things, representing in the home life the character of Jesus,—that such a one may be more precious in the sight of God than the man who goes as a missionary to heathen lands, or ascends the scaffold to die for his faith.”
When Jesus was baptized, he “was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil.” And again: “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.” As Jesus was led at one time to trial and at another by the same Spirit to honor and glory, so may we be.
It is very evident, with these facts before us, that the Holy Spirit is not given to be used by us, but to use us as it deems fit under all circumstances. This means a complete surrender of our wills, ways, and wishes to this divine agency.
“Christ has promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to his church, and the promise belongs to us as much as to the first disciples. But like every other promise, it is given on conditions. There are many who believe and profess to claim the Lord's promise; they talk about Christ and about the Holy Spirit, yet receive no benefit. They do not surrender the soul to be guided and controlled by the divine agencies. We cannot use the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is to use us. Through the Spirit God works in his people ‘to will and to do of his good pleasure.’ But many will not submit to this. They want to manage themselves. This is why they do not receive the heavenly gift. Only to those who wait humbly upon God, who watch for his guidance and grace, is the Spirit given. The power of God awaits their demand and reception. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings in its train. It is given according to the riches of the grace of Christ, and he is ready to supply every soul according to the capacity to receive.”
Lost His Atheism
A FRENCH atheist, having been brought to himself, makes this confession:—
“What would become of France if its children did not believe, if its women did not pray? . . . France’s present is tribulation. It feels that it cannot longer believe. Will its future be better?—In God’s hand! Only in God’s hand. A slain people covers the fields. How hard it is to be an atheist in this national graveyard! I cannot! I cannot! I have deceived myself and you who have read my books and sung my songs.”
It is when tribulation comes that people learn to know that there is a God ruling among men. And before the history of this earth closes, thousands upon thousands will lament, as does this sower of doubts, that they have deceived themselves and others into believing that it mattered little whether or not one believed in God. How often God has brought nations to strait places, even Israel itself, in order that they shall “know that I am the Lord.” Over and over this phrase was repeated to Pharaoh by Moses and Aaron. Men are learning the same thing today by the hardest lesson, as did Pharaoh of old, and some, like this French atheist, are profiting thereby.
Kindness Is Catching
“KINDNESS is catching; and if you go around with a thoroughly developed case, your neighbors will be sure to get it. Be kind, one to another.”
HOME IN INTERIOR HAITI
Haiti
By A. F. Prieger
A. F. PRIEGER
Brother E. A. Curdy and I recently made a trip to St. Marc, where I baptized eleven converts, and organized a church of fifteen members. Returning by way of Port au Prince, where we celebrated the Lord’s Supper with the little company of faithful believers, we found Brother Curdy’s oldest son, Clark, sick with the dreaded intestinal fever. Nine days later, at the age of ten years, he was laid to rest in the cemetery at Cape Haitien, until Jesus shall come to gather his own. Thus our joys are often mingled with the sorrow of loss of loved ones, and we are constantly reminded that this present world is no continual abiding place.
Brother Curdy and his family soon after left for Port de Paix, where several candidates have long been awaiting baptism. Most of them had been brought to the knowledge of the truth through the labors of Brethren M. N. Isaac and J. J. Baptiste, and members of the Port de Paix church, which is indeed a shining light in that part of the island.
On October 14 I visited the company, and found them well instructed and ready for baptism, and Sabbath morning twelve were buried in the watery grave, to rise as new men and women in Christ Jesus. That the angel of the Lord was present was clearly manifest in protection from a large shark which came near during the service, but did not disturb us. I had my back toward it, and so did not notice it; but the natives saw it. They said it was the first one they had seen in that vicinity for years, and they felt sure that we had been divinely protected.
During a testimony meeting in the afternoon, three others decided to give their hearts to God, and they were baptized the next day. Among them was a young man who was driven from home when he decided to follow Jesus. He is left without means, but we hope that he will remain faithful and devote his life to the giving of this message.
In the evening we had a meeting, and almost half the money needed for a church building was subscribed. Many gave their rings and necklaces and other jewelry, to be sold. The money thus obtained is to be used in building a house wherein to worship God. So anxious were the people to assist that the sisters volunteered to help carry the stones for the building. In my thoughts I compared this with the passage in Ps. 110:3, and I wondered if the time is not near when we shall see this spirit throughout our ranks. May the Lord grant it.
Peace is not yet reestablished in Haiti. Only in the largest coast cities are conditions quiet. What has occurred here12recently, shows what may yet be expected everywhere. I can clearly see that it is much more difficult and dangerous now to present the message than it was before we left for our furlough. Yet some are glad to receive us. The Lord has permitted many to be wounded and bruised, so that they have come to the place where they feel the need of sympathy and hope. May the Lord grant that in the presentation of this message we may be filled with more love and longing for souls, is my prayer. Pray for the work in this troubled field.
