Signs of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 50. (12/11/1901)

Signs of the Times

Dec 11, 1901

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 11, 1901

THE GOLDEN GATE.

By C. M. Snow

On the evening of August 5, 1775, the little sailing ship San Carlos entered the “pillared passage” now known as the Golden Gate. It was a more dangerous undertaking than the captain of that Spanish vessel understood. The waters that pour through the Golden Gate were as swift and strong then as now; the treacherous currents were unknown; and the sunken rocks had never been charted or touched by drill or dynamite. A little launch, dug out of a redwood tree and propelled by oars, was sent in ahead, and the ship followed not far behind. When darkness dropped down over this body of water which had never before been stirred by a vessel’s prow, the San Carlos dropped anchor in the lea of an island to which was given the name Nuestra Señora de los Angeles (Our Lady of the Angels). That appellation clings to it still in the name Angel Island. But the name Golden Gate was not given to this passage from the bay to the ocean until, in 1848, Fremont placed the name on his new map of Oregon and California. He states that the advantages of the bay for commerce suggested to him the name Chrysopylæ, or Golden Gate.

The progress of the settlement by the Gate was slow. In the year 1848, the year that gold was discovered in California, the little town of San Francisco (Saint Francis) contained, by actual census, only 459 persons, exclusive of the soldiers; and this was three quarters of a century from the time when the Spanish became particularly interested in the site. It is a somewhat striking coincidence that the year in which this outlet to the sea received the name Golden Gate, the precious metal began to pour in from the mines; for in that year (January, 1848) gold was discovered in California. The news of that discovery traveled as fast as news could travel in those days; and not many months elapsed before adventurous spirits from nearly every nation in the world were swarming through the Golden Gate, or sweeping like a conquering army down through the wreck-strewn passes of the high Sierras. Homes and business were abandoned, caravans quickly made up, and though hostile Indians lined the way or stormy seas lay between, nothing could stay the progress of that enthusiastic host which strewed the wrecks of fond hopes from the Mississippi to the Sacramento, or buried them uncoffined in the mighty deep. If they came by sea, the Golden Gate was to them the jeweled portal to the paradise of wealth. If they came by land, the last pass of the Sierras was to them the golden gate to the land of their golden dreams. The sturdy ones endured months of hardship; the weaker ones were buried by the way. Fortune seemed to smile on some; others fell at the hands of the roving savage. Some fell victims to the fever of the isthmus; others escaped the fever, but went down in the worthless hulks pressed into the service of the transportation companies. Thousands reached their goal in safety; others perished at the very portals of the Golden Gate, or their wrecked hopes were swallowed up in the vessels that bleached their bones along the coast from Brazil and Cape Horn to Mexico and Point Bonita. There were hardships,—they expected them,—hardships all along the way; but beyond the hardships lay the realization of the golden dream. There were dangers, and they realized

them; but beyond the dangers lay the Golden Gate and the glittering sands, where fortune slumbered, only waiting the persistent knocking of the drill and pick, or the jar and clatter of the rocker and the miner’s pan, when she would awake to open to them the door of their fondest hopes.

THOUSANDS made fortunes, and thousands were ruined. Thousands went back with their wealth; others never went back, but lost their all, bartered their souls and lost again; still others, with the frosts of many winters in their hair, are searching, delving, testing, turning hither and thither, hoping ever that the next pan will give up the yellow key to the fortune whose quest they can not forsake. From stream to stream, from plain to craggy cliff, this insatiate army trudges, with hope for its knapsack and golden dreams for its pillow. One by one their comrades are sounding taps over the tired dreamers, and they are laid away. They looked to the Golden Gate as to the portal of a temporal paradise; but the bitterest disappointment has been the portion of thousands of the rank and file of that mighty host. The promise which hope made them was never fulfilled. They had staked all and lost.

HOW DIFFERENT is the hope which the Gospel holds out to man. It has its golden gate; it has its glorious reward beyond the gate; and there is no disappointment to the seeker. There are hardships to be borne; but they have been borne by Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and He has promised His unfailing help to every one who will undertake the journey. There are stormy seas to cross; but Jesus Christ is the Pilot from the port of sailing to the anchorage inside the harbor bar; and no vessel which He pilots will ever founder at sea or be thrown upon the rocks and lost. There is absolute certainty in this. He who sails with Him must leave all, it is true; but in leaving all, he wins all, and there is no hazard, no uncertainty, no unfulfilled hopes, no disappointment when the voyage is done. True, some have set out upon this voyage and have not gone through. But they broke chart and compass, dismissed the Pilot, and took the wheel themselves, or gave it into the hands of him whose ambition was the ruin of their souls. They have foundered in the fog and stress of storm, or in the darkness have run upon the reef and perished.

THE promise of Christ is, “Him that overcometh will I make a ‘pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out; and I ‘will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of ‘My God, . . . and I will write upon him My new name.” Rev. 3:12. Beyond the golden gate toward which the Christian journeys there lies the absolute fulfilment of the most glorious hopes the heart of man has ever harbored. Here men have striven, struggled, journeyed under deepest privations, passed through dangers hidden and revealed, dangers which threatened life itself,—all for a few ounces of gold and the joy they expected to find in its possession during a few short years. But what of that better hope which God has set before the race? He tells us, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, ‘neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God ‘hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them ‘unto us by His Spirit.” 1 Cor. 2:9, 10.

HAVE you seen your brightest earthly hopes fade and wither, and become the plaything of the winds of misfortune? The brightest hopes the child of earth can picture for himself are pale and insignificant beside the hopes which God holds out to the humblest suppliant of His grace—and His are real. It may have been best for you that the hopes you built have crumbled. It was best, if these were blinding your eyes to the unsearchable riches of God. The golden gate toward which your longing eyes had looked, and through which you had hoped to pass, may have been a portal whose passage would have been your eternal ruin. We can not afford to wreck our hope of entering upon the enjoyment of the riches and glories of heaven and of the earth made new for the sake of the fleeting pleasures of a transient life. The golden gate toward which the Christian looks is the pearl-hinged gate of the city of God. Beyond that is life everlasting; beyond that is the fruition of hope long deferred; beyond that is the companionship of the Christ who bought us with His blood. For “God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall ‘wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, ‘neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for ‘the former things are passed away.” Rev. 21:3, 4. Blessed hope! Glorious consummation of the promises of Him who has loved us with an everlasting love! C. M. SNOW.

CO-OPERATING WITH GOD.

By Ellen G. White

THE Lord compares Himself to a potter and His people to clay. He seeks to mold and fashion His people according to His likeness. The lesson they are to learn is the lesson of submission. If they give heed to the Lord’s instruction, surrendering self to the divine will, the hand of the Potter will produce a shapely vessel.

Again, the Lord compares Himself to a gardener, and His people to trees and plants. As a gardener straightens the trees which are growing crooked, so the Lord corrects His people. And they are to co-operate with the masterly, efficient hand which seeks to remedy that which is wrong in them. It is His desire that we shall serve Him with heart and soul and strength, not only for a hope of heaven, but that in unselfishness, purity, and holiness we may be a blessing to our fellow-men. We are not merely to be trees of righteousness. Christ said, “It is My Father’s good pleasure that ye bear much fruit.”

But how common it is for defects to be looked upon as virtues. The clay refuses to be molded; the tree refuses to be made straight. Thus deformity is brought into the growth. Tendencies to wrong mar the character. There is not seen the perfection which God desires every human being to reveal.

How natural it is for man to feel that it is his duty to correct others, when his own character-building reveals marked defects. Christ has warned us of this. He says, “Judge not, that ye be not ‘judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and ‘with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And ‘why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to ‘thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a ‘beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam ‘out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the ‘mote out of thy brother’s eye.” God desires us to criticize ourselves. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.” Make the examination of self thorough and critical. Those who refuse to see themselves in the mirror of God’s Word can not enter the kingdom of heaven. The gates of paradise will close against those who do not work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.

This world is a school in which human beings are receiving an education that will decide their eternal destiny. The youth should be carefully and judiciously trained; for the wrong habits formed in childhood and youth often cling to the entire life-experience. May God help us to see the necessity of beginning right. Parents have a most important part to act in this matter. On them rests the responsibility of training their children for God, of helping their little ones to form characters which will gain for them entrance to the courts above. And in school, children are to be educated to obey the requirements of God’s Word. Parents and teachers are to be laborers together with God, working unitedly to help the youth to fit themselves for membership in the royal family.

Children are not to be left to grow as they will. As the gardener straightens the young trees in an orchard, so they are to be straightened. Their perversity is to be checked; for if this is not done, they will carry it with them into the religious life, and it will make them crooked church-members. Parents who think there is no need of restraining their children, who allow them to shape their own character, will see in the future the sad result of this neglect. They will see that their failure to point out and correct defects has made it impossible for their children to enter heaven.

From generation to generation the neglect of parents is perpetuated. The evils uncorrected in a child are seen in the children and in the children’s children. Parents, the sin you permit your child to cherish may result in the ruin of families to the third and fourth generation. To allow a child to grow up with evil tendencies uncorrected is a wrong which can never be undone. But to bring children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is to do a work that will yield fruit unto eternal righteousness.

Children should be taught to obey the command, “Honor thy ‘father and thy mother.” From their earliest years they should be trained to carry their share of the home burdens. They should be taught that obligations are mutual. They should also be taught to work quickly and neatly. This education will be of the greatest value to them in after-years.

Parents and children should become acquainted with one another. Together they should learn to fulfil their duty to God and to one another. The mother should not accept burdens in the church which compel her to neglect her children. The best church work in which a mother can engage is the training of her children. Let her be sure that in this work there are no dropped stitches. In no other way can a

mother help the church more than by devoting her time to those who are dependent upon her for instruction. A well-disciplined, well-ordered family exerts a more powerful influence in favor of Christianity than all the sermons that can be preached.

Fathers and mothers, prize your privileges and improve your opportunities. Seek a character so consistent that sin will find no place in word or action. Walk wisely before your children, that when you bow in prayer, the Lord can hear you and answer you. Let your words be seasoned with the grace of heaven. Let the Christlikeness of your words and actions be a sign to your children that you walk with the Saviour. By holding fast to the promises of God and obeying His requirements, you may be evangelists in the home, ministers of grace to your children. MRS. E. G. WHITE.

HOW THE FAMILY OF EARTH SEPARATED FROM THE FAMILY OF HEAVEN.

By B. G. Wilkinson

(Concluded.)

THERE were now two families. God is a God of truth, and as such He could be the Father only of a family whose every member loved the truth. But the human race, because of the gate opened through the disobedience of man, were placed under the inflowing flood of sin. Tho Adam might repent and return, yet many of his descendants would reject the truth. Therefore it was necessary for God to cease to be the Father of the whole human race. Separated thus from God, men were laid open to the necessity of having a new father. Who would it be? Who actually did assume that position? We are informed in the words which Jesus spoke to the unbelieving Jews: “Ye are of YOUR FATHER THE DEVIL, and the lusts of your ‘father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode ‘not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh ‘a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44. There is no truth in the devil because he separated from the truth; and being the first one who separated from the truth, he naturally became the father of all those who, after him, were persuaded by his commanding abilities to separate from the truth. Behold him now as the father of the new family; the father of that part of the human race which lives in sin and disobedience,—the head of the family of earth, while God remains the head of the family of heaven.

Unhappy condition of the human race! Must it now be doomed forever to be separated from God? Must it be filled only with the sickening and foul inspirations of its new father? Must it now be left to degenerate in its alienation from God and from truth until it should perish from its very self-corruption?—No. The great heart of God’s love was stirred. The mother may forget her sucking child, but the great Creator can never forget the work of His hands. He so loved the world that immediately He sought means to bring back His prodigal children. This thought is beautifully expressed in the story of David and Absalom. Because of Absalom’s sin, David had banished his son from his presence. One day a woman appeared in the audience-chamber of the king, apparently to present him a petition; but her real motive was to reconcile the father and the son. “And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doth not fetch home again his banished. For we must needs die, and are as water spilled on the ground, which can not be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth He devise means, that His banished be not expelled from Him.” 2 Sam. 14:13, 14.

Here we see the wonderful love of God. We were banished. That truth can not be denied. We can not sink into an easy security in the belief that sin will pass unpunished, and that we are now acceptable to God. We are not acceptable. Our sin had banished us from His presence. But while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God was not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Therefore He devised means, and the plan of redemption was formed. “For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” Heb. 2:10. God gave His only-begotten Son a gift to every family. “For unto ‘us a child is born, unto us a Son is given.” That Son, that Child, is given to you and to me, and we can say with the prophet, “Unto us.” But when we accept that Child, He becomes our Leader and our Father. Read the verse further: “And the government shall be upon ‘His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, ‘the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” Isa. 9:6. Jesus was given to us to bring us back to the heavenly family. He was given that we should find in Him a Father, and that we by this means could leave the family of Satan. Banished, but not forgotten; expatriated, but re-adopted; the arms of a loving Father are stretched toward His unfortunate sons. Therefore He gave Jesus; and “as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the ‘sons of God.” And when the complete time of probation has been filled up, Jesus will take us before the Father’s throne and say, “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given Me.”

But what will become of those who refuse to accept this reconciling gift? The gift of Jesus was the gift of life. By nature man has no life in him. Separate him from God, and he will perish, as does the plant when it no longer receives moisture. Here, again, we behold the mercy of God. If left to themselves, those who have rejected God’s gift would naturally sink into a miserable death. But Jesus, who left the earth on His departure to heaven, has promised to return from heaven. Until that time, He said to His followers, “Ye are the salt of ‘the earth.’” But when He returns, He removes the salt by taking His people to Himself. Then in mercy His flaming glory will cut short the unhappy career of the others. They shall not dwell with the righteous. For as one bad apple is a corrupting offense to a barrel, so is one wicked man to his associates. As men cast out the evil fruit, so will God remove the wicked from existence.

This truth the Saviour expressed in His parable of the two strong men: “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are ‘in peace; but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and ‘overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, ‘and divideth his spoils.” Luke 11:21, 22. The strong man here is the devil. Death is his armor, his palace the grave, and mankind his goods. The stronger man is Christ. Therefore, “When a strong man [the devil] armed [with death] keepeth his palace [the grave], ‘his goods [mankind] are in peace; but when a stronger than he [Christ] shall come upon him, he taketh from him all the armor [death] wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoil [mankind].”

Happy deliverance! Death has passed upon the whole human race, and all must die. But the great Life-giver will come again. He will call for a division of the spoils; and at the sound of His voice those who sleep in Him will come forth. And then the words of Jesus will come true: “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd.” Only one family! The family of earth is reunited with the family of heaven. Those who have stood faithfully for God’s truth shall enter heaven’s gates. They have walked with Christ here below, and they shall walk with Him above. “The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” “And there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd.” B. G. WILKINSON.

CHRIST OR I.

By A. C. Bainbridge

Do I know the character of I, the flesh? This is an important question for each one of us to consider. As recorded in Matt. 15:18, 19, Jesus says that evil comes from the heart of man, and takes the form of evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. In Mark 7:21, 22 a longer list is added. Do you receive this testimony? It is in the Word of God; and we must believe it, for He knows; but unless we have learned it by experience, we shall always be expecting some good thing from the flesh. How often do we say, “I will do better next time,” or, “I would do so differently if I could live my life over again.” When we say these things, we forget the real nature of the flesh. As it is continually and incurably evil, how could it act any differently in the future from what it has in the past? Nothing (surely not we) can change it but divine power.

In Romans 7 we have a sketch of a living Christian, one ignorant, however, of the full grace of God in redemption, trying to produce the fruit of a Christian life by obedience to the law. Reaching the seventeenth verse, we find the flesh will have its way, and that way is always sin; so He tells us, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) ‘dwelleth no good thing.’” Verse 18. He has learned his lesson; and from this time he ceases to expect anything but evil from the flesh. Truly this is a blessed lesson for each Christian to learn. There are two ways of learning it, and we may take our choice: First, in the presence of God, in constant communion with Him; or, second, in the presence of Satan in failure and sin.

Paul himself would seem to be an example of the first class. In Phil. 3:4-6 we are told that he had every temptation to think there was some good in himself (the flesh). “Tho I might also have confidence in the flesh,” he says; “if any other man thinketh that he ‘hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more.” Then he proceeds to tell us that he was blameless in the law, etc. But when a glorified Christ burst upon his vision, a complete change was wrought in his soul, and the new man took God’s part against the flesh. Read verses 7, 8. That became the abiding choice of his life; and he constantly, moment by moment, refused the flesh as evil; and if we would have a full experience of the power of redeeming grace, we must do the same. No matter how well-educated, refined, or cultured, the flesh can never bear fruit for God.

Peter is an example of the second class, who learned the character of the flesh through sin. A warm-hearted, impulsive man, he loved his Master ardently. When warned by the Lord, “All ye shall ‘be offended because of Me this night,” Peter, strong in his love, replied, “Yet will not I.” Mark 14:27-29. He was ready to die for Him; and what was he trusting for strength?—His own flesh,—his affection for his Master. You know the result; strong as his love for Jesus was, it was like a straw in the presence of Satan and his temptations; and down, down, down into the very abyss of denial went poor, loving Peter. What a commentary on our evil nature! The flesh, asserting its own corruption, dragged him into the mire of sin. His fall was overruled to God’s glory and the everlasting blessing of Peter; and in his humiliation we may learn that in the flesh of even a loving, devoted disciple dwelleth no good thing.

In one of these two ways, every one who would know the power of the Christ-life must learn the lesson. If we do not, we shall always be expecting something from ourselves, and, as surely, we shall always be disappointed. A bad tree always bears bad fruit, and when we have practically accepted this truth, we shall be done with expecting anything from self, and shall expect only from the Lord.

Through unwatchfulness, the flesh may assert itself and betray us into sin; but we are not deceived. The lesson is clearly learned; and as in the presence of God we judge ourselves, we seek grace to be kept watching. Until we have learned this lesson, we can not know abiding peace. If we turn from it, we, like the children of Israel, shall be exposed to all the wilderness trials and failures; but if we accept God’s testimony as true, and so fully learn its truth in our own souls that we habitually take God’s part against ourselves (the carnal self), we enter the dawning of another day,—a day, no matter what our trials and sorrows, filled with the shining of His face.

“The Spirit and the bride say, Come!”

A. C. BAINBRIDGE.

THE LAW OF GOD

By E. J. Hibbard

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT.

THOU shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” “Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? ‘For Thou only art holy.’” “Holy and reverend is His name.” Therefore, let all the children of men say, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.”

We have already observed, in this series of studies, that the name of the Holy One is what He is. When asked of Moses His name, God said, “I AM THAT I AM.” We therefore understand this name only to that degree that we are acquainted with Him. And we are acquainted with Him to the same extent that we have partaken of the divine nature. In our God what an infinity there is, beyond all that we have seen or heard!

“And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah; and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name JEHOVAH I was not known to them.”

Was He not Jehovah in the days of Abraham, the same as in the days of Moses?—O yes. The name means, He that is, and was, and is to come; that is, from everlasting to everlasting; the Self-existing One; the Eternal. Being that at any time, He must have always been, and must needs always be. Yet because of the polytheism of Egypt, the minds of the Israelites had become darkened, and they must needs be informed, and made to understand, that there is none other than one God, and He from everlasting to everlasting, even Jehovah.

The first introduction of God, is as the Creator of heaven and earth. Hence the name God Almighty. “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth.” “Upholding all things by the word of His power”—The Almighty. The name tells simply what He is.

But there came a time when the revelation of another element, yet little known among the people who had so recently been delivered from the oppressor’s yoke, was needed. The golden calf had been made. Israel had prostituted himself to the level of the basest idolater. The people merited instant destruction. The rebuke, and the burning displeasure of God was upon them. It was felt in the condemnation that pressed on their hearts at the open rebuke of Moses, the servant of God. Stripping themselves of their ornaments at God’s command, they humbled their proud hearts before Him, and awaited His final sentence. Moses approached the Lord with this confession and plea: “O, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written.” “And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” O how welcome such a proclamation! and at such a time.

All this is now included in the name of the Lord. Hearts so lately filled with condemnation, are now at peace with God. What a burden is lifted. What joy remains. “Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?”

But it was left for Jesus, the Only Begotten, to reveal to the lost and ruined race the crowning name—“Our Father.” “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name; which were born . . . of God.” “Being born again . . . by the Word of God.” “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart; for I am called by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts.” Or, literally, “Thy name is called upon me, O Jehovah, God of hosts.” This is the way we take His name.

Now the command is, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain.” This command means to me more than a prohibition of the profane or careless use of the words which have been used to define the Deity. Of course it includes that; but of how much deeper import it is, we shall hope to catch a glimpse.

The wife takes the husband’s name, and the children the name of the father. Now one disgraceful deed from that wife or from one of the children will do more to tarnish that name than the evil-speaking of the whole world outside. What would be thought of a lady who would take the name of some man, through marriage, and afterward pay no more regard to her relation to him than she did before she knew him? Suppose she gave her affections, her time, her every talent to others than her husband, and simply bore his name in order to give her standing in the world; that she used his money only to lavish on others besides her own. From his standpoint, would she have taken his name in vain? Would that husband be anxious, in the course of time, to give such a wife a bill of divorcement, and allow her to relinquish her title to his name, and her misuse of it?

Now the church, in all ages, bears the same relation to God as does the wife to the husband (Jer. 3:14; 2 Cor. 11:2); and the individual members, as children to a parent; which is, indeed, the exact relation, when we are born from above. In this way, whole churches, and sometimes nations, are, among men, called by the name of the Lord. To-day, though our God has never applied the title, we hear of Christian nations.

Now Israel, by divine permission, was called by the name of the Lord. After the division of the kingdom, the ten tribes first forfeited all right to the title; and then the two proceeded to profane it so far as to make it necessary to send them into captivity, and to reduce their cities and all their possessions to a heap of ruins. When all had lain thus for nearly seventy years, the allotted time, Daniel prayed, “O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God; for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name.” Even in their captivity, with their homes in ruins, they were still called by God’s name. And His name was far less disgraced by their calamity than by their sins. In fact, through that calamity, and through such men as Daniel and his companions, the name of Jehovah, in all its purity and power, was heralded to the entire world.

After the first captivity, before the final one, and the destruction of Jerusalem, the Lord spoke His mind through Ezekiel the prophet. Said He, “As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God: Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto Me; but pollute ye My holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.” In other words, if you are determined to serve the devil, go ahead and do it; but do it in the name of the devil, and not any longer in My name. Get out of My house, out of My cities, and out of My land. Go, serve your idols, not only now, but hereafter also, if you choose, but leave My name out of it. “Pollute ye My holy name no more.” “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”

Purged from their sins, purified and humbled, many returned from the seventy years of captivity. But in process of time, many of these also became corrupted. Of some of these Jesus said, “In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” All such worship, and all such teaching, is vain. And every time God’s name is uttered in the course of such worship or such teaching, is it not uttered in vain? “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”

But if the teaching and the observing of the commandments of men constituted vain worship in those days, would it not be such at any time? Let each reader of these lines cast about himself to see whether he has a thus-saith-the-Lord for all his habits of life. Of course I mean this for the professing Christians. The others know they have no such sanction. “The friendship of the world, is enmity with God.” “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Am I a church-member, and thereby a professed member of the body of Christ, while at the same time I live and act like the world? If so, I bear His name in vain. Is not my life a living violation of the third commandment?

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.” Thank the Lord for this testimony. “These were redeemed from among men.” This shows that it is possible to have the Father’s name in deed and in fact. “God hath said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk in them.’” “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?” “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” These are filled with His presence, and have a right to His name. None of these are breakers of the third commandment. “He that is born of God doth not commit sin.” E. J. HIBBARD.

IN TIME OF NEED.

By Judson A. Baker

WHEN men are prospered and have this world’s goods, others will speak well of them. “Men will praise thee when thou ‘doest well to thyself.’” Or, as some express it, “Be good ‘to yourself.’” This is flattery or a species of selfishness. But when one is actually needy, then is made manifest who are true friends and who are not. “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” The wise man said, “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in ‘the power of thine hand to do it.’” Prov. 3:27.

The Lord has pronounced special blessings upon all who have compassion on those in trouble. David says, “Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. . . . ‘The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; Thou wilt ‘make all his bed in his sickness.’” Ps. 41:1–3. Are not these precious promises? and can we not trust the Lord to do just what He says?

Job, the patient man, in making his defense before his three friends, said, “I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I ‘was a father to the poor; and the cause which I knew not I searched ‘out.’” Job 29:15, 16.

Whenever any one is in trouble, it is our duty to find out the cause, and if the case is worthy, we should do all on our part to relieve the distress. It may not always be best to give money or its equivalent. We may not be able to give money. It may be only a cup of cold water that we can give; but with it we can give love and sympathy, and we can point to the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of ‘the world.’” When all earthly friends fail, there is still “a Friend that ‘sticketh closer than a brother.’” This is the same Friend who says, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that ‘fear Him.’”

Then can not we imitate Him “who went about doing good,” “neither was guile found in His mouth”?

Auroraville, Wis. JUDSON A. BAKER.

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