Signs of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 32. (8/10/1904)

Signs of the Times

Aug 10, 1904

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 10, 1904

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW.

THE world is dotted with institutions for the treatment of persons who need rest. These institutions are fitted with appliances designed to help men and women to get rest. A veritable epidemic of restlessness has invaded this earth, and the bacilli of the disease have found fertile soil for their propagation in all parts of the habitable world.

THE man of the world is continually haunted by the terrible dread that he or his family may experience want, and he conjures all his powers of craft and acquisition to amass a fortune. With the increase of his wealth come increased expenditures and increased luxury in the home, and the income still seems inadequate. So he increases his energy to acquire still greater income. He draws tighter lines in all his dealings, makes sharper bargains, “grinds the face of the poor,” grows less and less careful of the rupture of moral principles, becomes more careless of the sufferings of the needy, more selfish, more calloused, more greedy, and more restless. The course of such a life also brings restlessness into the lives of every soul affected by his dealings. His own striving to surmount his haunting fears increases them and makes harder the life of his neighbor. Unless that neighbor is resting in the rest, and trusting in the protection and care of God, he is drawn into the same rest-destroying maelstrom.

IN the worldly home and in too many homes that call themselves Christian the same spirit of unchristian restlessness is manifest from day to day and from year to year. It is over the work to be done; over the meals to be prepared; over the fashions to be followed or discarded; over the calling to be done, or the visitors to be received; over mortgage or foreclosure; over rents unpaid and impossible of payment at the time specified, and the consequent fear of ejectment; over the place of the family in the social realm; over amusements and frivolous expenditure of time; over trips to the seaside or mountains, and a thousand other things that no one can forecast. In such homes nervousness and restlessness are enthroned to rule and ruin. With that spirit inborn and inculcated, children are sent out into the world to follow where it leads; and it leads to unholy ambitions, unholy alliances, and unhallowed occupations. That teaching and that spirit send young men and young women along the downward way at rapid pace.

THAT spirit, coupled with greed and urging it on, is making of modern finance and modern politics high schools of “graft,” academies of bribery, and colleges of genteel robbery, that are turning out every year their thousands of graduates in the art of fraud. This same spirit is dominant in the nations till there is not one of them that has a peace in which it dares to rest. Verily, RESTLESSNESS is written in red over the whole habitable globe. Restfulness and peace are the greatest needs of nations and individuals; and true it is that restfulness and peace are scarcer than diamonds in the earth to-day. That which the world needs most, the powerful hand of an enemy is pilfering away, and the world groans and suffers and strives.

THEREFORE in this time, of all times, the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the men and women of this world: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” O that men would take God at His word, and allow Him to verify this His promise to them in this their hour of greatest need.

THERE never will come true rest to the individual soul until Christ is permitted to break the chains of our slavery to sin; take the heavy, galling yoke of sin-bondage from the tired neck of the restless one, and substitute His yoke—His easy yoke—of Christian service. Then He will enter the heart to cast out the very spirit of fear and restlessness and rule there Himself, the Prince of Peace on a throne of peace. If ever there was a time when the spirit of trust and restfulness was needed in the earth, it is now—not trust in the arm of flesh nor the promises of men; not restfulness in sin, for there is no rest in wickedness; but trust in the protecting care of our Father, and restfulness in the spirit of peace which He gives. To sit at the feet of Jesus and learn to do His will is better than cumbering one’s self with the cares and troubles pertaining to worldly things. That does not mean an inane existence or a life of idleness; but a life of joyful service which brings refreshing rest and peace. That peace is a peace which can not be disturbed by all the confederated cares, perplexities, troubles, strife, and wars of this wicked world. Peace in the midst of strife, rest in the midst of toil, this is what God is giving to-day to His faithful children.

IS THERE a soul that is troubled or worried over anything anywhere? Cast that burden on the Lord. By His death He purchased the right to lift it for you. He paid the terrible

price that gave Him the right to forgive your sins, set you at liberty, and give you rest and peace and joy in Him. It is utterly useless for you to strive to get rest or peace out of the world, or with the ways of the world. “Come unto Me,” says Jesus, “and I will give you rest.” There is no rest outside of Him. Every attempt of the worldly one to find a rest of his own but adds to the general restlessness of the world. Such attempts are always working out selfishness, and so searing hearts and injuring other struggling souls. In the rest of Christ self is sacrificed, service exalted, and peace and blessedness assured. The door of invitation is still open. Come, and find rest.

SECOND CHRONICLES.

By F. D. Starr

BY F. D. STARR.

THE historical record of this book covers a period of nearly five centuries, beginning with the reign of Solomon, and reaching to the restoration of the Jews from captivity under Darius. The interesting subject of the building and dedication of the temple is introduced in the early part of the book. One matter that is especially worthy of consideration, is the design that David formed in his mind to build a house for God.

The message of the Lord to David as found in 2 Chron. 6:8, 9, is thus stated: “Forasmuch as it was in thine heart to build an house for My name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart; notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house; but thy son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for My name.” This is to us a very encouraging incident. We are glad to know that the Lord is pleased with our purpose to do something for Him, tho for some reason we may not be permitted to carry the purpose to its culmination. The Lord takes the purpose as tho it were the deed performed.

Another feature of this important incident is the fact that not only David, but also his spiritual adviser, Nathan the prophet, thought the building of the Lord’s house would be a proper undertaking for David. Let us read about this in 2 Samuel 7. We find here that Nathan said to David in regard to the proposition for building the temple, “Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the Lord is with thee.” Nathan was an inspired prophet, but this did not prevent his having a personal opinion, based on his own private judgment, and in this case

this judgment was erroneous. The Lord gave Nathan information that night which caused him to reverse his decision and tell David, “Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in.” 1 Chron. 17:4.

Another incident illustrating this same point is found in 1 Samuel 16. Samuel was in search of a proper person to anoint as king of Israel. Now Samuel was a devoted prophet, of life-long experience, and certainly ought to be infallible if there is any such thing as human infallibility. But we see his judgment is still incompetent for the task of making a correct decision, unaided by the direct impression of the Holy Spirit. “He looked on Eliab [the oldest son of Jesse], and said, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him.” So we have to appeal from the prophet ill informed to the prophet well informed. Infallibility rests in the divine inspiration bestowed upon the prophet, and not in the man himself.

David was not permitted to build the house of the Lord, as stated in 1 Chron. 22:7, 8. The royal psalmist himself says: “It was in my mind to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God; but the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars; thou shalt not build an house unto My name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in My sight.” Making explanation to all the assembled princes and officers of Israel, as to why he did not himself build the temple, David says: “God said to me, Thou shalt not build an house for My name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood.” 1 Chron. 28:3.

Solomon, in explaining to Hiram, king of Tyre, a heathen monarch, the reason why his father did not build the temple, did not consider it necessary to give the reason which the Lord had given, and which David himself had freely given, lest it seem to the heathen king that he was disparaging the name and memory of his father David. So he sent this word to Hiram: “Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of His feet. But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent.” 1 Kings 5:3, 4. The idea that the wars in which David was concerned hindered him from building the house, seemed to be more favorable to put before this foreign prince, especially when presented by the son of the Israelite monarch. The reason was undoubtedly tenable, but it was a different phase of the reason than David himself presented. It is not necessary to furnish to those outside of the household of faith facts detrimental to the Lord’s servants. There is nothing dishonest about such a course; to suppose it to be so, would be an abnormal idea of honesty.

This important volume of historical records is replete with interesting incidents, for reading which the reader will be amply repaid. Let each one search them out for himself. We close with an allusion to a most solemn statement found in the last chapter of the book: “And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place; but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” 2 Chron. 36:15, 16. This language is indeed pathetic. The result of their course was the Babylonish captivity.

Our Saviour’s words in Matt. 23:37 fitly apply here: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” It was not simply while he was on earth personally that the Redeemer sought to shelter His people, but all through the preceding ages had He exercised this fostering care. Shall we be deaf to His entreaties to us? God forbid.

JUST A LITTLE PRIDE.

By Seth Smith

BY SETH SMITH.

It seems to be fixed in the minds of some that they can not get along without a little pride. They must have just a little, just enough to make them dress respectably and keep themselves clean and tidy. But to do that it is only necessary that we be Christians. The Word of God teaches cleanliness and order.

But where in the Word of God do we find that we must have pride to help us to present a respectable appearance or to perform any other duty? Surely, what the Word of God will not help us to do will not be worth the doing. Then what we need is not a little pride, but much of the love of God. Again, if we have a little pride, we will be very likely to have much of it, for “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”

Pride is of the devil, and is a portion, at least, of his main stock in trade. If we, then, have a little pride, we have a little of the adversary’s material, and he will be able to stay with us as long as we have it, to show us how to use it. The origin of pride being such as it is, the thing itself must necessarily be unclean; and it is not necessary for us to carry a little of an unclean thing with us to prompt us to be cleanly.

Pride being the opposite of humility, naturally prompts to disobedience, and its possession causes men to act the hypocrite.

Pride being of the evil one, he is able to make it manifest itself in any way he may choose. Some who have had a “little pride” have actually taken pride in going untidy and uncleanly. Pride ministers to selfishness, and a little selfishness will keep us out of the kingdom of heaven.

The Word of God states that “only by pride cometh contention.” Then they who think they must have a “little pride” would be quite likely to stir up a little contention, and then, “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” “In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride; but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.” Prov. 14:3. So we see that pride and wisdom can not dwell together.

“When pride cometh, then cometh shame.” Prov. 11:2. Pride will make a person ashamed of the pure and the holy. It is pride that Satan uses to make many persons ashamed of Jesus Christ and His words. It causes men to turn their backs upon the truth; to tell falsehoods of which they will afterwards be ashamed. It causes some to be ashamed to be seen in the company of the poor and the lowly, or even trying to do them good. It makes some ashamed to be seen wearing plain clothes or eating plain and simple food, tho it be ever so nourishing. In short, it will put all sorts of wicked and foolish notions into the hearts of human beings, and cause them to do all kinds of unholy acts of which they will be ashamed in the day of judgment.

The Lord hates pride (Prov. 8:13), even a proud look (Prov. 6:17). The proud will be burned up. Mal. 4:1. These scriptures should warn us to beware of even a little pride. Pride is one of the main articles of fuel that feed the fire of covetousness, which will of itself burn the good qualities out of a man’s soul. Pride and covetousness, walking hand in hand, will sharpen the teeth to devour everything before them.

The fact is, we should never be proud of anything, but instead, we should be glad for all that is good and desirable. It is proper to take pleasure in doing that which is right; but we do not need to “take pride in it.” Then we can give God the glory for what is accomplished, and leave pride out. If pride enters into our work, then the moment some one raises an objection, pride is wounded, and there is trouble in the camp, for pride is selfish in any quantity, little or much.

Castana, Iowa.

DISCIPLESHIP IN CHRIST.

By Robert E. Speer

[Robert E. Speer, in S. S. Times.]

CHRIST'S disciples in His day were the people who followed Him, and who listened to His teaching and obeyed it. Some of them left their work and homes, and went with Him wherever He went. Others went with Him long enough to know what His Spirit and message were, and then went back to their own homes and work, and tried there to live as He had taught. But whether they actually left home to go with Him, or stayed at home and tried to serve Him, those were His disciples who in their lives tried to follow and obey Him, having accepted His word about Himself and about themselves, and about the Father of them all, of whom He told them.

Now, being a disciple to-day is just what being a disciple then was. The bodily withdrawal of Jesus does not affect the case, except for good. It was expedient, He said, that He should go away, so that discipleship would not be supposed to be dependent upon His presence. To accept Him and His Spirit and His message and—as men only understood after He was gone—His mission and work, and to accept this in a real and vital way, is to be His disciple.

This requires no strange process, no intricate, preliminary steps. Any child can be Christ's disciple. All that he needs to do is to love Christ, to trust Christ, to accept Christ as his true Friend and Saviour. As he grows older these things will mean more to him, but this increase of meaning will not affect the fact that their first meaning was valid and sufficient for that time.

“I am a follower of Henry George,” says one man. “I am a disciple of Karl Marx,” says another. “I follow Herbert Spencer,” says a third. These men have no difficulty in understanding what these phrases mean. These disciples follow their masters, believe that they are right in their teachings, and reliable and trustworthy in their guidance. “I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.” That means at least as much as these other phrases mean. But it means far more. Jesus' doctrine was not a teaching about land or property or economic principles. It involved all these. But it was primarily a personal teaching. It asserted things about Himself and about other men, and about their relations to Him. To be His follower means to accept what He said on these personal questions, and to adjust life to it.

How may we know whether we are disciples of Jesus? There are four good tests: 1. “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” 2. “If ye abide in My word, then are ye truly My disciples.” 3. “If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments.” 4. “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

HEAVEN

By L. D. Santee

BY L. D. SANTEE.

“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.” 1 Cor. 2:9.

A SENSE of the life that is endless; Each nerve of the spirit at rest; To feel that no more we are friendless; But a satisfied peace in the breast; To forget how the grave has bereft us; To know that the years can not cloy; To greet the dear friends who have left us, With the passionate fulness of joy;

To list to the music of angels; To rejoice and be glad in our day; To join in the wondrous evangel; That ascends to the highest for aye; To feel all the gladness of heaven; To thrill at His life-giving word; To know, that to you it is given To enter the joy of the Lord.

Thank God, that the hour is nearing (Tho sometimes our faith groweth dim), The hour of the Saviour’s appearing, To gather the children to Him. Why shrink from the cross that is given, Why dread all earth’s sorrows to face, As long as the Saviour, and heaven, Await at the end of the race?

SIN AND MERCY.

By Arthur Fox

BY ARTHUR FOX.

I HAVE blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.” Isa. 44:22.

There are two thoughts in this text; there is the thought of sin, and the thought of mercy. There is, first, the thought of sin. “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.” The individuals to whom these words were originally addressed were guilty of crimes of great enormity and aggravation, crimes that had gathered themselves up until they were black and dense as a thick cloud. In the beginning of his prophecy the prophet paints their turpitude in very graphic and in very awful colors. He brings them, you remember, into very degrading comparison with the beasts of the field—“The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” He represents them as burdened with iniquity, crouching down under the inexorable tyranny of evil—“Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity.”

He tells them that this transgression has been perpetuated from the father to the child—“a seed of evil-doers.” Sin is everywhere! Broad and deep, the wide world over, you may trace the fire-written syllables, “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Upon the fairest, loveliest, and most blameless specimen of natural morality, Christ looks and says: “I know that you have not the love of God within you, and it is just because of this one fact that every mouth must be stopped and all the world be counted guilty before God.”

There is mercy. It might seem strange—it does seem strange—that after this declaration of apostasy and of impenitence the prophet should not have gone away after pronouncing sentence of doom. We might have supposed that his very heaviest thunders would have been launched out against the transgressors, that when he spoke of sin as a cloud he would have gone away without leaving any hope of mercy. Is not God a just God? Are not His perfections united to oppose sin wherever it is found?

Do not sins of enormity and aggravation expose to a terrible punishment? And yet, when the voice does speak it is not the voice of vengeance, but of mercy. The whirlwind passes over us, but the Lord is not in the whirlwind; the earthquake comes, but the Lord is not in the earthquake; the fire burns fiercely, but the Lord is not in the fire; and, after the whirlwind has spent its force, and after the rocking earth is still, and after the fire has ceased to burn, there whispers the still, small voice, and as we listen we hear it speak, “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.”

The Everlasting Son of the Everlasting Father became the Babe in the manger at Bethlehem, became the homeless Traveler along the journey of life, became the saddened Victim in the Garden of Gethsemane, became the Spotless Sacrifice upon the accursed tree; and the declarations of Scripture which announce that by that sacrifice salvation has been purchased are both explicit and numerous. It is on the cross of Christ that the law is magnified and the bargain is sealed, and holiness glories in its most illustrious radiance. The cross is the fulness of love; the cross is the security of peace; the cross is the pledge of salvation; and the application of the blood of Jesus, not its intellectual apprehension, but the application of the blood of Jesus, secures pardon, and holiness, and heaven.

St. Helena, Cal.

THE GOLDEN RULE AND THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE.

By C. P. Bollman

BY C. P. BOLLMAN.

The most comprehensive law ever given to direct men in their conduct toward their fellow-men is the Golden Rule: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” Matt. 7: 12.

This rule obeyed would reduce human woe to the minimum, for selfishness is directly accountable for very much of the misery incident to our selfish natures. “Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless millions mourn.”

The thought of doing as we would be done by runs all through the Gospel. It is as plainly taught in the parable of Matt. 18: 27-35 as in the Golden Rule itself; and the conclusion shows that eternal life depends upon loyalty to this principle. Referring to the fate of the unforgiving servant, our Lord says:—

“So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” Matt. 18: 35.

Nor is this principle taught alone in God’s written Word. The Creator implanted love of justice in the very nature of man, a trace of which still remains; and every man feels that he ought to be free in matters of conscience, and he knows that every other man has the same natural right to soul liberty. Hon. Richard M. Johnson, in his capacity as Chairman of the House Committee of Post-offices and Post-roads, in his matchless report to the National House of Representatives on Sunday Mails, March 4, 1830, expressed this truth in these ringing words:—

The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal principle that man’s relation with his God is above human legislation, and his right of conscience inalienable. Reasoning was not necessary to establish this truth; we are conscious of it in our own bosoms. It is this consciousness which, in defiance of human laws, has sustained so many martyrs in tortures and in flames. They felt that their duty to God was superior to human enactments, and that man could exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an inborn principle which nothing can eradicate. The bigot in the pride of his authority, may lose sight of it; but strip him of his power, prescribe a faith to him which his conscience rejects, threaten him in turn with the dungeon and the fagot, and the spirit which God has implanted in him rises up in rebellion, and defies you.

This consciousness is doubtless more acute in the Christian than in other men, for in such an one it springs not only from a native sense of his own right to liberty, but from the conviction that God has a right to his service,

and to the undivided allegiance of his soul. But, as Mr. Johnson has so well said, it is innate in the human breast. Bruno, the Italian freethinker, met death at the stake even more heroically than did Servetus, the Christian victim of the intolerant Calvin; and Thomas Paine, probably the most noted deist of modern times, said:—

Man worships not himself, but his Maker; and the liberty of conscience which he claims, is not for the service of himself, but of his God. In this case, therefore, we must necessarily have the associated idea of two beings; the mortal who renders the worship, and the immortal Being who is worshiped.

. . . Who, then, art thou, vain dust and ashes! by whatever name thou art called, whether a king, a bishop, a church or state, a parliament, or anything else, that obtrudest thine insignificance between the soul of man and his Maker? Mind thine own concerns. If he believeth not as thou believest, it is a proof that thou believest not as he believeth, and there is no earthly power can determine between you.

Our own matchless Declaration of Independence recognizes this principle in the words, “All men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Thus, notwithstanding the fact that sin has so darkened the human mind, a sufficient trace of the Golden Rule remains in the human heart to cause all classes of men, as we have seen, to recognize it, at least theoretically, in its application to the rights of conscience. But only he who has the Spirit of Christ is capable of a practical application of this principle. The Golden Rule is the expression of the character of Christ, and he who finds himself unwilling to cheerfully award to every other individual equal liberty of thought and action with himself, certainly has need that some one teach him again the first principles of the Gospel of the Son of God. In other words, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.”

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