Review and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 13. (3/11/1915)

Review and Herald

Mar 11, 1915

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 11, 1915

Children’s Meetings in Kading, China

Reporting a series of meetings recently held in the walled city of Kading, China, Brother K. H. Wood says: “Every afternoon during the meetings, a service was conducted especially for the children. Our object in holding this meeting was twofold,—to teach them the gospel, and to lessen the pressure of attendance at the other meetings. The evangelist usually spoke a few minutes on some simple gospel subject, drawing many helpful lessons for the children. At the close of the meeting, each child was given a tract, and told that when the meetings were over, a small book would be presented to those who had attended all the meetings and saved the complete set of tracts. The accompanying picture shows them holding their trophies.”

THE WORK AND THE WORKERS

Up to March 3 the total sale of the Protestant Free Press Extra amounted to 251,069 copies. And still it goes!

Now watch the March or “Congressional Free Press Hearing” edition of the Protestant Magazine go! Have you ordered YOUR supply?

THE recorder of the Wisconsin State Court of the Guardians of Liberty writes: “Inclosed please find check for $1.25, for which send us 125 copies of the Free Press Extra of the Protestant Magazine.”

MONDAY, March 1, the Washington (D. C.) Missionary College campaign with the March or “Congressional Free Press Hearing” number of the Protestant Magazine began. The students report good success in the sale of this issue in the city of Washington.

A COMPLIMENTARY notice of the March Protestant Magazine, also of the Free Press Extra, appears in the February 27 issue of the Menace, Aurora, Mo., thus bringing these two important documents to the favorable notice of 1,415,569 subscribers, or over 7,000,000 readers, counting five readers to every copy circulated.

THE master recorder of one of the Columbus (Ohio) courts of the Guardians of Liberty writes: “At a regular meeting of — Court No. —, a motion carried that we purchase 100 copies of the Free Press Extra of the Protestant Magazine. Send these at once, also bill for same, and check will be immediately sent you.”

SEND 20 cents in stamps for the February (“Free Press”) and the March (“Congressional Free Press Hearing”) numbers of the Protestant Magazine, and we will throw in the Free Press Extra FREE OF CHARGE. Regular price of the three, 25 cents; or the three mailed to FOUR addresses for 50 cents, or to EIGHT addresses for $1.00.

“GREAT BRITAIN Recognizes the Chair of Peter,” is the flaring two-column heading of a long editorial in the Morning Star, of New Orleans, dated February 27. The bold subtitle continues thus: “As a Great World Power, in the Appointment of an Ambassador to the Vatican—French Journals Declare—‘The Protestant King of England Has Stretched a Diplomatic Bridge Over the Chasm of Centuries, Which Is of the Greatest Importance.’” This subject is ably discussed in the January or “England, Russia, and the Vatican,” “Pan-American Mass,” and “Keeping Faith With Heretics” number of the Protestant Magazine. Send 25 cents for 5 copies, or $1.00 for 20, or $2.00 for 50. Scatter them in your neighborhood. These are stirring times.

DR. LYDIA E. PARMELE writes: “I have the Life and Health on my table continually. I would not be without it. I like to use it in connection with my talks on health and temperance.” Have you seen the March number? Get it, and pass it on.

A BROTHER in Portland, Oregon, writes: “I am inclosing a petition bearing 125 names of voters opposed to the passage of bills H. R. 20644 and 20780. I have had to work every day, but have secured these signatures at odd times and evenings. Think I have done well, considering. Trusting that the Lord will be with us in this work, and that we shall be more than conquerors.”

“I HAVE done my best with the bundle of 100 Free Press Extra,” writes a Schenectady (N. Y.) patriot. “The inclosed petitions I hasten to get to you before the end of this session of Congress. I feel we must make a demonstration of strength. I placed several copies in the Y. M. C. A., and over half my bundle in the hands of members of the ministry. Also sent a large number of petitions into Masonic and Odd Fellow circles. Hope they will be heard from. Any time I can be of service for work of this kind, command me. My youth and early life were cursed by papal superstitious misguiding; and my remaining years, which are not many at best, shall be devoted to fighting, to the best of my ability, mankind’s most fearful enemy.”

A DEAR old lady in Dayton, Wash., writes thus of her work with the petition on the Free Press Extra of the Protestant Magazine: “I have got what signers I could. I live seven miles from town, and the neighbors do not live very close together. I am old and feeble, but my neighbors helped me to go around and get the signatures.” This dear sister secured 31 signatures. How many of our young people did as well?

IN his able article on “Religious Bigotry,” in the Presbyterian of the South, Prof. Addison Hogue, of Washington and Lee University, comments thus upon the efforts of the Roman Catholics to suppress Protestant publications: “Suppose they succeed in having the Menace suppressed by the postal authorities, will the Protestant Magazine go next? And if so, where will it stop?” His entire article was republished in the March, 1915, issue of the Home Field, Atlanta, Ga., which reaches about 2,000,000 Baptists of the South. The Roman press is also reproducing it. All this helps the Protestant Magazine.

Do You Remember One Year Ago?

One year ago YOU helped to distribute quickly 80,000 copies of the great “Protestant Mass Meeting” number of the Protestant Magazine. Now the great March or “Congressional Free Press Hearing” number contains not only one speech by Rev. Randolph H. McKim, but the speeches of ELEVEN OTHERS, for and against FREE PRESS. It shows the pictures of these TWELVE SPEAKERS. It shows how ROME STANDS on the FREE PRESS question. Episcopalians, Congregationalists,—all true Protestants and honest Roman Catholics will read this number EAGERLY. Hunt up the LIST OF NAMES to whom you mailed, or the CUSTOMERS to whom you sold, last year’s number, and PUT THEM IN TOUCH with this GREAT DOCUMENT. Send $1.00 for 20 or $2.00 for 50 copies TODAY. Mailed to 20 addresses for only $1.00. Address your tract society, or the Protestant Magazine, Washington, D. C.

Where the March “Protestant Magazine” Is Going—No. 1

By A. J. S. Bourdeau

DURING the first five days of the March Protestant campaign, orders for 13,703 copies were filled for the following twelve union conferences, as follows:—

Atlantic Union, 250 copies, as follows: Massachusetts, 50; Western New York, 200.

Columbia Union, 997 copies, as follows: Chesapeake, 50; District of Columbia, 555; New Jersey, 75; Ohio, 145; Eastern Pennsylvania, 65; West Pennsylvania, 100; Virginia, 7.

Lake Union, 304 copies, as follows: Northern Illinois, 24; Southern Illinois, 10; Indiana, 20; East Michigan, 250.

Southern Union, 215 copies, as follows: Mississippi, 15; Tennessee, 200.

Southeastern Union, 312 copies, as follows: Georgia, 280; North Carolina, 20; South Carolina, 12.

Southwestern Union, 50 copies, as follows: Oklahoma, 50.

Central Union, 150 copies, as follows: Colorado, 100; Kansas, 50.

Northern Union, 105 copies, as follows: Iowa, 75; South Dakota, 30.

Pacific Union, 100 copies, as follows: California, 100.

North Pacific, 126 copies, as follows: Western Oregon, 65; Southern Idaho, 36; Western Washington, 25.

Canadian Union, 22 copies, as follows: Ontario, 22.

Western Canadian, 10 copies, as follows: Alberta, 5; Manitoba, 5.

Miscellaneous orders, 11,062 copies.

Grand total, 13,703.

This great “Congressional Free Press Hearing” number will doubtless be the most-talked-of number of the year 1915. It was very late, due to the peculiar circumstances attending the hearing, and also to the special “Gallivan and the Knights of Columbus” material introduced at the last moment. Let it now be SPREAD BROADCAST! Wherever sample copies are dropped, the FREE PRESS FIRE will immediately catch and SPREAD. Send $1.00 for 20 copies or $2.00 for 50 copies today. Mailed to 20 different addresses, by the publishers, for only $1.00.

A. J. S. BOURDEAU.

The Age-to-Come Doctrine

By J. O. CORLISS

—No. 1

J. O. CORLISS

CONSIDERABLE agitation is being occasioned just now over the theories of one “Pastor” Russell, who, with his associates, is teaching, through moving pictures and by other alluring methods, that the world is about entering a sinless age, with Christ as guide and ruler of the nations. The positions assumed are being made to appear plausible by arbitrary definitions of Scripture terms in some cases, in other exigencies by uniting scriptures having no logical connection, and at other junctures, distorting some of the plainest and simplest declarations of Inspiration.

These are truly serious charges to bring against any who claim to be God’s ministers. But all these indictments can be sustained, and the attempt will be made to do so in a brief review of the theories under consideration. So indirect and circuitous, however, are many of the teachings referred to that it will be necessary to consider each leading idea by itself, in order to get a correct view of the whole.

To begin with, every particular thought enunciated is made to revolve about and point toward the theory of a rapidly approaching millennial day, which will “shine for the benefit of all the world.” The light of this day, it is said, “will dispel the noxious vapors of evil, and bring life, health, peace, and joy.”—“Studies in the Scriptures,” page 21. The idea to be conveyed by this statement is that the blessings mentioned are to be granted to men while inhabiting the world in its present form. To sustain this unwarranted position, only a part of 1 Cor. 4:5 is quoted, just enough to make it appear plausible that such a state of affairs will come about without any physical change in the material world.

This result, it is affirmed, is not to be realized by any work done by the church, since were this the divine plan, the well-known lack of the church in converting the world would prove God’s system to be “a miserable failure.” See page 14. This is virtually to maintain that God’s positive design is to have the world converted and that this can be done only through the personal presence of Christ among men, and that the prime object of his second coming is to effect that very work. How blind not to see that this is totally to ignore the influence of Christ’s representative in the earth—the blessed Holy Spirit—in the work of converting souls! Yet on pages 34 and 35 one finds the assurance that at the coming of the Master, “all will ultimately be perfect and harmonious on earth as in the heavens.”

Were such statements as this last one accompanied by Scripture explanations which set forth the divine process of earthly purification that must precede the expected results, then no just criticism could be offered to them; for the studious Bible reader well knows that righteousness is yet to fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. He is also well instructed that before such final state is realized this old earth must be purified by fire, and that from its ashes a “new earth” will be made to spring into being. 2 Peter 3:7, 10, 12, 13.

This last-stated point is so clearly taught in the Word through the apostle Peter that one with only ordinary ability can scarcely fail to perceive its conclusiveness. Anticipating, however, the natural impression this scripture would have upon the average reader, our age-to-come friends hedge against this by affirming that as the earth is destined to abide forever, the heavens and the earth here cited do not have reference to literal substances, but to certain conditions symbolized by these expressions. See page 69.

But while one may safely admit that the word earth as sometimes used in symbolic prophecy means the people in the earth, as in Jer. 6:19; 22:29, where the earth is called to hear the word of the Lord, yet even in such texts he must also concede that the people thus called to hear, represent, indeed stand for, the place wherein they dwell, and are measurably responsible for earth’s physically blighted condition. This, then, at once removes the contention that the physical earth is not included in the divine call, even when used in symbolical utterances.

But there is no more evidence that the words “the heavens and the earth,” as used by Peter, are symbolical, and refer alone to human society, as stated by the author under review, than are the same words when used in Gen. 1:1, where it is said that God created them. Moreover, not only does the New Testament record of creation call the response to God’s creative fiat “things” (John 1:3), but the Genesis record speaks of these as substance, rather than condition. So literal, indeed, is all the creation record, that therein it is affirmed that even man was made of the “dust of the ground.” Speaking of this also, the apostle says that the “first man is of the earth,” and is therefore “earthy.” 1 Cor. 15:47.

But the contention is that when Peter speaks of the Flood as having carried away the earth that then was, he did not mean that the literal earth passed away. The apostle says that the antediluvian earth “perished,” and that is absolutely true. Since that inundation, mountains more than four miles in height have reared their heads to attest the destruction of the earth form previously existing, and the appearance of an altogether different shape of outline as well. Then, too, the formation of these mountains testifies to their appearance being an event of a much later period than the creation, so that one may readily understand that the created form of the earth really did pass, and one of another shape, or figure, took its place. See Ps. 90:2.

Again: there is no more evidence in Peter’s discourse for making the term “the heaven and the earth” figurative than exists for calling the expressions “day of the Lord” and “thief in the night,” elfish phrases, to be given any interpretation which may suit the fancy in bolstering up some human theory. The fact is that God’s Word was given through men, for men to understand, and must therefore have been couched in terms of simple speech, common to the use of mankind. Wherever absolute symbolism has been employed by the prophets, it has been so done purposely, to prevent designing men from malicious meddling with the fulfillment of the foreknowledge of Jehovah.

But had all Scripture been left in loose language to be humanly interpreted to suit some roving fancy, the Bible would have been an uncertain factor as guide to the fallen race. It seems unfortunate that the theory under consideration must depend upon Scripture perversions to maintain its standing, but one thing is certain: that with the plain reading of Peter’s view of the future, the age-to-come doctrine must fall to the ground:

for on that scripture, perverted as to its meaning, that doctrine is based. More, however, may be said on these things hereafter.

Glendale, Cal.

The Call of Isaiah

By Ellen G. White

(Concluded)

MRS. E. G. WHITE

IN the later years of the kingdom of Judah, pride and extravagance were accompanied by gross drunkenness and by a spirit of revelry. Upon those who gave themselves up to such sins, special woes were pronounced by the Lord through his chosen messenger. “Woe unto them,” Isaiah declared, “that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink.” Isa. 5:22. And again: “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! . . . The harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine,” the prophet said, “are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.” Verses 11, 12.

To this forgetfulness of their Maker may be traced many of the sins which characterized the chosen nation in Isaiah’s day. Idolatry no longer provoked surprise. “Their land . . . is full of idols,” exclaimed the prophet in an agony of spirit over the well-nigh universal apostasy. “They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: and the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself.” Isa. 2:8, 9.

The Lord called heaven and earth to witness to his tender care for the chosen nation. “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,” he exclaimed; “the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” “They have rebelled against me.” Isa. 1:2, 3.

Iniquitous practices became so prevalent among all classes that the few who remained true to God were often tempted to lose heart, and to give way to discouragement and despair. It seemed as if God’s purpose for Israel were about to fail, and that the rebellious nation was to suffer a fate similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah.

In the face of such conditions it is not surprising that when, during the last year of Uzziah’s reign, Isaiah was called to bear to Judah God’s messages of warning and reproof, he shrank from the responsibility. He well knew that he would encounter obstinate resistance. As he realized his own inability to meet the situation, and thought of the stubbornness and unbelief of the people for whom he was to labor, his task seemed to him almost hopeless. Should he in despair relinquish his mission, and leave Judah undisturbed to their idolatry? Were the gods of Nineveh to rule the earth, in defiance of the God of heaven?

Such thoughts as these were crowding through Isaiah’s mind as he stood under the portico of the temple. Suddenly the gate and the inner veil of the temple seemed to be uplifted, or withdrawn, and he was permitted to gaze within, upon the holy of holies, where even the prophet’s feet might not enter. There rose up before him a vision of Jehovah sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, while the train of his glory filled the temple. On each side of the throne hovered the seraphim, their faces veiled in adoration, as they ministered before their Maker, and united in the solemn invocation, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isa. 6:1-3), until post and pillar and cedar gate seemed shaken with the sound, and the house was filled with their tribute of praise.

As Isaiah beheld this revelation of the glory and majesty of his Lord, he was overwhelmed with a sense of the purity and holiness of God. How sharp the contrast between the matchless perfection of his Creator and the sinful course of those who, with himself, had long been numbered among the chosen people of Israel and Judah! “Woe is me!” he cried; “for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Verse 5. Standing, as it were, in the full light of the divine presence within the inner sanctuary, he realized that if left to his own imperfection and inefficiency, he would be utterly unable to accomplish the mission to which he had been called. But a seraph was sent to relieve him of his distress, and to fit him for his great mission. A living coal from the altar was laid upon his lips, with the words, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” Then the voice of God was heard saying, “Whom shall I send? and who will go for us?” and Isaiah responded, “Here am I; send me.” Verses 7, 8.

The heavenly visitant bade the waiting messenger: “Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.” Verses 9, 10.

The prophet’s duty was plain; he was to lift his voice in protest against the prevailing evils. But he dreaded to undertake the work without some assurance of hope. “Lord, how long?” (verse 11) he inquired. Are none of thy chosen people ever to understand, and repent, and be healed?

His burden of soul in behalf of erring Judah was not to be borne in vain. His mission was not to be wholly fruitless. Yet the evils that had been multiplying for many generations could not be removed in his day. Throughout his lifetime he must be a patient, courageous teacher—a prophet of hope as well as of doom. The divine purpose finally accomplished, the full fruitage of his efforts, and of the labors of all God’s faithful messengers, would appear. A remnant should be saved. That this might be brought about, the messages of warning and entreaty were to be delivered to the rebellious, the Lord declared, “until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.” Verses 11, 12.

The heavy judgments that were to befall the impenitent—war, exile, oppression, the loss of power and prestige among the nations,—all these were to come in order that those who would recognize in them the hand of an offended God, might be led to repent. The ten tribes of the northern kingdom were soon to be scattered among the nations, and their cities left desolate; the destroying armies of hostile nations were to sweep over their land again and again; even Jerusalem was finally to fall, and Judah was to be carried away captive; yet the Promised Land was not to remain wholly forsaken forever. The assurance of the heavenly visitant to Isaiah was: “In it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.” Verse 13.

This assurance of the final fulfillment of God’s purpose brought courage to the heart of Isaiah. What though earthly powers array themselves against Judah? What though the Lord’s messenger meet with opposition and resistance? Isaiah had seen the King, the Lord of hosts; he had heard the song of the seraphim, “The whole earth is full of his glory” (verse 3); he had the promise that the messages of Jehovah to backsliding Judah would be accompanied by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit; and the prophet was nerved for the work before him. Throughout his long and arduous mission he carried with him the memory of this vision. For sixty years or more he stood before the children of Judah as a prophet of hope, waxing bolder and still bolder in his predictions of the future triumph of the church.

Those Samaritan Lepers

By W. C. HANKINS

W. C. HANKINS

The Bible tells us of a time when the city of Samaria was surrounded by enemies. The siege was so severe that even refuse was sold at a fabulous price, and one day a woman came to the king, saying that she and her neighbor had entered into a compact to eat their children. They had killed and eaten her son, but now the neighbor had hidden her son and refused to give him up. This showed how terrible was the extremity to which the city was driven by the siege.

Now there were some lepers sitting in the gate of the city, who were also starving to death. So one of them proposed to the others that they go over to the camp of the Syrians. He argued that the enemy could do no more than put them to death, which would be no worse than starving to death, while they might save

them alive and give them something to eat.

During the night the Lord had caused the enemy to hear a noise as of a mighty army, so that a great fear fell upon them, and they fled for their lives, leaving everything behind them. When the lepers arrived at the camp, they were surprised to find no one there. They went from tent to tent, but all were deserted. Then they helped themselves to what they could find. First they ate till they could eat no more. Then they went from tent to tent, taking the most valuable things they could find, and hiding them away. But finally the conscience of one of the men awoke, and he said to the others, “We do not well: this is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us; now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.”

He remembered how they were starving to death in the city, and that to delay even a few minutes might mean the death of a number of persons, while to wait till the day dawned would be enough to incur the displeasure of God. They were full while others were starving; they had good news and were enjoying the spoils of the enemy while the people in the city were living in dire distress. You know the rest of the story—how they told the king, and how the provisions obtained from the camp of the enemy relieved the terrible suffering.

Dear friend, I want to remind you that you and I are in the same position today that the Samaritan lepers were in on that day. The world is starving for the Bread of life. Many are living in continual fear of death, even as men who are being besieged by an enemy. We are in possession of the good news of salvation, and have eaten to the full. While we wait and spend our time in laying away riches for our own use, there are hundreds of thousands, and even millions, going into Christless graves. Here in China alone, thousands die every hour without God and without hope of a life beyond the grave. I beseech you, my brethren, listen to the voice of your conscience, and go quickly to the King’s household and tell them of the glad tidings of deliverance.

The preceding is a small extract from the sermon of one of the Chinese workers, delivered at the workers’ meeting in Fu-kien Province, which was held Jan. 1-10, 1915. As it was translated from what the writer could remember, it has necessarily lost much in the process. But it seemed to us that this appeal, coming from the lips of a Chinese worker and addressed to his Chinese fellow laborers, would appeal with great force to the hearts of our more favored brethren in the homeland, many of whom are adding farm to farm, and thousands of dollars to their bank accounts, while the world is starving for the Bread of life. The signs of the Lord’s return are fast fulfilling before our eyes, and if there ever was a time when the people of God were called upon to cut loose from every earthly tie and do their duty, it surely is the time to do it, and the time is now. May God help us to heed the words of the Samaritan leper, and carry the good news of deliverance to the starving millions of this world.

Kulangsu, Amoy, China.

The Golden Rule Demonstrated

By T. GODFREY

T. GODFREY

“Therefore 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. These words were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, and they have been recorded for our instruction in order that we might have a more perfect knowledge of the will of God. The law of God teaches that men should love the Lord with all their hearts, with all their souls, with all their strength, with all their minds, and their neighbours as themselves. See Luke 10:27. Jesus said, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matt. 22:40.

The servants of God in every age of the gospel dispensation have taught these sacred truths. They are the underlying principles of the throne of God. To disregard them would be to disregard the government of heaven. God is the source or fountain of love, from which flows a constant stream of undying love. Therefore man must become connected with the great Fountainhead of love before he can really have the ability to love. To say that we love God is not sufficient. We must demonstrate our love by real acts of obedience. To say merely that we love our neighbor as we do ourselves is not enough. There must be some real manifestation of love. God demonstrated his love for this fallen world when he gave his only begotten Son to die upon the cross for our redemption. Says the apostle John: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:9, 10.

If we say we love God, and hate our fellow men, we are liars and have not the spirit of Christ. Said Jesus: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” John 15:12-14. John says again: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:14-18.

But before we can manifest this great love toward our brother, we must have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ is the connecting link between heaven and earth, through whom the love of God is manifested to a dying world. Thus Jesus Christ is the love of God personified. Not only are we admonished to love our neighbor, but our enemies also. See

Matt. 5:43-48. God loved his enemies and poured out all heaven in one great gift to save them. He “sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

The unregenerated soul cannot comprehend the love of God toward a lost and dying world. Only he who has been born again, born from above, born of the Spirit through the word of God, can comprehend in part the undying love of God. “Love is strong as death. . . . Many waters cannot quench love.” Cant. 8:6, 7. God sent his Son into the world to suffer and die, that his deep and abiding love for a fallen world might be demonstrated. If we would have others love us, we must manifest our love toward them. Love begets love. But before we can apply the golden rule, we must have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The law of God must be written in our hearts by the Spirit of the living God. The spirit of Jesus Christ must pervade the human soul, or, in other words, the human soul must become the living temple of the living God. 1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 2 Cor. 6:16.

Covetousness, like a partition wall, stands between us and the fountain of life. We become lovers of self, of money. We disregard the cries of the poor and needy. We do not do to others as we would that others should do to us, but our covetous hearts gather all unto ourselves, never distributing to the needy. We become “like the deaf adder that stoppeeth her ear,” and will not hear.

This barrier must be removed. It must be broken down and taken out of the way before we can have access to the living fountain, the fountain of everlasting love. “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:16.

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” Verses 7, 8. “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:6, 7.

Western, Wash.

The Unfailing Promises of God

By W. H. SEBASTIAN

W. H. SEBASTIAN

Can any one cite an instance where God failed to fulfill his promises?—No. Our “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent.” Not one of his promises has ever failed. “A God of truth, . . . just and right is he.” Abraham speaks to this end when he says that what God has promised he is fully able to perform. “He staggered not [he did not waver] at the promise of God through unbelief; but was . . . fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise.” The promises of God are as sure as God himself; he cannot fail, and neither can his promises. God is bound by his promise, and this gives his children confidence that they need not doubt or waver when they ask him for a fulfillment of his word. He will surely answer.

The Bible says: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” There is nothing greater in heaven or in earth than these “exceeding great and precious promises” of his Word. The Bible is full of them, and they are all made to his children. We are to accept them by faith, doubting not.

When Jesus Christ was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, he said to Martha: “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God?” These words come to us today with just the same force as they appealed to Martha of old; to the discouraged, the despondent, the sick, the weary, yes, to every one; and if we doubt not, we shall surely see the glory of God revealed in marvelous ways.

And why should we doubt God’s promises? We read: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. . . . Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” O, dear brethren and sisters, doubt not what he has promised, for he is surely able to perform!

Portsmouth, Va.

Continue reading: The Schools of the Prophets