“God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Studying God, we shall always get light — truth. Not so when we study fallen man — his words and works. Plenty of darkness is to be found in them. This is the fault of the world’s system of education. It is based on the idea that “the proper study of mankind is man.” In the world’s schools the pupil studies the character, the doings, the literature, the institutions, the laws, etc., of the men of former times. He7drinks at the fountain of the “accumulated wisdom” of the ages, and it is a poisoned fountain, full of intellectual and moral error. It fosters pride, conceit, worldly ambition, and those things that lead the mind away from the knowledge of God and the love of spiritual truth. The Christian system of education, on the other hand, centers about God. Its constant aim is a greater knowledge of him; and as he is the creator of all things, the knowledge of him gives a knowledge of the things of creation. Only thus can one have a knowledge of the nature of visible things. The Bible, being the chief revelation of God to man, is the natural text-book of the Christian system. This system does not strive to compass all knowledge in a few brief years of earthly life, since it insures an eternity of existence under far better conditions than can be afforded by this present world. It is essential, however, that the beginning of its course of study should be here and now.
L. A. S.
The Hague Tribunal and Peace
MUCH surprise and disappointment are felt by many persons in this country over the recent decision of The Hague Tribunal touching the Venezuelan claims. That this great arbitration tribunal, from the establishment of which so much was hoped for the world’s peace, should set a premium on warlike measures for collecting debts as compared with peaceful ones, is a fact which casts grave doubt on the dependence which is to be placed on this famous international court as an ally of peace. The Church Standard (Episcopal) expresses its opinion on the subject as follows, quoting also from the New York Times:—
Neither in matter nor in method has the recent decision of The Hague Tribunal for the arbitration of international disputes justified the sanguine hopes of those by whom its establishment was hailed as a triumph of peace and justice. The untimely and indecent delivery by its acting president, the Russian minister of justice, of a violent tirade on the merits of the dispute between his country and Japan, gave little evidence of a judicial temper, and the substance of the decision, giving to Germany and Great Britain a preference among the creditors of Venezuela, on the express ground that those powers had resorted to violent measures, while the others had preferred to await the peaceful award of an international court of arbitration, has the effect of putting a premium on the use of force, and a discount of disadvantage on the method of arbitration. So regarded, this decision, however else it may be justified, is the most extraordinary piece of self-stultification that any court has ever yet been known to put upon itself. A prominent official in Washington is reported to have pronounced the decision to be “a premium on violence;” and the New York Times comments on it as follows:—
“The decision of The Hague Court actually confers a reward of merit upon three powerful European nations for going to war with a weak little Spanish-American republic, torn by civil convulsions, to collect money claims and damages which had never been subjected to any impartial examination. The court says, in effect, that, by blockading the ports of Venezuela, sinking her gunboats and bombarding her land defenses, these three powers followed a course so meritorious as compared with the United States, France, Mexico, Spain, and other claimant powers that they are entitled to preferential treatment over the other creditors. Of course, this is a direct encouragement to European powers to unite in a blockading adventure as often as they claim to have money due them from Spanish-American republics.”
Evidently “peace and safety” are not likely to be established in the world by “peace” tribunals.
Note and Comment
From the press reports we know that war is going on between Russia and Japan, but a conception of the character of the scenes that are being almost daily enacted comes but faintly to the minds of those around whom the grim echoes of the conflict are not heard. In the following description from a press report of March 20 the veil is momentarily lifted, and we get a view of the details which are usually passed over in the general record of military events. It calls to mind General Sherman’s terse description of war. The account, speaking of the capture of a Russian torpedo-boat after a fierce fight, says:—
The Japanese lieutenant who boarded her to make fast the tow rope said he had never seen a more horrible sight. Thirty dead, terribly mutilated by shell, were lying on the deck. As the Japanese approached, two Russian bluejackets rushed from the conning tower, and locked themselves in the cabin. Two stokers jumped overboard, and were picked up by the Japanese. These, with two wounded, were the only survivors of the complement of fifty-five.
After two hours’ towing, the Russian vessel sank, the men who had locked themselves in the cabin going down with her.
THE Omaha World-Herald of March 13 printed the following regarding the apparent “lining up for a general war,” which is in progress among the nations to-day. It considers the question from the standpoint of some European observers:—
Will England and France become embroiled in the far Eastern struggle?
A dispatch from Paris, which tells of the arrest of a French traitor who attempted to sell French naval secrets to the Japanese, makes revelations which indicate that a great war, with Russia and France on the one side and England and Japan on the other, is again being seriously considered in military circles during the lull in the receipt of important news from the far East.
The secrets which the traitor tried to sell to Japan, it is said, had particular reference to joint naval action on the part of France and Russia. It is positively stated that such plans exist, and the treaty obligations of Great Britain toward Japan in the event of any power joining Russia are so well known that the discovery of the alleged plot has created a sensation on the Continent.
The Tageblatt, in Berlin, asserts that the conviction prevails in Russia that war with England will be the inevitable outcome of the war with Japan, and that active preparations are being made for such a contingency by Russia, including measures for the defense of the Baltic coast. Russia, meanwhile, is straining every nerve to overcome the advantage against her in the East. There is an ominous note in the notice which she has caused to be served upon the Chinese government by her minister at Peking with regard to the activity of Chinese troops along the Manchurian frontier. Viceroy Alexieff, it is understood, has been entrusted with the work of formulating repressive measures if the depredations spread to the extent of endangering Russian interests.
The Numerical Strength of the Papacy
According to the Catholic Mirror, the numerical strength of the papacy in this country is 11,289,700. There are one hundred prelates, including the cardinal, archbishops, and bishops. The following paragraphs are from the Mirror:—
There are 9,742 clergymen subject in all things to the immediate jurisdiction of the bishops; and subject to them also in all that concerns parochial ministration, 3,225 members of religious communities in holy orders. These 12,967 priests minister to 11,289,710 members, who worship in 7,005 of our churches and 3,873 chapels. There is no lack of candidates for the ministry, 13,382 actually preparing to be secular priests and 1,931 religious in the seven universities and 71 seminaries. There are 162 colleges for males, and 643 academies for females. These schools are maintained in great part by 5,000 men, not only in holy orders, but dwelling in community, usually called Brothers, and 50,000 women, the nuns or Sisters, who also aid the clergy in the schools and charitable institutions, conducting, with proper lay assistance, 3,978 parish schools with 963,683 pupils, and 923 institutions with 1,113,031 inmates.
Not least in importance are the laity, who support pastors, churches, schools, and other institutions, and who devote time as well as money working as members of charitable, benevolent, social, and literary associations. Besides the many pious sodalities or confraternities, some of which exist in every parish, there are at least twenty great national organizations of men and women, growing in numbers and efficiency every year, and in order to work still more efficiently, all the societies of men, numbering fully two millions, are forming a federation, which will be perfected in another year.
It is evident that Catholics are aiming to put their numerical strength in this country to the most effective use.
The Result of Beholding Christ
By Ellen G. White
MRS. E. G. WHITE
God has promised to draw near to all who will draw near to him. All may delight their souls in the Lord. All may grow in grace, in wisdom, and in love; through faithful continuance in well-doing all may become partakers of the divine nature.
Those who strive for the Spirit of God will be rewarded in accordance with the promise. “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” My brethren and sisters, will you not awake out of sleep? Will you not pray, and watch unto prayer? Through the power that Jesus gives, we can be “more than conquerors.” But we can not manufacture this power. Only through the Spirit of God can we receive it. We need a deep insight into the nature of Christ and into the mystery of his love, “which passeth knowledge.” We are to live in the warm, genial rays of the Sun of Righteousness. Nothing but Christ’s loving compassion, his divine grace, his almighty power, can enable us to baffle the relentless foe, and subdue the opposition of our own hearts. What is our strength?—The joy of the Lord. Let the love of Christ fill our hearts, and then we shall be prepared to receive the power that he has for us.
Let us thank God every day for the blessings that are ours. If the human agent will humble himself before God, realizing how inappropriate it is for him to cherish self-sufficiency, realizing his utter inability to do the work that needs to be done in order that his soul may be purified; if he will cast away his own righteousness, Christ will abide in his heart. He will put his hand to the work of creating him anew, and will continue the work till he is complete in him.
Christ will never neglect the work that has been placed in his hands. He will inspire the resolute disciple with a sense of the perversity, the sin-stained condition, the depravity, of the heart upon which he is working. The true penitent learns the uselessness of self-importance. Looking to Jesus, comparing his own defective character with the Saviour’s perfect character, he says only,—
“In my hand no price I bring;
Simply to thy cross I cling.”
With Isaiah he declares, “Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.”
“Dead in Trespasses and Sins”
“You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”
Spiritual death is here spoken of. How many there are who are unwarned, and in consequence unconvicted. They are passing on, in harmony with the world and with the desires of their own undisciplined, unsubdued hearts. They live in pleasure and worldliness, and should sickness come, and death overtake them, they would be found unready. They are not interested in the race for eternal life. They do not look upon the conflict against sin, the warfare with principalities and powers, as essential. They are in need of light. Satan holds them in his power, and they see not their danger. They know nothing of the crucifixion that cuts away from the life all that separates the soul from Christ. They are subject to the power of the spirit that works in the children of disobedience.
This spirit is Satan, the fallen angel, the ruler of the power of darkness. He has control of the spirits of evil, and through them he seeks to gain control of human beings. He is the head of the fallen angels. He supplies them with vital force.
How many there are who are left in darkness because the lives of those who have had light, and who profess to believe the truth, are a falsehood, a fatal deception. These professed Christians have kept the truth in the outer court. It has not been brought into the daily life. They may belong to the church, but this will not save them. Those who do the works of a sinner will receive the punishment of a sinner. Profession is but a snare to those who have no experience in the reality of true Christianity, who know not the principles that lead the Christian to inquire at every step, “Is this the way of the Lord?”
Raised to Spiritual Life
“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, . . . and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
As God raised Christ from the dead, that he might bring life and immortality to light through the gospel, and thus save his people from their sins, so Christ has raised fallen human beings to spiritual life, quickening them with his life, filling their hearts with hope and joy.
“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
Power That Gains the Victory
Beholding Christ for the purpose of becoming like him, the seeker after truth sees the perfection of the principles of God’s law, and he becomes dissatisfied with everything but perfection. Hiding his life in the life of Christ, he sees the holiness of the divine law as revealed in the character of Christ, and more and more earnestly he strives to be like him. A warfare may be expected at any time; for the tempter sees that he is losing one of his subjects. A battle must be fought with the attributes that Satan has been strengthening for his own use.
The human agent sees what he has to contend with,—a strange power opposed to the idea of attaining the perfection that Christ holds out. But he knows that with the Redeemer there is saving power that will gain for him the victory in the conflict. The Saviour will strengthen and help him as he comes pleading for grace and efficiency.
Paul’s Experience
Paul had a wonderful experience. He says: “If any man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more; circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is of the law, blameless.” That is, he was trying to keep the letter of the law perfectly.
But a change came in his life. On his way to Damascus to persecute the followers of Christ, he was suddenly stopped. Christ revealed himself to him. Henceforth his testimony was:—
“Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”9
The righteousness that heretofore he had thought of so much worth was now worthless in his sight. The longing of his soul was, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”
In his estimation no treasure could equal the gift of the knowledge of Christ. He trusted in the Saviour’s power to save even him, who had persecuted his followers.
If God’s people to-day would see how far short they fall of being what they ought to be; if they would strive with the powers of the whole being to reach the standard that God has declared they must reach; if they would put into their efforts an energy and a perseverance proportionate to the greatness of the reward offered, how wonderfully they would be blessed, and how much God would accomplish through them!
The adversary stands ready to lead church-members into strange paths. Let them keep the soul fully guarded, and filled with the light and grace and life that heaven is always ready to supply. “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” We are children of one family,—a family acknowledged to be of heavenly extraction. We are to live lives that declare us to be children of God. We are not to follow the customs and the policy of the world, but the law of heaven. We are Christ’s purchased possession, and we are to put away envy and evil-surmising, and love one another as Christ has loved us, helping one another to press onward and upward.
God’s Care
By Marianne Farningham
Though a gift of sorrow
Crown the year,
What shall be to-morrow
Do not fear;
Nothing need alarm thee,
Sorrow can not harm thee,
God is near.
What of thy departed?
Safe are they;
Be not thou faint-hearted,
Trust and pray;
When the shadows gather,
Hasten to the Father
Every day.
Lose no time in sighing;
Trust and love;
Happy living, dying,
Thou shalt prove
How he changes never,
How he loves forever,
Friend above.
Therefore make to-morrow
Glad with song;
Joy comes after sorrow,
Peace stays long;
In his love abiding,
In his shelter hiding,
Be thou strong.
— Marianne Farningham, in Christian World.
Fully Following the Lord
(Concluded)
THERE was a great commotion in the camp of Israel when this report of the returned spies had been given. Ten men had already given their views of the country; and now Caleb came before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it.” “Don’t go ahead,” the practical rulers in Israel said, “it can not be done.” I wonder what they came out of Egypt for, if not to go up and possess the land. They forgot. They were only looking at the practical side. I tell you, my friends, the practical side has ruined many a man in God’s work. “But Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.” They forgot that God was leading them. “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, . . . and all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?”
Of the land they said, further, “The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof.” Very strange—a famished land, an impoverished land, a land that the people can not get their living from! “And all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
Brethren, that is exactly what a man will do when he sits down to count all the difficulties in carrying out what God commands. He concludes it can not be done. I heard a man say the other day that he did not believe it was possible for Seventh-day Adventists to give the third angel’s message to all the world in this generation. But, if God has said it shall be done, it is possible. And it doesn’t make any difference whether you believe it or not, it is a possibility, and it can be done, if God has to raise up the very stones to preach the message. He can take the unlearned, the illiterate, the farmer from the plow, and the clerk from the desk, and send them out to preach this message to the world, if you and I fail to give it.
You say, “It is impossible. Think of the world to be warned.” Yes, but think of that great city of Nineveh—one of the mightiest cities on this earth. Historians estimate the population at from six hundred thousand to six million. It was a great and mighty city. God sent one lone, weak prophet down to that city, and in three short days the king, with all his lords and nobles, were clothed in sackcloth and ashes, and a great fast was proclaimed throughout that city for every man and woman that lived there. How long?—Three days.
Take God’s people, imbued with the Spirit, believing this message going to the world, and they can give a warning in a short time, when God is their leader. You need not doubt it.
“And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.” Did they weep for Canaan? Did they weep for the promised land, which had been theirs back in the days of Abraham?—O, no! they wept because there were giants that stood in their way, and they could not conquer them, because of those great nations that they could not subdue. If they had seen the arm of God, the power of Jehovah, they would have arisen as one man, and said, “We can go over and take Canaan.” But they wept that night.
Notice what else they did. “And all the children of Israel murmured.” Of course; just as soon as a man gets discouraged by looking on the dark side, he begins to murmur. And the strange thing about all murmurers is that they never murmur against themselves. All the murmurings that ever come out of the heart—out of my heart and yours—are against somebody else. Another thing: you hardly ever hear a man murmuring against somebody who is putting on the brakes, and turning off the steam, and holding back God’s work; you always hear the complainers murmur against somebody who is trying to get on, to forge ahead, and to help forward God’s work. That is the class I murmur against. If any man sets a pace any quicker than mine, and says, “Forward move! quick step!” I say, naturally, “You are in too big a hurry. Just wait for me.” And it was just that way with those murmurers so long ago. They began to murmur against the men that God had used all those years to bring them from their bondage. “The children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!” Is not that a terrible condition when people would rather live in bondage than follow the commandments of the Lord? It is an awful state for a people to get into, brethren. But I tell you there are some Seventh-day Adventists to-day who would rather allow the Lord’s cause to be long delayed than to lay their own children on the altar, to go out into foreign fields. A thousand times rather lay your children on the altar of service, that they may go to the most deadly climates, and to the darkest nations of the earth, than to keep them here in this land of plenty, and have them go to destruction. There is many a son and daughter who will go out into these dark fields, if we will only lay them on the altar of service, and gain there experiences that they can never gain in this home country. The fields are languishing for the strong and brave, the men of faith in God. I tell you, dear friends, here in this very audience, you who hear my voice, we need your sons and daughters for God. We need them in India, China, Africa, South America,—everywhere, in unfavorable climates, under hardships and trials and privations, we want your sons and daughters to carry this truth!
But Israel began their murmurings and complainings, and they went straight against those men who had faith and hope in God. You see how far they dared go. “Wherefore,” they said, “hath the Lord brought us into this land, to fall by the sword?” “Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?”
“And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.” They knew very well that Moses would not take them back. They knew that Aaron would not head their army. Let us do what?—“Make us a captain” (after their own kind, do you see?), “and let us return into Egypt.” O, we do like leaders after our own stamp, do we not?—men who take the slow pace if we are slow,—men who are worldly if we are worldly,—men who look for the Lord to come a long way off, if we put off the day of his appearing. We like leaders who are after our10own image. I tell you, it is dangerous.
“Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.” What could the poor men do but weep? what could they do but bow their heads in sorrow before God—they who had given their lives to that people? Then Joshua comes forward: “And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes; and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.”
Are those not plain words? O, we need such men! We have a great work, we have a great message, we have a mighty Captain. Instead of our saying, “O, it can not be done,” we should say, “It shall be done, and I will be a factor in carrying this thing through.” When a man puts on the armor that way, seeking the Lord, and going forth, he will accomplish something. This whole people could be aroused, to a man, if it were not for the ministry that is holding them back. That is so, brethren. If you and I believed God as we ought, if we had faith in the almighty power of God to save, this people would rally. But when we talk a little doubt, and say, “I do not know; I am afraid; go a little carefully and slowly,” the brethren murmur and complain, and wonder whether God is with us or not. O, this people need strong, fearless leaders,—men who hear the voice of the Lord, and recognize it, and are willing to move forward and set the pace! Conferences will follow where you lead. You need not be afraid of undertaking and accomplishing great things for God; it can be done. And I will venture the assertion that every conference in the land can be gaged by its leaders. Take a conference to-day that has a man of faith, a man of courage, of strong convictions, loyal, a man of energy, a man of force, of consecration, and you will find the people walking right up to do the will of God. O, how must God look upon us! I think of my own unworthiness, my own selfishness, hesitancy, doubt, and unbelief, and say, How is it possible for God to use such a man as I? Instead of our looking on this side, and hesitating, and holding back, you and I ought to throw ourselves right in the harness, and every pound of our strength ought to go in a forward move. Then evil things would begin to break up. The people would begin to get a new hope and new courage, and our brethren would work together differently than they do at the present time. I know this is true, and so do you.
Notice what Israel did in this crisis in their history. “And all the congregation bade stone them with stones.”—Stone whom?—Joshua and Caleb. Why?—Because they said they were able to go up and possess the land; because they said the Lord was with them, and would deliver their enemies into their hands. Just as the congregation was about to execute the order to stone them, the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle. The Lord had that congregation in hand, and he said that not one of those men, save Joshua and Caleb, should ever step foot into the promised land; and he saw that decree accomplished.
It seems to me that such lessons ought to inspire our hearts to be on the Lord’s side. God lives, and he wants men of faith and obedience, men of a courage that nothing can daunt. I do not believe in going ahead of God. Those who do that make as big a mistake as those who lag behind him; for you do not know what God wants until he speaks. But when God speaks, we should set ourselves to hear, and to accomplish his commands in the quickest possible way. I tell you, dear friends, that if you and I, and all our brethren in the ministry, pledge ourselves to that one thing,—to hear God’s voice when he speaks, and to obey it,—we shall accomplish great things. Let us go ahead, and as we make the start, the plan will develop. If we place our feet resolutely in the path of duty, what is now in doubt and uncertainty will be made plain, and we shall be able to accomplish what God commands. You have seen this verified a hundred times with men who did not know whether they could make a living and keep the Sabbath or not. But when they stepped out, God provided the way. So the Lord will always provide. When God speaks, let us step right out, and he will provide. I am not talking what I do not believe, but what I have seen time and again. One time we were in great distress for money. We did not have a dollar in the treasury, and what to do we did not know. We could not make money. So we went into our closets and prayed that God would open some way for money to come in, that we might meet our obligations; and lo and behold, the sun did not set that night before eight thousand dollars came into the treasury!
God has the power, and God has the heart. O, I do not think there is any reason for you and me to say that his purposes can not be carried out. Rather let us say, It can be done, and I will be the one to set the pace. We must have more active work, more courage, more faith. There is not a single requirement that God has ever asked of us, brethren, that we can not fulfil if we will.
God needs to-day in this cause, more than anything else that I know of, Caleb and Joshua,—men who dare, and who believe with all their hearts that God’s work can be accomplished,—Calebs and Joshuas who will go all through this land, and settle this murmuring, and quiet this complaining, and give assurance to the people that we are abundantly able to go into Canaan at the time appointed, if God is with us, and we are loyal to him. When we do this, our own hearts will catch the glow from God’s altar, and we shall be new men. Like Saul when he met the prophet, a new heart will be given us, and a new experience in our lives.
May God encourage us, and lift us up, and inspire our hearts for active service in his work, is my prayer.
A Pernicious Habit
By J. H. Parsons
J. H. PARSONS
If those who indulge in criticism and condemnation of others will only stop to consider that they are passing judgment on themselves for all time, it may help them to get rid of the pernicious habit; for the Word of God tells us very distinctly, “With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matt. 7: 2.
Each one of us will at the last be confronted with the record of our life, even every idle word that we have spoken; for Jesus said: “I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Matt. 12:36. John the revelator tells us that “the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books.” Rev. 20:12. And science also tells us, with a very plausible array of facts, that every word and action of our lives is forever photographed on our minds, and can be reproduced under proper conditions; therefore we should obey the injunction, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Prov. 4:23.
Even “the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” John 5:22. And the Son says: “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. . . . The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” John 12:47, 48. Then, “Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.” Rom. 14:4.
Few of us realize that when we pass judgment on another, we are actually passing judgment on ourselves. “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Matt. 12:37.
But one will say: “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?” 1 Cor. 6: 2, 3. A sanctified person will be so filled with the Spirit that he will be a constant rebuke to the world and to the fallen angels, and yet, until the separation of the wheat and tares, which will not take place until the end of the world, it is sometimes necessary for the church to judge between brethren, and also to rebuke sin.
Concerning this, the apostle Paul says: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a11fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Gal. 6: 1, 2. “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Gal. 5:14.
Identified With Christ
By John M. Hopkins
JOHN M. HOPKINS
There can be no more intimate or tender relationship than that between Christ and his people. In several instances in the Bible it is symbolized by the marriage relation, which perfectly unites the interests and the lives of the contracting parties. They are one. Their hopes and joys and pains and sorrows are the same. That which concerns the happiness of the husband equally relates to the wife, and vice versa. So with Christ and the Christian, He has so intimately identified himself with his people that whatever affects them equally touches his great heart of love. And so when Saul was on his way to Damascus, the Saviour appeared to him and said: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Saul said, “Who art thou, Lord?” And then came the word. “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”
In beautiful accord with this is the following from Isa. 63: 7-9: “I will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses. For he said, Surely they are my people, . . . so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.”
In the Saviour’s prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John the same tender regard and deep interest are shown. Thus he cares for his remnant people now. Nothing is dearer to Christ than his church. And since Christ thus intimately identifies himself with his people, what should be our attitude toward him and his cause?
If we have “the mind of Christ,” shall we not look upon his work in exactly the same light that he does? If we are “filled with the Spirit,” shall we not have the same deep, earnest interest in his cause that he has? Will not its prosperity be the one chief object and purpose of our lives and efforts? And will it not be a delight to contribute in every way possible to its advancement?
If we were as closely and intimately identified with the cause of Christ as he is identified with us and our welfare, there would be many thousands of dollars flowing into his treasury that are now put into the treasury of Satan. Many dollars are expended for unnecessary articles, for things that we could get along without. The people of Europe and other Old World countries practise economy more rigidly than do Americans; and if we in America would do just as Jesus would, many nickels, and dimes, and quarters, and half dollars that are now expended to gratify appetite, or pride, or pleasure, would find their way into the cause of God. I know that if we truly loved the Lord as he loves us, we would study, and pray, and plan, and work, and deny self to help along the work of the Master. Seventh-day Adventist ministers would not be wearing gold watches, their wives and daughters and sons would not decorate themselves with gold rings and charms and vest-chains and brooches, etc. Sweetmeats and every unnecessary gratification would be cut off, and the pleadings for help that come so often from every quarter would receive a most generous response.
O that every one who professes to love God would study these things! O that we were all as truly and deeply in love with Christ as he is with us! Then the same mind of holy zeal, the same earnest love that inspired him, would actuate us, and from all over the world our prayers would ascend to heaven, and our debts would be paid, and our God-given means would pour into God’s storehouse. The loud cry of the message would ring out everywhere, thousands would be converted, and Jesus would quickly come. Shall it not be so, brethren and sisters? God grant it for Jesus’ sake.