Signs of the Times, Vol. 2, No. 17. (3/30/1876)

Signs of the Times

Mar 30, 1876

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Mar 30, 1876

I MUST PRAY MORE.

By Nevins

I habitually feel this necessity, but the other day the conviction came to my mind with strange power, and I said with greater emphasis than ever, I must pray more. It struck me with indescribable wonder that so little time should be employed, and so little energy expended in prayer, even by those who are prompt to acknowledge its dignity as a privilege, and its efficacy as a means of obtaining good. It is not now as it was in patriarchal times. We do not pray as Jacob did. He wrestled until the breaking of the day. Yes, his praying was wrestling, and it lasted all night. We put forth no such power in prayer, and we do not allow the repose of our nights to be interrupted by it. It is not because our wants are all supplied that we are so feeble and brief in prayer—nor is it that God's bounty is exhausted. We are as poor as creatures ever were, and He as rich and as munificent as ever. His hand is not shortened, neither his ear heavy.

Only think how small a portion of each successive day is spent in prayer. I wonder if any Christian ever thought of it, without being so dissatisfied as to resolve that he would spend more time in prayer the next day. Just add together the minutes you daily occupy in supplication, and the kindred exercises of devotion, scriptural reading and meditation, and see to what it will amount. Will the sum total be one hour? What? less than an hour a day in devotion?—not one twenty-fourth part of time! And is this all which can be afforded? Let us see. How much time has business? Could not a little be saved from business for prayer? Do you not give an hour or two more to business every day than it absolutely requires? Then how much time has sleep for the refreshment of the body? Might not some little time be redeemed from sleep and spent in prayer, with more profit to the whole man than if it were given to repose? Would not the soul thereby obtain a rest which would most favorably re-act on the body?

I do not believe that the Psalmist suffered any thing in the day for the hours of night he spent in communing on his bed with his own heart and with God. I do not believe that even “tired nature” had any reason to complain of that interruption of the repose due to her. I suspect he enjoyed as good health, and was as vigorous through the day as we, though he arose at midnight to give thanks unto God, and prevented the dawning of the morning with his prayer. Such interruptions of sleep are no loss even to the body.

I am sure, and I think no one can doubt, that considerably more time might be afforded for prayer than is actually given to it. If we take none from business and none from sleep, yet could not some be spared from the table, or conversation which is not always the most profitable? Perhaps some of us spend more time in barely receiving the body's nourishment, than we do in the entire care of the soul! But not to dwell to tediousness on this topic. You have only to look back on a day, to perceive how much of it might have been spent in prayer and devotion without interfering with any thing which ought not to be interfered with.

Seeing then that we can pray more, that time can be afforded for it, I am amazed that we do not pray more. If prayer was nothing but a duty, we ought to pray more. We do not pray enough to discharge the mere obligation of prayer. We are commanded to pray more than we do, aye, to pray “without ceasing.” But prayer, while it is a duty, is rather to be viewed by us in the light of a privilege. And oh, it is such a privilege! What a favor that we may petition God and ask of him eternal life, with the confidence that we shall not ask in vain! How strange it is that we no more value and exercise this privilege of prayer!

It is astonishing that the sense of want, or the desire of happiness, does not carry us oftener to a throne of grace, and that we should ever require to be incited to prayer by the stimulus of conscience. Oh! I wonder that we do not oftener go unto the King, whose gracious sceptre is ever extended towards us—I wonder that we have not more frequent and longer interviews with our Heavenly Father. It is strange we do not pray more, when prayer is the easiest way of obtaining good. What is so easy as to ask for what we want? How could we receive blessings on cheaper terms? Surely it is easier than to labor, and less expensive than to buy. It may be hard to the spirit to ask of men. To beg of them you may be ashamed. But no such feeling should keep you aloof from God. He giveth and upbraideth not.

But prayer is not merely the easiest way of obtaining good. It is the only way of obtaining the greatest of all good. The subordinate necessaries of life we get by labor or purchase; but the things we most need are given in answer to prayer. The one thing needful is a divine donation. We ask, and receive it. Now we labor much. Why do we not pray more? Do we seek a profitable employment? None is so profitable as prayer. No labor makes so large a return. If you have an unoccupied hour—and you have many, or might have by redeeming time—you cannot employ it in any way that shall tell so favorably on your interests as by filling it up with petitions to God. Yet when we have such an hour, how apt we are to spend it in unprofitable intercourse with our fellows, rather than in communion with God. It is wonderful that we talk so much, when “the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury,” and pray so little, when prayer “brings a quick return of blessings in variety.” Is there anything attended by a purer pleasure than prayer? One who knew, said, “It is good for me to draw near to God”—and again, “It is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is comely.” All the exercises of devotion are as full of pleasure as they are abundant in profit.

But prayer is not only a means of getting good. It is such a means of doing good, that I wonder our benevolence does not lead us to pray more. We are commanded, “as we have opportunity,” to do good unto all men. Now prayer affords us the opportunity of being universal benefactors. Through God we can reach all men. We can make ourselves felt by all the world, by moving the hand that moves it. In no other way can we reach all. Prayer makes us, in a sense, omnipresent and omnipotent. It prevails with Him who is both.

The world needs your intercessions. It lies in wickedness. Zion needs them. She languishes because few pray for her peace; few come to her solemn assemblies. Whose family needs not the prayers of its every member? Who has not kindred that are out of Christ? With such a call upon us for prayer so urgent, and from so many quarters, I wonder we pray no more.

I must pray more, for then I shall do more—more for God, and more for myself; for I find that when I pray most, I accomplish more in the briefer intervals between my devotions, than when I give all my time to labor or study. I am convinced there is nothing lost by prayer. I am sure nothing helps a student like prayer. His most felicitous hours—his hours of most successful application to study, are those which immediately follow his seasons of most fervent devotion. And no wonder. Shall the collision of created minds with each other produce in them a salutary excitement, and shall not the communion of those minds with the infinite Intelligence much more excite them, and make them capable of wider thought and loftier conceptions?

I must pray more, because other Christians, whose biography I have read, have prayed more than I do.

God is disposed to hear more prayers from me than I offer; and Jesus, the Mediator, stands ready to present more for me.

If I pray more I shall sin less.

I will pray more. The Lord help to fulfill this resolution.—Nevins.

Redeemed from the Law.

“CURSED is every one that continueth not in ALL things which are written in the book of the law to do them,” Gal. 3:10.

TO OBTAIN life by the law requires a perfect, personal, continuous obedience from the first dawn of reason to the last moment in probationary time. “For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them,” Rom. 10:5; and Jesus said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL thy mind. This is the first and great commandment; and the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matt. 22:37–40.

The character of God is such that he could require nothing less than is here enjoined. Man, as made in the beginning, could give the law the perfection it demanded, but since the fall of Adam none of his fallen race have been able to do it. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God;” and “that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident” from the general tenor of Scripture.

WHEREFORE THEN SERVETH THE LAW?

It gives us “a knowledge of sin,” Rom. 3:20. It shows what God has a right to demand of his creatures in harmony with his character. It is like a mirror into which one looks and sees his defilement, but which can never remove it.

WHO THEN CAN BE SAVED?

When Winslow, the Boston forger, was arrested in London, a few weeks ago, it is reported that he said with tears in his eyes: “I ask Massachusetts to remember my services in the army and navy.” Massachusetts may do so, but what has faithfulness in one department to do with gross unfaithfulness in another? If, on trial, he is found guilty of the crime laid to his charge, and the penalty of the violated law is imprisonment for many years, or for life, the law in the case must take its course. So with the murderer; he may have been honorable in many of his business transactions, and kind in his family relations, but if the law demands blood for blood—the life of the murderer for that of his victim—he cannot escape death.

The man who has broken God’s law is in a similar condition. If it be true that “cursed is every one that continueth not in ALL things which are written in the book of the law to do them,” it avails not that one has been kind, amiable, and upright in some respects—that he has not gone to the excess of riot, the depths of sin and degradation into which some others have plunged. All have broken the law to some extent, and all are under the curse. Deliverance from that curse can only come through one who is human as well as divine—one who has power to magnify the law which we have broken, and make it honorable by giving it the perfection it demands—one on whom the law has no claim, but who volunteers to act for us, and Heaven accepts his offer. Such an one we have in “the man Christ Jesus.”

GOOD NEWS.

“When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Gal. 4:4, 5. “The Scripture hath concluded all under sin”—that is, shut up all under sin, as in a vast prison-house—“that the promise by faith of Christ might be given to them that believe.” “Christ hath redeemed us [who believe] from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” Gal. 3:13, 22. The gospel, then, is mercy sounding at the doors of the prison; it is an offer of pardon to all who will accept it—not that the law has abated one iota of its demands, but because its claims have been met by “the Lord our righteousness.” He “did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” “By his stripes we are healed.” God can now “be just,” and yet be the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.” Rom. 3:26. “Do we then make void the law through faith? By no means; yea, we establish the law.” “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rome 5:1.—Messiah’s Herald.

The Signs of the Times

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Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.

The Undefiled.

“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.”

Blessed are the undefiled, Who walk the heavenly way; The law of God is in their hearts, They serve him every day.

They tell of Jesus' dying love, And bow the suppliant knee; The closet is a blest retreat, 'Tis there they love to be.

The consecrated cross they bear That they may wear the crown, And triumph in victorious grace, And let their songs abound.

They stand secure while many foes Assail on every side; They fearlessly withstand them all, And look to Christ their guide.

They patiently endure reproach, For Jesus says they must, That they may gain that blissful home, Prepared for all the just.

Their hope is in the Lord of hosts, On him they do rely; They journey on with eager feet, And mercy is their cry.

They're pilgrims and sojourners here, As all their fathers were; They'll stem the storm till Jesus comes, And then his glories share.

I see them in that city bright, Long time ago foretold; And with the holy angels walk The streets of burnished gold.

Methinks I hear them sing the song Of Moses and the Lamb; And see them rest from all their cares, In Canaan's happy land.

There they shall see the God they love, And Christ who died to save; There the dear saints will die no more, When ransomed from the grave.

Harmony at Home.

1. We may be quite sure that our will is likely to be crossed during the day, so let us prepare for it.

2. Every person in the house has an evil nature, as well as ourselves, and therefore we must not expect too much.

3. Look upon each member of the family as one for whom Christ died.

4. When inclined to give an angry answer let us lift up the heart in prayer.

5. If from sickness, pain or infirmity, we feel irritable, let us keep a very strict watch over ourselves.

6. Observe when others are suffering, and drop a word of kindness.

7. Watch for little opportunities of pleasing, and put little annoyance out of the way.

8. Take a cheerful view of everything, and encourage hope.

9. Speak kindly to dependants and servants, and praise them when you can.

10. In all little pleasures which may occur put self last.

11. Try for the soft answer that turneth away wrath.

Hardening of the Heart

Some people have softening of the brain, but we are convinced that the world suffers more from those who have hardening of the heart.

The Two Thrones, Representing the Kingdoms of Grace and of Glory.

By James White

CHAPTER TWO.

The establishment of the eternal kingdom is by a succession of events, the first of which occurs prior to the destruction of earthly governments.

1. The Son of God, at the close of his ministration for sinners, and before his second appearing, will receive the kingdom from the Father. In the seventh chapter of this prophetic book we read these words: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed.” Dan. 7: 13, 14. This language describes a grand transaction in Heaven between the Father and the Son. The Son, at his second advent to this world, does not approach the Father. So far from this that the apostle represents the Father as remaining in Heaven, and sending his Son. “And he [the Father] shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” Acts 3: 20.

The words of the psalmist are to the point: “Ask of me [says the Father to the Son], and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Ps. 2: 8, 9. Before the Son makes his second advent to this world, he receives from the Father “dominion, and glory, and kingdom.” The heathen are his, and the uttermost parts of the earth are his possession. Thus the God of Heaven sets up the kingdom by investing his Son with royal authority before sending him to manifest it in the earth among his enemies.

2. After the coronation of the King of kings, the opening heavens will reveal him coming in grandeur and in glory, leading on the armies of Heaven to the last great conflict with the beast, the false prophet, and the kings of the earth. See Rev. 19. “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns.” “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.” His mission then will be to “judge and make war.” On one side will be the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies; and on the other side will be the King of kings, followed by all the holy angels. The armies of Heaven achieve a glorious victory. “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth.”

In Rev. 19, we see the complete destruction of all wicked men, or the dashing of the nations in pieces as a potter’s vessel, or the image broken by the stone, and utterly destroyed and removed, like the chaff before the wind. The destruction of the enemies of the Lord, represented by the several names of “man of sin,” “mystery of iniquity,” and “that wicked,” is thus described by the apostle—“whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thess. 2: 8.

3. At the second advent of Christ the righteous dead will be raised, the living righteous will be changed, and thus the subjects of the eternal kingdom will be made immortal. 1 Thess. 4: 14–18; 1 Cor. 15: 51, 55. This is the first resurrection at the commencement of the millennium.

4. The immortal subjects of the kingdom will ascend with their Lord to the eternal city, and reign with him in the judgment of the wicked a thousand years, during which time the earth will be desolate. We have seen from New Testament testimony that all wicked men will be destroyed at the second advent. See 2 Thess. 1: 7–9; 2: 7, 8; Matt. 13: 26–30, 37–43; 3: 12; Luke 17: 26–30. The prophets of the Old Testament clearly describe the desolation of the earth during the millennium. See Isa. 6: 8–11; 13: 9; 24: 1–3; 34: 1–15; 28: 21, 22; Jer. 4: 20, 27; 25: 32–38; Zeph. 1: 2, 3; 3: 6–8.

5. At the close of the millennium, the wicked will be raised from the dead. “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Rev. 20: 5. They will then be destroyed. “And fire came down from God out of Heaven, and devoured them.” Rev. 20: 9. Satan, and all the fallen angels, and all wicked men, will then be consumed by the fire of Jehovah’s wrath. Rev. 20: 10; Matt. 25: 41; 2 Pet. 2: 4; Jude 6. In the general conflagration of that time, the old earth and atmospheric heaven will pass away from the face of Him that sitteth on the great white throne. Rev. 20: 11. “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Pet. 3: 10.

6. From the old earth, melted and cleansed from sin and sinners, will come forth, molded by the hand of the great Restorer, the new earth, free from all the marks of the curse. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” Rev. 21: 1.

It is at the close of the one thousand years of Revelation 20, after the final destruction of all of God’s enemies, that the saints take the kingdom, to possess it forever, even forever and ever. Then will the kingdom in all its parts—the king, the subjects, the territory, the holy city being the metropolis—be complete. Then the stone will have become a great mountain, so as to fill the whole earth.

We have seen that the establishment of the immortal kingdom will be by a succession of events. The kingdom in its first stage, when set up in Heaven, by the God of Heaven, is represented by a stone cut out of the mountain. When complete and fully established in the earth, it is represented by a mountain filling the whole earth. The kingdom, in its stone condition, is contemporary for a while with the perishable kingdoms of this world. Hence it is said, “it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms.” Dan. 2: 44. This accomplished, and the earth restored to its Eden glory, the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, will be the eternal inheritance of the redeemed.

Contrast with this harmonious series of events in the establishment of the kingdom, that view which has the kingdom established on the earth when Christ comes, and the one thousand years’ reign of Christ with his people on the new earth. That view necessarily has Satan let loose on the new earth, after the saints, with Christ in their midst, have enjoyed its glories for a thousand years! Then Satan’s vast army, “the number of whom is as the sand of the sea,” is raised from the dead out of the new earth! and, with Satan at their head, come tramping up over the fields of living green on the breadth of the new earth! to surround the city of the saints. And to crown the absurdity of this position, fire comes down from Heaven and consumes the vast multitude of the wicked of all ages upon the new earth! In our opinion, the inconsistencies of this view have led many to adopt the mixed millennium, and follow on in the almost endless fancies of the future age.

If it be objected that our view of the subject has the city of the redeemed resting upon the old earth before it shall be regenerated by fire, we reply: This may be in the plan of God, that all sinners may see what they have lost, and the redeemed may witness the terrors of that death from which they are saved, and that the assembled intelligences of the universe that have not sinned, may also be impressed with the holiness and dignity of the divine law, the penalty of which is death.

Tremendous execution! Satan and all the angels that revolted with him, and all men who have died in their sins, from the murderer, Cain, down to the last sinner that shall refuse salvation, perish in the lake of fire poured upon them as they gather around the city of the redeemed to take it. How fitting a place will the old world be—the marks of the curse now doubly visible—for this terrible execution.

“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley.” Zech. 14: 4. At the close of the millennium, the Lord will stand upon the mount of his ascension; and after his voice shall call forth the wicked dead, the mount will cleave asunder, leaving a plain sufficiently extensive to receive the New Jerusalem. Around this city Satan and his vast forces will gather to take it. And at the very moment of attack, fire from Heaven will come down upon them to that extent that the vast scene, necessarily covering a large portion of the old earth’s surface, is represented as a lake of fire and brimstone. Then “the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also.”

But whether that portion of the earth where the city shall rest, having been prepared by a miracle of divine power for the reception of the beloved city, will remain unaffected by the fires of that day; or whether the melting earth and heaven, fleeing from the face of Him that shall be seated on the great white throne, Rev. 20: 11, shall be removed from the city during their regeneration by fire, may not be important to the present discussion of the subject. Either of these can be done by the power of Him who will do greater things in the grand work of the restitution.

THE WORD KINGDOM

Often occurs in the New Testament, and sometimes refers to the means and work of grace in the present state; and in other passages it evidently applies to the future immortal state. The terms used in the texts where the word occurs, and the connection will decide the application.

The New Testament writers at different periods speak of the immortal kingdom as future. It was not set up when our Lord taught his disciples to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” Matt. 6: 10. The prophets, Christ, and the apostles, all point the church forward to the coming and kingdom of Christ as the time of the consummation of her faith and hope, the end of her toils and sorrows, and the fullness of her joys. Hence, in the pattern prayer of the Christian church of all ages, is the petition, “Thy kingdom come.”

The mother of Zebedee’s children understood the kingdom to be future when she desired our Lord to grant that her two sons might sit, “the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left,” in his kingdom. Matt. 20: 20, 21.

Again, the kingdom was still future when our Lord ate the last passover with the twelve. He said to them, “I say unto you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come.” Luke 22: 18.

But did not Christ set up the kingdom before his ascension to Heaven? Just before his ascension, the disciples inquired, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” It was not then set up. Both Jesus and Paul associate the kingdom with the second advent. Jesus addresses those who are waiting for his coming and kingdom, thus: “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.” Luke 12: 35, 36. In this connection he comforts his people with these precious words: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Verse 32. And Paul solemnly charges Timothy “before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.” 2 Tim. 4: 1.

Paul took a preaching tour, A. D. 46, to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, “confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” Acts 14: 21, 22. This address was not made less than twelve years after the day of Pentecost to those who were already Christians, enjoying the blessings of the kingdom of grace. There was still before them the kingdom of glory, to enter through much tribulation. How say some that the kingdom was set up on the day of Pentecost?

James addresses his epistle to the scattered brethren, A. D. 60, not less than twenty-five years after the day of Pentecost. These were all in the kingdom of grace at that time, and yet he presents the kingdom of glory before them as a matter of promise. He says: “Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” James 2: 5.

And the apostle Peter writes his second general epistle to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, not less than thirty years after the complete establishment of the Christian church. He exhorts those who had “obtained like precious faith” to add to their faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity, that an entrance might be ministered unto them abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. 1: 5–11.

And Paul declares that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Cor. 15: 50. This settles the question that there is a kingdom not to be enjoyed by the saints till they put on immortality, or till they enter the immortal state, which the apostle says, verse 52, is “at the last trump.” JAMES WHITE.

The Two Systems.

READER, there are two distinct and separate systems of Christianity at the present day. It is useless to deny it. Their existence is a great fact, and one that cannot be too clearly known.

According to one system, religion is a mere corporate business. You are to belong to a certain body of people. By virtue of your membership of this body, vast privileges, both for time and eternity, are conferred upon you. It matters little what you are, and what you feel. You are not to try yourself by your feelings. You are a member of a great ecclesiastical corporation. Then all its privileges and immunities are your own. Do you belong to the one true visible ecclesiastical corporation? That is the grand question. According to the other system, religion is eminently a personal business between yourself and Christ. It will not save your soul to be an outward member of any ecclesiastical body whatever, however sound that body may be. Such membership will not wash away one sin, or give you confidence in the day of Judgment. There must be personal faith in Christ, personal dealings between yourself and God, personal felt communion between your own heart and the Holy Ghost. Have you this personal faith? Have you this felt work of the Spirit in your soul? This is the question. If not, you will be lost.—J. C. Ryle.

LOVE AND PASSION.—

These two are often confounded. They are quite distinct. Love elevates and refines, passion degrades and depresses; love enlarges the heart, passion narrows the mind. And even in the case of what is called passionate love there is too much which is of the earth, earthy. Pure affection is a sentiment free from taint of any kind, and is as rare as pure charity.

SOWING WILD OATS.

It is said that the young must be allowed to sow their wild oats. I have noticed that those who sow their wild oats seldom try to raise any other kind of a crop.—De Witt Talmadge.

Continue reading: Invocation of the Saints and Exaltation of Mary