The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 75

April 12, 1898

“Editorial” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 16, p. 238.

“IF we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Do you live in the Spirit? If you do not, why is it so? ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.1

The Spirit is everywhere; he is all-pervading in all the world. Why, then, do you not live in the Spirit? ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.2

Read this: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.3

Seeing that the Spirit is thus everywhere, in the dark and in the light, and it is impossible to go where he is not, why, then, do you not live in the Spirit? ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.4

Surely it cannot possibly be for any other cause than that you will not recognize him, and believe in him everywhere. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.5

And why do you not recognize him, and receive him everywhere?—It cannot possibly be for any other cause than that the world has the preference. For “the world cannot receive him. But “we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God.” ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.6

Why do you choose to live in the world, rather than to live in the Spirit, when, because of his all-pervading presence, it is just as easy to live in the Spirit as it is to live at all? ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.7

You do not have to go somewhere to find the Spirit; he is everywhere where you are: you cannot get away from him. Then why not live in him, and have all the joy of it? To live in him, all that you have to do is to receive him; and to receive him, all you have to do is to believe him. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.8

“Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” and live in the Spirit. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.9

“Editorial Notes” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 16, pp. 238.

“REMEMBER the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.1

“Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.2

There is no genuine Christianity without sanctification. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.3

There is no genuine sanctification but that which is accomplished by the Lord himself. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.4

And the genuine keeping of the Sabbath is a sign that the Lord does sanctify the believer, and that he may know that the Lord does sanctify him. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.5

To profess sanctification without the keeping of the Sabbath is to come short. To profess to keep the Sabbath without sanctification is a contradiction. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.6

Sanctification is perfected in keeping the Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath attains its perfect aim in sanctification. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.7

“I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.8

Verily, therefore, “my Sabbaths ye shall keep.” And “the seventh day is the Sabbath.” ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.9

“Editorial Note” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 16, p. 238.

“SHALL we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.” ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.1

Then as we are not to continue in sin, in order that grace may abound, shall we continue in sin at all? ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.2

Surely if there could be any possible excuse for continuing in sin, it would be that grace should abound. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.3

But that is God-forbidden; it is impossible to have even any such excuse as that for continuing in sin. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.4

Consequently the gist of this question is, “Shall we continue in sin?” Shall we continue in sin at all? Is there any possible ground for it? And the answer is forever, “God forbid.” ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.5

Then when God has forbidden it, why do it? ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.6

He has made abundant provision for us not to do it; then why do it? Why should not this provision be employed, so that we shall not continue in sin? ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.7

“Studies in the Book of Daniel” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 16, pp. 238, 239.

IN the dream and its interpretation, of the great image of Daniel 2, the Lord revealed himself to King Nebuchadnezzar, and taught him the impotence of all the gods, and the imposture of all the claims on their behalf made by astrologers, magicians, and Chaldeans. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.1

In so wonderfully delivering from the fiery furnace his servants who refused to obey the king’s command to worship the king’s great golden image, the Lord taught to Nebuchadnezzar and all people that, according to the word and will of God, earthly governments cannot rightly have anything whatever to do with commanding, regulating, or directing the religion or worship of the people; that there must be a positive and clear-cut separation between the worship of the people and the government of the state, and between religion and the state. In this the Lord also taught to him and to all people that which he acknowledged,—that the king’s word, the laws of the state, must change and give way in the presence of the exercise of the right of the people to be religious, and to worship according to the will of God toward the individual himself—in modern phrase, according to the dictates of the individual conscience. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.2

There was yet one further lesson to be given to the king, thoroughly to teach him and all people that it is the Most High, and not kings alone, who “ruleth in the kingdom of men.” ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.3

King Nebuchadnezzar had accomplished the complete conquest of all the nations, which had proved him to be the greatest warrior then in the world. Great in war, he was yet greater in peace. “It was as the adorner and beautifier of his native land—as the builder and restorer of almost all her cities and temples—that this monarch obtained that great reputation which has handed down his name traditionally in the East on a par with those of Nimrod, Solomon, and Alexander, and made it still a familiar term in the mouths of the people. Probably no single man ever left behind him as his memorial upon the earth one half the amount of building that was erected by this king.” ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.4

He made Babylon one of the greatest of the “seven wonders of the world,” “the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency” (Isaiah 13:19), the very “lady of kingdoms.” Isaiah 47; 5. “Throughout the empire, at Borsippa, Sippara, Cutha, Chilmad, Duraba, Teredon, and a multitude of other places, he built or rebuilt cities, repaired temples, constructed quays, reservoirs, canals, and aqueducts, on a scale of grandeur and magnificence surpassing everything of the kind recorded in history, unless it be the constructions of one or two of the greatest Egyptian monarchs.” “It is scarcely too much to say that, but for Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians would have had no place in history. At any rate, their actual place is owing almost entirely to this prince, who, to the military talents of an able general, added a grandeur of artistic conception and skill of construction which place him on a par with the greatest builders of antiquity.” ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.5

Of all this, King Nebuchadnezzar, very naturally and very humanly, was very proud. He gave to himself the credit for the whole of it. But from this self-worship the Lord would save him; the process is given in the king’s own words in Daniel 4. The king was at rest in his house and flourishing in his palace. Upon his bed he dreamed that he saw a great and high tree standing in the midst of the earth; the height reached to heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth. The leaves were fair, the fruit was much, and it was meat for all. The beasts of the field had shadow under it, the fowls of the heaven dwelt in its boughs, and all flesh was fed of it. In his dream he saw a watcher and an holy one descend from heaven, and heard him cry aloud: “Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches: nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth: let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him: and let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” Daniel 4:14-17. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.6

The magicians, astrologers, and Chaldeans were again called. But though, this time, the king told them his dream, they could not tell him the meaning of it. Then Daniel was called, who readily told the interpretation to the king. Of the great tree he said: “It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth.” Of the watcher and the holy one who came down, he gave the meaning: “That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.” Daniel 4:25, 26. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 238.7

Upon all this Daniel gave him a word of counsel: “Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.” Verse 27. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 239.1

But, like many another man, Nebuchadnezzar would not yield to the warning, accept the word, and so escape the impending calamity. He continued to indulge his self-worship. “At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.” Verses 29-33. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 239.2

Yet the rest of the dream was fulfilled also; his kingdom was held sure unto him, and when the time was expired, and he had learned of a surety, and would acknowledge permanently, that the heavens do rule, his intelligence was returned to him, and he was restored to his kingdom in peace. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 239.3

It was not alone for Nebuchadnezzar’s sake that all this occurred, but for the sake of all nations and kings not only of that time, but of all time, even to the world’s end. Accordingly, when he had learned the appointed lesson, and, in the fear of God, was seated upon the throne to which he now acknowledged that the Most High had brought him, he wrote out a full account of his experience, and in the form of an official royal proclamation, sent it to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people in all his wide dominions. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 239.4

And here it is: “Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all the people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.” Verses 1-3. Then follows the full account of his dream of the great tree, etc., of Daniel’s interpretation of it, of how it all came upon him, and how he was driven out to the fields for the appointed time; and he concludes the proclamation as follows: “And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned unto me; and my counselors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” Verses 34-37. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 239.5

All the Lord’s training of King Nebuchadnezzar had been to this great and noble end, and that noble end was nobly accepted by him. It was written for the admonition of all kings and rulers who should come after him, and especially those upon whom the ends of the world are come. ARSH April 12, 1898, page 239.6