The Signs of the Times, vol. 21

September 5, 1895

“‘Let It Be’” The Signs of the Times, 21, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.” Ephesians 4:31. How many have read these words and have thought, “Oh, that it might be so!” and how earnestly they have tried to put away that evil speaking, together with “the root of bitterness” whence it springs, and have failed, because “the tongue can no man tame, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” James 3:8. SITI September 5, 1895, page 545.1

The same trouble has been found with the similar exhortation, “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Colossians 4:6. O, yes, if we only could; but how often have we resolved that we would not be betrayed into hasty speech, and have almost immediately been covered with shame because of the foolish things that issued from our mouth “before we thought”! SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.1

Again we read the divine exhortation, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:3, 5. And similar to this is the exhortation, “Let brotherly love continue.” Hebrews 13:1. What a blessed state of mind this must be, and what a heaven there would be on earth if such a state of things only existed, even among those who profess the name of Christ! Yet how many who have set this blessed ideal before themselves, find themselves wondering how it is to be attained! SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.2

It is the man who is “carnal, sold under sin,” who is obliged to say, “To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” Romans 7:18. God is just and kind. He is not a tyrant, and he does not set tasks before his people without showing them the way to perform them. He not only shows the way, but supplies the power, the trouble is with our reading of his commands and exhortations. Let us read one more and see if that does not begin to suggest the way out of the difficulty:— SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.3

“Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” Colossians 3:15. Surely we cannot control the peace of God. We cannot manufacture it, and put it within our hearts. No, only God can supply peace, and this he has already done. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” John 14:27. “I will hear what God the Lord will speak; for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints.” Psalm 85:8. The fact that only God can put his grace into the heart, and cause it to rule there, should indicate to us that it is he who is to fulfill those other exhortations in us. SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.4

Once more we read, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.” Colossians 3:16. This, together with the text quoted just before, tells us the whole secret. It is by the word of God that these things are to be done. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6. The word of the Lord, which sets before us these desirable attainments of thought and speech, is the agency by which they are supplied. SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.5

What can the word of the Lord do?—Read Psalm 33:6, 9: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” “For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.” “And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.” 1 Peter 1:25. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; and the power of God is seen in creation. Romans 1:16, 19, 20. Therefore the power by which the commands and exhortations of the Holy Spirit are to be fulfilled in us is the power by which the heavens and the earth were made. SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.6

Turn then to the simple story of creation. God said, “Let there be light: and there was light.” Genesis 1:3. Again, God said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so.” Verse 9. Again, God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.” Verse 11. Once more: “God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.” Verses 14, 15. And thus we read throughout the entire story of creation. SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.7

The darkness had no power in itself to bring forth light. The waters could not gather themselves together into one place. The earth could not make a mighty exertion, and send forth the trees laden with fruit. Much less could the sun, moon, and stars create themselves. That which was not, could not bring itself into existence. But at the word of God, saying, “Let it be,” everything came into being. The words, “Let there be” so and so, carried with them the power of being. The thing required was in the words requiring its production. SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.8

Now “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10, margin. And “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13. We are to remember that the exhortations that we read at first are not the exhortations of a man, but that they are the words of God to us. The same One who in the beginning said, “Let there be light,” and, “Let the earth bring forth grass,” says to us, “Let all bitterness, and wrath.... be put away from you.” Just as the first was done, so must the other be accomplished. “For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” Isaiah 61:11. Therefore when we read the exhortations to let certain evil things be put away from us, and to let certain graces appear, we are not to regard them as commands for us to put them away, but as the agency by which the task is to be accomplished. SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.9

God’s power to create is as great now as it ever was. He who in the beginning caused the ground to bring forth fruit, and who made a perfect man of the dust of the ground, can take these earthen vessels and make them “to the praise of the glory of his grace.” We are to become so familiar with the fact that God is Creator, that when he says, “Let this be done,” we shall at once and continually respond, “Amen; even so, let it be done, Lord Jesus;” and thus the new heart will be created, from which will proceed thoughts and words acceptable in his sight. E. J. W. SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.10

“Carrying the Light” The Signs of the Times, 21, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

Who has not seen a little child attempt to grasp a handful of sunshine? It would close its hand in the sunlight, and would manifest great surprise when it found, on opening its hand in the shade, that the sunshine had escaped. We are amused at the simplicity of the child, unmindful of the fact that we ourselves often manifest less wisdom in a similar case of far more importance. SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.11

For instance, we have learned that the word of God is light. We perhaps believe that if we only have that word we shall have light; and so we make attempts to seize and hold it. When the word is spoken with great clearness, people often jot down the thoughts in their notebooks, and make a special note of the text of Scripture that was referred to, in the hope of carrying the light away with them. But when the have gone to their homes, and have opened their books, they are surprised to find that the light does not shine forth. They thought to show the light to their friends, but it has fled even as the sunshine from the hands of the little child. This time we are not amused, for the case is too serious for amusement. SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.12

In each case the desire was most laudable. To “catch the sunshine” is one of the most necessary things. To wish to carry it to others is a blessed thought. The child does catch and carry the sunshine, but in a different manner from what it thinks. Living in the bright sunlight, it takes up the life-giving rays in its blood, and they are manifested in rosy cheeks, sparkling eyes, sturdy limbs, and a cheerful spirit. It carries the sunshine in its life, and carries it to others, too, because “a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” The difference between a child who lives in the sunshine and one who lives altogether in the shade is manifest to every one who sees them. The child of the shade can not by an occasional run into the sunlight gather up a supply to sunshine in its hands and pockets to distribute to others. There is no other way of carrying sunshine than in the blood. SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.13

Even so it is with the light of the word of God. We can not carry it in our hands, nor in our pockets, nor even in our mouths. Light is life, and there is no way of carrying it except in life. “But of the heart are the issues of life,” and we are told, “These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.” Deuteronomy 6:6. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Colossians 3:16. When the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness are received and absorbed into the life, there will be no difficulty in carrying them to others. SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.14

Of Christ it is said, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:4. The life of Christ is the only true light, for he says, “I am the light of the world.” John 8:12. Since there is no light except in the life of Christ, it is most evident that no man can carry that light except by having the life itself. So Jesus say, “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” We may “walk in the light as he is in the light,” and not only so, but we ourselves may be lights. Indeed, we are expected to be lights. “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children of light.” Ephesians 5:8. Also, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” Philippians 2:14, 15. SITI September 5, 1895, page 546.15

The sun shines without an effort because it is light. Christ shines because he is light itself. His life is light and his word is life. Therefore whoever receives that word into his heart and life, will shine with the same light, and with no more conscious effort than the sun itself makes. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” E. J. W. SITI September 5, 1895, page 547.1