General Conference Daily Bulletin, vol. 1
February 15, 1897
32ND SESSION. - LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, - VOL. 1. - NO. 2
General Conference Daily Bulletin,
PUBLISHED DAILY BY THE
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.
Terms, 35 Cents for the Session. JACOB NORTH & CO., PRINTERS, LINCOLN, NEB. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 17.1
Sermon. - No. 1. G. E. FIFIELD. Continued from page 15.)
SOME one says, I know, I know; God is love, but he is love and justice. Now the minute a man says that, and means what he says, there is nothing more unjust in this universe than his idea of justice. Let us think of that for a moment. Is there justice outside of love. Suppose I love A and B. But I love A more than B. Is it my lack of love to B that prompts my love for A? - No, it is not. Now is there such a thing as loving a man with an impartial love. Can I be unjust to anybody? God is just, because he is love. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 17.2
We talk about the mercy of God. What is mercy? - Disposition to treat an offender better than he deserves. We talk about his grace. Grace is unmerited favor. That is the way God does. Shows unmerited favor. All these are moral attributes of love. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 17.3
How does righteousness come? Righteousness, which is the fulfilling of the law, is simply acting out the acts of love. How am I going to act out the acts of love? Try real hard to love somebody? It does not come that way. Did you ever try it? No, sir; you cannot make it that way. But if somebody acts loveable, you love him. And so the reason God can love everything, and thus act out the acts of love, is because God is love. He has manifested himself to beget his love in us, and that love flows out in righteousness. Then the power of God is the power of love. If I had time I would carry that beyond moral power; it is even the power that upholds the universe. It is all. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 17.4
And now a moment on the omniscience of God. I want to show you that if God should cease to be all-loving, he would cease to be all-knowing. Can hatred, envy, and jealousy know and comprehend love? The infinite Love was once in this world, in human form; and what did they do to him? - They crucified him. What did they crucify him for? - Because they knew him not. Hatred, envy, and jealousy can look infinite Love in the face, and not know it. Only love can comprehend love. Love can also see hatred, envy, and jealousy in their true light, because love seeth, knoweth, and comprehendeth all things. And that is why God can be omniscient, because he is love. It is one of the attributes of love. But some one says that God is love and, and -. God is love, and he is not anything but love. All the attributes of God are the attributes of love. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 17.5
And then there is the wrath of God that you read about all through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. I want to turn and read a text on this point. We can only understand these things that are brought to view in the Bible, when we see them in the light and the grace of the revelation of God. The scripture I will read is found in 2 Corinthians 3:12-16: “Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.” God had many things to show to them that they could not bear; and as they could not see the true glory as it was, he had to vail it, so they could take it. “But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.” And, brethren, if we want to understand what God has said all through this Book, we want to turn to him, and we will understand all. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 17.6
Was there ever a being in this world that hated sin as Christ hates it? - No. Was there ever a being who loved the sinner as Christ loved him? - No. Suppose I hate a man, and somebody is trying to do that man an injury, and I see it, and do not try to prevent it. Do I care whether that man is injured or not? - No; I am rather glad of it. But suppose I love that man, and here is a man that is trying to thrust a dagger into him and kill him. Now the measure of my hatred for that deed is the measure of my love for that man. I am liable to hate the man that is doing the deed, too. But I hate the deed, anyway. Now, brethren, the measure of God’s hatred for sin, is the measure of his love for the sinner. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 18.1
Sin has been lurking with murderous intent to take the life of every soul. God’s wrath is kindled against the sin. Is that wrath going to be appeased in any way? O if it were, it would be a bad thing for us. That wrath of God against sin is to burn on until it consumes every bit of sin in this universe. Just as long as God loves the sinner, he will hate the sin, and his wrath against the sin will burn; and, thank God! that wrath against sin is going to burn, unchanged, until the universe is clean. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 18.2
But look: the plan of redemption is God’s effort to separate the sin from the sinner, so that he can destroy the sin, and save the sinner alive forevermore. And only when the sinner inseparably connects himself with sin, does he have to take the wrath of God. And does the Lord take delight in that? - No. When you and I have wrath, we have wrath against the man. But how about God? “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,” but rather that he turn and repent. Turn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die. The wrath of God is not against the wicked, even in their extermination; but because the wicked have inseparably connected themselves with sin, they have to break it; and the Lord says he does not take any pleasure in that. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 18.3
You remember that when Christ pronounced the doom of Jerusalem, he was not angry with them, but said, “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” O if thou hadst known, in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace; but now they are hid from thy eyes. And that is the way God feels, even when he pronounces the doom of the sinner; not a bit different from what he feels the rest of the time - infinite love and only love, from eternity to eternity. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 18.4
Every one of the attributes of God are the attributes of love. And so we want to stop saying, God is love and something else. He is love, and love contains everything that he is. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 18.5
Now this God of love, whose wrath burns only against the sin, and not against the sinner - this God of love gave a law for mankind. I have but a moment to spend on that. That law was not a dead law; it was not an arbitrary law. It was not a law saying, You do so, and I will let you live; You do so, and I will kill you. But God in infinite wisdom foreknew every principle of life and light and joy; and in infinite wisdom he foretold what he foreknew. This way, my child, is life and joy. Don’t you go that way, my child; that way is death. Every bit of that law is simply the life of God, which is the love of God. It had the creative power of God in it. It was not something outside of man that man must do in order to live, but it was something that God wanted to put in him and leave in him; so many divine promises, if you please. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” When we have him, we do not want any other. That is a promise. Thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not kill. These are loving, divine, creative promises, which God intended to put in us, to carry us to the utmost heights of joy and peace, and keep us in that path forevermore. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 18.6
Now man transgressed that law, and thus cut himself off from the life of God, and hopelessly committed himself to the downward tendency to evil and death. The very first act of sin put him into the Niagara current of evil, which rushed down toward the cataract; and as he went on, he did not have the desire to get out. His thoughts were downward; and a man in that position is just as much dead as if he went right over the falls - he is gone. And that is where sin put man; and sin is cumulative in its action upon the race. We saw that all righteousness is love acting out the acts of love; so love is the basis, the source, of all righteousness. But just as love is the source of all righteousness, so hatred is the source of all iniquity. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 18.7
Suppose I tell my boy not to do a certain thing, and he disobeys my command, and no harm comes to him. That proves that my law is an arbitrary one. But suppose he disobeys my command, and does get hurt; that proves that my law was not arbitrary at all. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 18.8
From sin came misery; from misery came misunderstanding of God; from misunderstanding of God, more hatred of God, and still more sin, and still more misery and more misunderstanding. And so it went on and on, the environment and heredity increasing toward evil, and the whole world going hopelessly on, spinning down into the abyss of sin, hated and hating one another. And so it has been thought that God’s sense of justice and his sense of wrath should be appeased, so that we could have justice; the thing that was needed was that God should so manifest himself, his love, as to win us to love, that we might act out the acts of love. That is the thing that was needed, not that we should so appease his wrath in some way that we dare come to him, but that he should manifest his love so that we would come to him. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 19.1
Suppose here is a man that does a wrong thing to me; he hates me, and he lies about me, and he injures me, and misrepresents me. What shall I do? Shall I say, When you satisfy my sense of justice, and make that thing right, so that I think the thing is all right, then I will pardon you? I am not godlike when I do that. If I am godlike, what will I do? What does the Bible say? - “Ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” When that man wrongs me that way, if I am spiritual, if I am like God, who is a spirit and the father of spirits, how will I feel about it? - I will feel that the mere fact of his injuring me is such a small thing, and the fact that he has injured himself and will go down to death is such a big thing, that the first will sink out of sight; and I will go to that man, in love, not seeking to set him right toward me for my sake, but I will seek to restore him for his own sake. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 19.2
That is what I will do if I am a Christian; and yet people teach that when we sin against God, and misrepresent God, he sits back and says, When I get my full satisfaction, I will grow propitious to you. O, instead of that, God gave his Son, in love, to bring us to repentance, so that he could pardon us. And just simply to restore us, and propitiate us who had become fallen in sin, and misunderstood him, and bring us back to him, and to reconcile us to him, he gave his own life, in his Son, - just that he might do that thing for us. That is the kind of God he is. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 19.3
O, but you say, Christ paid the debt, and set us free. That is true, and every one of those texts in the Bible is true. When God tells us how he forgives sin, what does he say? Well, a certain man owed another man five hundred pence, and when he had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave him. That is the way God forgives sin. Christ is the price of our pardon; that is true. But let me state it: Jesus Christ is not the price paid to the Father for our pardon; but he is the price which the Father paid to bring us to a repentant attitude of mind, so that he could pardon us freely. O, that is God, brethren. That is the Father that I love so much. I have not words to tell you how I love him. That is how God forgives sin - passes by the iniquity of his people. Christ was the free gift of God, to bring us to the place where he could pardon us freely. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 19.4
But some one said to me the other day, Did not Christ have to die to make the Word of God sure? because God said, If ye sin, ye shall die. In the first place, what did God mean when he said, If you sin, you will die? Did that include spiritual, physical, and eternal death? Did Christ die the spiritual or the eternal death? - No. Then is not that whole thing a fraud? And every time the Bible speaks of the debt, it is God that paid the debt in Christ, to propitiate us, to reconcile us. But still, you say, it had to be done before God could pardon. Yes, that is true; and I want to show you why; and then to-morrow night we will continue the subject by studying the sacrifice of Christ, and seeing that it is a larger thing than you have probably thought it was. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 19.5
Any pardon and any forgiveness that would not take away the effect of sin, but that would lead us more and more into sin, and into the misery that comes from sin, would be worth nothing. If the law of God was an arbitrary thing, that did not have any penalty attached to it, the Lord could say, I will pardon you. But when you transgress that law, it is death; and when you keep the law, it is life and joy and peace. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 19.6
Now read the seventh verse of the first chapter of Ephesians: “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.” If God had not been wise, he might have pardoned our sins in an imprudent way. Now, brethren, every father in this world knows what it is to want to let his children do things which they would enjoy doing, and he has to restrain that which would bring present pleasure, restrain that love, because of the evil effects it would have. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 19.7
Was sin ever less repentant than at the foot of the cross? There you have the thing. There was God revealing himself in Christ on the cross, and there was sin unrepentant, hatred and mocking at the foot of the cross. How did God feel toward those unrepentant sinners? - “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” That is how Christ felt, and that is how God felt. He did not have any grudge against them. He would like to forgive everybody. But why could he not do it? - It would annul his law, if it was an arbitrary law; but if it were not, it would lead men to go into sin, and sin and death would result. It would be God simply taking the place of the imprudent father and spoiling his child. And therefore, because he could not do that, he set forth Christ to be, not the propitiation of God’s wrath, but the propitiation of our sins, that God might be just, and still the justifier of them who believe in Jesus; because he would take the sins away from them if they believed in him, and then he could set them free, and be just in doing it, for he would not lead anybody else into sin in doing it. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 20.1
O, I am so glad that we have a God whose very nature and disposition is to pardon sin; that we have a Father who is not holding any grudge against us, but instead of that, is giving his own life, in his Son, that he may so manifest his love as to bring us back to him, and so give us the life power as to live his life. It was needed that his life should be revealed, and his divine life imparted, that we might live that life on earth; and that is what he did in Christ. O, I am so glad we have such a God as that, who gives his own life to win us back to him! The love of God is the one unchanging thing in a universe of change. Just as the waters of a flood might run high above the mountain tops, but they could not obscure the sun in the heavens; so the waves of sin might dash high above every human affection, but they cannot change the heart of God. O brethren, we have a God that loves sinners, and that forgives sin, and that gives his own life, in his Son, to bring us to repentance, so that he can forgive us. That is the kind of God we have. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing our iniquities unto us, and giving unto us the ministry of reconciliation. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 20.2
How could God love a sinner? “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” That word “world” is cosmos; it means order, harmony, beauty, arrangement. You see the world was out of harmony, out of order; but God saw underneath the world of evil, the cosmos that was, the order that was to be, and he loved the cosmos that was, and gave his life to bring out the harmony. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 20.3
The Spirit of God brooding over the chaos - that love of not merely what is, but what is to be, that love of the possible - O brethren, he broods over the chaos of your life and mine. It is not simply the chaos in the great big world; but he brings out the possible in us, and restores us to his image. That is the kind of God we have. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 20.4
And he has committed to us that same thing, too, so that when we become like him, we can love all men, coarse though they be on the outside. And when we have the divine life of God, which sees beneath the surface, we will see loveliness in every character, that we long to live out, and long, as God does, to bring out. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 20.5
With the story which I shall now relate we will close the subject for this evening. It is the story of the wonderful legend of the Holy Grail, wrought out into verse by James Russell Lowell. It has had a wonderful lesson in it for me. Sometimes we try to love God off into space, hoping it will hit him somehow; but I think God wants us to love every man all around us; and God wants us to have such keen eyes that we will see the Christ in every man, and love him. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 20.6
You know the story runs that Launfal started to find the Holy Grail, and one June morning he rode, grandly caparisoned, in search of the Holy Grail, to enter upon his life mission. And as he rode along down there, a beggar was sitting there, asking alms; and he averted his face as he went by, and flung a coin to him. And he passed on, and traveled in many lands, and spent years in his search. But he came back to the old home, unable to find the object of his search; and riding up that same avenue toward that mansion, a beggar was sitting there as before. Launfal looked at him, and he reasoned something like this: His life is a failure; but has not mine been, too? Here I have been striving and struggling, and failed; and here is a failure, too. He somehow felt akin to that poor old beggar now. And as he put his hand in his pocket and passed out a coin, his heart went out to him with the coin; and instantly, as the legend goes, that beggar was transformed into the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, for whom he had been looking. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 20.7
O brethren, he is near us; he is all around us. He gave his life to bring us back to him, and he has committed unto us that same business, too, that same reconciliation. And O may he enable us to see him in human forms all around us, so that we can feel just as he does, giving our lives to bring out the image of Christ in the most defaced form there is around us. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 21.1
I want to close by saying to every one, that we have a God that forgives iniquity. The only people that will be destroyed at last will be those that have their weapons in their hands. He will forgive you if you will lay down your arms. May God reveal his love to us more and more, and in us more and more, is my prayer. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 21.2
(Concluded.)
The Spirit of Prophecy. - No. 2. A. T. JONES
(Wednesday Forenoon, Feb. 10, 1897.) GCDB February 15, 1897, page 21.3
THE following is but an abstract of Elder Jones’s remarks. On account of many having arrived since the previous meeting, it was necessary to consume considerable time in rehearsing the points brought out on the preceding day. In addition to this, the speaker said that the trouble with us as a people was not that we do not nominally believe the Testimonies are from God; but what we need to know is how to believe them. If the only way that we have of expressing our belief in the Testimonies is by telling the people that we believe in them, our belief amounts to nothing. We thus open the way for the people to doubt the sincerity of our faith. If we really do believe the Testimonies, we will not need to tell the people so. Our lives will be a testimony to the faith that is in us. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 21.4
There is a departing from God, and the temple needs cleansing just as it did in the days of old in Jerusalem. We have been brought into this condition by disregarding the Testimonies of the Spirit of God. But many of those who disregarded them believed in them, and at the time held those Testimonies in their hands, and did not suppose that they were disregarding them. Consequently, what we want to know is how to regard the Testimonies of the Spirit. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 21.5
And we are not to think for a moment, when a testimony is given, and a man is named, that God is making an attack upon him to destroy him. The Lord’s purpose is to separate him from the faults that are injuring him and hindering the work of God. It is to save the man and destroy the fault. God will not destroy or condemn a man unless he is inseparably connected with the sin. When this man turns his back on his wrong course, acknowledges the testimony, and puts himself right in the sight of God, he no longer stands in the position in which the testimony found him. That testimony may then be used as a warning for others, but must never be used to condemn the man who has recognized his wrong. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 21.6
God’s way is to make man something that he is not; to give man something that he has not. We cannot apply the Testimonies to others. No, nor even to ourselves from without. We must open the heart to God, to receive the testimony, that the Lord may implant the divine principle, giving us that which we have not, making us something that we are not, and thus himself by his Holy Spirit really making the application of the testimony. Then there will appear in our lives, there will be worked out in our actions, that which God has implanted within. That is accepting the Testimonies. Anything short of that is not accepting them. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 21.7
The power which God implants, taken into the heart, will enable the man to stand under temptation, and in the midst of his weakness. It will give him that which he does not possess, and it will make him what he is not by nature. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 21.8
When a man makes a failure in a position in which he is placed, we are liable to think that God has made a mistake in allowing him to be placed there; but this does not follow. God made no mistake in having Saul to be king of Israel; but Saul made a mistake in not becoming what God wanted him to be. He made a mistake in following his own ways and schemes, rather than listening to the voice of God. So also God made no mistake in making Jeroboam king over Israel. Although the purpose of God in separating the ten tribes from Judah was not carried out on account of the perversity of the people, yet God had a plan, but Jeroboam would not permit it to be carried out. God may call me or you to a position, and if we have some point of weakness which will prevent our usefulness, and God sends us a message, that message is to make us what he wants us to be, that through his grace we may stand where he wants us to stand. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 21.9
“Day by day men are revealing whether the kingdom of God is in them. If Christ rules in their hearts, they are gaining strength of principle, power, ability to stand as faithful sentinels, true reformers; for there can be no reform unless there is a thorough co-operation with Jesus Christ. Through the grace of Christ men are to use their God-given faculties to reform themselves [not to reform others, but to reform themselves]; by this self-denying, action, which the Lord of heaven looks upon with approval, they gain victories over their own hereditary and cultivated tendencies. Then, like Daniel, they make impressions upon other hearts that will never be effaced. The influence will be carried to all parts of the world.” GCDB February 15, 1897, page 22.1
The work of reformation begins with self. I can make impressions upon other hearts only when I have reformed myself. God reaches others by reaching us, and reaches others through us. Turn to 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4:- GCDB February 15, 1897, page 22.2
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 22.3
God comforts us that we may comfort others; God helps us that we may help others. We are brought in a place where we need the comfort of God, that we may be able to comfort others. He has others in mind when he comforts us. “And if we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation.” If I am afflicted, it is for the consolation and salvation of some other man. I may not meet for years that man whom I am to comfort; but sometime I shall meet him, and the experience I have had prepares me to sit down by his side, or take him by the hand, and be a help and a comfort to him. He receives from me that which I have received from God, and he receives it that he may in turn communicate it to others, and these to others; and thus the influence of God’s grace imparted to us extends to all the earth, although we may not move out of the State in which we live. Brethren, that is what God wants to do with us, and then our influence will be carried to all parts of the world. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 22.4
Now to the question, How shall we take the Testimonies? Let us read how they have been really rejected when it was thought they were being accepted. Then we shall know how to avoid that mistake, and know how to accept them. Here I read of one whose “example has done much to unsettle confidence in the Testimonies.” How did he do this? - “He himself has walked directly contrary to the light which God has given.” But he did not suppose that he was walking directly contrary to them. He thought he was doing the right thing toward them. How, then, did he so miss the mark? Here is the answer: “The reproofs and warnings from the Lord have been evaded, and interpreted and made void by the devices of men.” GCDB February 15, 1897, page 22.5
How were they “evaded”? Here is the answer: “Why did you frame flimsy excuses?” “O, how ashamed should those be who have turned away from the counsel of God, and have tried to cover up the impression God would have made.” GCDB February 15, 1897, page 22.6
How were they “interpreted?” Here is the answer: They “put their own construction upon them, saying that they did not mean to do so.” GCDB February 15, 1897, page 22.7
And that was how the Testimonies were evaded, and interpreted, and made void, by those who thought they believed them, and who thought they were accepting them. Now, have you been evading them by flimsy excuses? Have you been interpreting them and making them void by putting your own construction upon them, saying they did not mean thus and so?” - Of course you have; you know you have. Then let us stop it this moment. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 22.8
How, then, shall they be received? How shall we know what they mean? Here is the answer: “They meant just as stated.” They mean what? - “Just as stated.” Can you tell what they say? - Yes, easy enough. Then take them just as they say. Open the heart wide to God, that by his good Spirit he may implant there the principle that is in just what it says, then that principle will appear, it will shine in your life; then you have accepted the Testimonies. Then you know that you believe the Testimonies. Then there will be no danger of mistake about it. Others will know it, for you will make impressions on hearts that will never be effaced, and they will glorify God in the day of visitation. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 22.9
THE Word of God is our standard. Every act of love, every word of kindness, every prayer in behalf of the suffering and oppressed, is reported before the eternal throne, and placed on Heaven’s imperishable record. The divine Word pours light into the most darkened understanding, and that light makes the most cultivated feel their inefficiency and sinfulness. - Test. No. 31. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 22.10
Studies in the Book of Hebrews. - No. 2. E. J. WAGGONER
(Wednesday Afternoon, Feb. 10, 1897.) GCDB February 15, 1897, page 23.1
LET us remember that we cannot know anything except as we find it in the Word. I am not here to unload something upon you, to tell you something that I have studied out or found out in any way; but we are here together, both you and I, to study the Word and see what the Lord has said to us; and to see that God speaks to every one of us, and not to a few special ones, and that we may all learn to understand him when he speaks. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 23.2
As we stand at the beginning of this chapter, we stand face to face with God, who speaks to us through his Son. It is no new thing for God to speak, for he spake in times past to the fathers and prophets, and he now speaks unto us by Christ. It seems to me that the book of Hebrews represents in a striking way what we find in the whole Bible. It starts out with God, and in the whole Bible we stand face to face with God. Here we may pause with reverence. God in these last days has spoken to us by his Son. He spake once and still he speaks to us through his Word. First, God spoke and created, which in the Psalms is expressed, “He spake, and it was.” He created all things in Christ, because he is the Word, and God spake in him; therefore all things are created in him. And further, we learn that Christ is the brightness of God’s glory, the shining forth of his glory. There is no difference between the Father and the Son. The Son is the express character of God’s being. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 23.3
Question. - If there is no difference between the Father and the Son, how could Christ say, “The Father is greater than I am”? GCDB February 15, 1897, page 23.4
I don’t know. Now you will pardon me if I dwell for a moment upon this question without personal reference to anybody. What conditions make it possible for us to hear in general whoever may speak? If we do not hear, what conditions prevent our hearing? Sometimes a person may not speak loud enough or distinctly enough. Is it possible for those conditions to obtain when God is speaking? - No. Does not God speak distinctly enough to be heard, and clearly enough to be understood, and loud enough to be heard? - Most certainly. Then if the fault is not with him, and we do not hear, what is the trouble? - We do not listen. Now, suppose I were here to talk this afternoon, and I should begin to talk, and each one of you should at the same time begin to talk to his neighbor, you would not be able to hear much of what I said. And if there was one here who did not say anything, but was trying to listen, the talking of the others would make it difficult for him to hear. Now, my experience and observation has been, and doubtless yours has been so, that one reason why we do not hear when the Lord speaks is that we do not give him a chance to speak; we break in on him. He begins to speak, and before he has time to finish the sentence we begin to talk back to him, or we straightway forget that he is talking, and begin with our neighbors, and say, I don’t know how that can be. What do you think about that anyhow? We would not treat a brother that way, because it is not polite. Now, does not God have a right to be heard, at least until he is done speaking, before we begin to answer back? You all agree that he has that right. It is fair that God should have a chance to finish what he is saying before we begin to answer back. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 23.5
You told me something about the nature of God’s Word; it liveth and abideth forever. God in times past spake; has he finished speaking? - No. Then it is not yet time for us to talk. He is talking yet. What does he say in the Psalms? - “Be still, and know that I am God.” Brethren, the only way we can learn is by keeping still. I do not mean to say that we should not ask questions; that is all right, but hold to just what God says, and do not doubt one thing that God says plainly because he says something else we do not understand. Because God says something in one place we cannot understand, we often doubt something that we can understand. That is not right. Hold to what he says, and you will find out in time that which you do not understand. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 23.6
Now return to the thought in the chapter: Christ stands as the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of his person, - just the very impress and the shining forth of the glory of God. Christ is the Word, and the Word which he speaks is spirit and life. When he speaks that Word which is spirit and life, he speaks his own life. So when we read, He bears all things by the word of his power, we see in that not that only, but we see in that that he bears all things himself. So he speaks, he creates, he bears, he has purged our sins and is now set down at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 23.7
What is the force of that word “being” - “being the brightness”? He being the brightness of the glory of God has done something. Since he is the brightness, because he is the brightness of the Father’s glory, because he is the very image of God, because he upholds all things by the word of his power, he has purged our sins. Does it say he will purge our sins? - No, it says he has done it. He has cleansed, rinsed, washed them. He hath loved us and washed us in his own blood. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 24.1
Now, there is a word in the text that really ought not to be there. It is not indicated in the best Greek texts. It is “our.” What has Christ done? - Purged sins. He “made purification of sins.” Why was it that he by himself should purge sin? - Because he bears all things himself - because in him all things consist - he has by himself purged sin, and made a purification of sin. How long, then, shall we wait for pardon? How long shall we wait to know the complete and perfect forgiveness and cleansing from sin? - Long enough to confess it - to take a thing that is already done. How much sin has he purged? - All sin. Then it is true as a matter of fact, that he has purged our sin. He has purged the sins of all the world, because he came himself to bear all things. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 24.2
Now Christ has a place better than that of the angels; that better place is that he is set down at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens; being made so much better than the angels, because he had by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. That more excellent name that he has obtained is “Son,” which name God had never applied to any of the angels. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 24.3
All the angels of God worshiped him, the first begotten, when he was brought into the world, so that of Christ in the very lowest place, even in the manger, God said: “Let all the angels of God worship him.” GCDB February 15, 1897, page 24.4
“Thy throne, O God, is forever.” These words were addressed by the Father to the Son. “A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.” What is the word which stands as a symbol of power and authority in the kingdom? - Scepter. A scepter means power, so the very nature and power of his kingdom is righteousness. “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness.” The scepter of his kingdom is the scepter of righteousness. The power of Christ’s kingdom is the power of righteousness. He has loved righteousness, and loving righteousness he has hated iniquity. There is but one state of mind involved in loving righteousness and hating iniquity. If a man loves righteousness, it is not necessary for him to conjure up some other state of mind in order to hate wickedness. It is all in the loving of righteousness. Mark which comes first - love righteousness, hate iniquity. It is a very common thing in this world for people to try to manufacture a love of righteousness, or a sentiment of love of righteousness, by crying out against iniquity; but that is not the way. No, first of all love righteousness, and hating iniquity necessarily follows. “Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows,” - in the presence of thy fellows or associates. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 24.5
We have two things told us here about the kingdom of Christ: the scepter or power, and therefore the nature of his kingdom, is righteousness; and God has anointed him. What does anointing signify? - It signifies kingship. When he was anointed, he was anointed as king. God in anointing him king of this kingdom of righteousness used the oil of gladness; therefore his kingdom is a kingdom of joy. “The kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Those therefore who acknowledge the power of this kingdom will first of all be righteous people. “Thy children shall be all righteous.” There can be no question whether those who acknowledge the authority of Christ will be righteous. The authority is righteous, and whoever acknowledges that authority must be righteous. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 24.6
But Christ’s right to the kingdom, as in the case of an earthly ruler, is demonstrated and sealed by his anointing. That is the thing which inducts him into the kingdom, and establishes him over the kingdom. He is anointed with the oil of gladness, the oil of joy; therefore, since that is the thing which marks his right to rule, his kingdom is a kingdom of joy. Since it is a kingdom of joy and gladness, those that belong to it will rejoice in God, will be joyful in the Lord, joy in the Holy Ghost. Can one, then, be a subject, a loyal subject, of Christ the king, and not be joyful? - No. Then if one is not joyful, there is something the matter. He is not recognizing the authority of the King. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 24.7
Now, in the second chapter of first John, sixth verse, is a text that we have often read: “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” Does it say obligation is laid upon him to walk as Christ walked? that he should make himself walk as he walked? Let us illustrate: We pass by a field, and we see a tree in the distance. Some one asks me what kind of a tree it is. I have heard that it is a beech tree. He says, If it is a beech tree, then it ought to have a certain shaped leaf, and a peculiar kind of bark. Does he mean that if that is a beech tree, it is the duty of that tree to get some leaves of that kind and put on? - No; if it is a beech tree, that is what it ought to have, because it must have that if it is that kind of tree. Suppose it is not a beech tree, then it ought not to have that kind. He that saith he abideth in Christ ought to walk as he does. That is, if a man says he is a Christian, he ought to have certain distinguishing characteristics. He ought to walk as Christ walked. Why ought he to do so? - Because he is a Christian, - because that kind of walk is characteristic of Christ. He abides in Christ, and he walks as he did; but if he is not like Christ, he is not abiding in Christ. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 25.1
There are many people who think that the subjects of Christ ought to be glad, and so they try to be glad. Suppose we say, Let us be glad this afternoon. But you can’t be glad unless you are glad, and if you are not glad, then you cannot make yourself glad. A bird sings because it is glad - because gladness is in it. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 25.2
Question: Now upon this point of being always joyful. We read in 1 Peter 1:4, 5, that we are begotten “to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.” Is there not sorrow at times? GCDB February 15, 1897, page 25.3
Well, read right on, and it will tell it: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” GCDB February 15, 1897, page 25.4
Here is the blessedness of the peace and joy of Christ, that you do not have to manufacture it. You cannot manufacture it. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” Has he given it to everybody here? - Yes. It does not make any difference whether they will take it or not. He has given it. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 25.5
Now, here is a nickel. Brother Hyatt, I will give that to you for friendship’s sake. [Coin laid on table beside him.] Have I given it to him? He has not taken it; I do not know whether he will take it or not; but I have given it to him as a bona fide gift, and I leave it there with him, and I will never take it up again. Now, if you believe that I tell the truth, you believe that I have given him five cents. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 25.6
Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” To whom? - To everybody; and he has given it to us. There are some people that do not believe he has given it, and they do not take it, and there are some people who do not want it; but the fact remains that God has given his peace. But what about that peace? “My peace,” - the peace of God, which passeth all understanding. Read further than that: “Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Do not worry. What was the characteristic of Christ’s peace? Some think that peace is a sort of happy-go-lucky feeling of complacency, an easy sort of lazy feeling, because the man does not have anything to prod him, and he lies in a hammock in the sunshine, and he has peace, - nothing to do, nothing to worry him. He is a man of peace. That is what men think of peace. That is not the way Christ did. From the cradle to the grave, the devil was seeking every possible opportunity to take his life. He had him in his hands once; that is, his agents did. They took him to the brow of the hill, and they thought they could end his life; and that very thing was being tried continually. But that was not the worst thing he had to bear. The scribes and Pharisees were continually nagging him, criticizing every word he uttered. He had lies told about him. They said, He has a devil; he is crazy; he is a fanatic; he deceives the people; he is leading them astray. And those things he had to endure. And not only his enemies, but even his brethren did not believe on him. And so wherever he went he found trouble always, - something to oppose him, something to come upon him. He was always in turmoil, he was always in trouble; but he was never troubled. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 25.7
“In the world ye shall have tribulation,” but do not be troubled. Christ’s gift is of such a nature that a man can have trouble, and not be troubled; he can have affliction and sorrow, and not be sorrowful; he can have heaviness, and yet rejoice; he can have warfare, and be at peace. That is the peace that he gives. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 26.1
No one was allowed to make any oil like the oil with which the priests were anointed. What do we learn from that? That was not merely an arbitrary thing. Do not try to counterfeit the grace of God. God gives the oil of joy. Do not try to manufacture an artificial joy. It was to show that it could not be done. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 26.2
Now, continuing the study in Hebrews: “Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands; they shall perish, but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.” The heavens and the earth shall grow old, they get old. What is their condition now? Old, worn-out, barren, bald we find the earth in many spots. It is worn out and grown old, so old that it trembles. It did not shake in the beginning when it was new, but now the earth shakes and trembles. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 26.3
The earth shall wax old like a garment, shall be changed like a vesture. When a garment gets old you lay it aside. When you change an old coat, what do you have? - A new one. The earth and the heavens shall wax old like a garment, and they shall be changed; and then, of course, when they are old and are changed, the new heavens and earth will appear. “But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.” He does not get old. What a world of comfort there is in that! We change; He is the same. Though we believe not, he is the same. He abideth faithful, always the same. The devil makes us think that Christ changes as we change. But he is the same. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 26.4
My ministering brethren, seek Jesus with all lowliness and meekness. Do not try to draw the attention of the people to yourselves. Let them lose sight of the instrument, while you exalt Jesus. Talk of Jesus; lose self in Jesus. There is too much bustle and stir about our religion, while Calvary and the cross are forgotten. - Test. No. 31. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 26.5
True Education. - No. 2. W. W. PRESCOTT. (Wednesday Afternoon, Feb. 10, 1897.)
GOD can control the mind, and the mind be wholly and unconditionally submitted to God, and yet be free. But the mind of no created being can control the mind of any other created being, and still there be freedom. The devil was a created being, and just as soon as the mind of humanity was handed over to him slavery came in. Sin brought bondage; a lie brought bondage to every human being. The truth brings freedom. “The truth shall make you free.” GCDB February 15, 1897, page 26.6
I wish to cite a few scriptures to show the change that God will work to restore this image in man. First, the fact that we are changed:- GCDB February 15, 1897, page 26.7
And you, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight. Colossians 1:21, 22. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2:1. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. Ephesians 4:17, 18. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 26.8
This reveals the channel for the change. The restoration comes through the same channel. To show this I will read the following scriptures:- GCDB February 15, 1897, page 26.9
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1, 2. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 26.10
But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus; that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Ephesians 4:20-24. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 26.11
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Colossians 3:1-10. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 26.12
The true object of education is to restore the image of God in the soul. The new man is renewed after the image of him that created him. Then the new mind must be imparted; and that making of the new mind is the work of Christ. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.1
We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:18-20. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.2
In the first sentence the new birth is spoken of. We know that the Son of God is come and gives us an understanding, and a mind that we may know what will come after that new birth. God hath given us a mind that we may know him that is truth, and in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The Son of man has come and given us a mind that we may know all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In the second chapter it is said: “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” But things not found in him are not knowledge and truth. He is truth. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.3
The mind is an invisible agent of God to produce tangible results. Its influence is powerful, and governs the actions of men. If purified from all evil, it is the motive power of good. The regenerating Spirit of God, taking possession of the mind, transforms the life; wicked thoughts are put away, evil deeds are renounced, love, peace, and humility take the place of anger, envy, and strife. That power which no human eye can see, has created a new being in the image of God.... GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.4
Man has separated himself from God by sin. Christ brought his divinity to earth, veiled by humanity, in order to rescue man from his lost condition. Human nature is vile, and man’s character must be changed before it can harmonize with the pure and holy in God’s immortal kingdom. This transformation is the new birth. - Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 2, pp.128,129, 133. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.5
The Lord gives us the privilege to glory in that we know him. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.6
Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23, 24. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.7
The devil introduced sin; he said: If you will eat this, you will be like gods knowing good and evil. Here was a new element introduced in knowledge. God intended that he should know only that which should be for his happiness. When evil comes in, that good becomes evil. Knowledge of good and evil is only evil. Knowledge of good is only life:- GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.8
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:2, 3. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.9
Let me read one statement as to why schools were established among us as a people: “The Lord has established schools among us in order that true knowledge might be obtained.” What is true knowledge? - Know God; knowledge of the true God is true knowledge; knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. It was the Lord’s intention that schools should be established among his people to impart true knowledge, and this is knowing God. In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and this knowledge is life. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.10
Turn to Luke 11:52: “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” God is speaking here, and he says, “Ye have taken away the key of knowledge.” This is a general statement. What is the key of knowledge? Hebrews 11:3: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” By faith we understand. Faith is the key of knowledge manifest in the love of Christ, for faith works by love; it is the key of knowledge; and he that loveth, knoweth God. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.11
The expression, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” does not mean for lack of scientific education, though that is just what it is, because that is the only education there is. It is science, falsely so-called, that interferes with faith. What is science? - Knowledge - knowledge of God. Knowledge of evil is knowledge of that which is not so; and that is death. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.12
In order to build up the physical system, we take in food that gives strength and nourishment and life. We do not take chalk into the system, because there is no life in it. But how do these grains, these fruits come? - They grow. In them is life, but there is only one life, and that is the life of God. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 27.13
“Sanctify them through thy truth, thy Word is truth.” What is it then, with which we are to feed the mind that this new being may grow? - Truth. Therefore truth is the greatest treasure with which to store the mind. Now if the man is not fed upon the truth there is no life, but there results deterioration, decay. This principle which is so plain in the physical system, is just as true in the spiritual. Taking mental food has just the same effect upon the mind, as taking natural food has upon the physical system; and taking food which has no life in it has the same effect. God wants us to grow up into Christ, our living Head. He wants us to receive the sincere milk of the Word, that we may grow thereby. Truth builds up and restores the image of God. The devil has tried all along to shut away from the human family the truth, the knowledge of God. He has attacked the Sabbath because it is the word of God, the law of God, commemorative of the word of God. It has ever been his purpose to substitute falsehood for truth, death for life, that his original purpose might be carried out. God’s plan is to counteract that, that he may take the place that the devil has usurped, and that he in Christ may rule in the mind and give it perfect freedom, instead of the devil ruling in man’s mind and keeping him in bondage and slavery. To keep man there the devil has tried to shut away God, and keep him groping in the darkness instead of walking in the light. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 28.1
Here is a comment which I copy from the Review and Herald in 1894, because it just touches upon this point - GCDB February 15, 1897, page 28.2
Filled with the Spirit, having the mind of Christ. What is it that insures the deep things of God, which comes to us that we may know: which brings to us this mind, creates this being, gives us knowledge of God? - It is the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. When he comes, he will guide you into all truth. He shall take the things of the mind and show them unto you. All this is to bring us back to God. And in this is life. Ecclesiastes 7:11, 12, marginal reading: “Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, yea, better too, and by it there is profit to them that see the sun. For wisdom is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.” GCDB February 15, 1897, page 28.3
I hope that these principles are being applied as we proceed. I hope that these statements are seen in their true light and relation to the general subject of education for God’s people, the kind of education that he wants them to have. If the principles we have presented last night and to-night are really received, I believe it will settle the whole question of our educational work. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 28.4
Sermon. - No. 2. G. E. FIFIELD. (Wednesday Evening, Feb. 10, 1897.)
YOU will find the text in the ninth chapter of Hebrews, and the twenty-second verse: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. This text has in it the very soul and center and secret of all true Christian consecration. The idea has obtained that God was angry with men because of sin, that God’s wrath must be satisfied; and so an arrangement must be made by which he could pour out his wrath upon his Son, and thus satisfy his justice. And while this wrath was waiting for full satisfaction when it should be poured out on his Son, a system of sacrifice was instituted which would appease his wrath temporarily, and hold it in abeyance. But this idea of atonement, or reconciliation, separates entirely between the Father and the Son, making the Father so stern and hard that he demands his full “pound of flesh,” so to speak, and the Son so kind, so good, that he gives it out of his own heart that we may be set free. Thus, instead of Christ revealing the Father, the two are opposite - entirely separated. But no, “He that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father.” And if you want to know how God feels toward sin, notice how Christ hated sin. If you want to know how God feels toward the sinner, notice how Christ loved the sinner. God’s wrath burns eternally against sin, and never will be appeased; but it will consume the sinner in the end. His love is unending, unchanging, for the sinner. And just as we have learned that the moral law is not an arbitrary thing, but a statement of everlasting love and life, so, my brethren, may we learn that, although the ceremonies have passed away by limitation, yet the meaning of those ceremonies is just as true to-day as then. And it still is true that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” GCDB February 15, 1897, page 28.5
What is the blood? Genesis 9:4: “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” What is the blood? - The life. Another text. Leviticus 7:26: “Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.” Again in Deuteronomy 12:23: “Only be sure that thou eat not the blood; for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.” This is the Lord interpreting the law. Leviticus 17:11: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood.” GCDB February 15, 1897, page 28.6
The life is the blood. This is the Bible interpretation; and we will let it interpret itself. Then when we read that “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin,” it does not mean that by some magic-charm process or incantation, it enables him to count us as cleansed. The whole living gospel was brought forth there in the sanctuary as clearly as it is here in the New Testament, and it is just as clearly applied to human lives and human hearts; but the devil stole it away. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 29.1
In this dispensation, the living gospel is revealed to us in the incarnate One, Jesus of Nazareth; and yet man loses the gospel out of Christ by making the sign of the cross; and they say, We are safe, we have made the sign of the cross. They say that by some magic process or charm word or name by which they believe on him very hard, it will save them. They are using it precisely the same as the ark was used back there; and the Lord has let them be taken captive from time to time, to show them that the Word in that way does not have power to save. It is not any charm process, it is a living fact. God gave us his life in his Son that we might have life, and that we might have that life to live on the earth. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 29.2
I am told that it is a scientific fact that if some one will allow his blood to be taken and transfused into the veins of a poor anemic person, the first thing the blood does is to purge out the poison and sickness, and then to build him up with a new life. New blood has been transfused into that person, and new life is imparted. Do you get the figure? We are saved by transfusing blood. God has opened his mighty heart, and poured out his life in Christ, for our salvation. He has given his life that we might take it and be purified by it, and live on earth by faith. And the life of his Son cleanseth us from all sin. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 29.3
Was it only on Calvary that God gave us his life? Was it only there that Christ was crucified? Was it only from Pilate’s judgment hall that he bore the cross? Was it only on that last day of trial that he wore the crown of thorns? - Ah, no; far from that. Perhaps the text that will enable us most clearly to get this point, is in Galatians 2:20:- GCDB February 15, 1897, page 29.4
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 29.5
And Paul gave his life day by day; he gave his life in all those whippings, and beatings, and persecutions that he received from the Jews, and finally to Nero’s executioners he completed the gift, and made the final delivery of the goods that had been the Lord’s ever since he met him on the Damascus road. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 29.6
Now let us get a glimpse of Christ’s crucifixion. Jesus Christ was with God, equal with the Father in glory and honor; co-creator with him of countless worlds; all the ten thousand times ten thousand angels at his beck to do his bidding. One cannot take in the honor and the glory of that life that opened out into limitless distances before him. But down here on this world man had sinned, and Christ did not think of holding fast to that glory and honor as a robber holds fast to his prey; but he gave it up. That was when Christ was crucified. He let that life go, and he came down here and identified himself with human sorrow, with human trial, with human need, with human heart-ache; so that away back there, before he became incarnate at all, in all their afflictions he was afflicted, and he bore them and carried them all the days of old. He was with us much more than we think. Abraham saw him; Joshua saw him; Moses saw him; the Israelites drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. The divine One had given up that life there, been crucified, and identified himself with human need down here, away back there; and when you come to the incarnation, which was but the revelation of this larger sacrifice, this larger fact, the crucifixion was carried so far that he who was Almighty became so weak that he said, “I can do nothing of myself.” Is not that crucifixion? GCDB February 15, 1897, page 29.7
And then every step of the way, having given up his power, having given up his infinite knowledge, he lived a life of faith, - the faith of Jesus, - amening every one of God’s promises, until they became living facts in his life; and lived upon the written word day by day. When the tempter came to him, he put him to flight by the written word; and he said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” He was living his spiritual life by faith in that word; and every step of the way it was not my will, not my word, not my doctrine; but thy will, thy word, thy doctrine in me. Is not that crucifixion of self? GCDB February 15, 1897, page 29.8
And finally on Calvary’s cross, so far as his earthly life was concerned, he made the final delivery of the goods, and completed the crucifixion, just as Paul did to Nero’s executioners. But do not think that is the end of the crucifixion in the larger sense. Just as the crucifixion of Christ did not begin with the incarnation, it did not end between the thieves. Brethren and sisters, he is still the infinitely often crucified One. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 30.1
I will have to bring out the thought by way of illustration; but no illustration will convey it to you. We have heard about some great famine or trial or trouble that came upon some people a hundred or a thousand miles away. Now, while we had something to eat and wear, it did not trouble us so very much, did it? We felt a little sorry for those people; may be we sent them five dollars; but somehow we got along comfortably well, although we knew there was a famine in India. But did you ever have this experience? Did you ever go to a family, and live in that family until you felt yourself to be one of them, and perhaps called them father and mother, and brothers and sisters, and they took you right into their hearts? When you got that near that family, did you not take their sorrows and joys upon you? Anything that happened to that family happened to you, too. Any grief that came to them was your grief. Any joy that came to them was your joy. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 30.2
Jesus Christ came that near to humanity, not merely in the incarnation, but he did it before the incarnation. But in the incarnation he showed to our sin-blinded eyes what he was before. He is not any further away since he bore human flesh; he is just that near humanity now. He is so near that he suffers with all who suffer; so near that he loves in all who love, and lives in all who live. That is how near he is; for he has taken our nature upon himself, and identified himself with us. That is what Christ has done. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 30.3
This is how near he is to us all the time; for the more you think of it, the more you see that he suffers in all who suffer; and he is not ashamed to call the poorest and meanest of us brethren. And therefore - notice, that is the sacrifice that he has taken upon himself to save the world - all our little sacrifices for him are only little parts of his great sacrifice. Since his great sacrifice is that he suffers in all who suffer, and has identified himself with the human sorrow and need and trial, he suffers in all my sufferings, and he sacrifices in all my true sacrifices; and my little sacrifices for him are only parts of his great sacrifice manifested in me. And when I live any sacrifice truly, and others are thereby turned to God, who has turned those people back to God? Did I do it? - Christ did it. O, the sacrifice of Christ is an eternal sacrifice! GCDB February 15, 1897, page 30.4
This is knowing Christ after the Spirit. You know what Paul says: Henceforth I know no man after the flesh; even if I have known Christ after the flesh, I will know him so no more. When a man simply believes that Jesus Christ eighteen hundred years ago was the divine Son of God; that he lived, died, rose again, and ascended up to heaven, - that is simply knowing Christ after the flesh. What you and I want to know is this divine fact of the eternal sacrifice, and that God to-day, in Christ, is giving his life to save humanity. It is a present, personal, everlasting gospel all the way. Away back in Eden, when it was said that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, and he should bruise its heel, that did not mean simply that four thousand years from now somebody is going to come and give you power to triumph over sin; it did not mean that simply. It was a present promise right there, that the seed of the woman Eve, should have the power come right into his flesh, then and there, to triumph over Satan in his life, and that is what the everlasting and the ever-present gospel is all the way along. And that is what God was revealing back there. They were considered merely types. They were types, but not primarily types. They were present revelations of the present eternal fact that God was giving his life in Christ to save mankind. Now we can understand something of the old sacrifices back there. When a man brought a sacrifice, what did it represent? Christ, you say. That is true. But there is something more; that sacrifice represented the man who brought it; and if he brought a sin-offering, he was considered as a sinner coming to repentance. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 30.5
Now I am ready to consider the splendid truth for you and me in some of these expressions back there. “Thou shalt not eat the blood.” We have seen how God has given his blood in Christ, his life in Christ. What is that pouring out of the blood, and covering it with the dust? O, do you see that picture of Christ, how that he let his life go out, - let it go out to be hated, to be despised, to be spit upon, to be crucified, to be misunderstood and mistreated, to be just covered with the dust of forgetfulness, apparently, - just as the pouring out of the blood, and it being covered with the dust? GCDB February 15, 1897, page 31.1
And why was the sacrifice always slain? If it had been beaten and bruised, and then let go, it might have said, I will follow Christ a little way, or to Pilate’s judgment hall it may be; but it could not have said, I will follow him to the cross. It is only when the sacrifice actually gives its life that it could speak of a complete consecration. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 31.2
The blood of Christ represents the life of Christ, and also the life of the man who brings the sacrifice. The eating a thing is a symbol of self-appropriation. The blood is the life. The blood of that victim represents the blood of him who is bringing the victim. Now what shall I do with that blood? “Thou shalt not eat the blood.” Thou shalt not appropriate thy life unto thyself. The blood of that victim represents my life, or, the Christ-life manifested in me. “Thou shalt not eat the blood.” Thou shalt not appropriate thy life unto thyself. That is a statement away back there of the great central truth of the gospel. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” And that means more than we thought it did. We have thought on it like this: If a man would rather sin than give up this life, he will lose eternal life. But if a man will give up this life rather than sin, he will find eternal life. All that is there, but a good deal more than that is there. Whosoever shall save his life for himself, either here or hereafter, loseth both the here and the hereafter. There are some men who are trying to use their lives to have a good time in this world. They are losing this world and the next one, too. There are other men who are trying to use their lives solely for themselves; not for this world, but they are trying to be good, so that they can be saved and happy by and by. They are using their lives simply for themselves. Whosoever saveth his life, or useth it for himself only, either here or hereafter, loseth both the here and the hereafter. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 31.3
What was the life given for? Leviticus 17:11: To make an atonement. It is the giving of his life in and through us that makes us one with God. You know a man may believe just as strongly as he can that Jesus Christ was divine, and that God gave his life on Calvary, and not be made one with God at all. It is when that life of God, given in Christ, comes into us and makes us one with him, Christ-like, that we become one with God. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 31.4
Jesus Christ, the Truth, gave himself that we might have the truth. Jesus Christ, the Way, gave himself that we might find the way back to the Father’s house. Jesus Christ, the Life, gave himself that we might have the life. What is it to be a Christian? Is it to be good so that we can be saved? At best, that is but monkery. O, I wish we had more of the spirit of Moses when he said, “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin ....; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written;” - more of that spirit of Paul when he said, “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren,” if they could by this be saved? And the world that did not know unselfish love back there, but crucified it, will do the same thing here; and the church that had men in it that did not know unselfish love back there, will have men in it that do not know it here. Can you imagine any life going out in more apparent abject failure than did the life of Jesus? Was it defeat? - He triumphed over principalities and powers, although the devils thought they had gotten the victory. The Bible says he triumphed over them on that very cross, and God got the victory that was going to redeem the world. And that is God’s business - to give victory. It may not look like victory to us. Some of the sweetest words that have ever come to us, it seems to me, from that servant of God, from the Spirit of Prophecy, are these words: “The life of the trusting Christian is a series of uninterrupted victories, - often not seen and understood to be such here, but to be seen and understood to be such hereafter.” Our lives influence other lives, and they influence other lives, until, as Tennyson puts it, - GCDB February 15, 1897, page 31.5
Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
And grow forever and forever.
GCDB February 15, 1897, page 31.6
We cannot tell. Leave that with God. Just partake of his life until he can make us channels through which to pour his life to others, - until he can live his life in us, and give himself through us; and then God will take care of all the rest. And only that will enable us to do the work that he wants us to do in this world. How can we love men enough to give our lives for them? - See them as Christ sees them. O, may God reveal to every one of us to-night, to me and to you, the depths of meaning in Christianity, that we may know and understand what it is to be a Christian. May God put this into our hearts and souls, so that the sacred fire of the divine love may consume the sacrifice upon the altar, to come up as a sweet savor unto God, that our lives may flow out in blessing and benediction, and until the true motive is there to do the work which God has for us as a people to do to-day, is my prayer. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 31.7
THE DAILY BULLETINVOL. 7. - LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, FEBRUARY 15, 1897. - NO. 2. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 32.1
FROM OTHER COUNTRIES. - Among the delegates from other countries than the United States are the following: W. C. White, M. C. Israel, from Australia; H. P. Holser, Germany; H. E. Robinson and E. J. Waggoner, England; W. G. Kneeland, South America; G. B. Thompson, South Africa; J. B. Goodrich, Province of Quebec; J. C. Foster, Manitoba. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 32.2
SABBATH SERVICES. - The following program of meetings for the Sabbath has been adopted: Sabbath-school for the church in the Tabernacle at 9:15 A. M., for visitors in the chapel, 9. Preaching at 10:30. Preaching in German and Scandinavian languages at 3 P. M. in their respective chapels. Social meeting for delegates in College chapel at 3:30; for students in the gymnasium, and for the church in the Tabernacle at the same hour. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 32.3
DELEGATES ONLY. - It is announced that the meetings held daily at 10:30 A. M. are for delegates and laborers only. The educational meeting at 5 P. M. is open to all who desire to come; and to provide ample room they have been transferred to the large chapel. This makes rather a congested program in the latter portion of the day. There is barely time to go from the 3:30 to the 5 o’clock meeting, and only a few minutes between this and the 7 o’clock service. Rather a large meal for one digestion. It is almost three meals for supper. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 32.4
The Sabbath
THE first Sabbath of the Conference was a profitable time. No remarkable demonstrations occurred, but there was a spirit of solemn earnestness manifest all around. In the evening A. T. Jones preached an impressive discourse on the science of salvation. In the morning Sabbath-schools were held at 9 o’clock, as elsewhere noted. At 10:30 H. P. Holser preached to a large congregation, taking as his text Revelation 18:1-4. The glory of the message which is to lighten the whole earth is the glory of God reflected through his people. The discourse was an earnest and well-directed exhortation to the professed people of God to so relate themselves to God that he can permit his glory to rest upon them. When in humility of soul we seek a nearness to God that he may place upon us his power and entrust us with his Spirit, the message will go with power. The report of these discourses will be given. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 32.5
In the afternoon social meetings were held in five places at once: the church, the delegates, the German and the Scandinavian brethren, and the students. All these were interesting and profitable seasons. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 32.6
Studying the Bible
SOME Lincoln people went out yesterday to attend the opening exercises of the Bible Institute, which precedes the Conference proper. They found the exercises full of interest. The church, which holds as many people as any church in the city, was well filled with the most earnest, conscientious-looking folks you ever saw. They spent the afternoon hours in reverent study of the Scriptures. They were not “studying the Bible as literature,” and were not asking help from any of the advanced German thinkers. They were studying the Bible because it is to them the Holy Book. These people pay their debts, live quiet and sensible lives, and contribute a large portion of their incomes to the support of their church and its benevolences. The people who “study the Bible as literature” don’t hold the age on those simple and pious folks when it comes to making a record that counts both here and in the world to come. - Nebraska State Journal, Feb. 10, 1897. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 32.7
CALIFORNIA!
If You Are Going There, GCDB February 15, 1897, page 32.8
by all means inquire about the Burlington Route Personally Conducted Excursions to San Francisco and Los Angeles, which leave Chicago every Wednesday, with a Pullman Palace Tourist Car through to destination. The route is via Denver, the Denver & Rio Grande Ry. (Scenic Line) and Salt Lake City. The Cars are fitted with carpets, upholstered seats, mattresses, pillows, blankets, bed linen, berth curtains, toilet rooms, heat and light, and, in fact, all the conveniences of a standard Pullman Palace car; they lack only some of the expensive finish of the Pullmans run on the limited express-trains, while the cost per berth is only about one third of the price. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 32.9
Write for full particulars to T. A. GRADY, Excursion Manager, C. B. & Q. R. R., 211 Clark street, Chicago, Ill. GCDB February 15, 1897, page 32.10