uses and benefits of music and song. Music is often perverted to serve
purposes of evil, and it thus becomes one of the most alluring agencies
of temptation. But, rightly employed, it is a precious gift of God,
designed to uplift the thoughts to high and noble themes, to inspire and
elevate the soul.
[Sidenote: _Power of Song_]
As the children of Israel, journeying through the wilderness, cheered
their way by the music of sacred song, so God bids His children to-day
gladden their pilgrim life. There are few means more effective for
fixing His words in the memory than repeating them in song. And such
song has wonderful power. It has power to subdue rude and uncultivated
natures; power to quicken thought and to awaken sympathy, to promote
harmony of action, and to banish the gloom and foreboding that destroy
courage and weaken effort.
[Sidenote: _A Means of Education_]
It is one of the most effective means of impressing the heart with
spiritual truth. How often to the soul hard-pressed and ready to
despair, memory recalls some word of God’s,—the long-forgotten burden of
a childhood song,—and temptations lose their power, life takes on new
meaning and new purpose, and courage and gladness are imparted to other
souls!
The value of song as a means of education should never be lost sight of.
Let there be singing in the home, of songs that are sweet and pure, and
there will be fewer words of censure, and more of cheerfulness and hope
and joy. Let there be singing in the school, and the pupils will be
drawn closer to God, to their teachers, and to one another.
As a part of religious service, singing is as much an act of worship as
is prayer. Indeed, many a song is prayer. If the child is taught to
realize this, he will think more of the meaning of the words he sings,
and will be more susceptible to their power.
[Sidenote: _The Angels’ Song_]
As our Redeemer leads us to the threshold of the Infinite, flushed with
the glory of God, we may catch the themes of praise and thanksgiving
from the heavenly choir round about the throne; and as the echo of the
angels’ song is awakened in our earthly homes, hearts will be drawn
closer to the heavenly singers. Heaven’s communion begins on earth. We
learn here the keynote of its praise.
_Mysteries of the Bible_
“CANST THOU BY SEARCHING
FIND OUT GOD?”
[Sidenote: “_Canst Thou Find Out God?_”]
No finite mind can fully comprehend the character or the works of the
Infinite One. We can not by searching find out God. To minds the
strongest and most highly cultured, as well as to the weakest and most
ignorant, that holy Being must remain clothed in mystery. But though
“clouds and darkness are round about Him, righteousness and judgment are
the foundation of His throne.”[273] We can so far comprehend His dealing
with us as to discern boundless mercy united to infinite power. We can
understand as much of His purposes as we are capable of comprehending;
beyond this we may still trust the hand that is omnipotent, the heart
that is full of love.
[Sidenote: _Ground for Trust_]
The word of God, like the character of its Author, presents mysteries
that can never be fully comprehended by finite beings. But God has given
in the Scriptures sufficient evidence of their divine authority. His own
existence, His character, the truthfulness of His word, are established
by testimony that appeals to our reason; and this testimony is abundant.
True, He has not removed the possibility of doubt; faith must rest upon
evidence, not demonstration; those who wish to doubt have opportunity;
but those who desire to know the truth find ample ground for faith.
We have no reason to doubt God’s word because we can not understand the
mysteries of His providence. In the natural world we are constantly
surrounded with wonders beyond our comprehension. Should we then be
surprised to find in the spiritual world also mysteries that we can not
fathom? The difficulty lies solely in the weakness and narrowness of the
human mind.
[Sidenote: _Mysteries Evidence of Divinity_]
The mysteries of the Bible, so far from being an argument against it,
are among the strongest evidences of its divine inspiration. If it
contained no account of God but that which we could comprehend; if His
greatness and majesty could be grasped by finite minds, then the Bible
would not, as now, bear the unmistakable evidences of divinity. The
greatness of its themes should inspire faith in it as the word of God.
[Sidenote: _Simplicity and Adaptation_]
The Bible unfolds truth with a simplicity and an adaptation to the needs
and longings of the human heart that has astonished and charmed the most
highly cultivated minds, while to the humble and uncultured also it
makes plain the way of life. “The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not
err therein.”[274] No child need mistake the path. Not one trembling
seeker need fail of walking in pure and holy light. Yet the most simply
stated truths lay hold upon themes elevated, far-reaching, infinitely
beyond the power of human comprehension,—mysteries that are the hiding
of His glory,—mysteries that overpower the mind in its research, while
they inspire the sincere seeker for truth with reverence and faith. The
more we search the Bible, the deeper is our conviction that it is the
word of the living God, and human reason bows before the majesty of
divine revelation.
[Sidenote: _Limit to Comprehension_]
God intends that to the earnest seeker the truths of His word shall be
ever unfolding. While “the secret things belong unto the Lord our God,”
“those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our
children.”[275] The idea that certain portions of the Bible can not be
understood has led to neglect of some of its most important truths. The
fact needs to be emphasized, and often repeated, that the mysteries of
the Bible are not such because God has sought to conceal truth, but
because our own weakness or ignorance makes us incapable of
comprehending or appropriating truth. The limitation is not in His
purpose, but in our capacity. Of those very portions of Scripture often
passed by as impossible to be understood, God desires us to understand
as much as our minds are capable of receiving. “All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God,” that we may be “thoroughly furnished unto all
good works.”[276]
[Sidenote: _Inexhaustible Riches_]
It is impossible for any human mind to exhaust even one truth or promise
of the Bible. One catches the glory from one point of view, another from
another point; yet we can discern only gleamings. The full radiance is
beyond our vision.
As we contemplate the great things of God’s word, we look into a
fountain that broadens and deepens beneath our gaze. Its breadth and
depth pass our knowledge. As we gaze, the vision widens; stretched out
before us we behold a boundless, shoreless sea.
Such study has vivifying power. The mind and heart acquire new strength,
new life.
[Sidenote: _Tested by Experience_]
This experience is the highest evidence of the divine authorship of the
Bible. We receive God’s word as food for the soul, through the same
evidence by which we receive bread as food for the body. Bread supplies
the need of our nature; we know by experience that it produces blood and
bone and brain. Apply the same test to the Bible: when its principles
have actually become the elements of character, what has been the
result? what changes have been made in the life?—“Old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new.”[277] In its power, men and
women have broken the chains of sinful habit. They have renounced
selfishness. The profane have become reverent, the drunken sober, the
profligate pure. Souls that have borne the likeness of Satan, have been
transformed into the image of God. This change is itself the miracle of
miracles. A change wrought by the word, it is one of the deepest
mysteries of the word. We can not understand it; we can only believe, as
declared by the Scriptures, it is “Christ in you, the hope of
glory.”[278]
A knowledge of this mystery furnishes a key to every other. It opens to
the soul the treasures of the universe, the possibilities of infinite
development.
[Sidenote: _Pledge of Eternal Growth_]
And this development is gained through the constant unfolding to us of
the character of God,—the glory and the mystery of the written word. If
it were possible for us to attain to a full understanding of God and His
word, there would be for us no further discovery of truth, no greater
knowledge, no further development. God would cease to be supreme, and
man would cease to advance. Thank God, it is not so. Since God is
infinite, and in Him are all the treasures of wisdom, we may to all
eternity be ever searching, ever learning, yet never exhaust the riches
of His wisdom, His goodness, or His power.
_History and Prophecy_
“WHO HATH DECLARED THIS FROM
ANCIENT TIME? HAVE NOT I THE
LORD? THERE IS NO GOD ELSE”
[Sidenote: _The Earliest of Annals_]
The Bible is the most ancient and the most comprehensive history that
men possess. It came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth, and
throughout the ages a divine hand has preserved its purity. It lights up
the far-distant past, where human research in vain seeks to penetrate.
In God’s word only do we behold the power that laid the foundations of
the earth, and that stretched out the heavens. Here only do we find an
authentic account of the origin of nations. Here only is given a history
of our race unsullied by human pride or prejudice.
[Sidenote: _Philosophy of History_]
In the annals of human history the growth of nations, the rise and fall
of empires, appear as dependent on the will and prowess of man. The
shaping of events seems, to a great degree, to be determined by his
power, ambition, or caprice. But in the word of God the curtain is drawn
aside, and we behold, behind, above, and through all the play and
counter-play of human interests and power and passions, the agencies of
the all-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the counsels of
His own will.
[Sidenote: _Distribution of Races_]
The Bible reveals the true philosophy of history. In those words of
matchless beauty and tenderness spoken by the apostle Paul to the sages
of Athens is set forth God’s purpose in the creation and distribution of
races and nations: He “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to
dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before
appointed and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the
Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him.”[279] God
declares that whosoever will may come “into the bond of the
covenant.”[280] In the creation it was His purpose that the earth be
inhabited by beings whose existence should be a blessing to themselves
and to one another, and an honor to their Creator. All who will may
identify themselves with this purpose. Of them it is spoken, “This
people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.”[281]
God has revealed in His law the principles that underlie all true
prosperity both of nations and of individuals. “This is your wisdom and
your understanding,” Moses declared to the Israelites of the law of God.
“It is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life.”[282] The
blessings thus assured to Israel are, on the same conditions and in the
same degree, assured to every nation and every individual under the
broad heavens.
[Sidenote: _National Prosperity_]
The power exercised by every ruler on the earth is Heaven-imparted; and
upon his use of the power thus bestowed, his success depends. To each
the word of the divine Watcher is, “I girded thee, though thou hast not
known Me.”[283] And to each the words spoken to Nebuchadnezzar of old
are the lesson of life: “Break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine
iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of
thy tranquillity.”[284]
[Sidenote: _The Source of Power_]
To understand these things,—to understand that “righteousness exalteth a
nation;” that “the throne is established by righteousness,” and
“upholden by mercy;”[285] to recognize the outworking of these
principles in the manifestation of His power who “removeth kings, and
setteth up kings,”[286] —this is to understand the philosophy of
history.
In the word of God only is this clearly set forth. Here it is shown that
the strength of nations, as of individuals, is not found in the
opportunities or facilities that appear to make them invincible; it is
not found in their boasted greatness. It is measured by the fidelity
with which they fulfil God’s purpose.
[Sidenote: _Object of Government_]
An illustration of this truth is found in the history of ancient
Babylon. To Nebuchadnezzar the king the true object of national
government was represented under the figure of a great tree, whose
height “reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the
earth; the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in
it was meat for all;” under its shadow the beasts of the field dwelt,
and among its branches the birds of the air had their habitation.[287]
This representation shows the character of a government that fulfils
God’s purpose,—a government that protects and upbuilds the nation.
[Sidenote: _Babylon the Great_]
God exalted Babylon that it might fulfil this purpose. Prosperity
attended the nation, until it reached a height of wealth and power that
has never since been equaled,—fitly represented in the Scriptures by the
inspired symbol, a “head of gold.”[288]
But the king failed of recognizing the power that had exalted him.
Nebuchadnezzar in the pride of his heart said: “Is not this great
Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of
my power, and for the honor of my majesty?”[289]
[Sidenote: _Its Oppressive Power_]
Instead of being a protector of men, Babylon became a proud and cruel
oppressor. The words of Inspiration picturing the cruelty and greed of
rulers in Israel, reveal the secret of Babylon’s fall, and of the fall
of many another kingdom since the world began: “Ye eat the fat, and ye
clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed; but ye feed not the
flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed
that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken,
neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have
ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye
ruled them.”[290]
[Sidenote: _Retribution_]
To the ruler of Babylon came the sentence of the divine Watcher: O king,
“to thee it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from thee.”[291]
“Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon,
Sit on the ground; there is no throne....
Sit thou silent,
And get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans;
For thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms.”[292]
“O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures,
Thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.”
“Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldee’s excellency,
Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”
“I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water;
and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of
hosts.”[293]
[Sidenote: _Rise and Fall of Nations_]
Every nation that has come upon the stage of action has been permitted
to occupy its place on the earth, that it might be seen whether it would
fulfil the purpose of “the Watcher and the Holy One.” Prophecy has
traced the rise and fall of the world’s great empires,—Babylon,
Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. With each of these, as with nations of
less power, history repeated itself. Each had its period of test, each
failed, its glory faded, its power departed, and its place was occupied
by another.
While the nations rejected God’s principles, and in this rejection
wrought their own ruin, it was still manifest that the divine,
overruling purpose was working through all their movements.
[Sidenote: _Vision of the Cherubim_]
This lesson is taught in a wonderful symbolic representation given to
the prophet Ezekiel during his exile in the land of the Chaldeans. The
vision was given at a time when Ezekiel was weighed down with sorrowful
memories and troubled forebodings. The land of his fathers was desolate.
Jerusalem was depopulated. The prophet himself was a stranger in a land
where ambition and cruelty reigned supreme. As on every hand he beheld
tyranny and wrong, his soul was distressed, and he mourned day and
night. But the symbols presented to him revealed a power above that of
earthly rulers.
[Sidenote: _The Guiding Hand_]
Upon the banks of the river Chebar, Ezekiel beheld a whirlwind seeming
to come from the north, “a great cloud, and a fire enfolding itself, and
a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of
amber.” A number of wheels, intersecting one another, were moved by four
living beings. High above all these was the “likeness of a throne, as
the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne
was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.” “And there
appeared in the cherubim the form of a man’s hand under their
wings.”[294] The wheels were so complicated in arrangement that at first
sight they appeared to be in confusion; but they moved in perfect
harmony. Heavenly beings, sustained and guided by the hand beneath the
wings of the cherubim, were impelling these wheels; above them, upon the
sapphire throne, was the Eternal One; and round about the throne a
rainbow, the emblem of divine mercy.
As the wheel-like complications were under the guidance of the hand
beneath the wings of the cherubim, so the complicated play of human
events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations,
He that sitteth above the cherubim still guides the affairs of the
earth.
[Sidenote: _A Place in God’s Purpose_]
The history of nations that one after another have occupied their
allotted time and place, unconsciously witnessing to the truth of which
they themselves knew not the meaning, speaks to us. To every nation and
to every individual of to-day God has assigned a place in His great
plan. To-day men and nations are being measured by the plummet in the
hand of Him who makes no mistake. All are by their own choice deciding
their destiny, and God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His
purposes.
[Sidenote: _Fulfilment of Prophecy_]
The history which the great I AM has marked out in His word, uniting
link after link in the prophetic chain, from eternity in the past to
eternity in the future, tells us where we are to-day in the procession
of the ages, and what may be expected in the time to come. All that
prophecy has foretold as coming to pass, until the present time, has
been traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that all
which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order.
The final overthrow of all earthly dominions is plainly foretold in the
word of truth. In the prophecy uttered when sentence from God was
pronounced upon the last king of Israel is given the message:—
“Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown; ...
exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn,
overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until He come whose
right it is; and I will give it Him.”[295]
The crown removed from Israel passed successively to the kingdoms of
Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. God says, “It shall be no more,
until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him.”
[Sidenote: _Signs of the Times_]
That time is at hand. To-day the signs of the times declare that we are
standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in our
world is in agitation. Before our eyes is fulfilling the Saviour’s
prophecy of the events to precede His coming: “Ye shall hear of wars and
rumors of wars.... Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes,
in divers places.”[296]
[Sidenote: _On the Verge of a Crisis_]
The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers and
statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men
and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events
taking place about us. They are watching the strained, restless
relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that
is taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that
something great and decisive is about to take place,—that the world is
on the verge of a stupendous crisis.
Angels are now restraining the winds of strife, that they may not blow
until the world shall be warned of its coming doom; but a storm is
gathering, ready to burst upon the earth; and when God shall bid His
angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen
can picture.
[Sidenote: _The Final Scenes_]
The Bible, and the Bible only, gives a correct view of these things.
Here are revealed the great final scenes in the history of our world,
events that already are casting their shadows before, the sound of their
approach causing the earth to tremble, and men’s hearts to fail them for
fear.
“Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and
turneth it upside down, and scattered abroad the inhabitants
thereof; ... because they have transgressed the laws, changed the
ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse
devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate.... The
mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy
of the harp ceaseth.”[297]
[Sidenote: “_Destruction upon Destruction_”]
“Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a
destruction from the Almighty shall it come.... The seed is rotten under
their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down;
for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle
are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep
are made desolate.” “The vine is dried up, and the fig-tree languisheth;
the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all
the trees of the field, are withered; because joy is withered away from
the sons of men.”[298]
“I am pained at my very heart; ... I can not hold my peace, because thou
hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled.”
“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the
heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they
trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was
no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo,
the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were
broken down.”[299]
[Sidenote: “_Time of Jacob’s Trouble_”]
“Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the
time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.”[300]
“Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about
thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation
be overpast.”[301]
“Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge,
Even the Most High, thy habitation;
There shall no evil befall thee,
Neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”[302]
“The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken,
And called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down
thereof.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.” [Sidenote: “_Our God
Shall Come_”]
“He shall call to the heavens above,
And to the earth, that He may judge His people; ...
And the heavens shall declare His righteousness;
For God is judge Himself.”[303]
“O daughter of Zion, ... the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of
thine enemies. Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that
say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know
not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they His counsel.”
“Because they call thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man
seeketh after,” “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee
of thy wounds, saith the Lord.” “I will bring again the captivity of
Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling-places.”[304]
[Sidenote: _“He Will Save”_]