The Gospel of Health Articles (1897-1898)

The Gospel of Health, Vol. 1 (1897)

July 1897

"The Last Call" The Gospel of Health 1, 7 , pp. 110-112.

(Report of a talk to the students of the Summer School by Elder A. T. Jones.

I WISH to study with you this evening the parable of the marriage supper. Let us turn to the fourteenth chapter of Luke, and read it: Then said he unto them, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper-time to say to them that were bidden; Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them:

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I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou has commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." Verses 16-24.

Now when was this call first made?–At supper-time, the last hour of the day. How many invitations were issued?–Three. What was the first invitation?–"Come, for all things are ready." But the people did not come. Then a second invitation was issued. This one was carried to the people in the streets and lanes of the city. Thirdly, the king's servants went into the highways and hedges with orders to compel the people to come in, that the house might be full.

Notice the different classes here spoken of. The first was well-to-do. One man had bought a piece of land; another had gotten him oxen; the third must have had some prospects in life, else he would not have married. The second class consisted of people in rather poor circumstances. They lived in the streets and lanes of the city, without homes that they could call their own, still they had something over their heads. But the third class had nothing but the hedges to shelter them. They came in answer to the last call.

We have seen that three calls are mentioned here. How many messages are brought to view in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation?–(Class) "Three." Do the messages of Revelation fourteen and Luke fourteen cover the same ground?–(Class) "They do."

Let us turn and read these messages: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornicacation [sic.]. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God," etc.

We have studied the fourteenth chapter of Revelation a long time. We have studied what is said of the "loud cry." We know that the time has come when the earth is to be filled with God's glory. But you and I have not seen that "loud cry" in operation yet.

This parable in Luke presents the call at supper-time, the last hour of the day. Then don't you see that it describes the work of God in our day? Surely, for there is no call after the third one. Well, then, in your connection with the work of God, have you seen anything that indicates that we have come to that part of the parable where the invitation goes to the highways and hedges?–(Class) "Yes." Then have we not reached the time when the last call is being given?

Now you are here in this summer school to qualify yourselves to go out in the highways and hedges. Then inasmuch as the invitations to the marriage supper itself were issued at the close of the day, and the third one was the last of the three, don't you see that we are engaged in giving the last call of the last call? How much longer shall things continue? How much longer shall the supper wait when it has been ready all this time?

We have looked for the power of God to take hold of us, and make the work advance faster than it ever has done. But we haven't seen it. Now if it doesn't come with the work of giving the gospel to the people of the highways and hedges, the poor, the needy, and the outcast everywhere, when will it come"?

But you are wrapped right up in this work; tell me, then, is it coming or is it not coming? Is that power of God to be manifested in his work? Of course it is. Then you who go out to do this thing, you who are this thing, I ask you, Upon whom is that power to rest? Through whose ministration will that cry be heard? You see we are just shut up to that one thing that we are to expect the power of God to so manifest itself through as that the earth shall be lightened with its glory. This work of giving the truth to the lost, the helpless, the homeless, of every sort, the tramps and outcasts, those who have to make their homes on the highways, that have to seek shelter under the hedges: this work, I

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say, is the last committed to God's people. It is the loud cry of the third angel. What else can it mean when we read there in Luke that the servants are bidden to go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that the house may be filled?

The well-to-do people who have had the truth presented to them have asked to be excused. Well, God lets them stay away. Then the people in the streets and lanes of the city have had a chance; but God goes on farther than that, the very lowest classes are invited.

Not that the first are excluded after the first call; many of them will come in under the second and third calls. God never abandons people. They may spurn his gifts, but he continues to offer them just the same.

Now I want to call your attention to one or two things. Last winter thirty-nine of our State legislatures were in session. Every member of all those legislatures, together with the members of Congress, received the American Sentinel. Next winter the rest of the State legislatures will be in session, and their members will be supplied. So it has gone on for years. Then haven't the chief men of the country had enough knowledge of the truth to be able to decide one way or the other?

A great many of the women in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union have been reached since January 1. Every Baptist minister has been reached. Every Methodist minister has been reached, and a great majority of our lawyers and judges.

Then take the work done by the tent-meetings, city missions, tract societies, etc. Can we help concluding that the vast majority of the people of the United States have, in one way or another, been brought in contact with the message? Then is it not true that the whole United States fits that part of the parable which says, All things are now ready"?

And Australia, the third angel's message is going in that country. The issue there is the same as we would have here if an amendment to the Constitution were before this country.

Don't you see how easy it would be for God to raise some such issue in England? There is Germany, dotted all over with persons who are holding up the light of truth. There is the condition of the Eastern question. How easy for things to take such a turn that the message will spread over the whole world like wildfire.

But remember one thing: you and I must be ready ourselves. How can we go out to the world and give people the message: "Come, for all things are ready," unless we are altogether ready ourselves? Now, then, this is the time when the power of God is to be sought.

The Saviour said: "Ye shall receive power when, the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth."

October 1897

"The Ministry of Reconciliation" The Gospel of Health 1, 9 , pp. 135, 136.

BY ELDER A. T. JONES

[Abstract of sermon before the students of the Summer School.]

"IF any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." 2 Cor. 5:17. This fact is an ever-present one. It matters not how long you have been in Christ, you are still a new creature. Christian experience never grows old. It is good to have been couverted [sic.] ten, fifteen, twenty-five, or even fifty years ago; but if you are not converted now, the fact that you were converted ever so long ago counts nothing. The Christian should be constantly growing in the knowledge and love of Christ, and daily discovering fresh beauties in the Christian life. Thus he is always a new creature.

Let us read further: "Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." God has reconciled all, and yet all will not receive and profit by the reconciliation. God has done all that could be done for man; if any one is lost, it is because he deliberately chooses not to be saved.

To you and to me there is committed the ministry of reconciliation. We are to lead people to God. But no man can be such a minister unless he has himself first become reconciled. Moreover this reconciliation must be an ever-present reality with him; then it will seem new and attractive to others.

Now Paul tells us what this ministry of reconciliation is: "To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." Here we have the double statement to show what is the basis of our work,–the ministry, and the word of reconciliation. So then we have the charge, "Preach the word."

As far as the Lord is concerned, every soul on the earth is reconciled to him. What the world needs is to know this fact, that they may believe it and be saved. It is your business and mine to proclaim it everywhere. That is the ministry of reconciliation.

Continuing the reading: "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."

The ambassadors of God are to beseech people to be reconciled. Then don't you see how necessary it is for our own hearts to be at peace with God? Then our words will be attended with power. We will not then try to convince people by mere weight of argument. That in itself is of no avail. God wants converted hearts. But to convince the intellect is not to convert the heart. Thousands have been persuaded by argument who have not been reconciled to God.

Let us consider the character of the ambassadors. The world expects to see in them something that resembles Christ, and they are disappointed when they fail to find it. The ambassador of Christ cannot be too careful of his conduct. He must be so honest and sincere that when he is held up to the light, nothing but light will be seen. What does "sincere" mean? The word is composed of the Latin words, sine and cera. These words mean literally "without wax." The expression was originally used of the finest honey, which, when held up to the light, was found to be perfectly pure and transparent.

So Paul says, "We are not as many which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ." Paul did not attain this high and holy condition of himself. God made him just what he was, and God will do the same thing with his workers in this age of the world. He will take you and me and transform us completely, so that he can hold us up to the world, and men will see only light in us. Thus we can be the light of the world.

We are in the world in Christ's stead. Court the consciousness of that fact. As you go about in the world, carry the nature and character of Christ with you. Then you will be consecrated, and your labor will not be without fruit. Then people will be stirred. If there were no more Seventh-day Adventists in the world than are here to-night, there would be enough to move the world. It isn't numbers that we need, but power.

The vast majority of people in this country are convinced that the seventh day is the Sabbath. They are waiting to see the power that belongs to the truth manifested in the lives of those who have professed it so long. When they see this, they will accept it.

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It is not arguments to convince that are wanted now; it is power to convert. This power is freely offered to every soul. All can have it for the taking. Then why try any longer to do without it?

The Gospel of Health, Vol. 2 (1898)

January 1898

"Remarks by Elder A. T. Jones" The Gospel of Health 2, 1 , pp. 24, 25.

When John the Baptist sent to Jesus, asking, "Art thou he that should come or do we look for another?" our Saviour replied by giving the signs and evidences that accompanied his work, among which was this one: "To the poor the gospel is preached." As has been so beautifully brought out here to-day, the gospel is world-wide; it is to be given to all the poor in the world as well as the rich. It is said of the children of Israel that they limited the Holy One of Israel." Let not this be said of the second house of Israel; let us not limit the Holy One of Israel.

I read this sentence not long ago, "All God's biddings are enabling." When the Lord bids all who are heavy laden to come unto him, he enables them to come; when he bids us preach the gospel to the poor, he does not want us to pass by any one, but give it to all. We are not to limit God in financial matters any more than in matters of the soul. He has said, "The silver and the gold is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills." The needy doves will come, and others will come bringing their silver and their gold with them. God has all the money that we will ever need; so we are not to be afraid that too many people will come; because when the Lord brings them to us, he knows what they need, and he will supply it. But our faith must be strong in order that the channel may be kept open. God uses men as his instruments in this work; so we need to pray that men who have means may open their hands and give freely toward this work. Job was able to say, "If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: then let mine arm fall from my shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone." God wants people of this kind all over the world to-day. He is going to have a whole church of such Christians, and you and I, as we go out from here, must lift the faith of the people to the throne of God and fasten it there. We must have the faith that will hold God to what he has said.

We read of Christ, "Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." We have done something along this line of work, but there is much more for us than we have seen yet. God is going to show to the world Christianity in its fulness and perfection. John the Baptist was called to announce that the

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Saviour was coming; and when, in his discouragement, he asked, "Art thou he that should come," he received the assurance of the fact in the signs that accompanied the message. Now we are telling the people that the Lord is coming; but what evidence do we have to show that this work is of the Lord, and that we are looking for his coming in the right way, unless we are preaching the gospel to the poor and have the divine power to witness with us.

If the Lord Jesus cannot give that evidence to the world through us, he will get a people through whom he can give it. But the people who look for him in the right way will have the works which were conclusive proof to John that Jesus was the one who should come. God is over all, in all, through all, and in charge of all; and when we come to the place where we submit wholly to God, and hold ourselves ready to do his will in all things, then we shall see him work through us as he has not worked before.