Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there." These are the words of Hannah, spoken in the midst of a prayer, as she poured forth, her soul to God in living gratitude for His in expressible love to her.
In her prayer Hannah restated the promise she had made to God, the vow she had pledged to the Lord, and she restated it just as firmly as the day when she first made it. The time had now come for the payment of that vow, the fulfillment of the pledge, and so once again with the same devotion she said, "As long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord."
Even in our materialistic twentieth century this story of heroic devotion, sacrifice, and consecration thrills and inspires us with greater confidence in the realities of the Spirit. This testimony of Hannah has surely awakened within the hearts and lives of many in succeeding generations the same full measure of devotion and the desire to fulfill the vows and pledges made to God.
All through the centuries the great men of history have paid tribute to the mothers who had such a profound influence upon them. Surely it was the influence of his godly mother that deeply affected the spiritual life and attitude of Samuel. Later it was Augustine, one of the early leaders of the church, who gave a noble tribute to his mother as being responsible largely for bringing him out of the darkness of Manichaeism into the light of the Christian faith. When you see a great man you can usu ally look over his shoulder and see a great woman in the background somewhere. When James A. Garfield was inaugurated President he refused all congratulations until he could first kiss his mother and tell her, "I owe it all to you, my Mother." For, after all, great men are only the lengthened shadow of great mothers.
"They say that man is mighty, He governs land and sea, He wields a mighty scepter O'er lesser powers that be; But a mightier power and stronger Man from his throne was hurled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world."
So frequently men quench the urge to confess love in terms of simple, heartfelt devotion. They hesitate lest they should appear to be oversentimental. But strength is measured by God in terms of constraint, in terms of sentiment, patience, sacrifice, and love.
One day I was doing a bit of shopping for Mother's Day. I stepped up to the counter in one of Washington's largest and best-known department stores. As I was standing there I overheard a complaint by a young husband who was speaking to his wife. She had been showing him all the beautiful Mother's Day cards. Rather carelessly and indifferently he said, "All these cards are so sentimental." Looking at him with a twinkle in her eyes and a sweet smile upon her lips, she answered, "But, darling, for Mother's Day they're supposed to be." The truth of the matter is that not only on Mother's Day should the deeper sentiments of life be expressed, but we would do well to become old-fashioned again and bring forth such expressions from the depths of our souls at every opportunity the year round!
No one gives a son or a daughter to any cause without the deepest sense of giving a part of himself; and when Hannah prayed her prayer of devotion, pouring forth her heart to God so fully and completely, we cannot help sensing something of the deep throbbing of that devoted mother heart as in sacrifice she gave her son to a great cause. But it was the giving of her son to such a cause and to a loving God that later assuaged all the sorrow of separation. It was the conscious fact of the greatness of God and the magnificence of the contribution that she would make to God through her son that made Hannah sing the song of joy.
We are today facing the same constant drain upon our heartstrings when sons and daughters leave us and go forth from our homes, our churches, our schools, and our communities to distant parts of the world in the great mission projects of the church. This is a twentieth-century example of this ancient tug at the heart; and yet, the sense of accomplishment and achievement for God, the giving of ourselves through our sons and daughters in sacrifice, is the impelling motive that leads us to yield to the call of God in making the greatest of all sacrifices.
Perhaps the thing that profoundly impressed Samuel in his later life and deeper devotion to the principles of God was the example of his mother in being true to the pledge and vow that she had made to God. All too frequently children behold the failure of the fulfillment of the parental pledge to God. At times of crises children overhear mother and father, either in prayer or in testimony, give a free and full confession to God and make a promise to Him as to what they will do in the event that God honors their request and hears them while they call upon Him. Later sometimes the children are confused when they see that mother and father do not fulfill the obligations of that pledge.
But this was not true in Hannah's experience. Because of her sense of duty she made the pilgrimage to the temple annually throughout her life.
"Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice." 1 Sam. 2:19. There are so many beautiful things expressed in this text at least four phrases in this one verse that give us a generous glimpse of the character of Han nah: "His mother made him a little coat," "brought it to him from year to year," "came up with her husband," "to offer the yearly sacrifice." Here we have four separate glimpses into Hannah's life and her philosophy of life. Here is the formula of the happy and successful fellowship and life together of Hannah and her husband, Elkanah.
The Gift of Love
Let us look quickly at the first of these four different phases. The Scriptures say that his mother made a little coat. You can picture this devoted mother spinning and toiling, making the thread, weaving the fabric, and then taking that fabric and making of it a beautiful coat to be worn by her young son. What thoughts must have raced through her mind with each measured stitch of love as she formed out of the crude raw materials the finished product! From beginning to end it was the work of a mother; it was the work of love; it was the evidence of devotion of one who had given her all for her son. Behind all of this was the joyous anticipation of the day when she would be able to give that coat to her son. For her just to behold the glint in his eye, the smile on his lips, to feel his arms thrown around her, and to hear him whisper again into her ear those words of gratitude, "Thank you, Mother; this one is even lovelier than the one you made me last year" that was reward enough. That was sufficient; it was all she expected or asked. He might even forget to do that, but she would never forget to make the coat. That's the way mothers are.
This is the basic spiritual lesson that Samuel was to learn and did learn. He learned from the example and devotion and faith of his mother that God will never forget, never for sake. For if his mother would remember his need by providing a coat for him every year, what about the God of heaven who will provide for him throughout all eternity? The second part of this devotion is brought to us in the words, "Brought it to him from year to year." It was a regular act of love. He was growing, he was developing, and each year he needed a new coat. For as he grew physically, that coat was to be a symbol to him that he was to grow spiritually as well.
Spiritual Influence
The third point of the text is that "she came up with her husband." This does not suggest to us, of course, that all husbands were deeply spiritual in Hannah's day. They were no more spiritual than they are today. Husbands have always had their problems. They have many times been concerned primarily with the things of the world, with the provision of the material things for themselves and for their families. There has always been a burden resting upon the heart of the faithful wife and mother to lead the menfolk of her household into a deeper knowledge of God, and Hannah had a profound influence upon her children and upon her husband. Year after year with her husband she came to the feast. The carelessness of Eli's sons who were "sons of Belial" did not prevent Elkanah, the husband of Hannah, from sharing the blessings of the spiritual feast. It is a noble achievement for any wife, any mother, to be able to bring her companion to the house of God for worship. And what more beautiful thing can we ever behold than to see a husband and wife worshiping together?
The Fruitage of Full Consecration
What shall we say of Samuel? The Scriptures say, "The child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men." 1 Sam. 2:26. This was an incalculably rich recompense for absolute consecration and sacrifice. Here, then, is a never-to-be-forgotten lesson for all of us. The fallacy and delusion of empty and selfish materialism are unveiled in this experience. And that is why Mother's Day comes to us with recurring force and emphasis, for it too strips away from the material ism of this generation the falsity of the idea that only the material things are worth while.
Let us examine a bit more closely the truth. of this matter. If Hannah had made no pledge to God, what would have been the result and the fruitage of her life? If Hannah had made no coat and no recurring pilgrimage to the house of God, and if she had not lived so faith fully in her daily experience and fellowship with God, so that she could not have influenced her husband as she did, what then? Suppose she had lived selfishly and stored away her hard earned resources and had not brought them to the annual sacrifice. It is very obvious that then her life would have been a very ordinary one, without the inspiration of a living faith. She would not have given such a rich example for millions of men to behold.
We have these same privileges today. We are also called to give our sons and daughters, our basket and store, our "little coats," our devalued dollars, in sacrifice that the temple of God may be blessed and not lie unfinished before us, that men may not rise up to mock us as a people and charge us with being less devoted to the cause of God than were our forebears. All the contentions voiced today against sacrifice or pleas for giving were also heard in Hannah's day. But in spite of all the untoward circumstances of the day, she and Elkanah brought their sacrifice to the temple. Their recompense was the most satisfying reward that could come to any of the children of men. We pray for such mothers and fathers of vision and devotion today.
A few years ago in the interest of the work of God I traveled down to the Bahama Islands to attend a laymen's institute held in Nassau. While I was there I met a Brother Ward, who with his daughter and her husband attended the meeting. One day we heard the story of the daughter's courage, faith, and devotion to God. She extended her hands and showed them to all those in the assembly, giving the testimony that it was those hands that bore, the brick and stone and mortar to the place where a church was built. Those hands carried water in buckets for a distance of more than a mile in order to mix the mortar to build a church. That was not an uncommon experience, for Brother Ward and his family raised up eleven churches in those islands.
Yes, thank God, there are still valiant souls, like Hannah, who sacrifice joyfully, in regular worship, for their sons and daughters. Thank God that this sacrificial spirit of our pioneers still burns brightly in the hearts of many of the Advent believers today! Thank God there are faithful souls who do not shrink away in the face of sacrificial demands, but like Hannah and Elkanah, they eagerly await their meeting with God at the temple gate of sacrifice.
Would to God that we might indeed enter into the offering of a prayer of triumph as prayed by Hannah, as recorded in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Here you can see the sacrifices and the recompense for those sacrifices, all brought together in a magnificent testimony of praise. One cannot help feeling the throb of Hannah's great heart as she confessed to the God of heaven that "he will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed." Verses 9, 10.
Some time ago I completed an evangelistic campaign in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. While I was there, a very beautiful Christian character accepted the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. She was a faithful mother of five precious children. Because of her faithfulness to her God, she bore up under cruel persecutions within her home, being beaten and humiliated, all for Christ's sake. I was summoned to her home one evening and spent nearly three hours endeavoring to assist in assuaging some of the misunderstanding and the persecutions that had been borne by this faithful mother. Finally, there on our knees late that night in prayer, that family was united in Christ. I shall never forget this sister's words earlier in the evening when she said to her husband, "You may beat me, you may take my life if you will, but I will not prove untrue to my God."
That's what I mean when I speak of supreme devotion in this time in which we live. What do I give? What little coat do I hold in my hand, compared with the sacrifice of that godly mother? What does my complaint over little sacrifice mean in comparison with the sufferings and humiliations borne for Christ by so many? May we this day plead for the same spirit of devotion to bring our lives into the complete fraternity of faith and confidence in a living God, so that it may be said of us too, "And he worshipped the Lord there."
The Importance of Daniel
W. W. CHRISTENSEN Missionary, Chisekesi, Northern Rhodesia
Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he." John 13:19. Jesus' words indicate that prophecy will be particularly helpful to one who looks back to verify God's leading. We turn to the prophet Daniel with this attitude. He had a message for the people of long ago, as witnessed by Christ's words in Matthew 24:15. But there is a greater message for those who are standing with Daniel in their "lot at the end of the days." (Dan. 12:13.) It is our privilege to look back at the history of this threefold message and know that our God is "a revealer of secrets" (Dan. 2:47) and that He gives wisdom and understanding to His people at the very moment needed, to prepare them for the next step.
At the foundation of the Advent message is the revelation of a judgment at hand, as found in Daniel 7 and 8. The exact time when this session was to begin became indisputably fixed by the study of Daniel 8 and 9. The Spirit of God made that much very clear to our spiritual forebears. Urged on by a power they could not resist, the Advent people of 1843 and 1844 called upon that generation to prepare to meet their God.
Not until the disappointment was a keen reality could the Spirit of God remove the scales from their eyes and reveal an advance step of truth. That revelation was made to a special group. Of them Mrs. E. G. White wrote:
"A few were unwilling to renounce points of faith and experience that were sustained by the Scriptures and by the special witness of the Spirit of God. They believed that they had adopted sound principles of interpretation in their study of the Scriptures, and that it was their duty to hold fast the truths already gained, and to still pursue the same course of Biblical research. With earnest prayer they reviewed their position, and studied the Scriptures to discover their mistake. As they could see no error in their explanation of the prophetic periods, they were led to examine more closely the subject of the sanctuary." The Story of Redemption, p. 376.
Here was a small group who could not deny the light that had led them thus far. While other Adventists were split into factions and some set new dates for the second coming of Christ, this small group were soon led into an understanding of the sanctuary that has made them a distinct and unique people to this day.
"The new party, accepting the High-Priest-in-the sanctuary concept, and maintaining the reliability of the reckoning which came out at October 22, 1844, held that the last time prophecy had been therein fulfilled, and time should be no longer a tenet or a test. This party, accepting also the fourth-commandment Sabbath, finally took the name of Seventh-day Adventists, a church which now fills almost the en tire Adventist field." Captains of the Host, p. 96.
"The word of God . . . quick and powerful, ... a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:12) was leading that little party as fast as their eyes could stand the glory leading them into the full light of the gospel of the threefold message that will finally prepare a people to receive the seal of God and be ready for translation. And that leading was not delayed. As the morning of October 23, 1844, dawned upon tear-stained faces and disappointed hearts, Hiram Edson spoke out: " 'Some time soon this mystery will be solved. We shall know what God's purpose is, and this dark secret shall be made as plain as day.' . . . 'Let us go out to the barn and pray.'" Ibid., p. 92.
They prayed until they felt assured that added light would come in God's own time and way. After breakfast Edson started away with an other person to give encouragement to some of the disappointed ones, so that still others would believe that God would send an answer.
"About midway of the field Hiram Edson was stopped as with a hand upon his shoulder. He turned his face to the gray skies. ... 'I saw distinctly and clearly,' writes Edson, 'that instead of our High Priest coming out of the Most Holy of the heavenly sanctuary to come to this earth on the tenth day of the seventh month, at the end of the 2300 days, He for the first time entered on that day the second apartment of that sanctuary; and that He had a work to perform in the Most Holy before coming to this earth." " Ibid., p. 94.
Quickly Edson and his companions reviewed what they knew of the sanctuary, and plunged into a deeper study of the books of Moses, com paring them with the book of Hebrews. Thus was born the great sanctuary truth upon which Satan had trampled since the days of the early church. Thus was unmasked the "he" who had "cast down the truth to the ground"; "he" had "practised, and prospered" (Dan. 8:11, 12) so well that no people on earth knew that Jesus Christ was their great High Priest in heaven.Of the few who began to grasp that truth on October 23, 1844, we read:
"The scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and central pillar of the advent faith was the declaration, 'Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.' Dan. 8:14. These had been familiar words to all believers in the Lord's soon coming. By the lips of thousands was this prophecy joyfully repeated as the watchword of their faith. All felt that upon the events therein brought to view depended their brightest expectations and most cherished hopes. These prophetic days had been shown to terminate in the autumn of 1844. In common with the rest of the Christian world, Adventists then held that the earth, or some portion of it, was the sanctuary, and that the cleansing of the sanctuary was the purification of the earth by the fires of the last great day. This they understood would take place at the second coming of Christ. Hence the conclusion that Christ would return to the earth in 1844." The Story of Redemption, p. 375.
By this belief they were held in error until the disappointment was past. The brief vision given to Edson the very next day started an entirely new conception of what Daniel had written in his book. As a summary of the grand truths developing from that new conception we read:
"As the sins of the people were anciently transferred, in figure, to the earthly sanctuary by the blood of the sin offering, so our sins are, in fact, transferred to the heavenly sanctuary by the blood of Christ. And as the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by the removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by the removal, or blotting out, of the sins which are there recorded. This necessitates an examination of the books of record to determine who, through repentance of sin and faith in Christ, are entitled to the benefits of His atonement. The cleansing of the sanctuary therefore involves a work of investigative judgment. This work must be performed prior to the coming of Christ to redeem His people, for when He comes, His reward is with Him to give to every man according to his works. (Rev. 22:12.)
"Thus those who followed in the advancing light of the prophetic word saw that instead of coming to the earth at the termination of the 2300 days in 1844, Christ then entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, into the presence of God, to per form the closing work of atonement, preparatory to His coming." Ibid., p. 378.
Of this new concept, A. W. Spalding writes:
"It was, nevertheless, a revolutionary idea, the germ of a doctrine so radical as to bear a chief part in differentiating between the old and the new Adventist bodies." Captains of the Host, p. 95. This new idea gave them a new message for the world. They were sure that the last time prophecy had been fulfilled. (See Rev. 10:6.) They had eaten up the book of Daniel with joy in the days preceding October 22. They did not then realize that there was a prophecy, "It shall make thy belly bitter." Rev. 10:9. But they experienced it on October 22 and 23. By the help of the vision that God gave to Edson on that day they were later prepared to face the world and "prophesy again." God Himself had removed the seal from the book of Daniel. The hour had struck for light to shine forth! God had told Daniel that there was such a "time appointed." (Dan. 11:35.) The prophet called it "the time of the end." Notice that he was talking about God's faithful children when he first used this intriguing phrase.
In verse 32 he said of them: "The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits." In verse 33 we are told that many of their instructors and leaders would fall in various ways for "many days." Again heavenly watchers enter into the vision as they did in Daniel 8:13, 14. One asked, "How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" The answer is given in Daniel 12:7: "A time, times, and an half," or 1260 years. But we know this terrible trampling of "the host" was to be shortened so that the "end" of these persecutions came be fore 1798, for the Master said: "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Matt. 24:22. So some of God's people were to be spared the trial of persecution, only to go through the next experience: "And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end." Dan. 11:35.
No doubt this falling away was a greater trial to God's faithful people than the persecution, for when the leaders turn back and walk no more with the flock it brings great trepidation of heart. Of this experience Christ said to Daniel: "Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." Dan. 12:9, 10. Those "wise" ones were not revealed until the disappointment was past.
It is not for us to say what we would have done had we been there in 1844. It is enough to remember that when Jesus revealed to the multitude of five thousand that His kingdom was a spiritual kingdom, "from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." John 6:66. Again after the resurrection we find the two on the way to Emmaus admitting with heavy hearts: "But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel," Luke 24:21. Out of that disappointment came only a fraction of the former disciples who were supernaturally guided and strengthened to give a new message of the risen Saviour.
So in 1844, of all the great and powerful preachers who had joined for a time in the first angel's message and who were indeed used of God for a time, not one lifted his voice in defense of God's promises and prophecies after October 22. It was left for Hiram Edson, a farmer, to receive that vision of the sanctuary in heaven and persist in its study till he had a clear answer to give to the people. Other common people worked with him. It was left for a humble woman, Rachel Oakes Preston, to call attention to the fourth commandment and lead a few into its full acceptance.
To give us another view of this matter our Master adds: "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." Dan. 12:12. Like Methuselah of old, who died in the year of the Flood, Charles Fitch died in 1844, on October 11. In his heart was the bright hope that in a few days he would be called from the tomb. He was only thirty-eight years old.
"Elder Fitch died of a fever contracted by exposure in baptizing three successive parties in Lake Erie on a cold, windy day. In his wet garments he twice started with his party for home, only to be turned back by new candidates desiring baptism." Captains of the Host, p. 105, footnote.
Blessed indeed is such a man. Would that the record of other leaders of the 1844 movement might have closed in that way! It is good that this detail is given in the prophecy to emphasize the importance of the date, 1844.
Then we have the direct words of Christ which close the book of Daniel. To the veteran prophet they must have been very reassuring: "But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shall rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." Dan. 12:13. We know now that the judgment began right there, "at the end of the days." So by direct command the weary and anxious prophet laid down his pen. It was not given him to understand all that was involved in the great work to begin "at the end of the days." What the mighty prophets of old could not grasp as they looked forward, was easily understood by that little praying, trusting group who held on after October 22, 1844. Their eyes had been opened. They were looking back at God's leading. When God had removed the seal from the book of Daniel and bade His people to "prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings" (Rev. 10:11), they were ready to go with a powerful new message. By the grace of God, we are to swell that message to its finale!
How much we would have missed if Daniel had been removed from our Bibles, or if we still considered it sealed! We would have been like the churches of today, a people without a message. From that book we have much of present truth: There is the judgment, with its books of record; there is Jesus, our great High Priest and Advocate, from which truth springs that related truth Christ our righteousness; there is revealed the very day on which the investigative judgment began, October 22, 1844; there is revealed the time of the end, a period beginning with that very important day and closing only when Christ will appear in the clouds of heaven as King of kings! We are living in the very end of the time of the end. Let us thank God for the Book of Daniel. Let us pray for added luster to glorify each message that we give from its pages. If we lift up Christ in the light of the sanctuary, we shall thereby prove that Daniel has been unsealed, "and knowledge shall be increased." (Dan. 12:4.)
ROME SPEAKS! IF the Bible is their only rule of faith, why do Protestants observe the Sunday instead of Saturday?
CLASS: The objector is right. Nowhere in the New Testament are Christians ordered to ob serve the Sunday. God commanded, "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day," which is Saturday. What reason then have Catholics to observe the Sunday? CLASS: Because Christ promised to ratify in Heaven whatever His Church would bind or loose on earth. There were good reasons for the change of the day of public worship. For in stance, (a) it had to be made dear that the ceremonial law of the Old Testament had come to an end; and (&) the reason for the selection of Sunday instead of another day was that the two greatest events in the New Law, namely, the Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, took place on Sunday, or the first day of the week. Our Sunday Visitor, Oct. 26, 1952.
