EGW
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” ST May 26, 1898, par. 1
These words call for earnest thought. They mean more than many suppose. If we would be lights in the world, we must open the mind to receive Him who is the Light of the world. We must have the mind of Christ. It is a precious privilege to know Christ by personal experience, and to walk humbly before God. ST May 26, 1898, par. 2
Satan claims this world as his kingdom. Here he has set his seat. But even amid the moral darkness some light shines. God has a little flock. His people are not popular; for the world has chosen darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. But Christ says to His chosen ones: “if ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world can not receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” ST May 26, 1898, par. 3
God's loyal and faithful children are found in a world where atheists and worldly religionists abound, a world that ever since the day when Cain lifted up his hand against Abel, has rejected every provision that Heaven has made to restore the moral image of God in man. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” But even this Gift was cast aside as worthless. “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” ST May 26, 1898, par. 4
It is amazing to the angels that those who live in God's house, and daily receive His favors, should refuse His only-begotten Son. And God asks: “Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings. But they like men have transgressed the covenant; there have they dealt treacherously against Me.” ST May 26, 1898, par. 5
Christ, the great Teacher, said to His hearers: “Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.” “For ye were sometime darkness,” writes Paul, “but now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children of light.” ST May 26, 1898, par. 6
We are in the world, where, because of their sin, our first parents lost the beautiful Eden that God had given them. Adam and Eve were placed in the garden, and were given permission to eat of every tree in the garden but one. But they ate of the forbidden fruit, and their sin opened the flood-gates of woe upon our world. From that time sin grew worse, till God destroyed the world by a flood, saving only Noah and his sons. Since that time sin has been steadily increasing. Men have not learned that God means what He says. Sodom was destroyed by bolts of fire from heaven. God threatened to destroy Nineveh. The inhabitants repented, and their destruction was averted. But they turned once more to their idolatry, their sins reached to heaven, and their destruction came. ST May 26, 1898, par. 7
The world is fast becoming as it was before the flood. Satan has set up his throne on the earth, and the law of God is trampled underfoot. God made the world in six days, and rested on the seventh, sanctifying it as the day of His rest. He gave it to man as a memorial of His creation, saying, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” But Adam's sin is repeated. The Sabbath of the Lord is discarded and scorned, while a spurious sabbath, the child of the Papacy, is accepted by the Protestant world, and is cherished and exalted as supreme. But it has not a vestige of sacredness, more than has any common working day. ST May 26, 1898, par. 8
“Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed My covenant, and trespassed against My law. Israel shall cry unto Me, My God, we know Thee. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good; the enemy shall pursue him. They have set up kings, but not by Me; they have made princes, and I knew it not; of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.... I have written to him the great things of My law, but they were counted as a strange thing.” ST May 26, 1898, par. 9
How true is this today! Laws enacted by finite authority are exalted above the law of Jehovah. Men trample underfoot God's holy law, and say of God's people, as the Jews said of Christ, “We have a law, and by our law He ought to die.” Over and over again this will be repeated. Christ has told us that in the world we shall have tribulation, but that in Him we shall have peace. Those who live during the last days of this earth's history will know what it means to be persecuted for the truth's sake. In the courts injustice will prevail. The judges will refuse to listen to the reasons of those who are loyal to the commandments of God, because they know that arguments in favor of the fourth commandment are unanswerable. They will say, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die.” God's law is nothing to them. “Our law” with them is supreme. Those who respect this human law will be favored, but those who will not bow to the idol sabbath will have no favors shown them. ST May 26, 1898, par. 10
All that is brought against the validity of the fourth commandment is of human invention. There is not one word in the Bible to sustain the first day of the week. It is a spurious sabbath, baptized by human enactment, and given to the world to be kept holy. But, false tho it is, the world cherishes it, thus pursuing a blasphemous course. The sins of the inhabitants of the cities and towns have reached to heaven, and it is time for men to pray in humility before God. “Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil. Who knoweth if He will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him; even a meat offering and a drink-offering unto the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them; wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?” ST May 26, 1898, par. 11
Mrs. E. G. White