In the later years of the kingdom of Judah, pride and extravagance were accompanied by gross drunkenness and by a spirit of revelry. Upon those who gave themselves up to such sins, special woes were pronounced by the Lord through his chosen messenger. “Woe unto them,” Isaiah declared, “that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink.”Isaiah 5:22. And again: “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! ... The harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine,” the prophet said, “are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.”Verses 11, 12.
(RH March 11, 1915, Art. A, 1)
To this forgetfulness of their Maker may be traced many of the sins which characterized the chosen nation in Isaiah's day. Idolatry no longer provoked surprise. “Their land ... is full of idols,” exclaimed the prophet in an agony of spirit over the well-nigh universal apostasy. “They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: and the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself.”Isaiah 2:8, 9.
(RH March 11, 1915, Art. A, 2)
The Lord called heaven and earth to witness to his tender care for the chosen nation. “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,” he exclaimed; “the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.”“They have rebelled against me.”Isaiah 1:2, 3.
(RH March 11, 1915, Art. A, 3)
Iniquitous practices became so prevalent among all classes that the few who remained true to God were often tempted to lose heart, and to give way to discouragement and despair. It seemed as if God's purpose for Israel were about to fail, and that the rebellious nation was to suffer a fate similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah.
(RH March 11, 1915, Art. A, 4)
In the face of such conditions it is not surprising that when, during the last year of Uzziah's reign, Isaiah was called to bear to Judah God's messages of warning and reproof, he shrank from the responsibility. He well knew that he would encounter obstinate resistance. As he realized his own inability to meet the situation, and thought of the stubbornness and unbelief of the people for whom he was to labor, his task seemed to him almost hopeless. Should he in despair relinquish his mission, and leave Judah undisturbed to their idolatry? Were the gods of Nineveh to rule the earth, in defiance of the God of heaven?
(RH March 11, 1915, Art. A, 5)
Such thoughts as these were crowding through Isaiah's mind as he stood under the portico of the temple. Suddenly the gate and the inner veil of the temple seemed to be uplifted, or withdrawn, and he was permitted to gaze within, upon the holy of holies, where even the prophet's feet might not enter. There rose up before him a vision of Jehovah sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, while the train of his glory filled the temple. On each side of the throne hovered the seraphim, their faces veiled in adoration, as they ministered before their Maker, and united in the solemn invocation, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:1-3), until post and pillar and cedar gate seemed shaken with the sound, and the house was filled with their tribute of praise.
(RH March 11, 1915, Art. A, 6)
As Isaiah beheld this revelation of the glory and majesty of his Lord, he was overwhelmed with a sense of the purity and holiness of God. How sharp the contrast between the matchless perfection of his Creator and the sinful course of those who, with himself, had long been numbered among the chosen people of Israel and Judah! “Woe is me!” he cried; “for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”Verse 5. Standing, as it were, in the full light of the divine presence within the inner sanctuary, he realized that if left to his own imperfection and inefficiency, he would be utterly unable to accomplish the mission to which he had been called. But a seraph was sent to relieve him of his distress, and to fit him for his great mission. A living coal from the altar was laid upon his lips, with the words, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” Then the voice of God was heard saying, “Whom shall I send? and who will go for us?” and Isaiah responded, “Here am I; send me.”Verses 7, 8.
(RH March 11, 1915, Art. A, 7)
The heavenly visitant bade the waiting messenger: “Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.”Verses 9, 10.
(RH March 11, 1915, Art. A, 8)
The prophet's duty was plain; he was to lift his voice in protest against the prevailing evils. But he dreaded to undertake the work without some assurance of hope. “Lord, how long? (verse 11) he inquired. Are none of thy chosen people ever to understand, and repent, and be healed?
(RH March 11, 1915, Art. A, 9)
His burden of soul in behalf of erring Judah was not to be borne in vain. His mission was not to be wholly fruitless. Yet the evils that had been multiplying for many generations could not be removed in his day. Throughout his lifetime he must be a patient, courageous teacher—a prophet of hope as well as of doom. The divine purpose finally accomplished, the full fruitage of his efforts, and of the labors of all God's faithful messengers, would appear. A remnant should be saved. That this might be brought about, the messages of warning and entreaty were to be delivered to the rebellious, the Lord declared, “until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.”Verses 11, 12.
(RH March 11, 1915, Art. A, 10)
The heavy judgments that were to befall the impenitent—war, exile, oppression, the loss of power and prestige among the nations,—all these were to come in order that those who would recognize in them the hand of an offended God, might be led to repent. The ten tribes of the northern kingdom were soon to be scattered among the nations, and their cities left desolate; the destroying armies of hostile nations were to sweep over their land again and again; even Jerusalem was finally to fall, and Judah was to be carried away captive; yet the Promised Land was not to remain wholly forsaken forever. The assurance of the heavenly visitant to Isaiah was: “In it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.”Verse 13.
(RH March 11, 1915, Art. A, 11)
This assurance of the final fulfillment of God's purpose brought courage to the heart of Isaiah. What though earthly powers array themselves against Judah? What though the Lord's messenger meet with opposition and resistance? Isaiah had seen the King, the Lord of hosts; he had heard the song of the seraphim, “The whole earth is full of his glory” (verse 3); he had the promise that the messages of Jehovah, to backsliding Judah would be accompanied by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit; and the prophet was nerved for the work before him. Throughout his long and arduous mission he carried with him the memory of this vision. For sixty years or more he stood before the children of Judah as a prophet of hope, waxing bolder and still bolder in his predictions of the future triumph of the church.
(RH March 11, 1915, Art. A, 12)
A Letter From Elder W. C. White
EGW
During the past few months Mother's general condition of health has been as favorable as could be expected of one of her age. She has stated that at no other period of her life has she been so free from physical pain. And while she has gradually become more feeble, yet she had not, prior to her recent accident, been obliged to spend a day in bed. She had been able to go up and down stairs without assistance, and, in favorable weather, has taken pleasure in riding out once a day, and sometimes twice.
(RH March 11, 1915, 1)
Her cheerfulness has never diminished. When referring to her age and physical condition, she has often expressed gratitude to God for His care. Her abiding trust in Him has never wavered. Always thoughtful of others, she has manifested recently still greater solicitude regarding the welfare of her friends and associates. She has found great joy in reading the reports of progress in the Review and in letters from her old friends. She has taken a deep interest in the work of preparing her manuscripts for publication.
(RH March 11, 1915, 2)
Wednesday morning, January 27, I returned home after an absence of sixteen weeks in the East and South. I found Mother cheerful and interested to hear about the work in the places that I had visited. She seemed to be about as well as when I left home early in October.
(RH March 11, 1915, 3)
Friday afternoon, February 12, as I was leaving the office for a quick trip to St. Helena, Mother came outdoors, and we spent ten minutes in walking about in the bright sunshine, and talking about the progress of the message in all the world.
(RH March 11, 1915, 4)
Sabbath morning, Mother appeared to be as well as usual. About noon as she was entering her study from the hallway, she tripped and fell. Her nurse, May Walling, who was in the hall about twenty feet away, hastened to her assistance, and endeavored to help her onto her feet. When mother cried out with pain, May lifted her into a rocking chair, pulled the chair through the hall to Mother's bedroom, and got her to bed. Then May telephoned to Dr. Klingerman at the sanitarium, and at once applied fomentations to the hip, where the pain seemed to be the greatest.
(RH March 11, 1915, 5)
When the doctor came, he said that it was either a bad sprain or a fracture, and advised an X-ray examination at the sanitarium. This examination showed an “intracapsular fracture of the left femur at the junction of the head and neck.” Mother bore very patiently all the painful experiences of being carried from her room to the sanitarium and back again.
(RH March 11, 1915, 6)
Sara McEnterfer, who was her traveling companion and secretary most of the time for thirty years, is with her; and so is May Walling, who was brought up in her home, and who has been her faithful nurse for about two years. Mrs. Hungerford, a trained nurse from the sanitarium, is also with her.
(RH March 11, 1915, 7)
Mother occupies her study, where for the last ten busy years she did most of her writing. Sometimes when half awake, she asks how long the journey will take, and when she will get home; and then, when fully awake, she says, “I am right here in my own room.”
(RH March 11, 1915, 8)
In our seasons of prayer Mother unites with her usual fervor and clearness of thought, expressing complete confidence and entire resignation.
(RH March 11, 1915, 9)
Since her accident she has told me that she feels that her work is done, her battles ended, and that she is willing to lie down and sleep till the resurrection morning, unless there is yet some special work the Lord has for her to do.
(RH March 11, 1915, 10)
This is not a new thought, but is in perfect harmony with her frequent expressions during the past year. Regarding her constant faith and courage, Brother C. C. Crisler wrote to me December 23, 1914, as follows:
(RH March 11, 1915, 11)
“Even when exceedingly brain-weary, your mother seems to find great comfort in the promises of the word, and often catches up a quotation and completes it when we begin quoting some familiar scripture. At such times she seems to me to be even more spiritual-minded than usual; that is, she dwells more at length on her personal experience and faith and hope, and recounts providences that cause her to renew her courage in God. At such times she also reaches out after spiritual comfort and help, and asks more frequently than at other times that we unite in prayer with her.
(RH March 11, 1915, 12)
“I do not find her discouraged over her own case, nor do I find her discouraged over the general outlook throughout the harvest field where her brethren are laboring. She seems to have strong faith in God's power to overrule, and to bring to pass his eternal purpose through the efforts of those whom he has called to act a part in his great work. She rises above petty criticism, above even the past failures of those who have been reproved, and expresses the conviction, born, apparently, of an innate faith in the church of the living God, that her brethren will remain faithful to the cause they have espoused, and that the Lord will continue with them to the end, and grant them complete victory over every device of the enemy.
(RH March 11, 1915, 13)
“Faith in God's power to sustain her through the many weaknesses attendant on old age; faith in the precious promises of God's word; faith in her brethren who bear the burden of the work; faith in the final triumph of the third angel's message,—this is the full faith your mother seems to enjoy every day and every hour. This is the faith that fills her heart with joy and peace, even when suffering great physical weakness, and unable to make progress in literary lines. A faith such as this would inspire any one who could witness it.”
(RH March 11, 1915, 14)