1901

April 9, 1901

“Sermon” The General Conference Bulletin 4, 6.

EJW 

E. J. Waggoner 

By E. J. Waggoner, April 6, 7 P.M. 

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” GCDB April 9, 1901, page 145.1

The message is the same to-night that it was the other night. It is the gospel of the kingdom, that gospel which shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, in order that the end may come. It requires the power of the kingdom to prepare men for the kingdom; the power which will create new heavens and a new earth, and nothing less than that power is needed to create new men fitted to dwell upon that earth and in those heavens; and that is the power of the gospel of the kingdom, which is to be a witness to the nations. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 145.2

Let us read a few verses in the second of Hebrews: “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.” GCDB April 9, 1901, page 145.3

Look at the fourth and fifth verses: The word “spoken by the Lord,” was “confirmed unto us by them that heard it.” When the Lord says, “Come,” “let him that heareth say, Come.” It was confirmed “with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost,” according to the will of God; “for unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come.” GCDB April 9, 1901, page 145.4

Why does the Spirit start off on a tangent about the angels, and the world to come, when he is talking about the preaching of the gospel? Has he put the world to come into subjection to anybody?-Yes. To whom has he put the world, then, in subjection?-To man. The world to come is the world that was, that which was from the beginning, the new heavens and the new earth-and that was put in subjection to man, and he was made ruler over it under God, and by the power of God in him. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 145.5

Now the dominion is gone. Man, instead of being above the world, is below, with the world upon him. What shall be done? That which was lost must be won back; and since by man came death, by man also comes the resurrection from the dead; therefore to man is committed the restoration of the kingdom-not to angels, because the dominion was not given to them. “Whatsoever the Lord doeth, it shall be forever.” Having given the kingdom to man, it is eternally man’s, and must be man’s. Here is our assurance. Sometimes you will hear people say that when man sinned, God could, if he wished, have blotted out the whole race, and started in afresh. No; he could not. Why? Because he could not deny himself. There are some things God can not do. He can not lie. He can not deny himself. He is, and he is right, and he can not change. So when he had made man, and given the world to him, he could not take it back again. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 145.6

Therefore, as the apostle says, later on, “It remaineth that some must enter in”-some men must enter into that kingdom; and so even if the men to whom the gospel was first preached, and all others, should prove unfaithful, nevertheless man must bring back the dominion even if God had to make new men out of stones. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 145.7

The work to be done is the making of a new heaven and a new earth, in order that the kingdom may continue as God gave it to man. The restoring of it is given to man; and Christ is the man, and we are men in him, so that the power of the gospel, the power of the preaching of the gospel, is the power that will create the new heavens and the new earth. The power of the world to come, the power that will recreate this earth, is the power that is in the preaching of the gospel; and we can see that it is so, because it creates men, makes new creatures. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 145.8

So we read the prophecy given in Isaiah 51:16: “I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.” This is the power of the gospel. So we can say, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold [hold down, repress] the truth in unrighteousness: because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.” For ever since the creation of the world “the invisible things of God, even his everlasting power and Divinity, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; so that they are without excuse. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 145.9

The kingdom is to be restored, and the power of it is to be seen before the new heavens and earth can be made; because when it comes down to the very last time before probation has ceased, there must be a complete, clearcut line of demarcation between the righteous and the wicked. When that time comes, everybody will be able to discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not; and there must be a power in the gospel so extensive that every soul on earth will not only have heard the gospel, but will have heard it in the fullness of its power, so that having rejected it, there will be nothing more for him. He will have rejected the full power of God, and then, having rejected all that God has, if probation should be continued thousands of years, there would be nothing more to bring him back; and consequently there will be no longer any use of prolonging probation; for every man has intelligently made a decision. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 145.10

“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,” God’s power is so great that he makes the devil himself serve him. He takes the wrath of man, and makes it praise him. He takes the wrath of man, and binds it about him, girds himself with it, and is victorious even by means of it. He takes the evil passions of man, and makes them serve out his purpose. Do you not know he did it with Joseph? His brethren were moved with envy, and sold him into Egypt: but it was God who sent him there. So Herod, and Pontius Pilate, and the rulers of Jerusalem, stood up against the Lord and against Christ. What for? To do all that he had appointed to be done. They were not serving the Lord intentionally, but although they conspired against the Lord, to do Satan’s utmost will, nevertheless, God’s will was worked out. It is marvelous, is it not? God can work in spite of the devil. More than this, since the wrath of man and devils praises God, every effort against the truth only makes the power of God the more striking. Thus in the beginning Satan, who is the accuser of the brethren, tried to defeat God’s plan to establish a kingdom with man as a ruler; and he seemingly succeeded. Now he accuses the brethren to the Lord. He says to God, “You can not make a man that can stand loyal to you and your kingdom. I can set up my kingdom in spite of you.” But the Lord has demonstrated in Christ the possibility of it. He sends Christ in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that of “him whom man despiseth,” He can say, “I will take this caricature of a man, this debased man, this fallen, degraded man that you have wrought your will in,-I will take him, and in his sinful flesh I will demonstrate the fact that he can be a king; I will use man, not simply as he was in the beginning, but I will use that fallen, degraded speck of humanity, so that he will stand out greater because of God’s eternal power.” GCDB April 9, 1901, page 146.1

“Can any man live a sinless life?” I have been asked. No, but Christ can. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” I have demonstrated that I can do nothing. The wages of sin is death, and so I must die, and let the Lord take the management. The first man showed his impotence, and now the second man Adam comes in, and in Him God’s power is fully revealed. There is only one man and that is the Lord Jesus Christ: for there is only one seed. By the obedience of one many are made righteous. We become men indeed, perfect men, only as we are in him. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 146.2

“As many of you as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.” “Ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” He is the man, the perfect man. So in the knowledge of the Son of God we come “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” He is “the man.” “Behold the man:” the one man, the only righteous man, Christ. We see in all the saints of God his face, his character, his righteousness, and his goodness, and we must sink out of sight. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 146.3

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” That is the gospel of the kingdom; the kingdom of God within us; God ruling in man, and showing his power in man. That is Christ reproduced in his creatures. That is the kingdom, and this gospel of the kingdom, God in man, must be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and the world must see it. “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” God puts his name upon his people, that all may know to whom they belong. Men put their names upon their places of business for a sign. Christ says, “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders.” Wherever the men of the world come into contact with the people of God, they are to see the name of God, and recognize at a glance that God dwells within, and does business there. The name of God upon the people will declare it; but what is the name?-When the miracle had been wrought upon the impotent man at the gate of the temple, and Peter and John were brought before the council to answer for the good deed, and they were asked by what name they had done it, Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said, “If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him doth this man stand before you whole.” That is to say, the name of Jesus is the life of Jesus. So, being baptized into the name of Jesus, we are baptized into the life of Christ. That is the witness to the world. “I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders.” There we have the kingdom of God; the perfect kingdom of God, on earth, before the earth itself has been recreated for man. Then when God has a people who are loyal to him, who allow him to dwell in them, and his kingdom is manifested in them, he provides a better place for them in which to serve him, a place in harmony with their character. Then they will be made immortal, this corruptible will put on incorruption, and this mortal will put on immortality. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 146.4

Now, do not get a mistaken idea. Do not get the idea that you and I are ever going to be so good that we can live independently of the Lord; do not think that this body is going to be converted. If you do, you will get into grave trouble and gross sin. Do not think that you can make corruption incorruption. This corruption will put on incorruption when the Lord comes; not before. This mortal will put on immortality when the Lord comes, and not till then. When men get the idea that their flesh is sinless, and that all their impulses are from God, they are confounding their sinful flesh with the Spirit of God. They are substituting themselves for God, putting themselves in his place, which is the very essence of the papacy. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 146.5

Before this corruptible body is made incorruptible, and the natural, sinful body is exchanged for the spiritual, sinless body, God will demonstrate what he can do in spite of corruption and mortality. He has condemned sin in the flesh, showing that even in sinful flesh he can live a sinless life. His perfect life will be manifested in mortal flesh, so that all will see it in the seven last plagues, as you all know. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 146.6

During that time, when pestilence and disease are abroad in the land, when the very air is pestilence instead of life, when the sun, instead of giving life, destroys vegetation and burns up the earth and scorches men, and when the waters, instead of being life-giving and refreshing, are polluted and death-dealing,-during that time God will have a people that not only in spite of their own mortality, but in spite of all the corruption that exists in this world, will live clean, wholesome, and healthy lives. “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, they habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” GCDB April 9, 1901, page 146.7

There is where the Lord will show the power of his life. That is simply the power that conquered death; the power that overcame the lusts of the flesh; the power that raises the dead to life. It is the power of the resurrection. Now what we must learn is that the same power that will be manifested during the seven last plagues will be manifested during the plagues now in the earth, before those come, in which is filled up the wrath of God. Otherwise, there would be no witness. If this power could not be manifested before probation ends, there would be no witness to the people; it would not be a testimony to them. But before probation ends, there will be a people so complete in him that in spite of their sinful flesh, they will live sinless lives. They will live sinless, lives in mortal flesh, because he who has demonstrated that he has power over all flesh lives in them,-lives a sinless life in sinful flesh, and a healthful life in mortal flesh, and that will be a testimony that can not be gainsaid,-a witness than which no greater can be given. Then the end will come. This will be the kingdom of God manifested to all nations for a witness to God’s power. “The kingdom of God is within you.” GCDB April 9, 1901, page 147.1

Now the question comes up, What is the law of that kingdom? We have the kingdom; what is the law of that kingdom? Every government must have a law, a constitution, if you please. There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” What is the law of that kingdom?-It is the life of God. “His commandment is life everlasting.” Jesus said, “I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” What is the commandment?-The commandment is the life that no man could take away. The commandment is eternal life. God’s law, the law of the kingdom, is his life everlasting. It is simply written words. No, that is not the law [pointing to commandment chart]. What is it?-That is a picture, a statement, of the law, and not the law itself. That writing can not make anybody free. That never came down from the wall and worked itself out in anybody. Everything that is said there is true, but it never did anything; but the real law of God, which it describes, is life everlasting. It is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. His life is the “perfect law of liberty;” for “the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.” GCDB April 9, 1901, page 147.2

“The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.” It is told of Frederick the Great, of Prussia, that he entered a school, and began to examine the children. He picked up from the desk a piece of stone, and said to the children, “To what kingdom does this belong?” They said, “To the mineral kingdom.” There was a plant there, and he picked it up and said, “To what kingdom does this belong?” They said, “To the vegetable kingdom.” He then said to them, “To what kingdom do I belong?” Well, he was the king, and the felt rather delicate about saying, “To the animal kingdom;” so they said, “To God’s kingdom.” That was correct. And that was the answer they might have given to the other questions as well. Everything is a part of God’s kingdom. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 147.3

Let us suppose we have a plant. You have all seen plants, so you can picture them before your eyes. This plant grows toward the light. It grows toward the moisture, sending its roots down, down, down, until they find moisture, if there is moisture below them. If there is a spring on one side of the tree, the leaves will go directly toward that water. They always do that. Here is a climbing plant. It stands alone, and it seems scarcely to know what to do. Stretch a string a little way from it. You know what it will do then. That plant will reach out its tendrils, and they will climb toward that string, as if they had eyes to see it, and will take hold of it and twine about it and climb to the top. Now if you untwine it, and start it the other way, twining it most carefully in the opposite direction to which it was going, it will not stay there. It will untwine itself, and start again in its own way. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 147.4

Why must it go the other way? You say, “That is the law of that plant.” Where did that plant study law? How did that plant know that was the way for it to go? Where is the law book that plants study, and who is the lawyer for them? Who lays down the law? Who tells them, so that they know how to do the right way? People talk about the law of plants as if there were laws written that they should follow. What is the law of the plant?-It is life. It is the life of the Lord in them; it is the life of that word, which, in the beginning, said, Let the earth bring forth grass and herbs and trees. God put his life into them; and that living word continues to work in them. They are never rebellious against his word, and so they always go the right way. But, mind you, it is not necessary for them that the law should be written in a book, for the law is in them-it is their life; neither would it have been necessary for man to have it written in a book if he had been faithful to God. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 147.5

Now what are we? We have it stated in the book of Isaiah, chapter 61:1-3: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” Ye are the Lord’s farm, the Lord’s planting. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” GCDB April 9, 1901, page 147.6

“All flesh is grass.” We are plants, plants in the house of the Lord, to flourish in the courts of our God. The Lord is one, and He has but one law-his own life. Some one says to me, if it is so that it is the life of God and his personal presence in everything, how is it that they always are the same? You see the same things continually recurring. Why is there not frequent change?-Just because the Lord is there. If it were not the Lord, then there would be confusion; but because it is the Lord, we know what to depend upon; for he changes not. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 147.7

There is, then, one law for all the universe, and that is the law of God’s life. We may possibly take up the matter of “the two laws” at another time. The life of the Lord is the law for all creation; and the plants, yea, and the animals as well, follow that law; not because they know how to read, not because there is a law book which they consult to find out how they should grow. No; the life of the Lord is in them, and that is their law. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.1

Take the animals. The Lord said to Job: “Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?” Of the ostrich he said: “God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.” So we see that it is God that imparts understanding even to the birds. It does not come to them by accident. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.2

Take the birds that go south in the autumn. How do they know where to go? How do they know they ought to go? How do they know winter is coming? Or having learned that, how do they know the way there? How do they know the way back again? Oh, you say, they have been there before, and those that have been there before lead the others. But, mind you, every year the birds that fly south first are the young birds, that have never been there before. It is always the young birds that lead the way. The birds that are born this year, will next autumn fly south before the old birds start. That is a fact demonstrated by observation. How do they know where to go? Who taught them? “Oh, that is the law of their nature.” Ah, where did they learn that law? Where is the birds’ law book, where are their chart and compass, so that they know the way to get there? GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.3

You call it instinct. Very good; call it so, if you please. I will show you that instinct is the highest law of man. Read Isaiah 11:1-3: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, [notice that it is a plant], and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord: and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.” GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.4

“Make him of quick understanding;” literally, make him scent the face of the Lord. He will know it by his very nature. The fear of the Lord was instinctive with him, as that is the very highest, and most perfect form of knowledge. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.5

It is a marvelous thing as one stands on the deck of a steamer, at midnight, to think that through the darkness, and in the fog that steamer keeps on its way across the trackless ocean, and we come, without varying one particle, to the right or to the left, to the very harbor for which we started three thousand miles away. It takes years of hard study, and long practice afterwards, to give a man the skill to guide a ship across the ocean; but a bird six months old will make its way across the first time it tries. The bird is better off than a man, isn’t it? GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.6

Well, can man ever get so he can do that?-Yes; when he gets the instinct of a bird: but to as much greater extent, however, than the bird has it, as he is greater than the bird. Then he will be of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and he will know what to do the first time, although he never did it before; because God in him will do that. He will understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity, yea, every good path.” Proverbs 2:9. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.7

You know that in the new heavens and the new earth, from one Sabbath to another, and from one new moon to another, all flesh shall appear before God to worship. They go up to Jerusalem from the uttermost parts of the earth, and they will not have a chart or compass to guide them; but every person, wherever he may be, will go directly to the place. All will then have instinct, the wisdom of the life of the Spirit of God in them. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.8

In the first chapter of Ezekiel we have a picture of the throne of God, a living throne, pulsating with the life of God, sending it forth in a stream of life; it is a throne composed of living creatures, and they go to the right, and they come and go like a flash of lightning, “whithersoever the Spirit was to go, thither their spirit was to go.” Because the spirit of life was in them. That is the way it is in God’s kingdom, when he is allowed his own way, and reigns supreme. That is the working out of the law of God, the life of God in the man. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.9

Now that is the thing that God is going to work among his people. He tells us in the thirty-second psalm, “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, or they will not come near to you.” That is the literal rendering. Do not be like the horse, whose adornment is a badge of slavery. To us God says, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” God, looking at us, will guide us, yea he will look his life into us, and that will set us in the way of his steps. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.10

What is man made for?-For the dwelling-place of God. What was the body created for?-For the Spirit of God; the Spirit of the Almighty is that which gives us understanding. “If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” Now when God, by his Spirit, writes his law in the heart, and puts it in the mind, the man will know the law of God. That is, it will be his very life. It will be his very being; he will think the law of God, because it will be his whole mind, and he will not have any thoughts of his own. He will have forsaken his thoughts and his ways, and taken God’s thoughts. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.11

When man, who is the throne of God, has the Spirit of God fully dwelling in him, that one universal, undivided Spirit thinks God’s thoughts in him, just the same as when my brain thinks, my foot moves. My brain thinks, and I move; whithersoever my spirit is to go, thither my foot is to go, because the same spirit is in it. So when we are joined to the Head, mind you, joined to the Head, with joints and bands, making increase with the increase of God, then as God thinks, the body will move. Impossible?-Oh, no. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.12

The perfect man is the man who does not think for himself, but lets God do his thinking for him. He is a free man; a free thinker, if you please. It is God’s presence that makes a man free. When we get away from God, we come into bondage; only when we hold ourselves as servants of God, are we free. God is to think through our brains, and move through our nerves and muscles, controlling every movement of the body. We yield ourselves voluntarily to God, that God may live in us, using the voluntary muscles just as he does the involuntary muscles; then everything is according to the will of God. All things are of God, then, and God’s life is perfectly manifested. That is the law of God perfectly established in his kingdom. It is the constitution of God. An unwritten law?-Nay; a law written on the fleshly tables of the heart, by the Spirit of the living God. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 148.13

Now just a few minutes here, that we may bring this truth to bear upon a thing that comes up often; and I do not care how you decide it, when you come into Conference; I only want you to see the principle. I want you to see the possibilities there are before the people of God. I want you to see what must necessarily come to the people of God before the end comes, because this gospel of the kingdom must be preached for a witness to all nations, and there will be a people who will be free in God. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 149.1

Some time ago, this kingdom here [the speaker’s own body] had a little insurrection in it. There was lack of harmony in the kingdom. The constitution got out of order. In fact, my constitution was nearly gone. It was about to expire by limitation. It sadly needed amending, and I got it amended. How?-In the only way possible. I got some life into it. I got some fresh life from the Lord, and lo! my constitution was amended; it was right again. And now I have it amended every day. Because although our outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day. It is because of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed; because his compassions fail not; they are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. The life of the Lord is the constitution of the human body. That determines whether we have a good constitution or a bad constitution. If the life of the Lord is held down and repressed, the man has a bad constitution. If the life of the Lord is given free course; if the word of the Lord is glorified in him, then the man has a good constitution. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 149.2

Do you suppose it will ever be possible for God to have a people on this earth that he can rule by his thoughts: that he can work in and dwell in, and that will do as he thinks?-Yes. Now I don’t want you to think that you can get that by abolishing constitutions. That will not do any good. You may say we don’t have any written constitution; but throwing the constitution into the waste basket will not give us the real constitution-God’s life. Not a bit of it. But the thing to do is simply to get the life of the Lord. Just recognize that life wherever it is manifested; recognize God wherever you see him; let that life flow into you, and then, as God thinks, you will act; and not simply you, but also your brother who has the same spirit. Then you will find that you all think the same things, because it is one spirit in you all. If you here in Battle Creek have one spirit, and I over in London have the same spirit, we will find we are thinking the same things. Now I know that this is possible, for I have seen it. I have had that experience again and again; I found that my brother here was thinking the same thing that I over there was thinking,-something new to us both,-and we were preaching the very same thing, almost word for word, as some said: yet we have never had any communication whatever. The Spirit of the Lord talked to us both, and told us both the same thing. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 149.3

I have had this experience, that while one man was receiving a particular truth in one place, another was receiving it in another place, and another getting the same thing in another place, and still another man thinking in the very same line somewhere else; everybody was thinking just alike, and each one knew what the others were thinking about, and yet no one spoke a word to any other. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 149.4

There are marvelous possibilities with the Spirit of God. I am not telling you to-night how to get hold of this life, but only to show you what we have a right to expect, and what we must come to before the end. I hope we may have time later on to learn how to get good constitutions, not simply in the Conferences, but in our own bodies, for that is where the work must begin, because the kingdom of God can never be on this earth as a witness to all the people until every individual person is a witness for God; until we each get the testimony of Jesus; until God speaks through us with his voice. Then will the kingdom of God be here upon this earth; his kingdom will come, and his will will be done in this earth in sinful flesh even as it is done in heaven. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 149.5

What I want you to know is this fact: That somebody will form a part of that perfect kingdom of God. We may, or we may not,-we have our choice. We can do as we please; but that thing is going to be. There is going to be a people composed of representations of every tribe, and nation-white men, black men, yellow men, red men, poor men mostly-some rich men, a few great men, and a great many small men; men of all dispositions, and of all races and nationalities, all over the world-all speaking the same thing at the same time; all manifesting the characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is yet to be. Now if we believe and know that the thing must be, it can be done. The only reason why we fail in realizing it, is because we do not realize what has to be. Our ideas are so limited; we go by precedent, by what we have been taught. Well, does not the apostle Paul say, “Stablished in the faith as ye have been taught”? Yes, but not “after the tradition of men,” not even after our own traditions. Get your orders direct from headquarters. That won’t make you independent from all others. No. Every man is a king, but a king ruling in his own body, and recognizing every other man as a king; and although no man expects anybody to be subject to him, he is subject to every other man. There will be perfect harmony in that kingdom of God, won’t there? Each one will give up his own way, and take God’s way, holding himself subject to the will of God in the others. Then everybody will have what the others have, won’t they? Each person gives up to everybody else, so that each individual will have all that all the rest have. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 149.6

There is glorious freedom for the children of God now; and when at the last the creation itself, that is, the visible creation, the earth itself and all that it contains, which is now subject to vanity-is delivered from the bondage of corruption, it will be delivered only into the glory of the present liberty of the children of God. It is some disadvantage to have a mortal body; it is some disadvantage to have sinful flesh. There are some limitations that will be taken off when we get into the kingdom of God. We can not fly now. By and by we shall be able to fly. We are confined very closely to this earth now; but by and by we shall be able to go wherever we please, throughout all space, and we shall have so much of that instinct that is now in the birds, that we shall be able to take a straight course to Jupiter, or to the utmost bounds of God’s universe, and strike the star we started for, and then we will be able to go back, and we shall not get lost. Why?-The Spirit of God will be in us; the Spirit of God clears the way for us, and guides us in the way. God guides us with his eye, and his eyes are in every place. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 149.7

When we learn the possibility, and know what is expected of us, we shall begin to learn how to come to it: and if we have a chance to talk again, we shall study something of how to get hold of this marvelous life; how to make the connection, so it won’t be simply theory with us, but practice. I know you can come so into touch with the divine life of God that you may have his power, his life, his righteousness, dwelling in you. You know it, too,-some of you. We all know it to some extent, but we want to know it to its perfection; for there is perfection for God’s people. O, in him ye are complete! Think of it! In him! In his fullness; in his perfection, we are complete; because he clothes us with himself; puts himself upon us. Then there will be a people clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners, marching, step by step, shoulder to shoulder, each one shining forth the glory of the Lord, each one of them speaking the words of God; each one living the life of God; each one and all together, the throne of God; so from each one, and from all, the stream of life will flow forth for the refreshing of those who are thirsty. Then every soul will unite with Christ, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” GCDB April 9, 1901, page 150.1

O, what marvelous blessings God has for his people! What a wondrous high-calling it is, that every one is called to be a priest, a minister of God! I do not mean “minister” in the technical sense, but I mean that “as every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God:” that every Christian soul is to be a minister of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ says: “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink,” and they can get a drink. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Christ says, “Come.” Come where?-Come to the river of life, and drink. “We can not say the same thing,” you say? Yes, we may; for Christ says, “He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” So we can say, “Let him that is athirst come.” Come. What for?-To get a drink. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 150.2

O that God would so fill all his people now, at this time, with his life; he will do it; we do not need to wait on him. He has come that we might have life, that we might have it more abundantly. The Spirit of God is brooding over us, to bring order out of chaos, even as in the beginning. What do we need to pray for, that we may live? Come, Lord, in and fill me with thine own fullness. Then we shall all be ministers of life-water carriers, if you please, carrying the water to the people, because that life will overflow, and the people will have a drink. “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely,” not only for himself, but take it to the people, and let them drink from that fountain of God’s life. GCDB April 9, 1901, page 150.3