Heritage Sabbath Materials, October 21, 2000

Charles Wesley (1707-1788) wrote this hymn of four stanzas in 1747 under the title “Jesus, Show Thy Salvation”; it was first printed in that same year in Hymns for Those that Seek, and Those That Have Redemption. At that time there was a popular tune set by Purcell to the “Song of Venus” in Dryden’s play King Arthur. The opening words were:

Fairest isle, all isles excelling,
Seat of pleasures and of loves,
Venus here will choose her dwelling
And forsake her Cyrian groves.

Wesley capitalized on the tune and wrote his hymn, which is virtually a composite of many verses of Scripture, showing Wesley’s familiarity with the Bible.

The tune BEECHER was composed especially for these words by John Zundel in 1870 and first appeared in Christian Heart Songs. Born December 10, 1815, at Hockdorf, Germany, Zundel emigrated to the United States, where he spent more than 30 years. He was the organist for 28 years in the Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn, New York, at a time when the famous preacher Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) was the pastor; the tune bears Beecher's name to commemorate him. Zundel was the assistant musical editor for the Plymouth Collection, prepared for the use of Beecher’s congregation, and contributed this tune Beecher and 27 others to that hymnal. He died in July 1882, at Cannstadt, Germany.

Adapted from Wayne Hooper and E. E. White, Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, 1988, and E. E. White, Singing with Understanding, 1968. Used by permission.

Over 100 years ago God gave Ellen White a dream. In the dream she was traveling with a large group of people. Some of the people had their wagons loaded with all their things. The road they were traveling on was steep, and on one side was a big drop-off and on the other side was a high white wall.

The road got narrower and narrower so they had to leave their wagons because there was not room enough for them. Some of the people tied their luggage on the horses and rode the horses.

The path kept getting more narrow, so the people were all crowded near the wall. When their luggage hit it they would sway toward the edge. They were afraid they would fall off the edge, so they cut the luggage from the horses and it fell off the side. When the road became so narrow that they were afraid they would lose their balance, they got off the horses. Finally they left their horses behind and followed each other, walking in each other's footsteps. Just then small white ropes came down the wall and they grabbed them to keep their balance. The ropes moved as they moved. Finally the path became so narrow that they had to take off their shoes and stockings. Even then it was difficult to stay on the narrow and dangerous path.

Many people who were not used to such hard traveling had already stopped climbing. But the people who were used to things being hard kept traveling and wanted to reach the end of the road.

Because the road became so narrow they could not walk on it they had to hold on tight to the ropes saying “We have to hold on from above! We have to hold on from above!” Each person said these words to the next person on the path.

Suddenly the people on the path heard all kinds of noises from below the cliff. They heard naughty words, bad music, loud laughing and also loud crying. The people holding on to the ropes on the wall were more determined than ever to keep going up the narrow path.

The ropes got bigger and stronger. In the dream Ellen saw that the white wall had blood on it. It made her sad to see the beautiful wall stained with blood. Then she realized that when people came up the path and saw the stains they would know that others had been there before them, and even though they suffered a lot of pain they had kept on going up the path. This would encourage them to keep on going, too.

Now the people came to a big cliff below them and the path ended. There wasn’t anywhere to put their feet. They must trust the ropes, which had become very thick. Some of the people wondered where the ropes came from and what was holding them.

Then in her dream Ellen White looked across to the other side from the cliff and saw a beautiful field of green grass about six inches high. She could not see the sun, but bright beams of light like fine gold and silver rested on the field. It was more beautiful than anything she had ever seen on earth. But would they reach the field? What if the ropes broke?

Again the people whispered the words “What holds the ropes?” Then someone said, “Our only hope is to trust in Jesus. The ropes have held us safely all this way; they will still hold us.”

While they were waiting they heard the words, “God holds the ropes. We need not fear.” Then Ellen’s husband James White swung himself over the cliff and landed in the beautiful field. Ellen then took the rope and swung across. Then the rest of the people did the same. They felt so relieved and happy and thankful. They then sang a beautiful song to God.

Many times James and Ellen had hard times, but then they would remember the dream and ask God to be with them and help them.

Let’s remember, boys and girls, that we too are traveling to a beautiful place and if, like the people in the dream, we hold on to the ropes of faith, we will be carried safely to God’s heavenly home.

Adapted from The Spirit of Prophecy Emphasis Stories, vol. 2, pp. 59-62

Introduction

A. Sermon texts: 1 John 4:8, NRSV; James 1:17.

B. These texts state two things about God: He is love, and He gives gifts.

Body

I. God is love.

A. Satan has misrepresented God.
B. Verse by F. M. Lehman.
C. Illustration about Isaac Watts.

II. Because God is love, He loves to give.

A. He gives to those who ask. Matt. 7:11.
B. He gives even to those who do not ask. Matt. 5:45.
C. Everything that we have comes from God. 1 Tim. 6:7; Ps. 24:1

1. Illustration of slippers.
2. “Selected” verse.

D. An enumeration of some of God’s gifts. Counsels on Stewardship, p. 17; The Adventist Home, pp. 497, 100; The Acts of the Apostles, p. 71; Sermons and Talks, vol. 1, p. 233.

III. God’s best Gift—His Son, Jesus. John 3:16.

A. The measure of God’s love. Rom. 8:32; Counsels on Stewardship, p. 14.
B. Christ on the cross. The Desire of Ages, p. 760.
C. What this gift provides for sinners. Ibid., p. 762
D. God loves us as much as He does His own Son. John 17:23.

IV. Special gifts—spiritual gifts.

A. Church members should be knowledgeable about these gifts that are bestowed by the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor. 12:1, 11.

1. Some of these gifts listed. Eph. 4:11.
2. The purpose of the gifts. Eph. 4:12.
3. The church is the body of Christ, with Christ the head. Eph. 4:15. The Spirit distributes varied gifts to meet the needs of the body.

V. The gift of prophecy. 1 Cor. 12:10, 28; Eph. 4:11.

A. Prophets are eyes for the church, or seers. 1 Sam. 9:9; Amos 3:7.

1. Elisha’s experience. 2 Kings 6:8-12.
2. Importance in the final crisis. Rev. 12:17; Matt. 24:24; The Great Controversy, pp. 593, 594.

a. The Bible as the “testimony of Jesus.” Rev. 19:10.
b. Comparison of end-time prophet to pilot as ship enters dangerous harbor.

B. God’s gift of a prophet to the remnant church—Ellen G. White.

1. The scope and benefits of her ministry.
2. The major theme of her writings.
3. Her testimony about her experience. The 1888 Materials, pp. 578, 579.
4. The Exodus movement and the Advent movement compared. Hosea 12:13.

Conclusion

A. The remnant church, as the church in Corinth, has been richly blessed with spiritual gifts, including the gift of prophecy.

B. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gifts!”

George Matheson began to lose his sight before he was a year old; at 17 he was almost completely blind. A brilliant student in spite of this handicap, he gained his B.A. at the University of Glasgow in 1861, his M.A. in 1862, and a B.D. in 1866. He was ordained in 1868 and appointed as parish minister at Innelan, Argyll, on the Firth of Clyde. In the manse there on June 6, 1882, he was, he says, “Suffering from extreme mental distress and the hymn was the fruit of pain.” This pain was not caused by a broken engagement, as that had happened about 20 years earlier, but it might have been a bereavement or his concern over the inroads that Darwinism was making in the church.

This hymn was written very quickly in the space of minutes only, as though it was dictated by an inward voice, and not revised or retouched afterwards. The one exception that was later suggested and agreed upon was in the third stanza where “I climb” now reads “I trace.” In spite of the author’s statement that it was written in 1882, June 1881 may be the correct date. The words, as in most of Matheson’s poems, are not easy to understand on first reading, but become clearer after much thought. The text uses metaphors for a God who will not leave His child forsaken: first Love, then Joy, then the Cross.

George Matheson was born in Glasgow on March 27, 1842. He ministered at Aniline from 1868 to 1886, when he was transferred to St. Bernard’s in Edinburgh. He served there until he resigned, because of ill health, in 1899. He died at North Berwick, Lothian, Scotland, on August 28, 1906. He also wrote SDAH 568, “Make Me a Captive, Lord.”

St. Margaret, the tune to which Matheson's poem was set, was likewise composed very rapidly; its composer, Albert Lister Peace, said that “the ink of the first note was hardly dry when I had finished the tune.” He was requested to supply a tune for Matheson’s words, which he carried with him, ready to jot down the melody as inspiration came to him. He was sitting on the sand on the isle of Arran reading the words when this melody came into his mind. The name of the tune commemorates a queen of Scotland who was a benefactress to the church, thus making this hymn truly a Scottish one.

Peace was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, on January 26, 1844. When only 9 years old, he was organist at the Parish Church at Holmfirth, five miles south of his birthplace. He studied at the University of Oxford, gaining a B.Mus. degree in 1870. After filling several minor posts as organist until 1879, he was appointed organist at Glasgow Cathedral, where he remained until 1897. Then he was called to be organist at St. George’s Hall in Liverpool. He wrote much church and organ music and edited two hymnals. He died in Blundellsans, near Liverpool, on March 14, 1912. In his time he was recognized as one of Britain’s greatest organists.

Adapted from Wayne Hooper and E. E. White, Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, 1988. Used by permission.