October 25, 1898

“The Secret of the North” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 43.

EJW

E. J. Waggoner

Present Truth.

The magnetic needle points to the north. Everybody knows the facts, but nobody knows why. There is a mysterious attraction in the north. Mysterious indeed; for the Hebrew word for “north” means, “concealed,” “hidden.” What is this power, which men arbitrarily call “magnetism,” which fills the whole earth, and by which matter is kept from becoming a chaotic mass and going to destruction?-It is God’s own personal influence, for “there is no power but of God.” His secret dwelling-place is “Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the Great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge.” Psalm 48:2, 3. Lucifer, in his mad ambition to set his throne above the stars of God, and to be like the Most High, said: “I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.” Isaiah 14:12-14.ARSH October 25, 1898, page 679.1

“He stretched out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” Job 26:7. The earth hangs upon nothing, upheld by that mighty power that emanates from “the secret place of the Most High,”-the north. That power pervades every particle of matter in the universe, and holds it in its place. In Christ “are all things created, ... for He is before all things, and in Him all things consists,” or “cohere.” Colossians 1:16, 17. He upholds “all things by the word of His power.” Hebrews 1:3.ARSH October 25, 1898, page 679.2

The mind cannot grasp such mighty power. It is but the working out of “the love of God which passeth knowledge,” which is devoted to the well-being of mankind. “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord” (Psalm 33:5), and it his loving-kindness that draws us to him. All the force in nature, by whatever name men know it, whether cohesion, chemical attraction, magnetism, gravitation, or what not, is simply the influence of the Spirit of God, from whose presence none can flee, whether he ascend to heaven, or descend into the depths of the earth, or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.ARSH October 25, 1898, page 679.3