The Present Truth, Vol. 17 (1901)

January 3, 1901

"The Child Wonderful" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

"And His name shall be called Wonderful."

That is the name of the Child that is born to us, and the Son that is given to us. How wonderful He is, it will take all eternity to unfold.

Jesus is the ladder that reaches from earth to heaven, the bridge over the gulf between man and God, the bond that makes the two one. The strength and joy and blessing of the Gospel have been lost to thousands of earnest seekers after rest in God, because they, through Pagan and Papal teaching in the professed church of Christ, have regarded the bridge which God Himself has provided, as an impassable gulf, and the ladder as unapproachable. Let us learn by Him to draw near to God, that we may realise our rightful place as sons of God, loved in equal measure with Him "whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity."

Strange as it at first appears to most people, Christ is never truly reverenced until He is recognised as one with us. Every form and act of worship which does not proceed from a knowledge of Christ as one with humanity, in all things like unto His brethren, and of "God with us" in Him, is but some grade of idolatry. He is our Brother, and although He "is passed into the heavens," it is only as "the Forerunner"-the member of the family, who has gone before to prove our claim, and to demonstrate the right of human beings to the inheritance of the everlasting kingdom of God-to a place on the throne of the Lord, among the princes of His people. The title by which Christ always makes Himself known is "the Son of man." "God sent forth His Son, born of a woman."

Remember that Christ did not come to this earth to inaugurate some new order of things, but to reveal "that which was from the beginning." His name is called Wonderful, because childhood is itself wonderful, and is a reality only in Him. Do not be frightened, thinking that we are dishonouring Christ, in applying the name "Wonderful" to all children. Although He is "made higher than the heavens," He is still "the firstborn among many brethren," and though the Government be upon His shoulder, he shares the burden with all His brethren. He is a Kingly Priest, after the order of Melchisedek, but we also are created to be "a royal priesthood."

It is not with the advent of Jesus in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago, that childhood became wonderful; that was only that men might clearly see, and learn to appreciate, the wonder. Christ was manifest in the flesh, in order that mankind might learn the worth of humanity, and not merely of humanity in general, but of every individual human soul. From the beginning some souls had received clearness of vision to enable them to see into the innermost sanctuary,-God's worship,-and grasp the eternal mystery. One of these was David, who in words that every person ought to be able to use as his own, said:-

"Thou hast formed my reins;
Thou hast knit me together in my mother's
womb.
I will give thanks unto Thee; for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Thy works;
And that my soul knoweth right well.
My frame was not hidden from Thee,
When I was made in secret,
And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see mine unperfect substance,
And in Thy book were all my members written,
Which day by day were fashioned,
When as yet there was none
of them."-Ps. cxxxix. 13-16, R.V., margin.

Even though the child have not the inestimable privilege of being well born, the birth is none the less wonderful, and the human infant is the most wonderful of all the marvellous works which God has made, through which to make know His "everlasting power and Divinity." Whatever the disadvantages of birth, they are all overcome in the new birth; and whatever the failure of the parents before the birth of the child, it is their privilege and duty to co-operate with the Holy Spirit's work of begetting him anew, by bringing him up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

According to that which is "written in the law of the Lord," Jesus was formally presented and dedicated to the Lord at the age of six weeks. Luke ii. 23. By Moses God had said, "The firstborn of thy sons thou shalt give to Me." Ex. xxii. 29. "For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are Mine, both man and beast; on the day that I smote every firstborn in Egypt I sanctified them for Myself." Num. viii. 17.

It is not, however, the firstborn only that belong to the Lord. He says: "Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine." Eze. xviii. 4. The firstborn were specially set

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apart to Him at the departure from Egypt, because on that night all the firstborn in Egypt were destroyed, except those of the families that had the blood of the passover lamb sprinkled on the doorposts. That was a representation of the destruction of all the wicked, and a lesson to the effect that only those who are covered by the life of "Christ our passover" (1 Cor. v. 7) can be saved.

On that occasion the firstborn stood for all. They alone were destroyed on that night, but all the children of Egypt perished in the Red Sea a few days later, even as all who do not repent will perish; and not only the first born, but all the children of Israel who trusted in the Lord were saved, even as "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Of the time when all the wicked shall be destroyed, we read, "At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people. Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Jer. xxxi. 1-3.

ALL FIRSTBORN IN CHRIST

Further, the Levites were chosen and set apart to take the place of the firstborn, in the service of the temple. Num. viii. 12. But all whom Christ looses from their sins in His own blood, are made not only priests, but kings. Rev. i. 5, 6. God's choice among His people is not one single family or tribe; but to all He says: "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people (a people for God's own possession); that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light." 1 Peter ii. 9. So the infant Jesus was dedicated to the service of God, not alone to show that all children, last-born as well as first born, should be devoted to God, but to make such sanctification possible. "Ye are complete in Him."

But this dedication of the child to the Lord, which should be done in its earliest infancy, is not the work of but a single hour. The human house, God's temple, complete though it be at the very beginning when first dedicated, is constantly growing, and therefore needs a new consecration every day, indeed every hour. The adult can dedicate himself to God, even though it has never been done for him by his parents; and he can renew his consecration day by day; but the parents must devote the child, and on them devolves the duty of keeping the dedication complete; and to the extent that they fail in this is the way made more difficult for him in after life.

THE POSSIBILITIES OF CHILDHOOD

How few parents appreciate the wondrous trust committed to them, and the grave responsibilities resting on them with the little child. Leaving out the question those who regard it as an unwelcome intruder come to rob them of selfish pleasure and self-gratification, it is a fact that most of those who welcome the advent of the new-born babe with joy, regard it for months of its life more as a plaything than as a sacred gift from God, to be given to God. How few there are who think that the serious education of the child should begin with the first days of its life, and never end.

People are most astonishingly blind concerning the receptiveness of their own children. They would feel deeply affronted if anyone should intimate that their child was lacking in intelligence, yet they themselves will not give it credit for having as much quickness of perception as the family dog. All sorts of nonsense is talked to it, and in fact it scarcely ever hears anything else. Then all its winning little ways are noted and freely commented upon in its presence, and it is constantly being stimulated to show them off, especially before company.All this is done in seeming total unconsciousness that not only are valuable opportunities being neglected; but impressions are being made that can be effaced only at the expense of much effort, and which may cause lifelong pain and sorrow to the innocent victim of the vanity and ignorance of its parents.

Now it is a fact that not only no other creature, but no adult human being, has so clear perceptive faculties or so vast a power of comprehension as a child. At no other period of one's life does one learn so much as in the first two years. Within that period, or by the end of the third year, at most, the child learns a language, and in many cases two, or even three, without any difficulty, besides accumulating by observation a great store of facts. No naturalist ever observes so closely, or to so good purpose, as a little child. The deep things of God, which are hid from the wise and prudent, are revealed unto babes (Matt. xi. 25); yet most parents seem to think that it is impossible to make any religious impressions on the mind of a child under three or four years of age, or that its whole life may be permanently shaped before that age. Indeed, very few give it a thought.

We do not of course mean that a child of tender years should be drilled in theological dogma; for that is not necessarily religious teaching even for an adult; but the parents who know the Lord as a personal Friend, and who have learned to recognise the Life, as it is manifested, and who also appreciate the almost infinite possibilities in the soul committed to their keeping, will learn of the God who has entrusted His child to their care, how to order the child, and what they shall do to it. In Christ all things are possible, for He is set forth as "the Man," the example for all other lives, the measure of their possibilities, and the means for their fulfilment.

"Kingly Authority. Matt. xxi. 1-17" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

(Matt. xxi. 1-17.)¹1

"And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them and bring them unto Me. And if any man say aught unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he shall send them."

"All this was done, that it might be fulfiled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass.

"And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them. And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set Him thereon.

"And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.

"And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying; Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest."

Who would think of selecting an unbroken colt, on which no man had ever sat, for a king to ride on when making a grand entry into the capital? It is not

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that the beast would not be worthy, but that it could not be expected to conduct itself in a crowd as would be fitting, and the king would not be able to preserve the necessary dignity for such a grand occasion. All his attention would be occupied in attempting to manage the animal, if indeed he would be able to keep his seat at all. But this unbroken colt took Jesus through the shouting multitudes as quietly as the most mature saddle horse, unmindful of the waving palm branches and the fluttering garments. How was this? and what significance has it?

This indicated that Jesus was indeed King, possessed of the dominion originally given to man. The beasts, as well as the winds and the waves and the multitudes, were obedient to Him, because all recognised in Him a Master. Even the devils, rebellious as they were, obeyed His commands. He came in that humble manner, to show that with the meek there is salvation, and that the highest things of God come from the lowest things of earth.

THE CROSS A ROYAL THRONE

It was a royal procession, yet Jesus alone knew what it all meant. The people were fulfilling prophecy, yet not one of them thought that they were using the words foretold by the prophet hundreds of years before. Nor did they know to what sort of throne Christ was going; if they had, they would not have cheered Him. It was but a few days afterward that many of this same multitude, swayed by the chief priests, were crying out, "Crucify Him! crucify Him!" The throne to which Jesus was going was the cross of Calvary. If the people had known this at first, they would not have hailed Him as king, for they would have considered that as the end of His career; so small was their spiritual perception. Yet that cross was indeed a throne. Yea, it was "a throne high and lifted up" (Isa. vi. 1), for by it He was "lifted up from the earth" (John xii. 32), even to "the right hand of God" in heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come," with "all things under His feet." Eph. i. 20-22. A grand and mighty throne is the cross of Christ, and every one who is crucified with Him, is sure to live and reign with Him, sharing His authority. Rom. vi. 8; v. 17. How sad it is that people will applaud the outward show of power, even though it be but the tinsel that covers a sham, and despise the greatness that hides itself in humble garb.

PRAISE IS POWER

Another manifestation of the character of Christ's royal authority was seen when Jesus arrived at the temple. The children took up the shout, and whoever has felt the tears rush to his eyes when he has heard the innocent, tender voices of children, lifted up in songs of praise to God, will be able to realise something of how grateful to Jesus was this token of loyalty. But when the chief priests and scribes heard "the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto Him, Hearest Thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise?" Compare this with Ps. viii. 2, from which it is quoted, and you will see that the original reads, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." Thus we see that praise is power, and that in order to still the enemy God puts the strength of praise into the mouths of little children. How many mistakes the leaders in the church have made! When enemies have raged against the truth, they have thought it necessary to deliver learned sermons and write deep, theological treatises against them. Yea, they have often thought it necessary to appeal to law, and to use force, to compel blasphemers to keep silence; but God has told us that songs and shouts of triumphant praise even in the mouths of little children, are that which is to "still the enemy and the avenger." Why do not the leaders and all the adult members of the church employ the same weapon against the adversary?

CLEANSING POWER

"And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." There was the power of the royal priest, and that was an illustration of what Jesus still does when He makes His triumphal entry through the power of the cross. The Lord says: "I will send My Messenger, and He shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in; behold He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." "And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." Mal. iii. 1, 3.

Our bodies are the temple of God. 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17; vi. 19. The Lord is surely coming to His temple; but "who may abide the day of His coming?" The Jews would not accept His cleansing of the ancient temple, and so, instead of standing for ever, it had to be destroyed; for "if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." God would cleanse us by the coming of His messenger; but if we refuse to be cleansed, then will His coming destroy us. But the power and glory of His coming to destroy, is the power of His coming to save. The fire that burns up the finally impenitent is the fire that consumes the sins of those who have allowed themselves to be cleansed.

In cleansing us He heals. As soon as the temple was cleansed, "the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple; and He healed them." There was authority exhibited in the cleansing of the temple-power which caused the traders that defiled it to flee in terror; yet that was the power that healed the lame and the blind. Take notice that all the power of the Lord, even when it appears in awful majesty, striking terror to the hearts of the wicked and working destruction, is simply cleansing power, and is always working only to cleanse. The fire that will burn up the wicked at the last, will be the fire sent to cleanse the earth from the curse. Shall we experience the blessedness of that cleansing power? or shall we resist it and so be destroyed by it? We have our choice. If we yield, we feel the cleansing power; if we resist, we feel only the destruction, and the cleansing process leaves us as though we had not been. Then let us say,

"Every day, every hour,
Let me feel Thy cleansing power."

"Blessed is he who transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Knowing and Doing God's Will" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

"If a person, while not clearly understanding the plan of salvation, acts up to known duties, will this bring him where he can better understand and appreciate this truth, or will it only show that he is seeking justification by his own works?"

What saith the Scriptures?

"God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him." Acts x. 34, 35.

"If any man willeth to do His will; he shall know of the teaching." John vii. 17.

"When the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or also excusing one another." Rom. ii. 14, 15.

"The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works." "He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death." Ps. cii. 19, 20.

God is anxious to save, not to condemn. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." 2 Cor. v. 19. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and man loved darkness rather than light." God is listening to hear the first faint longing of every human heart for that which is good, and is waiting to supply the want; for "He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness." Ps. cvii. 9.

This being the case, it is evident that God will not condemn any soul for that which he does not know. If a man knew only one single thing as being right, and loved and did that one thing, he would certainly be saved. And if he really loved the good, he would certainly do all the good that should be revealed to him; and more would certainly be revealed, "for light is sown for the righteous." And when this man, loving the good, should find out, as he very soon would, that in the Lord alone is there righteousness and strength, he would most surely lay hold of that only means of righteousness. In the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. Rom. i. 17.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Preparation for Eternity" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

"What will fit a person to dwell on the earth made new, is the presence of the God who made heaven and earth, who cannot bear sin in His kingdom?"

Here is the question repeated, and answered by inspiration:-

"Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved." Ps. xv. 1-5.

"Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. v. 5.

"Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." Matt. v. 8.

"Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. xxii. 14.

And how shall we obtain this righteousness?-"The righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, being justified (made righteous) freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rom. iii. 21-24.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Shaving, Hair-cutting, and Pruning" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

"Does the teaching of Lev. xix. 27 apply to us in these days? Is it right to remove that which God has given to man, evidently for protection, for the sake of personal appearance?"

There can be no doubt but that whatever commandment God has once given applies equally at all times. Yet this is far from being the same as saying that a man should never shave, or have his hair cut. Although this may seem to be a trivial matter, and is so in one sense, I think it is worth while devoting a few moments to it, since some people are greatly troubled because of a misunderstanding of it, and some judge others harshly. I once knew a man who disfellowshipped an entire church, refusing to take the communion with them, because there were some who shaved, and because all the men at least had their hair trimmed.

Now let us read some texts. The one referred to says: "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard." The verse following continues: "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you; I am the Lord." This indicates that it is some special mark of idolatry, that is forbidden.

In Lev. xxi. 5 we read that the Lord's priests were forbidden to "make baldness upon their head." They were also forbidden to make "cuttings in their flesh." Compare this with 2 Kings xviii. 28, where we read that the priests of Baal cut themselves till the blood gushed out upon them, in their frantic attempts to make their god hear them, and it is evident that making baldness upon the head and cuttings in the flesh were customs peculiar to heathen priests. The custom of making baldness in the head is perpetuated still by the Romish priests, and is undoubtedly as wrong now as when God first forbade it. It is a sign of heathenism.

Nevertheless the priests of God were not forbidden to cut their hair. In Ezek. xliv. 19, 20 we read that the priests were to change their garments when the came

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forth from the sanctuary to sanctify the people; "neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads." We must certainly allow God to interpret Himself. He would not tell the priests to cut their hair, if He had forbidden it.

The sixth chapter of Numbers contains the law of the Nazarites. All the days of their vow, no razor was to come upon their heads, but when the days of his separation were fulfilled, the order was, "The Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." Verse 18. So we read in Acts xviii. 18, that Paul sailed into Syria, "having shorn his head in Cenebrea; for he had a vow." And he wrote: "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" 1 Cor. xi. 14.

From all this, therefore, you may know that you are not transgressing a commandment, nor defiling the temple of God, if you cut your hair or your finger nails. In a perfect state it would undoubtedly be unnecessary to do more for plants than to train them up in the way they should grow, but on account of the curse it is necessary for the gardener to use the pruning knife, and to cut off many things that God makes grow. So in the new earth, with new bodies, there will be nothing superfluous about our bodies, that will need to be cut off, even as we shall not need to wear clothes; but while we have these mortal bodies we are under the necessity of constantly using the pruning knife and shears.

"A Sad Outlook" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

While some make themselves believe that the world is growing better, and try to make others believe it. Dr. Chavasse, Bishop of Liverpool, takes a different view. In his recent Advent Pastoral he says:-

When we look at our own land, we see indifference, impurity, intemperance, and the curse of gambling spreading on every side. The love of self has weakened and obscured faith in a living God.

At the same time he sees a vast and growing population, with untold possibilities of good, waiting to be leavened with the spirit and teaching of Jesus Christ.

Where are the people who are waiting to be sent by the Lord to carry His message to these waiting ones?

"The Children. 'The Pilgrim's Progress'" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

These words are very familiar to most of you. No doubt some of you have read Bunyan's beautiful allegory that he calls by this name, in which he sets forth experiences of the Christian, from the time he starts out from the city of destruction, the land of sin, until be reaches the beautiful city of the great King, along whose highway he has been travelling.

Do you know that in His Word the Lord has given us a living picture of the very same thing? Have you read the history of God's people, the Children of Israel, whom He led forth out of Egypt, the land of darkness, sin, and hard bondage? He had promised to their fathers to give them the beautiful land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and when His time came for fulfilling the promise,

"He led them forth by the right way,
That they might go to a city of habitation."

In the seventy-eighth Psalm we are told of a few of the experiences that they met with in the way, as they journeyed through "the waste, howling wilderness."

"He led forth His own people like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock."
"He clave the sea, and caused them to pass
through;
And He made the waters to stand as an heap.
"He led them safely, so that they feared not
But the sea overwhelmed their enemies."
"In the daytime also He led them with a cloud,
And all the night with a light of fire.
He clave rocks in the wilderness,
And gave them drink abundantly, as out of the
depths,
He brought streams also out of the rock,
And caused waters to ran down like rivers."
"He commanded the skies above,
And opened the doors of heaven;
And He rained down manna upon them to eat,
And gave them of the corn of heaven.
Man did eat angels' food,
He gave them meat to the full."

Would you not think that such a people,-led by God, sheltered by the cloud that He spread over them for a covering, fed with bread from heaven, and fresh water flowing from the smitten rock,-would you not think that they would have been happy and content, and thought themselves most highly favoured?

But no; they were constantly murmuring against God, and against Moses, whom God had placed over them. They even grumbled at the angels' food which He gave them, to make them strong and healthy, and wished that they might have some of the things that they had been used to in Egypt, although they were not good for them. In spite of all that God had done to show His love for them, and His power to save them, yet

"For all this they sinned still,
And believed not in His wondrous works.
"How oft did they rebel against Him in the
wilderness,
And grieve Him in the desert!"

But did God cast them off because of their sin and murmuring, and leave them to perish in "the waste, howling wilderness"? On, no; for He is Love; and "like as a Father pitieth His children," so He pitied, forgave, and loved them still.

"But He, being full of compassion, forgave their
iniquity, and destroyed them not;
Yea, many a time turned He His anger away,
And did not stir up all His wrath.
And He remembered that they were but flesh
A wind that passeth away and cometh not
again."

Now in all these things the Lord is giving us an Object Lesson, He is picturing before us the trials and temptations that will come to us, and showing us the sinfulness of our own hearts. In His tender care for His people He is teaching of His Fatherly love for us; and in all the mighty works that He did for them, He wants us to see His power to save us from all our enemies, to provide for all our needs, and to keep us from all evil.

Speaking of these things,-of Israel in the wilderness, of the sea through which they passed and of the cloud that covered them, of the manna, and the water from the rock, and of the sinful murmuring of the people against God, Paul says:-

"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples, and are written for our admonition." That is, these things are examples of what we shall have to meet in our journey through the wilderness of this world, to the better country God has promised us, and they are written to teach us not to make the same mistakes that they did.

In the seventy-eighth Psalm from which we have been reading, we are told just why the Psalmist was moved by the Holy Spirit of God to tell us these things:-

"Telling to the generation to come the praises of
the Lord,
And His strength, and His wondrous works
which He hath done,
That they should make them known to their
children:
That the generation to come might know them,
even the children which should be born;
Who should arise and tell them to their children:
That they might set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments."

Oh, then, here is something for the children; something that the Lord had written

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out especially for you, even before you were born. Here is something that the Lord wants all the children to know, so that the children "may set their hope in God," and learn to love and trust Him. He had this written so that the children might "not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments."

Then, children, let us, in the weeks to come, take this journey together, starting out with the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, following the pillar of cloud by day, and cheered and warmed and protected by the pillar of fire by night; let us go with them through the sea that swallowed up all their enemies; feed with them upon the heavenly bread, and drink the living water from the rock.

And as we do this together, may the Lord Himself teach us all what He wanted them to learn, so that we, pilgrims going through this world to the world to come, may be daily stepping heavenward, making true progress on the highway to Zion, seeing God's works, and thus learning His ways.

"'Save the Children'óAnd the Adults" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

The British Anti-Tobacco League has just issued from its headquarters at Manchester a manifesto headed, "Save the Children."

While rejoicing that "the conscience of the nation to being aroused to the evils of juvenile smoking," and quoting General Baden-Powell's dictum that "a youth who smokes, because he thinks it manly, is just as liable to drink or swear because he has known men to do it," the League appeals to "Christian workers, employers of labour, and all philanthropists and promoters of moral movements to assist in the work of saving the children from this evil." It is considered that "it could not be difficult even to secure the early passage of a Bill making it the law of the land to prohibit the use of tobacco by any under (at least) sixteen years of age, and that it be made a punishable offence to sell it to any such person, if all interested will put forth earnest and special effort to attain this end."

That tobacco-smoking is highly detrimental to all youth, is recognised and admitted by all, smokers as well as non-smokers. But how that which is poisonous to a youth can be harmless to a man, nobody has made appear. At what age do the noxious effects of tobacco upon the human being cease? It is well known that a bit of nicotine from an old pipe will kill any sort of a beast or creeping thing, no matter what its age. Men resist its effects to a degree, because the system gradually becomes accommodated to it, just as to opium and arsenic. There is a great stir over arsenic in beer, yet where arsenic has slain its tens, tobacco has slain its ten thousands.

We heartily endorse the work of the League, and echo, "Save the children;" but we will add that nobody with a pipe in his mouth, or the odour of tobacco about him, need think that any talk from him about the dangers from juvenile smoking will have may effect.

"A Dark Outlook" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

Never was there a darker time or a more gloomy outlook than when the earth was created. "The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was the face of the deep." Surely there was not any prospect of a crop, the farmer would say. If people had been there, there would certainly have been many who would doubtingly have asked, "Who will show us any good?" Truly might it be said, "Everything looks dark."

But things were not as black as they seemed. The darkness and the light are both alike to God, and He said, "Let there be light; and there was light." He "commanded the light to shine out of darkness." Out of the very darkness itself, He brought light.

This is written for our comfort, and hope, "for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts; to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. iv. 6. The darkness is always past, and the true Light ever shineth, to those who know the Lord; for "unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness."

Therefore "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee." Isa. Ix. 1, 2 God has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. So no matter how dark the prospect may be, if we abide in Christ, and allow His works to be manifested in us, our light shall rise in obscurity, and our darkness shall be as the noonday. Isa. Iviii. 10. What a blessed Gospel that can make even darkness a light for our feet!

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

-The Pope has issued a Bull extending the jubilee for six months to Catholics throughout the world, Rome accepted.

-A Fifeshire postman, who has just retired after forty-five years' service, has walked 105,000 miles during his rounds.

-The weather this holiday season has been the warmest known in England for many years, but there have been destructive gales at sea.

-It is stated that, banishment to Siberia having been abolished by order of the Czar, a four years' imprisonment,-a penalty much worse for an educated man than exile and settlement,-is to take its place, so that the change is considered as anything but a reform.

-There are more than fourteen times as many barristers in England now as there were one hundred years ago.

-More than one hundred tons of mistletoe were sent from Rouen, France, to British ports during Christmas week.

-From various quarters of the kingdom reports come of flowers in bloom, and of birds building nests and laying eggs.

-There are now in the United Kingdom 4,843 Congregational churches and mission stations, which report sittings provided for 1,744,110 persons.

-A Polish engineer in the employ of the Turkish Government is pulling down the ancient temples and palaces of Magnesia, in Asia Minor, to provide cheap building material.

-The Cape to Cairo telegraph has now been laid to a point fifty miles beyond the southern end of Lake Tanganyika.

-About 1,000 trains run in and out of Liverpool-street Station every day, and returns for the month of December show that, in spite of fog, 80 per cent. of the trains arrived at the terminus within three minutes of the appointed time.

-Plague continues bad in Myrose and getting worse in Bengal. In one of his speeches on tour in Myrose, Lord Curzon said that since its first appearance in August 1898 plague had carried off not less than twenty-five thousand victims in the Myrose State.

-The Chicago University received ?300,000 from Mr. John Rockefeller as a Christmas present. This makes Mr. Rockefeller's gift to the endowment fund of the university nearly ?2,000,000, so that it is one of the riches educational institutions in the world.

-In view of successful experiments in telephoning between Key West, in Florida, and Havana in Cuba, a distance of one hundred miles, leading scientists declare that it will not be long before people in England and America will be able to talk with one another by telephone.

-The recent German census shows there are now thirty-three towns in the empire, with a population of over 100,000, exactly the same number as in the British isles. Five years ago there were twenty-six, and at the establishment of the empire in 1871, only eight. Thirteen towns have a population of over 200,000, against eighteen in the British Isles; while seven have over 300,000, against nine in the United Kingdom.

-It is reported from Constantinople that the Porte persistently refuses to allow alien Jews to stay in Palestine longer than three months, and the right to purchase immovable property is also denied them. All protests by the various Ambassadors against these measures have been in vain. The measures are intended to prevent permanent settlements of Jews, the Porte apprehending troubles in connection with the Zionist movement, which is regarded as tending to the political restoration of Judea.

-The Glasgow Herald's annual report on the shipbuilding of the United Kingdom and the world, states that the paper has returns representing 1,925 vessels of an aggregate of two man at 2,369,861 tons and 1,806,603 indicated horse-power, as compared with 1,860 vessels of 2,444,232 tons and 1,946,193 horse-power last year. To the grand total the United Kingdom contributed 1,237 vessels of 1,639,950 tons and 1,167,543 indicated horse-power, and foreign countries 688 vessels of 729,911 tons and 649,060 horse-power.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

The office of publication has on hand a limited number of bound volumes of PRESENT TRUTH for 1900, which can be obtained at the low price of 5s., postage 9d. extra. Anybody who wishes to make a present of a book to a friend, cannot find anywhere so much valuable matter, and so great variety, for the same amount of money. To those who have preserved their copies of PRESENT TRUTH during the year, the office can supply covers for 1s. 6d.

"The Coming Century and the Present Eternity" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

Much is being said now about the close of the century, and the beginning of the new, for the controversy over the time of the beginning of the twentieth century seems to have ended; and there is a general expression of opinion that an important epoch is being marked; yet the new year and the new century have come in as noiselessly as any hour in the centuries past, and no one has been conscious of the crossing of the line.

The fact is that these divisions of time are purely arbitrary. The year is not in itself an arbitrary division, but the commonly accepted time for its beginning and close is. The idea of beginning a new year in the middle of winter is as senseless and absurd as that of beginning a new dap in the middle of the night. Moreover, as is well known, we are already really between three and four years into the twentieth century since the birth of Christ. The talk about this important turning point is therefore mostly imagination and sentiment.

Still we would not minimise the importance of the time. On the contrary, we would magnify it, by emphasising the importance of every day and every hour, yea, every minute. Every minute marks the close of a year of many lives, and the close of many lives, as well. And every minute really contains eternity. Thus: decisions involving eternity are made in a single moment. The one who is a moment too fate in accepting Christ, is an eternity too late. We have not a new century before us, but only a moment; but if we rightly appropriate that moment, we have eternity before us. And we have eternity not only before is, but present with us; for God who inhabits eternity, and in whom is eternity, is with us. Christ is "God with us," and He is the One who was, and is, and is to come. He is with us to deliver us by the power of an endless life, and He concentrates into every moment the power of eternity. "All things are yours; whether . . . things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." Thank God, we are not required to strain our eyes trying to look ahead, but have only to look up and receive every good and perfect gift as it comes down.

"An Abiding New Year" The Present Truth 17, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

A GREETING ON JANUARY 1, 1901

"A Happy New Year!" These are the words that will be on all lips to-day. And mingled with the greeting, and suggested by it, will be thoughts of the new century on which we are now entering.

But is it indeed a new year to you? It may be; for God has said: "Behold, I make all things new." But that which He makes new can never become old. So if this be to us really the beginning of a new year, the passing days will not wear out the blessing, but the experience of newness, of freshness, will be to us an ever present reality.

"O timely happy, timely wise,
Hearts that with rising morn arise;
Eyes that the beam celestial view,
Which evermore makes all things new."

But how is it that all things are to be thus made and kept ever new? you ask. A most important question, truly, and he who knows the answer, knows the whale secret of life, of health, of everlasting youth. Hers is the answer: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new."

Ah, here is the secret, here is the mystery, summed up in one word, Christ,-"If any man be in Christ." For Christ is "the Beginning," so "if any man be in Christ," he is always "in the beginning," and life for him is for ever new, for ever beginning, for ever fresh. Such an one can know no decay, no change, except "from strength to strength," "from glory to glory!"

Time passes, and all that belongs to time is carried away in its swiftly flowing stream.

"Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away."

But "if any man be in Christ," he is no longer the son of time; for Christ "inhabits eternity," and His name is "I AM." Eternity passes not; it is. And he who is in Christ dwells in eternity. By the "power of and endless life" imparted to us, we become the children of the Eternal One, and "in Him we are." Then time that bears its sons away cannot touch us, cannot stamp upon us the ever-deepening traces that mark us for its own, until, with all "that which decayeth and waxeth old," we are "ready to vanish away."

"If any man be in Christ" the stream of eternity, which is "the power of an endless life," flows through him, and washes away all the rubbish left by the stream of time, until, instead of vanishing away, "mortality is swallowed up of life;" "death is swallowed up in victory!"

"There is a river, the streams whereof make
glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most
High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be
moved."

Then let us this New Year be sure that we begin at the beginning, and "in the beginning,-God." Not this New Year's day only, but every day let us remember that "all my springs are in Thee." Let every undertaking be begun, continued and finished in Him, for all that cannot be so done must belong to those old things that are "passed away" "if any man be in Christ."

And not only let everything be begun in Him, but let us be quite sure that He is the beginning of it,-that is, that the very suggestion of all that we undertake may come from Him alone; that it may be the impulse of His Holy Spirit guiding our minds, His power controlling our wills and using all our members to do His own sweet and holy will. Then we can go in no way but "whithersoever the Spirit is to go;" and this is always the right way, and "a new and living way." For the Way of God is Christ, "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." He is the "path of the just, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day," the Light of the world, whose, beams celestial evermore make all things new.

This glorious Sun of Righteousness is shining upon us this New Year's morning. May our hearts so fully turn to Him, that in His heavenly beams all old things may for ever pass away, and all things become and continue for ever new.

January 10, 1901

"The Child Minister" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Last week, in the article about the dedication of the child to the Lord, we spoke briefly of the wonderful possibilities of childhood, and of the importance of renewing day by day the consecration of the child, made in its earliest infancy, and of making the most of the first years of its life, when the permanent mould can be given to its whole future. This week we have for consideration a most striking example of what a child may be when it is dedicated to the Lord even before birth, and is trained for the Lord's service.

The name Samuel means "asked of God," and the story of Hannah's longing, and of her earnest prayer for a son, her vow to give him to the Lord if one were given her, and her inspired song of thanksgiving when the promise was fulfilled (1 Sam. i. and ii.) is one of the tenderest, sweetest, and most thrilling in the Bible.

At the time when Samuel was born, religion and morals were at a very low ebb in Israel. Eli, the high priest, was a kindly old man, but weak and irresolute. He knew the Lord, yet he seems to have been somewhat deficient in spiritual discernment, as he thought that Hannah's earnestness of spirit in prayer was an indication of drunkenness. His harsh reproof (1 Sam. i. 9-15) seems to reveal something of the same obtuseness that characterised the mockers on the day of Pentecost. Acts ii. 4, 13.

Eli seems to have been personally upright in character, but his two sons were "sons of Belial,"-worthless follows, "they knew not the Lord." They "made themselves vile, and he restrained them not." 1 Sam. iii. 13. They were grossly profligate (1 Sam. Ii. 22), and their immorality was well known among all the people; for Eli said to them: "I hear of your evil doings by all this people. Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear." 1 Sam. ii. 23, 24. Indeed, they made no attempt to conceal their wicked ways, for their licentious practices were carried on in public, and they made the Lord's people to transgress. If there was a man who protested against their contempt for the Lord's injunction to burn all the fat of the offerings, the answer would be, "Thou shalt give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force."

When such was the conduct of the priests, the messengers of the Lord of hosts, at whose mouth the people had to seek the law (Mal. ii. 7), it can easily be gathered that there was not much fear of God among the people. Hannah's piety was the exception, and one would naturally say that she would wish to keep her son by her until he was grown, and his habits were so well fixed that he would be proof against temptation. What a terrible place even the tabernacle of the Lord was at that time, to which to send a little child! And yet Hannah, not only without any expressions of fear or regret, but with a song of the highest rejoicing, left the child of her deepest affections in that hotbed of iniquity. The fact that he was in Eli's house was no safeguard, for Eli had no parental authority or discipline.

How could she do such a thing? Be sure that it was not because of indifference to Samuel's welfare, nor any lack of appreciation of the responsibility resting on her as a mother. On the contrary, it was because she had the highest sense of maternal duty, and had discharged it, and she knew and had confidence in the truth, not then written, but none the less the truth, "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it."

"And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious [rare] in those days; there was no open vision." "And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh; for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord." 1 Sam. iii. 1, 19-21. With the first wonderful revelation to Samuel, and the grave message committed to him for Eli, everybody is acquainted. Amid all the corruption of the priest's household, Samuel retained his first purity and innocence, and through his whole life enjoyed the intimate acquaintance of God, and the confidence and esteem of all the people.

Yet he was but "a child" of very tender age when he was sent out from under the parental roof, to begin his life work. It is frequently repeated, that he was "a child." He is called "the child Samuel;" "Samuel ministered before the Lord; being a child." 1 Sam. ii. 18. How old was he? Rather, how young was he? Read the record: "The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then will I bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide for ever. And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only the Lord establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh: and the child was young." 1Sam. i. 21-24. In 2 Chron. xxxi. 16, 15, we learn that the Levites, who served about the sanctuary, began to receive their portion of the dedicated things "from three years old and upward," even "every one that entereth into the house of the Lord, his daily portion for their service in their charges according to their courses." From this it has been inferred that the Hebrews were accustomed to nurse their children until the age of three years. This is made positive by the history of the persecutions by Antiochus, recorded in 2 Maccabees vii., where the mother of seven sons exhorted her youngest to be faithful, by the fact that she had given him suck three years. Samuel was therefore undoubtedly three years old when he departed for ever from his father's house, to be a minister, a servant, in the house of the Lord.

Do not begin to talk about "precocity." There is not the slightest intimation that Samuel was an extraordinary child, or that he had more than usual mental development. The account of the Lord's first communication to him, shows him to have been an innocent, artless, natural child. There is nothing to indicate that Samuel was in any way different from what all children ought to be. The history was written for a purpose, and the chief lesson to be learned from it is the early age at which the character of a child may be fixed for the right, provided its parents appreciate the possibilities of childhood, and are absorbed in devotion to their duty to it.

At an age when children are by most people thought scarcely capable of receiving religious impressions, the principles of righteousness has been so firmly implanted in Samuel that he was proof against corruption. Upon his mother's breast he had imbibed the Word of God, by taking heed to which the young may keep themselves

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from sin. Ps. xvii. 4; cxix. 9. The words of David and of Christ, "Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts" (Ps. xxii. 9, 10), were true of Samuel. Oh, that every parent would grasp this wondrous truth, and would believe that the child may, even from its mother's breast, drink in the Word of life! What a witness in a corrupt age such children would be! But the parents most first realise the fact that their bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, and must allow the Lord to have His way freely in His own sanctuary.

But Hannah did not abandon her child, nor think that her work for him was finished when he entered the Lord's service. "His mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice." We may be sure that the coat that she brought him was not a mere bodily covering, but that he was taught to regard it as a reminder of "the garments of salvation" and "the robe of righteousness" with which God clothes His people. Those yearly visits were links in the chain that bound mother and child together. So firmly had the foundation of character been laid in the three years that Samuel was upon his mother's breast, that the instruction given in the brief yearly visits served to maintain the superstructure.

We frequently see references to the words of a Catholic priest, to the effect that if he could have the training of a child the first six years of its life, he would not fear that it would afterward depart from the Catholic religion; yet those who read and quote these words with approval do not seem to allow them to rest on their minds. It is a fact that the Catholic Church seams to set a higher value upon child training than any other people do. Is it not sad that the church of Christ has not the perception that the church of the world has? "The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." If we have not been impressed by the activity of the apostate church, nor by its success in holding people in the bondage of error, simply by diligently improving the opportunity offers by the impressibility of childhood, let us learn the lesson from God's Word. To every parent we would say, Train yourself to train your children; neglect not a single moment of their existence; believe that no work can possibly yield surer or more lasting results; put only the soundest material into the growing temple; and at the last you can say with boldness, "Behold I and the children which God hath given me."

"A Glorious Death. John xii. 20-33" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

(John xii. 40-88.)²1

Jesus had driven the traders from the temple, after His lowly yet triumphant royal entry into Jerusalem, and was engaged in teaching and healing the people. "Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast; these therefore came to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew; Andrew cometh, and Philip, and they tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shell keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be; if any man serve Me, him will the Father honour. Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The multitude therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it had thundered; others said, An angel hath spoken to Him. Jesus answered, and said, This voice hath not come for My sake, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Myself. But this He said, signifying by what manner of death He should die."

This was Christ's preparation of the Greeks, and of others who heard Him, as well, for that which was to follow in a few days, when Jesus should be "lifted up" on the cross, and exposed to the derision of the mob. The lesson is none the less needed by us; for the true glory of dying is much misunderstood. Men talk of "glory" on the field of battle, where the world will look on and applaud their valour; but the only really glorious death-the death that glorifies-is the silent death of anguish, the death that in the eyes of the world is shame and disgrace.

It is true that death is the way to glory, yet not true in the sense that most people regard it. The death of the body does not usher the soul into glory and immortality; that comes only at the coming of the Lord. But Christ's life and experience is the pattern for all; His way to glory is the only way, for He is the way; and the only way that He could get to glory, when He was once in this world, was by the cross. The Holy Spirit testified in all the prophets of "the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." 1 Peter i. 11. He said, "If any man serve Me, let him follow Me." "The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." 1 Peter v. 10. And "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Rom. viii. 18.

Christ is the Seed, the source of all life. The fruit that He brings forth is the sons that He brings to glory; and this could be done only through suffering. Heb. ii. 10. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." The glory of the seed is the green leaf and the ripened fruit; but in order for this to come, it must die. The seed sown is seen no more, but its life is reproduced in many others; so the only begotten Son of God, being in the form of God, would not hold His equality with God, but "emptied

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Himself" (Phil. ii. 6, 7, R.V.), never again to be seen in that form; His life passes into those whom He redeems from the power of death, and henceforth He is known only as one of them, and one with them. Even so no soul of man can be glorified except through the death of the cross; not the death of some one apart from himself, but his crucifixion with Christ.

Crucifixion is not pleasant, but the reverse. Christ did not deceive Himself with false hopes. There was never any glamour about the cross, which was before Him from the beginning of His ministry. He knew what it meant and said, "Now is My soul troubled." So terribly heavy was the cross, that later on He cried out in agony, "If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me." Yet He would not ask unconditionally for it to be removed. "Shall I say," He asked, "Father, save Me from this hour?" How could He, when it was for the sufferings of that hour that He came into the world? So He asks instead, "Father, glorify Thy name." That solves every difficulty, when spoken from the heart, with a full understanding that the way of glory, even to the name of God, is through suffering, and suffering to us as well as to Him.

God puts His name upon the Gentiles (Acts xv. 17) as well as upon Christ; therefore when God glorifies His name it must result in the glorification of all who do not reject the name. He says: "This people whom I have formed for Myself, they shall show forth My praise." Isa. xliii. 21.

What is the glory that follows the cross? or rather, the glory which is in the cross. It is the glory of the only-begotten of the Father; it is the glory of the heavens; for the cross lifts the sufferer up from the earth, to a seat in the heavenly places, even at the right hand of the throne of God. Then what shall we say? "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for truth's sake."

"Defending a Defence" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Under the guidance of Lady Wimbourne, a "Ladies' League of the Church of England" has been established at Eastbourne, with branches in other parts of the country. Lord Lindsay is president. Of course they know the nature of their "faith" better than anybody else does, and it may need defending; but we much prefer the true faith which is itself a shield of defence. A shield that has to be defended is of very little practical value.

"Editorial Chat. An Unnatural Habit" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

A civil engineer who, on account of business abroad, left his two motherless boys in the care of a clergyman and his wife, has published in the Daily Mail a copy of a letter which he received from the clergyman when the boys made a visit home, of which the following is a part:-

"We feel sure you will be gratified by the improvement in the appearance of both your boys. They have, we think, entirely got over the stooping habit they had when you brought them to us, and to which, if you remember, you referred at the time. The item of corsets is rather heavy, but this was caused by my having to get reduced size be they became accustomed to being laced. Their stays have been made by my own corseti?re and laced daily under my own supervision-giving them the same supervision as I have given my own boys, and I am sure with a satisfactory result. It will rest with themselves after they leave our care whether they continue the attention to their appearance, which I have tried to inculcate."

The father says that the boys are certainly improved in appearance, but fears rightly enough, that "the method employed to gain that end is likely to make them less manly." Most certainly it will, inasmuch as the more a human being becomes like a turtle, the less of a man must he be. But in the Mail of Dec. 6 a correspondent comes to the clergyman's defence in this fashion:-

"There is no reason why man or boy should not sit or walk as upright as woman or girl. . . . Mr. ---thinks there is a likelihood of a lose of manliness. . . . Personally, I feel more of a man when laced in 24-inch stays. The shoulders are held back, the chest thrown out, and the head held up in a way that dose not admit of anything but boldness. . . . But whether for the time being corsets are considered effeminate or not, worn they will be, and without shame. As a matter of fact, it is the ladies who, having found a good thing, are introducing it to their sons and husbands."

This is indeed a most alarming prospect. "Effeminate" the practice certainly is, by its defender's own admission; and the Bible tells us that the effeminate shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. A horse looks much smarter when reined up tightly; but every sensible parson knows that the muscles which God has placed in a horse's neck are sufficient to hold its head in just the position it ought to be. So "God made man upright," and gave him, both male and female, a framework of bones, with plenty of muscles to keep it upright, if they are properly nourished and exercised. To intimate that a man or a woman cannot sit or stand or walk upright, or have a correct form, without stays, is a libel on God. He has given a turtle an outside shell, and if He had not placed inside of human beings all the support that they need, He would have encased them in a coat of mail. The practice of wearing corsets cannot be anything else but weakening to the body, since it gives the muscles which are designed to hold the figure erect nothing to do, and they inevitably lose their tone.

We have said that the practice of lacing is effeminate, but that does not mean that it is womanly; if it were indeed womanly, or a feminine practice, that would be sufficient reason why man should not adopt it; for the Bible says: "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God." Deut. xxii. 5.

But the corset is neither manly nor womanly; it is inhuman. It is not possible for anybody to truss himself up unnaturally, without suffering for it, in loss of natural vigour; but the injury to a woman is tenfold more than it can possibly be to a man. In addition to suffering the loss of breathing power and the flabbiness of unused muscles, in common with a man who laces, a woman constricts and displaces delicate organs, the free development of which is absolutely necessary to the preservation of her own health and comfort, and especially for the welfare of children which she may bear.

This is no light matter, and we appeal to every professed Christian to allow God to fashion His own temple as best suits Him, and to have full and free access to it. Far better than any artificial stays outside is the life of God, who is our strength, inside of us.

"Editorial Chat. 'After You, Sir'" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

AN EXCESS OF POLITENESS

Politeness is a good thing, but it may be carried to excess, or rather perverted. It is simply Christian kindness for a man to give way to a fellow man, and in honour to prefer another; but when it comes to stepping aside and giving a hog the first place, the matter has quite a different aspect. God made man to be the head of creation, giving him dominion over every other living thing, and no one can without sin despise his birthright. Whenever a man takes a place second to any four-footed beast or creeping thing, he shows not simply lack of proper respect for himself, but indifference to God, in whose image he was made.

That which led to these thoughts was the sight of the advertisements of "pea-fed bacon," conspicuously posted in every tram, telling how delicious and free from disease such meat is. There can be no question but that a hog fed wholly on peas would be healthier than one fattened on garbage; but a hog fed even on manna would be a hog still, and not fit to rank with a man, to say nothing of taking first place.

"But what do you mean by intimating that the hog is given first place?" someone asks. Just this: The advertisers of "pea-fed bacon" recognise, and expect that all others will likewise recognise that an animal's health depends on what it eats; that the best kind of food will make the healthiest flesh. They also know that all will agree that peas are healthful and nourishing, and withal a clean food. What

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they doubtless do not think of is the fact that it was just for this reason that God in the beginning gave man the finest and most highly developed form of the products of the earth as food, and to the beasts the coarser products. To man were given fruits, and the seeds of all trees and plants, which of course includes grains, while the green herb itself, coarse vegetables, were given to the beasts, who were not expected to have a spiritual nature, and whose mental, and even physical, development was to be far inferior to that of man. See Gen. i. 29, 30. Flesh foods were not included in the original dietary of either man or beast.

Now everything is perverted. Fruits and grains occupy a secondary place in the diet which man provided for himself, and flesh is reckoned as the staple article. Thus man virtually says to the beast: "After you, Sir; you go first, and take the best and choicest bits that God's bountiful hand provides; fatten yourself on the nuts and the grains, and I will come and take them after you have finished with them." As for ourselves, we do not think it at all presumptuous to count ourselves worthy to take precedence of any beast, and entitled to the best that God has provided, at first hand, too.

It must be remembered that the food which God assigned to man is perfectly adapted to bit requirement, and ready for digestion, and that the food material undergoes no change in the body of an animal, which makes it more easy of digestion by the human being. When man eats his peas after the hog, he simply takes them minus the amount of nourishment that has gone to supply the hog's waste, and plug the degeneration that they have undergone in the hog's system. Such "politeness" indicates a sad blunting of spiritual sensibility. Why should the hog or any other beast have the freshness of God's gifts, and man take that which is left?

But this is not by any means the worst. A few weeks ago one of the daily papers contained the following item:-

"Fifty tons of condemned tinned milk were sent from Limehouse Docks yesterday to a farm in Essex. It will be used as food for pigs."

The item was appropriately headed, "And the pigs feed us!" People seem go think that no amount of filth or poison can harm them, provided they do not see it. They would not think of eating the spoiled condensed milk, but they will feed it to the pigs and then eat it without a wry face, and will call it wholesome. Now if they know that wholesome peas tend to improve the quality of pork, why can they not see that unwholesome milk must make it correspondingly worse?

But a short time ago Public Opinion had a paragraph entitled, "Making pork out of Snakes," telling how in some parts of Europe pigs have killed out the vipers; and that in West Virginia portions of country almost uninhabitable by reason of the great number of rattle snakes, have now become profitable, because farmers are fattening hogs on them, so that "hundreds of pigs are sold from the valley every year, that have literally became fat on snakes." People who shudder at the thought of savages eating snakes will eat them together with even more loathsome things without a grimace if only their form is altered. Is it not a fearful thing to think of man taking a place second to that of the lowest creatures?

This is a serious matter, and not one of mere sentiment. It is a fact, which even pork dealers recognise, that an animal's food has much, indeed, nearly everything to do with its condition. Even so with man. It is true that "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," and that no one can by any method of eating and drinking bring the Holy Spirit into his heart; but it is equally true that one may by his evil habits of life crowd the kingdom out. It is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. Think of asking the Spirit of God to take up His abode in a lodging built of and devoted to hogs, snakes, etc. Is it not horrible? Surely it must be plain that the excessive politeness to beasts of which we have spoken is nothing else than an insult to the Lord.

"'League against Leaden Soldiers'" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Whatever the amount of actual good accomplished may be, the "League against Leaden Soldiers," which has been started in Paris, indicates the existence of a sense of what ought to be. It is headed by Emile Zola, and the circular announcing it states that they wish to fight against the prevailing practice of French parents, who buy toy soldiers, thereby inculcating in their children "le fetichisme de l uniforme," and perpetuating the military spirit so prevalent in the Republic. We would that the League might be effective not only in France, but in England; but the fact that the hon. president is General AndrÈ, Minister of War, does not argue strongly for its success. "Walk straight, my child," said the crab. "Show me how, mother," the young one replied.

"The Church of the World" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

The Church of the World .-The Catholic Times says:-

"It is evident that the quarrel between Church and State in Italy is not about to cease. When the new king ascended the throne he announced to the world that he was determined to preserve at any cost the possessions acquired by his grand-father. And now Leo xiii. answers him by solemnly proclaiming that his presence as a ruler in Rome is and, so long as it lasts, will remain a usurpation. In a word, the establishment of harmony between Church and State seems to be as far off as ever."

Christ declared that He was not sent into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world; but the church which professes to be His special representative, is not ashamed to quarrel with the world. Thereby it proclaims itself to be of the world. Babylon is confusion, and "where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work."

"Heathen Blasphemy Because of Professed Christians" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Heathen Blasphemy Because of Professed Christians. -On the 9th of December the Chinese Ambassador to the United States addressed the "Ethical Culture Society" at Washington, and took occasion to say that the Christian standard of morality comprised in the commamd, "Love your enemies," is too high for man to attain to; and he proceeded to prove his proposition by saying: "At this very moment Christian missionaries are calling for blood and vengeance, and Christian armies are devastating the land, sparing neither age nor sex. There is indeed a great gulf between doctrine and performance."

Unfortunately that which he quotes as proof of his assertion is true; but his claim is not true; for Christ and thousands of His followers have shown real love for their enemies. It is sad to see the name and truth of God blasphemed among the heathen through those who profess godliness.

The immense amount of heat in the sun is expressed by Sir Robert Ball, by the statement that if it depended on coal for its heat, and all the coal in the world were shoveled into it by millions of stokers it would suffice to keep the sun going only one-tenth of a second. "There is nothing hid from the heat thereof."

"For the Children. The Call of Moses" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

About four thousand years ago, an Eastern shepherd was one day quietly leading his flock in the desert, seeking out a good pasture for them to feed in. Of what is the man thinking as he wanders alone with his sheep?

Perhaps, of his childhood's home in the land of Egypt, from which he had been obliged to flee, forty years before,-of the loving mother who had carefully and tenderly taught him, as long as she could keep him with her, of the one true God, who made the heavens and the earth, the God of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

It may be his thoughts are of the playmates who shared that home with him, his brother Aaron, and his sister Miriam, who watched by him so carefully when his mother pat her baby in the river bad in the little art of bulrushes that she had made for his cradle.

Or perhaps he has lately heard sad news from his old home, about the hard bondage in which his people, the children of Israel, are still kept by the cruel Egyptians. For "they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar; and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field."

And the thought of this would remind him of the promise that God had made to Abraham many years before, that he would give to him and to his seed, the land of Canaan, which because of this they spoke of as "the land of promise," or "the promised land."

At that time God had told Abraham that his seed should be strangers "in a land that is not theirs; and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them, four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance."

But now the years of their affliction, the time of which God had spoken, were nearly ended, and yet there were no signs of the promised deliverance; no sign of God's judgments coming upon their oppressors, or of His leading them out of Egypt with great riches. Instead of this, the bondage grew more bitter, and their tasks harder. "And the Children of Israel sighed by reason of the bandage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And the Lord heard their groaning."

Yes; God had heard, and the answer was coming. He had not forgotten the children of Abraham His friend, and all that He had promised them. But the shepherd did not know how near was the answer to the cries and prayers of his people. He did not know that that was the last time he would peacefully lead his flock in the desert, and that the Lord was about to make him shepherd over His people, to lead them like a flock through that same wilderness.

Whatever his thoughts were, they were suddenly put an end to by a great sight, which took all his attention, and made him turn aside to see. For he saw a bush in a bright and glorious flame, branches, leaves, and trunk, all burning.

Many a time you have seen a log of wood in a blaze, and what has become of it?-Even as you have watched, it has disappeared, for the flames have devoured it, and there has been nothing left but a little white ash.

But the wonderful thing about this bush was that although it was burning so brightly, it was not burnt, not destroyed, consumed, by the flames. Surely here was a great wonder, and Moses drew closer to the bush to find out the cause of it.

But as he did so, a voice from the midst of the bush called his name: "Moses, Moses." Here was a greater wonder still, and with trembling Moses answered, "Here am I." And the voice said: "Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. . . . I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said: "I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey." "Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people, the Children of Israel, out of Egypt."

God might have spoken all this to Moses without appearing to him at all, or He might have come in any other way that He chose. But He had special lessons to teach Moses and the Children of Israel; for they had been so long in the bondage of Egypt that they had almost forgotten the true God.

And we may be quite sure that God took the very best way to teach them just what He wanted them to know. Many precious lessons were shining forth from that burning bush, but we must wait until next week to talk over some of them.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

-The Post Office Telephone revenue increased from ?20,000 in 1883 to ?860,000 in 1900.

-Greenwich time has now been officially adopted in Spain, and the hours, on the railways especially, are to be numbered from one to twenty-four.

-It is said that "the great majority of the people in Rome" past New Year's night "in dancing, eating, and above all, in drinking, to the new century."

-The storms that prevailed in the kingdom about the holiday season resulted in an immense loss of property, while hundreds of people have been driven from their homes by floods.

-During the thirty-four years that Dr. Barnardo's Homes have been in existence, 41,699 children have passed through them, the number last year being 13,590. In addition, 50,719 nights' lodgings were supplied, and 86,195 free meals were given. The trained emigrants last year totaled 931, the largest number ever sent out in one year.

-Forty tons of plum puddings from England were sold in Paris for Christmas Day.

-Cape Dutch, Zulu, and other African languages are henceforth to be regular subjects of instruction at King's College, London.

-The pieces coined at the Mint during the past year numbered 107,689,518-gold, 15,154,115; silver, 40,982,789; and bronze, 51,552,616.

-The meterological weather forecasts in the last twelve months were successful on 201 days, and approximately successful on ninety-eight other days.

-An egg-shaped pearl, weighing 112? grains, and valued at many hundreds of pounds, has been discovered in the pearl fisheries near Adelaide Harbour.

-By the furious gale last week, one of the huge, upright blocks of stone at Stonehenge was thrown down, and with it one of the cross stones which rested upon it.

-Japan has just passed a law forbidding the use of tobacco to those under twenty years of age, and making it a punishable offence for persons supplying anyone under that age.

-The Roumanian Minister of the Interior has issued rigid notice ordering that no foreigners may cross the frontier without a passport duly vised. The regulation is directed against British and Americans who travel without these papers.

-There is a lady parish clerk at Eddington, who is in her ninety-fifth year, and who attends all ceremonies, such as weddings and funerals. In the absence of the churchwarden she collects the offertory, and when necessary blows the organ.

-The Belgian Government demand an indemnity of 4,000,000 taels for the destruction of the Pekin-Hanow Railway and the murder of numerous missionaries. The French and Russian Governments have stated their intention of supporting the claim.

-The past year was one of the sunniest on record. Excluding the first two and last two months, there was in London (Regent's-park) bright sunshine almost every day for eight months, making a total for the year of 1,359 hours. Rain fell on 167 days, the total being 23? inches.

-Patients suffering from arsenical poisoning, due to the consumption of contaminated liquor, continue to be emitted into the Crumpsall Workhouse and other institutions in Manchester. At the former place there are close on 100 persons under treatment. The coroners are also kept busy holding inquests on the bodies of victims.

-On New Year's Day a new international code of signaling at sea was introduced, which will undoubtedly prove a great boon to the mercantile marine of the world. By the new code 375,076 signals are possible, against only 34,319 by the old. The two codes will be used together for a year, but after January 1, 1902 only the new will be recognised.

-At the beginning of the nineteenth century it was illegal for workmen to strike. Sensible people will be likely to conclude that it would be well for workmen if it were still illegal, when they read that during the last ten years, 7,900 strikes have taken place, resulting in a loss of 105,000,000 days, equivalent to the loss of an entire year by 350,000 men, and that these strikes, as admitted even by one who favours them, "inflict much suffering on the workpeople directly or indirectly involved in them, and dislocate generally trade and industry." A cotton trade strike in Lancashire in 1878 against a proposed reduction in wages was accompanied by violent riots. Sixty-eight persons were tried and convicted. The loss from this dispute was estimated at ?2,700,000. Yet in the face of such facts as these, workmen are still deluded into "striking for their rights."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

In addition to the cases of poisoning by arsenic in the beer, the papers state that the number of patients treated at various hospitals for alcoholic neuritis shows a decided increase. What a pity that people will deliberately ruin their bodies and destroy their souls for a mere sensual gratification! Yet how many are there who can consistently reprove such ones? Whoever eats or drinks anything, however harmless it may seem, the use of which he can defend on no other ground than that "I like it," stands on exactly the same ground that the drunkard does.

It is written of Christ when He was in His own country, "He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." Matt. xiii. 58.

There are people in these days, who profess to do mighty works, but they cannot do anything unless all present are in sympathy with them; if there are persons in the room, who do not believe in Spiritism, but are opposed to it, the sÈance will be a failure. Was it so with Christ. Could not He do a mighty work, if unbelievers were present?

Yes, Christ could and can still do many mighty works in the presence of Satan himself, and in spite of his opposition. There was unbelief in Nazareth, yet He did some mighty works, though not many. Many of His miracles were wrought in the presence of murmuring scribes and Pharisees. When the palsied man was made to take up his bad, and walk, there were hard-hearted and unbelieving Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, "and the power of the Lord was present to heal them." Luke v. 17. A mighty work was done, but they were not healed.

We see now that the unbelief that prevented Christ's mighty works in His own country was the unbelief in the hearts of those who stood in need of the mighty works, and not the unbelief of others. The unbelief of the Pharisees and doctors of the law did not keep the Lord from doing a mighty work in the palsied. No unbelief can keep God from working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, except the unbelief in us, that shuts Him out of our lives. No matter how many there are standing by, who reject Him, to as many as receive Him, even to all who believe on His name, He gives power become the sons of God.

"Papers and Pills" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Papers and Pills .-The other day the directors of a religious newspaper in America met to discuss its future. One of them objected to the appearance in its columns of advertisements respecting pills. To his objection a director who knew more about newspapers then most men said, "A religious newspaper has to take pills or die!" To which one might add that a good many of them die in spite of taking pills.-The Sun.

To this it might still further be added that papers that "take pills" deserve to die, whether they live or not. No fountain can send forth at the same time both sweet water and bitter, and so the patent medicine frauds that are advertised by so many religions journals, vitiate all the rest of the paper, and weaken the expression of truth.

"Real and Pretended Authority" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

In the Papal Allocution at the Secret Consistory, December 17, the Pope made "a vigorous protest against usurpation," saying, among other things:-

"A source of grief in particular is it that the same force which deprived the pontiff of his just and legitimate temporal sovereignty, with which was bound up the freedom of his sacred office still persecuting, continues to hold him subject to an alien power, and an alien domination. Our sense of the bitterness of this injustice was recently renewed by what we saw taking place in the Italian State-that is, when the government of the city, which was wrongfully secured, was passed on from one to another, as if it had been obtained by right. Suffering under these serious hardships on every hand, and moved by the consciousness of duty, we complain of the continuance of the grievance."

It is a pitiful wail, and a humiliating confession of impotence, from the one who poses as the "Vicar of Christ." The Apostle Peter was not deprived of the freedom of his sacred office, even when bound in prison. On two different occasions he was set at liberty, in order that he might preach the words of life; but then he had the words of life to give. The humblest Christian, who is a Christian indeed, because of personal acquaintance with the Lord, has a sovereignty of which no power on earth can deprive him. Whoever is risen with Christ, is set with Him-not in an earthly palace-but in the heavenly places, "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion." Eph. i. 19-21; i. 4-6. By his complaint that the King of Italy, in depriving him of his temporal dominion, has also deprived him of the freedom of his "sacred office," the Pope admits that he has not and never had any real spiritual freedom or authority. It is only usurped pretended authority, that can be taken away from one by human force. He who has real authority from God can hold it in spite of all the powers of earth and hell, so long as he is faithful to Christ.

"Shakespeare, or the Bible" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Recently there died a man in the United States, Mr. Ignatius Donnelly by name, who had occupied public office, but who was known chiefly by his theory, vigorously maintained, that the works attributed to Shakespeare were not written by Shakespeare at all, but by Francis Bacon. In a notice of his death the Chronicle says:-

His arguments ranged from more or loss plausible premises, such as Shakespeare's alleged ignorance of Courts, down to childish anagrams. Given plenty of leisure and a taste for acrostics, it would be possible to prove on Dr. Donnelly's principle that Shakespeare was written by Milton, let us say. Dr. Donnelly, in fact, was the farcical outcome of that school of destructive criticism which conclusively showed that Homer could not possibly be the work of a single original genius. But Dr. Donnelly selected an object for his attack too near to our own day and too dear to the national heart to be easily displaced.

Yet by arguments much less plausible, and theories much more finely spun, than those advanced by Mr. Donnelly, the socalled "Higher Criticism" professes to prove that very few of the books of the Bible were written by the men to whom they are attributed, and also that most of the things recorded as facts never happened nor could have happened, and ministers of the Gospel by thousands and nearly theological professors, are accepting the conclusions. Shall we conclude that the Bible is so far from our own day and so inconsequential to the professed Christian heart that it is easily displaced? Is it so, that the Bible holds a lower place than Shakespeare in the minds of professed Christians, so that they care little what is done with it, while they treat with silent contempt any meddling with the authenticity of Sheaspeare?

"The Editor's Private Corner. God's Long-suffering and Justice" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

"In reading a recent number of PRESENT TRUTH that the beating of the heart is Christ's knocking at the door, this question came to my mind: What is God's object in allowing a person to live, who has sinned against the Holy Ghost, and who therefore has for ever refused to allow himself to be influenced by the Spirit of God?"

The only way by which we can understand any question concerning the reason why God does certain things, the answer to which is not expressly stated in the Bible, is by remembering that the Judgment, which closes the history of this world, is to be the decision of the universe upon the character and actions of God, and that man's place in it is secondary to God's. It is primarily God's case that is on trial now, and we stand or fall according as we take sides for or against Him. The matter has often been dealt with in the PRESENT TRUTH, but it touches the very core of the Gospel, and I will briefly set forth some of the facts upon which we build our faith and hope.

When God made man, He made him a partner with Himself in His Government. He gave him dominion over this earth and everything that pertained to it. We know that this is in keeping with God's dealing with all His creatures, His plan being to invent each one with responsibility, "to every man according to his several ability" (Matt. xxv. 15); for we read that "all His saints" have the honour of executing judgment (Ps. cxlix. 5-9), and of Lucifer (now Satan) we read that it was his place to affix the seal to the perfect ordinance. So we have it in Eze. xxviii. 12, literally rendered, which, as the verses following clearly show, can apply only to the one described in the fourteenth of Isaiah.

Sin among men is only the ruling in them of the spirit of Satan (Eph. ii. 2, 3), so that in the temptation of Eve we know that we see the very thing that caused him who is now Satan to lose his former place in glory. First there was an insinuation against the kindness and justice of God, and then an appeal to pride and ambition to become like God Himself. The serpent made Eve believe that God had prohibited the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, solely that He might be exalted at their expense, for, said he, "God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be like God, knowing good and evil." So seeing-fancying-that the tree was "to be desired to make one wise," she ate of it. It is evident that her sole desire was the same as that of Lucifer, when he said, "I will be like the Most High." It was a desire to be able to rule independently of God.

Before that time, however, Satan had been cast out of heaven. He had sinned against the greatest light possible, and consequently against the highest manifestation of the love of God, and having deliberately and definitely rejected God's authority, and having fully determined to set up an independent government of his own, his probation was ended. For six thousand years Satan and his angels have had their lives continued, yet with no hope of their ever repenting. They are "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the great day" (Jude 6), yet it is only by the life of the Lord that they live, and they have no power at all, except the power that they get from the life of God. Why is this? Why did not God put an end to Satan and his rebellion when He cast him out of heaven? This is the question under consideration.

In the first place we must remember that the coming Judgment is to be final. "Affliction shall not rise up the second time." Never more will there be in the whole of God's universal kingdom a sound of anything but love and praise to Him as this supreme Ruler. But all service must be the willing service of love. There must not be any place left in the heart of any created being, for a doubt of God's lovingkindness and justice. The Judgment must set forth God's righteousness and love so completely that even His enemies will be compelled to acknowledge it, and so that His saints, who hitherto have trust His love even when they could not comprehend His motives, will have everything made clear. Everybody must be able clearly to see that all who perish fully merit their fate; and the wicked themselves must be brought to acknowledge this so plainly and emphatically that no one can ever again possibly have room to think that perhaps some have not had a full opportunity for repentance and salvation.

TEACHING THE WORLD AND ANGELS

Now we know that it is not so at the present time. On every hand we hear doubts expressed as to God's care for His creatures. Thousands of professed Christians are teaching that there must be a probation after death for those who, as they say, "did not have a chance" in this life; and this thought, together with the pagan idea that the dead are really alive and conscious, is the foundation of the Roman Catholic purgatory. If the Judgment did not reveal God's long-suffering, which is the ground of repentance there would be many saints who would sometimes wonder if such and such an one might not have repented it he had been allowed to live longer.

We know that even the angels do not understand the mystery of the Gospel. 1 Peter i. 12. It is the church's mission to make known even to "the principalities and powers in heavenly places" "the manifold wisdom of God." Eph. iii. 10. Think then what a shock it would have been to them if Lucifer had been destroyed at the very beginning of his rebellious career. We know that he succeeded in deceiving many, and winning them from their allegiance to God, and so we may be sure that those who remained loyal did so without being able to answer all of Lucifer's artful insinuations against God.

Lucifer set out to establish an independent government. Man has followed in his steps. God, instead of arbitrarily putting an end to it, has allowed them to go on with their experiment; and the Judgment will not come until they have demonstrated what an utter failure any form of Government is in which God is not lovingly and loyally recognised as supreme.

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Another thing to be remembered is that God never casts off any creature. He is the One who is rejected. He has taken all the responsibility for all the sins of the world on Himself, and has suffered for them, so that no one need be separated from Him. Indeed God is still suffering, as He is being made to serve with the sins of the creatures whom His life sustains. See Isa. xliii. 23-25. Every sin that is committed comes upon the life of Him to whom sin is loathsome. So you see that the term "long-suffering," as applied to God, is wonderfully expressive. His goodness and patience are such that He suffers the manners even of those who have fully denied and rejected Him.

LIFE THE EVIDENCE OF ACCEPTANCE

Now you will say, "What then becomes of the statement that while there's life there's hope, and that life itself is hope? Can we indeed take the fact that we are alive as evidence that God accepts us?"

Yes, we can; the fact that there are living men who have committed the unpardonable sin,-have fully rejected God's goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, and done despite to the Spirit of grace, counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing,-does not warrant anybody in supposing that he himself is one of the number. Quite the contrary; for the fact that a person is troubled over sin is proof that he has not committed the unpardonable sin, which is refusal to be forgiven. So long as a person lives, there is hope for him, provided he will. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Understand, and never forget, that God never makes it impossible for anybody to repent and find mercy. Men are lost, not because they cannot be saved, but because they will not. It is true that men do become so set in their rebellious ways that they cannot turn, but it is not God who has fixed them in that way. They themselves have forged their own chains of darkness.

The fact that God allows His bitterest enemies to live on for years, and supplies life to those who live only to curse Him, is proof that "His mercy endureth for ever." What stronger evidence of His desire and willingness to save us can we possibly have than the fact of His kindness to the unthankful and the unholy?

There is another lesson that we should learn, and that is one of forbearance. Since God bears so long with mankind, and even suffers those whom He knows to be incorrigible, how patient we ought to be with all men, of whom we are not justified in regarding one as beyond the hope of salvation. So may the goodness of God not only lead us to repentance, but fill us with the fulness of His love.

"All Power" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Christ imparted His Divine benediction, with a copiousness which showed that all power in heaven and earth have been given to Him with which to bless and strengthen humanity. There is no restriction of His beneficence. To all, high and low, rich and poor, who receive Him by faith as the Son of God, He is a very present help. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, that in word and deed He Might reveal God.

"The Children. 'The Angel Dwelling in the Bush'" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Last week we were talking of the Burning Bush that Moses saw in the desert, and how God spoke to him out of the midst of it. God who was in the midst of the bush, made His glory shine forth to attract the attention of Moses, "and when God saw that he turned aside to see," He spoke to him.

Did you think this a strange way for God to show Himself to Moses, and to speak to him out of the midst of a common bush? Do you not know that He is all the time showing Himself to us, and speaking to us in the same way? For God is in the midst of every bush, every tree, every plant that you see. He is the hidden life of everything that lives, and the concealed glory of that inner life blazes forth to attract our attention, so that we may turn aside to see.

Think of the bursting forth of the living green leaves in the early spring, and the lovely wealth of bright blossoms that follows; of the blazing glories of the autumn trees and bushes. In all this God is letting His glory shine forth, so that we may see His eternity power and divinity in all the things that He has made.

And when God sees that we "turn aside to see," still out of the midst of every common bush and tree and shrub, He speaks to all those who have "ears to hear."

"And every humble hedgerow flower that grows,
And every little brown bird that doth stag,
Hath something greater than itself, and bears
A living word to every living thing;
Albeit it hold the message unawares."

Do you not think that after seeing the glory of God in the bush Moses looked at every bush with different eyes from what he had before? The seeing of God in that one bush, made known to him His presence everywhere. Wherever God shows Himself to anyone, we may be sure that He is there all the time, only He then opens man's eyes so that they may see Him.

This is what God did for Jacob when He showed him the ladder reaching from heaven to earth, and Jacob said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not." He did the same thing for Elisha's servant when the prophet prayed that God would open the young man's eyes. He then saw horses and chariots of fire encamped round about them. Elisha knew that they were there all the time, so he did not need his eyes to be specially opened to teach him this.

Long after this time, whom Moses was blessing the twelve tribes of the Children of Israel before his death, he prayed for the tribe of Joseph, that the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof might be theirs, and "the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush." He understood that the Lord who appeared to him in the bush, dwelt there always, and not there only, but in every bush and everything, for "Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?"

God appeared to Moses in the bush, so that he might learn for himself, and teach

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the Children of Israel, that "earth is crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God; but only he who sees takes off his shoes." From the midst of the burning bush, Moses heard the call to worship, and he reverently bowed before the Lord, whose glory he had been beholding.

Is this what you hear when you turn aside to see the lovely blaze of glorious colour that lights up the trees and bushes in the springtime, the graceful trails of the yellow laburnum; the full, fragrant blossoms of the lilac; the pink and white glory that crowns the chestnut, and the warm rod of the hawthorn?

Do you know that all this beauty is a little glimpse of the same glory that Moses saw? It is a reflection of the beautiful colours hidden in the sunlight. The light gives everything its colour. There is no colour except in light, which is made up of seven differentcoloured rays, the reflection of which we see in the seven-hued rainbow. And the flowers and other things reflect different coloured rays, and show us the beauty of Him who has put His glory upon the heavens to give light to this world.

But the beauty of the trees and bushes at certain seasons only shows us a little of the glory of the hidden life that dwells in them all the time. And does not the whole earth become, to one who really sees this glory in all things, a holy place? It is all the Lord's dwelling-place, His temple, in which He is to be worshipped.

Hear what the prophet Isaiah said, when the Lord thus appeared to him; and he saw His glory filling the temple: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory."

God wanted the Children of Israel to see His glory filling the whole earth, so that they might forsake and cast away the idols of Egypt, and worship and serve Him only, always, and everywhere.

And there was yet another most precious lesson that God gave to Moves through the burning bush. The One who appeared to Moses in that flame of fire, He who had come down to deliver His people from bondage, was Jesus Christ the Saviour. He subdued His glory, so that Moses might look upon it and live, and took a common bush, a lowly shrub, no different from any of those around it, in which to appear. Thus He was showing in a figure, how He was to veil His glory so that we should not be consumed by it, and become a little human child just like any other, in order to save His people from the terrible bondage of sin.

But as His appearing in the bush showed that He dwelt, not in that one only, but in every bush, so His appearing and showing His glory in our human flesh, shows that He dwells in every son of man ever born into this world. In each one He is waiting to be allowed to let His glory "shine forth," as it did in Jesus of Nazareth, "full of grace and truth."

Let us ever pray the prayer of Moses: "I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory." Then we shall by beholding be "changed into the same image from glory to glory." And may the grace and the glory of Him who is our life, not be covered up by our sins, but may it ever shine forth to His praise.

"God of nature, over all,
What, through nature, dost Thou call?
Soft I'm calling thee apart,
Little child, give Me thy heart."

"The Pleasure of Beholding the Sun" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

"Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun." Eccl. xi. 7. Those who live in the Arctic regions, where for months in the winter season the sun is not seen, fully appreciate it when it does appear. No one who has not lived in darkness, or at best a dim twilight, for weeks, can have any idea of the joy with which the first sight of the sun is greeted in the spring. Norwegian school children run and about, "Solen kommer! Solen kommer!" and the old as well as the young feel new life in their value. The author of "Through the First Antarctic Night," tells how the crew of the Belgica, who both physically and mentally were next to entire collapse, waited for the return of the sun. He says:-

Every man on board has long since chosen a favourite elevation from which to watch the coming dawn. Some are in the crow's nest, others on the ropes and spare of the rigging; but there are the men who do little travelling. The adventurous fellows are scattered over the pack upon icebergs and high hummocks.

These positions were taken about eleven o'clock. The northern sky at this time was nearly clear, and clothed with the usual haze. A bright lemon glow was just changing into an even glimmer of rose. At half-past eleven a few clouds spread over the rose, and under these began a play of heavenly colour. There were spaces of gold, orange, blue, green, and at hundred harmonious blends, with an occasional' band of polished silver.

Precisely at twelve o'clock a fiery cloud separated, disclosing a bit of the upper rim of the sun.

We could not speak. There were no words to express the buoyancy of our relief, nor the feeling of new life which ran coursing through our arteries, following the best of our enfeebled hearts. On every countenance were signs of the accumulated suffering of the seventy dayless nights. We were haggard, our faces lined and flabby, of an unnatural colouring. Perhaps we had not known until that moment how terrible our experience had been.

We watched and watched, hoping the crest of fire would rise; but instead it slid teasingly down to the verge of the sea. A few minutes after twelve the light was extinguished, a smoky veil of violet was drawn over the dim outline of the ice, and the stars again twinkled in the Gobelin blue of the sky, as they had done, without being outshone, for nearly seventeen hundred hours.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

A royal commission has been appointed to make investigations respecting the beer poisoning epidemic.

There has very naturally been much feeling in Italy over the passage in the address from the English Catholic Union, which the Duke of Norfolk, so President, presented to the Pope, in which the hope was expressed that the Pope might very soon recover the temporal power. It has generally in England as well as in Italy been considered as a wanton insult to the Italian Government, but it is not likely that any official notice will be taken of it. The same address deplored the "proselyting" agencies that were at work under the very eyes of the Pope, which he is powerless to check. He himself complains that, because he has not power as a temporal sovereign, he cannot fully exercise the duties of his office. Now the fact is, that he is as free as any minister of the Gospel in the world. The only thing that he cannot do is to inflict punishment on "heretics," and those who presume to teach in what he claims so his jurisdiction, without his leave. All this shows that, in spite of all the fulsome flattery which is lavished on Leo XIII. as a good and "liberal" Pope, his chief longing is for the power to persecute like the Popes of old.

The Christian declares itself to be "sorrowfully in accord" with a modern writer, who charges upon the nation "an universal dying down of the high standard of life," saying that "our immediate generation has been sinking of late to meaner ideals, to coarser ways of life, to more vulgar types of literature and art, to more open craving after wealth, and a more insolent assertion of the pride of force."

"Ever Present Glory" The Present Truth 17, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Ever Present Glory .-Readers of the article in the Children's Department, entitled, "The Angel dwelling in the Bush," and the old as well as the young ought to read it, will be interested to learn that a literal rendering of Deut. xxxiii. 16 would be "the good will of Him who is dwelling in the bush." The Hebrew word rendered "dwelt" in our translation, is a present Dr. Robert Young, in his literal translation, has it, "the good pleasure of Him who is dwelling in the bush." There is not a bush or a tree, in which God does not dwell, and His glory is there, even if it is not revealed to physical eyesight.

As you go along the streets, and see the bare, black, seemingly dead trunks and branches, you may be tempted to say that there is no evidence of God's presence; yet you know that in two or three months they will be covered with glory, which will come forth from within them, and will not be something merely put on. All this is designed to remind us of the words in Isaiah, concerning Christ: "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him." Isa. liii. 1, 2. Still at the same time He tabernacled among us, and we saw His glory, full of grace and truth. John i. 14. If our eyes were only opened, we should see floods of glory where now we see only darkness and ugliness.

The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes. Now there will come a time when sin shall have ceased to be, and all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. But God's power will be the same for ever, and to all eternity it will be just as necessary for the continuation of the existence of His people as it is now for their deliverance from sin. The same power that saves us, keeps us. Power is and always will be the attribute of God alone; we shall never become possessed of it, so that to any extent whatever we can be independent of Him. Always, as now, we shall live, and move, and have our being, only in Him. In the world to come we shall need His power to keep us from falling, just as much as we now need it to save us from the fall.

"He hath made the earth by His power" (Jer. x. 12), and in Christ He is still "upholding all things by the Word of His power." Heb. i. 3. God's power did not come into existence at the creation of this earth, but there was then a new manifestation of it. That "everlasting power" is now clearly seen in everything that has been made, so that no one may have any excuse for neglecting salvation. The Gospel is written in every rock, yea, every grain of sand, even in the atom, and upon every leaf and flower, as well as spread out over the entire heavens. All the things that God has made will to all eternity, as now, tell us of God's loving power, and will show us the measure of our safety, even as now they make know to us the surety of our salvation.

In like manner Christ, who is "the power of God," is High Priest for ever, "after the power of an endless life." Heb. vi. 20; vii. 15-17. That is, it is by the power of an endless life that He saves us; for we are "saved by His life." But His "goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity." Micah v. 2, margin. He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." "We have redemption through His blood,"-His life,-because "in Him were all things created," for "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." Col. i. 14-17. From of old, "from the days of eternity," He was the means of conveying the all-powerful, saving life of God into every created thing. Even so He will be in the ages to come. The blood, the life of Christ, which now saves us from sin, will be our rejoicing as that which keeps us sinless through the eternal ages.

So Christ is Mediator, not merely to bring man to God, but to keep them in Him, and His true mediatorial work can never cease. Our present assurance of the righteousness of God imputed and imparted to us, is the fact that it is in the hands of the one Mediator, by whom all things had their beginning. He is the Head of the body, because He is the Beginning. When man fell, the work of restoring him was taken in hand by the One who created him. The power that creates, also saves and keeps. God is sufficient in Himself for all things, and never has to set any new agency in operation to meet an emergency. He is "our dwelling place in all generations." The life and love that bring us into being, perpetuate our existence, so in the ages to come, the love and power of God as revealed in the cross of Christ, will be the theme of study and the cause of rejoicing, the science and the song, of the redeemed saints.

January 17, 1901

"'A Proper Child'" The Present Truth 17, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

"By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season: esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." Heb. xi. 24-26.

The history of Moses shows, more than any other in the Bible, excepting of course Jesus of Nazareth, the wonderful influences of right training by a mother when a child is in its infancy. Moses is set forth as a striking example of what is accomplished by faith, and his whole life revealed the most implicit trust in God. He is the one person in sacred history who has the honour of having the Lord likened to him. God said: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee" (Deut. xviii. 18); and the Apostle Paul says that Christ "was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all His house." Heb. iii. 1, 2.

But "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Rom. x. 17. The remarkable faith of Moses, therefore, grew out of knowledge of God's word. Where did he acquire that knowledge of the word, that enabled him to estimate the wealth and pleasures of this world at God's own valuation? Not in the court of Egypt, but at his own mother's breast.

Moses was born "when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham." (Acts vii. 17-21), namely, that He would deliver Israel, and bring them into the promised land. The present day is an exact likeness of the time in which Moses was born, for we are now looking for the coming of the Lord to deliver His people, and to establish them in the new earth, according to His oath to Abraham.

But that was a time of trouble for God's people, even as these last days are to be perilous and full of trouble to "all who will live godly in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. iii. 1-12. Before the coming of Christ a decree is to be issued, that all who will not worship "the beast and his image"-the Papacy and the Protestant likeness-shall be killed (Rev. xiii. 15); and Moses was born at the time when the king of Egypt had commanded that all the male Hebrew children should be slain.

Moses was "a goodly child" and his parents, not alone from natural affection, but because of their faith in God's promise, kept him with them for three months at the risk of their lives. "By

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faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child: and they were not afraid of the king's commandment." Heb. xi. 23.

When he could no longer be hid, his mother took "an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink." Ex. ii. 3. Soon the daughter of Pharaoh came down to the river to wash, and discovered the little outcast. Her heart was touched by its pitiful condition, and she resolved to adopt him, Hebrew though he evidently was, as her own son. Then the quick-witted Miriam stepped up and asked, "Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?" The princess told her to do so, "and the maid went and called the child's mother." "And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son." Ex. ii. 4-10. The instruction that Moses got in those few first years of his life with his mother was sufficient to keep him true to God in all his after life, and to counterbalance all the influences of a proud and wealthy court, and the corrupt teaching of Egyptian priests.

"Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." Acts vii. 22. He was destined for the throne of Egypt, and as the Government of Egypt was religious, the king being worshipped as a god, being considered the representative of the sun, it is evident that Moses must have been taught all that the priests had to impart concerning their religion. But nothing could uproot the principles planted in his heart during those few years in his own mother's house, where God's Word was the law of life. So when he became a man he deliberately rejected the throne of Egypt, to cast in his lot with the poor and despised people of God. His marvellous strength of character is revealed in the history of the wanderings of Israel, but it is all too little appreciated.

"Concerning the works of men, by the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not." Ps. xvii. 4, 5. We may be sure that the infant ears of Moses listened to no senseless jargon called "baby talk." No "fairy stories" or jingling nonsense corresponding to "Mother Goose" could ever have formed the character that stood firm against the taunts of the Egyptians, and the murmurings of the Israelites. He was fed with nothing but "the sincere milk of the Word," we may be sure. His mother knew how precious her time was, and never could a moment be wasted. Yet no one who knows anything about a true mother's love will doubt that Moses had the most tender care that an infant could have. Be sure that his was no dreary, monotonous childhood. It is not by sitting on a stool and committing Scripture texts to memory, that the Word is grafted in the heart. The Word must be the meat and drink, the life, of the parent, so that the child will imbibe it with its natural nourishment, and it will be to him "sweeter than honey and the honeycomb."

SWEETNESS OF THE WORD

To many people, even Christians, the Word of God is dry and uninteresting. Consequently they think that it can possess no interest for a child. They would regard a child brought up on the Word, and taught nothing else but the truth of God, as an object of pity; whereas they themselves are to be pitied, and more still are the children to be pitied, who have the misfortune to come to their arms. No flights of the imagination of the story writer can ever equal the wonders of the truths of God. The life of the child fed on the sincere milk of God's Word will be most rich-something always to be recalled with joy. No element necessary for the perfect development of any human mind is lacking in God's Word. Whoever does not know this should learn it before venturing to become responsible for the life of another soul.

Again and again must the importance of the first years of a child's life be impressed upon parents. Do not get the idea that children in arms are too young to comprehend the profoundest truths of the Gospel, when they are put in their natural setting, and not dressed up as theological dogmas. The deep things of God are hid from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes (Matt. xi. 25), and out of the mouths of babes and sucklings God perfects praise that is strong enough to still the enemy. Ps. viii. 2.

Teach the children, but first learn as a little child yourself. The trouble is that most people have forgotten their own childhood; they have forgotten what thoughts and questionings passed through their childish minds; and because they were not taught, they do not understand that wherever there is a question there is intelligence enough to understand the answer to it when it is properly given. Many people never had any real childhood; if this is the case, then become a child. The knowledge of how to teach children the things that will give them an everlasting foundation ought to come with the gift of the child, and would come if the responsibilities of parenthood were rightly appreciated. No other form of missionary work has such rich promise of success as that done with the infant, by its own mother. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."

"The Great Commandment. Matt. xxii. 34-46" The Present Truth 17, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

(Matt. xxii. 34-46.)³1

It had been a hard day for the Teacher. He had faithfully interested the people by means of parables, which were full of meaning to those who wished to learn, yet so carefully guarded that the most critical adversary could pick no flaw. But however guarded one's language may be when teaching directly, it is much more difficult to avoid some objectionable sentiment or phrase when replying to some suddenly-proposed yet well-studied question. So the Pharisees "took counsel how they might entangle Him in His talk."

Having failed to entrap Him into saying something for which they could report Him to the Roman Government, they next tried, through the Sadducees, to pick some point of difference between Him and Moses, so that they could accuse Him to the people. But this was also easily disposed of in such a way as to reveal their ignorance of the Scriptures and of the power of God.

Then the Pharisees, hearing that he had put the Sadducees to silence, gathered once more to the attack, and put forward as their spokesman a learned doctor of the law, who could most certainly puzzle this

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unschooled Galilean. This one, calling Him Master, as though He would learn from Him, asked:-

"Which is the great commandment in the law?

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."

This was the complete answer to the question, but Jesus went still further, and said:-

"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

The Hebrew Scriptures are divided into three portions, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms; but the Psalms are largely prophetic, and they are also called the law; therefore the answer of Jesus was the same as saying that the two great commandments, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," sum up the whole of the Scriptures. That is the whole duty of man, and nothing more can possibly be required.

LOVING IS GIVING

This is self-evident, when we give a thought to the commandment itself. It requires us to love God with all our being. Now love means giving, as we learn from the following:-

"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John iii. 16.

"I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. ii. 20.

"Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us." Eph. v. 2.

"Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it." Eph. v. 25.

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John iv. 10.

"Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us." 1 John iii. 16, R.V.

There is no loving without giving. Love is the absolute opposite of selfishness. Human love, or that which most commonly passes for love among mankind, is more concerned with self-gratification than with the happiness of the one supposed to be loved; Divine love suffers itself to be crucified, in order that it may confer blessings on the ones loved. Human love so-called, is expended upon those who are specially attentive to the one who fancies himself a lover; Divine love is poured out upon the hateful and unthankful. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends;" (John xv. 13); "but God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. v. 8.

There is no true love but the love of God, for "God is love." It is only with His love that we can really love one another, as we learn from the exhortation: "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." 1 John iv. 7. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Rom. v. 5.

GIVING GOD HIS OWN

Therefore when we love God with all our being, it is only because "in Him we live, and move, and have our being." We are able to give ourselves to Him just because He first gave Himself to us, giving us life, and keeping us in existence. However much we give to Him, we are but giving back to Him His own. Sacrifice is not to be talked of by men, for no man ever yet made one, or ever can make one. The most that anybody can do is to offer the sacrifice which the love of God has already provided.

It is plain, that when one is so moved by the love of God to him, that he gives himself wholly to God, he gives himself to serve Him unquestioningly in everything. With the Apostle Paul he will speak of God as the one "whose I am, and whom I serve." Acts xxvii. 23. So there can be no commandment in the Bible which such an one will try to evade. He will delight to do the law of God.

With most people love is a mere sentiment, an emotion. But love must have expression it if exists. So God, who is love, and who alone knows what love is, and how it may be expressed, has drawn out the great commandment into many details, in order that every one who loves Him may know how to reveal his love. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3. We are to worship Him only; to make no professed image of Him, which can only be a caricature of Him, and become really another god; to reverence His holy name; and to keep holy His Sabbath day. This surely is not a grievous thing, for it means simply to rest in Him. Whoever is not willing to do that, thereby shows that he regards himself independent of God, and able to do without Him; and that is to set oneself above God.

DOING GOD'S WILL

Thousands daily repeat the words, "Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven." How is the will of God done in heaven? Here is the answer: The angels which excel in strength, "do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word." Ps. ciii. 20. A little girl was once asked how the angels do the will of God, and she replied, "They do it without asking any questions." That is the obedience of love. It makes no objections, and seeks for no excuse to enable it to evade any service. But how many there are who vehemently protest that they love God supremely, who will nevertheless not only make all sorts of excuses to evade keeping the commandments, but who will nevertheless not only make all sorts of excuses to evade keeping the commandments, but who will even speak of them with contempt. To such Jesus says, "Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" Luke vi. 46.

The second is like unto the first, and grows out of it; for since God's love to man is the only love that man can have, it necessarily follows that when that love is in the heart it will reveal itself in love to man, and so we have man's whole duty summed up in two sentences. Surely it is not a difficult thing to learn the will of God; and as for doing it, that is all accomplished in the yielding. "Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (Rom. vi. 13), and you will learn that "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

-There were 500 suicides in Vienna last year, against 402 the year before.

-Recent returns show that over 500 people die in England each year from actual starvation, 100 of the deaths occurring in London alone.

-January 7 a fire, caused by a boiler explosion, destroyed the Rochester (U.S.A.) orphan asylum, and twenty-six children were burned to death.

-London has more cats than any other city in the world, and 300 men find most remunerative employment in providing horsemeat for them.

-At the close of the year 1900 the wealth of Great Britain, it is estimated, had reached the sum of ?11,806,000,000, an increase of 244 per cent. in sixty years.

-The Carnegie Company have decided to establish at Conneaut (Ohio) U.S.A., the largest pipe and tube manufactory and plant in the world. The investment, exclusive of the ground, will reach about ?3,000,000.

-Influenza is raging more generally and in a more virulent form in New York than has ever been experienced previously. Over 500,000 cases are reported, and it is said that there are as many as 100,000 cases in Chicago.

-Grasshoppers are doing considerable damage to the growing crops in St. Kitts. So numerous and destructive have these insects become that a certain sum is offered by the West Indian Government for every hundred caught.

-The Post Office telephone system for London is approaching completion. The Central Exchange will be in Queen Victoria-street. No fewer than 78,000 distinct lines will be joined in a single man-hole under the refuge at Blackfriars.

-Though the epidemic of arsenical poisoning through beer drinking is abating, medical men agree that some time must elapse before those who have had a serious attack can regard themselves as out of danger, and deaths due to or accelerated by arsenic are expected for a month or more.

-The Turkish Press has announced the issue of an iradÈ abolishing the internal customs duty of eight per cent. and above. The two per cent. extra duty for military purposes will be maintained. The Sultan thereby facilitates the negotiation of new commercial treaties with the Powers.

-Professor Elisha Gray, of Boston, announces that he has perfected an apparatus for submarine signaling. With his apparatus he has succeeded in transmitting the sound of a bell under water for a distance of twelve miles. This, like almost all other modern inventions, is expected to be of great service in warfare.

-The American peanut crop averages about 5,000,000 bushels a year, or about 110,000,000 pounds. Large quantities of them are shipped to this country, and especially to the Continent, where they are converted into "pure olive oil," the nut being very rich in fat. In this country, as well as in America, much use of them is made in the production of foods which supply neutral, healthful fat instead of the unhealthful meat, which is an unnatural food.

-Two medical men of Nice sent a communication to the last meeting of the Academie de Medicine, demonstrating that more than three-fourths of the deaths among children could be avoided. They say that ignorance, carelessness, alcohol and other unavoidable causes have in six years killed 220,000 infants in France. The departments where the most children are lost are those where the most alcohol is consumed. The same is true everywhere. There are very few deaths that could not be avoided if people recognised the life that is manifested. Ignorance and unbelief are the source of the term "incurable disease."

January 24, 1901

"The Light of Life. Matt. xxv. 1-13" The Present Truth 17, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

(Matt. xxv. 1-13.)⁴1

"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."

THE TIME WHEN THE PARABLE APPLIES

The time when this parable of the kingdom of heaven applies is clearly indicated. The word with which the chapter begins, "Then," refers unmistakably to that which immediately precedes; for the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of Matthew are one connected discourse, the whole being in answer to the question of the disciples: "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Matt. xxiv. 3. In the twenty-fourth chapter we are brought down to Christ's second coming, and the signs that precede it are set forth, the chapter closing with warnings against allowing the coming of the Lord to take us unawares.

"Of that day and hour knoweth no man." The Lord has purposely kept the knowledge of it to Himself; for He would have His people always ready for Him. He does not wish them to live carelessly until just the time of His coming, and then make a hasty preparation to meet Him; but He would have every one clothed with the robe of righteousness and the garments of salvation, and then kept blameless until His coming. So ever since the fall of Adam, the coming of the Lord has been kept before the church as the one object of hope, that they may keep it before the world.

A TIME OF WAITING

The last part of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew plainly indicates a period of tarrying after men have been led to expect the coming of the Lord. Verses 48-51 tell of the fate that will overtake those who become weary in well-doing

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while the Saviour's coming is delayed, and who engage in strife and drunkenness; and the fifth verse in our present lesson plainly states that "the bridegroom tarried," and that in that waiting time "they all slumbered and slept."

The virgins plainly represent the entire church. Paul, writing to the church, says: "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." 2 Cor. xi. 2. Moreover, the term "kingdom of heaven" is frequently applied to the church on this earth. Thus, in Matt. xiii. 47-49, "the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just." Until the coming of the Lord there will be in the professed church of Christ both good and bad-both wise and foolish.

PROPHETIC TIME ENDED

In 1844 the longest and last period of time mentioned in prophecy expired. It was the two thousand and three hundred days of Daniel viii. and ix. For some years previous to that date there was a general awakening in the church, over the subject of the second coming of Christ; and many people, who saw from the study of the prophecy that the two thousand and three hundred days-literal years-would end in 1844, and who forgot some other plain statements of Scripture, notably this: "Ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh," concluded that Christ would come in that year. Of course He did not, for any real student of the Bible can be sure that whatever date anybody may set for the Lord to come, will be the time when He certainly will not come. Nevertheless the general movement was of the Lord, for He would have all His people always ready, and looking for Him.

THE ENHANTED GROUND

At the time spoken of, Christians throughout the world were as a class looking for the soon coming of the Lord, but of late years there has been an increasing indifference to it, and a tendency to regard it as a thing indefinitely postponed. Indeed, many deny that it is to be expected at all. This is emphatically the stage of the journey to the Celestial City, described by Bunyan as the "Enchanted Ground," where drowsiness seizes everybody, and the professed Church of Christ as a whole has "slumbered and slept." There is a special warning against having our "hearts overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, which produce sleepiness,"-and "cares of this life," so that the coming of the Lord should be to us as unexpected as the coming of a thief. Luke xxi. 34. The parable applies most emphatically to the present time, and from now until the Lord comes to take His waiting ones in with Him to the marriage. "Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." Rev. xix. 9.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE OIL NEEDED

This is plainly shown in the Scriptures. The following texts indicate it: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek." Isa. lxi. 1. "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power." Acts x. 38. Here we learn that the Holy Spirit is the anointing oil. But it is the illuminating oil as well; "for all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light; for that which doth make manifest is light" (Eph. v. 13), and the Holy Spirit is the reprover of sin. John xvi. 7, 8.

Still further: In the first chapter of Revelation Christ is represented as standing "in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks," which "are the seven churches." But it is by the Spirit that Christ dwells in His people. Read also the following:-

"The angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof; and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my Lord? . . . Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Zech. iv. 1-6.

Connect also with the statement that those seven "are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth" (verse 10), the one in Rev. v. 6, that the seven eyes "are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth," and we have the evidence complete.

THE SPIRIT THE LIGHT OF LIFE

Christians are not merely to carry lights, as represented in this parable, but they themselves are to "shine as lights in the world." Phil. ii. 15. The churches are the lamps. "Ye are the light of the world." Matt. v. 14. But the light with which Christians are to shine is the light of life, for Christ says: "I am the Light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John viii. 12. They are to "shine as lights in the world," by "holding forth the Word of Life," and the life of the Word is the light of men. John i. 4. "The Spirit is life because of righteousness." Rom. viii. 10. Christ's life in us is the presence of the Spirit, and that alone can make us lights to the world. "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." 2 Cor. iv. 6, 7. This "light of the knowledge of the glory of God," which is produced by God shining in our hearts, is to be given to others; for a lamp never gives light for his own benefit. Moreover the lamp is not conscious of its own light, even as "Moses

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wist not that the skin of his face shone" when he came down from the mount, where he had been talking with God. Ex. xxxiv. 29. He was full of the Spirit, and the light shone forth.

"IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT WITNESSETH"

A light is for warning and guidance. The church is set for the light of the world, and it is "the pillar and stay of the truth." 1 Tim. iii. 15. Now the light and the truth are sent out for the purpose of leading and guiding men to God's holy hill and to His tabernacle. Ps. xliii. 3. So it matters not how correct the church is as to form, or to forms of doctrine; if it-and of course this means the individual members of it-has not the burning light, it is practically useless. It is not enough to have lamps, nor even to have oil in them, nor yet to have the lamps trimmed; but they must be burning. "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately." Luke xii. 35, 36.

Now it is the Spirit alone in men, that can make them lights in the world, and faithful witnesses for Christ, to tell the power of His life, and the glory of His coming; and the Spirit must not merely be present, but must be recognised, and yielded to, so that He can shine forth. Christ said, "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. xxiv. 14. He also said: "Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me." Acts i. 8. But "it is the Spirit that beareth witness; because the Spirit is truth." 1 John v. 6. So it is not enough that somebody has preached the Gospel in every country on earth, not even though the whole "Gospel of the kingdom" be preached; the preaching must be the utterance of the Spirit of life in the men who bear the message. Since the time expired in 1844, the only thing of which the coming of the Lord is delayed, is that the church may perform its mission of warning the world. As soon as this is done, Christ will surely come. But the preaching must be by the life, so that the world could see it, even though the messenger were dumb. The church is the body of Christ, and before He appears in glory His life must be recognised in that body, in all parts of the world, even as it was in Jesus in Galilee and Judea. That time will surely come, soon; how soon will it be, and who will help to form that glorious body?

"The Christian's Outlook" The Present Truth 17, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Ps. xci. 1. This is the dwelling-place of every true Christian; for God has Christ, and "hath raised us up together in Christ Jesus" (Eph. ii. 6); and in that we are made alive in Christ, and raised to the heavenly places in Him, we are placed "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion." Eph. i. 21. From this elevated position the Christian has a broad outlook.

First of all, he sees the King in His beauty. "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me." He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High must necessarily see the Lord.

God is the one great object in the Christian's horizon, and it is this continual view that ensures his safety. "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not the moved." Ps. xvi. 8. With the Lord always before him, he cannot fail to obey this injunction. "Behold your God!" "We all, open [unveiled] face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory." 2 Cor. iii. 18.

None of this language is figurative; it is literal and real. "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God,"-not only in the future, but now; for nothing but impurity can shut out God from the right. Wherever there is purity of heart and life, there is the vision of God. His glory is to be seen in the heavens, while every flower reveals some of His beauty. "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord," and therefore the one where eyes are opened has all the goodness of the Lord continually passing before him.

For the Christian's eyes are opened, Christ is the light of the world, and God "hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." Those who have fellowship with God "walk in the light, as He is in the light," so that we can say, "Whereas I was blind, not I see;" for "the Lord openeth the eyes of the blind." Ps. cxivi. 8. And with his opened eyes the Christian sees "wondrous things" in the law of God. Ps. cxix. 18. The law is magnified and honourable in his eyes, for he sees it as "the perfect law of liberty," the life of Jesus Christ.

What more glorious outlook could anybody have than this, to behold God and His salvation? for of the one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, it is said, "With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My salvation." Ps. xci. 16. It could not be otherwise, since God is his salvation. The Christian, therefore, beholds the arm of the Lord revealed,

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the arm that brings salvation,-and he rests in Him.

From his safe retreat in the Lord, the Christian looks out upon the earth; and, having been made a new creature, he sees everything with new eyes. He that sits upon the throne says, "Behold, I make all things new," and He begins with the man who abides in Him. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. v. 17. Looking beyond that which to the mere physical eye seems to be all there is, he sees all things transformed, and tastes even here the power and the joy of the world to come. In every stream of pure water, in every shower of rain, and in every sparkling dewdrop, he sees the "pure river of water of life, clear as crystal." What matters it to him if others say that they can see nothing? He whose eyes are opened must needs be a seer, and the universe of God will reveal to him wonders that are hidden from those who "have eyes, but they see not." He has in earth a heaven in which to go to heaven.

Some one may object to the statement that the Christian can see the river of life, saying that is spiritual. Very well, have we not the assurance that "the things of the Spirit of God" "are spiritually discerned"? 1 Cor. ii. 14. And, further, "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Rom. viii. 9. God Himself is a spiritual being, yet He is revealed to the pure in heart, to the one who is spiritual. As to seeing the water of life, we have in it a daily illustration of how people can have eyes and can look directly at an object, and not see it. Read the following from Ps. lxv. 9-11:-

"Thou visitest the earth, and watereth it; Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of life; which is full of water; Thou preparest them corn, when Thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly; Thou settlest the future thereof; Thou makes it soft with showers; Thou blessest the springing thereof; Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness; and Thy paths drop fatness."

There is nothing good that does not come directly from God, and He does not keep any good thing back from us. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James i. 17. The rain that falls from heaven, enriching the earth and making it fruitful, is the overflowing water of life from the throne of God, and it comes to us laden with God's own righteousness. Isa. xiv. 8. All may see it as such, if they are dwelling in the secret place of God, the place whence the water of life springs. God does not reserve the sight of His glories for a select and specially favoured few; but He spreads them out in full view of everybody, so that whether or not anyone sees them depends wholly on himself. Whoever walks in the Spirit can daily see wonders that are hidden from the eyes of the one who has only the mind of the flesh.

The Christian, having God continually before him, sees the power of God, which saves; "for the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and divinity." Rom. i. 20, R.V. Thus it is that he sees the salvation of God. Everything that is made, even his own body, reveals the personal presence of the Divine Word that upholds all things, so that he sees victory written on every blade of grass and every leaf of the forest; upon every flower, and in every star. So he is glad through the works of the Lord, and triumphs in the works of God's hands.

Still more, the one who dwells with God, sees His ways, and learns how to live. "Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Ps. xvi. 11. So, instead of going about feeble in body and mind, the Christian has before him the prospect of renewed youth and fresh, joyous life, which, beginning now, will continue without interruption throughout eternity. Surely, no outlook could be more pleasing and encouraging than this. Everybody who has ever been ill-and how few there are who have not suffered more or less from disease-knows how dark is the outlook when the vitality is low. It cannot be otherwise, even though one hopes in God for a final release from pain. But God provides for a glorious view, and invites us to enjoy the reality of it here and now. "The life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us; that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." God wishes all of His children to be healthy and happy, and He provides the manna to that end.

If the Christian looks ahead, he sees before him a time of trouble such as never was, when plagues and pestilence-the out-breaking of the plague that is in the hearts of all who have not turned to the Lord-will ravage the land; but in that time of trouble he sees deliverance for "every one that shall be found written in the book." Dan. xii. 1. Though a thousand fall at his side, and ten thousand at his right hand, he has no fear that any plague will come near him. Where others are nothing but darkness, he sees only light, "because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth."

In short, the Christian, "looking unto Jesus," "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all," in whom all things consist, and beholding God, "who is over all, and through all, and in all," sees only perfection, for his eyes are turned away from beholding vanity. He beholds Christ crucified before him, and glories in the cross, by which the world is crucified unto him, and he unto the world. He sees the new creation in the cross, and knows no man after the flesh; so he begins the life everlasting, living in this world just as he will continue to live throughout eternity, for he lives now in the secret place of God, as close to Him as he can possibly be. Taking refuge under the shadow of God's wings, he sees light in God's light, and drinks continually from the river of God's Eden, for Eden means pleasure. Ps. xxxvi. 7-9.

And so, with Christ and His power an goodness filling the whole range of our vision, we look forward with glad anticipation to the time when we shall see Him come to the clouds of heaven, even as He left this earth (Acts i. 11); for we shall behold His face in the righteousness which He imparts, and shall be satisfied with His likeness.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Avoid Doubtful Disputations" The Present Truth 17, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

"I shall be obliged if you will give an explanation of Rom. xiv. 1, 2. I have been asked if it does not show lack of faith, to eat herbs. From reading the entire chapter it seems that different foods were eaten, according to the day kept. Is this so?"

The principal difficulty about this text arises from taking certain expressions, and putting an arbitrary meaning on them, without regard to the general subject of which they form a part. To study the fourteenth chapter, so as to grasp its teaching, in an hour, is a large task; but we may get enough of a so that you need not be troubled over it any more. Thus if you have your mind freed from wrong ideas you may be able to go on studying it intelligently.

Remember that chapter divisions are purely arbitrary, and do not indicate any change in the subject. Read the thirteenth chapter carefully, and you will see that its subject is real service to God as supreme. "Owe no man anything, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."

The twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth chapters deal with our relation to one another, and especially as members of the body of Christ.

WE ARE NOT TO BE JUDGES

In the thirteenth chapter the law of God, as the rule of life, and the standard of the Judgment, is set forth, and the fourteenth contains a warning against our presuming to judge one another. "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own Master he standeth or falleth." "Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us therefore not judge one another any more." Verses 4, 10-13.

Now can you not see that the Lord, by the Apostle, is not in this chapter telling us some specific things that we are to do, but is speaking of our general treatment of one another? "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another." Verse 19.

With these verses in mind read the first of the chapter: "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations." The margin has "not to judge his doubtful thoughts." The margin of the Revision has, "for decisions of doubts." The word in the Greek is the same that is rendered "imaginations" in Rom. i. 21, and "thoughts" in 1 Cor. iii. 20, "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." It indicates uncertainty, so in Luke xxiv. 36, "Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" So the first verse is well rendered in the French of Segond, "Accept him that is feeble in the faith, and do not discuss his opinions." The Danish and Norwegian translations are the same. One recent Danish translation has it, "Receive him that is feeble in faith, without judging thoughts."

The teaching is plainly the sane as in 2 Tim. ii. 23. "Foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes." Also, "Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith." 1 Tim i. 4. "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."

FULL ASSURANCE BY THE WORD

But this does not by any means indicate that it makes little if any difference what one believes. Far from it. On the contrary, it teaches that there should be no doubts, but positive certainty. "He that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith; for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Verse 23. This is the idea conveyed in the term "fully persuaded." The Greek word is the same as in Luke i. 1, where we read that the Gospel was written "to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us." But there is no uncertainty about the Gospel of Luke. Luke, as well as Peter, could say, "We have not followed cunningly devised fables." We have the same word in 2 Tim. iv. 17: "The Lord stood with me, and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known."

OPINIONS ARE EXCLUDED

Opinions have no place in the Gospel, nor in anybody's Christian experience. They have no connection whatsoever with faith. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Rom. x. 17. Whatever the Word of God says is sure, and therefore we may know it. When the Word speaks, there is no room for doubts or opinions; and the expression of our opinion, in such a case, is evidence of lack of faith. Nevertheless we are not to condemn any person. The Church of Christ is not in the least like any society formed by men, where certain tests are applied to any applicant for membership, and those who do not meet the minds of the members are rejected. It is the body of Christ, and, like Christ Himself, it is a school, to which all are called to come and learn. If a man comes who has less faith than some others, he is not to be condemned, but instructed and helped. Ignore his expressions of mere opinion, and feed him upon the Word, until he knows the certainty of the things that are believed.

This, in brief, is the general teaching of the chapter, as a thoughtful reading must convince you. Certainty is set over against doubt. Nobody has any business with mere opinions, but if any man has them, leave him alone with them and give yourself to the Word, which casts down imaginations, and every high thing that exaIteth itself against the knowledge of God, and brings every thought into capivity to the obedience of Christ.

WHAT ABOUT EATING HERBS?

"But," you say, "you have not said anything about the health question." Here is another friend, who refers to several texts, Romans xiv. among them, and says: "Many desire light on these texts, and they are usually not touched when health reform is considered, but cast aside, as if we knew them to be against the subject."

Well, there is a good reason why they are not considered in dealing with the health question, and what food is best for one's body, and that is, that they have no connection whatever with that subject. When I am talking about health, there is no reason in the world why I should turn aside to talk about a text that has no bearing on the question.

The only place in the Bible where we have any talk about eating herbs is Ex. xii. 8, in the instructions concerning the passover lamb. "They shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it." But we do not kill a lamb, and sprinkle its blood on the door posts, and then eat its flesh, because "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (I Cor. v. 7), and therefore we have no occasion to eat bitter herbs with it. No one with perfect knowledge of Christ could keep up that ancient custom; but if anybody should do so in the unbelief of ignorance, we should not be justified in condemning him as a heretic. Receive such an one, not to doubtful disputations, nor to dispute about his opinions, but to feed him with the Word, and "God is able to make him stand."

Some people imagine that this chapter is against Sabbath- keeping, just as our friend supposes it is against healthful living. But the Sabbath is a thing definitely commanded, and is as plain as the duty to worship only one God, and there is no opportunity for anybody to have any doubts about it. It is simply a question of belief. Yet even here the words, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind," apply; for everybody should know the law of God for a certainty; and professed Sabbath observance, that does not spring from positive knowledge-"the full assurance of faith"-is not Sabbath-keeping at all.

EATING ALL THINGS

I suppose I must say a word about the words "all things," in connection with eating. It is evident that this term excludes things unfit to eat, just as the command to gather manna, "a certain rate every day" (Ex xvi.) did not include the Sabbath day. It had reference only to days on which such work might lawfully be done. It is strange how people will seize upon these words as proof that no attention ought to be paid to what one eats, and at the same time they would themselves exclude from their dietary such things as caterpillars, snakes, toads, rats, beetles, etc. When the apostle says, "One man believeth that he may eat all things," it is evident that he has reference only to those things which are fit to be eaten. Similarly, when he says, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an aye, at the last trump," and "as in Adam all die, even go in Christ shall all be made alive," it is evident that he is not speaking of the wicked, but only of those who are in Christ.

"The Children. An Everlasting Name" The Present Truth 17, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

When God told Moses that He would send him into Egypt to deliver His people and lead them out, Moses was afraid that the people would not believe God had spoken to him, and would not be willing to follow him. He said they would be sure to ask him, "What is His name?" and then, He said, "What shall I say unto them?"

"And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: I AM hath sent me unto you." "This is My name for ever."

You know that the people in Egypt were worshipping idols, and had almost forgotten God, and He wanted to teach them to know Him. He was leading them out of Egypt, away from all its false gods, to bring them to Himself. But "He that cometh to God must believe that He is." So the first message that God sent the people was, "I AM."

It was Jesus Christ who was talking to Moses out of the burning bush. You will perhaps remember that when He was on earth He used this name when He was speaking of Himself. He said: "Before Abraham was, I AM."

All the false gods of the nations are nothing; they seem to be something, but they are not.

"Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men's hands.
They have mouths, but they speak not;
Eyes have they, but they see not;
They have ears, but they hear not;
Noses have they, but they smell not
They have hands, but they handle not;
Feet have they, but they walk not;
Neither speak they through their throat."

Seeming to be what they are not, seeming to be something when they are nothing, they are a lie, an image, false.

"But the Lord is the true God." His name is I AM, and He is the only one who really is. The truth is "that which is." You know that when one tells a lie, he is saying something that is not so. Anything that appears to be what it is not, is a lie. But Jesus is the Truth; truth is "that which is;" and so His name is "I AM."

Notice that I AM is present tense or present time; it means now; yet this is God's name for ever. This shows us that He always was, and that He ever will be. Jesus said that He is the One "which is, and which was, and which is to come." I AM is present; this is His name for ever; therefore He is ever-present.

Now remember our last week's talk about some of the lessons that God was teaching us by speaking to Moses out of the midst of the bush. It meant that He dwells everywhere and in all things.

It was from the midst of the bush that His voice was beard saying, "I AM THAT I AM." There is nothing that is, except Jesus Christ. He is the truth, the life, of everything that exists, for in Him "all things hold together." Apart from Him there is nothing, for in Him "all fulness dwells." So in all the things that we see around us everywhere, in all the wondrous works of God, His voice is saying to us, "I AM." Because He is, these things are. They exist only because He does.

But He says also, "I AM THAT I AM." I am that which, or what, I am. So the name of God is to show us what He is; it is to teach us His character. And "that Thy name is near, Thy wondrous works declare."

"O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Thy name in all the earth!"

sang the Psalmist. And as we learn to read this excellent name wherever it is written, "in all the earth," we shall with heart and voice join in the glad song of praise.

His name is I AM what I AM, and every one of His works shows to us something of what He is. So all things are declaring the everlasting name of the Creator. Jesus Christ is the truth of everything. He is "that which is" in all things, and until we learn to see Him there, and to read the truth that He is revealing,-what it is that He is teaching us of Himself,-we do not really know the truth of anything.

One thing more that we learn from His name we must speak of: "I AM THAT I AM. What God is, He is for ever, He always is. With Him "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Jesus Christ is "the same, yesterday, and to-day, and for ever."

What a beautiful name! What a grand, glorious, and almighty name, is this everlasting name of our God and Saviour. And from everything that He has made He is declaring it to us, just as truly as He did to Moses out of the midst of the bush, teaching us that He is always, everywhere, present, that He never changes, but that all that He is He is for ever.

God wanted the children of Israel to know Him, so that they would trust in Him and let Him lead them through the wilderness, as the sheep follow the kind and gentle shepherd whom they have learnt to

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know. And so He declared His name to them, for "They that know Thy name shall put their trust in Thee."

Do you not think it should have made them very happy to learn that they had such a God? But "this God is our God for ever and ever." Should it not make is happy also to know this, and better still, to know Him?

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

-It is reported that bubonic plague has been discovered in the "Chinese quarter of San Francisco."

-The Kaiser is interesting himself in a project to run electric trains in Germany at a speed of 180 miles an hour.

-A hundred thousand sheep have perished in the snow drifts on the Taurus mountains, and nothing is known of the shepherds.

-A new form of influenza, called "lightning-bearing influenza," has appeared in St. Petersburg. Death is said to result instantly.

-Professor Baron, who died in Berlin the week before last, left the bulk of his fortune, estimated at 420,000 marks, for the establishment of an orphan asylum, where the children should be brought up on strict vegetarian principles.

-A return has been issued from the Customs House showing the quantity of unwrought steel imported into the United Kingdom from foreign countries. The total last year was 179,000 tons, as compared with 77,000 tons the previous year. The increase is almost entirely In steal imparted from the United States, which last year sent 157,000 tons to British ports.

-At Leavenworth, in Kansas, U.S.A., a negro charged with an attempted assault on a white woman, and who was also suspected of the murder of a white girl in November late, was taken from gaol, January 15, and in the presence of 5,000 spectators, burned at the stake, despite his protestations of innocence. The Governor of Kansas has offered a reward for the arrest and conviction of any who took part in the affair.

-M. Leyson, (Pere Hyacinthe) famous in the Old Catholic movement, has just joined the Greek Orthodox Church.

-Famine is raging in the greater part of Shenei, China, and a population of five million is said to be threatened with starvation.

-Deaf mutes are on the increase in Germany. There are no fewer than 6,458 persons in institutions where deaf mutes are specially instructed.

-It is officially reported that 400 fishermen are missing. It is believed that they perished in the heavy storm which raged on the 10th inst., off the west coast of Japan.

-The Salvation Army has received 184,000 during the last twelve months, the proceeds of goods made in the moue homes, sad hawked by the officers of the Army from door to door.

-Baron Johann Faber, the founder of the celebrated lead pencil industry bearing his name, died at Nuremberg the 15th inst., in his eighty-fourth year. Over 1,000 men are now employed in the Faber pencil factories.

-A coroner's jury recently rendered the verdict that the death of a young lady was due to tight lacing. There are hundreds of deaths, however, due to lacing, which do not come before the coroner.

-By the closing of the prisons at Brecon and Carmarthen, which will take place this year, four counties in Wales will be left without a gaol. This has been rendered possible by the steady decrease in crime in West and Mid Wales.

-A Tientsin native newspaper states that Germany demands 180,000,000 dollars as indemnity, while Russia makes a special claim of 100,000,000 dollars for repairs to the Manchurian railway, and France a claim of 140,000,000 dollars for loses on the frontiers of Yunnan.

-The United States Naval Appropriation Bill for the next decal year, as completed by the Naval Committee for reporting to the House of Representatives, of 77,000,000 dollars, being an increase of 11,000,000 dollars over the appropriate for the present year. The Bill orders that two battleships and two cruisers shall be contracted for.

-The death-rate of England has fallen from twenty-three per thousand fifty years ago, to less than eighteen per thousand. This decrease causes a daily saving of about 400 lives. In spite, however, of the diminished death-rate, the excess of the birth-rate over the death-rate has dropped from 14.4 in 1878, to 12.8 in 1898, which shows that the birth-rate is decreasing very much faster than the death-rate.

-Reports from Dallas, Texas, state that there is a great excitement in that region, due to the diet weary of mineral oil. From a well drilled in Beaumont, The week before last, oil is flowing at the rate of 25,000 barrels a day, surpassing all previous records in America and Russia. Fabulous prices are being tithed for land which heretofore would not bring more then eight shillings sn sore, and capitalists are investing largely.

-In addition to extending martial law over the whole of Cape Colony with the exception of the ports, the Peace Proclamation Act of 1878 has been proclaimed in the districts of Capetown, Wynberg, and Simonstown, which means the total disarmament of the entire civilian population. The proclamation names February 1 as disarmament day, "arms" including guns, pistol, bayonet, dagger, pixe, spear, assegai, bullets, cartridges, gunpowder, or any material capable of being used in connection with guns or pistols. The penalty for contravention is seven years' imprisonment, or a fine of ?500 and two years' hard labour.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

The Lancet says: "Perfectly accurate figures show that the registered mortality from malignant disease in England and Wales has at least doubled within the last fifty years. Indeed, there has been an uninterrupted increase from 19ï5 per million of the male population to 571 per million in the later years of the last century."

On the fourth day of the creation week God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures." Gen. i. 20. Some idea of how this command is still obeyed may be gathered from the statement that in two days recently over one hundred thousand tons of herrings, representing about 4,000,000 fish, were landed at Plymouth.

"Love is the fulfilling of the law." Many people read it as though the emphasis were upon the first word, thus: "Love is the fulfilling of the law," their idea being that love is a substitute for the law. That is a mistake; love is the fulfilling, the doing, of the law. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." 1 John. v. 3. Any disposition to evade any of the commandments of God, is the very opposite of love. Substitutes for the doing of them are sin, and nothing else; for "sin is she transgression of the law."

At one place where a crowd gathered to greet Lord Roberts on his journey to London, a lad pushed his way to the front, and stood there puffing a cigarette. Lord Roberts rebuked him, saying, "It is very rude of a boy of your age to smoke." Perhaps a rebuke from this source may have more effect than from any other. We hope so; but we are sorry that age was mentioned. Smoking tends to make a person rude, and unmindful of the comfort of others, and no one who travels by tram or train, or who goes anywhere, can fail to be impressed with the number of rude people there are in the world. If lads are rude in smoking, it is simply because they copy their elders.

A man in Sydney has recently written a letter to the Board which controls the sewerage system of the city, with a view of interesting them in the production of pure alcohol from sewage matter, for which he says a friend of his holds the patent. Why not? It seems that the Board was not disposed to take up the project; but we cannot see why alcohol, which is destined eventually for the gutter, and which lands its victims there, should not come from the gutter. There would be fitness in it. The association might nauseate some fastidious people; but anybody who can eat such scavengers as hogs and oysters, which flourish on sewage, ought not to object to alcohol made from the same material. The Mail says that it would be "worse than arsenical beer," but therein it speaks without thought.

At the annual convention of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of the United States, held in 1899, the following amendment to the constitution was presented by one of the most prominent members:-

Nothing shall ever be incorporated into any plan of N.W.C.T.U. work, by department or otherwise, which must of necessity become the occasion of sectarian controversy, or which can in any sense be made to interfere with perfect liberty of conscience.

According to the rules of the Union, this proposed amendment was held over for a year, to be acted upon at the annual meeting. At the next recently held, after an entire year for consideration, the amendment was rejected. That honourable Association evidently not wish to bind itself so that if occasion arises it cannot interfere with the freedom of those whose conscience leads them to differ with it.

"The Breath of Life" The Present Truth 17, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

The Breath of Life .-The Chronicle says that "St. Thomas's Hospital has for some months past had two patients who are difficult to class as either 'out' or 'in' patients. They are both the one and the other; for they dwell on one of its balconies, being consumptives who are under the open-air treatment. Fresher air might be found, no doubt; but in the country the great staff of doctors and students would be wanting. . . . When the recent snow fell, they were told that they might come under roof-shelter again; but they preferred to prolong the picnic, with the help of a little matting between themselves and the winds and sky."

When the Lord in the beginning breathed into man's nostrils "the breath of life," He knew what would give and sustain life; but people have wandered so far from "that which was from the beginning," that they imagine that too much fresh air will kill them, or at least cause them to take cold. So they shut themselves up in their rooms, and suffer from colds; whereas if they would constantly live in fresh air, and drink it in literally in large draughts, they would never have a cold, other habits being good. Life doesn't kill, but on the contrary gives life.

"Men Without a Message" The Present Truth 17, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

At the Ripon Diocesan Conference held last month, the editor of the Yorkshire Post delivered an address on "The Secular Press," in which he replied to the charge that too little space is devoted to the religions life of the country, and too much to its recreations and amusements, by saying that the contents of all newspapers are determined by a trained perception of what the public will read, and he illustrated his point thus:-

"An excellent man comes to me, and says: 'You ought to give a page of the best sermons every Monday morning.' 'Yes,' I say, 'what shall I leave out?' 'Oh, I see you give a page to football-leave that out-it does no good to anybody.' Well, I look out on the world, in my mind's eye, and I see thousands of men interested in football stampeding to more sympathetic quarters. And I look in the direction of the churches and chapels for the multitude who are to stampede in my direction to devour the sermons, and I see them coming in twos and threes."

This was greeted with laughter by the assembled clergy, showing that they were not troubled by the picture. Nevertheless no people can ever be elevated by a paper which gives them simply what they want to read, and will pay for. The papers, as well as the preachers, who are a positive force for righteousness, are those that give the people what they need, regardless of whether it will pay or not. Of course many will turn away, and will not read nor listen to that which is not "after their own lusts;" but he who has a commission from God cannot condescend to tickle their "itching ears" in order to bribe them to listen to diluted truth. Truth, as it is in Jesus, can never be made to pay in the current coin of this world, for the world hates Christ now even as it did when it crucified Him in Jerusalem.

January 31, 1901

"Front Page" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

No event within the memory of anybody living has so moved the hearts of people throughout the world as the death of Her Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria. The generation living when she ascended the throne has nearly all passed away, and a new generation has arisen, so that the earliest memories of most Britons are connected with Queen Victoria; and not alone in this kingdom, but throughout the world; she was the foremost public personage, and the one best known to all. So thoroughly did she comprehend the duties of her position, and so faithfully did she discharge them, that she seemed to be not merely a part of the British Empire, but actually an in a sense to be the Government itself. Although as she passed the four-score limit of the Psalmist, people know that the Queen could not in the nature of things remain among her people much longer, the sad event always seemed to be in the indefinite future. So much was she a part of the world's history, that it seemed as though she would always remain. Now that she has gone not only a nation, but the world mourns. To many thousands of unIettered black people, the death of the Great White will be felt a personal loss.

As the news spread through the country on the evening of the 22nd, it seemed as though a death had occurred in every family. From that moment there has been a hush in the streets of London, that the most careless could not fail to mark. It was not merely because of their loyalty to the principle of Monarchy, not, merely because of her long, reign, and the prosperity that has attended it, but because of her personal character, and her affection for her subjects, that the people loved and honoured her. No one, recalling the past, can point to any time or circumstance and say, "Here she made a mistake." She seemed intuitively to know what was the right course, and with her to know was to do. As a woman, with her every act before the eyes of the world her conduct through all phases of experience possible to a woman, has been faultless. More than this, it has been a pattern of simple virtue, for others to follow. Here was no negative character. She would have been a queen even if she had never been crowned; and it is not the language of exaggeration or partiality to say that no greater sovereign has been known in the world's history. From the Queen the thought naturally turns to her successor. And yet the thought does not turn from her; for the standard which she has raised has become so much a part of the Kingdom and Empire, that it is easy, rather than difficult, to follow so good a ruler. Few men have had, by good example, the education that comes from travel, acquaintance with the world, and personal intercourse with its present rulers, more thorough preparation for the duties of high office than has Edward VII., and all hearts, for his own sake, as well as for the public good, reverently breathe the prayer, GOD SAVE THE KING.

"Talented People. Matt. xxv. 14-30" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

(Matt. xxv. 14-30.)⁵1

To say that one is "talented" is generally understood to mean that he is specially distinguished from ordinary people. It is commonly supposed that the number of talented people is comparatively limited, but this idea is not at all in accord with the Scripture. Christ tells us that God's dealing with us is as when a man "going into another country, called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability." There is not a soul on this earth, whom the Lord has not made talented; each individual has received the Divine endowment. The only question for each one is, How shall the gifts be used?

It is useless to try to enumerate the various talents. They are often unrecognised, for the distribution of the talents is universal, and from their very commonness they are overlooked. It is sufficient to know that everybody has talents according to his ability to do any kind of good whatever.

It has been said that "he who does his best does well." He does better than that; he does the best. And yet, after all, there are no degrees of comparison in real goodness. There is no goodness but the goodness of God, and that cannot be bettered to the slightest degree. Accordingly the highest encomium bestowed by the Master is "Well done!" Each one who has used the talents, or the single talent, entrusted to him, receives the same commendation: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

In order to understand this parable of the talents, we must consider the ending of it. The man who had received five talents and had gained five more, was rewarded with the words "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: Enter thou into the joy of thy lord." Exactly the same thing was said to the man who had received two talents, and who had traded with them and gained two more. But when the one who had received the one talent brought it back, excusing himself for not having added to it, by charging the master with being a hard man, reaping the fruits of others' labours, the reply was that if that were so, he ought to have put the money to the bankers, so that the master could have received his own with interest; and then the sentence was pronounced: "Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth."

THAT WHICH WE SEEM TO HAVE

Some one will doubtless say, what many think, that there is a contradiction in the words: "from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away," but there is not. The thing is made plain in Luke viii. 18, where we have it, "Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he thinketh he hath," or "seemeth to have." The truth taught in this story is that "ye are not your own," and that therefore nothing that we possess is our own. This does not mean money or property merely, but mental endowments as well. Boasting is excluded, since nobody has anything of his own. This is most literally true, for in God we live, and move, and have our being, so that our mental and physical strength is not simply something lent to us by God, but it is the result of God's own working in us. If we do any good thing, it is He who does the work. This should serve as a check to our pride, and keep us from doing anything through strife or vainglory. "Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" 1 Cor. iv. 7.

LABOUR IS PROFITABLE

"In all labour there is profit," says the proverb. In the parable the man with the one talent would not trade with it, because he thought that the increase would not be his. It would not have been so, as we see from what was said to the others; but it ought not to have made any difference if it had been so. There is a lesson here for those who are always calculating how much they are to receive for any labour, and who will not work from mere love of labour, but only when they think they will receive good wages. There are few people who will work without regard to the promised pay, and who will do as well if they have no sure prospect of receiving anything, as they would if they had good wages offered them. The greatest blessing that God has given mankind is the privilege of labouring. In promising a blessing to Abraham, God said, "Thou shalt be a blessing." Gen. xii. 2. No other man can possibly get so high a reward as he who labours because labour itself is good.

No matter if somebody else gets the pay for our labour; we should work just the same, since our living is given us freely by the Lord. Nobody can take from us the real reward of our labour, which is the experience that comes through it. The real pay for labour is the ability which one gains to do more. "Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things," is what the Lord says. He who knows this will never be troubled for fear somebody else will learn the secret of his trade, and get his work away from him; nor will he be concerned lest somebody else should receive credit or profit for what he has done.

THE REWARD NOT ARBITRARY

The man who had gained two talents received the same commendation that the one did who had gained five. This was just, because he had done equally well. He had doubled his talents, just as the other one had. The reward was proportionate to the work done, as we see by the similar parable in Luke xix. 12-27. And since the talents entrusted are according to each one's ability, we learn that as each one has here all that he can do, so each one in the kingdom will enjoy all that he is capable of enjoying. Each one will have "fulness of joy." He who does with his might what his hand finds to do, is doing just as much as another one who may accomplish ten times as much; and if that other one is capable of doing twenty times as much as the first, and accomplishes only ten times as much, then he really does only half as much as the one who works with all his might.

In this latter case the one who seems to have done but one-tenth as much as the other, will receive a higher reward than that other, although men would award the other one ten times as much. The reason is, that the reward comes from the work itself, and not in the form of wages arbitrarily fixed. He who is idle is degenerating, and it suffering loss, even though he receive wages for full work. That one is burying his lord's talent, and

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is really squandering that which is not his own, since he is justly chargeable, with that which he might have gained if he had been diligent.

TAKING AWAY WHAT ONE SEEMS TO HAVE

If a man does not improve the talent entrusted to him, there is no reason why he should be allowed to retain it. The Judgment will show that many who are supposed to be richly endowed are bankrupt. Who does not know people of really brilliant talents, who have not only ceased to progress, but who seem really to be degenerating? Such ones have less than nothing, for they had nothing of their own to begin with, and they are wasting that which was loaned to them. And this is really the case with every one who is not developing every ability that God has given him,-his physical and mental powers. He who buries his talent, squanders it. How sad it is to see a man and his life with less than he began,-in debt to eternity, and so eternally a debtor.

But the God who does not impute men's trespasses to them, but takes them all on Himself, is correspondingly generous with the talents that men gain by His grace: He counts them as their own, in addition to those originally bestowed.So even though we have wasted our talent, if we repent while yet there is time, before the Lord returns, it may be made up to us. For "God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."

"Thorough Work" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

In the Franco-Prussian war it was said that the Germans were better acquainted with the topography of the French territory than the Frenchmen themselves were. This was doubtless true, and it was one great secret of their success. The following by a correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, shows how accurately and in what a painstaking way things are done in Germany, and explains the wonderful progress that that nation is now making:-

A few weeks ago I happened to be in Berlin. I chanced to remark to a young staff officer that, immediately on arrival in London, business would take me to a little Hampshire village. As it was many miles from the station, I would, I observed, probably have great difficulty in obtaining a conveyance. "Not at all," promptly observed my friend. "You will reach the railway station at half-past two p.m. on Thursday afternoon. It is market-day, and an omnibus leaves the station for the village on that day at hourly intervals between ten a.m. and six p.m. If you choose to walk, however, you must remember to take the second turning on the left and the first on the right after leaving the station." Of course, l asked my informant if he had visited the place. "I have never been in England in my life," was the answer. "I am, the survey staff and the south-eastern portion of Hampshire is my district."

"Turkish and 'Christian' Civilisation" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

There is no one who has more vigorously denounced the Turks, nor more loudly demanded their extirpation by the "Christian nations" of Europe, than the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes; yet even he is forced by the facts to bear witness, as everybody who knows them must do, to their kindness, politeness, and temperance. In his paper, the Methodist Times, he is publishing a series of articles descriptive of a recent trip in the East, and the following from the issue of Jan. 17, gives a picture of Constantinople by night in the month of Ramadan, when the Mohammedans rigidly fast every day from daylight till sunset, in honour of the giving of the Koran, and eat and drink and have festivities at night:-

When we had spent some time in the gallery of St. Sophia, we returned to our carriages, and drove slowly through the crowded, animated streets of the city. It was an extraordinary spectacle. The entire population of Stamboul seemed to be making up for the prolonged fast of the day-time. All the restaurants and places of amusement were crowded with laughing, rejoicing, eating, drinking, chattering, shouting, smoking Turks. Immense quantities of every kind of popular food, pastry, and sweetmeats were disappearing down the throats of orthodox Mohammedans. Everybody, including women and children, seemed wide awake, although it was now near midnight. The darkness and silence of the sky were strangely contrasted with the brightness and merry hum of the eating-houses. The pavements, too, such as they are, were crowded with festive crowds. It was like a Bank Holiday at some popular watering-place-only it was a Bank Holiday at night.

But the most startling feature for an Englishman was the total absence of drunkenness. No degraded foal was tumbling helplessly from side to side, or gesticulating maudlin nonsense, or insulting his fellow-creatures. The vulgar English rough was conspicuous by his total absence. There was no stupid pushing or hustling. Every one was vivacious but polite. The police had nothing to do.

How immeasurably superior is Mohammedan Constantinople to "Christian" London on a similar occasion. If insane is the delusion that the free flowing of intoxicating liquor is essential to popular enjoyment. Everybody was, drinking coffee, sherbet, or water, out nobody-absolutely nobody-was drinking alcohol. After traversing the principal streets at a walking-pace-they were too crowded for any other pace-we paid a visit of inspection to one of the most popular music halls in Constantinople.

Here, again, what an astounding contrast to our music-halls. My wife was almost the only woman in the place, but nothing whatever happened, from first to last, to which she or any other Christian lady could take the slightest moral exception. The hall was a rectangular building, and very small in comparison with our palatial music-halls. When we entered it was two-thirds fall, but it became crowded as night advanced. Liquor was being sold all over the place, but it consisted only of delicious coffee and bright, cold, fresh water, for which many gladly gave their half-penny. We took our seats the observed of all observers, of course tried to assume the grave, dignified look of a Turk when he is not laughing, and ordered our coffee from the white-aproned waiter in the most orthodox manner.

The principal performance had not begun, and the company was being entertained by an instrumental band of two men and a boy. The boy, who was thumbing and banging a kind of banjo, specially attracted my attention. He was such a bright-eyed, chubby, handsome Turkish bay. The abandon with which he twanged his instrument, and, throwing his head well back and his mouth wide open, accompanied the music with hearty singing, was delicious. Oh, if all people who sing in choirs would only open their mouth properly, and trill away in that simple, unaffected, intense way, what heart-warming singing we should have in our churches! We-my wife included-heartily joined in the applause which followed the young musician's vigorous performance, tapping the floor vigorously with our walking-sticks and umbrellas, as we could not cheer in Turkish. . . . It was very entertaining. In the absence of strong drink, everybody was polite and well-behaved.

There cannot possibly be any comparison between Mohammedanism and Christianity, although it is undoubtedly superior to that caricature of Christianity,-the Papacy;-but certainly Mohammedans who behave themselves are much to be preferred to professed Christians who misbehave themselves. What would be the gain in driving the sober Turks out of Europe, and filling their places with coarse and drunken Europeans? Yet it will eventually be done, and then the end will come, not only for the Turks, but for all

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other nations of this world. Christians cannot consistently desire the extirpation of the Turks or any other people, and those who are not Christians would not desire it if they knew that it will be connected with the day of the Lord. To such the Lord by His prophet says: "Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! so what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into a house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him." Amos v. 28, 19.

"A 'Man of Parts'" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

There are two phases of the working of Church and State Union: One is that so well known where the Government it professes certain things, and requires everybody to conform to its creed; the other is where the ruler adapts himself to the varying beliefs of his subjects. In the first phase, the subjects, with the exception of those who believe as the rulers do, are required to be hypocrites; in the latter, the ruler is content to allow the people to believe as they will, and he himself acts the hypocrite.

An instance of this last is related by Rev. W. A. Findlay, of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, who recently returned from a visit to a petty potentate in Went Africa. The king informed him that he was a Christian, repeated the Lord's prayer in his native language, and joined in a Christian hymn. When the missionary expressed his agreeable surprise, the monarch replied: "Oh, the city embraces various religions, and I am not only a Christian, but a Mohammedan and a Pagan as well." There are not a few who imagine that all religions can be fused into one.

The President of the Wesleyan Church Boys, as quoted by the Methodist Times, that "Methodist Union is not within the range of practical politics. There is too much in the way. There are the vested interests, and the essential points of method. It is easy to talk glibly of reunion, but the difficulties in the way are enormous." Undoubtedly; but what an answer for a Christian minister to give to Christ's prayer for His disciples, "that they all may be one." It is a sad day when the leader of one of the most influential Christian denominations says that the Spirit of God, must stand aside for politics. Of all politics, church politics are the wickedest, and have been productive of the most evil in the world.

"The Editor's Private Corner. How Can We Know the True Sabbath?" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

"How are we to know that Saturday is the seventh-day Sabbath, since the days and years have been so changed?"

It is just as easy as for a man to know his own birthday; yea, much easier, for one's birthday comes but once a year, while the Sabbath comes every week. Moreover, but vary few persons have any interest in any ordinary man's birthday, while there are several hundred millions of people who are interested in keeping count of the days of the week; so that there are several thousand million more chances that everybody in the world is mistaken as to when his birthday comes, than that there is any doubt as to which day is the seventh day of the week-the Sabbath of the Lord. In fact, it is an absolute impossibility that there can be any mistake in the matter of the Sabbath.

THE SABBATH AND THE WEEK

Let us consider the question together. In the first place, we will accept, as beyond reasonable controversy, the statements in the fourth commandment and the second chapter of Genesis, that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord," and that in the beginning God rested upon the seventh day, after having devoted the preceding six to the creation of the heavens and the earth; and that God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, "because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created." Thus the week was instituted. It is a division of time that has been common in all ages, and it is marked only by the Sabbath, that it was known among the ancients by the same name.

It will readily be seen that no chance for the numbering of the days to be lost before the flood, because two or three men's lives spanned the entire period from the Creation to the flood. Even if we allow the supposition that the correct reckoning was lost, we must see for a certainty that the correct day was found at the Exodus. At Mount Sinai God made known to the people of Israel His holy Sabbath. Neh. ix. 13, 14. The Sabbath of the fourth commandment is identical with the Sabbath of creation; for the fact that at the close of the creation week God rested on the seventh day, is given in the fourth commandment as the ground of the Sabbath, and we may be sure that God had not lost the reckoning of time in twenty-five hundred years.

FROM MOSES TO CHRIST

From the days of Moses until the coming of Christ, Israel existed as a distinct people in the midst of the heathen, and the seventh-day Sabbath was their distinguishing characteristic. It was that by which the people showed themselves worshippers of the true God; for in Exe. xx. 20 we read this injunction and promise: "Hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." There was therefore no possibility that the day of the Sabbath could be lost while the people of Israel continued to worship God. Just stop and think how quickly a man is set right by neighbours, or by the members of his own family, if he chances to the make a mistake in the day of the week, and then try to calculate the possibilities that not only one man, nor a single family, but a whole nation made a mistake in reckoning, and all made the same mistake at the same time, so that nobody discovered it! The thing is manifestly impossible, but we have not yet finished the proof.

CHRIST AND THE SABBATH

About four thousand years after the creation, or a little more than two-thirds of the distance, in point of time, from the creation till now, Christ came to "magnify the law, and make it honourable." lsa xlii. 21. "It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell" (Col. i. 19), even "all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. ii. 9), yea, "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. ii. 2, 3), so that He certainly knew the exact truth about everything. He Himself is the truth, and therefore He was not mistaken as to the day of the Sabbath. If the people had lost the reckoning of the days of the week, and so lost the Sabbath (an impossibility, as we have already seen), He would have set them right; but while He was sharply criticised because He did not conform to the Rabbinical perversions of the Sabbath, there was never a question as to which day was the Sabbath.

The fact that Jesus recognised the day upon which the Jews rested as the Sabbath, shows that no mistake had been made up to that time. It shows more than this, also. It proves that the day which the Jews professed to keep-the seventh day-is the Sabbath for Christians, because Christ kept it. Throughout the New Testament, which was written between six and sixty years after the crucifixion, the day is invariably referred to as the Sabbath (except in Rev. i. 10, where it is called "the Lord's day"), and there is not only no intimation that the Jews were mistaken as to the day of the Sabbath, but there is no hint of any change. After the crucifixion the disciples "rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment" (Luke xxiii. 56); so we know that this day on which Christ and His disciples rested, in common with all the Jews, is the day commanded at Sinai, and set apart at creation. Moreover, since the New Testament is, even by those who lightly esteem the Old Testament, confessed to be the Scriptures given for the guidance of Christians, as it was written by Christians under the influence of the Holy Spirit, it follows that the day which the Jews professed to observe, in the days of Christ and the apostles, is the Sabbath for Christians. No one who uses Scripture language, and who regards the Bible as final authority in religion, can apply the term "Sabbath" to any other day than the seventh day of the week.

THE SABBATH SINCE THE CRUCIFIXION

Now what about the time since the ascension of Christ? There is in this period less possibility of losing the Sabbath than at any previous time. Soon after the ascension Jerusalem was besieged by the Romans, and destroyed, together with the temple, and the Jews dispersed throughout the whole world. In every nation Jews are to be found, and all keep the Sabbath with more or less strictness. Now if the exact day of the Sabbath were lost, we should find a disagreement among the Jews; some would be keeping one day, and some another; but this is not the case. If all the Jews were assembled from all parts of the world, all would be found in perfect harmony as to which day is the Sabbath. Can any sane person suppose that all these people, so widely scattered, have lost the count of the days of the week; and, what is more wonderful still, have all made the very same mistake, so that there is no confusion; and, still more remarkable, that they all made the same mistake at the very same instant, so that nobody could discover that another had made an error in his reckoning? The thing is too self-evidently absurd for a moment's serious thought.

THE SABBATH AND SUNDAY

Still further: Within two hundred years after the ascension of Christ, professed Christians began to observe the first day of the week-the "day of the sun,"-in deference to the vast number of heathen who were willing to join the church, provided they could do so without too great a sacrifice of their heathen customs. In the fourth century this custom was quite common in the church, and one of the main reasons given for the change was that they ought not to have anything in common with the Jews. By the sixth century Sunday had been completely substituted for the Sabbath, throughout the entire Catholic Church, only a few scattered Christians remaining faithful to the commandment of the Lord. The Catholic Church's zeal for Sunday, and its determination to have nothing in common with the Jews, increases to the highest degree the impossibility of there having been any mistake in the reckoning of the days of the week.

A CHANGE OF DATES

But you say there has been a change from Old Style to New Style, by which ten days were dropped out at one time. Very true, but those days were not blotted out of existence. Nobody lost ten days out of his life. They simply agreed to call the fifth day of a certain month the fifteenth, but there was not the slightest interference with the numbering of the days of the week. The surest proof of that is the fact that to this day Russia reckons according to the Old Style, and is about twelve days behind the rest of Europe, as to the numbering of the days of the month; but the Jews of Russia keep exactly the same day as do their fellow-religionists in Germany, England,

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and America, and all the people in Russia who observe Sunday are in perfect accord with those of the same persuasion in all other countries.

Another thing which also tended to the preservation of the Sabbath intact, making it for ever distinct from all other days, was this, that it was the only day of the week that bad a name, until comparatively modern times. The "six working days" were known from the beginning as the first day, second day, third day, and so on to the sixth day; but the seventh day was "the Sabbath" from the beginning.

Surely you must agree that nothing in the world can be more sure than that the day commonly called Saturday,-the seventh and last day of the week,-is the exact seventh day in regular succession from the creation. God in His Word, which "liveth and abideth for ever" says: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work." Here is a question for you to answer in your private corner: What do you propose to do about it?

"The Children. The Rod of the Lord" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

After the Lord had told His name to Moses, that he might tell the Children of Israel "I AM hath sent me unto you," he was still afraid that they would not believe him, nor pay any attention to his words.

Then God gave him signs which he was to a show them, so that they might learn of His mighty power to deliver them, and might know that Moses was His chosen instrument.

In his hand Moses held the rod usually carried by the eastern shepherd. David, who had been a shepherd himself, speaks of this rod, you will remember, in the beautiful shepherd psalm, "Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me."

"And the Lord said unto him, What is in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And He said, cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it become a rod in his hand."

The poisonous, writhing serpent has always been used to represent sin, from the time when Satan took the serpent's form in the Garden of Eden, and through it tempted Eve to disobey God. Satan himself is spoken of in God's Word as "that old serpent."

Little did Moses think that the rod upon which he leaned could become a poisonous serpent to destroy him. Yet so it was; and in this God is showing us how Satan can use whatever we have in our hands, anything in our possession, even though it may be good in itself, to lead us into sin and to destroy us.

The trail of the serpent is everywhere, over all the earth, and in all things, changing the blessings that God gives us into a curse to kill us. But, thank God, there is a greater power than that of sin or Satan working in all things,-the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, who can change the curse into a blessing, and can take even the things by which the evil one is trying to take our lives, and make them a means of blessing and help and strength to us and, to others.

This is what God showed to Moses when he was fleeing in terror from before the serpent; God command him to take hold of it by the tail, and as he obeyed the word of God, all the serpent's power to hurt him was taken away. It became a rod in his hand,-the rod by which many wonderful works of God were wrought in the land of Egypt and in the wilderness, as we shall see.

In all this we see the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to overcome Satan, and when we know this, we shall do what the Word of God tells us: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." He is always trying to get is poisonous fangs into us, but all that he brings against us, we can take hold of in the strength which Jesus gives us, and it will become a help to us instead.

Is there something in your life, something in your character, that is the means of constantly leading you into sin, something that you feel you cannot overcome, but can only flee before it, as Moses fled before the serpent? No matter what it is, Jesus Christ can work through that very thing to strengthen your character, and so make you better able to overcome all temptations, besides making you a help to others.

This miracle was also an allegory, a picture of the history of the Children of Israel. It was a time of famine when they went into Egypt, and Joseph invited them all to come there because "there was corn in Egypt." So Egypt was as the rod upon which they had leaned in their need, but it had now become like the serpent, seeking to swallow them up.

The name that the Lord gives to Egypt is "the great dragon." In the first chapter of Exodus you may read of the cruel ways in which Pharaoh, king of Egypt, tried to destroy the Israelites. The power that was holding them in bondage in this land of darkness was the cruel power of Satan, but God wanted to show them that He had the power to deliver them. He could even use the Egyptians themselves to carry out His purposes of good to them. For He told Moses that they should "spoil the Egyptians" and not go out empty-handed, but with the silver and gold, and raiment, and other things that they would need on their journey.

Pharaoh would, not listen to the message that the Lord sent to him through Moses, "Let My people go." He hardened his heart, and afflicted and oppressed them worse than before. Then through the mighty works that God did to deliver them from the Egyptians, all the nations round learned of the true God. So God used Egypt which rose up against Him and tried to destroy His people, to make His power known in all the earth.

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God gave Moses this sign of His power, turning the rod into a serpent and the serpent back into a rod again, that he might show it to the Children of Israel for them to read in it the history of their own deliverance. And we, too, may read there, if we will, our own complete victory over Satan through the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he can do nothing against us but what God will turn into a blessing for us.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

-According to advices received at Cairo, plague is prevalent in nearly the whole of Asia Minor.

-The Cape Town Gazette states that rinderpest is prevalent in the northern portion of German South West Africa.

-Herr Krupp has informed the authorities at Berlin that henceforth the firm will accept and execute orders from England for guns.

-When Queen Victoria came to the throne she ruled altogether over 168,000,000 people. The new century has over 400,000,000 under her sway.

-When Queen Victoria ascended the throne, twenty thousand pounds a year was all that Parliament voted for education; now the annual estimates exceed twelve millions.

-Irish horses, hitherto used by the regiments of guides in the Belgian Army, have become scarce in consequence of the war, and are now being gradually replaced by Hungarian horses.

-A terrific hurricane ravaged the Norwegian West Coast from Tromso to Christianseand, on the 21st inst. It was accompanied by snow, lightning, thunder, and s spring tide, and great damage was done.

-According to returns from the War Office, 3,540 men have been killed in action in the South African war. The total loss by disease, by wounds, by accident, by being taken captive, and by being sent home invalided amounts to 51,087.

-The Vatican is already the largest palace on earth, as it contains 11,000 rooms, but it is to receive an addition, which will bring the number up to 12,000. A large portion of the addition will be used for the lodging of pilgrims to Rome.

-It is reported that five Chinese girls were sold by auction at San Francisco on Saturday, Jan. 19, at prices ranging from 1,700 to 2,600 dollars. The buyers were of course keepers of brothels, and though there was a large crowd present, no one protested.

-The Government of Saxony has published a decree making it obligatory on the friends of patients suffering from tuberculosis, and on physicians attending such patients, to inform the authorities, just as in the case of dangerous infectious diseases. The ravages of consumption are said to be greater in Saxony than in any other German State.

-Sir W. Crookes, F.R.S., and Professor J. Dewar, F. R. S., have examined 6,731 samples of London water for bacteria, and find that there has been a steady decrease of the number of germs per cubic centimetre since 1897. the microbic purity of the Thames-derived water is 55 per cent. higher than it was then, that from the New River 70 per cent., and in the case of the Lea 85 per cent.

"A Magistrate on Intemperance" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

A Magistrate on Intemperance .-A man who was recently fined twenty shillings in a city police court for assault on a public-house manager, made the defence that the prosecutor pushed him, whereupon the magistrate said:-

"That would not excuse you in assaulting him, even if he is a public-house manager. The law allows him to carry on the trade and do am much mischief as he can among her Majesty's subjects. It is a very bad trade, the cause of nine-tenths of the misery in this metropolis, but you must not assault him."

"A Warrior's Opinion of War" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

In the "Personal Memoirs" of General Sheridan, one of the most brilliant and popular of American Generals at the time of the civil war, is the following statement of what war really means:-

"I do not hold war to mean simply that lines of men shall engage each other in battle, and material interests be ignored. This is but a duel, in which one combatant seeks the other's life; war means much more, and is far worse than this. Those who rest at home in peace and plenty see but little of the horrors attending such a duel, and even grow Indifferent to them as the struggle goes on. . . . It is another matter, however, when deprivation and suffering are brought to their own doors. Then the case appears much graver, for the loss of property weighs heavy with the most of mankind, heavier often than the sacrifices made on the field of battle.

"Death is popularly considered the maximum of punishment in war, but it is not; reduction to poverty brings prayers for peace more surely and more quickly than does the destruction of human life."

"Intemperance in the Kitchen and Dining Room" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Intemperance in the Kitchen and Dining Room .-A correspondent of the Daily Mail rightly says that "one great cause of the drinking to excess in the middle and lower classes is the awful cooking and the slipshod meals. There is no real nutriment in one-half the stuff consumed; it simply allays hunger, but leaves behind a craving for something, which for the time being is satisfied more easily by alcohol."

The truth is, and with perhaps the exception of "the slipshod meals" it is as applicable to the upper classes as to the lower, with this addition, that the latter use richer and more highly seasoned foods than the poorer classes can afford, and thus they create the demand for stimulants. No effort to stop drunkenness can hope to be successful, if it does not begin in the kitchen. There are many people who are zealous for "temperance," who nevertheless decry any talk about reform in diet, not knowing that the use of alcohol is for the most part only the result of intemperance,-that intemperance in eating, with respect to both quality, quantity, and times of eating, is the feeder of the public house. Those who eat only "that which is good" will not drink that which is bad.

"The Foolishness of the Wise" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

The Lord declares Himself to be the One who "turneth wise man backward, and maketh their knowledge foolishness." Isa. xliv. 25. This He does merely by confirming the word of His servant, and this word of truth shows that the thoughts of the wise are vain. No more striking instance of the vanity and foolishness of the thoughts of the wise has ever appeared than Canon Driver's Introduction and Notes to the Book of Daniel, in the series of the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. His view is that the Book of Daniel was written by an anonymous author in B.C. 166, for the purpose of encouraging the Jews under Antiochus Epiphanes, and that the miracles recorded in it are "imaginative anecdotes." How the people were to be encouraged by false stories, he does not explain, any more than he explains how the age off Antiochus could be "the limiting horizon of the writer," and yet four world-powers, which he asserts to be the Babylonian, Median, Persian, and Greek Empires, be set forth. The seventy weeks are declared to be a chronological error, and that all the predictions of the book proved untrue almost as soon as they were made.

One cannot help wondering why a man of sense should waste time on an Introduction and Notes to a book which he considers only a tissue of lies and imaginative anecdotes. We can understand it only from that which is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" (1 Cor. i. 19-21), and to save them who are simple enough to believe the Book of Daniel, together with the rest of the Bible.

A sad reflection is that while the publication of this infidel commentary by a prominent Church dignitary does not make a ripple, nor in the least affect his standing in the Church, there would be a storm of protest if he should presume to preach in a Nonconformist chapel, or to conduct a service without the regulation robes.

"Manliness in the Pulpit, and Out" The Present Truth 17, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

A correspondent of the Pilot is quite enthusiastic over "the common curate of to-day," who he thinks is a great improvement over his predecessors. He say:-

The young clergy have learnt that it is not necessary when putting off the old man to put on the old woman. They carry themselves upright, and look their fellow-man in the face, and laugh and chaff, and play football, and eat and smoke, and (sometimes) drink beer. I do not imply that they do these things in excess, or that they are, in any offensive sense, muscular Christians. I mean that they live, and move, and speak, and act like other people. They have got rid of the professional manner; and, if it were not for their collars, they could not be distinguished from the better type of secular B.A., who finds his way to the Treasury or to the Bar.

A minister of the Gospel ought certainly to exhibit more robust manliness than anybody else in the world; but persons, as well as small boys, ought to be taught that "laugh and chaff," smoking, and drinking beer are not by any means marks of manliness, but the reverse. A bishop, by which term is meant every man who has special oversight of souls, as one who shelf give account to God, must, among other qualifications, be "grave," "sober, just, holy, temperate." 1 Tim. iii. 1-8; Titus i. 5-9. And in these, us in all other things, the bishop is simply a model of what all other men ought to be. "The Man Christ Jesus," is the type and standard of true manliness, and while He was One "taken from among the people," and equally at home with all classes, and in all society, no one can think of Him as laughing and chaffing with anybody, nor of smoking a pipe or cigar either on the streets or in any other place. As for "chaff," its end is to be burned up with unquenchable fire, therefore it becomes all people to keep clear of it.

February 7, 1901

"The Obedient Child" The Present Truth 17, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered."

These words are spoken directly of Christ, and they form part of a passage which links Him to us in our sufferings and struggles with sin, more closely than any other in the Bible. If they occurred anywhere else than in the Bible, people would say that they were blasphemy; and even as they are, many seem to think that they need to be explained away, in order to preserve the reputation of Christ. But it is not necessary; Christ has enough character to carry Him through the loss of all reputation.

But it is not of Christ that we wish specially to speak, as the obedient child, but of one who was in many respects the most striking figure of Christ to be found among all the children of men. It is Isaac, who, as a type of Christ, is thus referred to: "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called; accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure." Heb. xi. 17-19.

Isaac was the child of promise. For many years earnestly longed for, we may be sure that he was the subject of many prayers before he was born. Much depended upon him, for the promise to Abraham was, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," and, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." Thus Abraham and Sarah were concerned for him, not merely because of the natural desire for an heir, but because through this promised heir the Messiah-the Saviour of men-was to come.

It is for this reason that we may be sure that for years before the birth of Isaac Abraham and Sarah lived largely with reference to this event. Most welcome was he when he came, for Sarah said, "God hath made me to laugh, so that all who hear will laugh with me." Gen. xxi. 6. The child was named Isaac, which means, literally, "He will laugh." The child of promise must be of a bright, sunny disposition. This was according to the word of the Lord.

It was when Isaac was probably about twenty-five years old, in the full strength

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of young manhood, that the great event took place, so strange yet so well known,-the offering of Isaac. "He that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son." Born of the Spirit, the one on whom, because of the promise, the salvation of the world depended, and now carrying the wood for his own sacrifice, the experience of Isaac runs parallel with that of Christ. Abraham, offering up his only begotten son, sustained by his faith in God's gift of His only-begotten Son, entered into the closest fellowship with God, so that he was called "the friend of God;" and we may be sure that the blessedness of this experience was shared by Isaac in equal measure.

LEARNING OBEDIENCE

Why was it that Isaac so meekly submitted to be bound, and laid on the altar? He was young and strong, and could easily have broken away. It was because he had learned obedience, even "the obedience of faith,"-the obedience which is to be preached to all nations. Rom. i. 5, margin. Be sure that the story of the promise, of the long waiting, the temporary lack of faith, and the final fulfilment of the promise through faith, was told to Isaac as soon as he could understand anything, and was often repeated. Here was something far more wonderful than any fairy tale to occupy his young mind. By the long trial of Abraham and Sarah's faith, and their final full submission to the will of God, the way had been prepared for Isaac to believe and to obey. Obedience was his birthright.

No grace of character is of instantaneous formation. Every virtue rests upon a foundation which has taken years in building. If Isaac had not learned absolute, implicit obedience in his childhood, we may be sure that as a young man he would never have voluntarily lain down on the altar, and suffered his aged father to bind him to it, preparatory to slaying him as a sacrifice. The child of promise must be obedient; and just as Abraham, although a man of faith before, had his acquaintance with God and the Gospel wonderfully increased by the experience in the offering of Isaac, even so Isaac, although "obedient unto death," must as a son have "learned obedience" in a far higher degree by the things which he suffered.

It is a mistake to suppose that children cannot be taught obedience in infancy. As a matter of fact, they should never be allowed to know anything else. It is a sad fact that most people imagine that children must be allowed to have their own way until some years old, and then must be trained. Unfortunately the discipline is too often put off until it is too late, and in any case the longer it is delayed the more difficult is it.

"Oh, but it is too cruel, to punish a tender babe! how could you have the heart to suggest such a thing, to say nothing of doing it?" exclaims one.

WHAT DISCIPLINE IS

Bear in mind that discipline is not by any means synonymous with punishment, as many suppose. To discipline is to teach. When Christ sent the apostles to make disciples of all nations, He did not mean that they should inflict punishment. A disciple is a learner, and discipline is instruction. The child who is properly disciplined, or instructed, learns obedience, and is thus saved from the necessity of being punished for disobedience.

Discipline, begun in earliest infancy, is the greatest kindness that can be done to a child. If it is delayed, then it must be carried out by severe chastisement. But even if the discipline of infancy must be to a certain extent through correction, it must not be forgotten that the chastisement will be proportioned to the child's age; and so again it is a kindness instead of a cruelty, because a touch will bend the tender plant, whereas power must be exerted to have any effect upon it after it is grown.

One thing the wise parent will insist on, and firmly adhere to, and that is never to allow the slightest manifestation of wilfulness in the child, from the time it is born. As soon as it is old enough to exhibit a desire to have its own way, in opposition to that of its parents, it is old enough to be taught that the will of the parent is law, and must be conformed to. Of course this means that the parent must be ruled by good judgment, and not by caprice. The parents are in God's hand, and must realize their responsibility, and not abuse it.

THE CHILD'S FIRST LESSON BOOK

The parent, who is in the place of God to the child, must learn from God how to govern. He says: "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with Mine eye," or, "I will counsel thee with Mine eye upon thee." Ps. xxxii. 8. A look will do more for a babe than a beating will for a youth who has been allowed to have his own way in early childhood. Infants in arms are wonderful readers of the face. The mother's face is the child's first lesson book, and the only one it has for a long time, and it becomes very expert in reading. Have you never seen a child slowly reaching out for some prohibited object, all the time watching the face of the one who has charge of it, to see if it may venture further or not? It is very engaging, as are all the ways of a little child, and therefore the parent is often lost in the curious and thoughtless admirer. A little firmness at the first will save days and perhaps years or trouble later on. Remember that goodness is much more charming, even in infancy, than naughtiness. A child may be judiciously admired, without being spoiled.

FIRMNESS AND GENTLENESS

Not only is the babe a quick discerner of character, but it understands the language of those who are continually with it much earlier than most people imagine. Even when it cannot comprehend words, the tone of voice conveys to it a distinct meaning. From the very beginning it may be taught to know what things are allowable, and what are not, and then there should be no vacillation. That which is forbidden to-day must not be permitted tomorrow. Some children will be very persistent, and will try again and again, to see if they cannot change the parents' mind. This shows perseverance and strength, and if not given way to may be a means of causing the child to persevere in well doing. Do not allow the child to weary you into yielding for that will not only be fatal to your peace afterwards, but to its character.

Sometimes correction must be administered before the child will learn that the will is not supreme, but if it has not been played with as a toy, but treated as a soul to be trained for eternity, a gentle tap will be sufficient, and this will not need to be often repeated. All that is needed is that there should be authority, and that the child be brought to recognise and respect it. If this be the case, the promise, "Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" will invariably be fulfilled. The parent who thus unites unvarying firmness and good judgment with kindness and love, confers blessing not alone upon the child, which will last through this life and the one to come, but upon the church, into whose fellowship the child will naturally grow up, and upon society at

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large. No missionary to foreign lands has such possibilities of doing work for eternity, nor such assurance that the patient effort exerted will be crowned with everlasting success, as the father and mother in the narrow precincts of the home; for the child who is obedient to his parents will never be disobedient to God.

"The Lord's Supper" The Present Truth 17, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

(Matt. xxvi. 17-30)⁶1

There are several interesting things in the portion of Scripture set apart for this lesson besides the Lord's Supper itself; but if we spend time over the sending of the two disciples, Peter and John, into the city, to find the place for the Passover Supper, and the wonderful way in which everything took place just as Jesus had foretold, we shall have no time for that which is to us of the greatest importance. One thing, however, we may note in passing, and that is that the disciples do not seem to have been at all surprised that Jesus knew just what they would find in the city, and what the man whom He said they would meet would say to them. They seemed to take it as a matter of course that the Master should know everything. Can we not be as trustful?

A LESSON OF LOVING SERVICE

There is one thing intimately connected with the Lord's Supper, which is commonly overlooked and ignored. That is the washing of the feet of the disciples, which took place just as the Passover meal was ready, and the disciples were sitting down. The rendering, "supper being ended," of John xiii. 2 in the Common Version, is incorrect. "Supper being ready" is what we should read, or "during supper," as in the Revised Version.

"There was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest." Luke xxii. 24. This strife would very naturally show itself in an attempt to secure the place of honour at table, especially at this time, when they supposed that Christ was about to take the kingdom. We know that this is a matter of no small importance to worldly people. Jesus therefore told them that the place of honour in His kingdom is the place of greatest and lowliest service; and He gave them a practical illustration of this, by rising from the table and washing their feet. Then He said, "Ye call Me Master and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." John xiii. 13-15. No commandment of the Lord Jesus is more emphatic than this, preceded by His own example. Why is it not obeyed by all who profess to be His followers?

If anything in the world could have won the heart of Judas, and held him back from the dark crime which he was about to commit, it would have been the sign of Jesus kneeling at his feet, and wash them. Yet Christ was the same then that He is now and always; and then, as always, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." Just such service the Lord is doing for us and for all mankind continually. Christ is greatest, because He does the greatest service; and the recognition of His constant, loving service for us will lead us continually to repentance, and will bind us to Him.

It is most fitting that the ordinance of foot washing should accompany the Lord's Supper, since both show communion with Christ. His word is Spirit, and we are made clean by the word which He speaks to us. John xv. 9. Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by a water bath in the Lord. Eph. v. 28. And "he that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet." John xiii. 10, R.V. That is to say, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." Col. ii. 6. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." Gal. v. 25. The water in which the feet are washed, represents the water of life, the Spirit of God, in which we are continually to walk. Thus only have we fellowship with Christ; for He says: "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me." John xiii. 5.

SUPPING WITH CHRIST

Whatever Christ did was the work of God in Him (John xiv. 10), and "whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever" (Eccl. iii. 14); therefore no act of Christ is merely for a moment or a day, but for eternity. It is not merely that its effects continue throughout eternity, but that every act of Christ on this earth in the flesh, is a revelation to us of His constant work, even when He is invisible to mortal eyes. So the Lord's Supper with His disciples, the same night that He was betrayed, shows us what He is daily doing. He says: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with Me." Rev. iii. 21. The Lord's Supper is a constant thing to all who know Him indeed. His flesh is true food, and His blood is true drink, so that whosoever eats of Him shall live by Him, and whoever does not eat of Him has no life. John vi. 55-57. We are not only to sit down at table, and sup with Him, but He Himself supplies the food, giving us Himself to eat.

THE REAL PRESENCE

Jesus was undoubtedly really present with His disciples that night in the upper room, and He is no less really present with us now; for He says: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." There has been no end of controversy as to "the real presence" of Christ-whether or not He is really present in the Lord's Supper, and how He is present. All such controversy indicates strange blindness as to the words of Christ; for that last Supper was for the express purpose of revealing His presence not only then, but at every meal.

As they were eating the Passover Supper, Jesus took some of the unleavened bread that was on the table (there was no other), and said, "This is My body." All that is necessary is to believe His word. He had demonstrated the same thing, when He fed the five thousand in the wilderness. In His hands the five small loaves grew to food for the multitude, and there was more left, after all were filled, than when they began. The same truth was also shown in the giving of the manna-bread from heaven-in the desert. They did "all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed [went with] them; and that Rock was Christ." 1 Cor. x. 3, 4. Christ is the living Bread sent down from heaven (John vi. 34, 35, 48-51); and it was of Him that the children of Israel ate in the desert. He was really present then; He is as really present now.

"NOT DISCERNING THE LORD'S BODY"

Very few of the Jews in the wilderness recognized Christ's presence among them. They tempted Christ, saying, "Is the Lord among us, or not?" See 1 Cor. x. 9; Ex. xvii. 7. Because they did not believe,

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they did not enter into God's rest, but died in the desert. So we read, concerning the Lord's Supper: "Whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. . . . For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." 1 Cor. xi. 27-30.

It is just the same as it was with the chief priests and the rulers of the Jews. They did not recognise the presence of the Lord in a human body, and so they put Him to death as a criminal, saying, "His blood be on us, and on our children." If they had known Him as "the hidden wisdom,"-"the wisdom of God,"-"they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory." 1 Cor. ii. 7, 8. They were none the less guilty, however, for they might have known if they had believed that which had been told them.

But professed Christians to-day are just as much in danger of rejecting Christ, and bringing upon themselves the blood of the Lord of glory, through not recognising Him, as were the Jews of old. He is "the Life." People say that our life comes from Him, but that does not fully express the truth; it rather tends to conceal its fulness. He is our life, and in taking that which imparts life to us, and continues it, we are taking Christ Himself; for there is no life but His life-Himself.

Whether we believe or not, we are living by Him,-by His flesh and blood,-just as were the unbelieving Jews in the wilderness. This life is given to us, in order that it may be "made manifest in our mortal flesh." 2 Cor. iv. 11. If we recognise that Christ is our life, then the life which we live in the flesh will be by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave Himself for us; Christ Himself will live in us, doing the same works that He did when He came in Judea. Our part will be to yield to the life, that God may use it in His own way to His glory.

But if we do not recognise the life; if we do not discern the Lord's body in the gifts whereby we receive the life of God, then we take His life, without allowing the power of the resurrection life to appear in us. We are thus guilty of putting Him to death. The death of the Lord is the bestowal of life upon us; therefore every breath of life that comes to us from God; every morsel of food that renews our fainting life; every drink of the refreshing, life-giving fluid that comes to us from the rock or the vine, is proof to us of the death of Christ-of His gift of Himself to us, to deliver us from this present evil world. In everything that has life, and that gives life, the cross of Christ-the power of God-is revealed. Every meal that we eat, therefore; every glass of pure water, or pure fruit of the vine that we drink; every breath of life that we inhale, is proof to us that God has made us accepted in the Beloved, and that He gives Him to us for the forgiveness of our sins.

Do you thus know the Lord? Are you recognising His presence daily and hourly, and every moment, and thus living by and with Him? If so you must be glad and rejoicing all the day, in the consciousness of God's pardoning love. If not, "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found; call ye upon Him while He is near." He is "not far from every one of us;" for "in Him we live, and move, and have our being."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Eternal Salvation" The Present Truth 17, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

"I am reading much of the religious literature of the present day, one would get the idea that there was no possibility of conversion and salvation before the first advent of Christ. What about Abraham and Enoch? When was the Spirit given?"

THE BIBLE AND RELIGIOUS LITERATURE

I would strongly advise you, then, to read less of such religious literature, and more of the Bible, which speaks to you as directly as to anybody else. Any religious literature that casts doubt upon the full conversion of men before the crucifixion of Christ, really discredits conversion and salvation since that time.

You ask me why the PRESENT TRUTH is published, since I discount religious literature so much, in favour of the Bible.

I can tell you very quickly. It is published for the purpose of calling the attention of people to the Bible, awakening their interest to study it, and showing them how plain and simple it is. It has no other mission than to open the Word of God before the people, and induce them to read it for themselves, with prayerful and unbiased minds. If everybody in the world would do this now, there would be no need for the PRESENT TRUTH, and it would cease to be published. Let us now see something of what the Bible has to say about salvation before the revelation of Christ nineteen hundred years ago. Whatever it has to say about salvation then, is necessary for our salvation now.

Where shall we begin?

Well, since you have named Abraham, we might as well begin with him, but we have not time for nearly all that is said about him.

WHAT DID ABRAHAM FIND?

First, the Gospel was preached to Abraham. Gal. iii. 8. This Gospel was identical with that which Paul preached; for there is but one real Gospel (Gal. i. 6-8), and God Himself preached to Abraham. The ancient prophets had the very same Gospel that the apostles afterwards preached. 1 Peter i. 10-19. Still more emphatic is the statement in Heb. iv. 2, where we read that "unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them." The question would be fully answered, if the text said that the Gospel was preached to them as well as to us; but the fact is that we come in second. The Gospel was first preached to them, and the same promise remains for us. We are merely sharers in that which was first given to the ancients.

The Gospel which was before proclaimed by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures was "the Gospel of God, concerning His Son Jesus Christ." Rom. i. 1-3. Christ was therefore preached to Abraham, and Jesus said to the Jews: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad." John viii. 56.

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Abraham, then was a happy Christian, and his happiness is thus described:-

"Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Rom. iv. 7, 8.

This blessedness (happiness) came to Abraham while he was still an uncircumcised Gentile, "and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also." Rom. iv. 11.

THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM, OUR HOPE

Thus we see that, instead of conversion and salvation being impossible to the men who lived before the advent of Christ, they become possible to us only through them. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; as it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree; that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Gal. iii. 13, 14.

This is made still more emphatic in the record of the promise and the oath to Abraham. I will not now stop to read the whole of Heb. vi. 13-20, but you can read the verses at your leisure. The substance is that God confirmed His promise to Abraham by swearing by Himself, "that by two immutable things, wherein it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." That is to say, all our hope of salvation rests upon the promise and the oath of God to Abraham. He believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. "Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification." Rom. iv. 22-25.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS

The Apostle Paul declared that he believed all things that are written in the law and the prophets (Acts xxiv. 14), and that he never preached anything except what the prophets and Moses had said. Acts xxvi. 22.

Peter, preaching to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius, concerning Christ, ordained of God to be the Judge of living and dead, said: "To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." Acts x. 43.

This testimony of the prophets, to salvation through Christ, was not merely a promise of something to come, but a statement of what was in their day a thing present for all. Listen to what some of them say, and note that their language is that of true witnesses who speak from personal knowledge and experience.

Isaiah liii. 4-6: "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; . . . He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His tripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

This was no visionary fancy on the part of Isaiah, for a heavenly messenger direct from God's glorious throne had long before touched his lips with a coal from the altar, saying: "Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." Isa. vi. 6, 7.

Speaking from his burning lips, the Lord said, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." Isa. xiv. 22.

That was the call to all the world, to accept salvation then present, just as the boundless offer was again proclaimed in the gracious invitation: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price." "Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live." Isa. iv. 1-3.

Who does not know this blessed exhortation and promise: "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Isa. iv. 6, 7.

Would the Lord issue such positive promises by the mouth of His servants, only to disappoint the seeking soul who came in sincerity, by telling him that the words were not intended for him, but for those who should live several hundred years later, and they were uttered merely as a piece of rhetoric? Such trifling would be unworthy of God, and cannot be imputed to Him by anybody who knows Him. Hear how He anticipated any such charge, and showed that righteousness and salvation were already accomplished facts:-

"I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins; return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O, ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it; shout ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Judah, and glorified Himself in Israel." Isa. xliv. 21-23.

By the prophet Jeremiah God said to the people: "Of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands." Jer. ii. 20. And this was said, not to the Jews only, but to all people; for Jeremiah was ordained, even before his birth, a prophet to the nations, or, to the Gentiles. Jer. i. 5.

Through Hosea He said: "Though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against Me." Hosea vii. 13. And again: "O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and return to the Lord; say unto Him. Take away iniquity, and receive us graciously." Hosea xiv. 1, 2. This was not a vain call, for God said: "I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me in vain; I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right." Isa. xiv. 19.

Micah spoke of what he knew by experience, when he said: "Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His beritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy." Micah vii. 18.

But we cannot quote from all the prophets, much less read at one time all that they have said about salvation as a work completed in their day. We must, however, have a few words from David.

"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. . . who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." Ps. ciii. 1-5.

This is testimony concerning what was already done, and it is made more emphatic in the verses that follow:-

"He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is higher

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than the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us."

Who is there in these days, that can say anything more than that?

ENOCH AND ELIJAH

In order that we may have the most positive proof of the reality of salvation before the first advent, the Lord has left on record the account of the translation of two men to heaven without seeing death. More than six hundred years before the flood, "Enoch was translated, that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him." Heb. xi. 5, 6. Enoch therefore had the righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ, and his salvation was so complete that he was taken to heaven to dwell with God.

Several hundred years later, but more than eight hundred years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the servant of Elijah the prophet was asked by the curious students of the school of the prophets: "Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to-day?" He knew it, and did not lose sight of him till there "appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." 2 Kings ii. 11. Yet this same Elijah was "a man subject to like passions as we are" (James v. 17)-a sinner saved by faith, and taken to heaven hundreds of years before the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. This effectually disposes of the Roman Catholic idea of "limbo," a place where the souls of men are said to have been kept till the resurrection of Christ. Not all righteous people went to heaven, it is true, any more than they do now; for the coming of Christ is the time when the saints receive immortality (1 Cor. xv. 51-54); but two at least were taken to heaven without dying, and at least one-Moses-was raised from the dead before the first advent, as proof of the presence and power of the cross from the beginning. Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and He is the Beginning: therefore life and immortality were brought to light through the Gospel from the very beginning of man's history on earth. We have no intimation that anybody has been taken to heaven since the ascension of Christ.

GOD'S UNCHANGEABLESNESS

"Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations; before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God." Ps. xc. 1, 2. Jesus Christ "is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever" (Heb. xiii. 8), and the Father says to the Son, "Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail." Heb. i. 12. His "goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity." Micah v. 2, margin.

"Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour." Acts v. 31. But this was true hundreds of years before His manifestation in the flesh; for the Lord said by David: "Yet have I anointed My King upon Zion, the hill of My holiness. I will declare the decree: The Lord hath said unto Me: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee." Ps. ii. 6, 7. And therefore Isaiah sang, "Unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given." Isa. ix. 6.

ONLY ONE POWER

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Rom. i. 16. God's power has always been the same; He is no more powerful now than He was in the beginning; therefore no new force needed to be developed in order to save men after the fall. The power that saves is the everlasting power that ever since the creation or the world has been clearly seen in the things that are made, even in ungodly men; for "that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them." Rom. i. 17-20.

The power that created is the power that saves, for redemption is the work of creating people anew in Christ Jesus. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." 2 Cor. v. 17. We have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins, through the blood of Christ, because "in Him were all things created, . . . and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." Col. i. 14-17. Therefore it is that "God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth." Ps. lxxiv. 12.

When man fell, God did not have to cast about for some means by which to save him, for it was all ready and waiting, in the power that had created. It is true that we can get a clearer view of God's power in redemption from sin than in the first creation, because it comes closer to our personal consciousness; but it is no greater. Sin did not make the slightest jar in God's plans; Satan thought to throw the whole machinery of heaven and earth out of gear; but God knew the end from the beginning, and the power that had made man was all sufficient to redeem him. Redemption was in the first creation.

CHRIST'S DYING IS OUR LIFE

"Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body," even "in our mortal flesh." 2 Cor. iv. 10, 11. All who know anything of the Gospel know that the life that Jesus poured out on the cross was given to us. He expired-breathed out-that we might breathe in. His was the wonderful life of God, which survives and conquers death. God can give forth His life to all mankind, yea, to all the universe, and still retain it; because "in Him we live, and move, and have our being." In the pouring out of Christ's soul unto death on Calvary, there was not the slightest diminution in the life of God, who "was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself."

When God made man of the dust of the ground, He "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Gen. ii. 7. The very same thing was done then that is done for the sinner whose peace with God is made "through the blood of His cross." God simply imparts His own life in Christ, and the conscious acceptance of it by the sinner is His salvation. We are "saved by His life." Rom. v. 10. So the creation of the very first living creature was by the power of the cross, and was exactly the same process as that by which the sinner is created anew.

CHRIST MADE A CURSE FOR US

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Gal. iii. 13.

What is the curse?-It is death. When did it come upon the world?-In the beginning, when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden.

But they did not die that day. No, because Christ bore the curse for them, and has been bearing it ever since. If He had not, there never would have been another man. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of all who went astray, and that from the very beginning, else all the race had been hopelessly lost.

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Christ bears our sins in us, not apart from us. When Adam was created, the son of God (Luke iii. 38), the Word was made flesh; and when he sinned, the everlasting, infinite love of God was shown in continuing the life to him, so that the life was manifest in sinful flesh; but not until Jesus of Nazareth was born was there one found who would allow the life to reveal its fulness.

WHEN THE SPIRIT WAS GIVEN

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved [brooded] upon the face of the waters." Gen. i. 1, 2. From that moment the Holy Spirit of God has occupied the depths of the earth, as well as the heights of heaven. Ps. cxxxix. 7, 8. There is no power in man, no power in creation, but that of the Spirit of God. "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job xxxiii. 4. So He has formed our reins, knitting us together in our mother's womb. Ps. cxxxix. 13, R.V., margin. Our first birth, as well as our second, is by the agency of the Holy Spirit; and the fact that we live is proof of the presence of the life that redeems; yea, the various vital operations carried on in the body are to teach us the reality of the new birth.

If you wish texts plainly stating that the Spirit was given to men of old, you will find plenty of them. Here are a few:-

"Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not Thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst." Neh. ix. 20. Compare the first part of this verse with John xiv. 26; xvi. 13.

The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets, making them faithful witnesses. 1 Peter i. 11. There were "holy men of God," who "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter i. 21); and "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Rom. viii. 9. So every man of God mentioned in the Old Testament, was one who was possessed by the Spirit of God.

David, "the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue" (2 Sam. xxiii. 1, 2), and when he sinned grievously he prayed, "Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me." Ps. ii. 11.

THE ETERNAL SPIRIT

But time would fail us if we attempted to exhaust the wonderful story of eternal salvation. Let one more quotation suffice to show us its breadth, and the firm foundation on which our faith rests-the foundation of the prophets, as well as of the apostles. It is this: "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God?" Heb. ix. 14. It was through the eternal Spirit that the changeless Son of God became the Author of eternal salvation. Thus we see that salvation is eternal, not merely with respect to the future, but to the past, as well. Our salvation is assured to us by the fact that the cross in which we rest for it is that by which the worlds were made. Is it not enough? Yet, boundless as it is, who would be satisfied with less?

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

-The report, which was at first discredited, that both the Bloemfontein Peace Envoys had been shot by order of De Wet, is now confirmed beyond doubt.

-The Dutch steamer Holland, from London to Rotterdam, stranded and sunk off the Hook of Holland, in the storm of January 28. Eleven of the crew and four passengers were drowned.

-By the census which was taken last month, St. Petersburg is shown to have a population of 1,439,000. During the past ten years the population has been increasing at the rate of 40,000 yearly.

-A bacteriological examination of the dead rats which were found among the cargo of the steamship Pergamon, which arrived in Hamburg on the 15th inst. from Smyrna, showed that the animals died of plague.

-By the Army Reorganisation Bill, which has been agreed upon by a committee appointed by both Houses of Congress, the United States Army is to be between a minimum of 59,924, and a maximum of 96,766 enlisted men.

-The Fanfulla states that the American police have advised the Italian Government of the departure for Italy of a well-known Italian anarchist named Calcagne, who has been delegated by the anarchists of Paterson, New Jersey, to make an attempt on the life of King Victor Emmanuel.

-Lord Curzon reports from India that another famine is expected this year, though not nearly so extensive as the one last year. The rains in the Bombay district were much less than usual, last September, which means a short harvest. This year's famine is estimated to cost one million sterling, as against five millions last year.

-An American statistician says that in the United States the ratio of crime to population increase from 1 in 3,442 in 1850 to 1 in 755 in 1890, and that while there were 1,449 murders in 1886, there were 14,000 in 1896. A French statistician also states that "during the last half century crime in France has increased 183 per cent., and is still increasing."

"Our Little Ones. God's Messengers" The Present Truth 17, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Moses was still afraid to go into Egypt, although the Lord had promised to work signs and wonders through him, to show to all the people that He had sent him. It was forty years since no lived in Egypt, and he was afraid that he would speak the language so slowly that the people would not understand nor listen to him.

Then God said, "Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say."

When God first made man's mouth, He gave him the power to speak. Adam did not have to spend a long time learning a language before he could begin to talk. He know at once the name of everything that God brought before him, and could always say exactly what he wanted to.

David said, "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue." On the day of Pentecost, when God poured out His Holy Spirit upon the people, the disciples all "spake with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." They were "unlearned and ignorant men," and before this time they could not even speak their own language correctly. But God was with their mouths, His Spirit touched their lips, and taught their tongues what to say. Then they could speak, in any language that they had need of.

Do you know the story of Balaam's ass,-how it spoke to its cruel master with the voice and words of a man? Surely He who could speak to Balsam through the dumb ass, could teach Moses what to say, and speak through him; and this He promised to do.

Still Moses was timid and afraid, so God said that He would send his brother Aaron out into the wilderness to meet him, and Aaron should be Moses' mouthpiece, and speak for him to the people. So God said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." Aaron must have known the Lord, for he understood at once when God spoke to him, and started off into the wilderness to meet his brother.

We have a great many instances in the Bible of God speaking to different ones, and telling them just what to do. Think of as many as you can, and find others.

To all who have "ears to hear" God still speaks, by His Word and by His Holy Spirit. His sure promise is, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way in which thou shalt go." "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

"O give me Samuel's ear,
The open ear, O Lord,
Alive and quick to hear
Each whisper of Thy Word;
Like him to answer at Thy call,
And to obey Thee first of all."

Moses and Aaron were very glad to meet each other, and together they went into Egypt, and gathered the Children of Israel together to hear the messages that God had sent them, and to see the signs that He had given. When the people heard that the days of their slavery were nearly ended, and that God was about to deliver them, they were very happy, and "they bowed their heads and worshipped."

Then Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and said to him, "Thus saith the Lord: Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness." And Pharaoh was angry, and said, proudly, "Who is the Lord, that I should hearken unto His voice, to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go."

Now it was true that Pharaoh did not know the Lord, but God was giving Him an opportunity to learn to know Him, so that he might worship and serve the true God, and give up his idols. But he hardened his heart, and would not listen to God's messengers.

Pharaoh thought that Moses and Aaron were only giving the Israelites an excuse to stop their work for a time, so he told he taskmasters to make their work harder still. He said, "Ye are idle, ye are idle," and instead of giving them straw to make their bricks with, he told them to gather their own straw, and make just as many bricks as they did before.

Then the Children of Israel were in great trouble. Instead of the deliverance that Moses had promised them, they were worse off than ever before. Their work was harder, and Pharaoh was angry with them. So they murmured at Moses and Aaron as the cause of all their trouble.

God might have led His people right up out of Egypt without any of this trouble, but this would not have been best for them, nor for the Egyptians. God had a great work to do in Egypt, to give everybody there the opportunity to judge between Him and the false gods that they had been taught to worship, so that they might love and serve the true God if they would. And God wanted the Israelites themselves to see that the gods of Egypt were nothing, so that they should not carry away with them any of its false worship. How He showed them this, we shall learn next week.

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." God loved the Egyptians, and wanted to save them, the same as the Israelites, and it was partly for their sakes that the deliverance of Israel was delayed.

We may always be quite sure that God's way is best, and that it is just what we should choose if we could see and know all that God does. So if His promises to us are not at once fulfilled, let us wait patiently and try to learn whatever lessons He has for us in keeping us waiting. It may be for our own sakes, it may be for the good of others, but the longer the waiting, the sweeter and the more glorious will be the fulfilment.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

It is doubtful if any person can recall a quieter day in London than the day of the Queen's funeral. Never on a Bank Holiday, nor even on Sundays, is there anything like so complete a cessation of business as there was on that day. Even the public-houses were closed for five hours in the middle of the day. No evening papers were issued. It was a quiet Sabbath indeed.

Every person should remember that whenever he neglects a duty be is throwing an extra burden on somebody else. Many willing workers have to do double duty, to make up for others, who do not like to exert themselves. This does not refer to those who are unable to work; for the care of such is part of the regular work of those who are able. But let everyone who is inclined to lean upon others for support, think, "What would become of us, if all were as I am?"

The Daily Mail's New York correspondent reports "a remarkable innovation" by a large manufacturing firm. The proprietor, who is described as "a millionaire and a religious enthusiast," is "putting his ideas into practice by providing a daily religious service for his work people." The pastor of a church near by has been engaged to conduct the services, and half an hour is spent each day before the beginning of work. The factory hands are said to like the "innovation," and the people at large we enjoying the sensation of seeing a man who actually believes in religion every day. While they are watching to see if he is really in his right mind, business men are said to be watching the outcome with great interest, "and if the movement proves profitable a large number of other factories may begin the day's work with a religious service." No doubt.

We do not intend ever to advertise evil or any kind of error, and so we merely refer to the new Biblical Encyclop?dia, which is not being published, to show how the Apostle Paul's words to Timothy are being fulfilled, namely that "they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and be turned unto fables." One sentence is sufficient to show this. Having discounted and denied almost every New Testament statement about Jesus, one of the chief writers admits that "the Gospels contain at least some absolutely trustworthy facts concerning Him."

"The 'Authorised Version'" The Present Truth 17, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

The "Authorised Version." -It is common to speak of the "Authorised Version" of the Bible, and the "Revised Version," and this distinction leads many to suppose that in some way or for some reason the old version of the Bible, the one in common use, has more authority than the Revision. As a matter of fact, however, the Revision is "authorised" just as much as the other. A correspondent of the Church Times states the case thus: "The Revised Version has exactly the same authority as the Common Version-viz., the authority of Queen Victory acting on the request of Convocation, as of King James 400 years ago. The word "authorised" in our Common Version to a late addition of the Queen's Printers, and has no 'authority' whatever." The only real "authority" that any translation can have is its faithfulness to the original, without regard to who did it, or who authorized it to be done; and in this sense the Revision must certainly as a whole, be considered "authorised," rather than the Common Version. At any rate, nobody can be justified in ignoring it, and nobody can be said really to study the English Bible, who does not make constant use of it in connection with the other. When it can be obtained for a few pence, no one has any excuse for not owning a copy.

"Content with Life" The Present Truth 17, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

We should not only be content under all the varying conditions of life, but we should be content with life itself,-be content merely to be alive.

Both of these ideas are expressed in the writings of the Apostle Paul. He said, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound." Phil. iv. 11, 12. And again, "Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content." 1 Tim. vi. 7, 8. In the first text the apostle stated that he was content in every state of life; in the second, he exhorts us to be content merely to be alive; for food and raiment mean simply the support of life.

Why should we not be satisfied with simple life? Christ came to this earth for the purpose of giving us life, and of perpetuating it. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." He himself is the life, and all things are in Him. If we have life indeed,-if we consciously lay hold of it,-we have everything that we need, or can desire.

These thoughts are most important for all who live in these last days. A time of trouble is coming upon the earth, and it has even now begun. The Lord says: "That which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted, I will pluck up, even this whole land." Jer. xlv. 4. So He says, "Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not." Why not?-Because "the day of the Lord shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low." "And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." Isa. ii. 12, 17.

What is the use of seeking great things for ourselves, when everything is to be destroyed." When every lofty thing is to be overthrown, the only one who can escape is he who is already low.

"He that is down need fear no fall,
He that is low, no pride."

But there is a special promise to those who are satisfied with the life which God gives, and it is worth everything. God says, "I will bring evil upon all flesh;" but though disease-the frail of their own evil habits-comes upon all flesh, He says to the contented ones: "Thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest." Jer. xlv. 5.

What a precious promise! "Thou shalt not be afraid . . . for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday." But bear in mind that our life is promised to us only as "a prey." It is "a spoil" that is to be seized upon and saved out of the general destruction. In laying hold on eternal life, we are to fight the good fight of faith. Who is so much in love with life that he will fight for it against all the powers of evil? Whosoever is, shall live, not only now, but for ever, for "godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."

February 14, 1901

"A Man of Noble Birth" The Present Truth 17, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

The history of Joseph is one of the most interesting and instructive to be found in the Bible. In it all the virtues and graces are set forth, yet in so natural a manner as not to make the possessor seem lifted out of the range of ordinary mortals. Joseph is one of the few Bible characters of whom no evil is recorded, yet he is very human in his goodness.

His life shows how a young man may cleanse his way, and keep his life pure under the most unfavourable conditions, by taking heed to it according to the word of God. Both Moses and Samuel were early thrown into the midst of evil, but their earliest life was spent in surroundings the most favourable to piety. Joseph, on the other hand, was born into a family where envy and strife, and consequently "confusion and every evil work" prevailed. The two wives of Jacob were naturally jealous of each other, and the two concubines did not by any mean contribute to the happiness of the family. The sons of these unequal and unnatural unions, were selfish, envious, quarrelsome, cruel, revengeful, and vicious in their lives. The little lad Joseph, early deprived of his loving mother's care, might naturally have been expected to grow up like his brothers; but he did not. On the contrary, his life from first to last presents a direct contrast to theirs in almost every particular.

It seems as though Joseph was specially exposed to temptation, for when only seventeen years of age he was set to caring for the flock, with the sons of the two maid-servant concubines (Gen. xxxvii. 2), where there was opportunity for him to learn all sorts of wickedness; but their vicious practices made no impression on his pure mind, except that in innocence, and with a desire for their reformation, he "brought unto his father their evil report."

"The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth," and "all they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." In being envied and hated by his brethren, as well as in his early knowledge of the fact that God designed great things for him, Joseph was a type of Christ; and the figure is carried to completion in Joseph's kindness to his brethren, in return for their abuse, and in his being the means of their salvation.

In the illustration on this page the contrast between Joseph and his brethren is strikingly presented by the artist. He was frank, free, open, joyous, and kind-hearted; they were deceitful, morose, sour, and vindictive; and these characteristics are shown in their respective attitudes. Joseph knew that the others hated him, and he had doubtless been made to feel their spite in many petty ways, even when at home with their father; nevertheless he gladly and patiently accepted the task of finding them and enquiring after their welfare. Joyfully he came to greet them after his, weary wandering, but he encountered only cross, hateful looks, bitter words, and rough usage.

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Saved from immediate death, he was sold into slavery so that to him and to his father the suffering was far worse than death. But his mind was soon absorbed in the duties of his new life. What a change for the shepherd lad, from feeding sheep on the plain to a place in the palace of the highest officer of the king of Egypt! But his head was not turned, nor his mind corrupted, by the display of wealth, and by the contact with vice in more seductive forms than he had ever seen in his country home. Why not?-Because "God was with him." Yet in reality God was no more with him than with every other young man; for He is "not far from every one of us," and "in Him we live and move, and have our being; but Joseph recognised the Divine presence, and loved it. His members were yielded as instruments of righteousness to God, and he was fully under the Spirit's control.

It was no ordinary temptation that came to Joseph, for to seductive beauty was added high position. Surely Potipher's wife must have great influence, and there was no knowing what preferment might come to Joseph if he but listened to her desires. Many servants would have thought it a high honour to be thus singled out as Joseph was; but none of those things moved him. When tempted in the most open and pressing manner, he rehearsed the entire situation, and said, "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Faithfulness to God made him faithful to his earthly master.

And what was the immediate reward of his loyalty and virtue?-"His feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in irons." Surely he might be excused for becoming downcast and morose, and for murmuring at his fate, if such things arc ever excusable. But they are not, and Joseph wasted no time in self-pity. The road to power lay through the dungeon, and if his life were to end there, he would make it fruitful. Even in captivity he was "a fruitful bough." He could not see any farther into the future than anybody else can, who is in sore distress from the seeming destruction of all earthly hope, and whose outlook is dark and gloomy. It was necessary to serve in prison, in order to be brought to Pharaoh's notice, and to become even his lord; but Joseph could not show that. Nevertheless he did not worry about the future, nor murmur over the present. Whatever his hand found to do he did it with his might, and for such hands there though he be a slave in prison.

With Joseph's final vindication, and his elevation to a place far above that of his former master, Potiphar, and of his success as a deliverer, we have not now to do. That which concerns us most at the present time is the fact of the possibility for a youth to receive such an impulse to virtue that no evil associations can cause him to swerve from the right way. In the case of Samuel, and especially of Moses, who was for a longer time with his godly mother in a quiet home, we can see clearly the laying of the foundation of such a character; but, so far as the record is concerned, we must go farther back for it in the case of Joseph. What can account for the marvellous difference between the character of Joseph and that of the other sons of the same father, but the fact that Joseph was the child of love, while the others were the fruit of marriages of convenience? All know the deception that was practised upon Jacob, by which he got a wife whom he did not love, and how he got the two secondary wives, for whom he never could have had any affection. There could never have been any real happiness in Jacob's household, but between him and Rachel, the beautiful mother of Joseph, there was a bond of love that never was broken. Certainly Joseph had a far nobler birth than his elder brothers, and a much better start in life,-just such a start as every child ought to have.

But although we may not have had the advantage of such a free birth as this, by our earthly parents, we may even now secure all the advantages of it, and far more, through the eternal Father, "who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." Col. i. 12, 18, R.V. Christ is the Son of pure, perfect, everlasting love, and so is free, and of nobler birth than the kings of the earth; and we in Him may be heirs of the same true nobility, partakers of the Divine nature, and free indeed.

"Suffering in the Flesh. Matt. xxvi. 36-46" The Present Truth 17, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

(Matt. xxvi. 36-46.)⁷1

The text covers the account of Jesus in Gethsemane, which is the title of the lesson. The real student of the Bible, however, will not be content with reading only the record in Matthew, but will turn to Mark xiv. 32-42 and Luke xxii. 39-46. In our study we shall combine the three, referring to the incidents mentioned in each Gospel, as though there were but one narrative.

It was in Gethsemane that the suffering of the cross was undergone, and the victory won. Here Jesus "resisted unto blood, striving against sin." Heb. xii. 4. Here He "suffered, being tempted," no less than in the wilderness, just before He began His public ministry. We may well believe that in the few hours, or the single hour, in the garden, Jesus suffered as much as in the entire forty days in the wilderness. Christ's public work on earth began and ended with a time of intense trial and suffering.

If we ask why Jesus passed through this time of agony in the garden, the answer will quickly be returned, that it was because of the great trial and the crucifixion, which He saw just before Him. But one may say that, and still utterly fail to comprehend what was involved in it for Him and for us; for everything that it meant to Him, it means also to us. Do not forget this. Jesus was the representative Man. The Son of God took human flesh solely in man's behalf. He suffered nothing by Himself alone,-nothing that merely concerned Him, and that began and ended with Him,-but He suffered for and with humanity; and this He does still, for Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Let us read something

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of what the Scriptures have to say concerning the suffering of Christ.

Read Heb. v. 7, and you have the key to the whole matter. "In the days of His flesh" He "offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard." But somebody will say that He was not saved from death, and that therefore His prayers availed nothing. What a great mistake! His prayers did avail, and He received all that He asked for. He was saved from death.

You ask how this can be, since He was crucified in less than twenty-four hours? Ah, do not think that Jesus was moved to such agony by the prospect of mere physical suffering and death. It was not this that wrung drops of bloodlike sweat from Him. He had already said (John xii. 27, 28) that He would not pray to be delivered from that hour, because it was for the express purpose of undergoing the trial of that hour, that He came into the world; for what, then, did He pray in such agony?

The answer is that He prayed to be saved from sin, which is "the sting of death" (1 Cor. xv. 56) and therefore its essential element. It is only by being saved from sin, that one can be saved from death. Jesus "suffered, being tempted" (Heb. ii. 18), and this temptation was manifestly temptation to sin: for we read that He "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Heb. iv. 15. He was tempted to sin, but the temptation was ineffectual, although it was so strong that it caused Him such intense suffering as no other person ever endured. At the beginning of His career, He had been offered the world and all its glory, if He would but prove disloyal to the Father; now the same temptation came to Him with greatly multiplied force. It was not that His mind turned with longing to the world and its empty glory, and that He dreaded to be crucified to it, but just the opposite. He loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, and His fear was lest the flesh should prove too weak in the trial, and that some hasty word might find expression, or at least some thought of enmity might have a momentary hold upon Him. He had voluntarily become partaker of flesh and blood in equal measure with all mankind; and in that trying hour all the forces of hell had combined to take advantage of the weakness of the flesh. When He said in loving extenuation of the failure of the three favoured disciples to watch with Him, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak," He knew by actual experience, as no other soul ever knew or can know, the full extent of human weakness; but He also knew the power of the eternal Spirit over all flesh.

When a little later Jesus hung on the cross, the priests mockingly said: "He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now." Ah, they did not know how true their words were. His faith had said: "The Lord God will help Me; therefore shall I not be confounded" (Isa. i. 7), and His faith was not misplaced. While yet in the garden, "there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him." And He was delivered, even though He hung on the cross. Yea, the cross was His deliverance, for by it He was "lifted up from the earth" even to heaven, and the world was crucified unto Him. Because He was sinless, He suffered on the cross; and because He was sinless it was impossible for the grave to hold Him. He was kept absolutely free from the slightest semblance of sin, under the most trying circumstances, and thus had the mastery over death. "He humbled Himself unto death, even the death of the cross," but it was a willing offering. Death gained no victory when Jesus Christ went into the tomb. His "prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears" were heard and answered, and He was so completely saved from death, that He could suffer it in order to destroy it. As Samson was a conqueror over the Philistines even when he was voluntarily delivered, bound, into their hands (Judges xv. 11-15) so Christ was victory over death when He endured its pains. Thus did He show how God can gird Himself with the extremest wrath of man, as with a garment, and make it to praise Him. Ps. lxxvi. 10, R.V.

What is there in this for us?-Everything. "Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God." 1 Peter iv. 1, 2. In nothing was Jesus apart from mankind. It was in our flesh, in yours and mine, that He suffered being tempted, and that He conquered. He has overcome the world, and every soul who believes, and holds fast to the faith, that Jesus is come in his flesh, has the victory that has overcome the world. This is what this story means to us. He who grasps this truth has learned the lesson; whoever does not know this personally and practically does not know this lesson, even though every word of the Scripture be at his tongue's end. "It is a faithful saying, For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12.

"Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." Heb. xii. 3. Looking unto Jesus, not a one far off in the heavens, nor yet a one down in the depths of the earth, he as one who fills all things, even dwelling in our bodies (Rom. x. 6-11), we have the instant and continual victory over every lust of the flesh. It is conquered in advance, and our intelligent faith in Christ's life that is now manifested, keeps us free from its power. "These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." What can give the oppressed, sin-sick soul who has long been the slave of fleshly lusts, greater joy than to know that precious and eternal victory is even now dwelling in his sinful flesh? It is true, use it and have the joy of it.

The secret of this: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." That mind was the mind of the Spirit-the absolute will of God. The Holy Spirit of God was His life, so that the motions of the flesh were but the motions of the Spirit. Thus it was that even when dead, He was raised from the dead "according to the Spirit of holiness." The will of God was supreme in Him. Now God is able so to strengthen us with mighty by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ will dwell in our hearts by faith, and then we shall no longer fulfil the desires of the flesh and the carnal mind, but shall allow God to do His will in us, even as it is done in Christ. This was demonstrated as a possibility for all mankind, even every member of the human race, when Christ said, "Not My will, but Thine, be done." This is the whole of the Gospel of our salvation, and to this end-the rule of actual righteousness in every believing soul-all the Scriptures were written. Are you willing that God's will should be done in your mortal body? Then with Christ pray, "Thy will be done," and the power that said "Let there be light" and there was light, will do it.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Dispensation of Law and Grace" The Present Truth 17, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

"One said to me to-day: 'The ten commandments have nothing to do with us now; we are not in the dispensation of the law, but of grace, so that the law is not binding on us; it is all done away with.' I do not quite understand this doctrine. I read that Christ said He did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it-to prove its righteousness. The Bible tells me that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, not the word of God. The law has no terror for those who have Christ dwelling in their hearts, as He enables them to live the Christ life, and thus keep the law. I should be glad to have your opinion."

I will not give you my opinion, for that is something that nobody has any right to have concerning Scripture; but I will tell you something of what I know, and the ground of my knowledge. We are to know the truth, and not merely to have opinions about it. You have already stated the truth of the matter very clearly, in the last words of your question, and we may begin with them. Christ said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Matt. v. 17. To fulfil does not mean to abolish, but to perform. One fulfils an appointment by keeping it. When John the Baptist would forbid Jesus to be baptized, Jesus said: "Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Matt. iii. 15. But Christ did not come to abolish righteousness, nor to relieve men from the necessity of being righteous. We are to be "filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." Phil. i. 11. And all the commandments of God are righteousness. Therefore we are to be filled with the fruits of God's commandments.

EXCEEDING THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE PHARISEES

How strange it is, that anybody can read the words of Christ, and profess to be His follower, and yet claim that he is at liberty to disregard all or any one of the ten commandments. Immediately after stating that He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it, and that not one jot or one tittle could possibly pass from the law, Jesus added: "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." "For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. v. 19, 20.

What was the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees?-It was a most scrupulous adherence to the letter of the law, preciseness in carrying out every detail, so that no one could find the slightest fault with them, so far as outward acts were concerned. But their righteousness was only outward. Theirs was a mere surface religion; they were "like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." Matt. xxiii. 27, 28. They outwardly appeared righteous unto men; but were within full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Now Jesus did not reprove the Pharisees for their scrupulous observance of the letter of the law, and for their outward righteousness; the fault which He found with them was not that they had too much righteousness, but that they did not have enough. To us He says: "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." To exceed means to have the same amount, and more. So to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, we must have all their regard for the letter of the law, and in addition to having outward righteousness, must have the living spirit of the law in our hearts.

RIGHTEOUSNESS IS THE KEEPING OF THE LAW

Righteousness is the doing of the law. Deut. xxix. 29. All God's commandments are righteousness. Ps. cxix. 172. "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Rom. vii. 12. A blessing pronounced upon those who do His commandments is almost the last thing in the Bible. Rev. xxii. 14. How then can any professed Christian say that we ought not to keep them?

THE "DISPENSATION" ERROR

In nothing else do people show their utter failure to comprehend the Gospel, so much as in the use of the word "dispensation." Without the slightest warrant in the Scripture, they have divided up the time from creation to the end of the world into periods which they term "dispensations." Some have more, and others fewer; but all who have the "dispensation" idea agree that God acts differently in each of them, treating the people in one "dispensation" differently from what He does those in another, and having a different Gospel, a different way of salvation, in each. Indeed, some, by applying the term "Gospel dispensation" to one period of time, imply that there has been a time since the fall, when there was no Gospel, and, consequently, no salvation. It seems as though the mere statement of the case should be sufficient to show anybody how dishonouring to God is such a position.

ONLY ONE STANDARD IN THE JUDGMENT

God declares that His way is equal. Eze. xviii. 25, 29. He is God from everlasting to everlasting, and His love is unchangeable and everlasting. Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Heb. xiii. 8. If God had different standards in different periods of the world,-if the Gospel were not identically the same in every generation, then one Judgment Day would not suffice for the world. He would have to judge the world in sections, and the people of one age would see themselves condemned for doing certain things, while those of another period would be saved for doing the very same things. Would such a judgment as

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that vindicate the character of God?-Most decidedly not. Even the saved would know that if the others were justly condemned, they were unjustly saved, and the Judgment Day itself would lay the train for such an explosion of anarchy as has never yet been known. No; God declares that He changes not (Mal. iii. 6), and He has but one law and one Gospel, which, like Himself, changes not.

THE TRUE DISPENSATION OF THE LAW

It is true that we are not now in the dispensation of the law, and it is well for mankind that this is the case. That is to say, judgment has not begun. When the dispensation of the law comes, it will mean death to all who disobey it; because "the law worketh wrath" (Rom. iv. 15), and the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. Eph. v. 6. Yet even when the law with its thunders of wrath is visited upon those who hate God, His mercy continues upon those who love Him and keep His commandments. There have been times of special judgments ever since the fall,-times when the law was dispensed to the rebellious; but God's mercy endured, nevertheless, and grace at the same time saved all who were willing to acknowledge and accept God's sovereignty. But the Bible gives not the slightest warrant for anybody to suppose that one period of time men were saved by the law, and at another by grace.

And yet in another sense we may say that this is the time of the dispensation of the law of God, even as has been the case from the beginning. First, let us recall the fact that the commandments of God are righteousness. See Ps. xix. 7-9; cxix. 138, 172. We see it also from the following:-

"All righteousness, is sin." 1 John v. 17.

"Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John iii. 4.

Therefore all unrighteousness is the transgression of the law.

But unrighteousness is just the opposite of righteousness; and transgression of the law is directly opposed to obedience to the law. Therefore,

All righteousness is conformity to the law of God. Nothing can be plainer than this conclusion.

Now read Rom. i. 16, 17: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one 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." This is equivalent to saying that obedience to the law is revealed in the Gospel. The Gospel puts the law into the heart of every believer, so that its righteousness is revealed in his life. This is the same as what we read in Rom. viii. 4, that Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemning sin in the flesh, "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Christ did not die to absolve man from allegiance to the law of God, but to enable them to keep it. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." Rom. iii. 31.

THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL INSEPARABLE

"Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins." Matt. i. 21. But "sin is the transgression of the law." Therefore the name Jesus stands for salvation from transgression of the law, or, in other words, it ensures obedience to the law to all who accept it in truth. "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin," or from all transgressions of the law. 1 John i. 7. Do you not see how impossible it is to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ without accepting the law of God?

UNDER GRACE

"But we are under grace," your friend says. Thank the Lord for that; but bid him beware lest he receive the grace of God in vain. What does the grace of God do?-It brings salvation. Titus ii. 11. And from what are we to be saved?-From sin, which is transgression of the law. "Shall we continue in sin, [in transgression of the law] that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?" Rom. vi. 1, 2. God's grace is extended to us, in order that we may be saved from our lawlessness; and it is emphasised by the fact that it is given to us although we have rebelled against His law. His mercy spares us in spite of our sins, in order that we may become doers of the law; and it is the office of the very grace that spares us, to put the law into us, so that we can do it.

NOT SAVED BY WORKS, BUT FOR WORKS

Still, your friend will exclaim, "But we are not saved by works!" Of course not; and nobody knows this so well as he who understands the law of God. It is only those whoa re ignorant of God's righteousness, who go about to establish their own righteousness. No; we are not saved by works, but we are saved in order that we may work. "By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 8-10, R.V.

THE THRONE OF GRACE AND LAW

God sits upon a throne of grace, and we are exhorted to come boldly to it, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Heb. iv. 16. Yet from that same throne come the thunders and lightnings of Sinai (Rev. iv. 5), because righteousness-the law-is the foundation of it. The law works wrath to all transgressors of it; but it is "in the hand of a Mediator" (Gal. iii. 19), Christ Jesus; and if we accept it at His hand it will work righteousness in us, and we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Remember that there were thunders and lightnings at Calvary, for there the wrath of the law was wrought upon the head and heart of Christ; but He was made a curse in order that the blessing might come to us. The blood flowing from the throne of God, in the midst of which is the slain Lamb (Rev. v. 6)-brings to us the righteousness of the law that is within His heart. This is a most gracious dispensation of law.

Let all beware of rejecting the law, for in so doing they reject Christ Himself. The law is binding upon us, but its bonds are those of love; "for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3. The bonds of the law do not chafe those who love the Lord: to all such it is one easy and delightful yoke, linking them to their Master and Saviour.

"The sincerity of our prayers can be proved only by the vigour of our endeavour to obey God's commandments."

"Our Little Ones. The Plagues of Egypt" The Present Truth 17, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Pharaoh did not listen to the message God sent him, that we learned about last week, but instead or letting God's people go, he gave them more and harder work to do. God wanted to show to Pharaoh that "no idol is anything," and that the false gods he worshipped could not even save themselves, much less those who trusted in them.

It was necessary for the Children of Israel to learn this too, and so God sent plagues upon Egypt, each one of which was to show the people that the gods they worshipped had no power to help them. The Lord told the Israelites that these plagues were sent so that "ye and Pharaoh shall know that I am Jehovah."

You have all heard of the ten plagues of Egypt, and no doubt some of you can tell in their order just what they were. First came the turning of the water into blood. The River Nile was worshipped by the Egyptians, as the Ganges now is by the Hindus. Rain very seldom falls in the land of Egypt, and nearly all the water that the people had came from the Nile which at certain seasons overflowed its banks and watered all the surrounding country.

But instead of looking to the Fountain of Living waters, from whom comes all the water in the world, the Egyptians worshipped the Nile, the channel through which it came to them. So now its sacred waters were turned into a curse instead of a blessing to them. All the fish in the river of blood died, and their decaying bodies made the waters still more corrupt.

Then, coming forth from the river, multitudes of frogs swarmed over the land, made their way into the houses, and were found even in the king's bedchamber, and upon the bed. They got into everything in the houses, even in the kneading-troughs in which the bread was made, and the ovens where the food was cooked. The plague was so great that Pharaoh asked Moses to pray that God would take it away. So God caused the frogs to die, and their dead bodies were piled up in heaps. They filled the land with their dreadful smell, and made it still more corrupt. Thus again the river was made the source of trouble, instead of the good that they expected from it.

Then came the plague of lice upon man, and beast throughout the land. This impure insect was specially hateful to Egyptians, and no priest was allowed to approach the altars of Egypt with any such thing upon his body. To make sure that they were perfectly free from everything of the kind they shaved the heads and bodies every few days. But now upon the priests, as upon all the people, came the horrid plague of lice, which must have put a stop to all their acts of worship, because they could not go near the altars until they were free from it. Then even the magicians said, "This is the finger of God."

Another of the gods of Egypt was Beelzebub, the Fly-god, who was supposed to protect them from the swarms of flies that sometimes visited the land in the very hot weather. They thought that this idol had the power to remove them. But now "divers sorts of flies" came in myriads, darkening the air, filling the houses, and even covering the ground; and Beelzebub had no power to drive them away. So again they were taught the powerlessness of their idols, and were obliged to look to the God of the Hebrews to help them.

The next plague came upon one of the favourite gods of Egypt. Nearly all animals are worshipped by the Egyptians. You have most likely heard of their sacred bulls, and will remember that when the Israelites fell into idolatry in the wilderness they made a god in the form of a calf-a golden calf. In destroying their cattle the Lord was showing them the folly of all such worship, and that He is the Supreme God over all.

The Egyptians sometimes offered human sacrifices to the god of evil, whom they called Typhon. The victims were burned alive, and then the ashes were gathered together and thrown up into the air by the priests, who supposed that evil would be kept away from every place to which any atom of the ashes was carried by the wind.

God told Moses to make some of the ashes from the furnace, and cast it into the air, and the dust should be carried all over the land of Egypt, and make boils and blains come upon all the people. No doubt the priests had used this means to try to protect themselves from the plagues, but this itself became another plague, and brought them trouble instead of help. So again they were shown that there was no help except in the God of Israel.

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An army of locusts and caterpillars, that came and went only at the bidding of Moses, and "did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruits of their ground," showed them the folly of trusting in their god Serapis, whose work was supposed to be to protect the country from locusts.

The chief gods of the Egyptians, as of all other heathen nations, were the sun and moon, which they worshipped under the names of Isis and Osiris. They were supposed to rule the light and the elements, to give good or bad weather, and the plagues of hail and darkness were specially against them. For three days and nights the sun and moon were hidden from the Egyptians by a veil of thick darkness that might be felt.

Yet the Israelites "had light in their dwellings," for the true Sun of Righteousness whose glory is but dimly reflected in the sun and moon, was with them.

Still the hard heart of Pharaoh would not submit to Jehovah, who delivered him from all these plagues, as soon as he asked to have them taken wanted to have them taken away, for God wanted to help and save him. But after each plague, as he and the other Egyptians refused to acknowledge the true God, their hearts got harder, and they went into deeper darkness.

Yet God give them one more opportunity. He showed Himself to them in the tenth plague as the God of Judgment, that they might know what would be the result of turning away from the light He had given them. About this terrible plague, and the deliverance of the Israelites, we must talk next week.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

-A single Roumanian stamp brought ?143 at a sale in London last week.

-The Berlin police are about to be provided with twenty bloodhounds, to be need in the treating of murderers.

-It has now been definitely determined that the Duke of Cornwell and York will visit Australia this spring, as arranged honors the death of the Queen.

-Excessive heat is reported from Australia, accompanied by violent dust storms in and around Melbourne. There have been extensive fires throughout Victoria, causing heat damage to property and stock.

-Since 1881 the output of wool in Australia has grown from 85,000,000lb. To 700,000,000lb., and of wine from 450,000 gallons to 6,000,000 gallons. The total tonnage cleared and entered at Australian ports has increased from 2,800,000 tons to 20,000,000.

-Queen Wilhelmina of Holland was married on the 7th inst. to Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The festivities at the Hague, in honour of the event, were so boisterous that the police were obliged to prohibit the further sale of intoxicating drink.

-During 1900 there were 3,385 fires in London of which 115 were serious, and seventy-four lives were lost as the result.

-On the occasion of her marriage, Queen Wilhelmina has granted amnesty to 364 military and other prisoners, and other reductions of sentences are to follow.

-The Russian Minister of Finance has been informed that over 200 persons have lost their lives in the explosions caused by fires in the petroleum reservoirs belonging to the Caspian and Back Sea Company.

-The Cape Government is again directing its attention to taking precautions against the introduction of bubonic plague. Considerable uneasiness is felt, owing to the enormous increase in the number of rats in Capetown.

-According to information received by the French police, several Anarchists have met in Paris for the purpose of organising a plot against the life of the King of Italy. One of the most prominent revolutionists has declared that "no king or queen of to-day is safe."

-The "Court Circular" of the 7th, after announcing the King's departure from Windsor, and his arrival at Marlborough House, stated that His Majesty afterward received the Papal Envoy, who came with a letter from the Pope. The Envoy carries a grandiloquent title, and is accompanied by some of the Italian Catholic nobility.

-Reliable reports received at Pekin all agree that the famine in the provinces of Shan-se and Shan-si is one of the worst in the history of China. It is estimated that two-thirds of the people are without sufficient food or the means to obtain it, and they are suffering from the corn in addition. All domestic animals have been eaten, and some of the people are eating human flesh. Women and children are being sold, and infanticide is increasing.

-The following figures from a recent Board of Trade return may seem almost appalling to some, but they are of the utmost interest to every observer of the signs of the times. The figures indicate the cost of the world's navies, with reference to the interest they are designed to protect:-

The United Kingdom spent during 1898-99, ?88,145,699 on her seagoing forces, against a revenue of ?119,889,905, and an average tonnage of the mercantile marine of 9,164,342. Sea imports stood at ?530,297,069, and the exports at ?365,025,842.

Russia spent ?8,306,500 on her navy, and her revenue is given at ?165,905,000; mercantile tonnage 554,141, imports ?34,029,000, and exports ?50,401,000.

German figures are respectively ?6,672,788, ?76,309,000, 1,689,552 tons, ?306,887,000, and ?233,695,000.

France's naval expenditure is put at ?13,796,053, revenue ?142,021,000, mercantile tonnage 957,750, imports ?175,343,000, and the exports by sea ?153,425,000.

Japan, with a revenue of ?22,017,000, spent ?5,076,294 on the navy in a year, while her mercantile tonnage was 648,324, her sea imports ?34,749,000, and exports ?27,138,000.

Italy spent ?4,617,034 in the year ended, June, 1900, and her revenue is given as ?70,181,000, while her mercantile tonnage is put at 815,162. Her sea imports stand at ?42,187,000, and her exports at ?20,118,000.

The United States expended ?9,849,912 in 1900, aggregate revenue ?127,288,000, mercantile tonnage 848,246 sea imports ?158,745,000, exports ?256,728,000.

Thus it appears that about sixty millions pounds were spent in one year on navies in seven countries alone.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

The house of God is "the Church of the living God, the pillar and stay of the truth." 1 Tim. iii. 15.

The object of a pillar is to support something; not to be supported. It is to bear a weight, and not to be a dead weight on something else. So the church is in the world, not to be coddled and supported, but to be active-holding up the truth to the world.

The church it composed of units, and each unit has the life of the whole. The entire church is "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Eph. ii. 22. But each individual member is a church in miniature, since each one is a temple of the Lord. So each person is to hold forth the word of life. The glory of the whole is to be men in every part.

"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out." Rev. iii. 12. Each individual is to be a burden-bearer, since to bear a burden is the special purpose of a pillar. Many church members seem to possess the idea that they join the church for the purpose at being relieved of all responsibility of being carried. But architects do not design pillars to be carried about as a show, but for service. He who bears no burden, is not a follower of Christ.

Take notice that the burden-bearing is not to end with this life. Most people have the idea that the world to come will put an end to all labour. Not so; it will but be the beginning of it; for it is only the overcomer-the one who has for ever gained the victory-who is fully established as a pillar in the temple. This present world is only our apprenticeship in serving the Lord. The reward of faithful service during our apprenticeship of labouring in the unveiled present of God. "His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face." Rev. xxii. 3, 4. It will not be wearisome service. Oh, no; "they that wait on the Lord. . . shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Let us, therefore, even now, "not be weary in well-doing," for the strength of eternity is at our disposal. God is our strength and our salvation.

"Vigorous Temperance Methods" The Present Truth 17, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Vigorous Temperance Methods .-Because the prohibition law in Kansas (U.S.A.) has not been enforced, some of the women of the Women's Christian Temperance Union have taken the matter into their own hands, with the approval, it is said, of the organisation. Armed with axes and hatchets, they enter public-houses, and smash all the glasses, fittings, and appliances within reach. Scores of drinking-places are said to have been wrecked already. In one case, in Topeka, Hr. Charles Sheldon's city, the women were fired upon, and routed, the leader being wounded. The situation is critical, and rioting is feared. When will would-be reformers learn that doing evil that good may come never produces the desired results?

"Putting the Law into the Heart" The Present Truth 17, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

In the new covenant promise, God says of His people: "I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." Heb. viii. 10, Christ is the Minister or Mediator of this covenant, its surety,-and His blood is that by which its blessings and promises now become to us living realities. His blood is His life, and taking His blood means taking His life-Himself. But in His life on earth the righteousness of the law was revealed. In coming into the world, He said: "Lo, I come; in the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart" (Ps. xl. 7, 8), and just before going out of it, He said: "I have kept My Father's commandments." John xv. 10. He is always the same, and therefore when His life becomes our life, it will be our delight to do the will, of God, and we shall keep His commandments, for the law will be in our hearts. The law must be there if Christ is there.

This is made plain by comparison of Deut. xxx. 11-14 and Rom. x. 6-10, Christ is the Word, so that while "word" is used in the book of Deuteronomy, "Christ," is substituted for it in the quotation in the Epistle to the Romans. The talk in both places is about the law. It had been rehearsed before the people, and then Moses said: "This commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. . . But the Word is very nigh thy heart, that thou mayest do it." Why is Christ so very near us, in our mouth and in our heart?-In order that we may do the commandments. He has given His life to every man, for the sole purpose that all may keep the commandments, and thus be saved from sin.

"Opposition to Jesuits in Spain" The Present Truth 17, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Opposition to Jesuits in Spain .-For some time popular feeling has been against the Jesuits all over Spain, and this has culminated in Madrid in such an outburst as has caused the obnoxious, clerics to flee from the city. It is said that "the liberals are becoming resolved to wage an energetic war against the spread of clericalism, and to show that Spain shall not be priestridden." The opposition to priestcraft is right, but inasmuch as the movement is not prompted by Gospel motives, and is not conducted on Gospel principles, there cannot be any real diminution of superstition as the result. "The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. It is for each individual to determine whether or not he will be priestridden; and no man who really knows the Lord, and is filled with the Holy Spirit, can be priestridden, though he dwell alone in the midst of a colony of Jesuits.

"The Need of the Churches" The Present Truth 17, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

The Need of the Churches .-A correspondent of the Chronicle gives utterance to some truth that needs emphasising, when he says that "it was not, with such miserable weapons as 'Modern Thought,' and so-called 'Higher Criticism,' and such-like impostures and frauds, that men like Wesley and Whitefield brought about the great Evangelical revival at the end of the eighteenth century." He adds that "too many Nonconformist churches are eaten up with that hazy kind of preaching which would make anybody ask the question as to how much of the Bible is the inspired revelation of God to man, and where does it begin to be inspired." He who would move souls must have a definite belief, and must know not only what he believes, and why he believes it, but whom he believes.

February 21, 1901

"A Willing Captive" The Present Truth 17, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

For a long time the death of Jesus had been decided upon by the chief priests and the rulers of the Jews, as a thing necessary for the welfare of the nation. Gathered together in council, they had said: "What do we? for this Man doeth many miracles. If we let Him thus alone, all men will believe on Him; and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation." Then the high priest, Caiaphas, vexed at the failure of the others to suggest a way out of their difficulty, said: "Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not." John xi. 47-50. There was no question in their minds but that Jesus must die; the only thing to be considered was how to accomplish it; for often had they been foiled in their efforts to seize Him. Strange that they did not stop to think that it was Divine power that wrought the mighty miracles of which they complained, and which enabled Jesus to thwart their plans without the slightest visible effort. But now their hellish designs seemed about to be crowned with success. Judas, one of the intimate acquaintances and followers of Jesus, had bargained to betray Him into their hands, and was only waiting a convenient opportunity. He knew where Jesus often went with His disciples for meditation and prayer, and where He often spent the night, and by some means had information that Jesus would go there after the Passover Supper; and he told the plotters that now was their time. It was night, and none of the people would be present to make an outcry or to attempt to protect the Great Teacher.

"Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am He. And Judas also, which betrayed Him, stood with them. As soon then as He had said unto them, I am He, they went backward, and fell to

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the ground. Then asked He them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He; if therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way; that the saying might be fulfilled, which He spake, Of them which Thou gavest his have I lost none." John xviii. 3-9.

A twofold purpose was served by this quiet manifestation of the Divine power of Jesus: it secured immunity for the disciples, and it afforded opportunity for any whose hearts were not as hard as steel to submit to the One whom they were seeking to make captive. It was not for Himself, but always for others, that the mighty works of Jesus were done.

How a perverse heart can blind one's senses! There was a band of armed men felled to the ground by an invisible power accompanying a quiet Teacher, yet they proceeded with their work without seeming to be impressed by the fact that they had not the slightest power against Him. If they had possessed even the slightest sense of humour they would have slunk out of the garden in shame, when Jesus the second time asked them, "Whom seek ye?" At the first utterance of the words they had fallen backward, as though shot down by a volley from an opposing army; yet when the question was repeated, they replied the same as before, "Jesus of Nazareth." The words of Jesus, "I have told you that I am He," contained volumes of subtle irony that would have put less obtuse men to confusion. It was as though He said: Well, I have already told you that I am the One you seek; why did you not take Me? His words and actions reveal Him as the calm, unperturbed Master of men. He, the condemned outlaw, dictated terms to His would-be captors, and, though utterly unarmed, He did not go with them until He was fully ready.

In the words of Jesus, twice repeated to His pursuers, Jesus declared far more than the mere fact that He was Jesus of Nazareth, whom they sought. Notice that the word "He" is in Italic, indicating that it is not found in the Greek text. What He really said was, "I am," just as He had once before said to the Pharisees, "Before Abraham was, I am." On the stormy sea He had said to the disciples, "I am; be not afraid," and again to the unbelieving Jews: "When ye shall have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am." In His reply to the armed mob, Jesus declared not only that He was Jesus of Nazareth, but also that He was the I AM who appeared to Moses in the desert of Sinai, and who had led the ancestors of this people out of bondage. They were seeking to capture the Deliverer of their ace, the Saviour of the world, of whom the prophet had said, "The Redeemer shall come to Zion."

Then followed an incident which emphasised the fact that He was the Deliverer. "Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath; the cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?" John xviii. 10, 11. But this was not all. Turning to His captors, Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And He touched his ear, and healed him." Luke xxii. 51. The hands of Jesus were evidently already bound, but here was an enemy who had been wounded in the assault on Him, and the case called for help. True to His character, Jesus could not see on in pain without going to his assistance, so politely excusing Himself to the guard for seeming to rebel against their authority, He disengaged one of His hands, and healed the wounded servant, and then again submitted to be bound and led away to a mock trial and execution.

Yet even after all this, that mob of priests thought that they had Jesus in their power; yes, He was in their power, but their power was only that which was given them from the same source whence He derived His power. The words of Jesus so plain. "Thou couldst have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above" (John xix. 11), were true of these men, and if they had not been completely blinded by sin and hate, they would have seen it. In the very moment of betrayal and capture, Jesus was revealed as the Saviour of sinners, and as the Mighty One, the I AM. The healing of the servant's ear was an assurance of the forgiveness of his sins, if he had been willing to accept it. But this crowd of wise rulers did not have the wisdom of the humble shepherds of Bethlehem, and so they led away the Lord of glory to be crucified.

Why did Jesus consent to go with them? Is it not strange that none of them thought to ask this question? An angel from heaven had been seen strengthening Him, and He declared that He could pray to the Father and at once have "more than twelve legions of angels" (Matt. xxvi. 52), every one of whom would be more than a match for thirty legions of men. It should have been apparent even to those men, that Jesus was submitting to be bound simply because He was, as He still is, the Saviour. He was a willing captive, in order that no soul on earth need be other than a willing captive. He voluntarily submitted to death, in order to reveal to mankind the way of life. No manner of resistance could have revealed the power of Jesus so much as His voluntary submission to His enemies. They were actuated by the powers of sin and darkness; buy His victory over them, even when they were allowed the fullest freedom against Him, He shows us how completely He can deliver us from them when we put our trust in Him.

"Educated into Foolishness" The Present Truth 17, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

One of the ministers who has been engaged in the simultaneous mission just closed in London, who had during its progress much conversation and correspondence with young men and women of the middle class, has stated that in conversation with those young people "had impressed him with the fact that the educated daughters of the middle class had, to-day much more serious intellectual difficulties in the reception of Christianity than was generally realised. They have very thoughtfully studied the various scientific and philosophic attacks upon Christianity and have not unnaturally been much influenced by some of them."

Unless the minister in question has seriously libelled those young women, they are in a most deplorable state of ignorance as the result of their so-called education. There are no such things as intellectual difficulties in the way of Christianity. It is the fool that has said in his heart, "There is no God;" none but a fool can say such a thing. But to recognise and acknowledge God, to know His existence because one has seen and known Him, is to acknowledge Him as the Saviour. Whoever does not acknowledge God as Saviour, denies His existence. He may profess belief in some sort of a god, but it is not the God of the Bible, not the true God, but a pagan divinity.

Christianity is not a thing that calls for great intellect in order to comprehend it. Babes can understand it, when philosophers become confused. It is not a series of propositions to be solved, or of dogmas to be accepted, but a life to be lived. Now when one says that his education has rendered it impossible for him to accept Christianity, difficult to believe that the

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power that creates and upholds can save, he merely acknowledges that his intellect has been stupefied and dwarfed by that which he calls his education. His case is described in Rom. i. 21-25, where we read of the scientists and philosophers of old that

"when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and ... changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever."

That is the result of education that leads away from God. The creature that is first of all worshipped is self. That is the moral degradation into which people inevitably fall when "intellectual difficulties" stand in the way of their accepting Christianity. Much of that which is called education is the grossest ignorance and folly. "Cease, My son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge." A plea of "intellectual difficulty" in accepting the Gospel, is nothing less than a confession of gross ignorance. No minister of the Gospel should ever parley with "intellectual difficulties," but should strike at the root of the trouble, saying, "Ye must be born again."

"Poisoning from Whiskey-drinking" The Present Truth 17, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

There can be no question but that many persons have recently suffered from poisoning due to arsenic in beer, and that there have been several deaths from that cause. There has been a two-fold result of this epidemic: First, some people have ceased drinking beer, thus becoming at least partially temperate through fear, and second, there is a decided movement in favour of having such Government supervision as will result in the production of "pure beer." Whether or not this will ultimately result in the more free consumption of beer is a question. People will undoubtedly be led to believe that beer without arsenic is harmless; but no one need be led astray by any such fallacy; for there is already abundant evidence to show that the "best" beer, or liquor of any kind that can produce intoxication is poisonous. Indeed such a statement is tautology, since the very word "intoxicated" means "poisoned;" and everybody who knows anything of beer knows that it will produce intoxication.

But a most interesting communication on this subject appeared in one of the latest issues of the Lancet. The writer, a physician, of course, says: "Whether beer free from arsenic is capable of producing peripheral neuritis, as is generally believed, will be clearly shown by the experience of the next year or two, when, in Manchester at least, all beer will be free from arsenic. To all interested in the subject the question will probably occur whether peripheral neuritis is produced by the drinking of spirits, and if so whether this neuritis is also the result of arsenic as an impurity in spirits." He notes that the case is complicated by the fact that spirit-drinkers are usually beer-drinkers as well; but he cites a case where a man who was connected with a public-house, and had free choice of alcoholic beverages, always drank spirits, because he did not like beer, and who suffered to the utmost degree from the very same affection that has caused the illness and death of so many beer-drinkers. The point especially to be noted in this case is that a most

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careful analysis failed to detect any trace of arsenic in the liquor that the patient drank, which was the "purest" Irish whisky.

People will undoubtedly go on drinking beer and whisky and all sorts of alcoholic liquor, because they like the taste and the sensation; but those who do will do so in the face of the clearest evidence that alcohol is a poison no less than arsenic, and one which has caused many more deaths.

"Truth Is the Ground of True Faith" The Present Truth 17, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

One of the most common fallacies with which sensible people deceive themselves is the idea that if a sufficient number of people believe a thing, that makes it true. "Our Church believes so and so," we are gravely told, and the speaker seems to think that we ought to regard that as abundantly sufficient reason why he should believe it, too. In fact, the statement that "the Church" holds, or, to make the case overwhelmingly strong, has always held, certain theories, is thought to be proof enough to convince the most sceptical. But it is no proof at all. We cannot make a thing true by believing it, nor untrue by disbelieving it; but we are to believe a thing solely because it is true. We are saved "through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth," which means that truth is first and belief second. "Faith cometh by bearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

And this means that everything is to be subjected to investigation. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." To challenge every statement, everything that presents itself for our acceptance, is not in the least inconsistent with the fullest and freest faith. Truth is never injured by being put to the test, and never resents it. A faithful sentinel is he who makes every new-comer stand and give an account of himself; and in time of war, when spies are lurking about, such action is most necessary. Even the commander-in-chief would not think that he should be exempt, but would regard the challenge as evidence that the soldier was awake to his responsibilities. Christ did not reprove Joshua for his bold challenge, "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" but promptly replied.

In matters so important as those that affect the soul's welfare, nothing ought to be taken for granted. The fact that a company of Bishops or Doctors of Divinity have set forth a certain dogma, furnishes no presumptive evidence that it is the truth. They must be required to give the reason for their belief just as much as the most obscure personage, and if they are sure of their ground, they will be glad to do so. Let each one know for himself why and what he believes.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Consciousness of Sin. Two Ways of Destroying It" The Present Truth 17, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

"I read in Heb. x. 1, 2 that if the sacrifices anciently offered year by year had been able to make comers thereunto perfect, they would have ceased to be offered, 'because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.' What relation to sin does that indicate on the part of them who are born again? Does it mean that they will no more be tempted?"

We can very easily settle this matter by the Scriptures, especially those passages which speak particularly of the experience of Christ; and when we have learned what the Bible teaches on this subject, we shall have grasped the most comforting fact in the infinite possibilities opened up to us by the Gospel. It will involve a brief study of the last ten verses of the tenth chapter of Hebrews, one of the richest portions of the Bible, which we can no more than begin upon in the short half-hour allowed us here.

THE ONLY REMEDY FOR SIN

It needs no proof to show that "it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin." Sin is in man, and can be put away only by the death of the sinner. "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"-Rom. vi. 2. "He that is dead is freed from sin." Verse 7. Death is the only remedy for sin; for "without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb. ix. 22. But a lamb or a goat or a bull has not sinned, and if it had, its death would have no effect upon us. No other person's death, even though it were our own firstborn, could remove sin from us. See Micah vi. 6-8. Sin can be purged only by taking the life of the person whose life is sinful.

ONE DEATH FOR ALL

You ask how it can then be that Christ "by Himself purged our sins" (Heb. 1. 8), and how His blood can purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Heb. ix. 14. It is simply because He is the life, and "in Him all things consist." Col. i. 17. It is His life that we use when we transgress the law of God, so that we weary Him with our sins, and make Him to serve with our iniquities. Isa. xliii. 24. He has tasted death for every man (Heb. ii. 9), and in that He died for all, all are dead. 2 Cor. v. 14. His life is the life of all creatures, so that "now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Heb. ix. 26. All men are reconciled to God by the death of Christ (Rom. v. 9, 10), for "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." 2 Cor. v. 19. This being so, whoever truly acknowledges, and abides in the same confession, that he is crucified with Christ, and that he lives only as Christ lives in Him, must be as free from sin as Christ Himself.

CHRIST "KNEW NO SIN"

Now of Christ it is said that He "knew no sin," yet in the very same breath it is declared that He was made to be sin for us. 2 Cor. v. 21. The sins of the whole world were upon Him, yet so effectually did He bear them away, that no eye ever saw a trace of sin upon Him. He was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." It was real temptation, too, for He "suffered being tempted." Heb. ii. 18. It is evident that if Christ could suffer in the flesh, through the fierce temptations that assailed Him, and still not know sin, it is possible for those who arm themselves with the same mind (1 Peter iv. 1) to have the same experience. It is not only possible for them to have the same experience, but it cannot be otherwise. The worshippers once purged can have no more conscience of sins.

The word here rendered "conscience" is uniformly so rendered in the New Testament, yet in classical usage it means all that is conveyed by the word "consciousness," and it is so rendered in the Danish

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and Norwegian versions. Of course the idea is not that the worshippers will not know the difference between right and wrong, nor even that they will never be tempted; but, as we well know from the reference to Christ, they will be free from sin, so that it will be no part of their nature or their thought. The flesh will still be mortal and sinful, but the new mind will so control the flesh that it will have no power to assert itself. It will be as amenable to the mind of the Spirit as though it were already spiritual.

THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL

In Christ we have perfect redemption from the curse. The curse came through sin, and the first sin-the sin that included all sin-was the eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Our first parents knew good, and that was enough; all that is necessary, in order that one be not led astray by evil, is that he know and cleave to the good. They had access to the tree of life, even as we have, for wisdom is "a tree of life to them that lay hold on it," (Prov. iii. 18), and Christ, who is our life is the wisdom of God, and so the tree of life to us. But in Him we learn no evil; He imparts only the knowledge of good, and that is all that God wishes us to know; it is all that God Himself knows.

PURGED BY THE LIFE

Note the statement that "the worshippers once purged should have no more conscience (consciousness) of sins." It is because they are purged. Sin has been removed from them by the pure life of Christ, which fills them, and they become as innocent before God "as new-born babes." How often we have wished that we had never known certain things-that we had never heard of them; well the Gospel of Jesus Christ provides complete deliverance from the load, so that we shall forget our sins and iniquities, even as God Himself does. We shall never forget that we have been sinners, and that Christ has rescued us from that horrible pit of corruption; but we may be so completely emancipated from sin that we shall no more think of the evil than we did before we ever heard of it. What a wondrous relief this is!

DOING THE WILL OF GOD

How can this be?-Because "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Phil. ii. 13. This takes us to the next verses in the tenth chapter of Hebrews. When Christ, in coming into the world, said, "sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not," because they could not take sin away, He added, "but a body hast Thou prepared Me." For what purpose was this body prepared for Him?-For sacrifice, that in it He might do the will of God; for in the same connection He says, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God," and further, "Yea, Thy law is within My heart." Heb. x. 5-10; Ps. xi. 7, 8. The law of God is His will. Rom. ii. 17, 18.

Remember now that the same Spirit by which Christ offered Himself is given us to put God's law in our mind, and write it in our hearts (Heb. viii. 10), and that when the law is in the mind, the thought will be only the righteousness of the law. "His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night." Ps. i. 2.

THE BODY PREPARED FOR CHRIST

Remember also that a body has been prepared for Jesus, in which to do the will of God. Where is that body?-It is wherever there is a human being. Our bodies are made to be the temples of God; our flesh was created for the indwelling of the Word. The body of Jesus of Nazareth, in which the will of God was so fully done, was but a sample of what all bodies may and ought to be. If we yield ourselves to Him, as those that are alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God, the will of God will be as perfectly performed in us as it was in Jesus, or as it is in heaven.

The Gospel provides for just this perfect identification of the Holy Spirit with even our mortal bodies. Jesus promised to send the Comforter, "even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him;" but to His disciples He said, "Ye knoweth Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." John xiv. 17. And again we read: "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." Rom. viii. 11.

The possibility and the reality of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is shown to us by the air that vitalises our bodies. See Job. xxxiii. 4: "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me understanding." It is only by the Spirit of God that any person has life. If we fully yield our bodies as the rightful agents of the Spirit, then the Spirit of God will think with our brains, and not through our members. The Spirit is to permeate us, animating us, so that His work is really our work, because our only life is one life of the Spirit of God. We live, yet not we, but Christ lives in us by the Spirit. So the righteousness manifest in our sinful bodies will be our own righteousness, and at the same time God's righteousness; for "this is His name whereby He shall be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." The Spirit will so control the sinful flesh, that the sin will not merely be held in obeyance, but will be purged. "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, . . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

THE WILL OF GOD

"He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second." What is this "first" and "second"? The next verse makes it clear, for it continues without break, "by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ." Heb. x. 10. "The second" is the will of God by which we are sanctified. This is what Christ establishes in every human body that He is allowed to control. "The first," then is evidently "the will of the flesh," which is yielded up to Him, that He may take it away, and which must necessarily be removed from those who become sons of God through receiving Christ. John i. 12, 13. With the mind and will of God established in us by the indwelling of Christ through the eternal Spirit, it is evident that one's consciousness will be all of God's presence, and not at all of sin.

That is the right way of losing the consciousness of sin. The wrong way, which is by far the most common, is to persist in sin, to refuse to confess that we are sinners, until the conscience becomes "seared with a hot iron" (1 Tim. iv. 2), so that it cannot feel the presence of sin, and evil seems the same as good. The person in that condition says with Lucifer fallen, "Evil, be thou my good." This state of things is hopeless, but it is certain to be the final result with every one who does not regard his body as a thing prepared solely as a sacrifice unto God, that He may do His own will in it.

"I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." Rom. xii. 1, 2.

"Our Little Ones. The Passover" The Present Truth 17, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

As the time drew near for the Children of Israel to leave Egypt, it seemed less and less likely that Pharaoh would ever let them go. He ordered Moses and Aaron to go out of his eight, and never to come beak.

Then God told Moses that He would do one more wonder in Egypt, and after that Pharaoh should let the people go. He said that the Israelites were all to be ready to leave Egypt at midnight; they were to have their loins girded, their shoes on, and their staves in their hands. They were to ask from the Egyptians jewels of gold and silver, so that they should not go out empty-handed.

For many years the Israelites had been working for their Egyptian oppressors without any pay, so all that they asked for was really owing to them for their work. God gave them favour in the eight of the Egyptians, so that they gave them whatever they asked for.

God told Moses that each family of His people were to kill a lamb and eat tts flesh with bitter herbs, and sprinkle its blood with a bunch of hyssop on the side posts and the upper door post of their houses. "For," He said, "I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt. . . . and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you."

All who believed the word that the Lord sent them through Moses, did as the Lord had told them, and sprinkled the blood upon, their door posts. No doubt the Egyptians wondered what they were doing, and asked them questions about it. In our picture you see some who are scornfully mocking them; but if any of the Egyptians believed, they could put the same token upon their own houses, and so save their own first-born from the destroyer. No doubt some of them did so, and were among the "mixed multitude" that followed Israel out of Egypt, because they were learning to trust in Israel's God.

Why did God's people have to put this sign upon their houses? Do you think it was because God did not know where they lived? Oh, no; for "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." It was because He wanted to teach them the way of salvation, through is the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

Who is this Lamb of God, and what did the blood upon the door posts mean? It was "looking upon Jesus, as He walked," that John the Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" And "the blood is the life," God's Word tells us. It is the blood sent from the heart all through our bodies, that carries life to every part of them. So the lesson that God was teaching the Israelites was that they could be saved only by the life of Jesus.

"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." Jesus has died, His blood has been shed, His life is given for all. He is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." If it were not for this, neither the Egyptians nor the Israelites could ever have had any life at all. Because Jesus has died for all, God gives His life freely to all.

But unless we believe in Jesus, and take hold by faith upon Him who is our life, the time will come when that life will be taken away from us. "The good fight of faith" is to "lay hold on eternal life." This was the great lesson of the Passover.

In slaying the lamb, the people were taught that their sins had slain the Lamb of God. In eating its flesh they were taught that they were to feed upon Him by faith, so that they might receive the life that He had given for them.

The sprinkled blood upon the door posts, which protected them from all evil (for God said that not even a dog should move its tongue against them so long as it was there), showed how the blood-the life of Jesus-blots out the sins that would destroy us, and keeps us from all harm. In the judgment God will "pass over" every one who has taken the life of Jesus to cleanse him from all sin. He does not cover up our sins, for He says that He will "by no means clear the guilty." But the life-blood of Jesus washes away the sin, and makes us pure and spotless like Himself.

The Israelites were told to keep the Passover every year,-to eat the slain lamb with their loins girded, their shoes on, and their staves in their hands as though just ready to start on a journey. And when their little children should ask them, "What mean ye by this service?" they were to tell them the story of their deliverance from Egypt, and how the Lord passed by the houses of His people, when He slew all the first-born of the Egyptians.

The last true Passover service was the one that Jesus kept with His disciples the night of His betrayal, just before He suffered on the cross. At that time He appointed what we call "the Lord's supper," to take its place. In this service we learn just the same lessons about the Lamb of

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God that the Passover taught the Children of Israel, and we will talk more of this at another time.

The Jews who do not believe in Jesus still keep the Passover, with a great deal of ceremony. They still read to their children the wonderful story of the deliverance, and of the sprinkled blood upon the door posts, but there is no life in their service, because they know nothing of Christ, the true "Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

-There have been many cases of typhus in one district in Manchester. The outbreak has been traced to a rag shop.

-Speaking in Parliament, in the debate on the King's Speech, Mt. Balfour said that unconditional surrender is the necessary preliminary to any peace in South Africa.

-Another plague epidemic is raging in Bombay, There were over two thousand deaths in the city the first week in February, of which 922 are attributed to plague.

-On the night of the 9th the tombs of King Victory Emmanuel I. and King Humbert, in the Pantheon at Rome, were robbed of crowns and decorations to the value of ?800.

-The Cape Government has decided to notify foreign Powers that Capetown is a plague-infected port.

-It is said that "the continuous easterly gales which have been experienced in the Atlantic during the past few days have not been equalled for many years."

-In six years nearly a million monkeys hen been killed on the Gold Coast to furnish "seal skin" jackets for ladies, and "bearskin" lined overcoats for men.

-The Financial Committee of the Danish Parliament has, with one dissenting vote, approved the proposed sale of the Danish West lndies Islands to the United States.

-Ex-King Milan of Servia died in Vienna on the 11th inst. Separated from his family, and exiled from his country, with no one to mourn his departure, and none to respect his memory, his end strikingly illustrates the vanity of worldly honours.

-The Russian Ministry of the Interior announces that there has been a complete failure of the crops in several provinces, and that besides the assistance which the Government gives to famine sufferers, an appeal must be made to private charity.

-"The Belgian Parliament has once and for all stopped all gambling throughout the country." That is the way the report reads; what is meant is that most rigid laws have been passed against gambling; whether or not it has been stopped, remains to be seen.

-Serious reports of an outbreak of what might at first called "hunger typhus," but which is now mostly admitted to be plague, come from the Khurgiz Steppes of Western Siberia. Many thousands have died in the districts between Semi-palatinsk and Orenburg.

-A party of intemperate "temperance reformers" made a raid on a liquor saloon in a town in Kasas, U.S.A., on the 18th, completely demolishing it. Two women were shot, one fatally, and the bar-tender was seriously wounded with a hatchet. Besides women, the party of raiders included 500 Methodist theological students. This is "the church militant" with a vengeance.

-It is five months since Galveston was over whelmed. Three thousand lives were lost, 4,000 houses destroyed, and property to the value of three millions wiped out. It was said at the time that the site of the city would be abandoned, and that the result of the disaster, unparalleled in the history of American towns, would be a barren sand spit in the Gulf. lnstead, 1,000 houses have already been rebuilt, nearly a million has been expended, no great failure has been permitted among her merchants, and the export statistics for 1900 show an increase of three millions over previous years.

-The greatest trade combination ever known has just been effected in America. It is the union of all the steel, iron, and tin industries, with a capital of over a thousand million dollars-two hundred million pounds. Mr. Carnegie, the leading steel manufacturer of the world is in the combination, and Mr. Rockefeller, of Standard oil fame, has his millions invested in the new enterprise. The Chronicle says of it: "The present combine may grow into an institution that will lay its blighting hand on every artisan throughout the States, perhaps throughout the world. It is a curious irony of modern sociology that America the country which boasts itself most of its freedom, is in reality most tightly bound in the toils of that octopus, the trade monopoly. Beside the tyranny of the trust, the political tyranny of the old world is trivial in its ineffectiveness; and this particular amalgamation sets the seal to the triumph of the millionaire."

"Walking in Christ's Steps" The Present Truth 17, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

Walking in Christ's Steps .-How many there are who long to visit Palestine and old Jerusalem, in order to stand in the places where Christ was, and to walk over the ground that He trod upon. Yet those who go there cannot touch she identical spots that Jesus touched, for time and weather have buried some of them deep in the sand, or have carried this soil to other places. There is no certainty concerning even the place of His crucifixion and burial, so that at best there is sure to be an element of dissatisfaction in such a visit.

But we may walk where Jesus has walked; "because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps." 1 Peter ii. 21. We may not merely walk where He walked centuries ago, but we may walk with Him now, and may know that we are treading exactly in His steps. Jerusalem which now is, is in bondage, but "Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." Gal. iv. 26. It is there that we are to come to meet with Jesus (Heb. xii. 22-24), and we may not only walk with Him, but "in Him," so that our feet will step in His footprints evenly with Him; and still more, we may "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" Eph. ii. 8. It is far better to be precisely where Christ is to-day, than to be near where He was eighteen or nineteen hundred years ago.

"The True Scientific Text Book" The Present Truth 17, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

Since the opening of God's Word gives light, and gives understanding to the simple (Ps. cxix. 130), it follows as a necessary conclusion that when that word is left unopened, and its teachings are darkness and foolishness must man's thoughts and words illustrated in the Hunterian, Oration, delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons last week, in which the speaker endeavoured to prove the descent of man from the ape. The difference in intellect between the ape and the human being was thus lucidly accounted for:-

The reason why the brain of apes is so defective appears to be attributable to the small capacity of the fore pare of the creature's skull, caused by its consolidation during the first year of life in a rigid closed case within which the animal's brain cannot expand, while man's brain develops till his twentieth year.

This, in the language of common people, is equivalent to saying that the reason why an ape's brain is smaller than a man's, is that his head is not as large, which is quite correct, but which explains nothing. It has been said so often by professed scientists, that the Bible is not a Scientific book, that most people suppose it must be so; but the truth is that the Bible is the only really scientific book in the world. It is the source, the text book, if you please, of all true science; and whoever ignores or despises its statements is left to the necessity of uttering a jumble of high sounding phrases without sense, and deluding himself and some of his hearers with the idea that it is great knowledge.

We do not advocate the idea that a person should read no other book but the Bible, although the man who should know that thoroughly, and no other book would know more than the one who should know every other book, and be ignorant of Bible truth; but we do wish to emphasise the statement that whoever knows the Bible first of all, and always gives it the first place, will have no difl5onliy in finding out very quickly all the truth there is in any other book. The Bible is not a book to be ashamed of or apologised for.

"Personal Remarks" The Present Truth 17, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

Don't be a croaker. Don't always be looking for the worst side of things, nor even looking at it when it presents itself. Don't talk discouragement, even if you feet discouraged, and don't ever say anything that would tend to make others discouraged. That is to say, if you cannot help lift the load, don't think that it is your duty to sit on it and add your weight to that which anybody else must lift. It is hard enough for others to have to lift the part that you ought to pick up, are neglecting, without having to carry you too. A despondent person is of no earthly use in the world, and the only thine for him to do is to get out-not of the world, but-of his discouraged state. This is the easiest thing in the world to do, if you will but look at the Light of Life. When the wise men saw the star that was leading them to Jesus, "they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." Even so we, though now we see Him not, believing must necessarily "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 1 Peter i. 8. The God of hope will "fill you with all joy and peace in believing." Rom. xv. 13.

If you had a friend with a deformity, you would not always be reminding him of it. You would not say, "It seems to me your leg is a little crookeder to-day than usual," or, "I believe the hump on your back is getting more prominent." You could not be so cruel as to remind him of his blemish, for you would know that such references would have a most painful and depressing effect on him. Neither if the case were less serious, and your friend were merely ugly in appearance, would you be so thoughtless and impolite as to say, "You are looking uglier today than the last time I saw you," or, "That mole on your check is getting larger and blacker." Then why should anybody comment on his friend's appearance healthwise? It certainly is no less impolite or discouraging, to say, "How ill you are looking!" "You are certainly not looking so well to-day as usual;" "you are getting pale and thin," and similar familiar expressions. They are often very annoying, and they never tend to encourage and strengthen the subject of them.

It is true that there are people who think it is quite the thing to "enjoy poor health," who are pleased to be the centre of interest, even if the remarks are to their discredit; but such vanity ought not to be encouraged. We may not say that it is always a sin for a person to be ill, but it certainly is never anything to one's credit, or to be proud of. If we can help a person out of his feeble condition, then it is allowable to speak to him of it, just as in the Spirit of Christ we may mention, in the most private way possible, any defect in his character, in order to help him to remedy it; but not otherwise. A cheerful, encouraging word is often the best medicine that can be administered to a person who is really ill, and it is always a help. You can surely find some encouraging feature to speak about in any case. "If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things;" and speak only the things that are calculated to edify.

February 28, 1901

"The Child's Education" The Present Truth 17, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

There is scarcely one of the characters mentioned in Scripture, with whom the student of the Bible feels better acquainted than with the young man Timothy, yet we have not a single word left us from him. That he was a marked character even in early youth, is evident from the fact that Paul chose him as a companion in labour, just after he had refused Mark, and he must have been very young then, since in the letters written to him long afterwards, he is addressed as a youth. Yet learned as he was in the Scriptures, "from a child," we are not told one of his "smart sayings," such as fond parents and friends of precocious children are wont to preserve and repeat.

A few words will suffice to bring freshly before our minds a picture of Timothy's life. His mother was a Jewess, but his father was a Greek. Whether or not the father was a convert to the faith, we are not informed, but Timothy at any rate was brought up in the region of his mother, who seems to have charge of his education. She was a woman of deep piety, as is attested by Paul. What more tender and beautiful greeting can be found than this:-

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son; Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ our Lord. I thank God, whom I from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy; when I call to mind the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also." 2 Tim. i. 1-5.

It seems evident from this that the grandmother lived with the daughter, and that the two godly women had the forming of the child's character, which must have been most attractive, for Paul ever spoke of him in terms of the warmest affection. When alone in prison, it was Timothy that he longed to see; and when he wished to comfort the Philippian brethren in their affliction, he promised to send Timothy, saying: "I have no man likeminded [so dear unto me] who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things that are Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the Gospel." Phil. ii. 19-22.

Faithfulness was a characteristic of Timothy. Not once did he disappoint the expectations of those who reposed confidence in him. Weak though he was in body, he shrank from no labour, however hard it might be, and was not appalled by any persecution. Prisons had no terror for him, any more than for Paul. He did not engage in the work of the Gospel ministry with the expectation of an easy time, for he fully knew Paul's manner of life, and the persecutions and afflictions that came

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to him at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra. 2 Tim. iii. 10, 11. Timothy lived at Lystra, and knew all about the stoning of Paul, where he was dragged out of the city and left, for dead. Indeed, he was doubtless an eye-witness of the affair, and was among the disciples who stood around Paul's bruised and battered body; and it was shortly after this occurrence that Paul chose him to accompany him in his journeyings and labours. So he had no illusions concerning the life of a Gospel minister, but took hold of the work in the same spirit that Paul did, who at the outset was shown how great things he must suffer for the name of Christ.

Now some may think that all this has nothing to do with the question of education; but it has a great deal to do with it; for true education consists in the development of a strong and steadfast character, and not merely in the accumulation of a lot of fact's from text-books. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; . . . and have not love, I am nothing." We would by no means depreciate the acquiring of as vast a store of knowledge of things as possible; but one may have the history of the world and the discoveries of science at his tongue's end, and still not be truly wise. Timothy, however, was indeed a wise young man, for he knew how to conduct himself properly with all classes of people, and under all circumstances.

We know that the young man was indebted to his mother and grandmother for the education that fitted him to be the trusted friend and helper of the chief of the apostles; but what were the books that he studied? Here is the answer: "Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. iii. 14, 15. It was not a narrow education that Timothy had. He was by no means "a man of one book," for he had a whole library of books at his command, and he had mastered their contents. It must not be forgotten that the Holy Scriptures are not one single book, but a collection of books, comprehending everything necessary to make a man of God "perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

WISE UNTO SALVATION

That is the highest degree one can attain to. Few appreciate it, and most people scoff at it, thinking that to be wise only to salvation is to be "old-fogeyish"; but a minute's candid consideration of the subject will suffice to make it clear that it is not possible to have any higher degree of wisdom in this world than to attain to salvation, and that whoever misses that degree is a fool.

In the first place, "what is a man profited, if be shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" For "the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." The wisdom of the world, and of the princes of the world, comes to nought (1 Cor. ii. 6); "for the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God." 1 Cor. iii. 19.

Can you not see how this is? There is a story that illustrates it. A scholar was a passenger on a river steamer, and fell into conversation with one of the dock hands, whom be proceeded to interrogate as to his attainments.

"Do you understand astronomy?" said the Professor.

"No;" replied the sailor.

"Then one quarter of your life is gone," said the learned man.

"Have you studied trigonometry?" he continued.

"Never heard tell of it," answered the other.

"Then another quarter of your life is gone," said the wise man.

"Do you know anything of chemistry" was the next question.

"Not a thing," was the reply.

"Then another quarter of your life is gone."

The learned man was about to put another question, when the sailor, hastily pulling off his jacket, asked him, "Sir, can you swim?"

"No;" said he.

"Then," said the unlearned man, "the whole of your life is gone, for the boat has struck a rock, and is going to the bottom."

If a man has all the wisdom of the schools, but has not learned the beginning of wisdom, which is the fear of the Lord, it is evident that when the Day of Judgment has passed, the man who could just spell out, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief" and who accepted it, has infinitely more knowledge than he, for the wise man's wisdom has perished with him.

Then take that same poor Christian after he has been twenty years, yea, only one year, in heaven, in the company of the Lord and the angels, learning at the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, and who can doubt that his culture and learning, even with the world's scholars as judges, would be far superior to that of a man who was counted a philosopher a short time at a good school, with the best minds of earth, will do wonders for an unlettered man; think then of the change that a few year's residence in the world to come will have on those who attain to it, where there are no drawbacks whatever. And after centuries of progress, they will be but at the beginning of their course. So it is evident, from this view of the case, that to be wise unto salvation contains the germ of all wisdom and knowledge.

"THE LORD GIVETH WISDOM"

But this is not the only point of view. A famous humorist once said that he would rather know a few things that are so, than to know a great many things that are not so. Now it is a melancholy fact that much of that which is labelled as the highest scientific knowledge in this world consists of that which is confessedly not so. Read the following paragraph from "The Natural History of Plants," one of the best works on Botany extant, by Professor Kerner of the University of Vienna:-

"Every one of our theories has its history. In the first place a few puzzling facts are observed, and gradually others come to be associated with them. A general survey of the phenomena in question suggests the existence of a definite uniformity underlying them, and attempts are made to grasp the nature of such uniformity and to define it in words. Whilst the question thus raised is in but suspense, botanists strive with more or less success to answer it, until a master mind appears. He collates the observed facts, will not adapt themselves to the scheme of the enigma. But observations continue to multiply scientific; scientific instruments become more delicate, and some of the newly-observed facts will not adapt themselves to the scheme of the earlier generalisation. At first they are held to be exceptions to the rule. By degrees, however, these exceptions accumulate; the law has lost its universality and must undergo expansion, or else it has become quite obsolete and must be replaced by another.

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So it has been in all past times, and so it will be in the future. Only a narrow mind is capable of claiming infallibility and permanence for the ideas which the present age lays down as laws of nature."

So we see that the "master mind" is only a tinker, yet although his "solution of the enigma" often becomes obsolete in his lifetime, he loses none of his standing as a scholar, but receives new applause for the brilliant new theory that he devised to take the place of the exploded one. Thus men go on, "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

"How can it be otherwise?" one asks. Very easily; begin with the truth, and hold to it, and you will find that continued observation and fresh discovery will but make your law stand out more clearly.

"But how can you be egotistical enough to say that you know the truth about things, when learned scientists are modest enough to say that the cause of the phenomena eludes their search?" we are asked.

There is no egotism about it; for it is not boasting for a man to declare that he knows that which has been, or which has been told him on the highest and best authority. Jesus said, "If ye continue in My word, . . . ye shall know the truth" (John viii. 31, 32), for God's word is truth. John xvii. 17. "The entrance of Thy word giveth light, it giveth understanding unto the simple." Ps. xxix. 130. David said: "I have more understanding than all my teachers; for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Thy precepts." Ps. xxix. 99, 100.

It is not by searching or by theorising, that men find God, or come to know the truth. Truth is a direct revelation from God, and can be grasped by a child as well as by a man. Whoever knows God indeed, knows the truth, and he who has Christ has the key of all knowledge. Then as he acquires facts throughout his life, he knows the truth about them; whereas the common method, of ignoring God's life as the active principle in all creation, and trying to deduce laws from his observation of phenomena, leaves the investigator always in the dark. What real satisfaction can anybody find in his studies, when he knows that most of the theories that are now laid down as "laws of nature" will be exploded in a few years. To be sure, there is an excitement in seeing some new thing, but it is the foolish person who pursues the ignis fatuus.

Nothing is easier than to lay the foundation for the highest scientific education, in the mind of a young child. He believes, and that is the first requisite to the attainment of knowledge. Moreover, his heart is comparatively pure, and so it is much easier for him to see God. Let him learn to read out of God's great book, the leaves of which are the myriad blades of grass, the trees, the brooks, the clouds, and the starry heavens. Teach him that the energy that is manifested in every created thing is the everlasting power and Divinity-the endless, ever-present life of God. He will believe it, and will never be so foolish as to doubt. Then everything that he sees will speak to him of the power of the priesthood of Christ, by which he is saved, and so his enthusiasm will be aroused to learn more and more of the creation which reveals the Creator.

Let the Bible be his first reading book, for nowhere can he find purer speech nor more varied literature; but always connect the printed page with the wide expanse around him. Teach him that the Bible contains all truth, so that everything must be tested by it; and let it be as natural to him as his breath, to believe implicitly, without a thought of questioning or hesitancy, every truth that he finds in it. In a word, teach him to recognise truth, wherever he sees it, and he is ready for whatever life may have in store for him.

Before a child is ten years old he may know many facts of science, and though his range will be comparatively limited, he will, if rightly instructed, know THE TRUTH about all things. All this he should learn at home from his parents; and if his parents have the "unfeigned faith" that Timothy's mother and grandmother had, they can teach him more than he could possibly learn at any school. God never designed that a child should ever have any other teachers than his parents, until his character and judgment are fully formed and he is capable of deciding upon whatever comes before him. Let the home be the school, the parents the teachers, and the Bible and all nature be the text books, and the child will know things that are hidden from the wise and prudent of earth, and his wisdom will be that which will endure throughout the ages of eternity.

There is a difference between being able to repeat Scripture from memory, and having it "by heart." One may repeat; parrotlike and know nothing but he who has it by heart has it as the spring of his life and character.

"The 'Fruit of the Vine'" The Present Truth 17, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

A recent number of the Church Family Newspaper discusses "The Communion Wine Question" at some length, only, however, with the purpose of aiding its readers to decide what sort of fermented wine to choose for the Lord's Supper. Under the sub-heading, "Unfermented Wine," it says: "This, we assert, is in no sense suitable, in that, properly speaking, it is not wine, whatever else it may be." After some foolish talk about the impossibility of keeping pure grape juice without fermentation, it adds: "Wine is the fermented juice of the grape; and we hold that the term should not, strictly speaking, be employed to designate a liquid which has not undergone the process of fermentation."

Of course this is only unsupported assertion. There are very many who know that grape juice can be kept pure and sweet indefinitely, without the addition of any substance whatever. This unfermented grape juice improves with age, just as a hardy apple is better in January than when it is picked in October, and just because it has in it no trace of fermentation and corruption. At the end of a year, if it is properly put up, it will be found as fresh and sweet as when pressed from the grapes.

Moreover, this juice, fresh as it is in the grapes, is in the Bible called wine. Thus: "The new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it." lsa. lxv. 8. Now it is certain that fermented grape juice is not found in the cluster; and so we have the Bible against the Church Family Newspaper, as proof that the unfermented juice of the grape is wine.

But all this talk pro and con as to wine is wholly irrelevant as regards the communion; for nowhere in the New Testament is there a word said about "wine" in connection with it. The word "wine" is never once used in any reference to the Lord's Supper. The terms invariably used are "the cup," and the "fruit, of the vine." The first expression of course indicates nothing, except that by it we learn that in the last supper Jesus took the cup of wine that was on the table where they were eating the Passover, and we know that during the whole of the Passover week not a particle of anything having ferment in it was to be found in any Jewish house.

The second term, however, is very explicit, and takes away all ground of controversy

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over "what kind of wine" should be used at the Lord's supper. Although the fresh, unfermented juice of the grape is really wine, the Lord would not use that word, since it is true that there is also such a thing as fermented wine, and if the word "wine" were used, there would be some room for question as to whether fermented or unfermented wine were the proper thing. But that everybody might know that only unfermented grape juice should be used, and that nobody might ever have the slightest shadow of excuse for using fermented wine, He used the term "fruit of the vine" for that which He called His blood. This term is most expressive, since He is "the true Vine." Just as there is no decay, and that is what fermentation is, in the fruit of the vine, so there is no blemish in Christ. "He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him."

Nothing can be more dishonouring to Christ, no graver charge could be brought against Him, than to say that fermented, decomposed matter either is or represents His blood. It is simply to count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing. It is the same as saying that the blood of Christ is not pure; and that is the same as saying that it cannot purify.

Our readers will see that whether we should use fermented wine or the pure, uncorrupted fruit of the vine at the Lord's supper, and so always, is not a matter of trifling importance. We shall have more to say about this hereafter.

"Temperance" The Present Truth 17, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

At a recent meeting held in Hampstead Town Hall, to demand additional temperance legislation, the Archbishop of Canterbury stated that when the Temperance Hospital was established "a leading medical journal threatened the doctors who took part, with prosecution at the Old Bailey, if anyone died, as it would be plain proof of murder by depriving them of alcohol." The people laughed heartily at this, as an example of almost medi?val bigotry; but we are not yet far enough removed from such prejudices to be able to laugh. It may be allowable to treat a man without alcohol; but people are still liable to prosecution for manslaughter if they allow a person to die without first having allowed a doctor to give him arsenic, opium, strychnia, or some other poison.

"The Editor's Private Corner. What Is the Church?" The Present Truth 17, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

"I cannot understand the references often made to the church. Matt. xviii. 20, 'For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them,' to my mind implies a gatherer. How can a company of people called Baptists, or Wesleyans, or Catholics, gathered to the names of men, be the church of God. My way of looking at this is that every believer is in the church of Christ, which to His body, but not in the church of God. I am much, perplexed about this thing, and if you would spare space in PRESENT TRUTH to make it plain, I should be thankful."

You are in the main correct in your view of the matter, but you certainly are somewhat confused. I think a very few words will make it plain to you. The word rendered "church" is a compound Greek word, meaning "called out." It corresponds exactly to the word "congregation," which occurs so frequently in the Old Testament. Thus, Heb. ii. 12, "In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee," is from Ps. xxii. 22, "In the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee."

The word "congregation" is from two Latin words meaning a flock collected together. The root of the word means flock. This is what the people of God are-a flock gathered out by Christ, "that great Shepherd of the sheep." Heb. xiii. 20. "The church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood," is "the flock." Acts xx. 28. Really, the word "church" ought never to be used with reference to people. It means a building in which people worship, while the people themselves are the congregation. The word "congregation" is in common use, to indicate a collection of people; but since all whom the Lord calls out of the world are gathered to Him, it applies to all His people, however widely scattered they may be in the earth, since all are one in Him. The congregation of the Lord, or church, as it is in ordinary speech, is all who in every place worship the Lord in sincerity.

The term is appropriately applied to any company assembled together in one place, or to any body of people gathered about any name; only it is evident that if they are gathered to any earthly name they do not constitute the church of Christ. In this country the term "the church" commonly designates the church of England, since it is the one established by law; but all such uses are purely matters of custom and convenience. Strictly speaking, there is but one church-the congregation-just as there is but "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all." Eph. iv. 4-6. The church, or congregation, is the body of Christ, of which there is but one, and "by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." 1 Cor, xii. 13.

But you certainty have no warrant for thinking that the church of Christ is not the church of God. Christ said, "I and My Father are one." John x. 30. He is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the impress of His substance. Heb. i. 3. "The kingdom of Christ and of God" (Eph. v. 7) is one and the same thing. The Father and the Son have no separate interests, and Christ does all His work for the glory of the Father. He "suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." 1 Peter iii. 18.

Let us not, however, in our discussion of technical terms, forget the practical, comforting, edifying part of this truth. It is this, that we are actually the body of Christ. This is true of the entire congregation of believers, solely because it is true of each individual member of the church. "We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." Eph. v. 30. "The head of every man is Christ" (1 Cor. xi. 3), and therefore "He is the head of the body," the congregation. Col. i. 18. Our bodies, yours and mine respectively, are the bodies of Christ-temples of the Holy Ghost, for God to dwell in,-bodies prepared by God for Christ to use in revealing God in the flesh. If we hear His voice, we are His, and then we may be sure that He will make us wholly like Himself. When He comes the second time He will "fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself" (Phil. iii. 21); and this will be but the culmination of His "power over all flesh," by which He now compels even sinful flesh to obey the mind of the Spirit.

"Wonders of Frost" The Present Truth 17, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

Nowhere is the absolute wisdom and immeasurable greatness of God in the least of His works more strikingly revealed than in the pure perfection of the snow and ice crystals. "Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven who hath given it birth?" was one of the questions which the Lord asked Job out of the whirlwind. And the answer is given: "By the breath of the Lord frost is given." Moulded by the Divine breath, upon the perfect form of every crystal is stamped the message, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

"The Children. The Pillar of Cloud and Fire" The Present Truth 17, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

A little while ago we were talking about God's glory that appeared to Moses in the bush, and how we may see that glory everywhere, for the whole earth is full of it. The same glory appeared in the cloud by which God led the children of Israel when Pharaoh sent them away after the tenth plague, for

"In the daytime also He led them with a cloud,
And all the night with a light of fire."

At this time the Israelites did not know much about the Lord. We can tell by what they said to Aaron a little while after, "Make us gods to go before us," that they expected so be led by something that they could see.

The false gods, of which the land of Egypt was full, could be seen and handled, and the people had not yet learned to see the true God, like Moses, who we are told "endured as seeing Him who is invisible."

You know that "invisible" means unseen, and perhaps you are wondering how it is possible to see the unseen. Yet the Word of God tells us that "the invisible things of Him, since the creation of the world are clearly seen." And then we are told how this can be; they are "understood by the things that are made." "His eternal power and godhead" are the "invisible things" that can be "clearly seen" in His works.

God wanted first of all to teach His people to know Him, so that they might trust Him fully, and follow wherever He led them. How do you learn to know a person? Is it not by seeing what he does? By watching a person's actions, you learn to know him. And so God shows us His works, that we may learn His ways. "He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the Children of Israel."

When they started out from Egypt, the Israelites had not learned to see God in His works, so He did special works in their midst, to teach them and to open their eyes, so that they might be able to see Him doing the same works everywhere. And the first thing that He showed them was His power and glory in the cloud.

Have you thought that the pillar of cloud and fire was only to lead the Israelites, and show them the right way to go? It was much more than that; it was to open their eyes to see that "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork." It was God drawing near to show them "the power of His works," to teach them to lift up their eyes on high, "and behold who hath created these things."

This would have saved them from the sin of worshipping other gods, or of making images to represent the true God. For those who see the power of God in His works, and His glory reflected as in a mirror or looking-glass from all the things that he has made, will never be so foolish as to try to make an image of Him.

All their lives long, in the clouds that floated over their heads in Egypt, just as in those which we see in the sky to-day, His "eternal power and godhead" were to be seen. Did they ever think-do you ever think-of the mighty power that drew up those immense masses of water from the earth, balanced them in the sky, and "turned them round about by His guidance," pouring them out in showers to water the thirsty earth and give drink to all His creatures?

But this did not make them know God; for at that time they were "defiled with the idols of Egypt." God had told them to cast all these away, and He who "strecheth the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in," now "spread a cloud for a covering" over His people. He brought His works nearer to them, that they might learn what He was doing for them always.

In the hot, dry, sandy desert, the cool shade and moisture of the overshadowing cloud must have been most refreshing to the weary travellers during the heat of the day. And at night, when the sun had set, and the air grew chilly, "the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud," and lightened their darkness, warmed and cheered them and protected them from the dangers which were around them on every hand.

Would you not like to see such a grand and glorious sight-the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud? Then lift up your eyes on high when the setting sun paints the clouds with every lovely shade of rose and amber, and gilds them with glory. or again when the drops of water that form the mist break up the suns rays into the seven-hued rainbow,-God's bow which He has set in the cloud.

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Here you may see the same glory that the children of Israel saw, for remember that "the heavens declare the glory of God," because He has set His glory upon them, that in reflecting it they may give light and warmth and beauty and fruitfulness to this world.

God was in the cloud that led the Children of Israel, and so His glory shone forth from it. But "He maketh the clouds His chariots," and His glory appears in every one of them.

So just as His appearing in the bush showed that He was dwelling there and in every plant that grows on earth, His coming to the Israelites and showing them His glory in the cloud showed that He is dwelling also in the heavens, and it is His glory which shines forth from them.

It was Jesus Christ who led the people in the pillar of fire and cloud, and all that it did for them was to show what He is, and what He is doing for all. It showed them the way. Jesus says, "I am the Way." It gave them light by night, and shade by day Jesus is "the Light of the world," and "the Lord God is a sun and shield." He is "a shadow from the heat."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

-Twenty-seven white men, twenty-nine Chinese, and nine Japanese were entombed and lost in one of the Union Colliery mines in British Columbia.

-The price paid by the Belgian Syndicate to the American concessionaires for the surrender of the rights to build the Hankow-Canton Railway is ?7,000,000.

-The plague has developed further in Capetown, and all passengers about to leave South African ports are to be rigorously examined before being allowed to sail.

-Intense cold has prevailed over Europe during the past fortnight. Snow has fallen over the whole of Italy, and there have been several deaths from cold, both in Italy and France.

-The Glasgow Sanitary authorities are vaccinating people by wholesale, in view of the small-pox outbreak. Two hundred and forty thousand operations have already taken place.

-The United States steamer, City of Rio de Janeiro, from Hong Kong, struck on a rock during a fog in entering the Golden Gate, San Francisco, Feb. 22. The wreck was attended with serious loss of life, estimated at one hundred and fifty.

-The suspicion that Kaffirs are concealing cases of plague is confirmed by the discovery of the death of a Kaffir of plague, at Capetown, and of another twenty miles distant. The fear is that as Kaffirs withstand plague better than Hindus, they may carry it over the country, and that the disease may become endemic.

-On account of a satisfactory offer made by a rich Danish East-Asian Steamship Company, the Danish Government has broken off all dealings with the United States for the sale of the Danish West Indian Islands. The Steamship Company offer to assist and in the future to administer the islands, which will thus be kept under the Danish Crown.

-It is stated that of the 1,160,000 persons born in this country in a year, one-fourth die before their fifth birthday, one-half reach the age of fifty, and barely a quarter live the natural span of threescore and ten.

-Dr. Carter, of Liverpool, points out that while there has been a fall in the mortality from diseases, deaths from intemperance have risen from 45 per 1,000,000 of those living in the year 1878, to 77 per 1,000,000 in 1897.

-An indication of the growth of Russian influence in Eastern affairs, is seen in the fact that a Russian tutor has been engaged for the Persian Crown Prince. Young persons of high birth are sent to Russia to study.

-Mr. Tesla has authorised a statement that the plans for the machinery to transmit wireless telegraphy across the Atlantic Ocean have been completed, and a site has been selected for the plant. The work of installation is to be begun at once.

-The Paris Matin states that the French Government has virtually decided on reducing the conscription period from three to two years, but that the preliminary measures necessary to its introduction may demand two or three years in preparation.

-Mrs. Nation, who led the women's raid on liquor saloons, has been sent to prison, failing the payment of the heavy peace bond which the court imposed. The court at the same time announced that it was time that such anarchy inspired by a crazy woman should cease.

-A Census just taken for the first time in twenty years, shows the population of Italy to be 35,000,000, whereas the highest previous estimate had been no more than 31,000,000. No other European country has increased in the same ratio. The density of the population is 125 per square kilometer.

-The Uganda natives have paid their taxes for the current year, amounting approximately to ?60,000. This includes payments in kind, consisting of five elephants, one zebra, twenty chimpanzees, several wart-hogs, hogs, water antelopes, porcupines, snakes, and cranes, and numerous monkeys. All these creatures have been received at the Government headquarters at Port Alice.

-The most recent triumph of the French postal administration is an ingenious little machine which not only automatically weighs letters and samples, but records on an indicator at the side the amount required for stamps. When the article deposited on the balance exceeds the regulation weight, the indicator promptly hoists the sign "Too heavy." It is said to give complete satisfaction.

-Those who think that the failure thus far to stop De Wet's guerilla operations is an evidence of bad generalship, may learn from the following item how much easier it is to hide than to find: The Italian Government has during the past two years spent ?100,000 in the maintenance of two regiments of soldiers and a body of police, engaged in the search for the celebrated brigand Musolino, on the Calabrian Mountains. The brigand is still at liberty, and it is proposed next year to begin the search on a bigger scale.

-At a conference in Ottawa, Canada, on the prevention of tuberculosis, which was attended by the leading physicians of the Dominion, the following resolution was adopted: "That, in the opinion of this conference, which represents the governments and people of every part of Canada, it is the duty of every government, municipality, and individual citizen, to adopt organised methods for lessening the spread of tuberculosis, which is causing, directly or indirectly, probably one-fifth of the total deaths in the Dominion."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

It must not be forgotten that failure to recognise truth is in reality the same as believing a lie; for he who does not know truth when he sees it, has no safeguard against believing lies; and whoever temporises with truth, when he does see it, is making a bid for a lie.

The misguided women who took it in hand to put a summary end to liquor selling in Kansas (U.S.A.), by destroying the saloons, seemed to think that the fact that the sale of liquor is illegal was sufficient justification of their violent methods. But one crime never justifies another, any more than one person has a right to sin, because somebody else sins. This is a principle that is all too commonly not understood. "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil."

We sometimes hear it said of a person, that "he doesn't know enough to go under shelter when it rains." This is about the strongest language one can use to express the extreme limit of idiocy. What language, then, should be used to express the utter ignorance of the man, however learned he may be in this world's wisdom, who does not know enough to find "a refuge from the storm" "when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall," and the overflowing scourge passes through,-the man, in short, who is not wise unto salvation.

The Saviour tells us that "as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." In the days of Noah, before the Flood, "the earth was filled with violence." Gen. vi. 11. Therefore we know that the earth will be filled with violence when Christ comes. It has always been the case that confessedly "lawless" people have used violence; but it is only a comparatively recent thing that violence has been resorted to by those who make their boast in the law. Now "lynch law," that is, the summary execution of people without a legal trial, is very common in some parts of the world. Murderers are taken from gaol and hanged, ravishers are burned at the stake, the property of those who sell liquor contrary to law is wantonly destroyed by people who without authority "take the law into their own hands." The indications are that before long nobody's life or property will be safe if he be, or be thought to be, guilty of any infraction of the law. When even the "upholders of law" proceed to violence, when will there be any peace? These things show that "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."

The presence of a Jew in the Homerton Workhouse has been the cause of trouble to the Guardians, chiefly because of their fear of imaginary trouble. The man was reported as refusing to work on the Sabbath, and one of the Guardians, a clergyman, declared that the man's religious scruples ought to be respected; but another member objected, saying that if that were done, all the inmates of the Workhouse would turn Jews. It was decided to ask the Jewish Board of Guardians for advice, and the result has not been reported. We shall wait with interest to see if the city will attempt to force one man to violate his conscience and the command of God, lest some others without consciences or the fear of God should act the hypocrite.

"Knowing Facts, and Knowing Truth" The Present Truth 17, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

It is evident that nobody knows or ever can know all that there is to know. God alone knows everything, for all things are in Him. But God is infinite, and His universe is boundless, so that an endless eternity will be filled with continual new discoveries by those who have a place in the world to come.

This being the case, it is clear that all the facts that one can learn in the longest life on this earth are but as nothing, compared with all that there is to learn. They who know the most, are most conscious of the meagreness of their attainments. Sir Isaac Newton, after a life spent in scientific research, said that he was like a child playing on the seashore, while the vast ocean was unexplored.

From these statements of truth it is easy to see that whatever "laws" scientists deduce from a consideration and comparison of phenomena already observed, must necessarily be faulty. This is why it is that new discoveries necessitate readjustment and restatement of "scientific" theories. And from the confessions of scientists themselves, it is plain that if the "laws of nature" are to be deduced from the knowledge of things, then it is absolutely impossible to have any final statement of those "laws" until everything in the universe has been discovered, and everything about it learned and noted. And this means simply that by the regularly-accepted scientific methods of investigation, it is absolutely impossible ever absolutely to know the truth.

The followers of Christ, however, are not left to any such unsatisfactory and discouraging outlook. To them He says: "Ye shall know the truth" (John vii. 31, 32), for He is the truth. John xiv. 6. "In Him all things consist" (Col. i. 17), so that whoever knows Him indeed knows the truth about everything as soon as he sees it. It is plain, therefore, that true education does not consist in the accumulation of a great mass of facts, but in the ability to recognise truth. Truth is "that which is," so that he who does not know the truth, does not know anything.

"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." 1 John ii. 20. That is, those who have the Spirit of truth know truth when they see it, and they do not mistake error for truth. "I have been taught so and so," one often says, when something is presented contrary to his preconceived opinions. Such an expression is a disgrace to any intelligent person. No person is to allow any human teacher to be mind and conscience, or pope, for him. It is no part of the business of a teacher to tell people what to believe, and expect them to accept unquestioningly. He should, indeed, expect them to accept whatever he puts before them, but only because its inherent truth commands acceptance.

When people have this principle of truth dwelling in them, so that they instinctively know the truth, great names have no weight with them. A truth stated by a child is to them just as valuable as one backed up by all the clergy of the land. Only one name can give weight to any statement, and that is the "name that is above every name."

March 7, 1901

"Jesus and Pilate" The Present Truth 17, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

(Luke xxiii. 13-26.)⁸1

In the days of our spiritual childhood we were wont to read of the trial of Christ before Pilate with feelings of intense pity for the Sufferer, and often with the pity there was mingled indignation over the way in which justice was trampled under foot; but as our senses become more trained to discern the truth, we see something other than merely a man, albeit the Divine Man, on trial before a judge in the hands of a mob.

We learn that Jesus does not ask for nor desire our pity. It was in His love and in His pity for us, that He endured the cross, despising the shame. Read all the records in the New Testament and you cannot fail to be struck with their simplicity. There is no story-telling there; no effort to stir up the feelings or excite the sympathy of the reader, but only the plainest, most unvarnished statement of facts. There is no comment about the outrageous treatment of the Prisoner, nor the travesty upon justice. One might suppose that the narrators had no personal interest whatever in the affair. And so indeed it is, in one sense; for while the evangelists related that of which they were eye-witnesses, the Spirit of God is the real Narrator, and He, the representative of Christ, would not have our minds so wrought up to personal sympathy with the Sufferer that we fail to see the lessons that the great trial teaches, It is a living picture of the history of the world as it stands related to God and the Truth.

The reference at the beginning of this article, which indicates the Scripture set for the study of the Sunday schools, by no means presents to our view all that is expressed in the title of the lesson. The real student, therefore, will read the first verses of the twenty-third chapter of Luke, together with Matthew xxvii. 11-26; Mark. xv. 1-15; and John xviii. 29-40; xix. 1-16. The few glances that we take at this marvellous picture will be through the windows opened by any of the writers of the sacred narrative. We shall study the subject of the lesson, rather than merely the one portion of Scripture referred to by the lesson Committee.

Christ before Pilate is the truth before the world. Those who think that truth will ever be popular in this world, so that it will be an easy matter to be a Christian indeed, may be disillusioned by looking at Christ's treatment at the hands of the Jews and Romans. "If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for My name's sake, because they know not Him that sent Me." John xv. 20, 21. "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own, but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."

Pilate did not try Jesus. Both Pilate and Jesus were on trial before the world. It was Pilate's opportunity to accept the truth, and the record of it is a picture of what every soul mast pass through in relation to Christ. It shows the danger of hesitating and parleying over what one is convinced is truth. It did not take Pilate long to discover that there was no charge against Jesus, and that "the chief priests had delivered Him for envy." He

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himself declared, "I find no fault in this Man." When he asked the priests, who demanded the death of Jesus, "What evil hath He done?" they merely shouted to "Crucify Him!" All they asked of Pilate was the sentence of death, which they were not permitted to pronounce.

It is plain, therefore, that Pilate's only proper course was to release Jesus; but he did not dare do it. Why not? Because if he did, he would surely lose his position. Now it matters not that his position was that of Governor: it was no more to him than that of porter is to a man who is capable of doing only a porter's work. Neither does Pilate's guilt depend on the fact that it was Jesus of Nazareth, whom he delivered up to be crucified, in order to keep his place. Christ is the truth, and wherever truth is rejected, no matter in what phase, there Christ Himself is rejected. So whenever anybody has the question before him to decide, whether he will accept some truth, at the expense of his worldly reputation or position, or whether he will reject it, in order to retain his place, he is in the same situation that Pilate was; and whenever truth is sacrificed, then Christ is crucified. To every soul the question comes, to be personally settled, What shall I do with Jesus, that is called the Christ?

The moment Pilate began to temporise with the mob of priests, he was wholly in their power. He said to them: "I, having examined Him before you, have found no fault in this man as touching those things whereof ye accuse Him; no; nor yet Herod; for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto Him. I will therefore chastise Him, and release Him." If Jesus were guilty, then Pilate had no right to release Him; but he declared that there was no fault in Him; and therefore he condemned himself when he said that he would have Him scourged. He thought that by making some concessions to prejudice and passion, he could disarm it; but therein he showed his ignorance of human nature, and that he was no real ruler; for everybody ought to know that the only hope of suppressing passion lies in giving it no place whatever. it must not be allowed a hearing.

There is not a soul who does not often find himself in the place of Pilate. Selfishness, pride, prejudice, passion, self-interest, all pull in one direction, and truth and duty are wholly opposed to them. Whoever thinks that he can compromise,-that he can gratify his evil propensities to a little extent, and thus win their consent for him to do what he knows to be right, makes a fatal mistake. Sin and error know no more compromise, in reality, than does righteousness. "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other." The only safe way is to say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts.

"Pilate, therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them. But they cried, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him. And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath He done? I have found no cause of dealt in Him; I will therefore chastise Him, and let Him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that He might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed."

Here we have "the voice of the people," and we see that instead of its being the voice of God, it was opposed to God. So it has always been, and so it will always be in the present evil world. A "government of the people by the people and for the people" is the last crowning piece of Satan's rebellion against God. With the condemnation of Jesus Christ in mind, no one ought to give one moment's thought to "what the people will say," or what "the people" think.

"KING OF THE JEWS"

It is worth while, in passing, to note that Jesus declared to Pilate that He was the King of the Jews. He, never claimed to be anything else. Whoever, therefore, accepts Him as King, must, acknowledge Him as King of the Jews. It was as such that the wise men from the East worshipped Him at His birth. "Salvation is of the Jews." John iv. 22. This teaches us, therefore, that the law given to the Jews-not the Jewish law, but God's law given to the Jews-is the law of Christ's kingdom. This is further evident from the fact that that law was ordained "in the hand of a Mediator," even Christ, who is the Mediator between God and all mankind. So the law for all mankind is the law given to the Jews at Sinai. All "the nations of them that are saved," who will "bring their glory and honour" into the New Jerusalem, will have to enter the city by a gate having on it the name of some one of the twelve tribes of Israel. See Rev. xxi. 12, 24.

"THE MAN"

When Jesus had been scourged, so that His back was sore from the strokes, and He had been subjected to shame and indignity, He was led forth to the people with a crown at thorns on His head, and Pilate said, "Behold the Man!" A most pitiable spectacle He was indeed. Truly then He had no beauty that anybody should desire Him; but He was nevertheless "the Man," the one Man in all that assembly; yea, the one Man in the world. God is "bringing many sons unto glory," and "now are we the sons of God;" yet He has but one Son-Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. Where then do we come in?-"In Him." In Him all become "one new man." Eph. ii. 15. Pilate did not realise the depth of meaning there was in His words. There is but one Mediator, and He is "the Man Christ Jesus." Only as in Him we come to "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," do we attain to "a perfect man." Eph. iv. 13. He is the Representative Man, because He is the one perfect Man-the one who shows just what every son of Adam ought to be. Just to the extent that anybody is below the standard of Christ, is he less than a man. We have all fallen even below the level of brutes, but in Christ lost manhood is restored; for in His stripes is the healing of all disease of body, soul, and spirit.

"Striving for the Chief Place" The Present Truth 17, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

The following from the Daily Chronicle of Feb. 14 states the case so clearly and concisely that we give it entire:-

News received by the last Australian mail attack that the Moderator of the Presbyterian Assembly of Victoria has written to the Melbourne Age explaining why the Moderators of the Presbyterian Churches of the various States stood out of the Commonwealth procession. On reaching Sydney, he says, they found that a prominent position tied been assigned to the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches, while the others were grouped far away at the other end of the procession. This was, they considered, a gross violation of religious equality after much difficulty, they found that the responsibility for the order rested with Downing street, and that the order was intended to have permanent authority in the Commonwealth. Had, the Victorian Moderator continued the responsibility rested with the New South Wales Government, the Moderators would have taken their places in the procession, and trusted to the Commonwealth authorities to bring their future action in the matter into harmony with the principle of religious equality. When, however, it was found

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that Downing-street was responsible, the Moderators determined to make their protest emphatic by handing out of the proceedings.

After the publication of the foregoing letter, a special meeting was held of representatives of the Presbyterian Church of New South Wales, and the following resolution was passed:-"As the principle of religious equality to recognised by each of the States of Australia and by the Commonwealth, the Presbyterians of New South Wales demand that the representatives of the various Churches should, on all State occasions, rank together, and according to the numerical strength of their respective Churches."

When Christ was on earth He gave some good advice to those whom He saw anxious for the chief places at feasts and public gatherings. It has been left on record, and will be found in Luke xiv. 7-11. There were two of His disciples who made request for positions of honour in His kingdom, and He rebuked them, telling them that the way to honour is to be servant of all; what then would He say to disciples who seek for places of honour in State affairs? It seems evident that the Presbyterians of New South Wales have a great deal to learn about real religious liberty-the liberty of Christ, which elevates the possessor "far above all principality and power and might and dominion." He who is sitting in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, will not be irritated because he has not been given a prominent standing place on this earth. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God."

"Arsenic in Beer" The Present Truth 17, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

At a meeting of the Society of Arts, held a short time ago, a learned savant undertook to allay the scare that has been caused by the discovery of arsenic in beer; and he proceeded to do it by remarking that "arsenic must almost be regarded as having been a natural constituent of beer, from the method of drying malt, which had been carried on throughout the last century." It was as much as to say, "Don't be alarmed; you have always been taking more or less arsenic." Fortunately it is not necessary for anybody to take poison of any kind, in any quantities whatever, as the Creator has abundantly provided food and drink that is most delicious and at the same time wholesome and life-giving.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Nature of Man" The Present Truth 17, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

"I have heard a prayer by a minister, in reference to the death of our late Queen Victoria, in which he said that she is now reigning with Christ in heaven, in the highest sense of the term. I believe there is perfect harmony in Scripture, and although I have asked from a number of fellow-disciples an explanation of Luke xxiii. 43; Phil. i. 21-23; 2 Cor. v. 6-8, in the light that the dead are in a state of unconscious sleep, I have not as yet had it explained clearly. Can you help to remove the darkness? I shall be obliged if you can give an explanation of these passages."

Christ is the Light of the world, and it is "the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ," who is the image of God, which, shining in us, removes all darkness. It is not by any dogmatic statements as to the meaning of certain isolated texts that we have come to the knowledge of the truth, even as set forth in those texts, but by the revelation of Jesus Himself. This is pre-eminently true as regards the subject before us, which is one of life and death, since the light which He gives is "the light of life." John viii. 12. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." John i. 4. Therefore if you will kindly consent to defer the direct consideration of the texts referred to, until we have first had a little talk about the Gospel of life, I think you will be able to see the light in them yourself, when we come to them, without very much explanation.

THE ONE OBJECT OF CHRIST'S COMING

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. i. 15. This truth is worthy of "all acceptation;" that is, it is worthy of acceptation by all people, and not only so, but it is worthy of acceptation to the exclusion of everything else. Nothing else is worthy of acceptance; everything that is of any value is included in this. All men ought, with the Apostle Paul, to be content to know nothing "save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." 1 Cor. ii. 2. The sole desire of each soul should be, "that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death." Phil. iii. 10. "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple." Ps. xxvii. 4.

Jesus said that the work of the Comforter is to convince the world of sin and of righteousness. John xvi. 8. Sin is in the world. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. v. 12. Sin is a horrible thing in the world, and its presence means death and desolation. It separates man from God (Isa. lix. 2), and heaven, and turns the earth into a hell. The one grand problem of the ages is how to get rid of sin, and nothing else is worth the attention of any mortal.

SAVED BY HIS LIFE

"Sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James i. 15. Death came into the world by sin, because it is in sin. "The sting of death is sin." 1 Cor. xv. 56. This must not be forgotten, that sin and death are inseparable. Christ came into the world to save sinners, and He does it by giving life. "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Rom. v. 10. So although the sole thing for which Christ came into the world was to save sinners, it is likewise true that He came for no other purpose than to give life. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." John xiv. 6. "I am the Bread of life." "I am the living Bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." John vi. 48, 51. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John x. 10.

"Ye know that He was manifested to take away our sin; and in Him is no sin." 1 John iii. 5. He takes away our sin by imparting to us continually His own sinless life. "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John i. 7. The blood is life, "and without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb. ix. 22.

GRACE ANTEDATES SIN

When the earth was new, when "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good," the Garden of Eden was the chief feature of the earth, and the central thing in the Garden was the tree of life. Gen. i. 31; ii. 8, 9. So long as Adam remained obedient to the commandments of God, he had perfect life; but of the forbidden tree God said to him, "In the day that thou eatest there of, thou shalt surely die." Gen. ii. 17. Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and instantly the sentence of death was in them. But for the grace of God in Christ, which antedated the creation of the world, they would have died instantly, never to see life again; that would have put a summary and eternal end to their existence; but while their fall was a total fall, they fell into "the everlasting arms," and life was continued to them in order that they might have another trial of it, to see if they would choose it.

SINFUL MEANS MORTAL

If it now be asked, "What is the nature of man?" The reply must be, "He is sinful by nature." Since the fall of Adam all have been "born under the law." "From within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evil things come from within, and defile the man." Mark vii. 21-23. In the flesh "dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. vii. 18), therefore "the flesh" is but a synonym for corruption. So because man is sinful by nature, he is by nature mortal.

THE INCORRUPTIBLE LIFE

In Christ is no sin, and therefore in Him is life. He can lay down His life, and take it again. He swallows up death in

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His own life, just as He could take all the sins of the world upon Himself, and yet never have the least trace of sin upon Him. His life is the light of men, and lights every man that cometh into the world. John i. 4, 9. The grace of God that brings salvation to all men has appeared in the life of Christ, so that whoever will accept the Son of God has the eternal life. Although "judgment passed upon all men to condemnation," "the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Rom. v. 18. "In Him we live and move, and have our being;" His life in us bears the curse that has come on us, and that is why we still have an existence although sin, and death as a consequence, is in us. The life of Jesus is to a degree manifested in the mortal flesh even of those who do not acknowledge Him.

NO LIFE APART FROM CHRIST

"This is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 John v. 11, 12. "What is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James iv. 14. The millions who go about their daily business, seemingly full of life, have no life in reality; the life of the Lord is lent them for a little season, to see if they appreciate it enough to lay hold on it; but if God should gather unto Himself His Spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would turn again unto dust. Job xxxiv. 14. There are many who do not know the Lord, having never yet heard of Him; others have heard of Him, but have not yet seen the life that is manifested; many revile Him, and say that they want nothing from Him, yet He knows that they do not know what they are talking about, and waits the time when they will understand and know Him; and there are doubtless even now many who have definitely and finally rejected the Lord as their Master, yet even these are suffered to live, as monuments of the forbearance and longsuffering of the Lord. But the time will come when every person will have definitely and understandably decided either for or against the Lord, and then only those who have become one with Him will live; all others will be as though they had not been.

THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE

Let us put the case in another way, and then the truth of this statement will be more apparent. Remember always that the great plague to be got rid of is sin, and that sin and death are one and inseparable, so that "the soul that sinneth it shall die" (Eze. xviii. 4), or, which is the same thing, the life that sinneth, it shall cease to be. There is no way possible for sin to be exterminated except by death. This is set forth in the words already quoted: "Without shedding of blood is no remission."

Now let the fact once and for ever fixed in your mind, that with God is "the fountain of life." Ps. xxxvi. 9. He is the life. His name is I AM. He is "the living God," the self-existent One, and this is that which distinguishes Him from all false gods. Jer. x. 6-12. The possession of life is a characteristic of the Godhead. The King of kings and Lord of lords is a one "who only have immortality." 1 Tim. vi. 15, 16. He not only possesses life, but He is life. If there were in the universe any other being possessing life in himself, and not either directly or indirectly deriving it from God, then that other being would likewise be God, and not subject to God. There would be two Gods, and there would inevitably be a question between them as to the extent of their respective dominions, and which of them should be supreme. Such a state of things is an impossibility; but there is a being-Satan-who has claimed to be God, and who disputes God's right to rule, and denies that God has any authority over him.

LIFE THE ATTRIBUTE OF GOD ONLY

I repeat, then, that life is the attribute of God, and whoever claims to have life in himself, claims to be a god. "The Spirit is life because of righteousness" (Rom. viii. 10), so that for one to claim to have life in himself is the same as the claim to have no sin, or to be able to free himself from sin. But no one has nor can have righteousness from himself, since no one has life of himself.

Every creature and every created thing springs from and depends upon God. Lucifer, now Satan, who originated sin, as well as men who have followed Satan in the sin, depend upon God for the life with which the sin is committed. The man who blasphemes God and denies His existence, does so with the breath of life which God breathes into his nostrils. God says, "Thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities." Isa. xliii. 24. It was God's life that was perverted by Lucifer from its rightful use, and employed for sin and rebellion; and there has never been a single sin committed, except with the life of God.

It is for this reason that God, in His infinite mercy and goodness "was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses on to them." 2 Cor. v. 19. Inasmuch as sin was committed with God's life, although through no fault of God's, He assumed the responsibility for it, and gave up His life in order to be freed from it, to demonstrate the fact that He has no complicity with it, and to save all who will consent to die with Him.

God can save those who die with Him, for He alone can die and yet live. He lays down His life solely to take it again, so that all who die with Him are sure to live with Him. The cross means the resurrection, so that "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." But since God has given up His life, because of sin, it follows that whoever refuses to acknowledge absolute dependence on God for life and righteousness, cuts himself off from the resurrection life, and so perishes. "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

From all these things it is evident

(1) That life comes only from God, and since righteousness comes from Him alone.

(2) That sin must eventually cease to be, since God has laid down His life. To claim immortality for the sinner, is to claim that God is defeated in His fight against sin. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." 1 John iii. 8. To say that sin and sinners will continue to exist throughout eternity anywhere in God's universe, is to deny the efficacy of the atonement; it is to say that God failed in that which He undertook. Outside of and away from God there is absolutely no life.

Next week we shall continue the consideration of the subject, coming direct to some of the texts which trouble our friend.

"Our Little Ones. The Right Way" The Present Truth 17, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

We left the Children of Israel journeying from the land of Egypt, following the pillar of cloud and fire. In this cloudy pillar, Jesus Christ was leading them in the way that they should go. God knew what was the best way for them, and

"He led them forth by the right way,
That they might go to a city of habitation."

The shortest way was through the land of the Philistines, but God would not lead them that way, because He knew that if the Philistines should fight against them they would be afraid, and wish that they had never left the land of Egypt. So He led them by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea.

Pharoah and the Egyptians were soon sorry that they had let the Israelites go. They thought they had been very foolish to send away the slaves that had done so much work for them for nothing. So they determined to follow after them, and bring back the runaways. Pharaoh prepared a great army, and took with him all the chariots of Egypt, and all the chief mighty men in the kingdom, and pursued after the Israelites.

The Israelites were encamped by the Red Sea when they saw the great host of the Egyptians coming after them. They looked all round about them, but could see no way of escape. Before them, there was the deep sea; behind them the advancing host of Egypt; at the side, the mountains shut them in. In their terror they forgot who was leading them, and they were very angry with Moses for bringing them that way. They thought they had surely come the wrong way, and there was nothing but death before them.

Ah! but there was one place that they forgot to look, the one that they should have looked at first and all the time. If they had only turned their eyes in the right direction, they would have seen the way of escape. It was Jesus; He who said, "I am the Way," was with them, and if they had remembered this, they could not have come to any place where they could say, "There is no way."

Jesus is "a new and living way," so where there is no way at all, He can make a new way. What need they have feared with such a guide? one who could create a new way of life for them, when there was nothing but death before them.

Then, dear children, what is the one thing that we need in going through the wilderness of this world? We do not know the way; we do not know what lies before us, and it is not necessary that we should. But oh, there is one thing that we must have if we are to walk safely, and that is, Jesus. Without Him there is indeed no way but the way of death, for He only is the way of life. He is "the Truth," and so He is "the right why." He is "the Life," and so He is "a living way" and a living way is always "a new way."

So if the Children of Israel had only looked to Jesus, the sign of whose presence was with them in the cloudy pillar, they would not have been at all afraid of the Egyptians. And we need never fear, no matter what our difficulties may be, for Jesus says, "Lo, I am with you alway." He will show us always the best thing to do; He will show us the right way to do all the little duties of our everyday life, if we ask Him, and trust in Him. And in the trials and troubles that may come to us, even when we can see no way out of them, so long as Jesus is with us we may be quite sure that there is a way, and that He will lead us safely in it.

When we know this, we can do just as Moses told the Children of Israel to do. When he saw their fear, and heard their murmurings, he said, "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." So long as we see the way that He wants us to go in, we can walk safely in it without fear; and when we can see no way, we can "stand still," and wait for Him to open it.

The Lord had a special reason for leading His people just the way that He did. He wanted to show them such a wonderful work in delivering them, that they would never doubt Him again, and at the same time to destroy all their enemies, so that they would never be any more trouble to them. When we get into ahard place, we should not think that the Lord has forsaken us, or that He is not leading us any more, but we may be sure that He has some special blessing for us in leading us that way.

The Lord said to Moses, "Wherefore criest thou unto Me? Speak unto the Children of Israel that they go forward!" They were in the way that the Lord was leading them, and so they were not to stop to look at the difficulties, but to go right on, and they would find every hindrance taken away. And as they obeyed the Word of the Lord, the waters divided and they went through the midst of the sea on dry land.

In our picture you see Moses standing with the rod of God in his hand, the rod that was in his hand when God talked with him at the bush, that had been turned into a serpent, and by which he had done

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wonders in Egypt. God said to Moses, "Lift up thou thy rod over the, waters, and the waters shall divide." It was God, and not Moses, who divided the waters, yet God honoured Moses by working through him. When Moses raised the rod, God divided the waters. So the people were shown that Moses was chosen of God to lead them.

When the Egyptians saw the Israelites by the sea, they thought they had captured them, for they could rut possibly escape. When they saw them going down into the midst of the waters divided by the power of God to make a path for them, this was their last opportunity to see that God was with the Israelites, and to stop fighting against Him. But they had so long shut their eyes to the light God sent them, and their hearts had become so hardened, that they could not even in this see the working of God. So they rushed madly to their doom, down into the midst of the sea, that they might capture Israel whom God had told them to let go.

When His own people were all safe on the shore, there was no more need for the waters to be divided, and Moses raised his rod again over them. Then the waters swept together again, swallowing up all the Egyptians in their depths, so that not one was left to carry the dreadful tidings back to the land of Egypt.

When the Israelites saw what God had done for them, they "feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses."

Next week we will talk together again about the wonderful work that God did in dividing the waters.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

-A third supplementary Army Estimate of ?9,000,500 has been made, bringing the total for the financial year up to ?91,909,900.

-The English residents and visitors at Mentone are sending a gift of 90,000 lemons to the hospitals in South Africa. Enormous quantities wore tent out last year and greatly appropriated, the Mentone lemons being regarded as the best in the world.

-The cadets on the Britainnia, the training ship at Dartmouth, have been granted three weeks holiday owing to the serious epidemic of influenza, followed by pneumonia, which has prevailed on board. There have been forty cases and two deaths.

-The Portuguese transport Benquela left Delagoa, Feb. 20, with seven hundred Boer refugees on board, proceeding to Lisbon. They will be taken to Peniche, a small town about sixty miles from Lisbon, whence they expect to be helped to proceed to Holland.

-Telegrams from Marseilles report that the dock labourers' strike has assumed a serious aspect. Steamers arriving are unable to discharge their cargo. It is feared that the mail steamers will not be able to leave Marseilles, as the stokers also threaten to cease work. The French mail steamship companies have advised the Postmaster-General that they cannot guarantee the postal service with Algiers and other French colonies.

-The White Star liner Teutonic reported on her arrival at New York, February 28, that on the voyage she was struck in mid ocean by a monster tidal wave, which did considerable damage. One of the crew was dashed against the railing, and his foot so badly injured that it had to be amputated, and a cabin passenger had his jaw broken. The wave broke high, throwing down the men in the crow's nest. The weather was fair at the time, and the officers think that the wave must be due to some volcanic disturbance in the bed of the sea.

-Serious damage has been caused by a blizzard in South Russia, where the winter, according to the meteorological authorities, has been more severe than ever before experienced there. Three trains where blocked outside Odessa, and the passengers spent the night on the open steppe. On receipt of the news, seven trains, containing 4,000 soldiers armed with shovels, were immediately despatched northwards from Odessa, and after working desperately for twelve hours they joined hands with the snow-digging gangs working southwards, thus rescuing the beleaguered passengers.

-Continued agitation of the revolutionary Bulgarian Committee in Macedonia is making the Sultan very anxious. His Majesty promulgated an iradÈ, on the advice of an extraordinary Commission held at the Ministry of War, ordering the concentration of 50,000 troops on the Bulgarian frontier near Kustendil. Arrests of armed Bulgarians, particularly at Salonica, continue, and domiciliary visits are frequent throughout Macedonia. Among the recently arrested persons there have been priests, officers of the Bulgarian army, professors, and merchants, nearly all of whom have been shown to have been active accomplices in the revolutionary movement. Advices from Athens state that the Greek Press has warmly congratulated the Turkish Government on the measures taken, and hopes that the Bulgarian revolutionary movement will be annihilated before other more serious dangers fan a flame which it would be most difficult to quench.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

It is stated that on a recent Sunday evening it was found that more men were assembled in the public-houses in Wigan, than in all the churches and chapels.

Here is a specimen letter, such as we like to receive: "Please accept five shillings, and circulate, as seems best to you, its worth in PRESENT TRUTH for the Master's service. May God bless His own Word."

The statisticians tell us that since 1870 the wealth of England has increased at the rate of ?450,000 a day, and that it is now equal to ?27 per head of the population, as against ?9 per head in 1850. There are thousands of poor people, however, who will fancy that there must be something wrong with these figures. But increase in wealth does not by any means indicate real gain. It is well to remember, with one of England's greatest poets:-

"Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay,"

The old copy books used to tell us that "ignorance is the mother of vice;" but this, like most "old saws," is the opposite of the truth. The fact is, that vice is the mother of ignorance. Sin is deceitful, and blinds the intellect, while righteousness clears the intellect. "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;" "the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." Ps. xix. 7, 8. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do His commandments." Ps. xxi. 10.

At last "the Powers" are beginning to breathe a sigh of satisfaction, and they feel that justice is getting its due. Two Chinese officials, the Minister of Worship and the Minister of Justice, have been publicly executed. The condemned men were conducted to the place of execution in carts escorted by a company of Japanese infantry, and the street in which the execution took place was guarded by French, German, and American troops. Two other officials are reported to have taken the alternative of committing suicide. Somebody has been killed, and there is a prospect that still others will be delivered up to death, and now "justice" is in the way of being appeased. How different men's idea of justice is from God's, and how differently they proceed to attain it! Men fancy that a wrong has been done them, and they demand the death of the culprit, or of some one in his stead; God has been grievously wronged, and He sacrifices Himself, in order that He may be just and "the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus."

When Mr. G. Campbell Morgan, who goes to assist in carrying on the work at Northfield, begun by Mr. Moody, was asked what he intends to teach in America, he replied, "The Bible." Then he continued:-

"I believe that the Bible is at once the revelation of the law and the love of God. I believe that these things are not two things, but one, and I believe that men will never discover the love of God until they yield to His law."

To these sentiments we give a most cordial assent. If Mr. Morgan adheres firmly to them, he cannot fail to do good, and deserves the hearty "God speed" of all who love the Lord of love and the law of love.

In arguing for the use of the word "mass," to designate the communion, the Church Times makes an admission that is worth noting, inasmuch as the statement may have more weight with many, coming from that source, than if we had said it. It agrees that the word has no meaning, as applied to the communion, but says that "by long association with the service it has acquired a definite meaning, just as Easter and Lent, words of heathen origin and usage, have taken upon them a very real significance." They have taken upon them no significance that has not been arbitrarily put on them; but whatever it may be, Christians certainly have no use for them. The Church of Christ is under no obligation to heathenism. "What concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part both he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? . . . wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you."

"True Religious Freedom" The Present Truth 17, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

The hope is expressed in the address to the Pope by the Duke of Norfolk, in behalf of the Catholics of England, that he would soon he restored to temporal sovereignty, has led to much controversy, and it has appeared that there are Roman Catholics who are not wholly carried away by the Pope's desire for civil authority. One Roman Catholic priest puts the case thus:-

"To do his spiritual office to his two hundred and fifty millions of Catholics throughout the world, can it be necessary that he, the Vicar of the Prince of Peace, should, in a small corner of Italy, keep an army or have a police, coin money, issue stamps, try and condemn criminals, tax his subjects, and add to his revenue by licensing brothels?"

He declares that "temporal power is rather a clog than an aid," and closes his letter thus:-

"Who will dare say the Pope is not free in conscience, and can only be thus free if he is a temporal sovereign? If our Bishops, each in his diocese, are free to rule their glocks, what is there to prevent the Pope from doing as he is doing at this very moment-viz., ruling the Bishops. Therefore to speak of the necessity of independence for the Pope is but a pitiful juggling with words. He is independent in conscience and purely spiritual things, and no other independence is necessary."

There are thousands of Protestant ministers who could profitably take lessons from this Catholic priest, in what constitutes true religious freedom and independence.

"Drunkenness Among Women" The Present Truth 17, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

Drunkenness Among Women .-Those who are in a position to know, say that this evil is "becoming more and more apalling." In London on a single Saturday night, no fewer than 30,784 women were counted going into public-houses between the hours of nine and twelve. Within the last quarter of a century the percentage of cases amongst women rose in Manchester from 18 to 28. In Sheffield, in two years, the proportion rose from 15 to 24 per cent. In Liverpool there were more woman than men committed for drunkenness in one year. It is but a short time since woman formed 15 per cent. of the cases summoned for drunkenness in London, and now they are almost one-half. These figures convey very little idea of the evil. It is only when one thinks of the children, and the wreaked homes, that one begins to grasp the terribleness of the downward tide.

March 14, 1901

"Christ Crucified. Luke xxiii. 35-53" The Present Truth 17, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

"And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit; and having said this He gave up the ghost."

"Jesus Christ and Him crucified" is all that any Christian needs to know on this earth; it is all that any sinner needs to know, in order that he may become a Christian; it comprehends all truth, all that there is really to know, for that which is not the truth cannot in the strictest sense be known. To "know" that which is not so is not knowledge but vain imagination.

The Lord, through the prophet Jeremiah, said that no one should glory, save in the fact that he knew God; and the Spirit of God moved the Apostle Paul to exclaim, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Is there any disagreement? Impossible. Then what is the necessary conclusion? Just this, that God cannot be known, except in the cross of Christ.

Look at the two texts again, and consider the statements carefully, remembering that the same Spirit of truth speaks in each. God says that nobody is to glory in wisdom, power, or riches,-'the noblest things that this world knows,-but solely in the fact that he knows Him. Paul, by the Spirit of God, earnestly desires to glory in nothing, save the cross of Christ. Then the conclusion is inevitable, that the cross is the revelation of God, and that all that may be known of God is to be found in the cross. In the cross of Christ, in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and nowhere else, can men find God. It is there that God finds men.

This brings us face to face with the truth that creation means the cross. Thus: God can be known only in the cross, and all that can be known of Him is to be seen, in the cross, and nowhere else; but God says of men: "That which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and Divinity." Rom. i. 19, 20. The cross reveals God and His glory, and the things that He has made reveal Him, and declare His glory, therefore it follows that all things were created by the power of the cross, and that all creation exists only in the cross, Thus it is that "if any man be in Christ there is a new creation."

Let us go one step further. God says "Hallow My Sabbaths: and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am God." Eze. xx. 20. The Sabbath makes God known to those who accept it, because it is the sign of His perfect creation. But, as we have so clearly seen, it is the cross that reveals God and His glory, and makes us know Him. Therefore it is as clear as God's sunlight, that the Sabbath is in the cross the perfection of it. It is in the cross of Christ that we find perfect rest; but the cross must be to us something more than an empty sound, a figure of speech; for we cannot rest upon nothing. The cross is vivid reality; just as much so now as when Christ was crucified; for there is nothing worth having or knowing that is not in it, or that can be found outside of it.

The cross means death-Christ crucified. Christ merely extended upon the cross, and then taken down before He gave up His life, would mean nothing to us, no matter how much He suffered in the process. The sum of the whole matter is contained in the words, "He gave up the ghost," as they are given in our version. But the words, "He gave up the ghost" are a most clumsy circumlocution for a very simple statement. It is all in one Greek word signifying "He expired." The simplest, most literal, and most natural, as well as most expressive rendering of the Greek is, "He breathed out." It, or its equivalent borrowed from the Latin, "He expired," is a most familiar term, yet how little it is thought of as applied to God. A few minutes upon it now may give us food for hours of thought which may have a transforming effect upon our lives.

Christ breathed out His life. Why did He do it?-In order that we might breathe it in. It is by His death that we live; "by His stripes we are healed."

We are continually "breathing out," but we do not die, because we "breathe in" again. That is expiration and inspiration. How is it that after each expiration, after each breathing out, we inspire-breathe in again?-Because God ever lives, and is continually breathing the

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breath of life into our nostrils, so in the beginning. Gen. ii. 7. "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job xxxiii. 1. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." "He giveth to all life, and breath, and alI things." If we expire, breathe out, in Him, we shall be sure to breathe in again; we keep on breathing, because God has not taken to Himself His breath, but continually breathes it out to us.

THE CROSS THE SOURCE OF LIFE

The cross of Christ on Calvary is therefore simply the revelation of "the eternal God;" it is the visible manifestation of the offering which Christ makes "through the eternal Spirit." The cross gives only another view of that which God did in the beginning, and which He has been doing "from of old, from the days of eternity."

"It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell," even "all the fulness of the Godhead." Col. i. 19, ii. 9. "As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." John v. 26. Therefore He can continually be "breathing out" life to us, without exhausting the supply; and it is because He does this, that we live.

Moreover this is our pledge of future, eternal life. If we take the breath that comes to us moment by moment for just what it is, the life given us through the cross, we have the Son indeed, and having Him we have eternal life. How simple, yet how glorious! It is simply glorious, and gloriously simple. We live in the presence of the cross, and the power of it-the power of God to salvation-is assured to us with every breath we breathe. The breeze that fans our cheek, and that inflates our lungs, comes to us from the ever-present cross, from Christ and Him crucified.

How grand to know only Christ and Him crucified! It is to know life. Each moment we draw in a fresh supply of grace and truth and strength from the Crucified One. Every one who knows this, and who lives with it in mind, cannot but be righteous. He will be of "quick understanding in the fear of the Lord" (Isa. xi. 3), or, literally, as the margin indicates, the Spirit of God in Him, recognised and acknowledged, will make him scent the fear of the Lord. As Christ breathes out His righteous life, we shall breathe in righteousness. Therefore "let everything that hath breath praise the Lord."

"The First Commandment" The Present Truth 17, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

"And God spake all these words, saying, I am Lord thy God, which have brought the out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."

This is the first and greatest commandment, and the one which comprehends all the others. It is the summing up of all whole law, for we read that the first and great commandment is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all by soul, and with all thy mind." Matt. xxii. 37. The second one is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," but it is "like unto it." It is not separate from the first, but is included in it, since "love is of God," and only as the love of God is shed abroad in one's heart can one love his neighbor as himself. So to love the Lord with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the strength, and with all the mind,-that is, to have no other gods before Him,-is the sum of human duty. "There is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." 1 Cor. viii. 4-6. Therefore it is that we are to love the Lord "with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our might." Deut. vi. 4, 5.

THE LAW NOT OUT OF DATE

In these days the commandments are thought by many to be out of date. They are regarded generally as a relic of the past age and an inferior civilisation. People think that Christianity has outgrown them, and has brought in larger and more perfect views of truth and duty. It is even sometimes said by ministers of the Gospel that Christians to have not got beyond what is required in the ten commandments have a very narrow experience. Those who hold such views need to pray the prayer of the Psalmist: "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law." It is their minds that are narrow, and not the commandment, for the "commandment is exceeding broad." Ps. cxix. 96. Therefore it is, as God said of Ephraim, "I have written to him to great things of My law, but they were counted as a strange thing." Hosea viii. 12. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." Ps. xix. 7-9. Therefore the one who regards the law as a strange thing, must be a stranger to conversion, righteousness, purity, and perfection.

No soul, either in this world or in the world to come, whether man or angel, can get beyond this one precept, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," or its other form, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind." It is obvious that to get beyond this commandment would be to break it, since it would be having other gods before the true God.

As there are so many who think that the commandments are out of date, it is not

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surprising that they regard this one at least as not necessary. Of course they will it meant that is necessary to preach it in India and China and other lands were false gods are worshipped; but while not consciously disparaging it, they think that we stand in no need of it, since we do not worship other gods. This is a great mistake; there is not a Christian in any country who cannot say with Isaiah: "O Lord our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us." Isaiah xxvi. 18.

WORSHIP IS SERVICE

When Jesus repelled the temptation of Satan, He said to him, "Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Matt. iv. 10. So the Apostle Paul said to the ship's company with whom he sailed, "There stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve." Acts xxvii. 23. The distinguishing characteristic of the one who recognises the Lord as his God, is service. Therefore the commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, it is simply, Thou shalt serve Me only. And so, as we have seen, it means that we shall love Him only, love Him with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength. Just to the extent that this is not done, has one other gods before Him. When we see the commandment in this light, we shall be forced to conclude that the proportion of people who violate it cannot be much greater in Africa or India than in Europe.

WHO CAN KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS

Just before Joshua died, he gathered all the people and the elders of Israel together, and recounted to them what God had done for them, saying, "Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood [the river], and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." And the said, "God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; for the Lord our God, He it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. . . . therefore will we also serve the Lord; for He is our God." Joshua xxiv. 14-18. That certainly was a good declaration, but Joshua immediately replied to them, "Ye cannot serve the Lord; for He is a holy God." How this must have dashed the spirits of those Israelite; and yet it is true of us as of them, and it contains a wonderful promise, if we will but take it. It does not mean that God cannot be served, for Joshua had just said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Paul declared that he served the Lord. But it does mean that only holy people can serve a holy God; and since God says to us, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve, we may take it as it the assurance that He will sanctify us if we will yield to Him, so that it will be possible for us to serve Him perfectly. The Lord "shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer up to the Lord an offering in righteousness." Mal. iii. 3. This shows how we may keep the commandments. We do not keep them in order to be righteous, but God makes us righteous,-frees us from the bondage of sin,-in order that we may keep them. Only when God has cleansed the heart, and driven out every idol, can this first and great commandment be kept.

LOVE MEANS GIVING

All this shows the supreme importance of this commandment to everybody, everywhere, and at all times. "Love is the fulfilling of the law," and love means giving. "God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son." "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." "Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." God showed His love for us in giving Himself for us. Therefore we can show our love to Him only by giving ourselves to Him, and acknowledging His right to have sole control of us.

When Paul said that he served God, he said also, "whose I am." Therefore the commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, or its fuller expression, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind," means that we must give to the Lord our whole heart, our whole life, and every faculty of mind and body. "With all thy strength," means not only all the strength that we now have, but all that we ought to have, all that is possible for God to exert through our bodies.

It makes a vast difference who handles an instrument. A very good instrument may do very poor work in untrained hands; but when the master takes hold of it, the result is different. So while we are weak, and we have made ourselves unnaturally weak through our failure to serve God, we are to yield our members as instruments of righteousness unto God, that He may not merely receive from us the poor strength of which we are conscious, but that He may do through us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which worketh in us. Those who believe, will know the exceeding greatness of His power, according to the working of His mighty power which He brought in Christ; and although we are now without strength, yet when in love and loyalty we yield ourselves to Him for service, His own mighty power in us will be counted to us as service which we have rendered.

HOLINESSóWHOLE SERVICE

Hereby may we readily know whether or not we have other gods before Him. If we are not ready to every good work, if there is any organ of our body or any portion of our mind not controlled by Him; if in any degree our will has not been completely yielded to Him; if we are servants of our own flesh; if any sinful propensity has dominion over us to any degree, just to that extent are we violating the first commandment. And so we see that the keeping of this commandment means health, for there are many people who with sorrow say that they cannot serve the Lord as he would like to, because of their feeble condition. They are loaded down with divers diseases, but God says, "I am the Lord that healeth thee," or "the Lord thy Physician." He requires us to serve Him with our whole life, with our whole strength, and this means that He expects us to be whole, in order that we may serve Him perfectly. A whole person is a holy person, and since, as we have learned, only a holy person can serve a holy God, we have the assurance that if we will yield our bodies to His life, He will heal us so that we may give to Him whole service. If we do not do this, if we continue to violate the laws of life, thus weakening our bodies or any member of our bodies, we are worshipping other gods beside Him.

Day by day we pray or ought to, "Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Christ said, "The

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kingdom of God is within you." God is King over all the earth, for "the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof," although His right to rule is not acknowledged in the earth. Even so we are His rightful kingdom, although He has not been allowed to rule in our hearts. So when we pray the Lord's prayer understandingly, we are saying to the Lord, "I belong to Thee; rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies, pulling down strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

We are a people of God's own possession. But evil cannot dwell with Him; therefore if there is filthiness of the flesh or spirit, He is crowded out from His rightful dominion, and other gods are put in His place. "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." 2 Cor. vi. 16.

How many can say to the Lord, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and their is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee"? To many this seems a fearful cutting off of all the pleasure of life, but that is only because they do not know Him, and that in His presence is fulness of joy. In Him all things consist, and without Him we have really nothing, for "all the gods of the heathen are idols nothing." He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him out for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

(To be continued.)

"The Editor's Private Corner. From Death to the Resurrection" The Present Truth 17, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Last week we learned from the Scriptures that sin is death, and that just as there is no righteousness apart from Christ, so there is no life apart from Him. To claim the possession of life, even for a single moment, other than that of Christ, is to claim to be sinless in one's self,-that one's own ways are perfect,-in short, that one is God.

NO IMMORTALITY FOR SINNERS

This makes it apparent that there is no immortality for any sinner. Christ came "to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," and to say that sin will not be completely put away, out of the universe, is to say that the object of His coming to earth has failed, that His sacrifice of Himself is insufficient. If the monstrous and diabolical doctrine of an ever-burning hell were true, where lost sinners are condemned to perpetual and never-ending tortures which only the ingenuity of a devil could invent, and the constantly multiplying blasphemies of the victims only augment the sentence to be executed upon them, that would not simply be a blot on God's universe, but would be a standing witness to the weakness of His Government, and the failure of His attempt to purge His kingdom of rebellion.

No ranting infidel ever conceived so positive a denial of the atonement as is the doctrine of hell, which is so jealously cherished by so many professed Christians. The Gospel demands the utter extinction of sin, not merely from some of the inhabitants of the earth, but from the earth itself, and from every part of God's creation, so that God can say, "Behold, I make all things new;" and this means that every creature who will not allow sin to be taken away from him must be taken away and destroyed with it. In the Gospel "the righteousness of God is 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 man." Rom. i. 16-18.

WHERE ONLY ETERNITY CAN BE SPENT

Evidence might be multiplied, but this is sufficient to show that so far as the time after the Judgment is concerned, the wicked must cease to be. "For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen; as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; their reward shall return upon their own head. For as ye have drunk upon My holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been." Obadiah 15, 16. In mission halls we often see the question, "Where will you spend eternity?" but there is only one place where it can be spent, and that is in the bosom of God. He only is "our dwelling place in all generations." "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace." Ps. xxxvii. 37. The word "end" here is from the Hebrew word meaning future, after time. The future of the upright shall be peace. But the next verse continues: "But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off." It is only to the righteous, that God gives a future, and He gives it to them because they abide in Him, who is from everlasting to everlasting.

DEATH IS SEPARATION FROM GOD

Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews, "I go away and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins; whither I go ye cannot come." John viii. 21. A little while afterwards He said to His believing disciples: "Little children, yet a little while I am

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with you. Ye shall seek Me; and as I said unto the Jews, whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you." John xiii. 33. Death is separation from God; the withdrawal of His life; but although we should all die, and become "as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again," "yet doth He devise means, that His banished be not expelled from Him." 2 Sam. xiv. 14. What are the means that He has devised? Jesus has told us, in the words of comfort which He spoke to the disciples, who were sorrowing because He had told them that He was going away from them and that they could not go with Him. "Let not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John xiv. 1-3.

This assurance is repeated by the Spirit through the Apostle Paul, in writing to those who were sorrowing for dead friends. "This we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not go before them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. iv. 25-18. From these texts we see that death does not take us to be with the Lord, but that His coming and the resurrection is the only means by which we can be with Him.

Job said, "If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change comes. Thou shalt call, and I will answer Thee; Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands." Job xiv. 14, 15. "If I wait, the grave is mine house; I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father." Job xvii. 13, 14. This testimony concerning waiting in the grave, in corruption, till the Lord calls and the change comes, exactly coincides with that by the Apostle Paul: "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 1 Cor. xv. 51-53.

DEATH IS NOT CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE

It is evident that there is no being present with the Lord between death and the resurrection, even for the righteous; let us then consider the necessary condition of the dead during that interval. This ought not to call for any consideration, and it would not if pagan philosophy and papal theology had not put darkness for light, and light for darkness, and robbed plain words of their meaning.

Death is the opposite of life; it is opposed to life in every particular. Think of all the characteristics of life, all the signs that indicate it, and you have the statement of what death is. To speak of consciousness in death is a contradiction of terms, as much so as to speak of alert wakefulness in deep sleep. There may be life without consciousness, but there can be no consciousness without life. When it is said that a man is conscious, it is not necessary to say that he is alive; so to say that a man has a conscious existence between death and the resurrection, is equivalent to saying that between death and the resurrection he is not dead. In short, to talk about conscious existence in death is nonsense. There can be no possible contradiction of terms that has less meaning.

CHRIST'S COMING IN HIS KlNGDOM

Within three days of His crucifixion, Jesus said to His disciples: "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory; and before Him shall be gathered all the nations." Matt. xxv. 31, 32. That time has not yet come. We still look for the second coming of Christ "in power and great glory," when He returns "having received the kingdom;" because now He has gone into a far country "to receive for Himself a kingdom, and to return." Luke xix. 11, 12.

It was not until the day of Pentecost, however, fifty days after the resurrection, that the disciples grasped the correct idea of the kingdom of Christ. When He was betrayed, and they saw that He suffered Himself to be bound and led away by a hand of armed men, they all "forsook Him, and fled." Even after they had heard of His resurrection, they did not believe it, and thought that all hope of His ever having a kingdom was destroyed, saying mournfully: "We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel."

THE CRUCIFIED THIEF'S REQUEST

Is it any wonder, then, that one strong expression of faith, breaking forth like a gleam of light amid this darkness of unbelief, should have a prominent place in the sacred narrative. This poor Jew, condemned as a malefactor at the same time that Jesus was, saw the rejection of Jesus, and all the despiteful usage to which He was subjected. All this had been foretold in prophecy, but none of those whose business it was to teach the Scriptures, not even those who had been with Jesus, saw in it the fulfilment of God's word, and the proof that Jesus was the Christ. But to the heart of this poor outcast criminal the Holy Spirit spoke. The patience of Jesus when He was beaten and spit upon, His meekness under the grossest insult, His gentle, fervent prayer that His murderers might be forgiven, all revealed the presence of the King, and he cried out, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom!" Luke xxiii. 43.

WHAT CHRIST PROMISED

Greater faith than this is rarely seen. He did not believe that this was the end of all; his faith grew out of that which discouraged more favoured ones. But what was it that he asked for?-To be remembered at the second coming of Christ, when He shall come in His glory, sitting on the throne of His glory. And his faith was not in vain; hanging on the cross, which was for the time being His throne, the outcast King said, according to the reading in our version: "Verily I say unto Thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise."

Did the thief go to be with Jesus in Paradise that day?-Assuredly not; for Jesus Himself did not go there. The tree of life, before the throne of God, "is in the midst of the Paradise of God" (Rev. xxii. 1; 2; ii. 7), so that whoever goes to Paradise goes into the presence of God. Yet the third day after the crucifixion, after Jesus had risen from the dead, He said to Mary: "Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Fattier; and to My God, and your God." John xx. 17. Later in that same day He allowed the disciples to touch Him, showing that in the meantime He had ascended to heaven,

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and received from the Father the assurance that His sacrifice was accepted, and had returned.

Did Jesus disappoint the penitent thief? Not by any means, for he did not ask to be received into heaven that day, neither did Jesus promise that he should be with Him that day. What Jesus did assure him was that he certainly should yet be with Him in Paradise, and we may be sure that this promise will he fulfilled at the very time to which the thief looked forward, namely at the coming of Christ in glory.

I hear you say, "But the text says that Jesus told him that he should be with Him that day." To this I reply that Jesus cannot deny Himself; and when He says that He did not go to Paradise that day, we are bound to believe Him; and the more so, that it is contrary to nature and the Scripture for anybody to enter Paradise at death.

These words of Jesus to the thief are the stronghold of the doctrine that men go to heaven at death; yet the whole argument hangs on the punctuation, which is not a matter of inspiration, and is of comparatively recent date. In the Greek text, as written, there was no punctuation whatever and when it was inserted it was according to men's idea of the sense. Believing the pagan doctrine that there is really no death, those who put the marks into the text of the Bible; inserted a comma between "thee" and "to-day," so as to make it seem to agree with their notion. They did this, without doubt, in all sincerity, supposing that Jesus meant to tell the thief that he should meet Him in Paradise that day. But if they had known the truth, they would rather have inserted it after "to-day," thus making the sentence harmonise with all the circumstances in the case.

Again you say, "But in that case it would make the words of Jesus a question, and not a promise; thus: Verily I say unto thee to-day, Shalt thou be with Me in Paradise? and that would be nonsense."

I must remind you that in the Greek, as in other ancient languages, the subject of a verb, when it is a personal pronoun, is not usually expressed, but is indicated by the form of the verb. Jesus did not ask a question, but made a direct, emphatic statement, thus: "Verily I say unto thee to-day, Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." When?-At the very time that the thief asked to be remembered when Christ comes into His kingdom. This does not change a single letter of the text, and makes the Scriptures perfectly harmonious.

Do you ask why it was necessary for Jesus to use the adverb "to-day"? The answer is obvious, when we consider the situation. The priests were mocking and reviling Him. They taunted Him, saying, "If Thou be the Christ, come down from the cross, and we will believe on Thee;" "He saved others, Himself He cannot save." The other thief joined in the railing and said, "If Thou be the Christ, save Thyself and us." There was "none so poor to do Him reverence;" everything seemed to indicate that He was an imposter, or at least self-deceived. It looked as though God Himself had forsaken Jesus, yet He was not cast down, and did not lose faith in His mission. His sublime faith answered to that of the suppliant, and He declared, "Verily I say unto thee today, even to-day, in spite of the seemingly hopeless outlook, thou shalt have thy request, thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." It He had meant what people commonly suppose He meant, He would have said, "Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise today;" but He did not mean that, and so did not say that.

Just a moment, before we close, let us contemplate this wondrous assurance. It is a sad fact that it has been so perverted, and that people do not derive the comfort from it that it was designed to convey to us. Since Jesus, even when He hung on the arose, despised and disowned, could so confidently assure a penitent sinner that he should be saved, what surpassing confidence we may have, when we come to Him as He is "highly exalted," sitting at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. We know beyond the shadow of the possibility of a doubt, that He will not cast out the poorest and most despised who comes to Him, and that "He is able to save them to the uttermost, who come unto God by Him."

[Next week, God willing, we shall consider one or both of the other texts referred to in the question last week. While on this subject, we shall also give some attention to the subject of Spiritualism.]

"Church Attendance" The Present Truth 17, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

On a recent Sunday evening a church and public house census was taken in Dewsbury, with the result that 4,634 people were found in churches, chapels, and mission rooms, and 4,921 in public-houses. The churches, it will be noticed were 233 ahead of the public-houses; but the number of men in public-houses exceeded the number of those at places of worship by 2,178. The aggregate majority for churches and chapels was made up by women and children; yet 175 boys and 170 girls were found in the places where liquor was sold.

"The Children. The Dividing of the Waters" The Present Truth 17, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Perhaps when you saw our picture last week, the waters divided by the power of God to make a path for His people to pass through, some of our little readers wished that they could have been there to see the wonder, to march through the midst of the sea on dry land with the host of Israel, and to stand on the shore and see the meeting of the divided waters sweep away the proud legions of Pharaoh.

You may be surprised when I tell you that God is now doing for you just what He did for the Israelites, dividing the waters and holding them back by His power, that you may have a place to dwell on the dry land. If it were not for this, if His power should for one moment fail, if He who "holds the waters in the hollow of His hand" should faint or grow weary, we should all be overwhelmed with a mightier flood than the returning waters of the Red Sea, like that which swept everything from the face of the earth in the days of Noah.

This was what God was teaching the Israelites when He led them through the divided waters. He wanted them to know of the constant working of His power to preserve them. And in the perishing of the Egyptians when the waters met, He was showing them what would be the result if He should forget them for one moment.

In order that you may see that this is so, read what God said on the second day of creation: "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." And the third day "God said, Let the waters under the firmament be gathered together note one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so."

That which divided the waters in the beginning was the firmament that God spread out between them. The Hebrew word that is used means something spread out, an expanse, or space. We call the firmament the sky, but you know that when you look up into the sky, the blue heavens, you are but gazing into the blue depths, or heights, of the air. This, then, is what God called the firmament, by which He divided the waters. You will remember that God said the birds were to fly in "the open firmament of heaven," but you know that they fly in the air, so you see that the firmament is the air.

But what is the air?-It is the life-giving breath of God, which carries His life to all His creatures. So you see how God divided the waters and how He still holds them apart: He breathed between the waters, and they were divided, and a space was thus spread oak for us to dwell in, filled with His life-giving breath. "He stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in."

Away up in the air, in what we call the sky, float the great masses of watery vapour that we call the clouds. They seem to sail so lightly in the great ocean of air, that we hardly realise their great weight. But sometimes there is what is called a "cloud-burst," when one of the clouds is rent, and pours its flood of waters upon the earth, sweeping away houses and trees and rocks and everything that comes in its way. Then we can we what would happen to us if God should no longer hold back the divided waters.

"Who shut up the sea with doors
When it brake forth . . .
When I made the cloud the garment thereof?"

Now let us read how God divided the waters of the Red Sea before Israel. "And the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided." The wind is simply the air in motion. When we say; "The wind blows," we mean that the air is moving quickly, and the more quickly it moves, the stronger is the wind.

But we have seen that the air is the breath of the Lord, and so He divided the waters of the Red Sea just as He divided the waters in the beginning,-He breathed between them, and thus made a space for His people to pass through. This is just what Moses sang in the song of victory after they had reached the shore, and the Egyptians were slain: "With the blast of Thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap."

Now you see, do you not, that when God divided the sea and made a new way for His people, He was not doing a new thing, but was showing what He had been doing from the beginning, and what He is still doing for us to-day.

This does not mean only that God is still holding apart, by means of the air, the waters which fie first divided by it. If you think for a moment you will see that this cannot be so. For the clouds that you see in the sky will not remain there always; they are even now hastening to the place where God is sending them, to pour out the water of life upon the earth.

"Yea, He ladeth the thick cloud with moisture, . . .
And it is turned around about by His guidance.
That they may do whatsoever He commandeth them
Upon the face of the habitable world."

But although the clouds are constantly pouring out their waters upon the earth, there is still an abundance of water above the firmament. How is this?-It is because God is continuing the work that He

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began on the second day. He said that the firmament was to divide the waters, and He is still, by means of the air, separating or dividing the waters from the earth, and drawing them up to unite with the waters above the earth.

The air passing over the surface of the waters, takes up some of the moisture in the form of vapour, which being lighter than the air, rises and forms the clouds which float in the sky and carry the water to wherever it is needed. Thus God is "calling for the waters of the sea, and pouring them out upon the face of the earth."

Let us learn the lesson that the dividing of the Red Sea is to teach us. Let us learn to see God working and to see "the power of His works," so that we may put our trust in Him and enter into His rest.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

-The plague is reported as spreading at Capetown, among Europeans as well as natives.

-The Democratic papers in Portugal are demanding the expulsion of the Jesuits from the country.

-On the 4th inst. war-ships were launched from the royal dockyards-two battleships and one first-class cruiser.

-The officially announced plan of the Morgan Company shows that the United States Steel Corporation will have an authorised issue of 304 millions in preferred stock, and 425 millions in common stock.

-When once the greed for gain seizes either a nation or an individual, it is insatiable. The United States has for a long time had desires for the Danish possessions in the West Indies, and has tried to purchase them. Now that Denmark has decided to retain them, the United States Government has addressed a semi-threatening communication to the Danish Cabinet, saying that no transfer to any other foreign power will be permitted, and that the United States "sphere of influence" must be respected.

-The German Emperor was quite seriously wounded on the sixth by a heavy piece of iron thrown at his head by a crazed epileptic.

-No less than twenty-seven tons of flowers were landed at Penzance on Tuesday of last week, from the Sicily islands. A special express train brought the great bulk to London.

-It has been decided by the Government to remove the people from one-third the area of Capetown, in order to give it a thorough cleansing as a precaution against the spread of plague.

-The African and Transcontinental telegraph line has been laid for about sixty miles north of Kasanga, that is, it now runs from Kituta, at the south end of Lake Tanganyika, sixty miles up the east coast of the lake.

-The Government of Natai has already paid ?600,000 on behalf of the Imperial Government for losses sustained by Colonists during the Boer invasion. This sum represents seventy-five per cent. of the losses so far assessed.

-Dr. Winnington-Ingram, Bishop-Suffragan of Stepney, has been appointed Bishop of London. Unlike his two immediate predecessors, he is a young man, not noted as a scholar or as a preacher; but his strength lies in his tact and organising skill.

-Last year's Sunday-closing campaign is to be repeated during the present year. Arrangements are contemplated for again holding simultaneous meetings all over the country on a particular Sunday, as was done last year, when over a thousand were held.

-Of the body of fifty peasants who had been engaged in shoveling snow out of a deep cutting in Russia, thirty were crushed by a train which came upon them at full speed while they were shut in by high walls of snow. The driver, stokers, and guards of the train were drunk.

-All the chief Canadian salt industries have been formed into one gigantic combination on the American Trust lines, under the title of "The Canadian Salt Company." The combination will practically monopolise the output and distribution of salt throughout the Dominion.

-The anti-Jesuit riots in Spain are assuming vast proportions, the popular feeling against the priests becoming daily more bitter; and already much damage to property, and injury to persons, has been done. The origin of the trouble was the attempted forcible abduction by the Jesuits of a Miss Calmon, a reputed heiress, over whom the priesthood had obtained a great influence, against the wishes of her father the Consul for Brazil.

-The census of Bombay City just taken shows a population of 770,000, or a decrease of over 50,000 as compared with the census taken ten years ago. This decrease is mainly due to the exodus which has occurred during the last two months of the plague epidemic. The returns from the rural districts of the Bombay Presidency show a terrible decrease in the population through famine. In the Mahi Kantha district alone there is a decline of 220,000, while in the Bijapur district the decrease amounts to 61,000, and in Poona City to 7400.

-The import of eggs during last year was no fewer than 2,035,820,560. The amount paid for foreign eggs was five and a half million pounds sterling. The recipients of this amount of English cash were Russia (?1,109,533), Germany (?1,016,719), Denmark (?923,551, France (?868,133), Belgium (?738,453), and various other countries, which obtained ?750,000 between them. Moreover, the number of eggs imported is steadily increasing. In the first week of the present year, four and a half million more foreign eggs were imported than in the first week of last year.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Although the frantic and lawless attempt of Mrs. Nation to execute the law against liquor selling in one of the United States of America has been endorsed by the Women's Christian Temperance Union of that country, we are glad to gee that Lady Henry Somerset, President of the British and the World's W.C.T.U., has written to say that that body has no sympathy with any such methods.

The American Sentinel, published in Chicago, contains the following note and query:-

A murder trial at Anderson, South Carolina, lifts the veil from a system of absolute negro slavery existing in that State. A negro named Hull, being charged with violating a labour contract, was confined in a stockage and, though under no sentence of court, he was guarded like a convict and shot dead when he attempted to regain his liberty.

Are we on the verge of the re-establishment of negro slavery in the South?

An appeal, is being issued for help for "the poor Jews at Jerusalem," who are "suffering terribly from smallpox, measles, diphtheria, pneumonia, etc." It says: "One lady visitor found great misery in the dark dens in the city, and also in the Box colony outside. In every hut were cases of smallpox, measles, etc." "It is terrible to see all the suffering in this bitter cold weather, in their patched-up rooms, where wind gets in at every corner." The appeal speaks of "the wretched shanties of wood and tin," and concludes thus: "We plead for means to give food and fuel, and that quickly, to some of the 50,000 Jews at Jerusalem. Help is most urgently needed. Many have perished, but there is yet time to save many."

No stronger indictment of the "Zionist movement, and all theories concerning the return of the Jews to old Jerusalem, could be made. Every one who has encouraged Jewish emigration to Palestine, in pursuance of the forced and unnatural interpretation of the prophecies which speak only of the coming of Christ and the world to come, is more or less directly responsible for this suffering. It is not a light thing to pervert Scripture; for every false theory is sure to result in trouble here, even though it be considered a purely theoretical matter. Only the truth from the lips of the Lord can keep man from the paths of the destroyer.

"Comfort in Trouble" The Present Truth 17, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Are you in trouble? Have you been sorely afflicted?

Of course you say, Yes; for "man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble."

But there is a still more important question. It is, Are you comforted in your affliction? Do you have peace in the midst of your trouble?

You say no? Why are you not? Here is the word of truth: "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may, be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." 2 Cor. i. 3, 4.

Christ also has said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you." John xiv. 27. If you say that you have no comfort and peace, you deny the word of God, making Him a liar; or else you have thrown away the gift of God. You didn't know it before? Well, it is not too late now; know it now, and ever remember it, that comfort is always present wherever there is trouble. God speaks peace to you. He has sent the Comforter, and you have been comforted, for He who cannot lie says so. Then wait in the fear of the Lord, and "in the comfort of the Holy Ghost," recognising the gift of God.

What a blessed; glorious Gospel, that makes our very trouble a means of conveying comfort to us! "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ."

"Science and the Gospel" The Present Truth 17, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Science and the Gospel .-At a meeting held in the Guildhall, the Lord Mayor presiding, in connection with the Bicentenary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Archbishop of Canterbury, referring to the fact that many protest against the anti-religious tendency of science, said that science had helped religion, by making it easier to preach the Gospel everywhere. The Gospel embraces all science, and true science will inevitably lead a man to God. Science means knowledge, and in Christ "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;" so the Gospel of Christ in its fulness means perfect scientific knowledge. But "science falsely so called," which in nine cases out of ten passes for true science, is the worst enemy the Gospel can have.

"God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world." Gal. vi. 14. The cross contains all that there is of real glory in the universe. Much of that, yea, almost all of that in which men glory, is really a matter of shame, and this will be made apparent at the last day, when the proud boasters fly to the dens and caves of the earth to hide themselves. Isa. ii. 10, 11. But then, when Christ shall come the second time, will be seen the full glory of the cross. When Jesus was seen in the vision of the prophet, coming in glory, "He had bright beams coming out of His side; and there was the hiding of His power." Hab. iii. 4, margin. "His brightness was as the light," for "His glory covered the heavens;" but all the power and glory with which He comes, is that from the wounds in His hands and side,-it is the glory of the cross.

The ancient philosophers prided themselves upon their superior knowledge. Let us read the apostle Paul's understanding of the matter. "Professing themselves to be wise," he says, "they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things; . . . who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and serve the creature more than the Creator." In its human wisdom the world cannot know God. Its wise men gather an imperfect knowledge of God from His created works, and then in their foolishness they exalt nature and the laws of nature above nature's God. Those who have not a knowledge of God through an acceptance of the revelation He has made of Himself in Christ, will obtain only an imperfect knowledge of Him in nature; and this knowledge, so far from giving elevated conceptions of God, and bringing the whole being into conformity to His will, will make men idolaters. Professing themselves to be wise, they will become fools.

March 21, 1901

"The Law of Life. The First Commandment. (Continued.) " The Present Truth 17, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

PREPARATION FOR CHRIST'S COMING

The keeping of this first commandment is the necessary preparation for the coming of the Lord. "We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." We shall then see Him as He is, because we shall have already been changed into His image by holding Him. Therefore to this end the message is proclaimed, "Behold your God!" No other God is to intervene to shut off the view. Because the hour of His Judgment is come, we are to "fear God, and give glory to Him" "and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." This, we see, is nothing more than the repetition of the first commandment. We are to know Him only, and Christ came to declare Him. The commandment is life everlasting (John xii. 50), and it is eternal life to know God. John xvii. 3. Those who know Him will put their trust in Him, and when He appears will say, "Lo, this is our God."

THE ESSENCE OF HEATHENISM

Christ said, "Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? for all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." The word "Gentile" means heathen, and the characteristic of the heathen is to be anxious, and to worry about temporal affairs. And herein many professed Christians show that they have not been wholly emancipated from heathenism. "Times are hard; coals are dear; work is scarce; clothes are wearing out, and we cannot see where the money is coming from to replace them." They forget that their heavenly Father knoweth that they have need of all these things. By such expressions of anxiety and doubt, they virtually say that the God whom they serve is no different from the gods of wood and stone that the heathen worship. "After all these things do the heathen seek," because they know that their gods cannot provide for them. They know that they must provide for themselves, so far as their gods are concerned. But "our God is in the heavens; He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased." Ps. cxv. 3. He is the Universal Provider. "He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." To doubt that all things that we need will be supplied, because we cannot see how they are to come, is to be like the heathen, who do not believe in a god that they cannot see.

THE SIGN OF THE TRUE GOD

After Jesus had healed the man born blind, He found him and said to him, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" and the man said, "Who is He, that I might believe on Him?" In like manner, when the commandment "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," is preached, men might say, Who is this God, that we may worship Him? God has provided beforehand the answer to this question. He says, "I gave them My Sabbaths, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them;" and "Hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." The true God is the God who sanctifies, and delivers from the bondage of sin. He delivers and sanctifies by His creative power, which is made known through the Sabbath. For when He had made all things new, He rested, and when we are wholly passive in His hands, we rest in Him, having been made new.

The one great question of the ages is, "Who is God?" It was first introduced

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when Satan said, "I will be like the Most High," attempting to put himself in the place of God. The same spirit he instilled into his angels, so that there are multitudes of false gods. Everyone who follows Satan is filled with the same spirit, the spirit of self-seeking, self-exaltation. But it is not in this way that men know God, or become like Him. Christ, who is the manifestation of God, says, "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." God reveals His divinity in the gift of His only begotten Son, who gives His life for the redemption of the world. By self-surrender, the complete denial of self, we become acquainted with God. Only by self-abasement are we lifted up into the high and holy place, to dwell with Him who inhabits eternity.

Satan has done everything that he could do to hide God and His power from men. The Sabbath, which is God's memorial, he has made the busiest day of the week, the day on which, humanly speaking, it seems most inconvenient to rest from labour. And right here is the strongest test as to whether men recognise and worship the true God. Is He able to give life? Can God clothe those who trust in Him? Can He give, bread in the wilderness? How many fully convinced of their duty to keep the Sabbath, have came to this point and have wavered and turned back; and yet they profess to believe in God as the Saviour of their souls, the One who will keep them alive throughout eternity. But do they believe? Does one really trust God for his soul's eternal salvation, if he cannot trust Him for the support of his body for this short life, which is but for a moment?

The Psalmist said: "I made haste, and delayed not to keep Thy commandments." In this is shown true worship of God. There are many who come face to face with the Sabbath law, who say that they will keep it as soon as they dam get their business into proper shape or can dispose of it. Some have debts, and think that they must continue their present employment which they regard as sure, until they get their debts paid. Then they will be prepared to keep the Sabbath. But that does not indicate such trust in God as must characterise one who worships Him only. There is really no difference between the one who waits till he can pay the debt of a hundred pounds, and the one who says, "I am a poor man, with nothing to live on; as soon as I have one hundred pounds in hand, then I can serve the Lord without fear of coming to want." So when he does begin his supposed service, he is not really trusting God, but what he himself has done. All distrust of God, even to the slightest degree, is a violation of the commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."

DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT

What a grand thing it is to know that God is a holy God and that He has power to save. This is the sum of the whole matter, and we end where we began: "I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." But some will say, "We have not been brought out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Then it is time you were. Do not deceive yourselves with the thought, "We were never in bondage to any man;" for "whoso committeth sin is the servant of sin." One of the names of Egypt, the name which the Lord gave it, is Rahab; which means pride, boastfulness. See lsa. xxx. 7, R. V. Egypt is a synonym for self-exaltation and defiance of God. The king of Egypt said: "Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice? I know not the Lord." God makes Himself known to us when we are in the bondage of sin, and delivers us that we may serve Him. We cannot serve Him while we are the servants of sin. "We cannot serve God and Mammon."

When God brings us out of bondage, we find that the commandment which we thought was a grievous yoke is liberty itself. So far is it from being a yoke of bondage that only free men can keep it. It gives freedom; "for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Those who seek His precepts are sure to walk at liberty. And so the commandment, instead of being an arbitrary rule, is a glorious promise. Instead of telling us merely what we must or must not do, it gives to us and makes sure to us all the holiness that it would have us render. The power by which Rahab (Egypt) was broken (lsa. Ii. 9-11), and all the enemies of the Lord scattered, casts out from us all strange gods.

Compare Ex. xx. 1-3, which we have quoted so often, with Ps. lxxxi. 8-10. We find that God, who delivers from bondage, says: "If thou wilt hearken unto Me, there shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange God." We listen to Him, and we are free, and henceforth sin shall have no dominion over us. All other gods have held us in the most degrading bondage; they have made us to be hateful and unlovely. But God, who is altogether lovely, makes us free as Himself, that we may worship Him in the beauty of holiness. Then He says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," and we delight in the assurance, for we know that He means, I am thy God and I have called thee by name; thou art Mine; henceforth I will defend you from every false god; I will be responsible for your freedom, so long as you listen to My words. I will protect you from the roaring lion, and from the sin that croucheth at the door. Nothing shall by any means hurt you; I will care for My own, and save you from the fury of the oppressor. And we in turn will say, "God is our Refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble." "Behold God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; far the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation."

"The Basis of Catholic Religion" The Present Truth 17, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

The Church Times, whose chief burden is to make the Church of England Catholic minus the Pope of Rome, derives great comfort and encouragement from the ceremonies that were observed in connection with the passing sway of Her majesty the Queen. It says:-

Large numbers of Churchpeople will have read with satisfaction what has been done at Osborne. They will remember that when the Duke of Clarence died at Sandringham a crucifix was prominent in the death chamber, and that even in a more churchly manner has the body of our late Sovereign been treated. They have felt that due reverence has been shown to the dead, in transforming the apartment in which her body has lain into a Chapelle Ardente, with its little prie-dieu, crucifix, lighted candles, and the reciting of offices. A few pious Protestants may find their souls vexed thereat, but Churchmen generally will rejoice, and the vast body of the public will think that if Royalty acts in this way it must be right, and the example ought to be copied. We may therefore expect that in future everything connected with death and burial will be conducted on more Catholic lines, and this will mean that Catholic truth about the intermediate state will have received a vast impetus.

"Catholic" means general,-that which is accepted by all. Of course, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as Catholicism, for there is nothing in which all people are agreed. Sin is the most Catholic thing on earth, but God has always had a "little flock" of faithful souls who have "loved righteousness and hated iniquity;" so that even sin is not universal. When it comes to matters of religion, it is evident that no one system, and no single doctrine, is universally adopted or practiced. Heathenism is more nearly Catholic than any other form of religion.

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But the spirit of Catholicism, as connected with professed Christianity, is identical with "the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience," whether they be open heathen, Mohammedan, or professedly infidel. It is the spirit of doing as the majority do, and of following the example set by those in places of authority and power. It never takes any account of what God's Word says, but always make, "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him?"

Lucifer was the highest created being, an angel of wondrous power and wisdom and glory, the one whose office it was to place the seal on perfection, yet his high position did not, justify anybody in following him in sin. There will always be a majority on the side of evil, as this present evil world continues; yet the few who withstand the influence of numbers and great names, and steadfastly enquire for the word of the Lord, are the ones who indeed follow authority, for they trust in the "Name that is above every name."

"Peace Wins the Greatest Victories" The Present Truth 17, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

In a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society, some weeks ago, Major Gibbons, an African explorer of repute, said:-

"During the last ten years my routes, added to those of my colleagues, exceed 20,000 miles, beyond the reach of railroads, and mainly in the most remote parts of the Africa of to-day, yet no one of us has found it necessary to take a single human life, and, for my own part, I would have no compunction in travelling again unarmed over any part of those 20,000 miles."

There are very few of the so-called "savage" people of the earth, who will molest a stranger who comes among them peaceably. Indeed, hospitality is a prominent characteristic with most of them. It is only when it has been abused, that they seek to destroy the invader, just as "civilised" people do. When people carry arms, they are quite sure to find use for them, and "they that take the sword shall perish with the sword;" but the man who never uses a weapon, never finds himself in the situation where he feels the need of one.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Departing and Being with Christ" The Present Truth 17, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

"I have heard a prayer by a minister, in reference to the death of our late Queen Victoria, in which he said that she is now reigning with Christ in heaven, and the highest sense of the term. I believe there is perfect harmony in Scripture, and although I have asked from a number of fellow-disciples an explanation of Luke xxiii. 48; Phil. i. 21-23; 2 Cor. v. 6-8, in the light that the dead are in a state of unconscious sleep, I have not as yet had it explained clearly. Can you help to remove the darkness? I shall be obliged if you can give an explanation of these passages."

[This question was inserted in No. 10, and in that and the following number the nature of man and the state of the dead were briefly considered.]

Before we proceed to the consideration of Phil. i. 23, concerning which you asked, I hope you will carefully review the two talks that we have already had, on the nature of man, and the state of man between death and the resurrection. In them we have the principles which will enable anybody to understand the whole subject, and our further talk will be but a repetition of them.

The text now before us reads thus: "I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better."

If one had not from a previous teaching imbibed the idea that men must die, in order to be with Christ, it would be impossible to imagine such a thing from this text, because it teaches exactly the opposite. No language could be conceived, which would make it plainer that death is not the way by which men go to be with Christ. This will appear, when we take into consideration the context.

The Apostle Paul was in Rome, in prison for the faith, but he had no complaints to make. After telling the Philippians how earnestly he prays for them, and how much he desires their welfare in everything, he refers to his bonds, but only to assure them that "the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather to the furtherance of the Gospel." Verse 12. The Gospel and its advancement is the burden of his thought. He said that his bondage had made others bold to preach Christ, and that while some preached Him of love, knowing that the apostle was set for the defence of the Gospel, others preached Him from envy and strife; but that in whatever way it might be, Christ was preached, and in that he rejoiced, and would continue to rejoice.

Still dwelling on the one theme, he said that his earnest expectation and desire was that Christ should be magnified in his body, whether it was by life or by death. Verses 14-20. In all this we see that Paul had no thought for himself, except as he might be a factor in carrying on the work of Christ.

Then comes the statement, so often quoted and misquoted: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Verse 21. Can you think for a moment, in view of the words immediately preceding, that Paul was here speaking of gain to himself? His sole desire was that Christ should be magnified in his body, whether by life, or by death. What was life to him?-A means of glorifying God. And what was death?-It was gain. To whom? Why, to Christ, of course. How incongruous, and opposed to all that goes before, to make Paul suddenly begin to speak about gain to himself. He was not longing for death, as a time when trouble which end; his only desire was for the advancement of the cause of Christ. If he lived, he knew that it would not be he, but Christ living in him. See Gal. ii. 20. And if he died, he knew that death would also be a gain to the cause of Christ, as it indeed was; for Paul did not die of a lingering disease, by which he was unfit for labour, but by the axe of the executioner. He died as a martyr, a witness to the truth, and that was in accordance with his expectation and his hope.

What then were the two things by which Paul was oppressed? They were life and death. He did not know which of them he should choose, if the choice were given him, because he did not know by which one of them he could better glorify the Lord; but there was a thing which he knew was, according to the Greek idiom, "very much more better" than either life or death. So much is very plain from the text. How anybody can think that the Apostle Paul could pen such nonsense as to say that he did not know which to choose, whether life or death, but that he chose death, is a marvel.

WHAT TO LONG FOR

What is the thing which Paul declared to be for a much better than life on this earth, or death?-It was the departing and being with Christ. And what is that? Paul himself has told us more about this, than any other writer. Read again:-

"The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17.

Or take the words of Christ: "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John xiv. 3. These words, and many more that might be quoted, show that the departing and being with Christ is only at His coming. So it was for the coming of the Lord that the Apostle Paul longed.

Do you say that Paul knew that he could not live till the coming of Christ? We do not know whether he did or not; he certainly always classed himself with those who should be alive at the coming of the Lord; but in any case, it is no more strange that Paul should express a longing for the coming of the Lord, than for John, who wrote: "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly, Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Rev. xx. 20. The coming of the Lord has been the one blessed hope of the faithful in Christ in all ages, since the fall of man.

We see, therefore, that the words of Paul to the Philippians, instead of teaching that death takes man into the presence of the Lord, make it most emphatically that such is not the case. If it were as is popularly supposed, then we should have no ground

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for hope in anything, because the Scriptures would contradict themselves. But such is not the case. The words of Scripture are but one harmonious whole, and they are a sure foundation for our faith and hope.

All believers in Christ are kings and priests, and in the future life they will sit upon thrones, even though in this life they have been trodden upon. We may believe that Queen Victoria was a faithful servant of the Lord, according to all the light given to her, "ruling in the fear of God," and that therefore in the world to come she will occupy a throne infinitely higher than the throne of England; but for that honour she must wait till the coming of the Lord and the resurrection. We may not long for death, for we cannot tell whether or not it would glorify God, and it is cowardly to long for it as a release from earthly toil; but we may long for the coming of the Lord, "for every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure." 1 John iii. 2, 3. Our intelligent longing for the coming of the Lord does not lead to idle dreaming, but to earnest action, that others may know the blessed hope, and rejoice in anticipation of the great salvation to be revealed at the appearing of Christ.

"The Editor's Private Corner. 'Absent from the Body, and Present with the Lord'" The Present Truth 17, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

These words were also referred to in the question, and they fit so naturally with the text considered in the preceding article that we will give them a brief study in the same connection. As is always the case, the misunderstanding of them arises from not giving thought to the connection in which they stand. Let us avoid the mistake, and come to an understanding of the words, by reading what goes with them.

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven; if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (for we walk by faith, not by sight); we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him." 2 Cor. v. 1-9.

It is impossible fully to grasp the force of these words, and of the entire chapter in which they stand, without a study of the two preceding chapters; for this we have not time at present. Our work now is more negative, to show what they do not teach; some other time we shall make a study of the grand truth, the statement which begins in the second chapter, and continues without a break in the sixth.

You will see that in the verses quoted three states are presented, namely, "clothed," "unclothed," and "clothed upon." These are three different conditions, and one of them is so plainly defined that from that we can know the meaning of the other two.

"CLOTHED UPON"ó"MORTALITY SWALLOWED UP OF LIFE"

In verse four we have learned that "clothed upon," is identical with "mortality swallowed up of life." This is called being "clothed upon with our house which is from heaven." Therefore our "building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," is the state of immortality, incorruptibility.

When is it that "this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality"? 1 Cor. xv. 53. It is "at the last trump," when "the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." "Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Thus we see that here, as in the first chapter of Philippians, the Apostle Paul talks of the coming of the Lord as the thing to be desired above all others.

Since being clothed upon with the house which is from heaven is the swallowing up of mortality by life, it is evident that "our earthly house of this tabernacle" is mortality, are present moral state. In it we groan, being burdened, for the whole creation groans under the weight of the curse; and although "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse," we still have to bear the burden of mortality; the flesh is not redeemed, but power is given us over it, until Christ shall come and exchange our fleshly bodies for spiritual bodies. Read 1 Cor. xv. 35-46.

"UNCLOTHED"óTHE STATE OF DEATH

What then is the state of being "unclothed," "found naked," a condition which the Apostle Paul did not desire? Evidently it is death. He wished to be released from the burden of this present earthly tabernacle,-this mortal body, but only that he might immediately "be clothed upon" with the heavenly house, "that mortality might be swallowed up of life." He did not wish for any waiting in the grave, and no healthy mind can long for that place.

In this mortal state we are absent from the Lord, because "flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherent incorruption." 1 Cor. xv. 50. If we were "absent from the body," we should also be absent from the Lord, unless we were "clothed upon;" for death is corruption, and the seeming triumph of it. What the apostle desired, therefore, was to be "absent from the body," but only in such a way as to be "present with the Lord," that is, to have mortality immediately "swallowed up of life."

MADE FOR IMMORTALITY

One thing more, in order that we may not, by this partly negative treatment of the text, lose the whole of the blessedness of it. "He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given us the earnest of the Spirit." What is the selfsame thing for which God hath wrought us? The words immediately preceding show that it is "that mortality might be swallowed up of life." That is, God has made is for immortality, and He has given us the assurance of it in the gift of His Spirit, by which even now the lusts and infirmities of mortal flesh are controlled. In this we are confident, and so we give ourselves to the one end, namely, that, "whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him," that is, that whether we live or die, we may be the Lord's. Rom. xiv.

"Our Little Ones. The Great Physician" The Present Truth 17, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Do you know what an "object lesson" is? O yes, you say, for no doubt you often have them in school, when you are taught from some object, something put before you that you can see.

All the way from Egypt to Canaan, God was giving object lessons to His people in the wilderness. He did mighty and wonderful works right before their eyes, to teach them of His power and love that were doing there same things for them all the time.

We have already seen that the pillar of cloud revealed Him who "stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain." The pillar of fire showed that it was He who has "set His glory upon the heavens," that they may declare it in all the earth. The dividing of the sea showed the power of the Creator, who holds the waters in His hand,

"And set bars and doors,
And said, Thus far shalt thou come, but no
further;
And here shall thy proud waves be stayed."

And now the Lord had another precious lesson for them. He wanted them to learn that He, the Creator, is also the Redeemer,-the Healer and Restorer, the Great Physician who alone could heal all their diseases. And so He led them in the wilderness to a place where He could give them an object lesson that would teach them this.

But they did not like the way that He led them; they went on and on, and found no water. This was a great hardship in the hot, sandy desert. When they were very thirsty and hot, they forgot that God was with them and leading them, and they grumbled at Moses for bringing them into the wilderness. At last they found springs of water, and hastened with joy to quench their burning thirst. But when they had tasted the water, they found that they could not drink it, for it was bitter. This is why that place was called Marah, which means bitter.

In the earth as God first made it there was no bitter thing. It was filled with all things sweet and fair, "pleasant to the sight, and good for food." But, the curse of sin has brought poison and bitterness, trials and tears, sickness, sorrow, pain and death. The Israelites knew something about this bitterness, for in the land of Egypt "their lives were made bitter with hard bondage." Now God wanted them to see His power to make sweet every bitter thing, to turn sorrow and mourning into joy, sickness into health, and death into life.

"And Moses cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet." Then the Lord told the people that if they would listen to His voice and keep His commandments, He would keep all the diseases of Egypt, from them, "for I am the Lord that healeth thee,"-"the Lord thy Physician."

There is a tree, we read about it in the beginning and the end of the Bible, that brings healing to all things. It is called "the Tree of Life." The leaves of this tree, we are told, "are for the healing of the nations."

The real Tree of Life is the Lord Jesus, for He is the source of life for all things. This is one of the lessons that the trees are to teach us, and you can think of it as you will soon see the life that is in them showing itself in bursting buds and fresh green leaves and bright blossoms. For just as the leaf, the stem, the branch, cannot live apart from the tree, so nothing can live apart from Christ. As the sap carries the life to all the branches of the tree, so the life of Jesus flows through the whole creation, and all the beauty and strength and sweetness that we see anywhere in nature are His alone.

All disease and decay are the working of death, and so the only thing that can heal is life. There could not be the healing of any disease, if life that is stronger than death were not given to take it away.

Think of this, for it is a sweet and solemn thought, which will make you love the Lord Jesus. Have you ever been ill? No matter how slight that illness, you could never have recovered from it, if Jesus had not given His life for you.

Do you ask how this can be? You know that He died for you upon the cross, but death had no power over Him, for He came forth from the grave a mighty Conqueror, having destroyed "him that had the power of death, that is the devil."

But in what Jesus did then He was showing what He had been doing from the beginning, taking the curse of death upon Himself, and swallowing it up by the power of His endless life. "Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses," and Matthew tells us that this is why He

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could heal the people with a touch or a word.

Do you not see then that Jesus has really been bearing the cross from the beginning? But because His life overcame the death that it brought, He could still give out His life to all things. It is by the power of that life which has the victory over death, that anyone has ever recovered from any illness. So there can be the healing of disease only because of the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Then if Jesus had not died for you, you could never have got better from any illness you have ever had. And the same powerful life that heals you when you are ill keeps you in health day by day, so long as you obey His laws of life and health. So you are kept well, kept alive, by the Cross of Jesus Christ.

In healing the bitter waters, God taught the people that all the sweet fresh, pure water that they had was through the gift of His life to them. He showed them that nothing could by any means hurt them so long as they trusted in Jesus for everything, and that the life that He had given for them was stronger than anything that could do them harm.

We shall meet many bitter experiences in passing through this world, but Jesus can change all the bitterness into sweetness. He did not give the people other water, but He made the bitter water sweet. So if He lets troubles come to us, He can take away all their bitterness, and change the curse into a blessing.

"Here see the Bread of Life; see waters flowing
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above.
Come to the feast of love; come ever knowing
Earth has no sorrow but heaven can remove."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

-The value of goods imported into this country in the first two months of 1901 was ?40,000,000 in excess of that of exported goods.

-In London there are some 110,000 Jews, and of these about 100,000 live in the East End, 60,000 of them being foreigners by birth.

-The census returns shows that the German Empire in December last had a population of 56,345,014, females being in the majority. Berlin has a population of 1,884,151.

-Old age pensions have been adopted in Victoria, to begin at 10s. a week. It is now found that, whereas 6,000 applications were estimated for, 15,000 have come in, and the annual cost will be ?400,000.

-It has been found in the Congo that the elephants are so destructive of telegraph wires, which they tear down, as well as uprooting the posts, that the Congo Government has decided on establishing a service of wireless telegraphy.

-The natural increase in the British population last year was little over a third of a million, being some 8,000 short of that of 1899 and 30,000 below the average during the previous five years. This result is said to have been entirely due to a decline of the birth-rate attributed to the greater age at which people now marry.

-A new remedy for foot-and-mouth disease has been discovered by Dr. V. Jarre, of Paris. It consists of the cauterisation of the source with a concentrated solution of chromic acid. During the past two years 1,500 experiments have been made, and it is anticipated that this simple cure will lead to the complete eradication of the disease.

-A new hot spring was discovered last week at Carlsbad, yielding from 400 to 800 litres of boiling water per minute.

-The Holy Synod of the Greek Church has formally excommunicated Count Leo Tolstoi, and issued a circular dealing with his "heresies."

-Mr. Harrison, ex-President of the United States, died March 13, and was buried on Sunday, March 17, after lying in state at the Capitol.

-A boiler explosion took place at a steam laundry in Chicago, March 11, killing about a dozen persons, and injuring over twenty others.

-The Mud Mullah, against whom a joint British and Abyssinian force was proceeding in Northern Somaliland, is reported to have been completely defeated by the Abyssinians, with considerable loss on both sides.

-The Russian trappers in Siberia are busy capturing the tiny white creatures whose skins will be required for the ermine robes at the coronation of King Edward. About 400 skins of the ermine will be required to make one robe.

-The plague is developing seriously in Cape Town, and several deaths have been reported during the week. The malady is spreading to the better classes. Several thousand of the city Kaffirs are being removed to a newly constructed location.

-During the week ending at midnight on Thursday 108 cases of smallpox were admitted to hospital in Glasgow; 122 persons were dismissed well, and twenty-three deaths occurred; 404 patients were under treatment in hospital. The total number of deaths up to that time was 181, and of admissions, 1,499.

-The census of Bombay city shows a population of 770,000, or a decrease of over 50,000 compared with ten years ago. The decrease is mainly due to the exodus on account of the plague. A decrease of 1,100,000 in the population of the Central Provinces of India is attributed to the ravages of famine.

-A hop warehouse at Bermondsey was destroyed by fire on the 9th inst. The bales of hops were swollen by the water poured into the building, and crushed out the walls, which shattered the house opposite, and buried some of the firemen in their fall. The firemen were rescued, but several were severely injured.

-At the annual meeting of the Edinburgh Asylum for the Insane, Dr. Clouston, the physician superintendent, in reporting that the admissions for the past year constituted a record, expressed the opinion that the excessive use of alcohol during times of brisk trade and high wages accounted to a large extent for the increase.

-According to the Newspaper Press Directory just published, 2,480 papers are published in the United kingdom. Of these 456 are published in London, including thirty-three dailies; 1,488 in the provinces; 108 in Wales, of which 7 are dailies; 216 in Scotland, including nineteen dailies; and 181 in Ireland, with twenty dailies.

-Dr. Sven Hedin, the Swedish explorer, has just made a very interesting discovery in Thibet. He has found a new salt sea like the Dead Sea of Palestine. It is very shallow, and contains even a greater percentage of salt than the Dead Sea. The whole bottom of it is covered with rough salt, and it is naturally as barren as the well-known sea in Palestine.

-A heat wave, accompanied by a rain of red sand, has passed over Sicily and Southern Italy. The sky was obscured by yellow clouds, the rain falling having the appearance of blood, and everything was covered with a reddish mud. Red and yellow snow fell in the Austrian Alps. Sand carried by the wind of the sirocco from the African desert is regarded as the cause of the phenomena.

"Music as a Soporific" The Present Truth 17, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

The musical guild of St. Cecilia, recently mentioned in these pages, has had some wonderful experiences among hospital patients. It seems that a patient suffering from insomnia had been sent to sleep twins by their music; but as some doubt about the fact was expressed by a physician in the hospital, the choir determined to try the effect of their charms upon a whole wards and actually succeeded. They sent four patients out of fourteen into sound slumber, and rendered drowsy all the others, in the short space of twenty minutes. In another hospital a woman suffering from depression of spirits, which had deprived her of the desire to talk for many weeks, became interested and conversational under the influence of the music; while a man suffering from delirium tremens was soothed and quieted. The experiment is worth trying in hospital work.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Our readers will notice that, according to the promise made in the Christmas number of PRESENT TRUTH, we have begun the publication of a series of articles on the ten commandments. The articles have been prepared with care, from a series of discourses by the editor. Each commandment will make two articles, and the second one of the first commandment appears this week. The commandment is "exceeding broad," and there are few things that do not naturally pass in review in the study of the law of life. May the Lord richly bless all who read. Cannot each reader do something to bring the matter before others?

"The Law Cannot Justify" The Present Truth 17, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

The Law Cannot Justify .-"By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Shall we say, Then we will do away with the law? That is what every confirmed criminal thinks. Persistent law-breakers would gladly do away with the law which declares them guilty and will not say that wrong is right. But the law of God cannot be abolished, for it is the statement of the will of God. Rom. ii. 18. In very fact it is the life and character of God. "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Rom. vii. 19. We read the written law, and find in it our duty made plain. But we have not done it; therefore we as guilty. "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." "There is none that doeth good, no, not one." Rom. iii. 23, 12.

Moreover, there is not one who has strength to do the law, its requirements are so great. Then it is very evident that no one can be justified by the works of the law, and it is equally evident that the fault is not in the law, but in the individual. Let the man got Christ in the heart by faith, and than the righteousness of the law will be there also, for Christ says, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart." Ps. xlv. 8. He who would throw away the law because it will not call evil good, would reject God because He will "by no means clear the guilty." Ex. xxxiv. 7. But God will remove the guilt, will make the sinner righteous, that is, in harmony with the law, and then the law which before condemned him will witness to his righteousness.

"Stern Law-giver, yet Thou dost wear
The Godhead's most benignant grace,
Nor know we anything more fair
Than is the smile upon Thy face.
Flowers laugh before thee on their bed
And fragrance in Thy footing treads;
Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong,
And the most ancient heavens through Thee
are fresh and strong."

"The Giving of the Law" The Present Truth 17, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

The Giving of the Law .-Both the old and the new covenant require the keeping of the law; the great difference between the two is that the old covenant is man's promise to keep the law, while the new covenant is God's promise that we shall keep it. The essential feature of the new covenant is that in it God first gives to us all that He requires from us. In the eighth chapter of the Hebrews, Paul, speaking of the new covenant, quotes thus from Jeremiah: "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, . . . I will put [literally, give] My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." God begins by giving,-giving His laws into our minds and hearts. How can He do this?-Only by giving Himself to be the life of our life. Therefore the new covenant is the promise of life, for it is "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" that puts His laws in our minds and hearts. And this life in Christ is everlasting life, for it enables us to meet all the requirements of God, and he that doeth "the will of God abideth for ever." So the new covenant is the promise of everlasting life.

God first gives the law to us, then asks us for it, and we can give it back to Him in a life of obedience to His commandments. He may ask us for never so much, if He gives it to us before He asks for it. No matter then what He requires, He can make no demands that we cannot meet. But if He should ask us for ever so little, without first supplying it, it would be in vain, for we have absolutely nothing to give. In the making of the old covenant, the Jews purposed to give without receiving,-to keep the law of themselves, before it was given by God into their minds and hearts. Consequently they failed, as do we under those conditions. But whatever God asks, He gives; therefore receive first from Him, and then give. Take hold of the promise, receive the Spirit of life into the mind and heart, and give it back to Him in a life of loving obedience and service.

"'Vain Repetitions'" The Present Truth 17, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

We are commanded, when we pray, not to use vain repetitions, as the heathen do; and we should do well to carry out the injunction in all the affairs of Christian life. If we did, we should be faithful and true witnesses, and not mere retailers of what others have said. In a review of a new "Introduction to the New Testament," it is said that the author "loyally follows Harnack, and in matters of pure scholarship he could hardly do better. But his real master is Ritschl." The involuntary question is, "What is the use?" If one man has given testimony in court, such a thing would not be tolerated, as that another, having listened intently, and taken notes, should proceed to tell the same story. Yet this is what is being done continually in the most important case in the world. How can men be content to be mere copyists?

We do not mean that there should not be unity and agreement among Christians, or that people should seek to be different from others. Far from it. But unity is not slavish copying of one another. god has given to every man a mind, and if the mind be submitted to God, He will lead all into all truth, and there will be unity but not identity. "I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal My words every one from his neighbour." Jer. xxiii. 30. How much more, then, will He be against those who steal from their neighbours words that are not His? "One is your Master, even Christ," "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." He who gives us an infinite variety of colour in sky and flowers, with always the same light, can give us His one truth in endless variety of forms, through all the different souls who absorb and reflect the light of life.

March 28, 1901

"The Resurrection of Jesus. Luke xxiv. 1-12" The Present Truth 17, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

"Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood, by them in shining garments ["dazzling apparel," R.V.]; and as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen; remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful man, and be crucified and the third day rise again. And they remembered His words. And they returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. . . . And their words seemed to them as, idle tales, and they believed, them not. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre, and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes lying by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass."

THE SABBATH AND THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK

There is incidentally, in this connection, a little evidence concerning the Sabbath, which ought not to be overlooked. The reader cannot fail to note that this chapter is but a continuation of something that has gone before. It says that early in the morning of the first day of the week, "they came unto the sepulchre," without specifying who are referred to by the pronoun "they." No specification is necessary, since in the Gospel as written try Luke, there were no chapter divisions, and the verses immediately preceding the first verse of our lesson are these:-

"And that day [the day that Christ was crucified], was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed after, and behold the sepulchre, and how His body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke xxiii. 54-56.

Now it is all plain; the verses last quoted are absolutely necessary to the understanding of this lesson, and they make the picture complete. They show us, in the most natural way possible, not only what day the women kept as the Sabbath, but what day the Spirit of God calls the Sabbath, and what day should be kept by all followers of Christ. The Scripture before us presents three days in succession: "the preparation," "the Sabbath," and "the first day of the week." They came in just that order. Reckoning back from the first day of the week, a problem that presents no difficulty to any child who can count up to seven, we see that, since there are but seven days in a week, the Sabbath, which immediately precedes "the first day of the week," must be the seventh day of the week, commonly known as Saturday; and "the preparation" for the Sabbath is of course the sixth day of the week, or Friday.

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It is evident that when Luke wrote there was no thought of such a thing as that Sunday should take the place of the Sabbath. It must not be said that the women, being Jews, would as a matter of course rest on the seventh day, because it is not merely a question of what the women did or thought, but of the language of the Holy Ghost. The point is, that in the book known as the New Testament, and commonly recognized as "the Christian Scriptures," given by inspiration of the Spirit of God, the seventh day of the week, the day in the fourth commandment, is called "the Sabbath day," without the slightest intimation that any other day had taken or ever should take its place. If the resurrection of Christ had the slightest effect on the day of the Sabbath, here is the place where it should be made known; but no hint of such a thing is given. Do you who study this lesson keep the Sabbath day? Perhaps you are a Sunday-school teacher: Do you take the Scriptures as your guide, and use the language and follow the precepts of the Bible? Do you teach, "not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth"? If not, why not? If not, why do you call yourself a Christian, and profess to be a teacher of the Bible?

THE STONE ROLLED AWAY

Mark's narrative tells us that as the women went to the sepulchre "they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" It was a very natural question, yet wholly unnecessary if they had believed the words that Christ had repeatedly spoken to them before the crucifixion. He had told them that He should rise the third day, and when they reached the sepulchre "they found the stone rolled away" by the life power that was in His words. You say that it was done by an angel?-Very true; but the angels who "do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word," move not only in response to that word, but by the power of it.

The resurrection of Jesus shows the power that life has over death. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, spoke of the crucifixion of Christ, "whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." Acts ii. 24. Why was it impossible?-Because "in Him was life," and the light of that life cannot be shut in by the power of darkness. Life, real life, conquers, it gains the victory over every foe.

The power of life-the power of the resurrection-may be seen every day by anybody who has eyes that are open. "The Open Grave" in Hanover, Germany, a view of which accompanies this article, exhibits it in a most striking manner. About one hundred and fifty years ago a lady died and was buried in a churchyard in Hanover, and, doubtless by her order, the grave was made as secure as human ingenuity could make it. Heavy stones were piled round and upon it, and all were fastened together by strong iron clamps. On the bottom stone is a sentence, of which the following is an exact translation: "This grave, purchased for eternity, must never be opened." But the grave is open, nevertheless, and yet no man has ventured to lay hands on it. The seed of a tree was also buried, and the germ of life in it could not be shut in. It was not possible that it could be held by the grave stones. Silently it pushed its way out and still the tree, with its roots in the grave, is year by year pressing the stones farther apart. Life is coming from the grave. Without any voice, the tree is preaching the power of the resurrection to the hundreds of visitors who view it.

PROOF OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION

What is the evidence that Christ did really rise from the grave. Some one answers that we have the testimony of those who saw Him after He had risen. Very true, and no testimony could be better. Every effort made by the Jews to guard against the stealing of the body of Jesus,-the sealed rock and the Roman guards,-as well as the story that they circulated after the resurrection, only served to make more positively certain the fact of His resurrection. As a matter of history, no fact is better attested.

But all this is not sufficient. We read that "with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus" (Acts iv. 33); and this they could do, because they had all seen Him. But we are called upon to be witnesses, as well as they, and it will not do for us merely to repeat their testimony. Surely the Lord will not be satisfied with any lower grade of testimony than is acceptable in an earthly court; and in court people must tell only that which they themselves know, and not what they have heard or road about the case.

We are in court, and the case is one of life and death; all turns on whether Jesus who was crucified is alive or not. You and I are questioned about the matter; we are under oath, and we must witness to the truth. You answer promptly, "Yes; He is risen."

"How do you know?" asks the judge.

"Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and Paul have testified"-

"Hold!" exclaims the judge; "those men are not now in the witness box; you are not to repeat their testimony; they can speak for themselves when they are called on; what can you tell us from personal knowledge?"

"Would you say, as some have said, "Of course I was not there, and I can't say anything from personal knowledge, but I believe the evidence of those who say that they saw Him?" Then you would be in an embarrassing situation indeed. Mind, it is not claimed that you do not do well to believe those who say that they saw Jesus after His resurrection; but it is a fact that if you are to convince others you must not give any second-hand testimony.

"What else can I do?" you ask.

Well, you may not be able to do anything else; but there are those who, in answer to the question how they know that Jesus has risen from the dead, can, answer promptly: "He lives with me;" "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Gal. ii. 20. That is evidence that must be accepted in any court; it cannot fail to carry conviction.

The desire of the Spirit is that we may know the exceeding greatness of the power of God "to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." Eph. i. 19, 20. That desire may be a reality with everybody. Your salvation depends upon that piece of knowledge, but, thank God, it is the easiest thing in the world to find out. So the question is asked, What do you know about the resurrection of Jesus?

"The Word the Seed" The Present Truth 17, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

That which was put into the ground in the beginning to cause the earth to bring forth grass, herbs, and trees, was the Word of God. The Word, therefore, is the real seed, the life of the visible seed. Every seed that sprouts is a demonstration of the power of that Word to triumph over difficulties, to remove all obstacles, and to give life to the dead. Silently, without observation, the Word of life within the seed operates, the dead, hard shell gives way before it, and the new life manifests itself. Even so "the kingdom of God is within you." It cometh not with observation, but its power if infinite.

"The Law of Life. The Second Commandment" The Present Truth 17, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

The first commandment runs through the entire decalogue. It is indeed the basis of all the other commandments, and they are all but the drawing out of this one. It teaches love to God with the whole being; and "love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. xiii. 10. To keep God's commandments is to love Him. 1 John v. 3. He that keeps the whole law, and yet offends in one point, is guilty of all. James ii. 10. Conversely, whoever really keeps one, keeps all, for the law is a unit; it is not ten separate items, but one word, given by one God. If one could keep nine parts of the law, or ninety-nine hundredths of it, and yet transgress the other part, he would show that his seeming obedience was not really obedience, but only will worship. The disregarding of one precept would show that he did not respect the authority of the lawgiver, but that he simply pleases himself, as well in his seeming obedience as in his disobedience.

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments." Ex. xx. 4. 5.

A PERVERSION OF THE COMMANDMENT

Before we deal at length with the positive teaching of this commandment, we must notice a common misunderstanding of it. There are some who attempt to cover up their failure in some points, by an excess of zeal in something else; or else they would divert attention from something which they are transgressing, by exaggerating some other commandment, and thus making it seem impossible to keep it. They will say, "You do not keep this," thereby implying that they are justified in not keeping the other. But the fact that some one steals is no excuse for somebody else to kill. It is imagined by some that the second commandment forbids the making of anything whatever that is like something else. So they will either say that we cannot keep it, or else when one talks to them about the fourth commandment, for instance, they will evade the matter by painting to some picture in your possession, and saying, "You do not keep the second commandment."

Now we must allow God to interpret His own law, and we must not accuse Him of inconsistency, or of violating it. Only a few days after this commandment was spoken, God called Moses up into the mountain, and gave him directions to make

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a sanctuary and vessels for service, and said to him: "Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shown thee in the mount." Ex. xxv. 40. And we are expressly told that these things were "patterns of things in the heavens." Heb. ix. 23. Moreover by God's express command the walls of the sanctuary were covered with pictures of cherubim, and there were two figures of cherubim, images made of beaten gold, upon the ark, which itself was a representation of God's throne. This is sufficient to show us that the second commandment does not mean that we shall make no image of anything; indeed if some people's interpretation of the commandment were correct, it would largely stop the manufacture of machinery, or implements of agriculture. No two could be made alike, because the second would be a likeness of the first. One could not have the buttons of his clothes the same pattern. But the commandment does not descend to such absurdities. The essence of the commandment lies in the words, "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them." Nothing is to be made with the idea of worshipping it.

The Roman Catholic Bible has, "Thou shalt not adore them," instead of "Thou shalt not bow down to them," and then the people are taught that it is no sin to bow down before an image. We are told that they do not worship or adore these images, but that they use them as reminders of God or of saints whom they reverence. But the commandment says literally, according to the Hebrew, "Thou shalt not do obeisance to them," not bow down to nor recognise images in any way whatever as worthy of reverence. And it also forbids making any image to remind no of God; for every such thing must necessarily be infinitely below Him, and therefore must degrade the worshipper.

CHANGING THE TRUTH INTO A LIE

This commandment grows naturally out of the first. That forbids having any God but one; this forbids the attempt to represent Him in any way whatever. We are to worship Him in person, and not some substitute for Him, nor to attempt to worship Him through something else. In the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy we are told why this is so. "The Lord spoke unto you, out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice." "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spoke unto you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire; lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground; the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth; and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them, and serve them." Deut. iv. 12, 15-19.

"No man hath seen God at any time," therefore no man can make a representation of Him. We read that outside the Holy City, among the lost, is "whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." And whoever makes any image to represent God, makes a lie, because it is a misrepresentation of Him. The maker and the worshipper of a graven image has a lie in his right hand. lsa. xliv. 9-20. It the first chapter of Romans we read of the heathen that they changed the truth of God into a lie. The truth is set forth in verses 16-20. It is that the invisible things of God, namely His everlasting power and divinity, are seen in everything that He has made. But none of these things are a likeness of God. The truth was changed into a lie when men assumed that the things which reveal God were God Himself, or representations of Him.

There is a vast difference between Pantheism and God's omnipresence, but the heathen did not discern it. "When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things."

Here we see how necessary this commandment is to-day, and in this country, as well as in Africa, China, or any other land, and that it is as really broken in so-called Christian nations, as in the openly heathen countries. God looks upon the heart, and understands the thought afar off, and what one purposes to do is counted as the act itself. Nay, what one has not definitely purposed to do, and is not conscious that he will do, is counted as the act Already done, if the thing that he has in his mind naturally leads to it. If we have in us the spirit which would result in open sin, that is sin, for "the thought of foolishness is sin."

IMAGINATION AND IMAGE MAKING

Notice that before the heathen changed the truth of God into a lie by making images to represent Him, they "became vain in their imaginations," trusting in themselves that they were wise. The work of the Spirit of God is to cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. Every one, therefore, who has vain thoughts,-the imaginations of his own heart,-who trusts in his own wisdom, which is foolishness in the sight of God, is essentially an idolater.

How few have thought of the connection between an image and imagination. Before a man makes a molten or graven image, he has the form of it in his mind. The evil does not consist merely in the image made, but in the imagination of it, "We know that an idol is nothing." 2 Cor. viii. 4. And the reason why it is nothing is that it is the product of an empty thought. Therefore "they who make them are like unto them," for he who thinks nothing, is nothing; and every thought that is not of God is a vain thought.

This is why those who profess themselves to be wise become fools. They could not think that they themselves were wise if they had the true knowledge of God. When men lose the knowledge of God, they really know nothing at all. Therefore the difference between those who make and bow down to images, and those who trust in the imagination of their own heart, is only one of outward form and circumstance.

The truth is that God's power and presence are revealed in every created thing. The lie is that every creature is a god. Men assume that the force exerted through matter is inherent in the matter. From this it is but a natural step to conclude that the power manifest in man is inherent in him, and therefore that he himself is a god. This, instead of being elevating, is most degrading, as shown in the facts set forth in the first of Romans. Men become like that which they worship, so when they worship and serve the creature instead of the Creator, they inevitably fall to the level and even below the level of the lowest creature.

SEEING THE INVISIBLE IS THE ONLY SAFEGUARD

Is it not clear that this commandment forbids every vain thought, that it provides for a perfect mind, a perfect heart? Its message is identical with that to be given

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the last days as a preparation for the revelation of the power and glory of God in the clouds of heaven at the second coming of Christ. That message is, "Behold your God!" This commandment teaches us to behold God in all His manifestations; and whoever does this can never be so foolish as to attempt to make an image of Him.

But some one will say, "We cannot see Him." Nevertheless we are to see Him, even though He is invisible. For it is the invisible things of God that are clearly seen in the things that He has made.

It was because men could not see God, that they made images to represent Him, and every one who does not see God in His works has in himself the essential elements of the transgression of the second commandment. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," not merely in the future, but now. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork." God's finger-marks are upon everything that He has made. Everywhere we see the traces of His hand. We see not simply where He has been working, but we see Him actively at work. One may say with Job: "Behold I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; on the left hand where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him; He hideth Himself on the right hand that I cannot see Him." But He is there nevertheless, for He says, "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" And the sole business of our lives is to behold Him, and get acquainted with Him. This is the only safeguard against the violation of the second commandment.

Whoever gets acquainted with God, must be lost in wonder and adoration, and it is not possible for him to think of making something to represent Him, for he sees that He is an infinite God, with an infinite variety of manifestations. He learns that God is all, and he himself is nothing. As he looks at the revelation of God, he sees as it were God expanded before his eyes, and the more he sees of Him the more fully he realises that there is yet infinitely more to see. Now since one must necessarily see the whole of a thing before he can make an image of it, it is plain that no one who sees God as revealed in His works can ever be so foolish as to think of making an image of Him.

In this commandment therefore we see that which is said of the whole law; it is "perfect, converting the soul;" it is, "pure, enlightening the eyes." God's "Thou shalt," or "Thou shalt not," is not an arbitrary decree which he issues, leaving the entire responsibility of performance with us, but is the statement of what will be the result if we allow Him to have His way with us. He has charged Himself with our salvation, and even as He is in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses onto them, so He Himself becomes responsible for the obedience of every one who sees and acknowledges Him. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

(To be continued).

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Evil of Spiritualism" The Present Truth 17, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Every few of those who read and talk about Spiritualism realise what a terrible thing it is. Most people suppose that it is simply a foolish fad, not especially wicked, but exceedingly silly. They have heard so much about table tipping, rappings, etc., and there have been so many "exposures" of the tricks performed by professed spirit mediums, that it is quite commonly supposed that Spiritualism is a clumsy sort of fraud.

THE ESSENCE OF SPIRITUALISM

While there are very many adjuncts to Spiritualism, and it develops in many different forms, the thing itself consists always and only in this one teaching, namely, the conscious existence of the dead, and the possibility of their communicating with those still on earth. That is the whole of Spiritualism, or Spiritism, as it is more properly called, and everybody who holds to the unscriptural doctrine of the consciousness of the dead is essentially a spiritualist.

"Not a very dangerous thing," you say. Well, there is never any safety in falsehood, and we have seen in the three preceding studies in this "Corner" that there is no truth in that doctrine. The Scriptures of truth teach us that man is mortal by nature; that mortality is exchanged for immortality only at the coming of the Lord; and that between death and the coming of the Lord there is a period of absolute unconsciousness. Now let us see wherein the danger lies in the opposite view.

MINISTERING ANGELS

It is a fact that there are spirits that go about on earth, walking among men, unseen by them. These are not, however, the spirits of the dead. God sends His holy angels as ministering spirits, to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation. These angels "excel in strength," and serve men in thousands of ways. We are indebted to their good offices for preservation from many dangers and accidents. While they do their work in silence, and are content to do their duty, even though their ministration be not recognised, it is possible for them to appear to us, and angels have often been seen by men. The Bible contains numerous instances of such manifestations.

FALLEN ANGELS

But these angels of God are not all the spirits that go about on this earth. There are "angels that kept not their first estate," "angels that sinned," and left their habitation. 2 Peter ii. 4; Jude 6. Satan himself, their leader, was once the highest and most exalted created being in heaven, but now he spends his time "going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it" (Job i. 7), "as a roaring lion" walking about "seeking whom he way devour." 1 Peter v. 8. Though he and his host of fallen angels have lost all their goodness, they have not lost all their power, and their wisdom has degenerated into cunning. Fallen though they be, they are

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in every particular far more than a match for mere human beings.

"TRY THE SPIRITS"

It is for this reason that we are exhorted not to believe every spirit, but to "try the spirits, whether they are of God." 1 John iv. 1. How are we to try them? Here is the rule: "To the law, and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. viii. 20.

Now there is not the slightest ground for doubt that men have had and do still have communications from these spirits, and that what has been done in this line in the past is but a small beginning. Can you not see that the truth concerning the nature of man and the state of the dead is not a matter of indifference? If it be hold that the dead are conscious, there is no ground for denying their ability to communicate with those whom they have left behind. True, very many who hold that doctrine do not believe that they can so communicate, but let them once receive a communication concerning something which no one ever knew anything about, except themselves and some one who is now dead, or, stronger still, let them see the form of the departed one, and let them talk with one who looks like him, and who reminds them of all the incidents of bygone days, and they will inevitably believe that the dead can communicate with men in the flesh. This has been the experience of thousands, and it will be the experience of many thousands more.

NOT THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD

But who are these pretended friends? We know for a certainty that they cannot be the spirits of the dead, for "the dead know not anything." The conclusion is evident, therefore, that they are naught but the sinful angels that kept not their first estate, and who have now nothing to look forward to but the day of destruction, and who find their delight in seducing to destruction as many human beings as possible. Be assured that every time anybody receives a communication purporting to come from some dead friend, he is in direct communication with the devil or some of his host of fallen angels. Is it not terrible to contemplate?

I have known ministers of the Gospel who have fallen into Spiritualism through their belief in the conscious state of the dead. When the "evidence of their senses" was added to what they regarded as a fundamental doctrine of the Gospel, they of course accepted it. And when Spiritualism has once been accepted by any person, the doctrines of the Bible, and the morality of the Bible, no longer are final authority to him. He is at the mercy of the enemy of all good, and "the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."

How many there are who depend for their belief wholly upon what their favourite minister says, or upon the traditions of men, even though they be contrary to the Bible! In fact, most people go to some man, to find out the meaning of whatever the Bible says. When they depend so much on what men still in the flesh say, is not to be expected that they would attach still more weight to the sayings of those who profess to have come direct from heaven? If a man gets his religion wholly from some learned clergyman, will he not depend still more upon a message purporting to come from that man after he has been dead and supposedly in heaven for many years? The only safety against the gross deceptions of Satan in the last days, is strict adherence to the Word of God.

And this emphasises the fact that acceptance of the righteousness of God in Christ is the only hope of man. It matters not how correct the form of doctrine which one believes, if he does not believe unto righteousness,-if he cherishes any sins,-he is an easy prey to the deceptions of Satan, because he is already submitting to him. The devil must be stoutly resisted, "steadfastly in the faith," and his will flee. The prince of this world will have no power over those in whom he finds nothing of his own.

LIFE IN CHRIST ONLY

So we end where we began, with absolute dependence on Christ for righteousness and life. Life and righteousness are inseparable, and both come only from God in Christ. Spiritualism denies the necessity for any atonement and this is the inevitable conclusion from the teaching that men have life in themselves, apart from Christ, for whoever has life in himself has righteousness also. The wrath of God comes upon the false prophets, because, He says, "with lies we have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not turn from his wicked way, by promising him life." Eze. xiii. 22. Do not be afraid to trust the Lord for everything, and in all your ways to acknowledge Him as the source of everything, and He will make your way right.

"The Home of the Camel" The Present Truth 17, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

The recent spectacle of a train of patient camels accompanying a wild beast show through the London streets, ankle-deep in snow, could not fail to awaken a feeling of pity in the beholder, as he thought of the hot desert sands to which the camel is accustomed, and for which it seems so well fitted. But according to a writer in Chambers's Journal the Bactrian Camel seems to be so much at home on the stony steppes of the Gobi Desert as his cousins in the Sahara, and bears the rigours of a Siberian winter without apparent discomfort or injury.

From the dawn of history, Arabia has been the especial home of the camel. Its habitat, if we include the various breeds of the two species, may fairly be said to extend from Central Africa to Lake Baikal, on the frontier of Siberia, and from Algeria to China.

But far beyond even this vast area the camel is found in certain regions, and has apparently "come to stay" in some of them. Camels arrived in Turkey with the Osmanli conquerors; they were bred in Tuscany as early as 1632, and Leigh Hunt makes mention of those at Pisa-which had by this time degenerated-in his day.

Camels were introduced into Spain about 1830 from the Canary Islands, and though they did good work as beasts of burden for years, were ultimately allowed to run wild in the marshy delta of the Guadalquivir, where at least one herd of twenty, perfectly wild, stilt exists. Camels have been tried in Cuba, Texas, Bolivia, and Nevada, with no considerable success; but in Australia, an experiment, first merle in 1860, has proved Immensely successful, insomuch that in the "coming colony" of Western Australia, these beasts of burden promise to bear an important share in the development now going "with leaps and bounds."

"The Children. Daily Bread" The Present Truth 17, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

When the Children of Israel left Egypt on the night of the Passover, they carried some food with them to eat on their journey. You will remember that they had unleavened bread in their kneading troughs, and they also toot their cattle with them.

But when they had been journeying about a month, their food supply got very low, and they wondered where they were going to get food enough to eat, for they were now in the wilderness, where there was no food. They forgot that the Lord had made a way for them in the sea, and sweetened the bitter waters, and they murmured against Moses for bringing them out of Egypt to die of hunger in the desert.

Many hundred years after this there was a great multitude of hungry people in a desert place, with nothing to eat. And Jesus said to His disciples, "Whence shall we buy bread, that theme may eat? And this He said to prove them, for He Himself knew what He would do."

Even so it was when He led His people into the wilderness where there was no food, and no place to buy any. He Himself know just how He was going to feed them; but because they could not see an abundance of food right before their eyes, they were afraid they were going to be left to starve.

Jesus has bought us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." We are to ask for a supply for one day only, and to trust that God will send us just what we need when the right time comes.

When people have, like the rich fool, "much goods laid up for many years" they often forget who is the Giver, and that it all comes from God. So their great store becomes a curse instead of a blessing to them, and makes them forget God, instead of constantly reminding them of His goodness. They trust in what they can see, instead of in the One whom they cannot see, from whom comes everything that they can see.

Sometimes God lets people lose all that they have, or come to a place where they have nothing at all, so that they may be led to think of where it all comes from. This is what He wanted to teach the Children of Israel, that He is the Source of all things, the great Heavenly Father who provides daily bread for all His children.

And besides this, as they were traveling through the wilderness, over wild rocky country, it would have been very troublesome for them to have much to carry with them. God wanted to save them this trouble, and to have them as free from care as the birds and the animals that He feeds day by day.

Was it not much sweater for them to have God daily spread a table of fresh bread in the wilderness, than to have to carry a lot of stale food with them?

When we come to a place of trial and difficulty, we may be quite sure that our Father in heaven is preparing some sweet surprise for us. So let us not grieve His laving heart by grumbling, but make Him glad by our loving trust in Him.

Forty years afterwards, when Moses reminded them of this time, he said, "He suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, . . . that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."

It is God's Word that creates all the food in the world, and it was by this that the Israelites had all their lives been fed. Now God was going to give them an object lesson to teach them this; and He said, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you."

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A strange thing? O no; you have often eaten bread from heaven; indeed you have never eaten any that was not rained down from heaven. "For the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater."

All their lives the Children of Israel had been eating bread from heaven without knowing it, and to teach them this God rained down bread direct, instead of working in the usual way, and causing the earth to bring it forth through the rain and snow that come down from heaven.

Moses said to the people when they murmured because they had no bread, "In the morning ye shall see the glory of the Lord." And the Lord said, "In the morning ye shall be filled with bread." So in giving them bread, God was showing them the glory.

"His glory to His children's good,
His joy, His tender Fatherhood."

Once when Paul was speaking to some heathen people who did not know the true God, He said that God "left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."

In His wonderful work of creating food for us by the power of His Word, through the yearly harvest, causing the earth to yield her increase, God is showing us His glory and, giving us a witness of Himself, and leaving without excuse those who do not know Him. Every meal that we have is a witness to us of the true God, and of the tender care of our loving Father and Creator.

Next week we will talk about the bread from heaven that God rained down for His people in the wilderness. Find out all that you can about it in your Bibles.

"'Manna' in India" The Present Truth 17, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

You have all heard of the sad famine in India, and of the awful sufferings of the poor natives, many thousands of whom have died of starvation. The story has lately come from the famine district that during the famine the bamboos were found to be yielding "manna" of a kind quite unknown to the natives, who found it a valuable help to them in their famished condition. Samples of this "manna" have been examine by the Government officials, who found it to be very much like sugar. Neither the officials nor the natives had ever heard of this product coming from the bamboo, so it is not surprising that they look upon this as a special provision that God has made for them in their need.

"How We Live. Preparing Poison for the Table" The Present Truth 17, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

The Daily Mail of March 4 contained a lengthy description of the "scientific" raising of chickens, and preparing them for market, of which the following is a portion. From our own personal knowledge, we can testify that the description is strictly accurate. After telling of the first weeks of the young fowl's life, the writer proceeds:-

"By the end of the fourth month the chick has become portly and prosperous looking. The feathers have a glossy look on the broad back, the head is carried high as he struts about on short white legs, which one would hardly expect to carry all they do. His time of pleasure and frolic is now at an end, for one fine morning the fattener will come along, seize him, and carry him to a small wooden house on the edge of the fields, whence he will only emerge a month later a cold, plump corpse, labelled to Leadenhall Market.

FILLING FOOD

"The fattening house is a carefully constructed, well appointed and ventilated, chamber that might serve as a hospital for the fowls, And it must be so, for soon they enter upon a condition in which the least drought or cold would kill them, and birds that die from "natural causes" are useless.

"Arranged like show benches along the sides and centre of the house are pens, divided up into chambers about two feet long, in each of which five fowls us placed. They have only room to stand side by side, and so closely are they confined by wooden bars behind, before, below, and above, that they cannot change position. The pens are composed entirely of wooden bare, and so cleaning is not required. Along the front of each pen is a trough of food.

"The oats and milk are now enriched by a dilution of animal fat, and a large quantity of this is given night and morning. Fowls are naturally greedy, and when they have nothing to do all day long save eat, they take all they can get and wax fatter than ever. so fat do they become that eventually the peas are only capable of holding three fowls instead of five.

"Even a chicken's appetite can be surfeited at last, and continual gorging without exercise becomes wearying. About the end of the third week of this "packing" the birds begin one by one to refuse the food that is offered them. They are obviously tired of the r?gime, and ready to starve themselves down to a more reasonable condition of corpulency. That would be to throw away the rich flesh which hits been so painfully piled on for the profit of the fattener, and he cannot tolerate any liberties of the sort. Not a meal can be missed by the fowls, or some part of his profit would be lost. If they will not eat of their own accord, he has a means to force them.

THE PUMP

"In a corner of the house stands a simple machine in the shape of a pump. From the mouth of it depends a rubber tube about eight inches long for insertion into the throat of the bird. The top of the pump is filled with the customary food, more freely mixed with milk than usual, so that it may be driven through the narrow bore of the tube into the crop of the fowl.

"When chick declines breakfast the fattener opens the pen, seizes him without much effort, and steps over to the "cramming" pump. He holds the bird firmly under his left arm, pushes the rubber down the throat four or five inches, and then he or his assistant by a few vigorous strokes of the handle pumps in the semi-liquid food. At each operation from half a pint to a pint is given, which is twice or three times as much as a healthy bird will never eat again for eat in ordinary course. Night and morning the process has to be repeated, for once the forcing has been adopted, a bird will never eat again for itself. The pumping has to be very carefully done; for any undue force would kill.

"The fowls are now in a very delicate condition. The bodies are so heavy that one can hardly believe the thin legs could carry all that weight.

ARSENIC AS A STIMULANT

"The ordinary joys of their life have gone, and they would utterly collapse under the awful r?gime they now endure. They are, however, more valuable than before, and must be preserved as long as they can digest a pint of food. As with men and horses, stimulants work wonders with fowls. To keep, their courage up, or, rather, to endow them with a new and artificial spirit, a preparation of arsenic is now mingled with the food, and that brings a change for the better in the demeanour of the birds. Even this poison will not keep them going long, but a few days more life helps the fattener to round off their plumpness and raise the average weight by an ounce or two, and that is all he cares for.

"The end of the fourth week sees a very quite crowd, for the shadow of death is upon the place. Great fat fowls blink idiotically, at the men as they go about their work. The eyes take on a different look, and the whole appearance of the face changes. They look more stupid than usual, and one can easily see that they are at the point of collapse, just about to die. Night and day the attendants watch them, lest they should slip off before the neck has been twisted.

"The fattener by long practice learns just just how long a bird can endure the agony of life and cramming, and at the last moment he steps in to slay. Three or four days of this watching and waiting and starving go on; and then you will find from 500 to 1,000 plump carcases plucked and dressed ready for the markets and the gourmands of London. For it is to London they all go. Only in the great hotels and clubs of the West End can prices be got to compensate for all this labour, skill, and expense."

We pass by the cruelty of the proceeding; that would be sufficient to condemn it; but how anybody can eat flesh that has been subjected to such treatment is a mystery. The fowl is made simply a means of poison. Every ounce of fat that is put on is only broken down tissue,-waste matter that the creature cannot dispose of. The fat thus produced is dead matter, just as poisonous as the flesh of an animal that has died of itself, and has begun to decay.

Moreover such a method of fattening an

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animal is nothing but the breeding of disease. Every organ of the body is diseased for the whole tendency is to deaden it. A man treated in that way-and many men do treat themselves in practically the same manner-would develop Bright's disease, ulcerated stomach and liver, rheumatism, gout and consumption. There would be fatty degeneration of the heart; in fact, all the muscles of the body would become changed into fat. That condition of things, is just what obtains with these fowls. A cannibal feast would be appetising and healthful compared with a chicken pie made from their carcases.

It is awful to contemplate the condition-the trouble which the feeders upon such stuff are preparing for themselves. Their flesh becomes flabby, and their blood impure; plague and pestilence will find in them easy victims. After learning what rottenness people are feeding on, one can see how naturally the first of the seven last plagues will be "a noisome and grievous sore." Rev. xvi. 2.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

-A portion of a town in Texas has been demolished by a cyclone causing considerable loss of life.

-A British steamer has foundered at Flushing, owing to a collision with a German vessel. Fourteen lives were lost.

-At Vagilo, near Modena, half of a mountain has collapsed, and a number of persons are believed to have perished.

-Through the efforts of the Irish Gaelic League, a service was conducted in the Irish town at a Catholic Church in Bermondsey, in honour of St. Patrick's Day.

-A fatal accident occurred on the American Line steamship New York, an ammonia tank connected with the refrigerating plant exploding. Two men received injuries which resulted in their death, and nine others were badly affected.

-The Bill inflicting penalties for the sale of its intoxicating liquor to young people "apparently under sixteen years of age," passed the second reading in the House of Commons by an overwhelming majority of 318 votes. The opponents of the measure numbered only fifty-four.

-Serious riots are reported from Marseilles, where a general strike has been declared, and a state of panic reigns. There has been some desperate fighting in the streets between the soldiers and the people, trams have been besieged and wrecked, and the shop-keepers in terror have closed their establishments.

-On a recent Sunday 2,712 children were counted entering nine London public-houses. Into one house, during a single week, 1,129 children entered for drink. In Manchester, "1,112 houses give sweets or small inducements to the children."

-Attempts are being made to increase the fertility of Egypt, and guard against the dearth, by storing up the waters of the Nile. A massive dam is being constructed which, when finished, will create a reservoir more than one hundred and forty miles long, making it possible to distribute the stored-up water at the seasons when it is needed.

-The Atlantic pigeon post, which was suspended for the winter, will be resumed next month. Passengers on board Atlantic steamers can avail themselves of the birds to let their friends hear of the progress of the voyage or of their impending arrival. Of the hundreds of pigeons sent off at sea last year only two went astray. Some flew over 300 miles.

-The first fruit cargo carried from Jamaica to Bristol in connection with the New West India Mail Service, has arrived and been placed upon the market. The fruit, which was stored in cold-air chambers, arrived in excellent condition. The main part of the cargo was 18,000 bunches of bananas, but there was also a large consignment of pineapples, mangoes, and oranges, all of which stood the voyage well. The fruit went mainly to the London, Liverpool, Manchester, and Bristol markets.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

In connection with the International Lesson printed in this number on the Resurrection of Jesus, the following reply is to the point, made by a missioner in the recent Simultaneous Mission to a Unitarian minister who enquired how it was that he and his fellow-workers could draw such large audiences day by day, while the Unitarians with all their learning and culture could get only a meager hearing.

"The reason is simple enough. You only present to the people. a man, Jesus, who lived nineteen centuries ago. We preach a Divine Saviour who lives now and saves people now. Your failure is explained by the fact that you are hopelessly out of date-nineteen centuries behind the times!"

"Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." Ps. xxxii. 1. The word here translated "forgiven" in the Authorised Version means literally "borne away." "O the happiness of the man whose transgression is borne away!" Who is that man? "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away (literally "beareth") the sin of the world," for on Him was laid "the iniquity of us all." Then there is no man in the world whose sin is not "borne away" by the Lamb of God. "O the happiness" of the man whose transgression is borne "away!" Are you happy?

"He will mention them no more forever;
My sins are all taken away;
I am resting in the great Peace-giver;
Praise the Lord! Sing it all day!"

"The Root of the Matter" The Present Truth 17, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

In the parable of the sower, Jesus represented. one clams of hearers by the seed that "fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was up they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away." Matt. xiii. 6, 7. Every farmer or gardener can appreciate this statement, and so can well understand the application that Jesus made. He said: "He that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for awhile; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended." Matt. xiii: 20, 21.

Note the expression, "yet hath he not root in himself." The root of the plant that has life, is in it. Both root and stalk are wrapped up in one seed. So the man who lives righteously, and who continues, must have a root in himself. What is the root? Let the Scripture answer. Speaking of Christ, the Arm of the Lord, which brings salvation, the prophet said: "He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground." Isa. Iiii. 2. Christ Himself says: "I am the root and the offspring of David." Rev. xxii. 18. So the Apostle Paul, speaking to those who have been grafted into the olive tree, partaking of the mot and fatness of the olive tree, said, "Thou bearest not the root, but the root thee." Rom. xi. 17, 18.

Jesus is the root, and though the root bears the plant, the strength of the root is in the plant itself. Christ, the root, dwells in His people, and so completely does He identify Himself with them, that He cannot be distinguished from them, but that which He does in them is their own act. It is as though they bore the root. Through the word of truth received and hidden in the heart, we may have root in ourselves, so that no amount of drought can cause us to wither. "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing." (See also Isa. lviii.)

"The Coronation Oath" The Present Truth 17, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

There has been no end of talk over the oath that the King took on his accession, and about that which, according to the English Constitution, he will be obliged to take when he is crowned; and there is not likely to be any end of it. Catholics, of course, protest against it, and Protestant papers, especially of other lands, and can see nothing else in the oath then a relic of the narrow-mindedness of the Middle Ages. Such ones have evidently forgotten for the time what Rome's pretensions are.

It is of course entirely wrong for anybody to be oppressed for conscience' sake, but by the King's oath nobody is injured, nor is religion injured. There is no land on earth were people of all sorts of religion have more absolute freedom in the practice of their religion than in England. The Coronation oath cannot possibly oppress anybody, unless it be thought oppressive to keep a Roman Catholic from being King. It leaves everybody, except the King, just what he pleases, and to act according to his belief.

But it must not be forgotten that Roman Catholicism is something more than a system of religion. It is a vast political body, with the Pope at its head, claiming to be supreme, above all the kings of the earth. Remember that the oath was framed at a time when England had just been freed from the condition of being but an appanage of Rome, and it was designed to prevent the recurrence of such a state. Rome never changes, and therefore it is as necessary now to guard the independence of England against its presumptuous claims as it ever was.

It is true that Roman Catholics in England profess the utmost loyalty to the King, and they are doubtless sincere; but nevertheless the Pope stands first. For example here is a portion of a letter written by a Roman Catholic to the Catholic Times, claiming that the oath is an insult to Catholics. The writer says:-

"We are subjects-loyal subjects-of his or her Majesty, but 'primum et ante omnia' (first and before all) we are the subjects of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His vicar upon the earth, Pope Leo XIII."

Every Christian ought to be subject to God first of all, and only as he is truly so can he be really loyal in the best sense to any earthly monarchs; but when a vicar of Christ is recognised, the case is far different. In that case a mere man claims to be God's representative, and claims authority that Jesus specifically disclaims when he was on earth, that is, earthly, temporal power.

The King does not have to protest against any of the ruler, for there is no other ruler that claims universal dominion; but as long as there's a Pope, so long will it be necessary to be on guard against him. Unfortunately, no oath can keep the country free from the purposes of the Papacy, and the danger is that all such a cry is made over it, loyal people will feel that it is England's soul safeguard against foreign domination, and so will allow the wily Pope to undermine its liberty in a manner far more effective than by having a Catholic King. The work is even now being rapidly carried on.

April 4, 1901

"The Passover" The Present Truth 17, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

"And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the Iand of Egypt." Ex. xii. 13.

These words were spoken by the Lord to the children of Israel, on that memorable night in early spring, when He led them forth from the land of captivity and bondage. The blood of which He spoke was the blood of a slain lamb, which was to be sprinkled on the two side posts and on the upper door post of their houses. That night the destroying angel passed through the land of Egypt and emote the first-born in every house on which the blood had not been sprinkled, so that there was not a house where there was not mourning. But wherever the blood was to be seen, there was life and peace and joy.

There is nothing arbitrary in God's dealings with men, and it was not caprice that moved God to save those who performed the simple ceremony of sprinkling blood on their houses, and to destroy the others. There is no power in ceremonies. Those whose lives were spared, lived because they had a real protection from the plague, and those who were lost, were smitten because they were shelterless.

But since it is not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sin, it is evidently impossible for the blood of a lamb to ward off death. The blood of those lambs of a year old had no more virtue than so much water; there was something far mare efficacious present as a protection. What that was, we learn in 1 Cor. v. 7: "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." The blood is the life, and it is by the life of Christ that we are saved. "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Rom. v. 10. God has set Him forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the passing over of sins. Rom. iii. 26, margin. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death;" salvation from death is through salvation from sin; and the believing Israelites were saved from the plague of death because, through the mercy of God, their sins were not imputed to them, but were covered up by the life of the slain Lamb. See Rom. iv. 5-8.

God said that the blood should be for a token upon the houses. Ex. xii. 14. It was a sign, not of something to come hundreds of years in the future, bat which already existed; for Christ is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Rev. xiii. 8. His is the life that conquers death; when that life is accepted as a hiding-place, death has no power.

That was a real thing to the Israelites. It was plainly to be seen that there was death in the land, and a marked difference was put between believers and unbelievers. And just as effective as the blood was against death, so powerful was it against sin.

Now all this was written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." We can have the real blood of Christ for our protection as well as the Israelites could; for it is not that which is seen, but that which is unseen, that saves.

The house is that in which one lives. The sprinkling of the blood upon the door, through which the people passed out and in, indicated that they were to be covered with the life, and so by it; and the fact that they were to remain in their houses, and not go out, teaches us that we must "abide in Him." Just as surely as the Israelites in Egypt were saved, will the life of Christ now save from sin and death every soul that abides in it. "He that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him." 1 John iii. 24. We read, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ." The story of the Passover was left on record to show us the reality of this experience. Just as the blood was seen on the houses, so the life of Christ is to be seen on us, and we are not to appear. So we come to God, not in our own name, but in the name and person of Christ. If we were to come in our own name, we should be ashamed, because of our sins; but "in Him is no sin;" so when we sink out of sight and allow Christ alone to appear, we dwell in safety.

Therefore "little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming."

"When Will Help Come?" The Present Truth 17, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

In Ps. xlvi. 5, with the more accurate rendering indicated in the margin, we read, "God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her, when the morning appeareth."

One reading this asked, "When will the morning come, so that she-the daughter of Zion-may expect help?" The answer to the question is near at hand.

The morning comes when the Daystar arises in the heart; when the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings. And when is that?-Now; for "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all," and He is "not far from every one of us." The call is, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee." Eph. v. I4. Even now "it is high time to awake out of sleep," for "the darkness is past, and the true Light now shineth."

How long must we wait after we call upon God for help, before the help will come?-Not any time at all; for "God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble." Ps. xlv. 1. Since He is our dwelling-place in all generations, we certainly need not go far, nor wait long, for help. "Shall not God avenge His elect, which cry to Him day and night, and He is longsuffering over them? I say unto you, that He will avenge them speedily."

You say that it is the city of God that is spoken of in Psalm xlvi, which shall not be moved, but shall be helped early, because "God is in the midst of her." Very well; but what is a city without people? God is in the midst of Zion, because He is in the midst of His people, who are His temple. Therefore "cry out, and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee."

"'Why Weepest Thou?' (John xx. 11-18)" The Present Truth 17, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

The women had been to the sepulchre very early in the morning, and had found it open, and Mary Magdalene had run to tell Peter and John, and, meeting them, had said, "They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him." Then the two apostles ran in haste to the grave, and went in, Peter first, and then John. In verse 8 John says of himself that he went in also, and he "saw, and believed;" but the words that immediately follow, namely, "for as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead," plainly indicate that what he believed was what Mary had said, that they had taken the Lord away, and not that He had risen. This is also evident from the fact that the eleven had not believed the two who returned from Emmaus, and Jesus, when He came in, reproved them for their hardness of heart.

Peter and John, having looked round, "went away again into their own home; but Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping; and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre; and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, whom the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him."

"And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast Iaid Him, and I will take Him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni."

We have in this far more than a simple story of loving loyalty and tender-hearted devotion. It is a lesson of admonition and comfort to all that mourn. All sorrow is caused by absence from the Lord, or rather, by inability on account of sin and unbelief, to recognise His presence; for "in His presence is fulness of joy;" He makes all who see Him exceeding glad with His countenance.

Too often we are perversely content to be sad, and many know not the cause of their sadness; but there are many who, like Mary, know that the cause all their grief is that they have lost the Lord. Yet even while they wander in doubt and darkness, vainly seeking Him, He is not far from them. Be sure that He who came to seek and to save the lost, will surely manifest Himself to every one who is seeking Him. There are souls who are constantly mourning their separation from the Lord, whose mouth might be filled with laughter, and their tongue with singing, if they would but put forth the hand of faith; for they would then find Jesus.

Angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for those who shall be heirs of salvation. So here were angels ready to minister comfort to the mourners. The other disciples, in their haste, missed the experience that Mary had. They did not see the angels, nor the Lord. It is well to wait on the Lord. "If the vision tarry, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not tarry." Don't be in too big a hurry, when you do not at once see the Lord where you look for Him. He is a God that hides Himself; but He hides Himself only that He may be found.

Jesus came so quickly after His messengers that they had no occasion to speak words of comfort to the sorrowing woman. He addressed her the same as they had, "Woman, why weepest thou?" Think of the significance of this question twice repeated. Why did she weep? It was because the grave was empty. But that ought to have caused her to rejoice; for it indicated that Jesus had opened the doors of death and the grave, and that He held the key.

Why did she weep?-Because as yet she knew not the Scripture, that Jesus must-mark that word "must"-rise from the dead. There was no real need for her to weep. Indeed, she was weeping for

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that which was the most joyful thing that has occurred since God laid the foundation of the earth, "when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." And all her weeping was because she did not know the Scripture; and the only reason why she did not know it, was that she did not believe it.

"Why weepest thou?" Is it because of your sins? Then the message from God is that your iniquity is pardoned. lsa. xl. 1. "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins; return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee," says the Lord. lsa. xliv. 22. He gives "the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," that people may be called "trees of righteousness."

In our deepest trials, we may be sure that Jesus is nearest. When it seems as though we had lost all that is worth having, then we may be assured that right by our side are treasures far more precious than we have ever dreamed of. Mary was mourning for a man whom she thought to be dead, and she found a living Saviour, Christ the Lord. He has come "to comfort all that mourn," and He comforts us in all our tribulation. No matter how great the trouble, in Him there is peace, and He is with us always, even to the end of the world. There is no need for anybody to weep other tears than those of joy.

It is not a sin to weep, but one should know truly why he weeps. Tears may flow because of sin, and much more at the thought of God's goodness and tender mercy; but these very tears, if our eyes are open, contain the assurance of salvation, for the sunlight of God's love falls on them and makes the bow of promise. There is no situation so desperate but that the very trouble itself affords hope, if we but recognise the Lord in it. "Why weepest thou?"-Is it because you have allowed your eyes to remain closed to the "exceeding great and precious promises"?-Then let the tears swing open the gates, that "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened," you may "know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead."

One word was sufficient to dry Mary's tears, and to bring her in rapture at the feet of Jesus. It was her name, uttered as only Jesus could speak it. He said "Mary," and she at once greeted Him as her Divine Master, and not the gardener, as she had supposed. Would you like to have the same experience? It is yours already. He says to you; "Fear not; for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine." lsa. xliii. 1. Blessed assurance! He stands by the open grave, calling each child of Adam by name, saying, "I have redeemed thee." How can we longer continue weeping? Weep, if you will, but be sure you know why. Are you weeping for sadness, or for joy? Why weepest thou? Listen to the voice that singles you out from all the multitudes of earth, no matter how obscure your station, and gives to you personally the assurance of acceptance, and hail Him as your Master for ever.

"The Law of Life. The Second Commandment. (Continued.) " The Present Truth 17, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

VISITING INIQUITY

We have studied the part of the commandment which contains the direct precept, and must give a little attention to the last part, "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God; visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon, the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that, hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep my commandments."

How many have ignorantly proclaimed the injustice of this, and have railed against God for punishing the children for the iniquities of the fathers. But God does not do this, and His commandment does not say that He does. God says of the wicked man, "If he beget a son that seeth all his father's sins that he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like, . . . he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, but shall surely live. As for his, father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo; even he shall die in his iniquity, yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all My statutes, and both done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the winked shall be upon him." Eze. xvili. 14-20.

THE NEW BIRTH, THE WAY OF ESCAPE

God does not punish one person for another's sins. Note what the commandment says: "Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate Me." "By one man sin entered into the world," and death did not pass upon all

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men because of his sin, but "for that all have sinned." Rom. v. 12.

There was one Man who did not sin, and who knew no sin, and death did not pass upon Him. He went into the grave a victor over it. This One was the Son of God's love. He comes to all, and as many as receive Him, to them He gives power to become the sons of God, so that any and every child of Adam may be the Son of God's love, even as Christ is. "For so by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." Rom. v. 19. Even as the heaven is higher than the earth, and God's life and love are stronger than death, so the birth from above frees from all the consequences of being born from beneath. Though a man be born of the most degraded parents, he may through the Holy Spirit inherit all the goodness of God. By the exceeding great and precious promises of God, we are made partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

GOD'S WAY IS EQUAL

We see therefore that God does not punish any person for the sins of another. He Himself most expressly declares that the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father. His grace provides for deliverance even in this present life from the physical infirmities that we have inherited from our first birth. The term "visiting iniquity" evidently means punishment for sin, and this punishment for the sins of the fathers comes only upon those who commit the same sins. This is made very emphatic.

The question naturally arises, Why only to the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him? The answer is indicated in the statement itself. It is because sin is self-destructive, and haters of God in the full sense of the term, would entirely run out in three or four generations. When the line of demarcation is distinctly drawn between the righteous and the wicked, so that all on the one side are wholly devoted to God and filled with His Spirit, and all on the other side have sold themselves to Satan and have rejected God and His Spirit, the Lord will come to confer immortality upon the one class, and to destroy the other.

But this will be no arbitrary action. Those in the first class are not taken to heaven without seeing death, simply because they happen to be living when the Lord comes, but because they have in there the element of life, and if the Lord should not come they would continue living indefinitely, even in mortal flesh. The Lord, by conferring immortality upon them, and taking them to heaven, simply grants them the privilege of continuing their life under infinitely better conditions.

On the other hand, those who have rejected the Lord have rejected life, and have chosen death, as He says: "All they that hate Me love death."

SIN IS SELF-DESTRUCTIVE

The destruction of the wicked is not the cutting short of their probation. When all the wicked of all generations are brought to judgment, in the day of the Lord, no one will be lost who could possibly be saved, neither will any possible future generation be cut off; for so completely will the wicked have rejected the principles of life, that there could be no succeeding generation. If the Lord should reserve judgment, the wicked would destroy themselves by their vices and by violence. They would prey upon one another, and each one would be preyed upon by his own vices, until none were left.

So we see that the coming of the Lord is literally to the last generation of this earth. Righteousness is everlasting, but sin is only for a time. There can be no such thing as sin continuing throughout eternity, and therefore no such thing as an immortal sinner. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Sin destroys itself in destroying the sinner. "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." So God will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger for ever, but His mercy is "from everlasting to everlasting." Thousands of generations will, in the ages to come, be the recipients of His mercies, which are daily new.

GOD'S JEALOUSY OUR SALVATION

God is from everlasting to everlasting, and man becomes like that which he worships. We "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory." God is a jealous God, but this by no means indicates that He has any selfish sensitiveness for His own dignity. His jealousy is our salvation. The Apostle Paul says: "I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

God is, and there is no other. And we can be, only as we are in Him. Therefore He is jealous when He sees men given to idolatry, jealous for their sakes because He sees them going to nothing. "For all the gods of the heathen are idols," literally "nothing." When the work for which Christ has ascended into the heavens is accomplished, He will "fill all things." Eph. iv. 10. And then there will be no room in the universe for idols or their worshippers. They shall be as though they had not been.

A great mistake is made by most people, in reading this commandment, in that they think the jealousy to be limited to visiting iniquity. Read carefully, and you will see that His jealousy is manifested, not only in visiting iniquity, but else in showing mercy to thousands of generations of them that love Him and keep His commandments. How foolish unbelief and fear see discouragement in that which is for our comfort and hope! Instead of cringing and cowering with dread at the thought that God is a jealous God, we should rather rejoice with exceeding great joy; for it assures us that He who is the Almighty will effectually guard us from the arts of the cunning foe, who seduces in order to destroy.

Because the words are so familiar through frequent repetition, that we often take no thought of their meaning, we need to have our attention specially called to the fact that this commandment speaks love and mercy. The law is love, and they who love God keep His commandments. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." Upon such His mercy is seen, because they do not shake it off. They find His mercy in their loving obedience to His commandments, for "in keeping of them there is great reward."

Lost in the contemplation of the infinite greatness of God, His worshippers absorb Him until they are completely swallowed up in Him, then whoever looks at them can see not them, but God who is all and in all. God is jealous for the glory and welfare of His people; He desires their minds to be clear, their souls purified, and their lives continued throughout eternity.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Inspiration of the Bible" The Present Truth 17, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

"What authority is there that the Bible is inspired more than any other book?"

I do not think I can indicate the correct answer to this question any more directly than by asking another, namely, What authority is there that the sun gives us any more light than the moon?

You say that you see and feel the greater light and heat of the sun. True, and just so we feel the power of the Word of God, such as cannot possibly be felt from any other words, because there are no other words like those of God.

Jesus said: "I receive not testimony from man." John v. 34. Do you think that if Jesus were on earth you would want a testimonial from some man, to the effect that He is indeed the Christ? Do you not see that if you should depend on another's assurance that He is what He professes to be, that would show that you held that other one as greater, and more to be depended on, than Jesus Himself? In like manner, to look elsewhere than in the Bible itself for proof of its inspiration, is virtually to deny its inspiration, and to make it secondary to some other book.

The prophecies contained in the Bible, foretelling events hundreds of years in advance, which have been fulfilled to the letter, are one of the strongest evidences that it is the Word of Him who knows all things from the beginning. Only God can speak of those things that be not, as though they were.

But the Bible as a whole is prophecy; for none of it came by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

I hear you say, "That is begging the question; I know that the Bible itself claims to be inspired; what I want is to have its claim verified."

Well, you will never find any authority for the inspiration of the Bible, outside of the Bible itself. The Catholic Church claims to be above the Bible, but in so doing it discredits the Bible as being the Word of God, or else it sets itself above God. It really does both; but the fact is, that the true church of Christ is subject to the Bible, and is guided by it. The church is built upon the Word, and is the true church of Christ only as long as it conforms to that Word.

Suppose Sandow should seize you in his hands and exert all the power of his muscles on you; would you ask him, "What authority is there for the statement that you are the strongest man living?" Certainly not; his grip upon you would be all the evidence you would require. So when the Holy Spirit, who speaks through the Word, gets hold of you, evidence is at hand. "He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true." John iii. 33.

The Word of God is "the sword of the Spirit," "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Can you not tell the difference between a sharp knife and a blunt one? When the woman of Samaria left Jesus at the well, and went to call her neighbours, she said, "Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?" John iv. 29. So when the Spirit lays bare your own heart to you, you will not ask for anybody to be sponsor for Him.

I do not believe that infidels who have written with the avowed intention of overthrowing the Bible have really done so much injury to souls as have some of its zealous but unwise defenders. The attempts to "prove that the Bible is inspired" have sown more real doubt than anybody can think. They have made people believe that the Bible needed defending, when it does not. It is its own evidence. No infidel was ever yet converted by homilies about

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the Bible, nor will one ever be converted by any such thing. There is only one way to cure infidelity, and that is to "preach the Word." If one says that he does not believe it, there is nothing to do but to give him some more. If he absolutely refuses to hear it, he shuts himself off from the only source of proof of the inspiration of the Bible.

What is the authority that the Bible is inspired?-It is God Himself, who speaks in it as clearly as when He thundered from the top of Sinai. Can you tell when it thunders?-The same voice speaks in the Bible. Hear, and you will know. "If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching."

"For Little Ones. 'What Is It?'" The Present Truth 17, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

This is what the Israelites said one morning, when they awoke and found lying on the ground about their encampment a small round white thing, like a tiny seed, about the size of hoar frost.

They were very hungry, and God had sent them bread from heaven. They called the name of it "manna." The Hebrew word they need was "man-hu," meaning, What is it? "for they wist not what it was."

And Moses said, "This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat;" but their question gave the name to that bread from heaven, and they went on calling it manna-what is it?

Let us see how the Bible answers this question for us, and remember as we do so that what is true of this bread, is true also of all the bread that the Lord sends from heaven. Because this came to them in an unusual way, they were at first filled with wonder and curiosity. But after they became accustomed to it, they thought no more of it than we do of that which comes daily to our tables, or of the seed, the golden grain, that covers the ground at harvest time.

God's "mercies are new every morning," but because He does not forget us, people often forget Him. It would be well for us, every time we gather round our tables, or take any food at all, to ask with reverence the question that the Israelites did. And then, remembering that it is bread from heaven, think what God has told us about the bread that He gives.

Jesus answered this question, once for all, when after creating bread for five thousand hungry people in the desert, He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." And again, when taking bread from the Passover table, He said, "This is My body."

What, were the children of Israel in the desert really feeding upon Jesus Christ, and is that what we were doing when we take the food that He sends us?

Yes; that is what His Word tells us, and it is not possible that it could be otherwise, since He is the Fountain of life, and everything in this and all the worlds comes from Him. "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth."

The Israelites "did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that went with them, and that Rock was Christ." When they ate the manna from heaven, and drank the water from the rock, they were feeding on Christ.

It is just so when you take any food that God gives you. All that He made for man's food comes from seed. But the plants which produce the seeds come from one Seed, by whose life all things live. That Seed is the Divine Word which went forth into the earth in the beginning to cause everything to grow.

The Word "without whom was not anything made that was made," was Christ. It was He who said, "Let the earth bring forth," and in that Word the Spirit of His life went forth into the earth, and He gave it a body as it pleased Him, in all the fair forms that clothe the earth with verdure, beauty, and fruitfulness,-the soft grass, fragrant herbs, stately trees, and delicate blossoms, through which He still creates food for us to-day.

Then is not all the food that He gives us, like that with which He fed the Israelites, "spiritual meat"? It is; for His Word is Spirit and life. Yet we can take it, so many do, as in fact most of the Israelites did-without receiving any spiritual good or blessing from it.

"Spiritual things are spiritually discerned," or seen. So if we are not spiritually minded, we cannot discern the Lord's body; we cannot see that

"There lives and works
A soul in all things, and that soul is God. . .
The Lord of all, Himself through all diffused,
Sustains and is the life of all that lives. . .
Happy who walks with Him; whom what he finds
Of flavour or of scent in fruit or flower,
Or what he views of beautiful or grand
In nature, from the broad, majestic oak,
To the green blade that twinkles in the sun,
Prompts with remembrance of a present God."

If we do not we this, we get, in the bread that He gives, only the outward form that feeds and strengthens our bodies for a time.

But when the Spirit of God fills our hearts (and He has promised to give this to all who ask Him), we can then see Him in everything else. We can discern Him, and feed upon Him, in the food that He gives us; we can hold sweet communion with Him in every meal, and receive through the Spirit the gift of His everlasting life.

"I am the bread that came down heaven, that a man should eat thereof and not die."

"Let manna to our souls be given,
The bread of life sent down from heaven."

"Love, the Fulfilling of the Law" The Present Truth 17, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

Love, the Fulfilling of the Law .-In the last part of the Second Commandment, to the consideration of which we come this weak in the series on "The Law of Life," we are clearly shown that "love is the fulfilling of the law," for "them that love Me" "keep My commandments." Yet how often this statement is made the excuse for disregarding one of the commandments, notably the Fourth.

"Love is the fulfilling of the law," we are told by the one who intends to go on transgressing it, with as much confidence as though it read: Love is the transgressing, or disregarding, of the law. No; "love is the fulfilling of the law." It is not a substitute for the keeping of the commandments, but it manifests itself in obedience to the law; for 'this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." Therefore "he that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar." 1 John ii. 4. "If ye love Me," Jesus says, "keep My commandments."

"O God, of good the unfathomed sea!
Who would not give his heart to Thee?
Who would not love Thee with his might?
O Jesus, Lover of mankind,
Who would not his whole soul and mind,
With all his strength, to Thee unite?"

According to the copious extracts that we have seen, Professor Harnack's new book, "What is Christianity?" seems to contain more infidelity than anything else; but there is at least one paragraph in it that is worth quoting. Of Christ's manner of teaching, he says:-

"He gave perfectly simple expression to profound and all-important truths, as though they could not be otherwise; as though He were uttering something that was self-evident; as though He were only reminding men of what they knew already, because it lives in the innermost part of their souls."

That is just the case with the great truths of Christianity: you do not have to prove them, but only to call attention to them. All that is required of men is that they shall recognise and accept that which is,-self-evident truth,-that which their eyes can see and their hands can handle, and then infinitely more will be revealed to them. To ask one to prove the presence and saving power of the life of Christ, is like asking a man in mid-ocean to prove the existence of water.

"Religion in the Country" The Present Truth 17, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

One of the leading Church papers, in an editorial on "The Church in the Villages," says that in almost all the parishes "the only difference made by the Oxford movement, and all that has happened since, seems to be that the sermon is preached in a surplice instead of a black gown. . . . From Sunday to Sunday the incumbent is occupied in rearing poultry or growing roses. His sermons never go beyond inculcating morality; they contain practically no instruction. When he visits his people, he recommends them to come to church, otherwise he purposely avoids religion as a topic. Occasionally his family promote a parish tea or a concert, and every one is quite content. The incumbent would be honestly indignant at the suggestion that he is not doing all that can be required of a parish priest. His people are quite satisfied; they have never known anything better; they don't hold with new-fangled ways."

This is declared to be a faithful portrait of the spiritual state of scores of country parishes. Then certainly the Church ought not to complain when mission work is done in the country, even though it be undertaken by Nonconformists. Indeed, true Nonconformists are the only ones who can do real missionary work in this case, since conformity to the world is the great evil. "Be not conformed to the world," says the Scripture, "but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds."

"Broad-minded Christians" The Present Truth 17, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

There lies before us a book, in which one has written a criticism on Philip and the Ethiopian, as concerns the baptism of the latter. We will not spend time over the criticism; it is of no importance; but the criticism which the writer makes on Philip is worth noting, for it expresses a very common idea concerning some of the men whom God has most highly honoured. The words are these: "I think that the reason [for the supposed error] is that Philip had been a Jew, and on that amount was rather narrow in thoughts."

Just as though to be a Jew necessarily meant to be narrow-minded! Solomon was a Jew, and of him we read that "God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore." 1 Kings iv. 29. No one can accuse him of narrow-mindedness.

Paul had been a Jew, and he remained a Jew all his life. He, a supposedly narrow-minded Jew, wrote to heathen, who by parity of reasoning, must have been broad-minded, praying that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened (Eph. i. 18), and again, "that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." Eph. iii. 17-19. Surely it would be impossible to be broader in thoughts than that.

It is a shame for a Christian to cast reproach on the Jews, for in so doing he is reviling his Lord and Master, who was a Jew. To say that Philip was narrow in his thoughts, because he had been a Jew, is to imply that all Jews were necessarily, narrow, and that would include Christ Himself; yet nothing is more common than for something in the Bible with which one does not agree, to be set down to Jewish narrowness and prejudice.

Do those who utter such things realise that they are thus discrediting God's Word, the Bible, almost the whole of which was written by Jews? Do they mean that we need a broader revelation? There are some who do not hesitate to say "Yes," even to this.

People have the idea that unbelief is a mark of breadth of mind, and of deep thought; that the sceptic has so comprehensive a grasp of things that he sees the difficulties which the narrow-minded, credulous believer cannot appreciate. The reverse is exactly the case. Unbelief is a sign of shallowness and narrowness, while faith always broadens the mind.

There is another, thing which should be recognised and remembered, and that is that whatever a man is by nature, when he is in Christ "old things are passed away," and "all things are become new." The new birth, removes the disabilities of the old birth, and the blaspheming persecutor becomes the praying preacher of the Gospel. Is it not enough for avowed infidels to cast discredit on the Bible, without professed Christians joining in?

April 11, 1901

"A Walk with Jesus. Luke xxiv. 13-35" The Present Truth 17, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

(Luke xxiv. 18-35.)⁹1

It was afternoon of the day on which Jesus rose from the grave, and two of the disciples, perplexed and wearied by the events that had taken place, and the reports that they had heard, started to walk from Jerusalem to their old home about eight miles distant. They had followed Jesus till His crucifixion, and had remained in Jerusalem over the Sabbath; but now that their hopes that He would redeem Israel were all shattered, they were sorrowfully about to go back to their former employment.

It is true that they had heard the testimony of the women who went to the sepulchre in the morning and found it open, and occupied, not by the dead body of Jesus, but by the two living angels, who said that Christ was risen; but they had not seen Jesus themselves, and, sad and disheartened, they were leaving the place which they had thought, a few days before, would be the scene of their glorious triumph over the hated Romans. Ah, they did not know that the triumph, not over the Romans, but over the enemies of all mankind, had been achieved, and that Jesus had spoiled principalities and powers, and had set free a multitude of captives.

All this disappointment and sorrow was due to unbelief. They were not worse than other men, and would doubtless have indignantly repudiated the charge that they did not believe the Bible; yet they were really infidels. They said to the stranger who joined them, to whom they told the subject of their mournful conversation, "To-day is the third day since these things were done." Jesus had told them more than once that He should be crucified, and that He should rise again the third day, and their own words ought to have reminded them of His, and to have convinced them that, since everything else had taken place just as He had foretold, He must be risen, according to the promise; but they were too stunned to grasp anything.

Note the words of Jesus to them, after they had finished the story of their hopes and disappointment: "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe, after all that the prophets have spoken!" R.V., margin. They were not reproved because they believed a part only, but not all, that the prophets had spoken, but because after all that the prophets had said of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, they did not believe. The words of the prophets were plain; we can see clearly enough that they all bear witness "that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts x. 43); but they had a wrong idea so firmly fixed in their minds that the plainest words of truth meant nothing to them, or else seemed to them to confirm their views such is the power of prejudice.

They could say in defence of their erroneous ideas, "We have been taught" that the prophecies refer to temporal dominion, just as many people nowadays think that the words, "I have been taught so" are sufficient reason for any belief or unbelief. But no matter what a man has been taught, he has no business to believe any teaching that is contrary to the plain Word of God; and each One to whom God has given a mind, ought to know, when teaching is according to Word, and when it is not.

JESUS THE SILENT LISTENER

"It came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know Him." But He was with them, listening to their conversation, before they saw Him. Did two men ever walk along together, that Jesus was not present with them, though invisible. We know that where two or three are gathered together in His name, He is in the midst of them; but "He is not far from every one of us." There is no conversation, whether by the way or in the house, that He does not hear. He knows even the thoughts of the man who is alone. "O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether." Ps. cxxxix. 1-4.

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee" (Isa. xii. 10), Jesus says. When we see Him not, He is as really present as though we could see Him. If He wished, He could disclose Himself to our sight any minute. This is a lesson for all sad and discouraged souls. He did not ask what those two men were talking about because, He did not know, but to draw them out to talk with Him, so that He might comfort them. Would you, ever be discouraged if you knew that Jesus was by your side? Then why do you ever become disheartened? He is there with words to warm your heart. What matter if He does begin by telling you that you are a fool? Doubt is this world's wisdom, and it is foolishness with God; and before God can lift us up He must cast us down. You have no more cause for discouragement than those two men had, and they had none at all; for the things over which they were sorrowing were their everlasting joy and salvation. They had heard of the resurrection, but did not believe in it; therefore they were sad. If they had believed that Jesus was alive, they would have been glad. Well, we have also heard that Jesus is risen; but if we are sad and despondent, we show that we do not believe it. "He ever liveth," and that one fact is cause for continual rejoicing. What if Jesus had made Himself known to the two disciples at first, and had then proceeded to unfold the Scriptures to them? Do you suppose they would have learned as much as they did? Certainly they would not. They would have been too excited to listen. He could have convinced them immediately, by making Himself known; He could have shown them His hands and feet; but that would not have been best for them. He gave them the Word, and let that convince them. Then they were not only themselves fortified against any possible doubt, but they had the means of making others know the truth as well as they did; and Jesus reveals truth to us, not for our own sake merely, but for others.

THE WORD IS SPIRIT AND LIFE

Christ is the Word, and the words which come to us in written form, yet spoken directly to us, convey to us the life, the personality, of the Lord. Therefore the disciples who saw Jesus in the flesh had no advantage over us. He says, "The flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak onto you, they are Spirit, and they are life." John vi. 63. We often wish that we could have Jesus on this earth, and perhaps we wish that we had the privilege now of going to Him personally, and asking Him to clear up some perplexity; but, we can go to Him just as really as Peter, James, and John ever could; and if we could see Him we should not learn any more or believe any quicker. In the words of inspiration we have the strongest possible ground for our faith.

New things are continually breaking forth from God's Word. The path of the just is as the shining light, "that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." The morning, the end of the world's night, is near at hand: "The night is far spent, the day is at hand" (Rom. xiii. 12), therefore the light is shining brighter and brighter. Never in the history of the world have such floods of light streamed upon the world as now; and still there is more to follow. Now, as never before, do the words of Jesus apply: "Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."

KNOWN IN BREAKING BREAD

It was in the breaking of bread that Jesus was made known to the two disciples. That is where everybody ought to be able to discern His body. See 1 Cor. xi. 24, 29. His Word-His own presence-is with us, and He says: "When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou wakest, it shall talk with thee." Prov. vi. 22. He walks with us by the way, and, comes in to sup with us. There is not a meal at which He is not present, for the bread that we eat bears the sign of the cross. In it we have His broken body. It may be that when Jesus took up the loaf that evening at Emmaus, the two disciples for the first time noticed the wounds in His hands; but we, as well as they, may discern the wounds of Christ, at every meal to which we sit down, and we may find healing in them. Study the Word, having first received the anointing, that you may see (Rev. iii. 18), and then you will be able to go to your friends with burning, rejoicing hearts, and tell them what things were done in the way, and how the Lord was known of you in breaking of bread.

"Be known to us in breaking bread,
And do not then depart;
Saviour, abide with us, and spread
Thy table in our heart."

"The Law of Life. The Third Commandment" The Present Truth 17, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." Ex. x. 7.

We need not spend much time over the common idea of the violation of this commandment, that which is most obvious, and generally recognised. There are probably very few of those who read this who are guilty of what is ordinarily known as profane swearing. This is considered vulgar, and not in good taste, even by those who are not Christians. Most people think that, they keep this commandment, even though they may realise that they are guilty in respect to some of the others. So the majority of what are called respectable people might conclude that they have no special need of this commandment. But it is here, in the midst of God's law, and is one of the commandments that stand fast for ever, and therefore it concerns every soul.

GOD HEARS THE THOUGHT

The Word of God is a discerner of the thought and intents of the heart. When we get that fact before us, there is probably not one of us that will not have to plead guilty to violating this commandment, both in spirit and in letter. We have already found that sin is not merely the thing done, but that within which impels the deed. The Lord looketh not on the outward appearance, but on the heart, and on the thoughts and intents. "O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me, . . . Thou understandest My thought afar off." The faintest thought sounds as distinctly in the ears of God as the loudest speech. There is encouragement for us in this truth, if we know the Lord. He understands the unspoken longing just as well as the most fervent prayer is not a thing to be dreaded, but a glorious comfort, to know that God understands the innermost thought of the soul.

THE ESSENCE OF PROFANITY

People who swear usually do so when they are irritated; thus they give vent to their passion. How many of us who do not use profane language have likewise been angry and irritated? We did not use the name of the Lord, but we had in us that which manifested himself in those who are accustomed to swearing. Now the outward manifestation is largely a matter of circumstance, training, and education. If we have been brought up in society where swearing is considered vulgar, and so have never fallen into the habit, or if we refrain from the use of profane words because the use of them might result in the loss of reputation, then our not swearing when we become angry is no virtue. Our angry feelings have every element of evil that there is in others, who add the expression of profane words. There is a thing that has been by some one called "wooden swearing," as when an angry person gives vent to his feelings by stamping on the floor, striking the table, kicking a chair, or slamming the door. While this is not technically a violation of the commandment, it is each in reality, as all will be able to see when they consider the breadth of this precept.

SUBSTITUES FOR OATHS

These are many words and expressions that are substituted for the actual name of deity, which are not more than one degree removed, if they are at all, from gross profanity. If you should, in reading this paper, come across the expression, "My goodness gracious!" or should hear a minister use it in his sermon, would you not be shocked? You would think it very much out of place, and that such a thing was unbecoming a preacher or teacher. But why should say of us at home, or in private, use words that would be out of place anywhere in the world? They are simply a substitute for the words which another man uses who has been brought up differently.

The Lord has proclaimed His name: "Merciful and gracious," "abundant in goodness and truth." Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7. These qualities are attributes of God, to that to use the words, mercy, gracious, goodness, and the like, as mere expletives, is literally to take the name of the Lord in vain. Whether there is any difference in the degree between the sin of using these words, and taking the ordinarily recognised titles of deity, God alone can tell; but there certainly is none in kind, and whether a person uses one or the other is largely a matter of habit. For every idle, unnecessary word we shall give account in the day of Judgment. Matt. xii. 36. "Let your communication be Yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." Matt. v. 37.

THOUGHTLESS HABITS

"But I say these things without thinking;" one says. Then think! God has given us minds, in order that we may think, and not do anything thoughtlessly. We should have a reason for everything we do, and for our habits. Though an act or word may come involuntarily, we should have a reason for the formation of the habit. Our habits must be formed by the Word and Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit, having created us new creatures, must dwell within us, speaking through us. When this is the ease, there will be no fear

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that we shall take the name of the Lord in vain. We all have need to pray, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, keep the door of my lips." Ps. cxii. 3.

Anybody can keep himself from the gross form of swearing, the obvious violation of the commandment, even though he have not the fear of God before his eyes. Almost every swearer knows that this is true, if he will but consider a moment, for all except those who are utterly abandoned abstain in certain society from the utterance of their common oaths. A young man once apologised to the writer for swearing at some provoking circumstance, saying that he could not help it. But he readily agreed that he could help it, when reminded that he would not have used the expression if ladies had been present. But, as we have already seen, the abstaining from what is ordinarily reckoned as vulgar swearing, does not meet the requirement of the commandment.

Only the Spirit of God can enable us fully to keep the law, because the low is spiritual. The Spirit, however abundantly able to keep us from every form of sin. So let nobody say of this or any other commandment, "I cannot keep it!" God has given us the power, for He has given us Himself. He made men to be kings, and though we have been slaves, He has through the Spirit proclaimed our emancipation, and for ever delivered us from the necessity of saying, "I can't." "I can't" means slavery. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," and the Spirit will given to all. If we walk in the Spirit, we shall keep the commandments, and be at liberty.

ALL SIN IS BLASPHEMY

This commandment forbids all unnecessary use of the Lord's name, even in prayer. It shuts off "vain repetitions," and cant phrases, which people get in the habit of using without any thought of their meaning. It teaches us that we should use the name of the Lord only with a definite purpose, and with a clear understanding of why we use it. That which one causes another to do, is counted as though he did it himself. Paul, addressing the Jews which were "instructed out of the law," and made their boast in the law, yet who through breaking it dishonoured God, said, "For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written." Rom. ii. 17-24.

In like manner the prophet Nathan said to David after his adultery and murder: "By this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme." 2 Sam. xii. 14. No man's sin can end with himself. It is impossible for a man to sin, even in secret, without influencing somebody also against the Lord. So here again we see the exceeding breadth of the commandment, and how impossible it is to violate this third commandment without breaking the whole law. And, on the other hand, we see how every sin is a vioIation of the third commandment. So when we read: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain," we way know that it is equivalent to, "Thou shalt do no evil." Remember this when we come to speak of the still broader meaning of the commandment.

The Apostle James, speaking of those who dishonour their Maker by reproaching the poor, says: "Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name, by the which ye are called?" The church stands in the same relation to the Lord that the wife does to the husband. Christ is the Head of each individual Christian. The professor of Christianity takes His name, and should be absolutely one with Him, so that Christ's life is the only life seen. Now if God is not given the supreme place in the life, and the individual's sinful self is exhibited under the name of Christ, it is plainly seen that the Lord is dishonoured. Neighbours look at the professor, and say that there is no power in Christianity. They blaspheme the name of God, saying that He is not able to keep those who trust in Him. Thus people who have never taken an oath in their lives are guilty of breaking the third commandment. Many professed Christians are unconsciously taking the name of the Lord in vain.

A GRACIOUS PROMISE

This thought naturally brings us to a wider and more glorious phase of the commandment than is usually comprehended. The third commandment is ordinarily regarded simply as a stern decree, as though God said, "Don't you dare use My name lightly, or else I will punish you." Men have robbed the commandment of all the love, all the joy, all the light, and peace, and comfort that it contains. It is even so with the whole law, which by many professed Christians is looked upon as a table of stern decrees, the justice of which they acknowledge, but which they regard as irksome.

The blessing of Moses, the man of God, in Deut. xxiii., shows that the law was given in love, ad that it is an expression of the love of God. "The Lord came from Sinai. . . . From His right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, He loved the people." Verses 1-3. When received as it is given to us, in the hand of a Mediator, it conveys to us nothing of harshness, but everything pure, tender, gentle, sweet, and easy, and that tends to lift up, strengthen, and bless. It is a blessed promises, that if we hear, we shall be preserved from taking the name of the Lord in vain.

Every commandment of God is a promise God has pledged Himself that every believer shall be kept from taking His name in vain,-that is, that every believer shall keep the whole law, doing nothing that can in any way dishonour God. "The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." This is a negative statement, the positive form of which would be, The Lord will hold him guiltless that does not take His name in vain. Is not that grand? The person who keeps the third commandment is counted guiltless before God. "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin;" and He does not impute sin to the man who does not take His name in vain.

(To be continued).

"The Editor's Private Corner. How to Study the Bible" The Present Truth 17, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

I have read the article in this week's PRESENT TRUTH on the Inspiration of the Bible, and believe that the authority is to be found only in the word itself. But my difficulty is that I do not know how to study the Bible, and I shall be very glad if you can give me some helpful suggestions.

Few people know how really to study the Bible. And this is not always because they do not know how to study at all, for very often those who are good students otherwise, are poor students of the Bible, even though they want to understand it. In Prov. ii. 1-5 we are told to study the Bible so as to understand it. Let us read the passage:-

"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide My commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding, yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God."

DIGING FOR HID TREASURE

When a man is convinced that there is rich silver or gold ore in a certain place, what does he do?-He goes right there and digs in that very place. But how do people generally do with the Bible? Why, as soon as they light upon a portion where there is special treasure,-and that means a place where there is special difficulty,-they immediately go off to some other place to dig. If they went to some other part of the Bible, it would not be so bad, for there is treasure everywhere in the Bible, and whoever finds it in one place will be better able to find it in another; but they generally go to a library and begin to dig among the commentators, or they ask their pastor or some friend what he thinks it means. It is as though a man should find indications of gold in a certain place, and should straightway go off a hundred miles and begin digging. People are not so foolish as that in temporal matters.

Another point: When a man is digging for silver or gold, he carefully examines every, portion of the soil where he is digging Whoever has seen men washing out gold knows that every particle of the soil is carefully examined. No matter what the style of mining, everything is in some way closely scrutinised.

CONSIDER WHAT THE WORD SAYS

Here then we have the simple directions for studying the Bible. First go to the Bible itself, and to the particular passage which you wish to understand, and thou give the most careful and patient attention to every sentence and every word. Let your mind dwell upon every word and every clause, noting its relation to what precedes and what follows, until you know for a certainty just what it says. Do not sit down to commit the passage to memory so that you can repeat it parrot-like. That is not study. But question the text, asking a question and letting the words of the text give the answer, until you cannot possibly think of it without thinking its very words.

When the student knows what the text says, then what? Here is the instruction: "Consider what I say; for the Lord shall give thee understanding in all things." 2 Tim. ii. 7, R.V. How will He give us the understanding?-By our considering what He says. That is, while we are diligently considering the text, the understanding of the text will come from the text itself. From what other place should we expect it to come? "For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." Prov. ii. 6. The meaning of what the Lord says is in just the very words that He says.

DO NOT BE IMPATIENT

How long must one consider the words before he can understand it? That depends upon several things. We must be prepared to consider them for ten years, if need be, without getting impatient. We must have such confidence that wisdom and knowledge do come from the very words of the Lord that we shall be assured that they are really there, and that they are nowhere else. But much depends on the spirit in which we approach we approach the study. The Spirit of God is the source whence the Bible comes; the Spirit is the life and power and wisdom of the Word. When we come with hearts submissive to the Spirit, we shall not have to wait so long as we otherwise would.

Remember that the righteousness of God is revealed to faith, and not to intellect. That does not put any discount upon intellect, but it simply exalts faith. God has given man talents of intellect, and expects him to use them, but not without faith. A very feeble intellect with faith will understand the Bible far more readily, and more perfectly, than a giant intellect without faith.

At the same time that one particular passage is being thus studied, do not neglect the reading and studying of other parts of the Bible. The Bible is a unit; one Spirit and one truth is in it all; and every part is thus directly connected with every other part. If the particular passage under special consideration is in the middle of a chapter, the student will find it necessary to extend his careful study back to the beginning of the chapter, and even to the beginning of the book; for no book in the Bible, unless it be Proverbs or Psalms, is made up of detached thoughts. A line of thought runs through each, and every text should be considered in its full connection. Then when it is used in the study of any special subject, it will not be misapplied.

When the mind thus gets accustomed to dwelling upon the Scriptures, it is wonderful how light will come. Almost anything may serve to cause the light to shine forth from the Word. While reading some other portion of the Bible, while listening to a discourse, in conversation even upon some other subject,-in short, in a thousand different ways,-the mind may be directed to the text that has been studied, and the light will shine forth. No one can tell in what way the Spirit will work, and what means it will use to lead the soul into the truth; only let it be remembered that in any case it is the Spirit that guides, and that the knowledge gained comes from the Word itself, and not from any other source.

"For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding."

"For Little Ones. Lessons from the Manna" The Present Truth 17, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

GATHERINGS WHAT GOD GIVES

When God rained down bread from heaven in the wilderness, the people had to go out and "gather a certain rate every day." All that anyone can do to get food is simply to gather what God gives. Of the animals and birds, we are told in the 104th Psalm:-

"These wait all upon Thee,
That Thou mayest give them their meat in due
season.
That Thou givest them, they gather;
Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with
good."

And this is just as true of all mankind. People often forget this, and think that they "make a living" for themselves, but this is not possible. God gives us our life, and the means of sustaining it, and all that anyone does "for a living," is for the purpose of gathering what God has provided.

"We plough the fields and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand;
He sends the snow in winter,
The warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine,
And soft refreshing rain."

No matter who may sow, or plant, or reap, "God giveth the increase," and we are fed daily from His table, just as much as were the Children of Israel in the desert, when they gathered every morning a fresh portion of manna.

Loot at our picture and compare it with the one that we had last week, and you will see that they both really represent she same thing, gathering the bread that God has rained down from heaven.

THE DEW AND RAIN

Did you notice, in reading over the story, that the manna came with the dew? It is the dew that brings fruitfulness and food. In the beginning, before a drop of rain had fallen from the sky, "there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground," to make the whole land verdant and fruitful.

Since the flood, rain has also fallen from the clouds, and it in through this moisture, the dew and the rain, that God sends us our food.

You will perhaps remember what the prophet Elijah said to the wicked king Ahab: "There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." And the result was that "there was a sore famine in Samaria," no food for the hungry people to gather.

Moses told the Children of Israel that the land to which God was leading them was a land that the Lord's eyes were always upon, a land "that drinketh water of the rain of heaven," "that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and wine, and oil."

APRIL SHOWERS

We are told also in the Psalms that the Lord visits the earth and waters it, and because of this "the valleys are covered over with corn." So to us, as to Israel of old, the bread that God sends comes with the dew and rain of heaven. So we must be glad to see the "April showers," and thank the Lord for them, for this "early rain" is to provide for the gathering of the bread in the Autumn harvest.

The dew is used in Scripture to represent the Holy Spirit. It is the gentle dew of the Spirit which God sends upon us from above that brings Jesus, the true Manna, to feed our souls, and to make us strong and happy.

"AN EQUALITY"

Have you ever noticed that although in gathering the manna, some were not able to gather so much as others, yet when they measured the quantity gathered, "he that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack"?

Paul explains how this was brought about; he says: "I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want; that there may be equality; as it is written, he that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack."

When one is able to gather were of the good gifts of God than he needs for his own use, he is not to hoard it up. Notice what happened to the manna when it was so kept. It began to decay, and became a curse instead of a blessing.

When one has more than he needs, it is to be given to one who has less than he needs. So your abundance way be a supply for the lack of some one else; and when you have not enough, the abundance of another will supply your lack, and there will be "an equality."

This is God's plan, and when it was followed by the early Christians, no man said "that aught of the things that he had was his own," but they "had all things common." And as God gives abundance for all, when this was done every one had plenty.

Some people are too lazy to gather for themselves, and some waste what their Heavenly Father gives them, as did the Prodigal Son, until "he began to be in want."

But usually, when there is anyone in want, it is because some one else has more than his share, for God has provided enough so that if there be "an equality," every one will have sufficient.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

-China has sent Russia a formal refusal to sign the Manchuria Agreement in view of the opposition of the other Powers.

-About 30,000 colliers are on strike in Lanarkshire in consequence of the refusal of the Federated Coalmasters' Association to concede an eight hours' working day.

-Lord Kitchener has granted permission for a certain number of companies to restart mining on the Rand on condition that the miners receive a maximum of 5s. a day with rations.

-Several shipping disasters resulted from the recent rough weather. Nine lives were lost off the coast of Northumberland, only one man escaping out of the steamship Paris's crew of ten men.

-An explosion of two magazines caused the death of forty wives of the chief Kabba on the Gambia. The chief himself has since been defeated and killed, which brings the Gambia expedition to an end.

-According to letters from St. Petersburg, six students were killed, fifty-eight severely wounded, and over a thousand arrested in connection with the recent agitation. Count Tolstoy has been ordered to leave Moscow.

-The total revenue collected in the United Kingdom during the national financial year just ended amounted to ?140,018,624, and, as compared with the return for the preceding financial year, shows a net increase of ?10,261,804.

-Sir John Stainer, the well-known musician, died on Sunday, March 31st, at Verona.

-Three hundred men of the West African Regiment have arrived at Cape Coast Castle from Kumassi, having deserted on account of alleged non-fulfilment of promise. One hundred and twenty troops have been sent overland from Accra.

-While the Sultan was holding a reception in his palace at Constantinople, in connection with the Feast of Balram, a panic was caused by an earthquake shock. The Sultan left his throne, but soon reseated himself, and ordered the ceremony to proceed. Slight shocks were also felt in Italy.

-Five architects, representing England, Scotland, and Ireland, have been selected to send in designs for the Queen Victoria Memorial, which is to enshrine Mr. Brock's statue of the late Queen. It is to be erected on the open space in front of Buckingham Palace.

-The past month was the coldest March for over half a century. The temperature on the 28th was the lowest recorded so late in the season for thirty years. Snow fell heavily, and drifts from eight to ten feet in depth blocked the roads in Scotland. Tramway traffic was suspended in several English towns.

-That Canada as a whole is prospering is clear from the trade returns for the fiscal year, which show an increase of upwards of $50,000,000, exports and imports taken together, over the returns for 1899, which previously held the record. The greater portion of this increase is no doubt due to the manufactures of the eastern provinces.

-The largest ship in the world was successfully launched on Thursday, the 4th inst., from the yard of Messrs. Harland and Wolff, Belfast. The Celtic was built for the White Star Line Company, and is destined for the Anglo-American trade. She is 700ft. long, her beam is 75ft., and her depth 49ft., and there is accommodation for 2,859 passengers.

-Since Mr. Chamberlain's speech, urging extensive female emigration to South Africa, large numbers of women from all parts of the kingdom have been appealing to the United British Women's Emigration Association for particulars and advice. Intending emigrants are urged to obtain instruction in various departments of practical life, such as cooking, dairying, poultry-keeping, bread-making, laundry work, needlework, cutting-out, gardening, fruit-packing, bee-keeping, and nursing.

-The Census of the United Kingdom was taken on Monday, April 1. The population of the United Kingdom, when the last census was taken in 1891, was found to be as follows:-England and Wales, 29,002,525; Scotland, 4,025,647; Ireland, 4,704,750; Islands, 147,872; Army, Navy, and merchant seamen abroad, 224,211; total, 38,101,975. The Census returns will be issued sometime within five months. The Registrar-General estimates the population of our islands, with the Army, Navy, and Mercantile Marine, to be about 11,250,000.

-On Saturday, March 30, the St. Ives fishermen refused to allow the captain of a Lowestoft smack to land his load of mackerel, because he had been a Sunday fisher. Although the Mayor told the captain that there was no law to prevent him landing his fish, and the police were there to assist him, the crowd declared their intention of throwing the cargo into the water if any attempt were made to put it ashore. The fish in question had not been caught on a Sunday, but the fishermen declare that they will not allow fish to be landed by boats that do not remain in port on Saturday and Sunday nights.

"Being and Doing" The Present Truth 17, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Look at that flock of seal-gulls.

Yes; are they not beautiful?

What a fleecy, fluttering, variegated cloud their white and grey wings make as they rise and fall! What delicate softness! One could gaze on them with delight by the hour, yet they are only looking for stray bits from the ship, each one selfishly thinking only of its own wants.

What are they good for? They have no song, only a single note, harsh as the croak of a raven. They do nothing except look for food to perpetuate their life.

True; but they do all that God made them to do. They live, and are beautiful to look at, as He designed them to be. They delight the eyes of men, and doubtless of God too, and that is no small thing. And they teach us a most important lesson.

What is that?

It is that to be is more than to do. God does great things, but it is because He is; and because He is, He commands us to be, and gives us the power to be; for "in Him we live, and move, and have our being." He says, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." Simply to be what He makes us, is the sum of all duty. This does not mean simple vegetation, much less does it mean absence of progress; for "the inward man is renewed day by day," and to be a man, that is, a real man, a man of God, is to be more than mortal mind can ask or think. Therefore let none worry because they can do so little; rather give diligence to "be to the praise of the glory of His grace," and He will say, "Well done."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

God redeems before He enjoins; and only the redeemed can truly keep His commandments. He delivered His people from Egypt "that they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws." Ps. cv. 46. We do not get life by keeping the commandments, but God gives us life in order that we may keep them.

It is said of Enoch, that "before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."

What higher testimonial of good conduct could anybody wish than that? To please the Judge of all the earth, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, is the highest attainment possible to man or angel.

Why is it that all Christians are not perfectly satisfied with this testimony from the Lord? for notice that Enoch had this testimony before he was translated; the Lord did not withhold the expression of His gratification, as men often do, but let Enoch know that he pleased Him; and everybody who labours in true faith may have the same assurance.

Someone will ask, Is not everybody satisfied with that assurance?-Not by any means. There are many sincere Christians, who know that they are in the place where God has set them, and doing the work He has given them to do, who are downcast when their fellow-men withhold expressions of approval, and are in the depths of despondency when they are sharply criticised. This shows that they are seeking to please man, as well as the Lord; and it indicates that they depend upon the testimony of their fellows as the sole evidence that they please God. In reality they put man in the place of God.

This is self-evident, and from it we can see how true are the words of the Apostle Paul: "If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." Gal. i. 10. It matters not who the men are; they may be Christians, but if we think of pleasing them, we cannot please God. This terrible alternative ought to be sufficient to guard no all against the sin of "eye-service, as men-pleasers." If God is pleased, what can we care about who else may be displeased? Let each one who has any service to perform, say to the Lord: "O Lord, I am Thy servant, and not the servant of man; help me to remember this continually, that I may please Thee, and not be cast down by adverse criticism, nor elated by any expression of approbation by men."

When this is the case, when a man's first and only thought is to please God, regardless of what men may think, he will have far less trouble with man, than when he is seeking to please men; for "when a man's ways please the Lord, be maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." Prov. xvi. 7. They may not be pleased with him, but they can find no fault with him. Then "sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread."

When one comes in contact with some of one's fellow- creatures, and sees their grossness and corruption, their low sensuality, their sordid selfishness, and the petty meanness and fiendish cruelty of which they are capable, one blushes for the human race, and is almost ashamed of being a man, especially when one remembers that no man commits any sin that is not common to all human flesh.

But when, still looking at fallen man, "we see Jesus" bearing all this load of shameful sin and pitiable weakness, yet remaining "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens," and grasp the thought that "He lifteth the poor out of the dust," even out of the mire and filth of the pit, to set them among princes, and that this exalted Being is "the Man," we cannot but rejoice in the thought of being associated with Him, and glory in the cross of Christ which creates us men indeed.

"The Anointing which Teacheth All Things" The Present Truth 17, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

The Anointing which Teacheth All Things .-The reason why the disciples mourned and wept and were sad after the crucifixion of Jesus is given in John xx. 9: "For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead." This evidently does not mean that they were not familiar with the words of that Scripture, for "the voices of the prophets" were "read in their synagogue every Sabbath day;" and the adored writings were the chief study of every Jew. Yet notwithstanding this, "they knew not the Scripture."

When, on the road to Emmaus, Jesus "expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself," their hearts burned within them, and their sorrow gave place to joy as He opened to them the Scriptures. But not yet did they truly know the Scriptures. They were still in the condition of the Ethiopian eunuch who, in response to Philip's question, "Understandest thou what thou readest?" said, "How can I, except some man should guide me?" One has no need of a guide in territory that one knows.

A deeper and richer experience was theirs a little later, when Jesus "opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures." No further need then that any should guide them; for "the annointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you: and ye need not that any man teach you: but the same anointing teacheth you of all things." "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things" (1 John ii. 26, 27), and it is only thus that anything can be really known. This anointing, the divine enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Spirit of Truth to guide into all truth, is for every believer, for John wrote these words to the whole church, and Paul prayed that all might receive "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" Do you know the Scriptures? "If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts auto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him."

April 17, 1901

"The Law of Life. The Fourth Commandment" The Present Truth 17, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

THE FOURTH COMMENDMENT

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex. xx. 8-11.

THE ORIGIN OF "DIFFICULTIES IN SCRIPTURE INTERPRETATION."

This commandment, like every other, is exceeding broad, and we can never exhaust it. Yet, with all its breadth and depth, it is exceedingly simple and easy to be understood. Nevertheless, it is very much misunderstood, and many professed Christians seem to find great difficulty in it. Because of the general perversion of this commandment, it is necessary to clear the ground of some misapprehensions, before we come to the consideration of the real teaching of it. The difficulties connected with this commandment, like those with any part of the Bible, are wholly in the minds of men, and not in the commandment itself. Perverted minds pervert the word. Whoever comes to the study of the Bible, wholly free from prejudice or selfish motives, with a sincere desire that he may learn the will of God in order to do it, will never find any difficulty in it; for "if any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching." John vii. 17.

All the difficulties of "interpretation" lie in this: People come to the Bible with more or less fixed opinions of what is right. They take it for granted that the ideas and practices that they have received by tradition from their fathers, and which are common among men, must be right. But they find things in the Bible that do not sanction their course, and since their minds are not open to change, they feel it necessary to make the Bible harmonise with their practice. Bible study is very difficult under such conditions.

WHICH DAY?

Although the commandment states the case in the plainest language, there is a great deal of questioning as to which day is the Sabbath. Nothing could be more simple and direct than this: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord the God;" but the majority of professed Christians observe the first day, calling it the Sabbath, and hence arises one of the difficulties to which we have just referred. It is true that many observers of Sunday have not found any difficulty over it, because they suppose that it is the seventh day spoken of in the commandment. Their attention has never been called to the matter, or else they would see the fallacy

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of their supposition; for if you ask them why they observe Sunday, they will say that it is in honour of Christ's resurrection, which they know took place on the first day of the week. "The Sabbath day according to the commandment" is the day before the first day of the week. (See Luke xxiii. 56, and xxiv. 1.) Hence it is the seventh day of the week.

It is very plain, therefore, that the fourth commandment as given by the Lord from Mount Sinai requires the observance of the seventh day of the week, and that the observance of the first day of the week by professed Christians is not warranted by it. There is no revised edition of the commandment, for God's Word is settled in heaven for ever, and Christ said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. v. 17, 18.

But some say, "It all depends on where you begin to count; if you begin to count with the second day, you make Sunday the seventh; or if you should begin with Wednesday, you would make the third day the seventh." The fallacy of this statement should be apparent to every one. If a man has seven sons, you cannot make the first-born the seventh by any process of counting. Call them what you please, the first-born is still the first son, and the last one born is the seventh. Calling black white does not make it white. Calling the first day the seventh does not make it the Sabbath; it still remains the first day, and one of "the six working days." The same principle applies to the seventh day; no matter what men call it, or where they begin their count of days, it still remains the seventh day, which "is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."

At the very time the law was spoken from Mount Sinai, when God said, "Remember the Sabbath day," He was making it plain that the Sabbath is a definite day, and that it was not left to man to choose which day it should be, nor how it should be kept. The giving of the manna emphasised the sacredness of the day, and showed its definiteness. For forty years manna fell six days in the week; on the seventh day none fell, but the lack was made up by a double portion being given on the sixth day. While ordinarily the manna that fell one day could not be kept till the next day without spoiling, the extra portion given on the sixth day was sweet and good for use on the seventh. Nobody could change the day, or was free to choose for himself.

DO WE KNOW THE ORIGINAL SEVENTH DAY?

But some tell us that the reckoning of days has been lost, and since we cannot know which is the original seventh day, one day is as likely to be right as another. Such objectors forget that the Word of God "liveth and abideth for ever." The commandment speaks to us as directly as it did to the Israelites gathered about Mount Sinai. It is not four thousand years old, but is new every day. We have no more ground for saying that we cannot tell which is the Sabbath day according to the commandment, than the Israelites had when they heard it spoken. God does not command impossibilities, and the fact that He still speaks to us in His commandment, requiring the observance of the seventh day, is evidence enough that it can be kept. But to take away every shade of doubt, and to show positively that the original Sabbath cannot possibly have been lost, we will briefly trace its history.

In the beginning God rested on the seventh day, and sanctified it (Gen. ii. 13); and this is given in the commandment as the reason why we should observe it. God makes no mistakes, and never gets confused in His reckoning, so we may know that the Israelites in the desert had

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the identical seventh day upon which God rested. During all their history they were in direct communication with God by means of prophets, and the fact that they never lost their reckoning of the days is shown from the frequent reproofs God sent them for their violation of the Sabbath. Finally they were carried into captivity because of their transgression of the commandment; but God would not have punished them for disobedience if it had been impossible for them to know the truth. After their return to captivity they were very scrupulous in their observance of the Sabbath, at least outwardly. Then Christ came, God's Representative, and the Giver of the law. If the Jews had lost a reckoning, He would have set them right. But He recognised the day they were observing as the Sabbath day, and reproved them only because they made it a yoke of bondage, instead of the blessing that God designed it to be.

Shortly after Christ's ascension the Jews were dispersed, and ever since they have been found in every part of the world. But they have remained faithful to the tradition of Sabbath keeping, and no matter how widely separated, they all still observe one and the same day. It is absolutely impossible that all should have lost the reckoning of days, and all made exactly the same mistake at the same time, so that nobody ever detected it. It is plain, therefore, that all that is required in order that one may know that he has the identical seventh day on which God rested, and in regular succession from the creation, is the ability to count seven.

THE ESSENCE OF THE COMMANDMENT

Whoever reads the Bible with care will notice that there is never any suggestion of the possibility of doubt as to which day is the Sabbath. The whole burden of the Scripture is as to its nature, and the manner of its observance. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." We are not required to make it holy; God himself did that in the beginning, to which the commandment refers us. When the heavens and the earth were finished, God "rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." Gen. ii. 2, 3. To sanctify is to make holy. The same word is used in the commandment as in Gen. ii. 3. The idea prevails quite generally that men can keep any day holy, that they can make any day holy on which they choose to rest. This is a grave error. Only He who can create can make holy. For any man to claim that he can make a day holy, is to put himself in the place of God, claiming equal power with the Creator. When God says, "Hallow My Sabbaths," He does not ask us to do what He has already done, but to recognise it and conform to it.

It is not for the benefit of the Sabbath itself that we are required to keep it holy. "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man to the Sabbath." Mark ii. 28. Those who observe Sunday often bewail the little regard that is paid to it by the mass of people, saying, "We have no Sabbath;" and so they ask for laws to protect it. In these efforts to enforce Sunday observance by law, they disclaim any wish to make people religious by law, but say that they merely want protection for the day, as though people could injure a day by anything that they do on it. He who knows the true Sabbath day will never have any such thoughts about it. And our keeping it does not add any sacredness to the day, and our violating it does not make any difference in its sanctity. The Sabbath is not a fragile thing that must be kept in a case, lest it be broken to pieces by rough usage. It does not need to be protected: it itself is a protection for those who keep it. "His truth shall be thy shield and buckler." It is never true that we have no Sabbath. If every man on earth violated the Sabbath, it would still remain the same holy day. You cannot abolish the Sabbath day, any more than you can abolish God.

Recall the text quoted in our study of the first commandment: Joshua xxiv. 19: "Ye cannot serve the Lord: for He is a holy God." "God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." John iv. 24, R.V., margin. The law is spiritual (Rom. vii. 14), and only those who are spiritual can keep it. John was keeping the Sabbath according to the commandment when he was "in the Spirit of the Lord's day." No one can serve God unless he is holy. We are to "worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Does that shut anybody off from serving Him? No; this is the blessing of the Sabbath day: "I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." God gives us the Sabbath, to make us know and remember that He has the power to make us holy, so that we can serve Him acceptably. God sanctifies man by His creative power, in order that they may keep the whole law. To keep the Sabbath holy, therefore, is the sum of all commandment keeping.

(To be continued.)

April 18, 1901

"In the 'Upper Room.' John xx. 19-29" The Present Truth 17, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

(John xx. 19-29.)

Jesus had risen from the grave very in the morning, and appeared to Mary and to Peter, and had walked with two of the disciples to Emmaus. These had immediately returned to Jerusalem, and had told the eleven, who still remained in the "upper room" which they had taken for the Passover week, all their experience, and how Jesus was made known to them, but the apostles did not believe them.

"Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jaws, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you; as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whosesoever sine ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.

"But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with there when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe.

"And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas was with them; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and My God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

SOME MISAPPREHENSIONS

We have quoted this entire portion of Scripture, because it is one that is misapprehended in several particulars by the majority of readers. In the first place, it is a mistake to suppose that the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews; what the

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text teaches is that the doors of the place where the disciples were assembled, were shut for fear of the Jews. The significance of the statement, which is repeated, that "the door was shut" is seen in the fact that Jesus came in. If there be a soul who will rejoice at the Lord's presence, that is sufficient to bring Him in, no matter how tightly the doors are shut.

Another thing from which the minds of people need to be disabused, is the idea that the disciples were holding a religious service, and celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. They were "within," that is, at home, in the "upper room" where all of them abode. Acts i. 13. Moreover, they were at supper, for in the account in Mark xvi. we learn that He appeared unto them "as they sat at meat." The two disciples who were about to begin their evening meal at Emmaus, rose up as soon as they recognised Jesus, and hastened back to Jerusalem, where they found the apostles at supper, and had scarcely finished telling their story when Jesus Himself appeared in the midst of them. As to their celebrating the resurrection, the fact that they did not believe that it had taken place, is sufficient to refute that idea. The two disciples who had walked to Emmaus in company with Jesus, "went and told it unto the residue; neither believed they them." Mark xvi. 12, 13. When Jesus appeared in the midst of them He "upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen." Mark xvi. 14.

These facts also effectually dispose of the notion that the disciples were beginning the observance of the first day of the week in honour of the resurrection. They could not have been doing that, when they did not believe that Jesus had risen. As for the second meeting, "after eight days," no species of reckoning that does not count two as one can make it fall on a Sunday. It was certainly not sooner than the next Monday week, and may have been later still. Yet these two texts comprise the principal part of the ground upon which Sunday observance is based! A "custom" cannot be built out of a single occurrence, and this one first day of the week is absolutely the only one directly referred to in the New Testament, with the exception of one incidentally mentioned in Acts. But if there were a thousand such references, it would make no difference. An incidental reference is not a commandment. The fact that something or anything was done on a first day of the week, is no ground whatever for keeping that day. The original commandment of God still stands. It is safe to say that the apostles, and all the disciples who saw the Lord after the resurrection, died without dreaming of such a thing as that Sunday would be substituted for the Sabbath of the Lord.

THE BREATH OF LIFE

Jesus "breathed on them," and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job xxxiii. 4. "There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration [breathing in] of the Almighty giveth them understanding." Job. xxxii. 3. The breath of the Lord is a marvellous thing. "He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things," and it is His own breath that He gives to all; but the way in which men receive it makes a vast difference in the benefit that they derive from it. In the beginning God made man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Before the breath came to him, man was only a lump of clay-a man, but good for nothing as a man. As soon as the breath of God came into him, he was a "very good" man, and so he remained as long as he was loyal to God, content to be wholly dependent on Him. Even so now the breath of God upon us, if we receive it constantly as coming from Him, and conveying to us His Spirit, will make and keep us good. We shall then live by faith just as we live by breathing; that which sustains physical life in us, will at the same time supply and nourish spiritual life.

AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST

"He whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God; for God giveth not the Spirit by measure." John iii. 34. The Lord says, "I will pour out My Spirit unto you, I will make known My words unto you." Prov. i. 23. The words of the Lord are Spirit and life, and the Spirit makes known the words of God. The Word of God is almighty; by it the heavens and the earth were created (Ps. xxxiii. 6); by it they are now upheld (Heb. i. 3); by it they will be renewed (2 Peter iii. 5-13); and by it men are made new, meet to be partakers of the inheritance. 1 Peter i. 23. Therefore it inevitably follows that whosoever is filled with the Spirit, and speaks the words of God, must speak with the same authority that God Himself does, and so He can speak the words that remit sin. It is God's voice speaking by his mouth. And this power was not given to the apostles alone, but it is for all who receive the Spirit. The true successors of the apostles are all who receive the word of the Spirit. All Christians are "ambassadors for Christ," sent on the same mission that He had.

THE BLESSING OF FAITH

The Lord is very long-suffering; our High Priest has "compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way." The disciples ought all to have believed the testimony that was given them concerning the resurrection, and especially the Scriptures, that made it so plain; but when they did not, Christ gave them palpable evidence. He leaves everybody without excuse. But let all beware how they presume upon God's goodness and forbearance and longsuffering. Because God is patient with the ignorant and unbelieving, it is not wise to refuse to believe until the last scrap of evidence has been presented. The wisest man is he who believes the most. To be slow to believe is not an evidence of superiority.

Who has not heard people emulating Thomas, and excusing their unbelief by saying almost with an air of pride, "I am like doubting Thomas; I must put my hands in the prints of the wounds, before I can believe"? Strange that they who are so well acquainted with the story of Thomas do not remember what Christ said to him: "Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Do you notice that no blessing was pronounced upon him? That does not mean that Thomas was rejected; but it does mean that by his stubborn unbelief he deprived himself of a great blessing. In the kingdom of heaven faith is at a premium, and he who believes most readily gets the chief blessing.

"The Law of Life. The Third Commandment. Continued " The Present Truth 17, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

TAKING THE NAME

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." Ex. xx. 7.

Think a moment of the word "take." It means to lift up, to bear, not simply to utter. We are to take the name of God, else there would be no force in the commandment not to take it in vain. But the blessedness of the commandment lies in the assurance that when we take it, it will not be in vain. It will accomplish something for us. It will make and keep us guiltless, for "the name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous rnnneth into it, and is safe." Prov. xviii. 10.

An illustration of this is given in the third and fourth chapters of Acts. In the third chapter we have the record of the healing of the lame man at the gate of the temple. He never had walked, but when Peter said to him, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk," "he leaping up stood and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God." When the multitude gathered round in amazement, Peter said: "The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; . . . whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know; yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."

Then the next day, when the Apostles were brought before the Jewish Council, Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, "Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined concerning a goad deed done to an impotent man, in whom 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 here before you whole . . . And in none other is there salvation; for neither is there any other name under heaven that is given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts iv. 9-12, R.V., margin. This miracle gives us a vivid illustration of what it is to take the name of the Lord not in vain.

SALVATION IN THE NAME

There is salvation in that name. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." His name is what He Himself is. Note the words used by Peter: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, even in Him doth this man stand are before you whole." That is to say, that to stand in the name of Jesus is to stand in Jesus. The name is the person. God is the Saviour, and His name is in Christ.

NOT MAGIC, BUT REALITY

The name of the Lord is not to be taken as a charm; it is not magic, but reality. When Paul was at Ephesus, wonderful miracles were wrought by him in the name of the Lord Jesus. "Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them that had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We abjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said: Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the men in whom the evil spirit was, leaped on them, and overcame them; and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified." Acts xix. 13-17.

So we see that it is not some utterance of the name that is of value, but the recognition of the being and character of the Lord.

HIS NAME IS HIS CHARACTER

His personality, and cannot be separated from Himself. Names of men and things with us are mare matters of convenience and fancy; they mean nothing. And this is doubtless one reason why people do not better understand the force of "that glorious and fearful name, the Lord thy God." To take the name of God in reality is to take the life and experience the power of it. "They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee; for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee." God has never failed any person; we may go to Him in the name that is above every name, asking for His own sake to take away our sins, and to cleanse us, and we shall never be disappointed. What a blessed promise! "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." The Lord says to the one who trusts Him, "I will set him

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on high, because he hath known My name; he shall call upon Me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My salvation." Ps. xci. 14-16.

BAPTIZED INTO THE NAME

The disciples of Jesus are baptized "into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Matt. xxviii. 19, R.V. To be baptized into the name of the Lord is to be swallowed up in His life, so that one can say, "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."

Since the life is the life of Christ, it is perfectly proper for the person to bear the name of Christ, just as the wife bears the name of her husband. We are joined by death to Christ in a bond that "neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, not any other creature," can break. His name is our salvation. We are baptized into it, and it is the strong tower, into which we run and are safe. So again we rejoice in the assurance given in the third commandment, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."

PRAYING IN THE NAME

We are exhorted, "Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." Gal. iii. 17. So we are to pray in His name, and the assurance is, "If ye shall ask anything In My name, I will do it." There are many unconscious forgers at the bank of heaven. How many there are who in their prayers use the expressions, "in Jesus' name," and, "for Jesus' sake," without a thought of what they mean. Thus they take the name in vain. They come with the name of the Lord without the Lord Himself.

When we truly bear the name of Jesus, we are sunk out of sight, for it is He who lives, and not we, and it is He in us asking that He may be delivered from the power of sin in our flesh. He is dwelling in our flesh, in order that He may cleanse us from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. "In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was able to save Him from death," He was heard. Heb. v. 7. He was saved from death, in that He was saved from sin. He "suffered in the flesh, being tempted," but He suffered not for Himself. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all, and it was the infirmities of our sinful flesh that oppressed His soul, He is still pleading in sinful flesh, presenting His life in our behalf, and longing to be relieved from the burden of sin with which we make Him serve.

How can a guilty sinner, already convicted of law-breaking, appear before the Lord, in the presence of that law that sends forth thunder and lightning, and a. storm of indignation upon the wicked? He dare not; but he need not, for it is not he, but Christ. Knowing and confessing that Christ is come in the flesh, the sinner comes with boldness to the throne of grace, for he comes in the name-in the person-of Jesus. If he truly believes in the name of Jesus, it is Christ using his tongue to utter the petition; and when he knows this, he can always make his requests with thanksgiving, no matter with how strong crying and tears his supplications be made; for Christ in the days of His flesh obtained deliverance from those very sins.

So when I use that name, I must claim all that the name comprehends. Christ never offered a petition in vain. He said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me; and I know that Thou hearest Me always." John xi. 41, 42. Whatever we ask in His name indeed, will be granted. God will clear and hold guiltless every soul who takes that name for all that it means. Such an one will not take it in vain.

STAMPED WITH THE NAME

"The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And thou shalt put My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them." Num. vi. 22, 27. The name of the Lord is mercy and grace and peace. This name put upon the soul, keeps it. The Lord says of the one who believes Him, and thus has the victory that has overcome the world, "I will write upon Him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, . . . and My new name." Rev. iii. 12. So the trusting soul will be as safe as the Now Jerusalem, and as God Himself. He says, "They that feared the Lord spake one with another, and the Lord hearkened and heard and a book of remembrance was written before Him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts."

Those who trust in the name have the name written upon them, and that shows to whom they belong. This is a pledge of safety, for the Lord will keep His own. His name upon us shows that we are His property, and He will defend us with His life against all adversaries. The devil knows the name of the Lord, and trembles at its power. He knows that God has put a hedge about every soul who trusts in His name. Though Satan goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, we are safe so long as we abide in the name of the Lord; and that name abides for ever. "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever." Ps. cxxv. 2.

What a glorious promise, then, is the commandment that we shall never take the name of the Lord our God in vain!

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Return of the Jews" The Present Truth 17, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

Several questions have been received with reference to the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, one correspondent asking how the prophecies of the Ezekiel and Isaiah can be fulfilled if the Jews do not return to Jerusalem, and reign over the whole earth.

AN EVERLASTING POSSESSION

Canaan is a land which God gave to Abraham and to his seed "for an everlasting possession." Gen. xvii. 7, 8. It was to be an everlasting possession for both Abraham and his seed. But Abraham himself had not so much as a footbreadth of the land in his actual possession (Acts vii. 5), and none of the seed headed either, for even the righteous ones among them (and only the righteous are Abraham seed) "all died in faith, not having received a promise." Heb. ix. 13, 39.

Therefore the

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possession of the land involved the resurrection of the dead at the coming of Christ to restore all things. By the resurrection of Christ, God has gotten us unto a lively hope, "to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not a way, reserved in heaven for you." 1 Peter i. 3-6.

A WORLD-WIDE KINGDOM

But the possession of the land of Canaan meant nothing less than the possession of the whole world, as we learn by comparing Gen. xvii. 7, 8, 11, and Rom. iv. 1-13. That is to say, that which sealed to Abraham his right to the possession of the land of Canaan, was the seal of his right to all whole world.

In giving to him and his seed the land of Canaan, God gave to them all whole world. Not of course "this present evil world," for "the world passeth away;" and Christ gave Himself for us that He might deliver us from it and its destruction; but "we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter iii. 13. It was not the temporal possession of a few thousand square miles of land tainted by the curse, that God promised Abraham and to his seed, but the eternal possession of the entire earth freed from every vestige of the curse. The promise is "sure to all the seed" only through the faith of Christ. Christ is the seed, and we are heirs through Him. It is the "world to come" that is put in subjection to Him; and that is what He gives us.

Even though it were true that the little territory of Canaan constituted all whole of the promised inheritance, still it would be true that the Israelites never had it; for the promise which God confirmed was to give Abraham and his seed the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, that is, Abraham must have it for an everlasting possession, and his seed must also have it for an everlasting possession. But they all died, and in time even the country itself passed into the hands of other people. No temporal dwelling in Palestine could possibly fulfil the promise. The promise still remains to be fulfilled to Abraham and to all his seed. The inheritance is the land of Canaan; but the possession of the land of Canaan means the possession of the whole earth, not in its present state, but restored as in the days of the Eden.

THE NEW EARTH

It is evident that the children of Israel did not enjoy the rest in the inheritance, even while in Palestine, for although "He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents, yet they tempted and provoke the Most High God, and kept not His testimonies; but turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved to jealousy with their graven images," so that "God greatly abhorred Israel." Ps. lxxviii. 55-59.

AN HEAVENLY COUNTRY

Remember that it was an heavenly country that Abraham looked for. Nevertheless, the promise of God to give him and his seed (including us, if we are Christ's, Gal. iii. 16, 29) the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, will be fulfilled to the very letter.

When the Lord comes for His people to take them to Himself, to the place which He has prepared for them (see John xiv. 3), the righteous that will be raised incorruptible, and the righteous living ones will likewise be changed to immortality, and both together will be caught up "in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. The place to which they will be taken is the free Jerusalem above, "which is the mother of us all" (Gal. iv. 26); for that is where Christ now is, and where He is preparing a place for us.

That the heavenly Jerusalem is the place where Christ is now "in the presence of God for us," is evident from Heb. xii. 22-24, where we are told that those who believe are now come to mount Zion, unto "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem," "to God the Judge of all," "and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant."

A HEAVENLY CITY

This city, the New Jerusalem, the city which God has prepared for those of whom He is not ashamed, because they seek an heavenly country (Heb. xi. 16), is the capital of His dominions. It is the "city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (verse 10), for which Abraham looked. In the twenty-first chapter of Revelation we find a description of those foundations, where we also find that the city will not always remain in heaven, but will descend to this earth with the saints to have reigned in it with Christ for a thousand years after the resurrection. Rev. xx.

THE CITY BROUGHT DOWN

But to what spot on this earth will the city descend? Speaking of the time of the destruction of the wicked, the prophet Zechariah says:-

"Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. . . . And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall the Lord be One, and His name One." Zech. xiv. 3-9, R.V.

Thus we see that when God brings back the captivity of His people, He brings them to the very spot of earth that He promised to Abraham for an everlasting possession-the land of Canaan. But the possession of that land is the possession of the whole earth, not for a few years, but for eternity. "There shall be no more death." It was glorious inheritance that the children of Israel had in their grasp when they crossed the Jordan, and which they faithlessly allowed to slip. If they had been faithful, a very abort time would have sufficed to make the name and the saving power of God known in every part of the earth, and then the end would have come. But they failed, and so the time was lengthened, until our day; but the same hope has been the one thing ever before the people of God. So we way look forward to the possession of the land of Canaan with as much earnestness as did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, yea, and David also, and all the prophets, and with the same confidence hope.

RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

With these few outlines well fixed in the mind, the reading of the prophecies both of the Old and the New Testament will be a delight, for we shall be spared much confusion and many seeming contradictions will be seen to be plain. When we read of a restoration of Jerusalem, so that it will be the joy and praise of the whole earth, we shall know that the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven, to take the place of the old. If a city on this earth is burnt entirely to the ground, and men build a new city on the same site, the city is said to be rebuilt, and it is called, by the same name. So will Jerusalem, only the city is rebuilt in heaven, so that there is no interval between the destruction of the old and the appearance of the new. It is as though the new city sprang at once from the ruins of the old, only infinitely more glorious.

So also when we read of the return of Israel to Jerusalem, we know that it is not the return of a few thousand mortals to a mass of ruins, but the coming of the innumerable, immortal host of the redeemed to the ever new city where their citizenship has long been recorded. Mortal man will not rebuild the city with brick and stone and mortar, but God Himself will rebuid it with gold and pearls and with all manner of precious stones. "When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory." Ps. cii. 16. He says to Jerusalem, "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children." Isa. liv. 11-13. These are the stones in which her children take pleasure. Ps. cii. 14.

Why will men nullify all these glorious promises, by reading them as though they taught merely the temporal possession of a ruined city on this old sin-cursed earth? It is because they limit the Gospel, not realising that all the promises of God are in Christ, to be enjoyed by none except those who are in Christ, and in whom He dwells by faith. Would that God's professed people might speedily receive "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation" in the knowledge of God, that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened, that they might "know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints," and that it is to be gained only by "the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." Eph. i. 17-20.

"For Little Ones. Rock Turned to Water" The Present Truth 17, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

What a thirsty crowd! How they hasten to catch the flowing water, and cool their parched lips, and quench their burning thirst! A little while before, they could see nothing but death before them, and were almost ready to stone Moses, whom they looked upon as the cause of all their troubles.

How could this be, when day by day the manna fell from heaven to feed them, and the pillar of cloud and fire was ever in their sight, proclaiming the presence of God with them, and showing that they were divinely led?

Ah! God "was grieved" with them, because, He said, "they saw My works," but "they did not learn My ways." If they had learnt His ways, they would have rejoiced at every fresh difficulty, because it was but another opportunity for God to show them His mighty works, and His marvellous loving-kindness, and their deliverance.

But instead of quietly waiting to see how God was going to provide them with water, they "strove with Moses," and wished that they had stayed in Egypt.

Do you think that these people were very rebellious, hard-hearted, and unbelieving? Yes, they were; but not more so than we, if ever we doubt the love and care of God for us, if ever we murmur or fear when in a trial or difficulty.

But they had manna falling from the skies every day; they had seen the waters of the sea divided to make a path for them; they could see the glory of the Lord in the pillar of fire, you say.

And have not we from our birth been daily fed by our loving Heavenly Father sending us bread from the skies? for "every good and perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father."

Have we not seen His mighty power holding back the waters of the sea, saying, "Thus far shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed"? Is He not now dividing the waters above from the waters below the firmament, that we may have a place to live?

Do we not see the tokens of His presence everywhere, His glory in the cloud? We may, for "the heavens declare the glory of God," and "the whole earth is full of His glory."

Yes; we are seeing His works daily and hourly, as much as did the Israelites. Are we learning His ways, learning so to know Him that we trust Him and rest in His power and love, everywhere and under all circumstances? If not, we are quite as much to blame as the unbelieving Israelites, and God is as grieved with us as with them.

"How oft did they rebel against Him in the wil-
derness,
And grieve Him in the desert!"
"But He, being full of compassion, forgave
their iniquity, and destroyed them not."

God said to Moses, "Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of all the elders of Israel."

Then the water had been with them all the time, had it not? But because of their unbelief they had not seen it, and they had mourned because there was no water, when the living Rock was with them; for "they drank of that spiritual Rock that went with them, and that Rock was Christ."

Notice that they drank not from the Rock only, but of the Rock; for God

"turned the rock into a pool of water,
The flint into a fountain of waters."

You do not see much likeness between rock and water, do you? And if you were thirsty would not think that you could quench your thirst with a piece of rock. But all things are alike to God, for all are made by His Word. All things that we see are only different forms of the same thing-the Word of God.

That Word which formed everything, can change everything. The Word which caused light to shine out of darkness, can turn rock to water, or water to rock, and stones into bread. Indeed, God is doing this all the time, for He is taking up in the plants the minerals which form the stones and rocks, and changing them into food for us.

Many like wonders God is constantly doing for us by His Word. Remember

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that "man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord," and study the wondrous working of that almighty Word in all creation.

They drank of the Rock, and "that Rock was Christ." Therefore they drank of Christ. Water is life. Look in our picture at the fainting form of the child in its mother's arms. Without water they would all soon have died. But they lived by the life of Christ given to them in the water flowing from the Rock, the smitten Rock.

Here was a wonderful object lesson for them, and it was written for us. Why had the Rock to be smitten before its life-giving streams flowed forth, and "ran in the dry places like a river?"

Think this over through the week, and the question will be answered in our next number.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

-Seventy Chinese were drowned as the result of a collision between two Chinese vessels, both of which sank.

-The second of the new line of West Indian steamers, the Port Royal, arrived at Bristol on Friday with a cargo of 3,000,000 bananas from Jamaica.

-The first of the electric tramways in the metropolitan area has been opened for traffic. Cars run from Shepherd's-Bush to Kew, Acton and Hammersmith.

-Three thousand workmen employed in the cork factory have gone out on strike at Seville, tend those engaged in other industries are threatening to cease work.

-Gainsborough's famous picture of the Duchess of Devonshire, which was stolen from its owners, Messrs. Agnew & Son, of Bond Street, in 1676, has just been recovered in Chicago.

-The Marseilles strike, which continued for six weeks, has come to an end, and the labourers at the quays, ports, and docks have resumed work without securing the concession of their demands.

-One of the pillars in a side chapel in Westminster Abbey gave way last week, and came down with a tremendous crash. Another pillar in the same chapel was shown on investigation to be in a very unsafe condition.

-The new law reducing the accepted height for service in the French army to only an inch or so above five feet is already being put into practice, and will probably result in 6,000 more men being passed into the ranks per annum.

-A score of houses were destroyed at Andover by a fire which originated in a barn, and spread to the thatched roofs of the adjoining cottages. One hundred people were thereby rendered homeless, but there was no loss of life, and very little personal injury.

-A Norwegian sailor-boy attempted to row ashore in a small boat from a schooner off Faversham. He was carried out to sea, and drifted right across the Goodwin Sands. After twenty-four hours he was picked up in an exhausted condition and landed at Ramsgate.

-A return shown that the total number of killed, wounded and missing in the war in South Africa is 60,625. But this includes some 45,000 officers and men who have been invalided home, and the great majority of these have since recovered and rejoined their regiments.

-Great inconvenience has been cannel in Eastern Canada by floods due to the blocking of the river channels with ice. Two towns in the Province of Quebec have been submerged. Bridges have been wrecked and swept away, and the trains ran for miles through a water-covered plain.

-Two polar bears escaped from a circus menagerie at Clichy, and made at once for the Seine, where they played in the water. An inspector who came with a strong force of police to seize the animals, fell into the water and was injured by the nearest bear. The rescue of the officer occupied the attention of the police, but the wife of the managerie keeper arrived on the river bank anti called the bears, who left the water at once and remained quietly with her until the keeper came. They were then muzzled and led back to the menagerie.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

The article in the Editor's Corner this week, on the Restoration of Israel, we commend to the careful study of all our readers. This subject will be referred to again when we come to the study of the Fifth Commandment, and consider "the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." The present article will be found an excellent preparation for the better understanding of that clause.

The most enjoyable thing in life is life itself. The people who talk about not enjoying life, do not know what life is. Real life brings joy, because in the presence of the Lord, who is our life, there is fulness of joy. Ps. xvi. 11. The message of eternal life is sent to us, that our joy may be full. 1 John i. 1-4. So if anybody finds himself downhearted, and "getting no enjoyment out of life," the remedy is to "lay hold on eternal life" with a firm grasp.

A noted prize-fighter recently landed in Liverpool, from the United States, and in an interview with a newspaper correspondent he "deplored the decline of pugilism in England," saying that it is "no longer worth the attention of a man who can earn his salt in any other profession." This is good news, in spite of the pugilist's plaint that "it is shameful to see noble art discounted in its original home." Such "degeneracy" is an honour to a country. Would that every professional fighter, whether he fights with his fists or with gun and sword, might come to the conclusion that fighting is unprofitable.

The best way to show that we have no sympathy with any evil course to to do differently. It is not necessary for a man of strict integrity to be continually or periodically declaiming against dishonesty, in order to convince people that he has no sympathy with fraud. His life shows that, though he say not a single word. The man who has no other way of showing his antipathy to sin than by talking against it, is in a sad condition. The church or religious society that is obliged to pass resolutions against gambling, drunkenness, impurity, etc., in order that the world may know where it stands, thereby confesses that it is not really separate from sin. Being and doing is the most efficient preaching. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

The greater always includes the less. The fact that one text does not make so strong a statement about a certain thing as another text does, detracts nothing from that other text. For instance, in Isa. xl. 6, we read that "all flesh is grass," while in 1 Peter i. 24, we an told that "all flesh is as grass." Both are true. The positive statement is not a contradiction of the comparative; but we must beware of taking the latter as a contradiction of the former, saying that all flesh is not really grass, but only as grass. The Bible says positively that "all flesh is grass," and no lesser statement can possibly lesson the force of this truth. There is never any danger of taking too broad or extensive a view of God's Word; the trouble always comes from taking too narrow a view, for that results in narrowing ourselves.

"The Authority of Power" The Present Truth 17, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

One day as Jesus was teaching in the temple, after performing mighty miracles, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him, and said, "By what authority doest Thou these things? and who gave Thee this authority?" Jesus did not answer their questions, and it was not necessary. The questions showed that they recognised that He had authority, and it did not make any difference where He got it, or who gave it to Him, as long as He had it.

And what was His authority to teach the people and to heal the sick?-It was the ability to do it. The ability to do a thing, and to do it well, is all the authority anybody needs; it is, in fact, all the real authority anybody can have.

When Jesus had ended His talk on the mountain, "the people were astonished at His doctrine; for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." The scribes had "authority" to teach. If they did not happen to have it in their pockets, they could take one to their homes, and exhibit their piece of paper or parchment, certifying the fact that they had studied through the prescribed course, and were authorised to teach the law. Christ had no "authority" from men, but He had something that the people needed, and which they appreciated, and they never asked to see His credentials. His words and deeds were His credentials. He was "a man approved of God" "by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him." Acts ii. 22.

Thus it was with the apostles. Peter and John were the agents of a mighty miracle of healing, for which they were arrested and brought before the Jewish Council. They were irregular, unlicensed practitioners, and they were questioned as to their right to do such things. Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, told them that the power of the name of Jesus had done the work; and the rulers, "beholding the man which was healed standing with them" "could say nothing against it." Acts iv. 14. The name of Jesus, in which they stood, was their authority for making the helpless to stand.

No man was ever subjected to closer scrutiny, or met with greater opposition, than the Apostle Paul. His right to be called an apostle was denied; but this gave him no anxiety. He wrote: "Need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written, in our hearts, known and read of all men." 2 Cor. iii. 1, 2. Even so Christ said: "I receive not testimony from man." "The works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me." John v. 34, 36.

God Himself gives the same credentials to every one whom He sands forth. "He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God" (John iii. 34), and God's words are authoritative. He makes us able to be ministers of the new covenant, even of the Spirit that gives life. Whoever steadily and constantly holds forth the Word of life will never be embarrassed by any sudden challenge of his authority, or call for his credentials. The power to do gives the right to do; and whoever has not the power can never have the authority. This authority everybody may have, for it comes with the reception of the Holy Spirit, who is given freeIy to all without measure.

April 25, 1901

"The Test of True Love. John xxi. 15-22" The Present Truth 17, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

(John xxi. 15-22)¹⁰1

It was the third time that Jesus had showed Himself to a company of His disciples after the resurrection. Suddenly cut off from association with Him on whom they had been accustomed to depend as children upon a parent, not knowing the meaning of what had taken place, and uncertain as to the future,-doubtless thinking that their work as fishers of men was finished, when it had not yet begun,-they had followed the suggestion of Peter, and returned to their former occupation. But success did not attend their toil. After a wearisome night with the net, with no result, Jesus had appeared on the shore and guided them to success, and now they had finished the meal which He had provided for them, when suddenly He put to Peter the question, "Lovest thou Me more than these?"

What memories that question must have recalled to the mind of Peter! He could see himself in the garden, saying to Jesus, "Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison, and to death;" and, "Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended," and yet fleeing at the first assault, and afterwards denying the Lord with oaths. But he had learned the lesson of humility, and would no more compare himself with others, so he contented himself with saying, "Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee."

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The simple statement was as strong as words could make the truth.

"Jesus saith unto him, Feed My lambs." Most men would ask that one should do something for them, that he should do them a personal favour, in order to show love; but Jesus asks those who profess to love Him to show it by doing something for somebody else. The Apostle Paul said, "I am debtor, both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise." Why was he debtor to all men?-Because he had received so freely of the rich grace of God. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Now the love of God manifests itself in giving. "He gave Himself for us." "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." God changes not, and His love is ever the same; therefore when His love is shed and abroad in the heart it must necessarily show itself in service for mankind. "Love is of God." It is only with the love of God-the love which He has for us-that we can love Him; therefore whoever loves the Lord must necessarily love and serve those for whom He gave Himself in love.

REAL LOVE IS SPONTANEOUS

Let nobody, however, get the idea that the Lord asks us to do something to prove that we love Him. The tree does not bear apples in order to prove that it is an apple tree, although it is indeed known by its fruit; but it bears apples because the fruit is in it and must necessarily come forth. Even so love is one of the first fruits of the Spirit, and love serves because that is its nature.

The fact that Jesus did not ask Peter to feed His sheep and lambs, in order to prove that he loved Him, is evident from the fact stated by Peter, "Thou knowest that I love Thee." He knows the state of our hearts better than we do, and He does not ask proof of our love, but He tells us what is pleasing to Him, that we may know how we may give our love exercise.

AN INSULT TO GOD

We often hear people mourning their lack of love for the Lord; but we never read any such pious cant in the Bible. There are many whose religion does not go much further than a confession of lack of love for the Lord, and a mournful expression of sorrow for it. Many people who do really love the Lord are deceived into using the same cant phrases, thinking that it would be presumption for them to say unqualifiedly that they love God, and that they must, as a mark of humility, profess that they do not really loved Him. For let it be understood that half love is not love. God is infinitely greater than we, and we can never comprehend Him, so as perfectly to appreciate all that we receive from Him; but each individual can easily love Him with all his heart and soul and strength, and that is all that is required, or that is possible.

Nobody ever heard a little child mourning over its lack of love for its mother; it is never conscious of any such lack, for it has none. To be sure, it cannot do the labour that an older person would do, but it loves just as much, and its love is just as sweet to the mother. It simply loves, and does not worry about it. There is a great deal of unconscious hypocrisy among religious people, and in nothing is it more plainly manifest than in the complaint that they do not love the Lord enough. Such talk is sinful, and is an insult to the Lord. What would be thought if the Bible story told us that when Jesus asked Peter, "Lovest thou Me?" he had deliberated a few minutes and had said, "Well, I dare not say unqualifiedly that I do, for I know that I don't love you as I ought, but I am quite sure that I have a love for you. However, I want to love you more, and I mourn every day over the fact that I love you so little. It is my chief complaint that my love's so weak and faint, but I long for grace to love Thee more." What a blow such a confession would have been to the Master.

You say, "But shouldn't one confess such a thing if it is true?" Let us not call it confession; it is rather denial of the Lord. If Peter had answered the Lord in that manner, it would have been a worse denial than when he denied Him with cursing; for Peter did really love the Lord even when sudden fear overcame him and led him to deny that he knew Him; while deliberately to talk about lack of love for the Lord is only to say that He is not lovable. We cannot help loving any person or thing that seems lovely to us. A lovable person draws our love spontaneously. So when people say that they do not love the Lord as much as they think it is their duty to, they acknowledge that they are under obligation to Him for favours received, but that He is to them so repulsive that they cannot love Him. Let us not insult the Lord any more, but rather get acquainted with Him, and find that He is "the One altogether lovely," and love will come of itself. It cannot be forced.

LOVE NEEDS EXPRESSION

Why did the Lord ask Peter if he loved Him, when He knew it already?-Partly to test him, to see if he still retained his boastful spirit, and thus to help them to be on his guard against it. But be sure that this was not all. He would not have asked the question three times, if He had not wish to hear Peter say, "I love Thee." The Lord loves to hear expressions of love from those whom He loves. Peter's fall, after his boastful protestation of loyalty to the Master, would naturally cause him to be backward about speaking of his feelings; he would think that anything that he might say would be regarded with suspicion, and that he had forfeited his right to speak the sentiments of his heart; but Christ would draw him out, and let him understand that professions of love from him were most welcome.

IS IT ESTEEM, OR LOVE?

It is unfortunate that our translation does not convey the fine distinction that is expressed in the questions and answers in this lesson. The word "love" in this passage is not from a single Greek word, but from two, which have altogether different shades of meaning. Peter used the same word throughout, but Christ used a different were the first and the second time that He asked, "Lovest thou Me?" The last time He used the stronger word. The word that Jesus first used is one that means, to regard, esteem, to cherish with reverence, to be content with. It is used of love as considered with reference to the tendency of the will. The word that He used the last time, and which Peter used throughout, signifies love in its tenderest form, as an emotion, a passion. Its root idea is that of embracing and kissing, while the first word never has any such signification. The one word indicates admiration for some good and sufficient reason, which may be given, but the other indicates spontaneous love.

Leaving technicalities aside, we may express the meaning of the text in this way: "Simon, son of John, do you like Me more than the others do?" Peter replied, "Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee." Again Christ said: "Simon, son of John, do you esteem Me, and regard Me with

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reverence?" Peter again replied, "Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee." The third time Jesus used Peter's word, saying, "Simon, son of John, do you really love Me?" And then Peter, grieved that the Lord should seem to doubt his love, appealed to His own knowledge, saying, "Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee."

"MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS"

Love means sacrifice, and Peter was given the assurance that he should find ample opportunity for demonstrating his love. He was told plainly "by what death he should glorify God," and then, turning round, he saw John following, and asked, "Lord, and what shall this man do?" He was curious to know what the other man's work would be; but Jesus did not gratify him. "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou Me," was all the answer Peter got.

It will be well for us to take the answer to ourselves. It is none of our business what work God has for somebody else; if we attend to our own business, it is enough. Nobody can know for another. Each person may and should know for himself just what the Lord has for him to do, and how He would have it done, and be content to do that, allowing everybody else to answer for himself to the Master, Somebody else is unfaithful; "what is that to thee?" This one does not think it is necessary to keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment; "what is that to thee? follow thou Me." Peter had said that he would follow the Lord even though all forsook Him; now the Lord tells him and us to follow Him, no matter what another may or may not do.No man is judge over another; no man can be conscience for another. To every man is given his work, according to his ability, and each one can best help the others to do their work, by doing his own faithfully.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Changed in a Moment" The Present Truth 17, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

Some who have read the articles that recently appeared in this "Corner," concerning death and the resurrection, have doubtless had in their minds a question that is frequently asked; and as the answer to it belongs with the matter already published, we give it here and now, without waiting for it to be formally put.

We are often ask, "How do you account for the statements of dying Christians, that they see Jesus coming, or standing with outstretched arms, to receive them? Is it all an illusion of the senses, or do they really see something which others cannot see? And if they do see the Lord, and expect to go at once to be with Him, would it not be a cruel disappointment to them to be obliged to lie in the grave for many years before entering heaven?"

This question cannot be answered by a simple "yes" or "no." While there can be no doubt but that people's training and education often influence their imagination, and some may be deceived even in the hour of death as well as in their previous life, it is equally certain that there have been authentic cases of people actually seeing the Lord just as they were about to die. We need cite no more than the case of Stephen, who, but a few moments before he was put to death, and when he knew that his death was the next thing, said, "I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." Acts vii. 56. When Christ ascended on high, He sat down at the right hand of God, and is so represented in many places in the Scriptures; and when He has finished His work in the heavens, and has prepared a place for his people, He will stand up and come for them. It was in this position that Stephen saw Him. He was standing not merely as if waiting to receive His faithful servant, but actually welcoming him to His arms; and yet Stephen did not ascend into the heavens, but is still in the dust of the earth.

Is Stephen then disappointed? or will he be disappointed at the coming of the Lord at the last day?-By no means. He certainly has not been suffering disappointment through all the centuries, for he has been unconscious. "He fell asleep," and they who sleep the sleep of death "know not anything."

Nor will he or any other saint who has died with the addition of Christ before his eyes ever know a moment's disappointment. "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 15-17, R.V. This is the truth with which mortals are to be comforted.

"Behold, I tell you of a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.

When Christ comes, it will be with all the glory of heaven. His glory will cover the heavens, and the light will be dazzling, above that of the sun. "For as lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. xxiv. 27.

Now when there is a lightning flash everybody involuntarily closes his eyes for an instant. That is, it makes us blink. Even so will it be when Christ's glory bursts upon the world. The sudden blaze of light will cause every eye to blink involuntarily, and in that instant every righteous person will be changed from mortal to immortal.

Even so will it be with the dead in Christ. Time to the unconscious is as though it were not. There is no lapse of time to the dead. They close their eyes in death, and the next instant (to them) they open them in immortality. They are changed in the twinkling-the winking of their eye. Stephen saw Christ standing to receive him to Himself; he fell asleep, but he will awake when the last trump sounds, and he will still see Christ standing to receive him, and will hear the words, which to him will be the same as those spoken when he stood in the midst of the murderous mob: "Come ye blessed of My Father." Although he has been asleep for nearly nineteen hundred years, it will all be included in that twinkling of an eye. He saw the Lord: he closed his eyes, he opens them as it were the next instant, and still sees the Lord; but meanwhile he has undergone a great change-the change from mortality to immortality.

Both dead and living undergo the same change. An age is compressed into the twinkling of an eye. The change from corruption to incorruption will be as great in the case of the living as in the case of those who have mouldered in the grave for hundreds of years, and the time will be to them just as long as to those that have been dead, and no longer. There is no want and disappointment to them that fear and trust the Lord.

"For Little Ones. The Smitten Rock" The Present Truth 17, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

Do you remember our talk last week about the Rock, and the water that flowed from it? Have you been thinking of the smitten Rock, and can you tell the reason why it had to be smitten before the people could get the living water?

You will remember the text that we read: "They drank of that spiritual Rock that went with them, and that Rock was Christ."

Now do you know that we, too, drink of that same spiritual Rock? Water is life to us, for without it we should soon die. But the only Fountain-the unfathomable sea-of life, is Jesus, so everything that brings life to us must come from Him.

Jesus, the spiritual Rock, had to be smitten, so that His life might flow out to all the world, to give life to all things. "He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities;" and "with His stripes we are healed."

Jesus died that we might live. He poured out His life-blood, to free us from our sins so that we might live for ever. Sin is death, but when all sin is taken away there is no longer anything to cause death.

If Jesus had not died for us, and so made it possible for us to be washed from our sins and live for ever, we should never have had even the present earthly life that all people have. For if Jesus had not taken upon Himself the curse that came upon this world through sin, all things must at once have perished.

So every living thing on this earth should be a reminder to us of the Cross of Jesus Christ. In the new leaves just bursting forth on the trees and bushs, in the springing vegetation everywhere, we may read the story of the Cross and of the resurrection. We may read in these tokens, of the love of Him who suffered death, to give life to His creatures, and of the power of that life that has conquered death, and so can keep as alive for ever more. For no living thing could grow in this earth, except for the Cross of Christ.

The happy birds, just returned to their summer home, joyful in the thought of the new life soon to take form in their broods of tiny nestlings, sing to us, if only our ears are open to hear, the same sweet story of the Cross. For they, like ourselves and all other created things, live only because of it.

When Moses smote the Rock with the rod of God, it was an object lesson to the people, of Him who was "smitten of God and afflicted, because the Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all." It was to show them that their life, and therefore everything that sustained their life, came from Jesus, who died that they might have it.

Remember that God "turned the Rock into water," and you will see that was to show them also that God is givingt us Himself in all His gifts, or, rather, that in giving us Himself, He is giving us all things. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall

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he not with Him also freely give us all things?" for "in Him all things consist." Every blessing we have shows that God has given Himself for us.

It was to show them, too, that by drinking of that Rock, which was Christ, they might, by receiving His life, partake of the nature of the Rock of Ages, and so become "living stones;" that should abide for ever.

O if only they had learned the lesson, as they drank "spiritual drink" from "that spiritual Rock," every draught of water from that time on would have brought them spiritual life. It would have taught them of Him who gives us "rest by His sorrow, and life by His death."

"Now all these things happened unto them for examples" to us, and are written so that we may learn the lessons that God was teaching them.

So as you see the life-giving water falling from the skies, or flowing through the land to carry life to all, remember that it comes from "the smitten Rock," and carries to us His life, poured out for us.

Then every drink of water with which you quench your thirst; indeed all the food that you take, for there could be none of us without water; even the air that you breathe, will keep you ever in mind of the Cross of Jesus Christ. For you could have had none of these things, you could never have been born into this world at all, if Jesus had not given His own life so that you might have life.

May you ever so drink by faith of the Rock of Ages, that you will become like the rock, steadfast and unmoveable, and abide for ever in His kingdom, when "all things that can be shaken" shall have passed away.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

-The census returns show that the population of France has increased by 12,888 in five years.

-No fewer than nine expeditions, representing different countries, will start this year for the Arctic regions.

-Some workmen, while excavating at a depth of ten feet for a new hospital at Leith, are reported to have come upon a gold reef; the quartz shows the extraordinary richness of thirty ounces to the ton.

-An accident at the Croft Coal Pit, near Whitehaven, resulted in the death of four men who were engaged in the sinking of a new shaft. The side of the working gave way, and fell upon the platform where the miners were; four of them were buried, and three others had a narrow escape.

-The flower traffic from the Isles of Sicily has been unusually heavy this Spring. On one day thirty-three tons of flowers reached Penzance for the English markets.

-A rise in the Dead Sea has led to the formation of a broad lagoon on the northern side of the Delta of the Jordan. It is believed that the Volcanic action raised the bed of the lake.

-Cardinal Logue has publicly advised the young men of Ireland to cease from enlisting in the British Army so long as the present form of the King's Oath remains unrepealed.

-The Imperial Palace of Peking, Count Von Waldersee's headquarters, has been destroyed by fire, thought to be the work of incendiaries. General Von Schwarzhoff perished in the flames.

-The reign of George III. was only three years shorter than that of Victoria, but in the former only six churches were built in London, whereas in the late Queen's reign more than 500 churches were erected.

-A widow has died at Gneeres, County Cork, at the extraordinary age of 118 years. She had lived in three centuries, and was the oldest inhabitant in the recent census returns. Her eldest daughter is 82.

-The Canadian geologist who has been employed by the Dominion Government to survey the coalfields in the Crow's Nest Pass, reports that they contain twenty-two thousand million tons of marketable coal.

-The plague is still claiming fresh victims at the Cape. The matron at the plague hospital has succumbed to a severe attack of the disease. One native case has been discovered at Port Elizabeth. A case is reported at Prael, forty-nine miles from Cape Town.

-The confirmation of the election of Dr. Whinnington-Ingram as Bishop of London took place at St. Mary-le-Bow Church, Cheapside, the proceedings being marked by disorderly scenes arising from protests against his election by Mr. John Kensit and others.

-A terrible battle has been fought in Central Arabia. The Skeikh of Roweyt recently conquered the kingdom of Nejd and deposed its ruler, Rashid. The deposed ruler of Nejd subsequently ured the army of his supplanter into a narrow gorge, and there fell upon and destroyed it, 5,000 men being killed. Rashid has recovered his kingdom.

-At West Ham workhouse, Leytonstone, a new tank, containing 250 tons of water, erected on the top of a tower sixty feet high, burst in the early morning, demolishing the roof and flooding a dormitory in which twelve little girls were sleeping. Eleven of the children were injured, some seriously. Two iron plates, weighing four tons, fell into the apartment in which the little ones were sleeping.

-The census of the Indian Empire, which has just been brought to a conclusion, is perhaps the greatest statistical feat ever performed. During the night of March 1, the population of a tract as large as all Europe, Russia excepted, was ascertained, and a fortnight later the Government was able to summarise the same. The results show that the population of India has only risen in ten years from 287,000,000 to 294,000,000.

-The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposes to raise the income tax from 1s. to 1s. 2nd. per cwt., with a duty on raw sugar diminishing proportionally from that sum, 2s. per cwt. on molasses, including grocery syrups, and 1s. 8d. per cwt. on glucose; and to put a duty of 1s. per ton on exported coal. In anticipation of a duty on share, enormous quantities have reached this country from Germany and Holland.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

Our next issue will contain a continuation of the study of the Fourth Commandment, and also an article of great interest and value in the Editor's Corner, on "The Punishment of the Wicked." Questions have doubtless arisen in the minds of many of the readers of the articles on the nature of man, the state of the dead, and the resurrection, with reference to the ultimate fate of those who reject salvation. In answer to questions received, the abundant testimony of the Scriptures on this subject will be clearly presented in our next number.

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"Losing One's Place" The Present Truth 17, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

When you see a man professedly studying a book, who is always obliged to mark the place where he leaves off, in order to be able to take up the subject later on at that same point, what do you think of his study?

When you see a boy weeding onions, who has to set a stake in the ground when he goes to dinner, so that when he comes back he may be able to find his place, what do you think of his work?

Do you not say in both cases that the individual in question really had no place? The man has no place in his book, for all places are alike to him; and the boy has no place in the field of onions. It is just the same as though he were not there.

This helps us to understand the case of the man employed in some business, or holding some position of responsibility, who is afraid of "losing his place." Such instances are very common. What is the trouble? The man really has no place. The man who is so closely connected with his work that he is a part of it, and whose work shows where he has been, is never troubled with fear that he will lose his place, He makes his own place, and he can never lose it am long as he lives.

In the book, "Up from Slavery," Mr. Booker T. Washington tells the story of his struggles to obtain an education for himself, and of the efforts, which have finally been crowned with success, to give members of the coloured race in the United States a practical education. He certainly has had to contend with great difficulties, among the chief of which was the intense prejudice against the negro, but he says:-

"My experience is that there is something in human nature, which always makes an individual recopies and reward merit, no matter under what colour of skin merit is found."

So we repeat that the man who has a place in the work for the world, and who knows what it is, will never be afraid of losing it. The man who looks askance at some other person, suspicious that that other has designs upon his "place," thereby shows his own consciousness that he really has no place anywhere.

"The Time and the Preparation" The Present Truth 17, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

When the disciples of Jesus had, according to previous appointment, come together to Him after His resurrection, they said to Him, "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power. But ye shals receive power after that the Holy Ghost to come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me." Acts i. 6-8.

The kingdom shall be restored to Israel, for God has raised up Christ to sit on the throne of David (Acts ii. 30; Luke i. 32, 33) "and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven; but My Father only." Matt. xxiv. 36. The Father hath put this matter, with many others, in His own power; and whoever presumes to be able to predict the date of the second coming of Christ, claims to be equal to God. One thing we may know, and that is that whatever time may be set for the coming of Christ, that will be the time when He will not come; "for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." Luke xii. 39.

There is a preparation for it, however, and that preparation is the surest sign of the end. The receiving of the power of the Spirit makes one capable of being a witness to Christ, that is, it puts the testimony of Jesus into one. The one who has the Spirit's fall power will give the very same testimony that Jesus gave, both by His words and His life. People of that class will preach the Gospel of the kingdom in all the world as a witness to all nation; and when that is done the end will come.

So the surest sign of the nearness of the second coming of Christ will be the presence of a people in the world, filled with the Spirit of God, and revealing the perfect life of Christ.

"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Luke xvii. 20, 21. The revelation of Christ in the clouds of heaven will be but the culmination of His revelation in the lives of His disciples. The kingdom of God must be fully established on earth, in the hearts and lives of its faithful subjects, before the visible kingdom can appear. Therefore when we pray, "Thy kingdom come," we mean that God's will is to be done in the sinful, mortal bodies of man, even me it is done in the sinless, immortal bodies of the angels, or as it will be in the bodies of the redeemed. Then, when the glory of God shall be seen in and upon His church, it will soon be seen covering the heavens and filling the earth.

May 2, 1901

"The Law of Life. The Fourth Commandment. Continued " The Present Truth 17, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

THE NEW CREATION

The Sabbath was instituted at the close of creation. It is the memorial of God's creative power. "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious; and His righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered." Ps. cxi. 2-4. This last statement would be better rendered, "He hath made a memorial for His wonderful works." In the "song for the Sabbath day," the Psalmist says, "I will triumph in the works of Thy hands." God alone works righteousness. "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works." Ps. cxlv. 17. "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God afore prepared that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 10, R.V.

The Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation," and His everlasting power is seen in all the things that He has made. Therefore the power of the Gospel is to create, to make new. "If any man is in Christ there is a new creation; the old things are passed away; behold they are become new. But all things are of God." 2 Cor. v. 18, 19, R.V., margin. In Christ "is our redemption" because "in Him were all things created." Col. i. 14, 16. He is Redeemer because He is Creator, and redemption is creation. It is a complete and perfect work. Christ's last words on the cross were, "It is finished!" The cross of Christ brings those who accept it into the condition in which man was at the close of the sixth day of creation, when God saw everything that He had made, "and behold it was very good." Therefore, since the Sabbath is the mark or seal of a perfect new creation, it is the seal of the Gospel, the sign of the cross, the pledge of the complete redemption of all things.

"REMEMBER"

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." When shall we remember it? Many seem to think that the commandment merely requires them to remember it on Friday, so as to be able to get their work out of the way, and be ready to sit down and rest at the setting of the sun. This is well, but it is infinitely below what the commandment says. The word is absolute and unlimited. We are to remember it all the time, everyday in the

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week. We are always to remember the sanctifying power which it reveals, in order that we may continually worship God "in the beauty of holiness," "lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting." Knowing that only those who are holy can truly worship a holy God and keep a holy day, we must remember the Sabbath which makes known God the sanctifier, and then when the Sabbath day comes to us, we shall be ready for it. It comes bringing a blessing; for God "blessed the seventh day." It is frequently said, with a view to avoiding the force of the commandment, that we may have a blessing at any time. Some say, "I keep every day holy." Now we not only may, but should, experience the blessing of God every day. But a blessing upon us, is not the same as a blessing upon the day. As we have already seen, we cannot keep any day holy except the one which God has made holy. Our motion or condition has no effect upon it; but the day is given to us to effect us. Do not forget that "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." No man's holiness can impart holiness to any day; but the Sabbath was given that we might partake of the holiness of God, and be kept holy every day. While God blesses us every day, there is a special blessing on the seventh day, even the blessing of the Sabbath, and this blessing assures to us all the blessings that we may have on any other day.

THE BLESSING OF EDEN

The Sabbath is a fragment of Eden that comes down to us untouched by the curse. It is the bridge by which men may pass from Eden lost to Eden restored, freed from the intervening curse. It is the rest to which Christ calls all who labour and are heavy laden. By it we become sharers of His burden, which is light, for He lays upon us only a "weight of glory." So the Sabbath, when kept in the Spirit, brings to us the glory of that new creation when "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy," and is the pledge of the time when all the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Although Eden has been taken from the earth, that it might not suffer the effects of the curse, the reality of it is left us in the Sabbath, that we may come back to the beginning, and find in the beginning the end, "even the salvation of our souls." 1 Peter i. 9. The reason why now, at this time, we have the Sabbath made clear as never before in this world's history, is because Eden is about to be restored, and we must be made ready for the change. When Christ comes, He appears not as a stranger, but as one with whom we are well acquainted, and He will conduct us to Eden, not a strange country, but a familiar home. To this end God has given us the Sabbath, the essential part of Eden. There is to be a change now day by day, through the sanctifying power that the Sabbath makes us know and remember, so that at last when we get to Eden we shall not have to get used to our surroundings. Before the last day comes, we shall have drunk of the river of Eden, and eaten of the hidden manna. "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures," or, literally, "the river of Thy Eden." Ps. xxxvi. 8.

REST NOT A BURDEN

Sometimes when we talk about Sabbath-keeping, people will say, as though they were telling something new, "Oh, but keeping the Sabbath will not save us; we are saved by faith, not by works." Exactly; and that is what the Sabbath teaches us. We keep the Sabbath, not in order to be saved, but because we are saved. Sabbath-keeping is rest in God, the assurance of His finished work. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." By believing, we receive the perfect works which God Himself has prepared for us to walk in. These works were finished from the foundation of the world. Therefore whoever receives them must find perfect rest, because when the work is done and well done, rest must necessarily follow. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." Note, it is the people of God who have the rest. "We which have believed do enter into rest," and they which do not believe, cannot rest. There can be no perfect Sabbath-keeping without perfect faith in God, which means perfect righteousness, because we are justified by faith. So the Sabbath means pre-eminently justification by faith. Although there are many believers in Christ who observe Sunday, thinking it to be the Sabbath, it is nevertheless a fact that Sunday-keeping stands as a sign of attempted justification by works. It is the attempt of man to do the work which only God can do, namely, sanctify a day; for God never sanctified any day except the seventh day, so that all the sanctity Sunday has is what man has put upon it. He who can sanctify one thing can sanctify anything, because he must have the sanctifying power in himself. So the idea that man can make any day holy, involves the idea that he can make himself holy, that is, justify himself by his own works; its principle is that man has holiness in himself. Sunday-keeping is therefore the sign of the man of sin who "exalteth himself against God."

The Sabbath is rest; that is the meaning of the word. The word "Sabbath" is the untranslated Hebrew word for "rest." It would be well if it had been translated into our language, instead of transferred. The word "Sabbath" conveys to the Hebrew mind exactly what the English word "rest" does to ours. So we may read: "Remember the rest day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the rest of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work." How can anybody call this a burden? Rest is not a burden; to cease from labour is not wearisome; rest, absolute, perfect rest, the rest that cannot be disturbed by anything on earth, is the sum of all blessings. He who knows the Sabbath indeed can never count it a burden to keep it. Such an one will never say: "I could not make a living if I should keep the Sabbath," because the Sabbath reveals God, in whom "we live, and move, and have our being." It reveals Him who delivers from the power of darkness, and the curse and burdens and perplexities of this present evil world, and translates us into the kindgdom of His dear Son, making known to us the power and the joy of the world to come. Then remember it, and keep it, that you may know the sweetness of rest in the bosom of the Father, and delight yourself in the Lord.

"Pleasing God" The Present Truth 17, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

Would you like to please God?

Many have never given it thought, and many, alas, would much rather displease Him; but there are many who reply to the question, "Yes, indeed; who would not be unspeakably happy to be able to do something that would actually give pleasure to the Almighty Creator, something that would make Him smile for joy! But oh, how can I hope to do it?"

It is not only possible, but is really one of the easiest things in the world. Listen, and I will read you something about it.

"By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death, and was not

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found, because God took him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

Note the facts: It was by faith that Enoch was translated, and he was translated because he pleased God; it is evident, therefore; that faith is the one essential to pleasing God. Without faith it is impossible to please God; but faith makes it not only a possibility, but an accomplished fact.

Note further: "Without faith it is impossible to please Him for he that cometh to God must believe that He is." That is to say, that faith consists in believing that God is. That is all. Whoever believes that God is, has faith, and pleases God. A simple thing, is it not?

You say, "Yes; everybody does that; at least all Christian people, and many more who make no profession of religion; I have never doubted the existence of God, yet I have never, at least not for any length of time, had the assurance that I pleased God."

Ah, you don't seem to comprehend what it is to believe in the existence of God-to believe that He is. It is much more than to believe that somewhere in the universe there is a Being who has charge of it in a general way. Faith brings Christ, whose name is Emmanuel-God with us-to dwell in our hearts as a recognised Presence. Eph. iii. 17. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." John i. 12.

"Do you mean that whoever does not recognise and welcome the presence of God in his heart does not believe in God's existence? does not believe that He is?"

Exactly that. The man who does not know that God dwells in him, does not know God, and does not really believe that He exists, however much he may talk about Him; and so of course he cannot please Him. You cannot expect to please one in whose very existence you do not believe, can you?

God is infinite. "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord?" His everlasting power and divinity are plainly to be seen in everything that He has made, even in man, for there is no motion or existence apart from Him. Therefore whoever has a conception of a single spot where God is not, does not believe that He is.

Well, when God's presence in us is constantly recognised and welcomed, what then? Just this, that we shall please Him. It must be so, for He is "Iiving and active," always working, and "it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Phil. ii. 14. Whoever recognises God's presence in him, will give Him full control; for nobody would be so presumptuous as to attempt to manage his own body when its Maker is present; and when God works unhindered, it must be that He pleases Himself. Is it not plain enough?

"The Great Commission. Matt. xxvii. 16-20" The Present Truth 17, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

(Matt. xxviii. 16-20)¹¹1

Before His crucifixion Jesus had told His disciples that after He had risen He would go before them into Galilee (Matt. xxvi. 32); and when the disciples went to the tomb, on the morning of the third day, they found the angel of the Lord theft, who said to them, "Go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead; and, behold, He goeth before you into Galilee." Matt. xxviii. 7. For a short time, at least eight or nine days, the disciples remained in Jerusalem after the resurrection, and "then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him; but some doubted."

SOME ADVICE TO DOUBTERS

Whether it was some of the eleven that doubted, or some others besides the eleven, does not seem to be made clear; but that need not concern as. It is evident that if there were others present on that occasion, they were some who, like the eleven, went there to keep the appointment which Jesus had made; yet some doubted! Is it not most astonishing? They doubted even at the time of worship, when the evidence that Jesus had risen was overwhelming and incontrovertible. They were all familiar with His person; how could they doubt that it was really lie, and that He had risen from the dead.

Now, as in the days of Job, the sons of God do not come together without Satan coming also. He comes to sow doubt of the truth. He makes people doubt even when they nee the Lord. Who is not familiar with the expression, "Yes; I see that this is all true, but"-? and with that word the faith that was coming through the Word fled. How sad that people will not always walk only in the light, refusing even to look at darkness. Nobody can see all the truth at once, and therefore everybody who accepts truth must do so with. many things still unexplained, and some that are apparently unexplainable; but whoever firmly lays hold of every bit of truth that he sees, and refuses to give it up at the bidding of doubt, will surely come into possession of still greater treasures.

There is no blessing in doubt; doubt is of the devil. It is the poorest sort of husks to feed on. Doubt, denial, negation, is emptiness; it is the absence of anything; and whoever feeds on it will have nothing, but leanness of soul. No one should aver talk doubt, nor tell what he does not believe. Be positive, not negative. Talk what you know, and not what you do not know. There is enough truth that every man may perceive, to keep the most active mind busy, so that there will be no time to talk or think about doubts. He who truly believes the Word of the Lord may be very positive, for he has no room for doubt, if there is a thing in the Bible that you cannot see clearly, and which seems to contradict some other truth, fix your mind steadfastly upon the truth which you do know, and are assured of, and go a little farther into that than you ever did before. You have not yet exhausted it, and when you have seen more in it than you ever did before, then to your surprise you will see the truth in that other thing that troubled yon; for all truth is one.

ALL SEEING AND BELIEVING THE SAME THING

Often we hear these words: "We can't all see alike, you know;" or, "It takes much more evidence to convince some than others;" and it is not uncommon to hear even professed Christians say that they are so constituted by nature that they cannot believe. It this last were true, then the thing to do would be to get a new constitution by grace; but it is not true. There is nobody who cannot believe. All men are created equal, in that all have an equal chance for salvation, which is by faith. And, moreover, no more evidence is really needed to convince one person than to convince another. That which is evidence enough for one is enough for all who do not allow something to blind their minds to it. It takes more evidence to convince some than it does to convince

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others, because some hold it off as long as they possibly can. It is no credit to a man, that he is slow to accept evidence; for nothing is evidence except the truth, and the truth is that which is, which really exists. So the man is simply confessing that he is blind, and cannot readily discern the facts. The smallest bit of evidence in any case should be sufficient to convince anybody, for if there be any real evidence at all in favour of a given case, there cannot be any evidence against it. So it in that faith as a grain of mustard seed is sufficient to remove mountains.

All can see alike, if they have eyesight, and if they have not that, they should anoint their eyes with the eyesalve which God provides, in order that they may see. All that were present in that mountain in Galilee saw Jesus, and He presented HimseIf in exactly the same manner to all. They all saw the same thing, yet all did not believe. In the future kingdom of God there will be no complaints that all cannot see alike; God will not look like the Almighty Creator, the loving Father, to some, and like the devil to others. "We shall see Him as He is;" and we may "behold the beauty of the Lord" now as well as at some future time. Everybody can see and know if there is a desire to.

WHO SHALL BE BAPTIZED?

In this commission, the Lord defined the work of His servants. They are to go preaching and teaching the Gospel and they are to baptize those whom they teach, and none others. But teaching implies somebody to be taught, and that somebody capable of understanding. It matters not how young a person may be: if he can be taught the truth of the Gospel, and can understand it, he is old enough to be baptized; but not otherwise. A babe so young that it cannot be taught the truths of the Gospel, is too young to be baptized. It is true enough that the commission provides for the teaching of all nations, and the baptizing must be as extensive as the teaching; but those who cannot possibly learn, cannot possibly be taught, until they come to years of understanding; and so there is no warrant for baptizing them. Since they do not know enough to comprehend the truth, they do not know what sin is; and so they are not in condemnation, and do not need any baptism for the remission of sins.

BAPTIZED INTO THE NAME

The Revised Version, literally rendering the Greek, has verse 19: "baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." Oh, it is a blessed thing to know the name of the Lord,-to know its length and breadth and depth and height, its tenderness, and its power,-for it is a strong tower of safety (Prov. xviii. 10), and they that know it will put their trust in God. Ps. ix. 10. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Rom. x. 18. The name of the Lord is the Lord Himself-His personality. This is shown by the inspired words of Peter, concerning the lame man that had been healed: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, even in Him, doth this man stand here before you whole." Acts iv. 10, R.V. The name of Christ is not a mere charm, to conjure with, so the Jewish exocists found to their cost (Acts xix. 13-16), nor is it simply a sound, a title: it is the Lord Jesus Himself: it is His everlasting life.

The word "baptize" means "immerse," "dip." It is a purely Greek word, not translated, but, transferred, into English. The German and Scandinavian Bibles have it translated, so that the people who read those languages have it, "dipping them into the name." There can be no more question about the mode of baptism than about the mode of dipping, for that is what baptism is. The ancient as well as the modern Greek, used the word an his daily talk. The smith baptized the hot iron into the tub of water to cool it, or to temper it; the housewife baptized her dishes into the water, to cleanse them; and both, when they had finished their toil, would baptize their hands into water, to wash them. The school boy would baptize himself in the swimming pool, when he took a header.

You say that this was not Christian baptism; of course it is not; for Christian baptism means immersion into Christ. Note that the difference is not in the act, but in the object into which one is baptized. We are to recognise the life that is manifested,-the life that pervades the universe, filling all space and everything,-and consciously yield ourselves to be swallowed up and lost to sight in it. For, let it be understood that when we are baptized into Christ we do not rise up again out of Him, but in Him. Rom. vi. 3-5. We "put on Christ." Gal. iii. 27. It is the death of the old man, the body of sin,-the laying off of the old way of living,-and the receiving of new life, the eternal, sinless life in Christ. Here is the whole thing in a word: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. ii. 20. We are baptized into His death (Rom. vi. 3); but He ever liveth, although slain, and "in Him is no sin;" so "our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." It is a glorious thing, and there are glorious and infinite possibilities in it.

"GO YE THEREFORE"

Jesus commanded His disciples, and He speaks to us as directly as to any people who ever lived; to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He says: "Go ye therefore, and teach." Why "therefore?" Because of His saying, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." And what of that? How can the fact that somebody else has power, be a reason why I should take up a work, and an encouragement in it? When the puny man sees Sandow lift heavy weights as though they were feathers, he becomes discouraged, and says, "It is no use for me to try." But the fact that Jesus has all the power that there is in heaven and in earth, is our encouragement in the work.

Why?-Because He is with us. We are to go in His name: it is not we, but Christ in us doing the work. He goes not merely by our side, but fills us and transforms us. His name is Emmanuel, God with us. He who is our refuge is also our strength. Ps. xlvi. 1. "The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation." Isa. xii. 2. Oh, what power God has given to men, in giving them Himself! All power means all might. He who has Christ, then, who has all might, has the power of the Almighty. "Strengthened with all might according to His glorious power." Col. i. 11. Just think of it! the man of God becomes almighty! "All things are possible to him that believeth."

"I AM"

"I AM with you." His name is I AM. From everlasting to everlasting He is. The goings forth of Christ have been "from of old, from the days of eternity" (Micah v. 2), and "He ever liveth." He "is in the bosom of the Father," and God inhabits eternity. Isa. Ivii. 16. The Eternal One, the One who embraces eternity and infinity, is I AM. That is, in God we have all eternity condensed into every moment. He in whom God dwells by faith, has "the power of an endless life." May we not therefore gladly go in this our might?

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Punishment of the Wicked" The Present Truth 17, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

"I cannot believe in hell, at least not the hell I very often hear preached. I can fully understand hell as a place of remedial punishment, but so an everlasting punishment, or even a punishment that ends in annihilation, I cannot accept. If Christ has died for the world, the ransom has been paid, and all we out of condemnation. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day and for ever. Christ is the Saviour, and according to the foregoing text, is always the Saviour. Therefore if any soul in the future looks to Him, Christ must (I say it reverently) of necessity save him. Then Timothy [not Timothy, but Paul writing to Timothy. ED. P.T.] tells us of God 'who is the Saviour of all men, especially of them that believe.' This statement makes believing not necessary to salvation. It makes it necessary to a knowledge of it, I admit, but that is not the point. To my mind all Scripture, and reason seem to point to a restoration at all things, that Christ may be all and in all. The only point I cannot explain is the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Perhaps you can help me."

I can at least present some, of the abundant testimony which the Scriptures give on this subject. It is most clear and explicit. In the first place, let me assure you that you are not specially required to believe in hell; you are to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, for an intelligent faith in Him explains everything that we need to know.

In the second place, we are to remember that the Scriptures are for the purpose of enlightening our understanding, of giving us understanding. When we cannot understand a thing, we are to find out what the Bible says, and believe it, and then we shall have understanding. It is the easiest thing in the world to understand, when we know and believe what the Bible says; and we have no right or reason to understand anything else. In fact, there is no understanding aside from the Word of God; everything else is but imagination and speculation.

Now there is a grave error that you have fallen into, and it is not strange that you have, because it is almost universal, and that is in confounding punishment with chastisement. They are two very distinct things. Chastisement is remedial, but punishment is not. God chastens us now, but punishment is not being administered now, and never will be to those who profit by chastisement. Even the angels that kept not their first estate, "but left their own habitation," are not now being punished, but are "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the great day." Jude 6. And in like manner those who wilfully and deliberately reject the mercy of God, have nothing left for them but "a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." Heb. x. 26, 27.

CHASTISEMENT NOT PUNISHMENT

Read Heb. xii. 5-11. There we learn that chastisement is a proof that we are sons of God, and that He loves us. He chastens us for a short time, for our profit, "that we might be partakers of His holiness." "Now no chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." David said, "Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy Word." "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes." Ps. cxix. 67, 71.

But it is possible for people not to be "exercised" by chastisement; they will not profit by correction, and they despise and reject reproof. For them nothing but punishment remains. "For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of My counsel; they despised all My reproof; therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them." Prov. i. 29-32. "He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck; shall be out off, and that without remedy." Prov. xxix. 1.

Here we see that there is a marked difference between chastisement and punishment. From the very nature of the case chastisement is only for a season, while punishment is as necessarily everlasting. Read the facts: "These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. xxv. 46. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints." 2 Thess. i. 7-10.

Now for the evidence that this punishment of the wicked must from the very nature of the case be everlasting. We have already seen that those who despise the chastisement of the Lord, shall "eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them." From what do these foolish ones turn away?-From God. They refuse to be subject to Him. They reject His life. They wish to live independently of Him, and will not acknowledge that He has any claims on them. They do not wish to be in His presence. But He fills all things, and Christ "who is, our life," has "ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things." Now when these people who wish to live by themselves, away from God, are given their own choice, what must necessarily become of them? It is evident that they must go out of the universe, out of existence; for there will be no place that Christ will not fill. So "yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." Ps. xxxvii. 10.

Cut off from God, the only source of life,-taken at last at their own word, that they do not wish to have anything to do with Him,-there is nothing left for the finally impenitent but death,-death with no hope of a resurrection, because the only salvation has beer rejected. "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. vi. 23), and it is the wages which the wicked work for and lay up for themselves. Rom. ii. 5.

But this is not eternal torment, and torture

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to all eternity. To claim that men have in themselves a life which God Himself cannot take away, and that the wicked will be kept in a place of torture, which will make them increase in wickedness, and thus increase their torment, is to deny the power of Christ's salvation. It is to deny that He is able to accomplish the purpose for which He ascended above all heavens, namely, "that He might fill all things." Eph. iv. 10. It is to say that there Is a place that He will not fill.

MAKING AN END OF SIN

On the other hand, to say that God will not punish the ungodly, that He will not extirpate sin from the universe, together with those who refuse to be separated from it, is equally to deny the efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ, who appeared "to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." It is to say that He cannot do that which He came to do. The death of Christ means the death of all who will not accept His sacrifice, just as surely as it means everlasting life to those who believe, insomuch as it shows the fate of the guilty. It shows how God regards sin. Sin is so odious in God's sight, that He would not spare even His own Son when sin rested upon Him.

Christ is indeed the Saviour of all men, especially of them that believe, but this does not show that the reprobate will not be punished. "The free gift" has actually come "upon all men unto justification of life" (Rom. v. 18), but there are many who thrust it from them. Yea, all men are reconciled to God by the death of Christ, since "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them" (2 Cor. v. 19); but after that is done it still remains necessary for us to be "saved by His life" (Rom. v. 10), which means the acceptance of His life in the place of ours. He gives all men life; but it is not enough that we take it and use it only to the extent that most people do; we must "have it more abundantly." John x. 10. The Judgment will show that God is clear, in that He has given His life to every man; but the fact that so many have rejected the precious gift will be their everlasting condemnation.

Jesus is able "to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth;" but when, as He Himself says to some, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life,"-such refuse the salvation that is provided for them. He saves none against their will, but like the most indulgent Father that He is, He allows every one to have just what he desires.

With these facts before you, it will not be necessary to say anything about the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, for you can see that it is perfectly in harmony with the rest of the Scriptures. It simply shows that everybody will find his true place at the last.

Before closing, let us recur for a moment to the first thoughts, namely, the distinction between chastisement and punishment. Is it most highly dishonouring to God, to conceive of Him as watching only for faults in men, and to consider that every affliction is a punishment from Him. How often we hear one say, "What have I done, that I should suffer in this way?" They should rather say, "What has the Lord for me to do, seeing He is subjecting me to this discipline?" Job suffered greatly, yet God was not punishing him, but fitting him for a much greater and better work than he had previously done. God is revealed only in the cross; it is impossible to know God, except as we see Him in the cross; therefore He brings us to the cross, in order that we may become acquainted with Him, and find fulness of joy in His presence.

THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS

There will be a restoration of all things to the original, Eden state, the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose; but that will not be until the thorns and briars have been burned up. See Heb vi. 7, 8; Matt. xiii. 37-43; Mal. iv. 1-3. Thorns never become fruits, neither do tares ever become wheat. When the distinction is clearly made, which will be in the harvest, when both kinds have fully developed, the final separation will be made.

"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved;" but those who now reject and despise the name of the Lord would continue to blaspheme it if they should have their probation lengthened through thousands of years; for God has no greater power by which to save men than that which is revealed in the Gospel. Therefore "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."

"For Little Ones. Giving the Victory" The Present Truth 17, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

"Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim," the plane where God first gave His people the water from the Rock that we have learned about. While they were still encamped there the Amalekites came and attacked them. Moses told Joshua to take some men and fight with Amalek, but he would stand on the mountain with the rod of God in his hand.

"And it same to pass that when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed."

The rod is the symbol of power and authority. The sceptre in the hands of kings and queens is the sign of their right and power to rule. When Moses held over the Children of Israel "the rod of God," it was the sign that God was their King and Captain, that God was ruling over them and fighting for them.

The Bible tells us that "Christ is the power of God," so this was another object lesson, to teach them, like all the rest, of Christ, and His power to save.

Jesus has "all power in heaven and in earth." Where He is allowed to rule, there can be no defeat, but there will always be victory. If Christ is over us, and for us, we shall surely prevail.

We must first let Jesus conquer all the enemies in our own hearts. What some of then are you will see in the little story, "Fighting Giants." But Jesus, if we let Him rule, will give us power over ail the power of the enemy.

Of Jesus God the Father said: "The Lord shall send the rod of Thy strength out of Zion; rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies." God has given to Christ the power to rule over all His enemies. He says to Him, "Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool."

In one of his psalms, David tells what it is that gives Christ this power: "The sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre." When Paul quoted this text to the Hebrews, He said, "A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom."

It is the perfect righteousness of Christ, His purity and holiness, that gives Him the victory over all His enemies, and lifts Him up on high, so that they are all under His feet "the rod of His strength" is His goodness.

We may open our hearts to Jesus, for He in aver knocking, waiting to come in and rule there, but He will not unless we invite Him, although it is His rightful place.

Shall we not open the door and say, "Come in, Lord Jesus, and rule in the midst of Thine enemies"? If we do this, He will lift up in our hearts the rod of His righteousness, and all the giants of evil that have had a place there will fall down before Him. He will bring in His "everlasting righteousness" and this will "make an end of sin."

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." It is sin that brings death, so when sin is made an end of, death loses its power. Then we can sing: "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me."

What was it that gained the victory over the Amalekites? Was it the hard and valiant fighting of Joshua and the host of Israel?

Ah, they might have thought so, if Moses' hands had not become so weary that he had to let them drop. Then they saw what it was, for "Amalek prevailed," until the rod was raised again. This showed that it was all by the power of God, and not at all by their own might or skill.

The Lord could have destroyed their enemies just as well if they had never taken the sword at all, and no doubt they needed to learn this lesson, so that they might put no trust in themselves, and in what they could do, but lean altogether on the mighty arm of the living God.

It may be that the Lord wanted to teach them then, what He said years afterwards to His people when they had been a long time settled in Canaan, and a great host came against them:

"The battle in not yours, but God's. . . . Ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves; stand ye still; and see the salvation of the Lord with you."

"Thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."

"What the Rainbow Reveals" The Present Truth 17, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

The bow that God has set in the clouds as the token of His covenant with man that He will not again destroy the earth by a flood of waters, is formed by the refraction and reflection of rays of light. The light thus reflected is the glory of God which He has put upon the heavens (see Ps. xix. and viii.). The rainbow, therefore, is a revelation of the glory of God, the unfolding of the beauty of the Lord, which by reason of its own fulness and perfection is veiled in the light.

God said to Noah, "I do set My bow in the cloud." He dwells "in light which no man can approach unto," His glory veiled in excess of light; but in the bow which encircles His throne (See Eze. i. 27, 28), He has revealed something of His hidden glory and beauty. In it the different elements which unite to form the light are separated, elaborated, and their loveliness made manifest.

God appears just what He is. The outward manifestation of His glory is but the shining forth of the perfection of His righteousness. He "covereth Himself with light, as with a garment," because He "is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."

The glory which the heavens declare and the rainbow reveals, is that which the Lord caused to pass before Moses in answer to his prayer: "I beseech Thee show me Thy glory!" God passed by before him, and proclaimed the name of the Lord: "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin."

In setting His bow in the cloud which He brings over the earth, God is still proclaiming to man in the hour of his need the same glorious Name as the only ground of hope and confidence. God Himself, that which He is, is the token of the covenant. In giving this pledge when He swore to Noah that the waters should not again cover the earth, God in reality "interposed Himself with an oath:" If there should be any failure in the covenant, the throne of His glory would be disgraced.

The name of the Lord, "I am that (which) I am," is written in every rainbow, traced there by the light, which is the out shining of that which He is. So every bow that appears in the cloud in the day of rain, proclaims the plenteousness of His mercy, and His long-suffering, forgiving love.

"Ye fearful astute, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye to much dread
Are big with mercy, and will break
In blessings o'er your head."

Not only so, but wherever there is any colour we have a partial revealing of that which is manifested in the rainbow, the beauty of the holiness of God which shines forth in the light. "Truly the light is sweet," and "the whole earth is full of His glory." "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth."

"A Noteworthy Occurrence" The Present Truth 17, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

A Noteworthy Occurrence .-The annual report of a Welsh Cottage Hospital not long since contained the following remarkable statement: "Notwithstanding the large amount of money expanded for medicine and medical attendance, there were but few deaths during the year." No explanation of so unexpected a result was offered.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

At the recent united Conference of the Baptists and Congregationalists, Dr. Glover stated that the churches "were dying of self-edification," and that the great lesson for the Church to-day was "Go out!" Concerning the work that they were to go out to do, he said:-

The faith of the world was a very dismal thing-that all life was to be swallowed up in mortality, while their message was that mortality was to be swallowed up in life. For cultivated Englishmen, so well as for the heathen in his darkness, then was the choice of only two creeds-life and death. They could impart the treasure of the Gospel by proclaiming it, and they must not shrink from the task set before them. They were able to enrich mankind by uttering this truth, and the scope of their work was unlimited.

The Gospel reveals the law in Christ-the Word made flesh-as the way of life; for "sin is the transgression of the law," and "sin when it is finished bringeth forth death." "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life." Therefore "if thou wouldst enter into life, keep the commandments."

The Chinese ambassador to the United States of America has shown himself to be a gentleman of more than ordinary good sense and judgment. In a recent address to the members of the University of Chicago, he said: "The people of the West may know more than the Chinese about the building of railways, the floating of foreign loans, the combination of capital, the development of resources, and the like. AIl this is granted. But the Chinese naturally feel that they we in a better position to judge what is best for their own interest and welfare than any outsider can be." And why not? Why should, Chinese decide for themselves what they will do, and manage their own affairs, as well as the Germans, the English, or the American? They certainly would be Ieft to themselves, if it were merely a question of their own welfare; but the Western nations are seeking to "develop" China purely for their own commercial interest. The love of money is the root of all the evil that is done to any nation by another.

"Sinning Against Sinners" The Present Truth 17, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

Sinning Against Sinners .-There seems to be a prevalent and growing idea that it is quite harmless, if not a positive virtue, to do and say evil against a had man. Many "good" people are becoming possessed with the idea that it is allowable and even necessary to use violence against evil man. They think that it is wicked to kill good men, but proper and right to kill members of the vicious class. On this principle, or, rather, lack of principle, professed Christians evidently regard it as no crime to lie about the Turks. Any story, however incredible, is eagerly seized upon, if it be to the detriment of that race.

It was recently alleged and widely published, that a village had been burned in a district in Macedonia, and that three Bulgarian families were massacred by Mohammedans. It now transpires, however, that it was the Bulgarians who murdered four Mohammedans in that district. Very little publicity will be given to this, however. The "Christian" policy is to crush the Turk, and this end can be compassed most easily by adding to the bad name he has already.

It is sad to see so many really Christian people giving currency to these lying reports about the Turks; for it is undoubtedly the case that fully three-fourths, if not more, of the stories circulated to the discredit of the Turks are pure fabrications. The Turks are not Christians, it is true, nor do they profess to be; but they are certainly no worse than the majority of people who are classed in the census as Christian. It is wrong for Turks to kill people; but that does not mean that "Christians" are to have a monopoly in taking human life; yet the most of the killing that has been done in the past two or three years has been done by professed Christian people. Let us, not forget that an injury to a bad man is just as sinful as the same thing done to a good man.

"Conviction, Not Condemnation" The Present Truth 17, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

A friend who writes expressing his appreciation of the paper, thinks that we are too mild, and that we should be more vigorous in our denunciation of error, saying that "PRESENT TRUTH should attack present falsehood with a naked sword." This latter statement is true; but it must be remembered that the "naked sword" is the Word of God, and that it will pierce "even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow." If it but be given free course.

We, like Christ, are sent into the world, that we should witness to the truth; but a faithful witness in court does not have to attack a false swearer, and charge him with lying, in order to convict him of perjury; he needs only to tell the plain truth, and hold to it. "God sent not His Son into the world, to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, "and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. A godly life convicts a sinner far more than the most vigorous and persistent denunciation; and it is conviction of sin, and not condemnation of the sinner, that we are to labour for. The truth that convicts is the truth that sanctifies; but condemnation is not conviction nor sanctification.

In connection with the foregoing the following from an address by Rev. Roland Allen, on how missionaries should and should not behave in China, is very pertinent:-

Missionaries should avoid violating the conscience of the Chinese. Never should young, unmarried women or girls be sent about the country without a proper escort of elderly Chinese women, so as to observe the proprieties. There should be no over-zealous resistance to native superstitions; and missionaries made a great mistake in showing wanton disregard and disrespect to places, persons, or objects that are sacred in the eyes of the Chinese. Nor should they attack native customs, like foot-binding, as such. Plant the Gospel and there inevitably followed the exaltation of women and the abolition of customs out of harmony with Christ's teaching.

The consciences, even of the heathen, are not to be violated and shocked, but enlightened, and instructed. Denunciation makes men either fierce or fanatical, or both; instruction in righteousness tends to make them faithful followers of Christ.

May 9, 1901

"The Ascension of Christ. Luke xxiv. 44-53; Acts i. 1-11" The Present Truth 17, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

(Luke xxiv. 44-53; Acts i. 1-11)¹²1

Forty days after His ascension Jesus led His disciples out as far as to Bethany, "and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy." Luke xxiv. 50-52.

When Jesus told the disciples that He was about to go away and leave them, their hearts were filled with sorrow; how then did it come to pass that when He actually went away, they were filled with joy? Part of the answer is found in Acts i. 11, where we read that two angels stood by them as they were steadfastly gazing up into the space where they had seen Jesus disappear, "which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven."

THE BLESSED HOPE

The promise of Christ's coming is the "blessed hope" that cheers and strengthens God's people. It is one of the "exceeding great and precious promises" by which we are made partakers of the Divine nature, and fitted for the society of God throughout eternity "For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a people for God's own possession, zealous of good works." Titus ii. 11-14, R.V.

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when lie shall appear we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure." 1 John iii. 2, 3.

THE ASSURANCE OF CHRIST'S SECOND COMING

The ascension of Jesus to heaven is the assurance of His second coming. He said, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John xiv. 3. Christ crucified is Christ risen again; for the resurrection is inseparable from the crucifixion. When Jesus was laid in the tomb, it was a certainty that He would rise again. God loosed the pains of death, "because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." Acts ii. 24. Even so the crucifixion and resurrection embrace the ascension to heaven; for the mighty power which God

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wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, lifted Him up to the heavens, to a place at the right hand of God, "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion." Eph. i. 19-21.

And, still further, the ascension of Christ makes certain and necessary His coming again. The second coming of Christ is but the culmination of the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension. Of the Lord's Supper, the Apostle Paul writes: "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come." 1 Cor. xi. 26. The death of Christ, therefore, embraces everything that follows it in Christ's work,-the resurrection, the ascension, and the coming again. No one can perfectly preach "Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" without preaching the second coming of Christ.

THIS MANNER OF CHRIST'S COMING

The ascension of Jesus shows the manner of His second coming. While the disciples beheld Him, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. But we are assured that this same Jesus shall come in like manner as He went into heaven; therefore, "Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him." Rev. i. 7. As He went up, He would gradually recede from the gaze of the disciples, then the cloud alone would be seen, and lastly that would fade from view. So when He comes again, the first thing to be seen will be a white aloud, and after that Christ Himself will be recognised on it. "I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the aloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle." Rev. xiv. 14. This is at the time of the harvest-the end of the world. First, the people will see "the sign of the Son of man in heaven," namely, the great white cloud,-and then "they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Matt. xxiv. 30.

THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT

The other reason why the disciples returned from seeing the ascension of Jesus, with great joy, was that they had received a most wonderful and blessed promise. Jesus said, "Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." Luke xxiv. 49. At the same time He told them that they would not need to tarry long, for He also said: "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." And then He added, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts i. 5, 8. Whoever has any sense of the meaning of this promise cannot help rejoicing, even in death itself; for the resurrection of the dead is "with power according to the Spirit of holiness;" and that is the power which makes us sons of Cod. So the joy that comes to all who are still looking up into heaven, whither their Lord has gone, is the knowledge of the fact that the power of the coming of the Lord is the power of His personal presence in their hearts by His Holy Spirit.

"How to Understand the Scriptures" The Present Truth 17, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

Not in what sense we should take them, not in what light we should regard them, but how we may arrive at a perfect understanding of them. The matter is set forth in few words in Luke xxiv. 45. Jesus had appeared to His disciples, who could scarcely believe that He who had brought others from the grave could Himself rise from the dead. "And He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures."

"A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven." John iii. 27. But since God "willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. ii. 4), it is possible for every one to receive a perfect knowledge of God's Word, which is the truth. And the acquirement of this knowledge does not at all depend on one's education or strength of intellect, for the things concerning Christ are hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes.

"The Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." Prov. ii. 6. To whom does the Lord giveth wisdom?-"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." James i. 5. It is given to every one who lacks it, and who asks for it. There is no partiality with God, and He gives nobody a monopoly of wisdom or of any branch of knowledge.

But some one will say, "I have asked for wisdom, and yet I have not obtained it." Now be careful not to charge God with falsehood. The Lord says: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Matt. vii. 7, 8. If you have not received wisdom, then as surely as God is the God of truth you have not yet asked for it.

Remember that there is such a thing as asking amiss, that we may consume it upon our lusts (James iv. 3), and in that case we are told that we shall not receive. This is no contradiction of the statement that every one that asketh receiveth; for he who asks amiss, really does not ask all. Whoever asks for a thing different from what God has promised, or for the purpose of using it in a way that God has not designed, has not asked for that which God has promise.

Many unconsciously ask amiss, not knowing what wisdom really is. We have seen that the Lord gives wisdom, and that a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven; then in order to ask to some purpose we need only to know that "the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." James iii. 17. To ask for wisdom, then, is to ask for peace, purity, gentleness, goodness. "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job xxviii. 28.

Christ opened the minds of the disciples, that they might understand the Scriptures. Thus it reads in the more correct rendering of the Revision. The difficulty did not lie in the Scriptures, but in the minds of the

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disciples, and so it is to-day. It is for this reason that we have this exhortation:-

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." Rom. xii. 1, 2.

It all consists in getting a new mind, the mind of Christ, and this mind becomes operative in us as soon as we yield our bodies a living sacrifice to God. When we are willing that the mind that was in Christ shall be in us, and that this mind shall control the flesh, crucifying it, and keeping all its passions dead, then floods of light will pour in upon us from the Holy Scriptures. The trouble is that we deceive ourselves so willingly. We like to persuade ourselves that we have yielded all except one or two pet sins; but the ship is not loose from her moorings until the last cable has been let go.

Christ is "the power of God, and the wisdom of God," and He "of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 Cor. i. 24, 30. But He is meek and lowly in heart; He is righteousness; therefore no one need hope to understand the Scriptures, until he is perfectly willing that everything that the Bible reproves shall be given up and taken away, and that all the righteousness which the Bible commands shall be received into the life. When one comes to that frame of mind, then his darkness shall be as the noonday, and he, like Christ, will be of "quick understanding in the fear of the Lord." Isa. xi. 2, 3. To use an expression which is so familiar that all can get the idea, he will grasp the truth of the Bible by instinct. As the margin indicates, he will scent the fear of the Lord, which is wisdom.

The proper prayer is, "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law." Ps. cxix. 18. The way to get the eyes opened is to apply the eyesalve that the Lord supplies (Rev. iii. 18), which is the Holy Spirit. Compare Isa. xi. 1, 2 and Acts x. 38. "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." 1 John ii. 20. The Spirit of the Lord God, which was upon Christ to make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, proclaims "recovering of the sight to the blind."

"There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; nor hid, that shall not be known." Matt. x. 24. In the last days the knowledge of God is to be proclaimed so fully that all must hear, and all who wish for heavenly wisdom will understand. God said to Daniel that in the time of the end the words that were sealed should be opened, and then many should turn to and fro, "and knowledge shall be increased." Nevertheless "the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." Daniel xii. 4, 9, 10.

All therefore that is necessary to make the most ignorant person proficient in knowledge, not in "theology," but in wisdom that is recognised and respected among the world's people, is to yield one's soul and body to the Lord, to do His commandments. Give your mind over to Christ, for Him to renew it, and open it, and understanding will be natural to it.

And the children may know, for Paul said that Timothy, "From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation." 2 Tim. iii. 15. He had not only studied the Scriptures from childhood, but he had known them when he was but a child. What a child can understand may surely be easily grasped by anybody who has a childlike mind. "The opening of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple." Then "seek ye out of the Book of the Lord, and read," and through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, grace and peace shall be multiplied unto you.

"Glorious Liberty" The Present Truth 17, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

God's kingdom is an absolute monarchy. "There is one King, and there is none beside Him." He says, "I am God and there is none else." He is absolute ruler, and He gives absolute authority. But that one who, as a king under God, because a child of God, a child of a King, that one who has that absolute authority over the devil in him, that he can say to him, "Get thee hence," and he will go,-is the one who is bound with the everlasting chains, not of darkness, but of light; a slave of Jesus Christ is a free man. Yielding, we rule and reign with Christ.

You have read that the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glory of the liberty of the children of God. Do you know what that means? You have read about the saints' inheritance, the world to come; you have read some of the glorious descriptions of the marvellous beauties of the new earth, when the wilderness shall rejoice and blossom as the rose, when there will be no more curse, no more sin, because the former things have passed away; there will be joy, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. What is that? That is simply the bringing of the creation to share the blessedness that the children of God have been enjoying. The creation itself shall be delivered into the glory of the liberty of the children of God.

And that liberty is ours now, because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and the Lord is the Spirit; but what is the liberty? It is freedom from sin, from that vile passion that held us with bonds that would not be broken. We would make stern resolutions, we would pray, and fast, and resolve, and we would think that we were freed from it, but lo! it was all there still. But when, in the fear of God, and knowing God, we find that there is a power in us that we never knew before, working in us and keeping that sinful thing in abeyance. O, what marvellous joy it is! O, what a blessed thing it is, to be free! What a glorious thing it is to be set free from bondage for ever. There is that absolute liberty, but it comes only by absolute subjection to God.

"The Promises to Israel. The Fifth Commandment" The Present Truth 17, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

THE FREEDOM OF THE LAW

"Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

Let us first notice the last part of this commandment, the part which shows that the law is not limited in its application, but is for all eternity. 'That thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Consider the circumstances of the giving of the law. The Lord had just led His people out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. It is evident, then, that He was not leading them into bondage: therefore the law is not, as some suppose, a yoke of bondage, but is a gift to free men. The Lord brought the people out of bondage, that they might be free to keep His law. "He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness, . . . that they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws." Ps. cv. 43, 45. "I will walk at liberty, for I seek Thy precepts." Ps. cxix. 45. So far is the law from being bondage, that only free men can keep it. The law is the truth (Ps. cxix. 142), and the truth makes free. John viii. 32.

THE LAND THAT THE LORD GIVES

What is the land spoken of in this commandment? The people to whom it was spoken well understood, or at least they had the means of understanding. They had been told, even before they left Egypt, that they were being delivered in fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham hundreds of years before. God said: "I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments, and I will take you to Me for a people, I will be to you a God, and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for an heritage; I am the Lord." Ex. vi. 4-8. When God made this promise to Abraham, He said, "I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee, in their generation, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." Gen. xvii. 7, 8. The land was promised to Abraham, as well as to his seed, and both he and they were to have it for an everlasting possession. Yet God "gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on." Acts vii. 5.

Abraham, however, died in the full assurance of faith; for God had told him, in the making of the covenant, that he should die before he received the promised inheritance. See Gen. xv. 13-18. So Abraham well understood that the promised land could be received only through the resurrection of the dead, and would be bestowed when God should raise all those who sleep in Jesus. "The promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Rom. iv. 13.

THE WORLD TO COME

The land, therefore, promised to Abraham was the earth, and that this is the land referred to in the commandment is shown in Eph. vi. 2, 3, where the commandment is quoted thus: "Honour thy father and thy mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth." The whole earth is given to each one who by his obedience shows himself to be a child of Abraham. But not the earth as it now is. Oh, no; God did not give this present evil world to man. It is most dishonouring to our Father, when men quarrel over any portion of this earth as it now is, and claim it as theirs by right, by virtue of the gift of God.

Suppose a friend of yours, well known to be very wealthy, should promise to keep you in clothing, and should publish this promise as something of great worth and then should give you only some worn-out

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clothing, picked up at a pawn shop. You would not make a boast of this, and call attention to it as proof of big generosity. People who knew of the transaction would say: "I should think so rich a man as that could do better than to give you old clothes," and you would feel ashamed for your acquaintance. So we should have too much respect for our heavenly Father, to tell anybody that it is this old, worn out earth that He has given to us for a possession. He is a King, and He gives like a king. Moreover we know that it is not this present evil world that is assured to us by the promise, for the land given is for an everlasting possession, and this world "passeth away, and the lust thereof." But we, "according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

The land to which God was leading Israel from their bondage was His own dwelling-place, as we read in the song of Moses, when they stood on the shores of the Red Sea, freed from their adversaries. "Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation." "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thy hands have established. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." Ex. xv. 13, 17, 18. This will be fulfilled when "the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all, tears from their eyes; for the former things are passed away." "And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads." Rev. xxi. 3, 4; xxii. 3, 4.

But the Israelites did not believe, and so they could not enter into the promised land. Heb. iii. 18, 19. Nevertheless the promise, as we have already read, still holds good. Several hundred years after the time for the fulfilment of the promise which God had sworn to Abraham, but which the Israelites did not accept because of unbelief, God repeated the promise to David. At that time David was king over all Israel, and "the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies," and the kingdom had reached the greatest measure of power and territory that it ever attained. Then God said to him: "I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime." 2 Sam. vii. 1, 10.

It is evident, therefore, that any restoration of the Jews to their former possession in Palestine could not possibly be the fulfilment of God's promise. At the time of their greatest earthly prosperity, they were not in their own land, the land that God had promised to plant them in. When David transmitted the kingdom to Solomon, he said to the Lord, "We are strangers before Thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers; our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding." 1 Chron. xxix. 15.

The true land of Canaan, the land where God will plant His people so that their days may be long in it, for they will have it for an everlasting possession, is the whole earth, where righteousness will dwell, and the children of wickedness will not afflict them. Canaan means submission, bowing the knee, and in that new earth all flesh will come before the God who hears prayer, and will worship Him in Spirit and in truth; for then "The Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day there shall be one Lord, and His name one." Ps. lxv. 2; Isa. Ixvi. 22; Zech. xiv. 9.

The same truth is stated through the prophet Amos: "I will bring again the captivity of My people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inherit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof, they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them, and I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God." Amos ix. 14, 15. Connect this with the eleventh and twelfth verses: "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by My name, saith the Lord that doeth this."

Many years after the resurrection of Jesus, there was a meeting of Christians in Jerusalem; the apostles and elders were talking about the preaching of the Gospel, and after Peter had given his experience, James said: "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, that is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of man might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom My name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." Acts xv. 14-18. Thus we see that the planting of Israel in their own land is to be accomplished through the preaching of the Gospel, which is the power of God to make new creatures, and to make the earth new for their habitation. Then will be manifest that which God knew "from the beginning of the world," when the earth was new. This is the inheritance of every one who honours his father and his mother.

LONG LIFE

"That thy days may be long." How long?-For ever; for the land which the Lord God gives us is to be ours for an everlasting possession. We are to be planted in the land, and pulled up no more. God says to the one whom He delivers, "With length of days will I satisfy him." "He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest it him; even length of days for ever and ever." Ps. xxi. 4. How long would it take to satisfy one with a life of fulness of joy? How long before one would say that he had had enough? In that perfect life which nothing can disturb, in that full day where "we shall ever feel the freshness of the morning, and ever be far from its close," rich in love and happiness, one can never be tired. Nobody ever gets tired of life who lives with the Lord. Every day will be so full of satisfaction that nothing less than eternity of such blessedness can fully satisfy.

ALL THE COMMANDMENTS IN EACH

This commandment shows very clearly how each one contains the whole. "Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Whoever obeys this commandment is sure of everlasting life. The sure promise is that whoever honours his father and mother will be satisfied with length of days in the new earth. Does that mean that we can keep this, and ignore the others? Not by any means; all are equally important. It means that he who honours his father and mother is a doer of all the commandments, even as we read, "He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." Truly the commandment is exceeding broad.

(To be Continued.)

"The Editor's Private Corner. 'The Marks of the Lord Jesus'" The Present Truth 17, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

"At our morning lesson on the Sabbath, some discussion was caused as to Paul's meaning in the 6th chapter of Galatians and the 17th verse. We know ft was the custom at that time to brand slaves with their owners' particular marks, and most of the class thought that Paul was so branded or pierced with a particular mark. I think Paul meant that his offerings in the flesh were the marks of the Lord Jesus, such as his receiving stripes, his bad eyesight, and many other sufferings that he endured in the body. I shall be glad if you will answer this question in the PRESENT TRUTH."

Before talking about the question itself, I wish to say a few words concerning discussing texts of Scripture, or any expression found in the Bible. Truth is never arrived at by discussion, but by meditation; it is revealed, not reasoned out. "Be still, and know that I am God," says the Lord, "Swift to hear, slow to speak" is the motto for Bible students, as well as for all others. "If any man speak, let him speak se the oracles of God." 1 Peter iv. 11. Christ said, "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen." John iii. 11. Like Him, therefore, we too should speak only that which we know, and not that which we imagine, or that which is but passing thought, Inasmuch as Jesus has said, "If ye continue in My word, than are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth" (John viii. 31), there is no reason why we should not refrain from expressing any more opinion about any portion of Scripture. Indeed, in view of what He has promised, it is a matter of presumption to do otherwise.

It is true enough that slaves, as well as cattle, have been branded with a particular mark, to show who laid claim to them; but the idea that the Lord Jesus uses a branding iron on the bodies of His followers is purely fanciful. In Eph. 1. 13 we read that, in Christ, those who believe are "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession;" but we well know that the Spirit of God does not brand any figure on the bodies of believers. In Rev. xiv. 1 also we read of redeemed ones standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion, "having His Father's name written in their foreheads." These texts may serve to help us in understanding Gal. vi. 17.

While there is no specific mark on the bodies of believers such as is placed on cattle, by which one can at a glance distinguish them from unbelievers, "the marks of the Lord Jesus" are undoubtedly distinguishing marks. They indicate to whom the one who has them belongs. If we study the subject a little farther we shall see that these marks are the characteristic signs of the Lord's life, transforming the mind and soul of the believer, and manifesting itself even in the body.

The connection (Gal. vi. 12, 14) shows that the "marks" of which the Apostle Paul speaks are the marks of the cross of Christ. He says, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. ii. 20), and this agrees with what he says in 2 Cor. iv. 10: "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh."

The Apostle Paul had the marks of the Lord Jesus, the marks of His cross, yet he had never hung on the cross. We also are to have the same marks, being crucified with Christ, yet it is not probable that any person in this age will be stretched on a cross of wood. The cross stands for the death of Christ, as indicated in 2 Cor. iv. 10 already quoted, and we are to be "made conformable unto His death" (Phil. iii. 10) every day of our lives. Only so can the life of Jesus he made manifest in our mortal flesh.

Paul had suffered doubtless more than any other follower of Christ has ever suffered; and he certainly bore the scars of some of his beatings and stoning; but such scars do not necessarily mark one as belonging to the Lord Jesus, and therefore his words refer to more than those outward marks. He was weak in body, but "strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." God said to him, "My strength is made perfect in weakness," and this led him to exclaim, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Cor. xii. 9. The life of Christ manifest in our mortal, sinful flesh is that which marks us as His. This is indicated by Gal. vi . 15: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." Whether a man has the marks of a knife or an iron or a stone in his flesh, or not, is a matter of no importance; all depends on being a new creature.

Our bodies belong to the Lord Jesus. They are prepared for Him to dwell in, and each one is to be offered as "a living sacrifice." Heb. x. 5; Rom. xii. 1. This offering of ourselves,-soul, spirit, and body,-to the Lord Jesus means our crucifixion with Him; for it means the giving up of our own life of sin in exchange for His life of righteousness. In being crucified with Him we become now creatures, for, being buried with Him, we rise to walk in newness of life. Rom. vi. 3, 4. This transformation, this passing from death to life, is by the renewing of the mind. Rom. xii. 2. This is not the work of one single moment or hour, but the inward man is to be "renewed day by day." 2 Cor. iv. 16. The mind that was in Christ is to be in us, and this is the mind of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, the personal presence of Christ,-His life,-is to take possession of us, mortifying the deeds of the body, and using all its members as instruments of righteousness. Thus the body is to be brought completely under the control of the mind.

This involves, it should be remembered, a transformation of the body; for Rom. xii. 1, 2, which exhorts us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, tells us that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This is our "reasonable service." Reason, and not passion and impulse, is to control the body. The renewed mind must be master, and the body must not be used in any way, or subjected to any treatment, for which a good reason-a Scripture reason-cannot be given. When this is the case, the sentence, "I like it" will never be heard in defence of

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any practice, for that is no reason at all; but the individual will become enlightened, as to what is right, and will then allow the same Spirit which gives him this enlightenment to teach him to like everything that is good. Whoever recognises that God has of right the control of his body will say from the heart, "I delight to do Thy will, O God." His mouth will be satisfied with "good things" and he will not long for anything that is in any degree harmful.

Now when this transformation takes place, the results will be apparent. The life of Jesus will be manifested in the mortal body, in the renewal of youth. See Ps. ciii. 5; Isa. xI. 31. Thus we see that "the marks of the Lord Jesus" are the evidences of the life of Christ. He cannot be hid, and if He be formed within, the hope of glory, even the world will be able to see to whom the one thus possessed belongs. This is the fulness of the kingdom of God,-for "the kingdom of God is within you," and its manifestation will be the most striking sign of the soon coming of Christ.

One blessed lesson should be noted before we drop this question. The apostle says: "From henceforth let no man [no individual, whether man or devil] trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." The marks of the Lord Jesus are His characteristics, as we have seen, and the life of Jesus is His name. See Acts iv. 10, R.V. As men place their names on their property, in order that others may be warned not to interfere with it, so God does with His possession. This is our confidence. The Lord's slave is a free man, and whoever can say of the Lord, "whose I am, and whom I serve," can also say to all who have any designs against his liberty, "Hands off, for I belong to the Lord Jesus!" By the life of the Lamb we successfully resist the devil, and cause him to flee from us. It is a glorious thing to be the property of the Lord; let us allow Him to stamp His image and superscription more distinctly upon us.

"Form and Reality" The Present Truth 17, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

Someone, having learned that Christ is our life, and that day by day we are to eat His flesh and drink His blood, asks concerning the Lord's Supper: "What is the use of keeping the form when we have the reality?"-Just this much, that if you do not have the reality, the form is but a mockery, most repugnant to God. It was because of form without reality, that God called for somebody to shut the doors of the sanctuary, so as to put a stop to kindling fires on His altar for nothing, and offering vain oblations. Mal. i. 10; Isa. i. 11-14. God is pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, and with none other.

"For Little Ones. God's Jewels" The Present Truth 17, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

Moses was told by the Lord when he was first sent into Egypt, that he should lead the people out, and they should serve God upon that mountain where he had seen the burning bush. If you look in the third chapter of Exodus, you will see that that place was "the mountain of God, even Horeb."

We have journeyed with the Children of Israel through the "great and terrible wilderness," we have followed the pillar of cloud and fire, we have eaten with them of the manna, we have drunk of the Rock, and now we have came to "Horeb, the mount of God."

The Lord had fulfilled His word: He had brought His people to the place that He promised. And now, upon the mountain where He had first appeared to Moses in the burning bush, the Lord called him again, and gave him a message for the people. He said:-

"Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people for all the earth is Mine. And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and on holy nation."

These words of the Lord must have been in the mind of Moses whom, long afterwards, reminding the people of the Lord's tender care for Israel in "the waste howling wilderness," he said: "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young. Spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings; so the Lord alone did lead him."

And now that He had shown them His great love, His tender care, His Almighty power to keep and to defend them, He told them that He wanted to be their King, and to make them His peculiar treasure. Who would not have such a mighty King, such a loving Saviour, such a tender Shepherd. One in whom they could rest "from all want and danger free"?

But there was one condition. What was it that was to make them God's peculiar treasure? "If ye will obey My voice, and keep my covenant."

God's covenant, or promise, was that He would give them the victory over all their enemies, that all that would harm them should be destroyed, and that He would give them the whole world for an everlasting possession. Now He said to them, "Obey My voice, and keep My covenant." How could they?-how can we-keep God's covenant? Only by believing His promise; for "this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

This promise was made to Abraham, but "the promise that is should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith."

That is, it was not anything they could do, but it was simply believing what God could and would do, that was to make them His peculiar treasure, and give them an everlasting home in the world to come.

God is "no respecter of persons." So wherever there is one who believes in Him, that one is His peculiar treasure. He says: "Every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant, even them will I bring to My holy mountain."

The Sabbath, which is God's gift to us, is the sign of His power to fulfil His covenant. When we keep it holy, and rest upon it. We show that we have ceased from our own works, from all our vain efforts to save ourselves, and are trusting only in the power of Him who created all things by His Word, to make us "new creatures in Christ Jesus."

In doing this, we are taking hold of, and keeping God's covenant, and He will make us anew, pure and holy, and bring us to His holy mountain; that

"Beautiful Zion, built above;
Beautiful city that I love,"

about which you often sing. By and by this beautiful city will come down upon the earth made new, which will be the everlasting home of all who put their whole trust in Jesus to save them.

These will be, as God said to Moses, "a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation," and together they will sing: "Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by His blood; and He made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father, to Him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

Because the Lord had done so much for them, the Children of Israel were in danger of thinking that He cared for them only, and did not love any other people. Indeed, this was the great mistake that they made all through their history, and it led them to despise other people so much that they would not even eat with those of another nation, for fear that it would defile them. Thus they became like the heathen themselves, many of whom, as you may have read, have so separated themselves one from another by what they call caste, that they cannot mix freely, even with those of their own nation.

But that was not what God wanted Israel to do, and if they had given heed to these words that He spoke to them from the mount, they could never have made this great mistake. God said only that they should be His peculiar treasure, above all people,-which showed that all are His treasure and He loves all.

He wanted to teach the Israelites this, and so He added, "for all the earth is Mine." "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

But those who take what He gives so freely to all, those who take Jesus to be their Saviour, are His peculiar treasure above all others. God wanted Israel to be a missionary people to carry to the ends of the earth the Gospel, the "good tidings," of this mighty Saviour, so that all the world might become, like them, His peculiar treasure.

"Little children, little children,
Who love their Redeemer,
Are His jewels, precious jewels,
His loved and His own.

"Like the stars of the morning,
The bright crown adorning,
They shall shine in their beauty,
Bright gems for His crown."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

-The number of recruits enlisted last year was 98,361, against 12,700 in 1899.

-Dr. James Chalmers and Mr. Oliver Tompkins have been murdered by natives on the Fly River, New Guinea.

-A case of plague is notified at Constantinople. Precautions have been taken to prevent the spread of the disease.

-Thirty thousand Russian peasants in Kherson and Besarabia, it is said, have died of starvation in the past month.

-Several earthquake shocks were experienced in Guernsey, April 24. No material damage appears to have resulted.

-The number of living creatures in the Zoological Gardens at the end of the year was 2,865-758 mammals, 1,495 birds, and 612 reptiles.

-A steamer, with Turkish troops and pilgrims for Mecca on board, struck on a coral reef in the Red Sea. Nearly 200 lives were lost.

-Nearly a thousand young salmon have been placed in the Thames at Teddington to test the possibility of making it once more a salmon river.

-At a mass meeting of Jews held in America it was resolved to take measures to start a fund for the purchase of Palestine from the Ottoman Empire.

-During the year, 4,914,000 copies were issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society; and about 300 colporteurs were maintained in twenty-seven different countries.

-A giant geyser at Rotomahana, New Zealand, is attracting attention. A mass of boiling water half an acre in extent rises to a height of 300 feet, while immense columns of steam ascend as far as the eye can see.

-The Chartered Company has offered 100,000 acres of land to induce Australian and other colonial farmers to settle in Rhodesia, on the sole condition that ?100,000 shall be spent on improvements in ten years.

-In the Manchester district there are still scores of sufferers from the beer poisoning epidemic. The arsenic taken into the system is said to be accelerating the deaths of persons suffering from various diseases.

-According to the annual report of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the number of lives saved by the lifeboats during the year was 865. The total amount of subscriptions was ?69,963, whereas the expenditure exceeded the sum of ?95,600.

-Among the ten deputations received by the King at St. James's Palace, May 3, was the Roman Catholic deputation headed by Cardinal Vaughan, who was accompanied by nearly all the Roman Catholic Bishops of England. This is the first time since the Reformation that a body of Roman Catholic ecclesiastics have been received at Court.

-A preliminary return of the population of the London and County Boroughs, compiled from the census returns, has been issued. It appears that the population of London has increased by 307,717. Among the notable increases in the county boroughs, are Birmingham, 44,069; Cardiff, 34,929; Leeds, 61,448; Leicester, 36,950; Liverpool, 55,728; Manchester, 38,562; Newcastle, 28,581; Portsmouth, 29,862; Salford, 22,876; and Southampton, 21,374.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

The Gospel has often been preached as a Gospel of giving up. But instead, it is a Gospel of receiving. The Lord Jesus Christ is the One who has given up everything, and we are the ones who receive everything.

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.

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.

When God has given this witness to the world of His power to save to the uttermost, to save sinful beings, and to live a perfect life in sinful flesh, then He will remove the disabilities and give us better circumstances in which to live. But first of all this wonder must be worked out in sinful man, not simply in the person of Jesus Christ, but in Jesus Christ reproduced and multiplied in the thousands of His followers.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is in the world to-day to bring men back to the beginning; and when the Gospel shall have finished its work, and every soul susceptible to the influences of the Spirit of God has yielded to that influence, then will the end come, and the new earth and the new heavens will be here as in the beginning; and the beginning will always continue unto the end; and there will never be any end, because the end will be the beginning. Always fresh, always new, will the earth be; always now will the body be. The power by which Jesus is able to subdue all things to Himself, the power by which the heavens and the earth shall be made new, is the power by which He takes this sin-cursed body, and works His will in it; finally, by that same power, quickening it, and making it immortal.

"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. 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 more striking.

"Can any man live a sinless life?" we 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 impatience, 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. By the obedience of One many are made righteous. We become men indeed, perfect men, only as we are in Him.

We are "a people for God's own possession." Not simply a people that He calls His own, and claims as His property; but the people whom He possesses, the people possessed of God. That is to say, that just so completely as a person may be possessed of the devil, so that he is held captive by him at his will, the old things may pass away, and that person may be possessed of God, so that he is held captive by God, at His will. God's captive is a free man.

Just as the old man found pleasure in serving the devil, even so, and ten thousand times more, will the new man find joy in the will of God, so that you and I like Christ-nay, not you and I, but Christ in us,-may say, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God," "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." We are to be possessed by Him, possessed by the Spirit of God, so that His mind is our mind; as He thinks, we act. That is possible. Oh, that God would give every one the conception, not only of the possibility of such a thing, but of the joy and blessedness of it.

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 recognise at a glance that God dwells within, and does business there.

We often hear the old exhortation, "Give the devil his due," the idea being that one must not too severely condemn the acts even of that enemy of all righteousness, and accuser of the brethren. There is a lot of misplaced charity in this world, and just because it is misplaced, it ceases to be charity. We have no right to condemn any soul, not even the devil himself; for judgment has not yet been given to the saints of the Most High; but that does not mean that we must gloss over their evil deeds. A woe is pronounced upon those "that call evil good; and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness." Isa. v. 20. To "give the devil his due," is to hold to that which it true of him, namely, that he is the hater of everything good,-"a murderer from the beginning," "a liar and the father of it." Whoever calls evil good, gives place to the devil, and declares that goodness is sin.

May 16, 1901

"The Kingdom of God" The Present Truth 17, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

Creation has but one Lord, and one law. "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?" He was the king, and they did not like to say, "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.

There is, then, one law for all the universe, and that is the law of God's life. 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.

"Behold the birds of the air." 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 who imparts understanding even to the birds. It does not come to them by accident.

How do the birds that go south in the autumn 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, mark you, every year the birds that fly south first are the young birds, that have never been there before. It is always the younger 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?

You call it instinct. Very good: call it so, if you please. Then it is evident that instinct is the highest law of man. Read Isa. xl. 1-3: "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, 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." "Make him quick of understanding;" literally make him scent the fear of the Lord." He will know it by his very nature. The fear of the Lord shall be instinctive with him, and that is the very highest and most perfect form of knowledge.

It is a marvellous 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 harbour 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 ocean the first time it tries. When men is of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, he will know what to do the first time, although he never did it before, because God will work in him. He will "understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity, yea, every good path." Prov. ii. 9.

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

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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.

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 was their spirit 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 creature.

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 thought in him, and guides 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, then as God thinks, the body will move.

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 He 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, 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.

"The Law of Life. The Fifth Commandment. (Continued.)" The Present Truth 17, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

"Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

The most obvious meaning of the commandment, the duty of children to their parents, need not occupy our attention at this time, since everybody recognises and understands that. Everybody quotes the fifth commandment to impress upon children the necessity for obedience. Let us then dwell on that which is little thought of, on a phase of the commandment not usually recognised. In Ephesians vi. 1-3, the fifth commandment is quoted, and in the fourth verse we are made to see the responsibility resting on parents in connection with it. We learn that it applies to them equally with their children. Parents are in the place of God to the children whom He gives them. For the first few years at least the whole responsibility rests on the parents to see that the children keep this as well as the other commandments. If the parent does his part well, the children will certainly do theirs, for God says, speaking of the same promise that is referred to in the commandment, "The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob. As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the Lord: My Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from hence forth and for ever." Isaiah lix. 20, 21. So then the faithful parent can say: "Behold I and the children whom Thou hast given me."

THE ADMONITION OF THE LORD

In immediate connection with the commandment the Apostle says: "And fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." That is, nourish them, bring them up, cultivate them, train them as plants, in the way that they should go. The word "admonition" will bear study. It is composed of two Greek words, one of which means mind, and the other, to place; admonition, therefore, means placing in the mind. One must know the admonition of the Lord in order to bring his children up in it. God does not admonish as most people do; unfortunately men very commonly judge of the Lord's admonition by their own, instead of learning from God how they ought to do. God's covenant is, "I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." He sends His Spirit to place the law in the heart and life. This is the admonition, the "putting in mind" of the Lord. As God gently breathes the Spirit into the soul, thus placing there His righteous law, so the parent is to instill loyalty and obedience into the mind of the child, for the parent stands in the place of God, and

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in its earliest infancy must reveal to it all that it knows of God.

SOME ILLUSTRATIONS

Two cases will show how very much parents are concerned in this commandment. God said of Abraham, "I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; to the end that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him." God was made known to Abraham, in order that Abraham might make Him known to his children. The result of this was that God could bring upon Abraham that which He had spoken of him. Suppose that Abraham had not known the law of life, and had not trained his household according to it. What then?-He himself would have lost the promise.

So we see that parents are concerned in this commandment as much as children possibly can be. If they should not do their duty, there would be no possession of the promised land. But the parents are not to rule by arbitrary authority, because they are bigger and stronger, because they support the children, or because they wish their dignity and authority to be respected. No; the parent is to rule even as God does, who gives His law by His Spirit in the hand of a Mediator, gently establishing a bond of union by which the law may flow from Him to us.

The case of Eli presents a view of the opposite course, and taken in connection with the case of Abraham, shows that, if we can make any comparison, it is a more fearful thing for parents to have disobedient children, than for the children to be disobedient. God expects the children of His people to be His also. Eli was God's high priest, but he had wicked sons; He knew of their wickedness, and remonstrated with them, saying, "Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. Nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear; ye make the Lord's people to transgress." 1 Sam. ii. 23, 24. But his sons paid no heed to this mild remonstrance, and the Lord said to Samuel: "I will perform against Eli all the things which I have spoken concerning his house; when I begin I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not." 1 Sam. iii. 2, 3. Eli did not learn from the Lord how to govern, and he lost much by it. Abraham had learned the lesson from God, and it was eternal gain to him.

There is another phase of the commandment that is scarcely ever thought of. "Honour thy father and thy mother." To whom does this speak? There is no limit; it speaks to every one who has or has ever had a father and a mother, that is it speaks to all mankind without exception. This commandment is not limited to children; it speaks to the man of fourscore as well as to the child of four. Some one may say: "I have no father or mother; they are dead; how can I honour them?" Just the same as though they were alive; indeed it is often the case that people do not learn to honour their parents until after they are dead. A person never in his life gets into a condition where this commandment does not apply to him. He may never have known father or mother; they may have died the day he was born. Yet the commandment still speaks to him, "Honour thy father and thy mother."

THE COMMANDMENT UNIVERSAL

Still more: it makes no difference about the character of the father or mother; they may have been the most depraved characters, nevertheless the commandment speaks: "Honour thy father and thy mother." It is not the child simply, that is the index of the parent, but so long as a person lives, his character reflects upon his ancestry. Even though a man's parents have not done their duty by him, have neglected or ill-treated him, and have trained him in habits of sin rather than of righteousness, still his duty is to honour them. How? you will ask; must he implicitly obey and always follow their evil teachings? Not by any means. That would not be honouring them. He must honour them by his upright life.

Whenever a man lives an honourable life, the name which he bears is honoured, and his father is thus honoured through him. People who have not known his parents will naturally conclude that he must have come from a good stock; and even though they have known them, and have considered them to be worthless characters, yet seeing the right character developed in the son, they will think that there must have been some good in them, after all. Of course, the good all comes from the Lord, yet God Himself desires that the parents should share in the honour, even as He would have them co-operate with Him in the development of right characters in their children. No man can live a base, ignoble life without bringing dishonour upon his parents; but if he himself yields to the redeeming grace of God, he redeems to some extent, at least among men, the character of his parents.

THE UNIVERSAL FATHER

So this commandment simply says to every soul on earth, Be good: do that which is right and true; honour God, the Universal Father, the One from whom all fatherhood comes. We are His offspring, and He is the One who is to be honoured above all in the honouring of our parents, and nothing that is dishonouring to God can possibly be honouring to the parent. "When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." Our duty to our parents when they are living, is simply our duty to God through them, and if they are dead, the relationship still continues the same to God. "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." God Himself is the fulness, the reality, of all human relationships.

We see that this commandment is exceeding broad; it not only embraces the whole relation of children to parents and of parents to children but the whole of every person's life. If there be any difference, it applies to the parent more emphatically than to the child, for the parents have a duty first, in order that the child may honour them in obedience to this commandment. God who gives to us the promise of the eternal inheritance, expects us to live in this world in a way becoming the inheritance. "Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." He expects us by the grace He has given us to live in this world as we shall continue to live in the world to come.

We are to live now as in Eden. That does not mean that there should be no family and social life; quite the contrary, since the family began in Eden. It matters not that we are in a sin-cursed earth, with sinful flesh. The Lord Jesus, in whom was no sin, and who knew no sin, was "born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law," and He has redeemed us from the curse of the law. "We, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." The promise referred to in the fifth commandment,

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which is the reward for obedience to it, is the power by which we obey it; for the exceeding great and precious promises make us "partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." Being made partakers of the Divine nature, we honour the Father in heaven, and so all earthly relations. The possibility of this perfect childhood is shown not alone in the case of Jesus; John the Baptist, filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb; Samuel, asked of the Lord, and devoted to His service from his birth; Jeremiah, ordained of God to be a prophet before he was born,-all these cases show us what is possible, and what God would have for every child. It is the birthright of every child born into the earth, the right purchased for us by Christ and made possible for every one in Him. Every child born with less has been deprived of his due, and has received an injury.

These things recognised would prevent any parent from delaying the training of his child. Most parents seem to think that the child is not capable of receiving training before it is four or five years old. It is marvellous how much an infant in arms can understand. Think of the breadth of mind that Jesus, the model child, had at twelve years of age, and you will realise that His mind must have begun to develop at a very early period. Some one will ask, how soon a child should be corrected. The answer is, just as soon as it is old enough to show self-will. "But that would be cruel!" No; not cruelty, but kindness. The admonition must be suited to the age. The younger the child, the more easily is it trained in the right way. The cruelty comes in only in neglecting this training until the child has reached an age when severe measures become necessary, and when even these will not avail.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." This is an unqualified promise. If a person goes astray, we may be sure he has not had the proper training in his childhood. God expects that the child of every Christian shall grow up His own child. He is to be trained to recognise authority. Having learned the principles of obedience he will obey God. But if we have failed in this, we need not despair. God enables us to redeem the past; He forgives sins of ignorance and unbelief and neglect, and saves that which has been lost. Although we have been deprived of our birth-right, we need not be despondent, for by the new birth all the disabilities of the first birth are cancelled. We are heirs of God, who undertakes our bringing up, breathes His life and character into us, and superintends our education. Let us then honour Him by our faith in His promises, and He will honour us with His salvation.

"The Gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts ii. 1-11" The Present Truth 17, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

(Acts ii. 1-11.)¹³1

One of the things that made the disciples return to Jerusalem with great joy, from the mount of ascension, was the promise of the gift of the Spirit, the continuation of Christ's presence with them. Just before His ascension He amid to them, "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." Acts i. 5. Accordingly, ten days afterward, as "they were all with one accord in one place," suddenly "there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it [the sound] filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all, filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts ii. 1-4.

There is a deep significance in the time when this special gift of the Spirit was bestowed. It is not the day of the week, as so many suppose, that is of importance, but the fact that it was upon Pentecost that the Spirit was outpoured. The particular day of the week on which Pentecost fell that year, is of no consequence whatever. As a matter of fact, Pentecost that year fell on Sabbath,-the seventh day, which the Jews observed,-yet that fact does not in the least add to the sacredness of the day; nor does it afford the slightest reason why we should keep it. The commandment alone is sufficient reason for keeping the true Sabbath, and with that we have the fact of Christ's example and precept. His work was to "magnify the law, and make it honourable;" and the giving of the Spirit on Pentecost-which was the anniversary of the giving of the law upon Sinai,-showed how honourable the law is. "The law is spiritual." Rom. vii. 14.

The first thing that the Spirit was to do was to convict of sin. This purpose was accomplished for the people on Pentecost, for as the result of the preaching "they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?" and the answer was, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts ii. 37, 38. That is to say, the Spirit convicted them of sin, and then they had to repent, in order to receive "the gift of the Holy Ghost." This is in accordance with the inspired Word, "Turn you at My reproof; behold, I will pour out My Spirit unto you, I will make known My words unto you." Prov. i. 23. The order is, (1) Heeding the reproof of the Spirit, (2) Receiving "the gift of the Spirit," and (3) The understanding of the words of the Lord. Now we do not see the apostles indicating any conviction of sin on Pentecost which shows that that work had already been accomplished. The Spirit was already present to convict them of sin, and as soon as they day accepted His reproof,-the evidence of which was their confessing and forsaking the specific sins reproved,-they received His fulness.

In the same way we know that the Spirit was present among the twelve before the day of Pentecost came. In fact, it is only by the Spirit of God that anybody has an existence. "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job xxxiii. 4. Ever since the Spirit of God dovelike sat brooding over the abyss, and brought order out of chaos, impregnating matter with life, the same Spirit ham been the source of all power and life in the earth,-and not merely the source of the power and life, but the very life itself. Everywhere present, like the air, it will instantly fill every vacuum. Whenever any person, by sincere confession of sin, dissociates himself from it, the Spirit rushes in to fill him. It was a wondrous coincidence that on the anniversary of the giving of the law, the hearts of the disciples should have so unitedly yielded to that law that it could fill them.

The same thing is true to-day. The Spirit is given freely to whomsoever will receive. But people must learn what it means to pray for the Spirit. Whoever prays must pray in faith. "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven

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with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." James i. 6, 7. Believing is receiving. The prayer of faith, therefore, is not the prayer of the one who thinks that he must change the mind of the Lord, and make Him willing to give, but of the one who knows that God has already given Himself, and who simply tells the Lord that he is willing to receive the unspeakable gift. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. xxii. 17. This water of life is the Spirit of God. John vii. 37-39.

What will the Spirit do for us when we receive Him?-He will do everything. "He will guide you into all truth," "and He will show you things to come." John xvi. 13. He to the sevenfold Spirit of God-"the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." Isa. xi. 2. "There is a Spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." Job xxxii. 8. Every gift of God to man comes by the Spirit. The chief of the blessings that come by the Spirit is wisdom and knowledge, and this knowledge-the knowledge of God-is life eternal. When the soul becomes separated from sin, it comes into connection with the Intelligence of the universe; "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." "We have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." 1 John ii. 20. "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." 1 John v. 20.

The knowledge that the Holy Spirit gives is of such a kind that even the world acknowledges its reality. This is seen in the immediate results of the reception of the Spirit on Pentecost. The disciples began to speak with other tongues. The reason why this particular phase of knowledge was imparted at that time was that there were thousands of people present from every nation under heaven, all of wham needed to hear the Gospel. Whatever one needs in order to do the work of the Lord, that the Spirit gives as soon as one is ready to receive it, and will make the right use of it. But this does not mean that the Spirit relieves one of the necessity for study; far from it. God has no sympathy with laziness, and He does not give His Spirit for the purpose of pandering to us. Be sure that God will not impart the gift of tongues to a man who has not enough interest in the work of giving the Gospel as a witness to all nations, to impel him to use all the means in his power to fit himself by study to engage in that work. Everything is a free gift from God, and all is by His power, but we must nevertheless be willing to work, and must expect that the reception of the Spirit will bring more active service and more difficult work than ever before.

"Who hath despised the day of small things?" Christians are ready enough to recognise the work of the Holy Spirit in great phenomena, such as speaking with tongues, and the instantaneous healing of disease, but they forget Him in things that do not make so much show. Is there a man who has great ability in any line?-let him give the credit to God. Have you a special aptitude for learning languages?-then recognise that as the gift of the Spirit; for "a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven." "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." Let professed Christians once fully appreciate this truth, and yield themselves to "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," and Gentiles will come to their light, and kings to the brightness of their rising. Nothing which it is right for them to do will be impossible to them; whatsoever they do will prosper; and God will give them wisdom and largeness of heart to know every right way; for "godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."

"Every Man a King" The Present Truth 17, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

In the kingdom of God every man is a king, but a king ruling in his own body, and recognising 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. 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 all that the others have. Each person gives up to everybody else, so that each individual will have all that all the rest have.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Asleep in Jesus" The Present Truth 17, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

"In your issue of the 25th you have an article on 'Death and the Resurrection,' for which I thank you much. One cannot deny these truths you state from the Word, and as a brother seeking for light, and a clear conception of this wonderful event, may I ask you to help me? I feel sure what I ask will be of much benefit to my fellow-readers who are seeking after the truth. We know that the body lies in the grave until the resurrection, but where does the spirit dwell? Matt. xvii. 23: 'And behold there appeared Moses and Elias talking with Him,' and yet Moses and Elias had been dead for a long period. When a child dies before it has reached the age to discern right from wrong, is it unconscious? Does it not grow and develop in the heavenly land? Does not John in the Revelation tell us of the great host before the throne of God, serving Him day and night in His temple? He says that these are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. I know that these bodies will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, but I am at a loss to know about the departed spirits: does not the soul live on in perpetual consciousness and development, until through the resurrection power, soul and body are again united?"

The article on "Death and the Resurrection," to which you refer, was one of a series contained in Nos. 10-18 in which you will find the answer to most of your questions. We will, however, consider briefly the points that you mentioned.

Reference to 2 Kings ii. will remind you that Elijah, so far from having "been dead for a long period," was, like Enoch, translated without seeing death, and therefore his appearance with Christ upon the amount of transfiguration proves nothing concerning the state of the dead.

Moses died upon Mount Nebo, and the Lord buried him, but the place of his sepulchre was unknown. Nevertheless, we have in Jude 9 the proof of the resurrection of his body, which accounts for his appearance also on the mountain. We have the evidence of the Scriptures that the body of neither of these men was in the grave. Elijah did not pass through the tomb, and Moses was raised from the dead by Christ, in spite of the opposition of Satan who had the power of death, and who sought to retain his hold upon his body.

On the other hand, contrast with the statement concerning Moses that "no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day," the words of Peter concerning David, that he "is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day." This he said as proof of the fact that "David is not ascended into the heavens," thus showing that man has no conscious existence apart from his body. The sepulchre containing David's ashes, was considered by Peter, speaking when he was filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, sufficient evidence that David had no conscious existence elsewhere.

THE GATE OF DEATH AND THE GATE OF LIFE

The children to whom you refer are well represented by the babes that Herod slew in order to rid himself of the infant Christ. "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet,

"A voice was heard in Ramah,
Weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children;
And she would not be comforted, because they
are not."

If you turn to the prophecy in Jeremiah from which this is quoted, you will find the message of comfort that God sent to these mourning mothers: "Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy." This land of the enemy Satan, the adversary, is the grave, to which death is the gate of entrance. And the comfort that the Lord gives to mothers is, not that their little ones have already entered upon a higher and more glorious existence, but that they shall be brought back from the grave.

Christ, in His conflict with the enemy to recover His own, has "pressed the battle to the gate." He has passed through the gate of death, and secured the key to the enemy's citadel. He has forced a way out of the enemy's prison-house by "the power of His endless life." Through the gate of death man enters the enemy's land; through the gate of life he is brought back again by Him who has "spoiled principalities and powers." Having opened "this gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter," by "the power of His resurrection," Christ will, when the last enemy death is destroyed, conduct through it by the resurrection all those whom He has rescued from the hand of Satan. Then, and not till then, will the children come, with all the redeemed, from "the land of the enemy."

Moreover, if, as you suggest, the children were growing and developing in heaven, would not the resurrection of their infant bodies be somewhat incongruous?

John certainly does, in the book of Revelation, speak of the host of the redeemed whom he saw standing before the throne of God. But you must bear in mind in reading this book that things that John saw in vision on the Isle of Patmos, and which he was told to write, were most of them "the things that must come to pass hereafter." See Rev. iv. 1; i. 19.

THE SPIRIT IN MAN

In order that you may the better comprehend the answer to your question about the dwelling-place of the departed spirits, we must consider for a moment the nature of the Spirit that animates man. "There is a Spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding." Job xxxii. 8, R.V. The Spirit in man is the breath of God, as is evident from the account of man's creation: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Man was formed from the dust of the ground, to be a dwelling-place for the Spirit of God. "What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?" In our mortal bodies dwells the eternal Spirit of Him "who only hath immortality." 1 Tim. vi. 16. It is this that gives organisation, individuality and understanding to the dust of which our bodies are composed. Man has not an immortal spirit of his own inhabiting his body; but he himself is the dwelling-place of the immortal Spirit of God.

Therefore, "if He gather unto Himself His Spirit and His breath, all flesh shall

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perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust." Job xxxiv. 14, 15. The experience of death and the resurrection is summed up in two verses of Ps. civ: "Thou gatherest in their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created, and Thou renewest the face of the earth." Verses 29, 30, R.V., margin.

OUR EVERLASTING DWELLING-PLACE

In the sublime ninetieth Psalm, Moses the man of God, speaking of the subject that we are considering, comforts himself with the following assurance: "Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. . . . Thou turnest man to dust, and sayest, Return [come again] ye the children of men. For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is passed, and as a watch in the night."

"In all generations," from the beginning, God has been our dwelling-place, for "known unto God are all His works from the beginning." We existed in the Divine mind, and have our being in the thought of God, ages before we were brought into visible and conscious existence. All visible things in the universe are but the uttered thoughts of God, and "because of His will they were" in Him, before "they were created." Rev. iv. 11. Thus, "known unto God" only, we slept unconscious in the bosom of the Father, until, the fulness of time being come, He sent us forth and we awoke in this world, clothed with "a body, as it hath pleased Him."

Of David we are told that he, "having served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, and was gathered to his fathers, and saw corruption." And thus it is with every child of God: having accomplished the will of God in this world, God gathers to Himself His Spirit, the body given to him turns to dust, and again he sleeps in Jesus, as in the beginning. But for the Cross of Christ it would not have been so, for it is this that has hallowed death into sleep, and changed the grave into a bed.

Those who are merely sleeping have not ceased to be. This "Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him." These words were spoken by Jesus to prove to the Sadducees "that the dead are raised."

So long as God keeps us in mind, we dwell in Him and are safe, even though we have no separate, conscious existence. That which will finally blot out the wicked from the universe, will be the fact that God puts them from His mind, and they cease to be in His thought.

He who sent us forth into the flesh by His Spirit, giving us visible form and conscious life, will, when the time comes for those who sleep in Him to awaken, bring forth from the dust of the earth glorified, immortal bodies for His everlasting habitation. For "He turneth man to dust, and sayeth, Come again, ye children of men." And the space of time that intervenes between the turning into dust, and the return in response to His call, even though it be a thousand years, is in His sight "but as yesterday when it is passed, and as a watch in the night."

What matter, then, though for a while we pass out of sight and consciousness, sleeping in Jesus, hidden in the bosom of God, "our dwelling-place in all generations"?

"For Little Ones. The Royal Law" The Present Truth 17, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

Did you ever wish that you were a member of the royal family-a prince or a princess, the child of a king? No one can be adopted into the royal family because all the members must be of "the blood royal." So it is only by royal birth that one can get into the royal family.

Of course there is no difference between what men call "royal blood," and any other; for God "hath made of one blood all nations of men." In His sight there is no difference between the white, the black, and the red man; the master and the slave; the king and the peasant.

There is really only one truly royal family, and of that every child who is born into this world may become a member. Would you not like to know what that family to, and how you may get into it?

It is the family of the great King of heaven and earth,-the One who will "be King over all the earth," when all the kingdoms of this world shall have passed away for ever. Is it not a grand and glorious thing to belong to His family?

"Adam was the son of God." But he lost his high position as a member of the royal family, and so he lost also the crown of glory and honour that his heavenly Father had given him.

But Jesus died to restore all that Adam lost, and to bring back to the Father His lost sons and daughters. He name to "bring many sons unto glory," to make them again of royal blood, sharers of His own kingly nature. So He is calling all to leave the family of the wicked one, who is the father of all evil, and to come back to the Father a house, the household of God. He says:-

"Come out from among them, and be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord AImighty."

When God led the Israelites out from the darkness and sinfulness of Egypt, He said to them: "Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom." But He is "the King of kings." Every one who belongs to His kingdom, becomes a king, as Adam was in the beginning.

Do you remember the beautiful song of the redeemed that we spoke of last week: "Unto Him that . . . hath made us kings and priests unto God"?

So when God said, "Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom," He meant that they should be His family, and that each one of them should be a "king and a priest." And what He said to them, He says to us also, "ye shall be unto Me a kingdom." So let us see how this can be.

God gives to us "exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature." If we are to be kings, members of the family of the great King of the universe, we must have the royal blood; we must share His kingly life, and have His Divine nature. And He says that it is His great and precious promises that are to make this wonderful change for us.

And what a change! Think of the Israelites, a nation of slaves; all that we have learned of them thus far shows their cowardice; their slavish fear, their unbelief and hardness of heart. And was it such as these that God wanted for His kingdom? Yes, for

"He raiseth up the poor out of the dust;
He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill;
To make them sit with princes,
And inherit the throne of glory."

So no matter how poor, how low, how sinful we may be, God can make us kings.

The first thing that God did after He sent the message to Israel that if they would obey His voice they should be His kingdom, was to give them the "exceeding great and precious promises" by which they might become kings, partakers of the Divine nature.

That they might realise more of the mighty power of Him who spoke these precious promises to them, and so know how able He was to fulfil them all, God come down in terrible majesty upon the Mount Sinai, and the holy angels with Him.

"His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of His praise,
His brightness was as the light."

And "there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud. And all the people that were in the camp trembled. . . . And Mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof seconded as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly."

Then from the midst of this glory, God spoke to the people "the Royal Law," that had the power to make them kings, those great and precious promises that would make them partakers of the Divine nature, and therefore members of the Royal Family.

And that they might know the power of God's Word to carry out all that He said, "His voice then shook the earth."

Did you ever hear the story of the old

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woman who was so calm in the midst of an earthquake, that her friends asked her how it was that she could keep so peaceful when in such danger? Her answer is well worth remembering: she said that "she was glad that she had a God who could shake the earth."

But when God came down upon Mount Sinai to show His people His power to give them life and to keep them from sin, which brings death, they "trembled and stood afar off," and said to Moses, "Let not God speak with us, lost we die!" Moses was the only one who dared to draw near to hear the joyful sound of God's almighty Word.

On the opposite page you can read the words that God spoke to them, and as you do so, you will see that each of these commandments is, like all the commands of God, a precious promise to all who will believe and receive the Word.

God promised them that they should have no other gods before Him; that they should not make nor worship any graven image; that they should not take His name in vain, that they should remember His Sabbath and keep it holy; that they should honour their parents and live for ever in the new earth; that they should not kill, steal, lie, nor covet.

Were not these great and precious promises, and would not such a people be kings indeed? Yes; it they had heard in faith, the Almighty Word, which created the heavens and the earth, would have fulfilled itself in them. It would have written itself in their hearts, and worked out in them all these precious things that God promised.

And this is what it will do for us, if we hear and believe it. It will write the Father's name upon us, so that we shall be recognised as His children, as members of His royal family, by all who know Him.

"His commandment is life everlasting."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

-Mining work has been resumed on the Rand.

-A law prohibiting opium smoking on pain of death has been promulgated in Korea.

-A Childhood Exhibition has been opened in Paris. It is a show of everything that concerns children.

-The Russian Commission appointed to guard against and combat the plague has declared the town of Masra, in Mesopotamia to be infected.

-A medical investigation shows that the serious outbreak of enteric fever in South London is thought to be due to the eating of fried fish purchased at shops.

-The Mayor of Lyons, France, has prohibited the opening of any establishment for the sale of intoxicants within 250 yards of any cemetery, church, hospital, or school.

-Unrevised census returns supplied by the Registrar-General give the total population of England and Wales at 32,525,716, being an increase over 1891 of 3,525,191.

-Thunder and hailstorms have been general of late. On Sunday, May 5, the heat was summer-like in Devonshire, and the following day there were two heavy falls of snow on the Dartmoor hills.

-In a great fire at Jacksonville, Florida, about three-quarters of the town have been destroyed, and between 10,000 and 15,000 persons are homeless. A number of people have lost their lives. The fire originated in a fiber factory.

-In a recent inquest on the body of a servant who was burnt to death owing to a cinder which fell on her flammelette petticoat, the Hackway coroner said that flamelette is "a most dangerous material. If it once gets alight it is all up with you. It burns worse than anything else I knew." Those who wear this material should heed this warning, and be on their guard against accident.

-The Ophir, with the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York on board, reached Melbourne on Monday, May 6. The royal couple received an enthusiastic welcome from the immense crowds which lined the streets. On the 9th inst. the new Parliament of the Australian Commonwealth was inaugurated at Melbourne by the Duke of Cornwall, accompanied by the Duchess, in the presence of a large concourse. At the conclusion of his address his Royal Highness read a message of congratulations from the King.

-The returns for 1899, which have just been issued, show that while the marriage rate for that year was the highest recorded since 1876, the birthrate was the lowest ever known. For twenty-five years the birth rate in England and Wales has been steadily declining, just as it has on the Continent, but more rapidly. It is not in the Old World alone that this decrease is met with; the newer settlements are beginning to show it. It seems to be a fact that decay comes with "civilisation," which "does everything for the mind, and nothing for the body, destroys health by congesting population in cities, and so ultimately kills off its subjects." This is also a sign that the end the of the ages approaching.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

Truth is the Word of God, and the Word of God is light; nobody but a blind man ever has any trouble to see a light that shines. The fact that a man has never in his life seen any other light used at night except that from a tallow candle, does not in the least stand in the way of his recognising that the light from an electric lamp is light, the first moment he sees it. There are, of course, different degrees of knowledge, but never any controversy between those different degrees. All truth is one.

Love is not a feeling, an emotion, merely; it is an intensely practical principle. We are told by the Apostle to "love in deed," and deeds of love are not dependent on feeling. The new commandment is that we love one another as God has loved us, and "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us." Herein is love; and therefore, since we are to love one another as He has loved us, "we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." This does not necessarily mean that we are to give die for them, but that we are to give our lives, a continual, living sacrifice, in service for those who need. And so we thus obey in faith this command of Christ, we shall find that each deed of love is as a precious seed in our own heads, producing an abundant harvest of the love of God.

A writer in the Christian gives the following excellent advice on the practice of love:-

If we begin with doing kindly and lovingly, we shall end by feeling the same. Often when people have come to me, saying that love had completely died out of their life towards some other person, I have bidden them go back and act with love, making the other the centre and object of their own activities; the invariable result has been the refreshing of the warm geyser-springs of affection. Do not wait to feel love, but commence at once to show it, because it is right and your duty, and as you step out in lowly faith, you will find that God will cause all grace to abound towards you that you may also abound in this good work.

As an illustration of this principle the story is told of Mr. Moody that when he found himself growing jealous of another minister he asked him to preach for him, did his best to secure him a full congregation, said all the good he could think of in introducing him, and sat down at the back of the house. He said that the cure was an effectual one.

The Priesthood of Christ, His work as Mediator, the Minister of the sanctuary which the Lord pitched and not man, is the subject of the International Sunday-school lesson that will appear in our nest issue. We are taking the opportunity to consider this important subject as fully as our space will permit, knowing from various questions received that it will be of special interest to a large number of our readers, and of untold practical benefit and blessing to all who give it a careful study.

According to a contemporary, a Hindoo priest sent over recently to Europe to study the civilisation and religion of the West, was much impressed by the beauty and charm of the first church he attended, and with the words of the officiating minister; and after the service he went to pay his respects to the preacher.

"Your words," he said, "have deeply impressed me. You are surely one at the first servants of the Church?"

"Oh, no," replied the cIergyman with humble mien, "the vicar is over me."

"And over the vicar?"

"The canons."

"And over the canons?"

"The bishop."

"And over the bishop?"

"The archbishop."

"And over the archbishop?"

"The cardinals."

"And over the cardinals?"

"The HOLY FATHER."

The Hindoo priest shook his head and ceased his questions, saying: "What a long, long ladder you want to mount up to God."

There is a ladder, even as Jacob saw in his dream, between heaven and earth. But this is not built up by man on earth that he may mount to God. The futility of all such endeavours is shown in the fate of the Tower of Babel, the beginning of the kingdom of Babylon-confusion and destruction. Jesus said to Nathanael, "Ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." This effectual ladder is let down from heaven to earth, that God may visit man and minister to him, and lift him up to His own throne. "The Son of Man" is the medium, the way, from God to man, and from man to God; for there is "One Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus."

There is no man or body of men on earth, that has a monopoly of truth,-a corner, so to speak, so that whoever wants it must come to them. Truth is independent of men. Truth is of God, for Christ, who is the shining of His glory, and the very impress of His substance (Heb. i. 3), is the Truth (John xiv. 6). Whoever gets the truth, must get it from God, and not from any man, just as Paul received the Gospel. God may and does use men as instruments, or channels, but He alone is the Giver. Neither names nor numbers have anything to do with determining what is truth. The truth is no more mighty, nor to be accepted more readily, when it is presented by ten thousand princes, than when maintained by a single, humble, labouring man.

Just as there is no man who has a monopoly of truth, so there are no places to which men must necessarily go in order to find it. The fact that truth was first proclaimed in a certain place, does not grove that it can be found only there, or that it can be found there at all. In fact, the last places in the world to go to with the expectation of finding or learning truth, are the cities where the Gospel was preached in the first centuries after Christ, at Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, etc. Paul did not go up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before him, but began at once to preach.

The Papacy arose in part in this way It was assumed that the places where the apostles, or some of them, had preached must have the truth in its purity, and that all men must take it from there. It was also assumed, that the people of a city must know more of it than the people in the country or in a village. So, from all bishops being on an equality, as at the beginning, it soon came to pass that the "country bishops" (chorepiscopoi) were rated as secondary to those who officiated in the cities. Then, when that spirit crept in, of course the next step was necessarily a strife among the city bishops to see which one should be greatest; and the unholy struggle went on until Rome gained the coveted place of power.

May 23, 1901

"Jesus Our High Priest in Heaven. Heb. 9:11-14, 24-25" The Present Truth 17, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

From the above parenthesis we get the nine verses which constitute the lesson as indicated by the Lesson Committee; but the subject of the priesthood of Jesus would have only a partial consideration if in the study we confined ourselves to those verses. Therefore we have determined to study the subject, rather than merely the few verses indicated, referring to them when occasion calls for it, just as to other texts.

The priest cannot be viewed apart from the place where he carries on his priestly work, because he is always engaged in it; consequently the study of Christ as priest necessarily involves a consideration of the sanctuary where He ministers. Our first work, therefore, will be to get a clear outline of

THE SANCTUARY

Our lesson text reminds us that there was on the earth a sanctuary which was only a figure of the true; and with that sanctuary the names of Moses and Solomon and Moses are inseparably connected. In Acts vii. 44-49 we have a brief summary of the entire subject. Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost was drawing to the close of his "defence," and said:

"Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus (Joshua) into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built Him an house. Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet; Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool; what house will ye build Me? saith the Lord; or what is the place of My rest."

Search the Scriptures through, and you will find that the intelligently believing Jews understood from the first that the tabernacle was only an object lesson, made necessary on account of the unbelief of the people. It was the "tabernacle of witness," but its witness was not that which is effectual among the nations, to bring the end. It was a witness against the Jewish people, rather than to the world, testifying to the fact that their unbelief shut God out of their hearts. Those who believe the Lord, receive Him; but Israel did not believe. Yet God did not cast them off, nor become discouraged with them, but said, "Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." Ex. xxv. 8. They would not allow Him to dwell in their hearts by faith, so He would in a special manner manifest His presence near by, that they

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might learn more of His power and His glory (Ps lxiii. 2), and how sacredly His dwelling place must be regarded.

When Solomon after years of labour had built a house, the like of which had never been seen, and which probably has not been equaled since, he used these words in his dedicatory prayer: "But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have built?" 2 Chron. vi. 18. The builder of the temple well knew that it was not, and could not be, the real dwelling place of God. See also the words of Stephen already cited in Acts vii. 48, 49, quoted from Isa. xlvi. 1, 2.

THE TABERNACLE OF GOD WITH MEN

Let us now read a few texts which plainly answer the question asked by Solomon, "Will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?" Rev. xxi. 1-3: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God."

Read on through the chapter, and you will find these words concerning the city: "And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." Verse 23. Thus we see that when God does in very deed dwell with men on the earth, He will not have any temple in the ordinary, human conception of the word. But let us read further.

BUILDING THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD

In Zech. vi. 12, 13 we read: "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the Man whose name is the BRANCH; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord; even He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne, and He shall be a priest upon His throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." As we read this, the mind involuntarily turns to the words of Christ in answer to the Jews who asked Him for a sign to show that He had authority to drive the buyers and sellers and moneychangers out of the temple rebuilt by Herod: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John ii. 19. Blind because of their unbelief, the Jews caviled, and said: "Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will Thou rear it up in three days?" "But He spake of the temple of His body," a temple not made with hands. So little claim had the great building in which they were standing, to be called the temple, and so emphatically was the body of Jesus the temple of the Lord, that He had a right to expect that everybody would know that He meant His body, and not the stone building, when He said "this temple.

From those last two texts we see that Jesus-The BRANCH-builds the temple of the Lord by the power of the resurrection. He was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. i. 4); but He was just as much the Son of God before His resurrection as He was afterwards; and hundreds of years before He was manifest in Bethlehem He was sitting and ruling on the throne, "a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek." Ps cx. 1, 4. His own body was the true tabernacle; His name is Emmanuel,-"God with us;"-and so in His manifestation in the flesh, just as truly as it will be on the new earth, the tabernacle of God was with men, and God did in very deed dwell on the earth.

But that which was, is now; for Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday and to-day and for ever." He says, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Therefore the tabernacle of God is still with men, and He dwells with them; as we read: "What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." 2 Cor. vi. 16. Thus not only the body of Christ,-that body which was born of Mary,-but all His people, are the temple of God. "Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom the whole building fitly framed together groweth into an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Eph. ii. 19-22.

The church as a whole is the body of Christ, but the same is true of each individual member. It is your body, and mine, as well as that which was born of Mary, that God has prepared for Him to dwell in and to offer as a living sacrifice. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God?" 1 Cor. vi. 19. Christ Himself is the temple of God, and "if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. v. 17. Notice that it is when "the former things are passed away," and He that sits upon the throne says, "Behold, I make all things new," that the tabernacle of God is with men, and He dwells with them. Rev. xxi. 1-5. But "now are we the sons of God" by the power of the resurrection, and that which in the world to come will be true of all creation is even now the case with the true believer. God dwells in those who receive Christ, working through them to reconcile the world unto Himself, even as He did through Christ.

It is worth while to notice the difference in the words used concerning David and Solomon, in Acts vii. 46, 47. It is said that David found favour with God, and desired to "find" a tabernacle for the God of Jacob; but Solomon "built" Him an house. Now read Ps cxxxii. 1-5: "Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions; how he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; Surely I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." David vowed at one time that he would not go to bed, not shut his eyes in sleep, until he had found-not built-a habitation for the Lord. Anybody can do the same thing now, offering himself as the sanctuary to be kept sacred for the Lord's abiding place. God has built the tabernacle for His indwelling; our part is to find them; in short, like the prodigal son, each one is to come to himself.

A LIVING TEMPLE

God dwells "between the cherubim." Ps lxxx. 1. In the earthly sanctuary the ark was the principal place of furniture: indeed the temple was built solely to provide accommodation for it. On its top were the two cherubim of gold, between which the glory of the Lord appeared, as He gave commandments to the children of Israel. See Ex. xx. 22. In the first

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chapter of Ezekiel we have an account of "visions of God," which the prophet saw, and there we find that the throne of God is a living thing, composed of living creatures. It is not stationary, but moves from place to place wherever and as soon as the mind of God indicates. Now when we see that the cherubim of gold on the mercy seat were simply to indicate the living creatures that constitute God's real throne, and read that figures of cherubim were upon the curtains that formed the ceiling and veils of the tabernacle, we are forced to conclude that they in like manner indicate that the entire sanctuary in the heavens is composed of living creatures. The "living God" has a living house to dwell in; none other befits Him.

This real, living sanctuary will, for some unknown reason, not appear in the city when it comes down to abide upon this earth. In its stead will be a living temple, however, but one composed of redeemed men. The Lord says: "He 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." Rev. iii. 12. Thus Christ, by the power by which He rose from the dead, is now building the temple of the Lord out of the souls and bodies of all who dedicate themselves to Him, to be used by Him in His service. Christ is now engaged in building "the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down," and in restoring the breaches thereof (Acts xv. 16, 17); and this He does by sending forth the Gospel to all nations by those who allow Him to dwell in them by His Spirit. The true sanctuary of God is on this earth as well as in heaven; "for thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place; with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." Isa. lvii. 15. He dwells on earth and in heaven at the same time. That men form the real temple of the Lord, as contrasted with any house built by man, is clearly indicated in Isa. lxvi. 1, 2, where, after stating that heaven is His throne, and earth His footstool, and asking, "Where is the house that ye build unto Me? and where is the place of My rest?" He continued: "For all these things hath Mine hand made, and all these things have been saith the Lord; but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word."

The church of Christ on this earth has a most direct and intimate connection with the sanctuary in the heavens, since it is the body of Christ, the house of God. When Christ sat one night talking with Nicodemus, He spoke of Himself as "the Son of man which is in heaven." John iii. 13. He is the true heavenly sanctuary, in that "in Him all things consist," both in heaven and on earth, and He is the soul of everything that is real. Just as He was in heaven while on earth, even so with His people; for God has raised them up together, and made them sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Eph. ii. 1-6.

THE PRIEST'S OFFICE

"The priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." Mal. ii. 7. This is emphatically true of Christ; for the law is within His heart (in the most holy place of the sanctuary), and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. But merely telling people what they ought to do is not sufficient, since "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," and, having fallen, they cannot lift themselves up again, to walk in the way of righteousness, no matter how good their desires. So it behoved Christ in all things "to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able also to succour them that are tempted." Heb. ii. 17, 18. The principal work of the priest at the present time, is to make reconciliation for sins, that is, to restore the image of God in the soul. When the preaching of the Gospel of the kingdom as a witness to all nations shall have brought the end, then the priest's work will be, just as before sin was known, that of ministering the law of life to willing subjects, thus continually unfolding to them and in them the infinite and unfathomable depths and extent of God's love.

POWER AND EXTENT OF THE PRIESTHOOD

What has just been said is emphasised by the scripture which tells us the power by which Christ is priest. It is "the power of an endless life." Heb. vii. 25. It is the power of eternity in all its breadth, as well as in its length. By Himself Christ has purged sins. Heb. i. 3. He is a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man, in that He ministers His sinless, eternal life to sinners condemned to death.

Now from His first "goings forth," "from the days of eternity," Christ has been ministering life. It was "through the eternal Spirit that He offered Himself without spot to God." Heb. ix. 14. Thus He has a priesthood extending from eternity to eternity-"an unchangeable priesthood" because "He ever liveth." Because He was priest by virtue of the endless life that He had, He would offer Himself to God for our sins. But in doing this, no new power was brought into existence, no new office was devised. When sin entered, the priestly office and power to cope with it were already there by virtue of Christ's endless life. The new conditions did not surprise the Lord, nor find Him unprepared for them. No tax was made upon his resources. Here was a dam by which Satan thought to stop the flow of the river of life; but that mighty stream rolls on in its majestic course, sweeping away every obstacle, and swallowing it up. No new fountain had to be opened, to increase its volume; for the fountain of living waters is He who fills heaven and earth and is from everlasting to everlasting, inhabiting eternity.

"There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins.
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains."

CREATION AND THE CROSS

Redemption is creation. "If any man be in Christ there is a new creation." Christ's priestly power was manifested in the first creation just the same as in the restoration; for the new creation is simply the restoration of "that which was from the beginning." Christ as priest is the minister of endless life. "He gave Himself for our sins," that He might deliver us from sin. It is on the cross that He makes this sacrifice, giving His life. When He hung on the cross He cried out, "It is finished," and then "gave up the Ghost," or, literally, He "breathed out." Why did He breathe out His life on the cross?-In order that we might breathe it in. But that is exactly what He did in the beginning. God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, and the lifeless dust became a living soul.

That same work God has been doing ever since, or else all men would have

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died; for "If He cause His heart to return unto Himself (if He think only of Himself), if He gather unto Himself His Spirit and His breath, all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again to dust." Job xxxiv. 14, R.V., margin. The cross, therefore, is simply the power that first created all things now revealed as sufficient to save that which was lost. So the power of the cross,-the power of Christ's priesthood, to make reconciliation for sin,-is the power that from eternity has been at work creating and upholding. What confidence this gives us! What wonderful assurance of salvation!

"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word;
What more can life say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled."

And this foundation is just as firm for the faith of those who are not called saints. The foundation on which the saints stand is that to which they came as sinners.

CLEANSING THE SANCTUARY

The eighth chapter of Daniel contains the record of a vision of events reaching to the end of time. After telling about the great apostasy, the prophet says: "Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto Me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."

We have not time nor space here to enter into details, but it must suffice to say that a comparison of Dan. ix. 24-26 with Ezra vii. shows that the days mentioned in the prophecy began 457 B.C., and so reach to 1844 A.D. That is the latest date referred to in any prophecy in Scripture, so that all attempts to find a Scripture basis for fixing time for the coming of the Lord are merely speculation and fancy. But some one will ask, What connection has 1844 with the cleansing of the sanctuary? Since all things are cleansed only by the blood of Christ, and that blood is no more efficient at one time than another, how can it be said that at a certain time the sanctuary shall be cleansed? Has not the blood of Christ continually been cleansing the living sanctuary, the church?

The reply is, that there is such a thing as "the time of the end." Sin must have an end, and the work of cleansing will one day be complete. Now while cleansing has always been obtained through the blood of Christ, and some souls in every generation have been complete, there has never been a time when the church as a whole stood complete, wholly distinct from the world, kept separate by the presence of the life of the Lord, showing Christ manifest in the flesh. But that time must come before the Lord Himself descends from heaven. This will be the proclamation of the Gospel of the kingdom in all the world, for a witness to all nations. It will be the time to which many prophets and kings have looked forward with longing.

Now it is a fact that since the middle of the last century new light has shone forth, and the truth of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus is revealed as never before, and the loud cry of the message, "Behold you God!" is being proclaimed. The life of Christ is being seen as never before as the efficient power to cleanse body as well as soul, so that a sinless, healthy people-a whole people, a holy people-are being prepared as a sign to the world. Soon sin will be eradicated from the universe. That glorious end will be attained as soon as every soul on earth has made his final decision as to whether or not he will consent to be filled with the Divine life.

"But what about cleansing a sanctuary in heaven?" is frequently asked; "Is there any defilement there?" Yes; all the sin that has defiled this earth was contained in the sin that Satan committed in heaven. He was one of the cherubim covering the throne of God, and therefore all sin and wickedness was committed in the very secret place of the sanctuary in heaven. The life of God was used in the commission of this sacriligious deed, and that same life must cleanse it. But that cleansing is one with the work of preparing a people free from all defilement. But Christ is not a ritualist; He is not, like a Roman Catholic priest, away from the body of the people, with His back toward them, doing something in which they have no part, and of which they have no understanding; but all that he does for the people He does in them.

The work will be crowned by the coming of Christ "without sin unto salvation." The power and glory of His coming will simply be the revelation of the priestly power that is now working in men to cleanse them from sin. When the earthly tabernacle was dedicated, the glory of God filled it and shone forth without. Even so when Christ's people are wholly dedicated to Him. His glory will be seen in them, and they will show forth the praises of Him that has called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!" How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?

"Some Things that God Does" The Present Truth 17, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

Some Things that God Does .-"He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds." Ps. cxlvii. 3.

"He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness." Ps. cvii. 9.

"He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that He may set him with princes, even with the princes of His people." Ps. cxiii. 7, 8.

"The Lord looseth the prisoners; the Lord openeth the eyes of the blind; the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down; the Lord loveth the righteous; the Lord preserveth the stranger; He relieveth the fatherless and widow." Ps. cxlvi. 7-9.

"The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down." Ps. cxlv. 14.

He "forgiveth all thine iniquities" and "healeth all thy diseases." Ps. ciii. 3.

The Lord "comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." 2 Cor. i. 4.

Is there anything you desire, that is not mentioned here?-If so, remember that God opens His hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing. Ps. cxiv. 16. Then why do you complain of need? "All things are yours; . . . whether the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." God has done all, and given all; our part is to receive as freely as He gives.

"The Law of Life. The Sixth Commandment" The Present Truth 17, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou shalt not kill." Ex. xx. 18.

It is very likely that most of those who read this would be inclined to say: "This have I kept from my youth up." The number of people who with malice or by force take the life of any fellow-creatures is comparatively small, and therefore then is undoubtedly a feeling among most people that this commandment does not specially concern them. They acknowledge, of course, that it is right, but do not think that they have ever fallen under its condemnation; they are not conscious of ever having had even a desire to kill anybody, and so they assume that so far as they are concerned this commandment need never have been given. But again we must be reminded of the fact that the commandment is exceeding broad, and that this one is no less broad than the preceding. The commandment is spoken to all, and therefore it is necessary for all, for God never speaks in vain. The moment we use a synonym for the word "kill," we begin to see a little of the breadth of the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." This expression is so common that we scarcely give it a thought; but we may say, Thou shalt not take life, which is the same thing in other words, and we at once get a broader view. How much is contained in it will appear more as we proceed.

THE ROOT OF MURDER

Of Christ it was prophesied that He should "magnify the law, and make it honourable." In the fifth chapter of Matthew we see the law as magnified by His teachings. He said: "Ye have heard that it was said, by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment; but I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment." Matt. v. 21, 22, R.V. It will be noticed that the words, "without a cause," are omitted in the Revision; the statement is absolute: every one who is angry with his brother is guilty of murder. Jesus is not disparaging the teaching of old time; He Himself is the Beginning, and He came to make plain that which was taught from the beginning. He did not mean that the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," was incomplete, and that He was giving something better and greater, but He showed the comprehensiveness of it,-that the words, "Thou shalt not kill," mean, Thou shalt not be angry. "Love is the fulfilling of the law," and "love is not provoked."

God sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. In every case the sin is not the thing actually done, which man can see, so much as that condition in the man, that led to the doing of it. So long as the root from which murder grows is in the heart, the man is counted as a murderer. Men naturally classify sins into different grades, and in the history of the apostate church man have been required to do penance according to the recognised degree of guilt. Some sins were classed as venial, and others as mortal. For some sins the payment of a small sum would provide satisfaction, while others could be expiated only by a vast amount of treasure or works. This is simply the religion of human nature.

Some sins are more unpopular than others; for some sins the sinner is ostracised, while others do not affect one's standing in society, but may even give one admission into what is considered the "best society." But there is no evidence in the Scriptures that the Lord thus grades sin. We have no reason to suppose that He recognises the distinction made by man, of "murder in the first degree," or "second degree." "Sin is the transgression of the law," and "the wages of sin is death." That comprehends the whole matter.

In this we are not belittling the guilt of murder, but showing where the sin Iies. He who has taken the life of another has done an awful thing, yet he is not necessary more guilty than one who has done something not so looked upon by the world. Let us consider the matter of anger: Who has not been angry? Indeed it is often thought that a display of anger is a mark of spirit, and of strength of character, and that he who cannot be provoked to anger is a milksop, and lacking in ambition. But anger is really brief madness, and to give way to it, the same as to give way to any other passion, is a mark of weakness, and not of strength. How many murders have resulted from quarrels arising over some trifle. Two friends get into a dispute, they are both quick-tempered, and one takes offence at something said by the other; retort is given, the men both lose control of them selves, and blows are exchanged. In their temporary madness a severe blow is struck, and one of them is killed. Then comes the awakening; the man would never have done such a thing if he had known what he was doing, but he was so angry that he did not know what he was about. How many times has this been given as an excuse for something that one has done; and it is true, for a person in this condition is not waster of himself.

In one sense the murder committed under such conditions is an accident; it certainly was not intentional. Yet the man is a murderer, nevertheless. The guilt lies not in the blow that was struck in a moment of unconsciousness, but in

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that disposition which made the blow possible. How many there are who have been saved from the gallows only by accident. For let every person who has ever been so angry that he has, even for a moment, lost control of himself, remember this: that in that moment he might have taken a life, and the fact that he might have done so, and that it was only accident or the grace of God that preserved him from the actual deed, shows that he war really guilty of the possible murder. This terrible thought should be taken to heart, and serve as an effectual warning against giving way to passion.

Take the case of the first murder ever committed. We have the secret of it given in 1 John iii. 11, 12. "This is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slow his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." You know the story. Cain and Abel each brought an offering to the Lord; Abel was accepted, Cain was rejected. What evil quality is it that is aroused when one finds another preferred before him?-It is jealousy. Cain killed Abel because he was jealous of him. Every jealous feeling is the seed of a murder. Nay, more than this; as with anger, so with jealousy, it not simply leads to murder, but it is murder. Every one who feels hurt because somebody else is honoured and he is passed by; every one who feels sour or morose because he has not been treated with the consideration that he thinks is his due, has violated the commandment which says, "Thou shalt not kill."

This plainly appears from the text last quoted, taken in connection with the discussion of love. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour." "Love seeketh not its own." Love prefers another in honour; but where love is not, there is murder. Read again the verses quoted from 1 John: the commandment is that we love one another, not as Cain, who slew his brother. Here we are told, not what love is, but what it is not. Love is the opposite of the spirit that Cain manifested. Whoever does not obey the law of love, is classed with Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother.

This is further shown in the case of Joseph and his brethren: Joseph had received special marks of favour from his father, and because of his high character had been taken more fully into his confidence than his brethren. When they saw him coming to them on an errand of kind near, they said: "Behold, this dreamer cometh; come, let us kill him." They did not actually take his life, but were turned aside from it by Reuben, only as a patter of expediency. In effect, they killed him. They sold him into Egypt, only because they thought that thus they would got rid of him as effectually as by shedding his blood. This was the natural working of envy, for we read: "The Patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt." Envy, therefore, which to the sister of jealousy, is also murder. Every one who envies another, because of his goodness or any good fortune, has transgressed the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill."

(To be Continued.)

"For Little Ones. The King's Garden" The Present Truth 17, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

"So to the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how."

Did you ever cast any seed into the ground, and wait for the tiny green shoots to "spring and grow up"? If you have never done it before, be sure that you do it if possible this spring. If you have no garden you can sow enough seed in a box of earth or a flower pot, to teach you many valuable lessons of the kingdom of God. For Jesus said: "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground."

In our talks about the children of Israel, we have learned that it is we who are God's kingdom; for "behold, the kingdom of God is within you." So as the seed is cast into the ground, and as it springs and grows up, we may learn from it about ourselves, and the work that God, the great Husbandman, or Gardener, is doing in our hearts by the grace of His Holy Spirit.

For "ye are God's husbandry,"-His tillage, or land where He sows His seed. How eagerly He watches for the tender blade that marks the first upspringing of His grace, yet how patiently He waits for the great, glad harvest day, when all the fruits of His toil and sacrifice will be safely garnered.

Are you not glad that you may be a little comer in the King's garden? You love the beautiful sweet-swelling flowers that are beginning to appear on the earth now that "the time of the singing of birds in come" again, do you not? So does the King take pleasure in His garden, and the buds and blossoms of grace that grow there in the fresh springtime of youth are very precious, a delight and comfort to Him.

But you know that none of the beautiful flowers that you see, not even the field daisies or buttercups, no, not even a tiny blade of grass, could come out of the earth, if they were not first put into it. There must be seed cast into the ground, if anything is to spring up and grow.

Could the earth produce of itself violets and primroses, may blossoms and lilac, corn and fruit, or anything else? No; all that it can do is to bring forth what has been put into it, wrapped in the tiny seeds that are out into the ground. These beautiful things do indeed spring out of the dust of the ground, but all that the garden can do is to "cause the things that are sown in it to spring forth."

When I told you that you are a little corner in the King's Garden, did you think how very different you are from the little plot of ground that you call your garden? Yes, but listen: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." And unto Adam He said, "Dust thou art."

The very name that God gave to man-Adam, meaning earth-was to keep us always mindful that we are only dust, with no more power in ourselves than the dust of the ground under our feet. If God should take away the breath of His life from us, "All flesh should perish together, and man should turn again unto dust." And so you see that since we are only dust, we cannot bring forth any good thing from ourselves, any move than the dust of the ground can. Nothing beautiful can grow in the King's Garden, except that, which comes from the seed that He sows there. "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground."

What is the seed that God sows in His Garden, His kingdom? You will perhaps be surprised when I tell you that it is the very same that He has sown in the ground to make it bring forth grass, flowers, and trees. Now you are thinking of the little brown flower seeds, of the golden grains of wheat, and of the different seeds that you have own, and you are saying, How can this be? How can such seeds as them be sown in my heart?

But do you know that the real seed, that from which all these seeds that you can up have come, is something that you have not seen? "The seed is the Word of God," and God first cast this seed into the ground when He said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb, the fruit tree, the seed. Read all about it in the first chapter of your Bible.

And it is this same seed-the Word of God-that He sows in the hearts of His children on earth. So when He took Israel for His Kingdom, you remember that He sowed in their hearts the good seed of His precious Word, which He spoke to them from Mount Sinai, with a voice that shook the earth.

When we want to have a beautiful garden, we are very careful about the seed that we put into it. We plan just what we want to grow there, and than make sure of getting the seed of the very thing that we wish for. We know that we are sure to reap just what we sow, if the ground is good, and the seed is kept there.

Now God is very particular about His Garden; He wants in it only the choicest and sweetest plants, and He wants all the fruits of the Spirit to be brought forth in each "little plot of hallowed ground." So He provides good seed that will, if it is received into good ground, and kept there, cause it to bring forth just what He wants. And this seed is His own Word.

From God Himself come forth all things in earth and air and sky. They are formed in His thought, and wrapped up in His Word, as the plant is enfolded in the seed. That seed of the Word went forth into the earth in the beginning when God spoke to the ground and commanded it to bring forth grass and trees. And the earth received the Word, and that which had been in the thought of God, sprang forth and beautified the ground.

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You would like, would you not, to be able to speak to the ground in your own little garden, and then see your own thoughts springing up all over the ground,-to have all the lovely flowers that you could think of springing out of the earth it, obedience to your word?

But let me tell you that you can do something much better than this In the seed that He has provided, you can take the living Word that God Himself has spoken so the earth, and you can put that into the ground, and then as it springs and grows up, you can put that into the thoughts of God unfolding. Ah, how much more wonderful, how much more beautiful and glorious, are His thoughts than ours! "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are. . . My thoughts than your thoughts."

The seed, you know, is the baby plant of the one from which it comes, or rather, it contains the plant that is to be wrapped up in its close folds. When this is put into the ground, it grows after the kind of the plant from which it came.

Now God wants His children to be just like Himself, and His garden on earth to be an exact copy of the one above. So He plants seeds from His own Divine nature to bring forth "each after its kind" in the earthly garden, the human heart.

Remember that we are made "partakers of His Divine nature" by the "exceeding great and precious promises" that He gives us in His law, and you will see that each one of His commandments is a Divine seed from the heart of God which He puts into our hearts to fill us with the beauty and fragrance of His own holy character. In each one is wrapped up the thought of God, which He desires to see unfolding in our lives.

As the Children of Israel were encamped for some time at Mount Sinai, while Moses went up into the mountain to meet with God, we can spend a few weeks in learning more about these precious seeds, and the beautiful flowers and fruit that spring from them.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

-Mr. Carnegie has offered ?100,000 for the establishment of branch libraries throughout the city of Glasgow.

-The German Reichstag has received that members should be paid for attendance and receive travelling expenses.

-The new comet has been photographed. Three distinct tails are visible, the longest being thirty times the diameter of the moon.

-Strike riots took place in St. Petersburg, the men coming into conflict with the police and military, and many of them being wounded.

-A decree has been issued by the Russian Minister of Marine that all materials for the Russian Navy are to be obtained and manufactured in Russia only.

-A number of copies of a recent issue of the Irish People were seized by the police on account of the scandalous attack on the character of the King which it was said to contain.

-China has proposed to the Powers to appropriate 15,000,000 taels per annum for thirty years for the Indemnity, but asks the Powers to reduce the Indemnity demands to ?40,000,000.

-The 24th of May, the late Queen's birthday, this year and in future, will be observed as a general holiday in the Government offices, and is to be known as "Queen Victoria Day."

-London and North-Western Railway have the whole of their main lines from London to Carlisle ballasted with clean granite chippings to prevent dust getting into their trains in dry weather.

-The natives of Great Britain and the Colonies resident in Boston, U.S.A., have decided to erect a memorial of Queen Victoria in that city. It will take the form of a meeting place for societies of British affiliation, and will cost about ?50,000.

-A youth, while passing along a street at Lincoln, threw away a cigarette end. It fell, unseen, into a perambulator, and the little occupant's clothing, after smoldering for a time, burst into flames. The child was horribly burnt, and died in the hospital.

-The population of Russia, consisting of many different elements, is estimated at 136,000,000. Of this number, 9,000,000 are Poles; 6,000,000 Finns; 6,000,000 Lithuanians; 11,000,000 Turks; 4,000,000 Jews. The purely Russian population does not exceed 86,000,000.

-The liner Tantallon Castle, which ran on the rocks near Capetown, has become a total wreck. The weather off the Cape has been very boisterous and another vessel, a Government freight steamer, was blown ashore in Table Bay. Two lady passengers, both newly married, were drowned in the presence of their husbands, who were powerless to render assistance.

-A German contemporary calls attention to the amazing rate of increase of the Russian people during the last 200 years. At the death of Peter the Great in 1725 Russia had only 13,000,000 inhabitants. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the population had risen to 36,000,000, and it now stands at 129,000,000. That is to say it has multiplied almost tenfold during a period in which the population of France has only doubled. Whereas in 1801 Russians constituted only a fifth of the total population of Europe they now constitute a third.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

"Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, hear me; for I am poor and needy." Ps. lxxxvi. 1. How different this is from the ordinary way of looking at the matter. People will say, "I am so poor and worthless," or "I am so needy," in a tone of discouragement, as though there were little or no hope for a poor and needy person. But how much more reasonable is the Gospel truth, that poverty and need form the beat basis of a plea for help. Who should have help, if not the poor and needy? Men help those who help themselves; God helps those who cannot help themselves.

When speaking of the presence of Christ in every man, to heal him both in soul and in body, and to keep him whole and clean, we have been asked what the difference is between that teaching and Christian Science, so-called. There is all the difference in the world. Christian Science, as it is called, claims that there is no such thing as sin or pain that they exist only in the imagination. Christianity beaches that there to sin indeed, and death also, working in every man with power that he can in no wise resist, but that Christ is able to subdue them. "Christian Science" deals only in fancies; Christianity deals in realities.

"Rich Labouring Men" The Present Truth 17, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

Rich Labouring Men .-It is quite common for people who are engaged in daily labour with their hands, to regard capitalists as men who live lives of ease, and to suppose that the possession of money brings freedom from care. As a matter of fact, there are few harder worked men than the heads of corporations representing millions; and it is highly probable that the majority of ordinary day-labourers would strike instantly if they were asked to work as hard as the capitalist. One intimately acquainted with the late P. D. Armour gives the following account of his business life:-

"During at least thirty years of his business career he tried the frightful experiment of handling the details. He rose at five o'clock in the morning; he and his wife breakfasted by candlelight, and he walked into the city to his office, arriving there at or before seven o'clock. In the winter it was barely daylight when at started his daily labours. He took a short time for lunch at noon, and went back to his desk. He rarely left it until five or six o'clock. He knew his hundreds of clerks by name, he knew the capacity of each for work, he knew also the men in his stockyards, and many of the men on his railways."

Surely no man who labours with his hands has any cause to envy the millionaire, for the toiler with his hands is sure of better sleep and a better appetite. But all will agree that Mr. Armour was competent to speak with authority when he said: "I never know a healthy man that constant work injured; it's worry and neglect that kill men."

"A Righteous Distinction" The Present Truth 17, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

Some time ago there was a case in a New York court, in which a will was contested on the ground that a Christian Scientist is not sufficiently sane to be able to make a will. Dr. Austin Flint, one of the leading physicians in America, and a noted professor of physiology, was called as an expert, and testified that the Christian Scientist who made the will was sane. The cross-examiner asked him what he would think of himself if he entertained Christian Science theories. He answered that he would be the victim of am extraordinary a delusion as the lunatic mind could conceive. And then to the question why he differentiated between himself and the testator, he replied that he judged Christian Scientists by the standard of their religion.

On this Harper's Weekly, a paper under Roman Catholic control, utters the following just sentiments:-

"Every one will recognise the distinction as sound. If we begin to count men insane because of their religious beliefs, who is there who will be held competent to dispose of his property by will, if his judge entertain an opposite religious belief? The Christian Scientist holds that cures can be worked without medicine, and that disease dose not really exist. Will the average Christian, therefore, say that he is not of disposing mind? Dr. Flint says yes, although he, not sharing this religious belief, would be crazy if he held the Christian Science theory.

"The religious belief, then, may be as bizarre as possible; it does not necessarily disturb the ordinary operations of the mind. The Turk believes in fate, and rushes blindly into danger. The Roman Catholic pays devotion to little images. An insane person may be possessed of strange religious superstitions, but so may a sane person. The moment the law permits the sanity of a mind to be gauged by its religious beliefs, that moment the door is opened for persecuting bigotry. There is no more reason why an orthodox Christian should be permitted to hold a Christian Scientist insane, than that Presbyterianism should be allowed to send Roman Catholics to a lunatic asylum, or a Turk have the privilege of sitting in judgment upon the intellectual capacity of a Methodist."

It is very natural for every man to think that the man who does not agree with him is lacking in intellectual capacity. To the insane person, every san man is a lunatic. This would make a sad state of things if we were called on to judge others for their religious beliefs; but we are not. "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." God alone is judge, and to Him alone every person is accountable. Besides, even He does not propose to call people to account for their beliefs, but for their actions. He will render to every man "according as his work shall be." Yet men have doubtless caused the death of more men for their religions belief than for crime. Whoever persecutes another or condemns him for his religion, has not yet learned to know God.

"Paul as a Master of Logic" The Present Truth 17, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

A prominent United States Senator and lawyer, in an article of advice to young lawyers said: "Perhaps the greatest logician who ever lived was the Apostle Paul; read him as a master of logical utterance."

There is truth in that, for Paul learned in the school of Christ who Himself is the Logos,-the Word,-the source of all true logic. Whatever is not of Christ is not logical. Our reasonable-logical-service is to present our bodies to Him, that He may fill and use them. But let nobody think that he can get the riches of wisdom and knowledge that there are in the Apostle Paul's writings, if he reads them simply as literary productions. Nobody can get the logic of Paul's writings, except the one who reads them to know what they say to him personally and when he gets the logic into him he is a Christian. Paul preached only Christ and Him crucified; and the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that perish, although it is the wisdom and the power of God. Remember that no one can see the logic of the Apostle Paul's writings, save he who experiences them. True logic is Christianity, and whoever is not a Christian from the very beginning.

May 30, 1901

"A Garment of Light" The Present Truth 17, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

"Asmany of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."

The words "put on" in this text are from the Greek word of which the anglicised form is "endued." The meaning of this word is clothed; it occurs in Matt. vi. 25. "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on;" or, with what ye shall be endued or clothed. The same word occurs in Rev. i. 13: "clothed with a garment down to the feet." So our text may be read: "As many as have been baptized into Christ, are endued, or clothed, with Christ." This coincides with the exhortation, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ."

There is another place where this word occurs that shows that it does not mean merely putting something on the outside. It is in 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54. Verse 49 says, "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Verses 51 and 52 tell us that we shall be changed; "for this corruptible must put on [be endued or clothed with] incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have pat on immortality, than shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."

Note that this putting on of incorruption and immortality is not a veneering, not an outward covering of life and glory, with an inward core of corruption and death. Death is "swallowed up," not covered up. So as many as have been baptized into Christ have been swallowed up in Christ.

Putting on Christ is putting on righteousness and salvation, because His name is "the Lord our righteousness," and He is our salvation. So we read: "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in My God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness." Isa. lxi. 10. Likewise we read that Joshua the priest "was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the Angel. And He answered and spake unto those that stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him He said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pace from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment." Zech. iii. 3, 4. The clothing that the Lord puts on takes away iniquity, just as the putting on of immortality is the swallowing up of death.

Take the lily as a representation of the way in which God clothes His creatures. After the exhortation, "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat . . . neither for your body, what ye shall put on," the Saviour says, "Why take ye thought for raiment? what ye shall put on," or be endued with. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Matt. vi. 28, 29. What is the clothing of the lily? Try to take it off, and you will learn. If you rob a lily of its beautiful clothing, what have you done to it? What has become of the lily? It is gone; you have destroyed it. You cannot have the lily apart from its clothing, nor the clothing apart from the lily. Take the freshness from

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its leaves, and the exquisite tints from its petals, and the lily is gone; for the clothing of the lily is the lily itself, its life. So long as the lily lives it has that beautiful clothing, and loses it only when it dies. Solomon was not thus arrayed; his royal robe could be taken off and admired apart from himself, like the crown jewels.

But we ask again, What is the clothing of the lily? It is the clothing which God Himself wears; for He who puts His glory on the heavens, puts it also on the tiniest flower. God "covereth Himself with light as with a garment." Does He cover Himself round about with light, while within is darkness? Is His clothing something that can be put on and taken off at pleasure, like that with which men clothe themselves? No, for "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." His glorious garment of light is therefore but the shining forth of His life. When God covers Himself or any of His creatures, He does not cover up anything, but the covering is the outward appearance of that which is within.

The glory of the heavens is the glory that appears in the flower, for the light of the sun is the life of the plant. Its garment is the sunshine; it takes all the light of heaven, the glory of the whole solar system, to bring the lily to birth and to give it its beautiful clothing, for its clothing is formed as it grows. Christ is the light of the world, so those who have put on Christ in baptism have the same clothing that God Himself has. The righteousness of Christ is put into and upon them, so they can say, "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." He takes possession, and all the wealth of power and love and goodness in Him, all that conquered sin and kept it from manifesting itself in Him, is ours. His promise is that by His Spirit we shall be endued, or clothed, with power. The power will not simply be upon us, but in us. Our infirmities will be changed into power, even as mortality is to put on immortality. His life will dominate us, and subdue all the passions and lusts of our sinful flesh, if we submit ourselves to Him; to be clothed upon, swallowed up, in His life.

"The Law of Life. The Sixth Commandment. (Continued.)" The Present Truth 17, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou shalt not kill." Ex. xx. 13.

"WHENCE COME WARS?"

Let us take another development of the violation of this commandment. The Scripture asks: "From whence come wars and fightings among you?" and the answer is returned: "Even of your lusts that war in your members." Then the Word continues, "Ye lust, and have not; ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not." James iv. 1, 2. Nothing is more common than war and the war spirit. War is not generally looked upon with abhorrence, even by most professed Christians, but in many cases as a thing to be gloried in. In every war, from every paper and from almost every pulpit the word that is foremost whenever there is any provocation on the part of any other nation, is war. If war is not advocated or longed for, its possibility is at least considered, and yet the people who thus talk and think would be shocked at the imputation that they are breaking the sixth commandment. But of what does war consist?-Of fighting and killing; and killing is forbidden by the sixth commandment. There certainly can he no war with nobody killed, and no intent to kill. "Love is the fulfilling of the law," and "love worketh no iIl to his neighbour." The Saviour says, "Love your enemies," and love cannot possibly be consistent with killing them.

War comes from the lusts that war in the members of men. A war in which thousands are killed comes from precisely the same source as the murder of a single individual, and is simply the one case multiplied. One man is envious of another's good fortune, is jealous because the other has attained distinction that he has not, he desires some property that one has; he is angry with him because of disrespectful or contemptuous language, and so he kills him. Even so it is with nations: they go to war because one has used undiplomatic language, and will not withdraw it. One is getting the advantage of another in the matter of commerce; one is acquiring territory which the other wants or claims as its own by right. So they go to war, thousands are killed, and the world and the church unite to praise the glorious deeds that have been done. Meanwhile, the man who killed a single person, has been hanged. All the time the commandment says, "Thou shalt not kill;" and no amount of casuistry or reasoning can reconcile war with this commandment since it is wrong to kill a single man, manifestly it cannot be right to kill a thousand.

WHAT SELF-DEFENCE INVOLVES

"But" some will say, "we are never the aggressors; we do not fight except in self-defence, to maintain our rights, and

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we do not believe in fighting under any other conditions." It seems to be almost universally accepted that people must defend themselves and their rights, although we have the assurance that "the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor" (Psalm xcl. 12), and He says, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." So whoever thinks that he must defend himself, or avenge his own wrongs, takes upon himself work that belongs to God alone, and shows that he thinks that he is better able to manage his own case than the Lord is.

Let us see what is written in the law: Jesus said, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; but I say unto you that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matt. v. 38, 39. Whoever looks up this quotation will find that it is not addressed to individuals, but was a rule for the direction of the judges in the cases that came before them. The whole law of which it was a part was given to the Israelites only because of their unbelief, and because they rejected God from being there sole King and Judge. In this, as in many other things, we must believe that "from the beginning it was not so," and Christ's work is always to bring men back to the beginning, to Himself. The words of Christ, "I say unto you that ye resist not evil," taken in this connection, show that His followers are not to have recourse even to the course of law. This is especially what Christ has reference to, as the next verse shows: "If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy cloak let him have thy cloak also." How much less, then, should one take the initiative, and sue another at the law. And since even "legal" measures in self-defence are forbidden by the Gospel, which is the revelation of the commandment, how plain it is that one has no right to take things into his own hands, to do anything in self-defence.

It is very common to hear this teaching called impractical, but the burden of defending the Lord is not laid upon us. He knew what He was saying and He meant what He said, and His own life furnished the example of His teachings. When an armed band came out to take Him by violence, and Peter zealously undertook to defend Him, and He rebuked him, saying, "They that take the sword shall perish with the sword." If there was ever a case of rights invaded, a case or self-defence against injustice, oppression, and violence could be justifiable, that was the one. But He demonstrated His own teachings, leaving us an example. When He was reviled, He reviled not again, when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed His case to Him who judges righteously.

Some one is sure to be ready with the question, "What would you do in case a robber should assault you, demanding your money or your Life"? We need never borrow trouble from the future, or speculate how the precepts of Christ can be obeyed, under various conditions. If we believe, grace will be given for the time of need. In the supposed case, it seems quite evident that the course of wisdom would be to give up the money and save the life. But suppose one resists in such a case, let us make a comparison between him and the robber. If one objects to parting with his money, the robber may kill him and take it. In that case the robber would be rightly called a murderer. It is a sordid murder; he has taken his victim's life for a paltry sum of money. But suppose the robber does not succeed in the object; suppose his intended victim is a quicker or stronger man of the two, and kills him instead; is he not also a murderer?-he has killed a man merely for a sum of money. The robber would kill him to get it, he kills the robber to save it. In either case it would be a life taken for money. Who can say that one is less guilty than the other? Self-defence does not seem so attractive when put in this form, does it?

But the objector may say that it is not for money that the man kills the robber, but to save his own life. Very well, let it be so. Then the man takes upon himself the responsibility of deciding who ought to die and who ought to live. He acts on the assumption that his own life is worth more than the robber's, and takes the case into his own hands, acting both as judge and executioner. This is something for us to think about. The commandment does not say, Thou shall not kill except in self-defence, or under provocation; Thou shalt not kill anyone except a thief, or a very bad man, or one who you think is not as fit to live as you are. There is no exception: "Thou shalt not kill."

The whole question of self-defence, or of standing for one's rights, is settled by the statement that "Love seeketh not her own." The defending of one's rights shows the absence of love; where love is not, there is hatred, and hatred is murder, so we cannot avoid the conclusion that self-defence is murder. The commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," forbids violence of any form or degree. No matter how many objections may arise, the fact is that the commandment is easy to keep when the love of God is in the heart, for "this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous." It is difficult and impossible to keep the law, only when the law of God is not given a place in the heart. There is no depth of cruelty of which human nature is not capable when it is not influenced by the law of God; and there is no measure of righteousness that is not possible where that love is given full sway.

A DEADLY WEAPON

There are various kinds of weapons with which murder is committed. One may use a knife, or poison, and among poisons there are some that are worse than others. The tongue is declared to be "an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." Of natural, unregenerate man it is said, "the poison of asps is under their lips." Who shall say that it is less sinful to poison a man with the tongue than to poison him with arsenic? The Lord says: "Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people, neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy brother." A man's whole life may be poisoned by a few and ill-advised words. It is not merely the one talked about who is injured, but the one to whom the evil tale is repeated may be destroyed eternally, through its influence. And the evil is not lessened, but it is even aggravated, by the fact that the evil thing that is reported is true. We need, then, most earnestly to pray: "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips."

THE COMMANDMENT POSITIVE

The law says further, "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart; thou shalt in anywise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." Lev. xix. 17. Hatred is murder; the absence of love is hatred; and we here see that whoever knowingly allows his neighbor to remain in sin without seeking to save him does not love him. It is counted as hatred, and he is therefore his murderer. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." 1 John iii. 16. "The brethren" here referred to are not merely those in immediate fellowship with one,

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but all mankind; for Christ, who gave His life to save the world, said: "I will declare My name unto My brethren," meaning those who were hateful, and hating God and one another. And He came as the living embodiment of the law, and His mission was to save life. In this we see that the law is not negative, but positive; it does not require merely that we should refrain from taking life; and demands that we should do everything possible to save life. "No murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." This teaches that it is only by the recognition of eternal life, that we keep from the violation of the commandment. That life abiding in us makes us know the sacredness of life, so that when we see our brother going in the way that leads to death, we are constrained to give ourselves to save him.

THE SACREDNESS OF LIFE

The sacredness of the commandment is seen when we realise that life is the gift of God,-not the gift of something apart from Him, but the gift of Himself. Life is as sacred as God, because He is our life. Therefore he who would destroy life would if it were possible destroy God. This is but another statement of the Scripture truth that "He that committeth a sin is of the devil," who "was a murderer from the beginning." He set himself in opposition to God, and although he did not, since he could not, slay the Lord, he was nevertheless a murderer from the beginning, for he had murder in his heart; and the fact was demonstrated when he instigated the princes of this world to kill the Prince of life.

Life is not ours to give or take. The command, "Thou shalt not kill," is absolute, and we may not take our own life any more than our neighbour's life. The reason why, is that it is a sacred trust from God. When one kills another, he deprived him of life for a season. He may shorten his life by years, or it may be that he deprives his victim of but a few moments of life. But even though the one killed had but five minutes more to live, the act is just as much murder as though he had five years. This truth applies to one's dealing with himself, as well as with another. He who by base practices or neglect or abuse of God's gifts shortens his own life, is directly violating the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill."

What a sacred responsibility rests upon every one to lay hold on eternal life by faith, by making use of every agency which God has given for the sustenance of life, and by denying every sinful lust that wars against the soul,-the life. To keep one's body and health is as sacred a duty as to preserve the soul from sin. The man who injures the body of another is justly considered a criminal. But his own body is just as sacred as that of other's, and is really no more his own. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." Therefore to injure one's own body or willfully to neglect any means which tends to build it up, is to defile the temple of God, and therefore is a sin against God.

PARTNERS WITH GOD

We are workers together with God; God takes us into partnership with Himself in His life work. Everybody is a portion of the channel of the river of life; the stream coming from the heart of God flows through every one who does not obstruct it. Christ, who gives the living water, says that the living water shall flow from every one who believes. In giving man the power to perpetuate the race, God makes him a partner with Himself in dispensing life. Whoever abuses this gift, or by any means cuts off possible or prospect of life, or by any means renders himself incapable of giving the fullest possible life to his offspring, is directly guilty of violating the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." Life is a wonderfully sacred thing, and it is a fearful sin to trifle with it.

If we saw nothing but this side of the question, we might well exclaim, "Who then can be saved?" We have all "sinned and come short of the glory of God." But there is hope. "If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord, who should stand? but there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared." And here we are comforted with the knowledge that all the commandments of God are promises, and the greater the commandment, the more exceeding great and precious the promise which it contains,-the promise by which we are made partakers of the divine nature "and having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." Precious promise! "Thou shalt not kill." No longer is it a hard enactment, purely negative in its force, but it is the blessed assurance that God in His infinite mercy, and by His wondrous grace will let the stream of life flowing through us so freely that it will restore that which was lost, and keep us from every way of death. It is the assurance of redemption from every evil habit, of salvation from every vice that that tends to the destruction of soul and body. Not only so, but that we shall be dispensers of that stream which causes everything to live withersoever it cometh. Let us then fight the good fight the faith, and lay hold on eternal life.

"God Binds Our Wrath. Ps. lxxxvi. 10" The Present Truth 17, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

We frequently hear this text of Scripture quoted: "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee; the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain" (Ps. lxxxvi. 10); but few get from the rendering in our common version all the strength that they should. The Hebrew word rendered "restrain" means "to gird," "to bind about," and the word rendered "remainder" means, as one can see by a moment's thought, at the extremity, the last portion. The idea

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therefore is that God takes the utmost limits of human wrath and girds Himself with it. See Revised Version. So far is He from been troubled by the raging of the heathen, that He takes all the strength of their wrath and binds it about Himself as a girdle. This is the way that He restrains it, and makes it praise Him. He even wears it as clothing. What comfort is there in this for us?-This, that since God can give glory to Himself out of the raging hate of men, surely He can much more be glorified by our sincere and loving, and even though feeble and blundering, efforts to serve Him.

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Acts xxii. 6-16" The Present Truth 17, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

In setting forth the Gospel by which we are saved, the Apostle Paul said: "I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures; and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep; then He appeared to James; then to all the apostles; and last of all, as unto one born out of to time, and He appeared to me also." 1 Cor. xv. 3-8. Some of these appearings of Jesus we have already studied, and some of them are not described in detail in the Gospels; but His manifestation to Paul is related with more fulness of detail than any other. We find it not only in the text referred to at the head of this article, but also in Acts ix. 1-20 and xxvi. 9-20.

Do not fail to note that no difference is made by Paul in speaking of the appearings of Jesus before His ascension, and His manifestation afterward. The Jesus now in heaven is the same that first descended "into the lower parts of the earth," and who "also ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things." Eph. iv. 9, 10. It is "this same Jesus" that will come again. Whether He appeared before His crucifixion or afterwards, before His ascension or afterwards, makes no difference; He is always the same Master and Lord who came from God and went to God. He is the same that will come again; and His revelation to Paul, and the language used concerning it, make this truth more real and emphatic than anything else.

Bear in mind that in the case before us we have something more than the mere fact that one man was seen by another. When Ananias came at the command of God, to baptize Paul, and restore his sight, he said: "The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, That thou shouldst know His will, and see that Just One, and shouldst hear the voice of His mouth. For thou shalt be His witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard." Paul himself said that it pleased God to reveal His Son in him, that he might preach Him among the heathen. So it was not merely the appearing of Christ to Paul, but the revelation of Him in Paul. God said of Him: "He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel." It was not enough for Paul to be able to say that he had seen the Lord; he must bear the image and superscription of the Lord about with him, so that all could become acquainted with Him. Christ was revealed in Paul, in order that Paul might reveal Him to the world. Even so must it be with every one who is a witness for the Lord.

At the last day the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven and in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and in giving rest to His afflicted ones; for "unto them that love Him shall He appear the second time without sin and salvation." Heb. ix. 28. The same Jesus that appeared to Paul will appear to all the world, and in exactly the same manner-in light above the brightness of the sun. But His manifestation to Paul was His revelation in him, even as when He comes at the last day it will be "to be admired in all them that believe." 2 Thess. i. 10. So He will be revealed in them all at that time. This shows, then, that the power given to Paul for witnessing for Christ, and the power given to every one who will receive it to preach the Gospel, is the power of the coming of Christ in glory. All the power by which the heavens and earth will be renewed,-the power of the world to come,-is at every man's disposal for the preaching of the Gospel, and that means that it is ours for living the Gospel, since that is the only effectual way of preaching it. "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach," said Jesus, "and, lo, I am with you alway." This is the true revelation of Jesus Christ.

The message to Paul was, "Why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." What! can one wash away his sins in baptism? Yes, certainly, if he calls on the name of the Lord; "for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Rom. x. 13. The name of the Lord is a strong power, for it is Himself. His name is His life. To be baptized into the name of the Lord, is to be immersed in His life-hidden in Christ. It is impossible that such an one should be lost, for we are "saved by His life."

Whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It is not the one who has called, but the one who continues to call. "Every one that asketh receiveth," not the one who asked once and left off asking, because he became discouraged. "Men ought always to pray, and not faint." We must divest ourselves of the selfish idea that we pray merely for the sake of getting something from the Lord, and that, having obtained it, we need not call on Him any more. We should not regard the Lord as merely a convenient payer of the debts that we incurred. We call upon Him because His presence is good, and it is delightful to know Him. In Him we live; He is our life; and His life continually flowing saves us from sin and death. Thus real baptism is continuous, in that, being baptized into Christ, we abide in Him.

All that Paul needed to enable him to be a messenger of the Gospel was to have Christ revealed in him. Christ was near him all the time, even in his mouth and in his heart, but Paul (then called Saul) was holding Him down, kicking against the influence of His Spirit. We read even of the heathen that "that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them;" because ever since the creation of the world the invisible things of God, even His everlasting power and Divinity, are clearly to be seen in the things that are made. Rom. i. 19, 20. Christ, the Truth, is present with all men, but they hold Him down in unrighteousness. This was the case with Saul, the Jewish zealot and persecutor; but as soon as he recognised the Lord's presence, and acknowledged Him as Lord, the

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pressure was taken off, and Christ shone forth. So we may be comforted and encouraged with the assurance that Christ is present with all men, not merely to save them, but to make them the bearers of salvation to others; for God has chosen the base things of the world, and things that are despised, to be His light and salvation to the ends of the earth. See 1 Cor. i. 27, 28; Isa. xlix. 6, 7. God has given "to every man his work," and there is no one so weak or so wicked that he cannot do it, if he but allows God to work in him, "both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

Only once is Ananias mentioned in the Bible, yet his name is as well known as that of Paul. All we know of him is that he was a humble "layman," as men nowadays would call him. He was not known outside of Damascus, but he had "a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there." This man was chosen to give instruction to the man who was to bear the name of Christ before kings. He himself could never have carried the message to them in person, but who shall say that his share in it is any less than Paul's, or that he will have any lose credit in the Judgment? What matters it that one is used but once as an instrument in God's hands to accomplish His will? if we are always ready, so that when the time comes for which God created us, He can find us prepared for the emergency, it is enough. It is not what we do, so mach as what we are willing to do, that counts with God. We may be sure that God will speak to the one who is nearest Him, and who best knows His voice.

"Forgiveness of Sin" The Present Truth 17, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

The most trustworthy person is the sinner who has confessed his sin, and has been forgiven. It is a great mistake to suppose that forgiveness of sin is complicity with it. God passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage, because He delights in mercy, yet He has not the slightest sympathy for sin. His righteousness is demonstrated by the fact that He forgives the sins of all who confess. Christ "was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin." Nor does the forgiveness of sins tend to make the one forgiven careless, so that he will regard it as a light thing to sin. It is the goodness of God that leads man to repentance, and that same goodness continuing to be manifest to them will hold them faithful to God, and keep them from falling again into sin. Therefore it follows that he who exhibits most of the kindness and love of God in his dealing with his fellow-men will in turn find the most good in those with whom he comes in contact.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Meats Created to Be Received with Thanksgiving" The Present Truth 17, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

"Does not 1 Tim. iv. 1-5 show that the eating of flesh foods is not only permitted, but that it is the work of evil spirits, and a doctrine of devils, to command anyone to abstain from meats which God has created to be received with thanksgiving, since every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused?"

This question has often been asked, and will no doubt frequently be repeated; but it is very easy of explanation, and we shall take pleasure in answering it as often as it comes our way.

In the first place, let it be understood that no person on earth has the right or authority to command any other person or persons to abstain from meats which God has created to be received, or from those which He has not created to be received. No man on earth is of right master of any other man. Every man is answerable directly and solely to God, and God alone has the right to command man to do or to refrain from doing. Therefore to the question if it is not the work of evil spirits, and a doctrine of devils, to command anyone to abstain from meats to be received with thanksgiving, the answer must be, yes. Nobody has the right to command anything contrary to God's will, nor even contrary to what He has permitted even though it be harmful. "The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Law-giver, the Lord is our King."

But although we have no authority to command, we have authority to teach, and to point out the commands of the Lord. Let us therefore study the word together, to see what the will of the Lord is in this matter; and when we have discovered "that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God," let no one say it is the beaching of devils to counsel men to follow it.

Let us repeat, what everybody can learn for himself by consulting a good dictionary that gives the etymology of words, that the word "meat" is generic, and not specific. That is, it means food in general, and has primarily no reference to a particular class of food. In common talk it is now usually understood to mean flesh meat, and the old use of "meat" to indicate food is almost obsolete; but in the Scriptures, which are translated into the English of three hundred years ago, it means food of any kind whatever, and when the flesh of animals is specially referred to, it is called "flesh."

It is evident, therefore, that the word "meats" in 1 Tim. iv. 3 does not define anything. In order to know what particular food is meant, we must take into consideration the relative sentence that qualifies it. What meats are they from which some command that we should abstain?-Those "meats" which God has created to be received with thanksgiving.

This sends us back to creation, and to the record of that event we turn. The last thing created was man: and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food (Gen. ii. 8, 9); "and God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat; and it was so." Gen. i. 29, 30.

Here we have the original natural use of the word "meat," and we see that it refers solely to the products of the ground fruits, grains, and vegetables. The fruits and the grains-seeds-are the meats which God created to be received with thanksgiving. He did not create animals to be eaten either by man or by any other 4nimals; but the green herbs themselves-

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coarse vegetables and grass-were created to be meat for the beasts and the birds and the creeping things. Flesh is not in the list of "meats" created either for man or for beasts. Thus we see that, according to God's plan for creation, the flesh of animals is not meat-food-at all. It has become meat-food-only in the process of degeneration and departure from God's original plan.

I am not endeavouring to explain to you who are referred to in 1 Tim. iv. 1-6, as teaching doctrines of devils, and forbidding to marry, nor how it is that they command to abstain from meats which God created to be received with thanksgiving; I do not think that I could do it if I should, try, and that is not what you have asked me to do. All I am concerned with is to show that those who teach that the produce of the earth-the fruits and the grains-are the best food for man, do not come into the list. They do not "command" anybody to abstain from flesh meats, although the flesh of animals was not "created to be received with thanksgiving." In the creation flesh was not given even to the beasts, and much less to man. So even though some over-zealous person should command to abstain from flesh, he would not thereby put himself into the list of those against whom the Spirit expressly warns us.

"But God permitted man to kill and eat animals!"

He certainly did, and therefore no one would have any right to command anybody not to do so, even though he were authorised to give commands. But please bear in mind that we are not obliged to do everything that God permits. He permitted Balaam to go at the request of Balak to curse Israel, and even plainly told him to go; yet we have only to recall the beginning of the narrative to learn that Balaam ought not to have gone on the errand. He was determined to do it, however, and God gave His consent.

God did not design that Israel should ever have any other king than Himself; but when they insisted on having a king, like the heathen round them, He permitted them to have one, and He Himself selected their king for them. The subsequent history of Israel shows, however, that it would have been far better if they had adhered to God's plan for them.

Moses, acting under the instruction of the Lord gave laws regulating polygamy and divorce, "but from the beginning it was not so." Matt. xix. 3-8. Thus Christ, "who is the Beginning," refers us back to the beginning for instruction as to what we ought to do. Do not understand me to say that the eating of flesh is to be classed with polygamy, as a sin; I have referred to this merely to show that the fact that a thing is permitted does not prove that it is the best thing. Remember that the text speaks of meats which God created to be received, and not to those which He afterwards permitted to be used.

God "giveth us richly all things to enjoy," allowing us to have whatsoever our souls lust after; yet it is exhibiting much more gratitude, and a higher appreciation of His gifts, when we are satisfied with that which His Love provided for us in the beginning. The nearer we come to the beginning, the nearer shall we be to God.

"Divided Still" The Present Truth 17, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

Centuries ago God directed the prophet to write thus of the divided state of the kingdoms in the last days:-

"They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." Dan. ii. 43.

Many efforts have been made since the Roman empire was broken up into ten kingdoms, to re-unite the shattered fragments, but every effort has proved in vain. Nearly every throne in Europe is related by marriage-"mingling with the seed of men"-but this does not secure tranquillity, or even unity among the powers.

A statement that has an interesting bearing on this point was recently made by the German Chancellor. Replying to some statements made by the German Press relative to King Edward's visit, Count von Bulow said:-

We will live in peace with England; but (for) our practical politics are dependent upon reciprocity. Our foreign politics are not affected by dynastic considerations or the ties of relationship.

This is about equal to saying, "We live in peace with England because it suits us, but the ties of relationship do not enter into our foreign politics."

"For the Children. The King's Garden" The Present Truth 17, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

All of you would, I feel sure, if I should ask you which you think the sweetest and loveliest of all the fair flowers, agree with me in giving the crown of honour to "sweet Queen Rose."

We might almost say that all that Ii beautiful in flower life, meats in this crowning wonder, which seals up the sum, "perfect in beauty." The purity of the lily, and the snowdrop; the fulness of the peony and the hyacinth; the perfect shape and delicate moulding of the lilac and the Egyptian lily; the exquisite colours and shading of the sweet pea, the petunia, and the pansy; the richness of the gladiola and the geranium; the precious fragrance of the violet, the wallflower, and the mignonette;-all the virtues which distinguish the different flowers, we find combined, bound up, and sealed, in this "perfection of beauty," which stands as the type of all.

Now we are going to talk about that flower in the King's Garden which He calls "the bond of perfectness," and so we have taken the rose as the fit emblem of it. Can you tell what it is?

Do you remember that we said last week that each of the commandments of God is a divine seed from the Father's own heart, which He plants in the heart gardens of His children, to bring forth the fragrant flowers of His own lovely character? But there is one word that sums up all the commandments, and has in it the grace of every one of them. It is Love; "for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love."

And so God says that Love "is the bond of perfectness." As the Rose, the emblem of perfection, is the Queen of the flowers, so Love, is the bond of perfectness," reigns in the King's garden, and gathers up and seals within itself the graces of all the fair flowers that bloom there.

Each commandment, as we shall see when we come to look at them more closely, contains some special grace of God, that it may be unfolded and revealed in the hearts of man. But in love, the crowning grace, or rather the summing up of all the graces, "all the fulness of God" shines forth, for "God is Love."

The Rose seems to us the summing up of all that is beautiful in nature; and Christ, who is "the One altogether lovely," calls Himself, "The Rose of Sharon."

Since God is Love, and the seeds of all that is fair in His garden come from His own heart, they must all spring from Love, and show to us its different characteristics.

You know that there are different families of plants, and the plants belonging to each family are known by their likeness to each other in some particular. Now the family name of all the plants in the King's Garden is Love, from which they all spring.

As we walk in the Garden, and examine the flowers, we shall find many different ones,-Worship, Holiness, Obedience, Faithfulness, Kindness, Purity, are the names of some of them. But we shall know by their fragrance that they all belong to the one family of Love. For it is Love that is the life of every virtue; it is this that breathes its sweet odour over the whole Garden, and makes of each flower a censer in which holy incense is offered to the King. This fragrance is not something put on from outside, as we might sprinkle scent on an artificial flower; it is the life of Love within, breathing itself out.

Do you think that, the King would be pleased with worship, if such there could be, that did not spring from Love? Do you think He would accept the forced obedience of fear, or the gifts of self-interest? No; the King wants no scentless flowers in His Garden for the sake of appearances, but such only as breathe out the sweet fragrance of Love.

But when Worship is the expression and offering of Love; when Obedience is Love hastening to fulfil His lightest wish; when Kindness is Love pouring out its treasures in His service,-this is "an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God."

And so in its fragrance, as in its beauty, the Rose is a fit symbol of the Love of God, which He plants in the hearts of His children, to be the glory and sweetness of the King's Garden.

The fragrance of the Rose cannot be separated from its petals; it keeps its sweetness, even in death. To the one who crushes and bruises it, it but yields a Sweeter fragrance, even as Christ, the Rose of Sharon, showed the full strength of His love when "it pleased the Lord to bruise Him." Then Love poured itself out, a willing offering, that we might receive it into our hearts, and so be able to offer to God the sweet incense of loving service that would be acceptable to Him.

So each of the King's Gardens may be to Him "a sweet savour of Christ," His beloved Son who said: "I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yes, Thy law is within My heart,"-that law which is summed up in the one word, Love.

May the sweet Rose of Sharon which in His heavenly courts

"Unfolds its heartsome bloom,
And fills the air of heaven
With ravishing perfume,"

bloom also in each "little corner" of the King's Garden on earth, until it shall shed its fragrance over all the wide world.

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"O to behold it blossom,
While by its fragrance fanned,
Where glory-glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

-The Admiralty this year will commence the construction of three battleships of 16,000 tons each. They will be the largest and most powerful war vessels afloat.

-The Korean Government have leased to Japan 450 acres of land for the purpose of forming a settlement at Masampho. Russia was formerly anxious to secure this land.

-Notwithstanding the fact that about 200,000 Italians emigrate each year, the population of Italy has increased four millions since 1881, being now 32,449,764, according to the recent census.

-Last year 46,548 Finns passed through Hull on their way to the United States. The year before last the number was 29,962. Russia's oppressive policy in Finland is the cause of the increased emigration.

-There are still nearly half a million famine sufferers in receipt of relief in India.

-During the present year 1208 English-made reapers and binders have been shipped to France.

-The amount of England's coal output in 1386 was 157,518,000 tons, and 325,170,000 tons in 1900.

-Mr. Andrew Carnegie has donated two million pounds to Scotch universities, to be used in assisting Scotch students in getting an education.

-Bresei, the assassin of King Humbert, has committed suicide in the San Stefano prison by hanging himself from a grating by means of a towel.

-The Khedive has pardoned Arabi Pasha, who, after an exile of eighteen years, will now return to Egypt. The former chief is now very much broken in health.

-A public analyst, giving evidence before the Arsenical Poisoning Commission, said absolute freedom from arsenic was impossible in any brewed beverage.

-The Turkish authorities have prohibited the entry of typewriters into that country, on the ground that the authorship of typed writing cannot be recognised.

-Mr. Alfred Harmsworth has given ?10,000 to the London Hospital, Whitechapel, to endow one of the three lamps started there for the cure of lupus by the action of light.

-A "People's House," modelled on the lines of the People's Palace in East London, has been provided by the Government in St. Petersburg as an antidote to the drink-shops.

-Three Russian officers have been sentenced in default to six months' imprisonment on a charge of drawing plans of Nagasaki Harbour, Japan, adjacent to the fortifications.

-In the new coinage the farthings will be made of a metal which will preclude their being gilded and passed as sovereigns. Sixpences and half sovereigns are also to be altered.

-The two surviving daughters of Livingstone have just opened an extension of the Livingstone College, founded eight years ago at Leyton, for training missionaries in medicine and surgery.

-The population of Scotland is now larger than that of Ireland, being 4,471,957 at the late census, against 4,456,546 in Ireland. The population of Scotland is increasing, while that of Ireland is diminishing.

-At a recent meeting of the AcadÈmia de Medicine a paper was read, which stated that leprosy, which twenty years ago was practically unknown in France, has become so prevalent that urgent measures are necessary to prevent its further spread.

-There is a severe epidemic of typhoid and enteric fever in the West Ham district, and the inhabitants have been officially warned against eating ice-cream. A boy died in London from ptomaine-poisoning, due, as the coroner said, to eating ice-cream purchased at street barrows.

-According to the most recent revision of the Ordinance Survey, Great Britain measures 66,782,000 acres, of which 588,000 are covered by inland water. Eighty-six per cent. of the total area of the country is under cultivation, although the acreage of arable land is decreasing.

-A Parliamentary paper shows that the estimated cost of the war in South Africa down to the close of the present financial year is ?142,807,000, and of the operations in China, ?,5,660,000, in addition to interest and charges on war debt ?1,850,000-a grand total of ?153,317,000. Of this amount, ?45,571,400 has been, or is to be, provided out of taxation, and ?708,046,000 by loans.

"How We Live. The King of Fruits" The Present Truth 17, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

An old Scandinavian tradition represented the apple as the food of the gods. The story was to the effect that when they felt themselves growing old and feeble and infirm, the gods resorted to the apple for renewing their powers of mind and body.

This simply shows that the Scandinavians recognised the value of the apple as a food and a medicine. Indeed, the food that God has provided for man's use is really medicine-the only medicine that anybody ought ever to take. Let anybody whose nerves have been overwrought and are tired, confine himself almost exclusively to s diet of apples for a few days, and he will, find himself another being. A single meal wholly of apples will often work wonders in one's spirits and strength.

We have talked with many people who did not know that there is Scriptural authority for saying that the apple is the king of fruits, yet that is actually the case. In the Song of Solomon ii. 8 we read: "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons;" and the medicinal virtues of apples are recognised in the words, "I comfort me with apples." Verse 5. We see that the apple tree sustains the same relative position to the other trees, that Christ does to men, and of coarse its fruit has the highest rank among the fruits of the tress. Those in whose diet apples occupy a large place in proper combination, will have little use for the doctor.

Some will tell us that they "cannot digest apples;" that apples give them pain, and that their stomachs cannot endure them, although they are pleasant to the taste. Now this is only relatively true. God never made a stomach that could not digest fruit, and the apple above all; for the natural stomach is made for fruit just as surely as fruit was made for the human stomach. There are, however, people who have so abused their stomachs that they have become wholly perverted, and they tolerate that which is positively harmful, while they reject that which is good. Now what such people ought to do is to get their stomachs into proper working order that God's best gifts will be delighted in, and the bad will produce disgust and pain.

It is often the case that the difficulty with regard to apples is only imaginary, the indigestion being really traceable to some other cause. It is certain that apples in themselves never caused indigestion; but the combination of apples with something with which they are incompatible will cause trouble. Apples, as well as other said fruits, should not be eaten with milk. They are best when taken by themselves. A flesh diet is naturally enough opposed to them, since flesh was not in the list of foods for man when fruits and grains were proscribed. It is best not to use sugar with fruit, but, if it is too sour to be pleasant, to combine it with a sweet fruit in cooking. Raw apples are more wholesome than cooked applies. Another thing that it is well to observe, especially if one's stomach is not perfectly normal, and very active, is that It is not well to mix starchy food of any kind directly with apples, or indeed, with any other fruit containing acid. First eat the starchy food, which must be thoroughly cooked and dry enough to require sufficient mastication to ensure mixture with the saliva, and afterwards fruit may be eaten not only with impunity, but with pleasure and profit.

If you want pure flesh, eat pure food.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

"We are also His offspring." Acts xvii: 28.

This is one of the very few quotations from heathen authors to be found in this Bible. The Holy Spirit in thus setting the stamp of approval upon some of the statements in the world's literature, reveals the fact that "there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." Job xxxii. 8. Every true thought is of God, and if we were always perfectly passive to His will, our acts and thoughts would all be a revelation of God's perfect character. It is only as we hold Him down in unrighteousness, that we say and do foolish things.

The genealogy of Christ, beginning with "the Son of Joseph," ascends backward to "Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God." Luke iii. 28, 18. The Son of God is thus the Son of man, and every son of man-Adam thus a son of God,-a prodigal son, it may be, but a son nevertheless, to be drawn back to the Father's house if possible.

If you wish to be impressed with your kinship with Christ, read the book of Ezekiel. The expression, "Son of man" was so often upon the lips of Christ, as applied to Himself, that we have almost come to regard it as peculiarly His own. But all know that the prophet Ezekiel was a man, as other men, yet throughout this book he is again and again addressed as "son of man." Of course we see the fact as soon as we think of it, but it is necessary to call our attention to it in order that we may see that Christ is one with us.

The same title applies to all mankind. "How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men [sons of men] put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings." Isa. xxxvi. 7. But the fact that we are sons of men-sons of Adam-marks us as sons of God.

This is in no sense derogatory to the character of Christ. Quite the contrary. It is to His everlasting honour and glory that He could take upon Himself the form and nature of man, with all its ills and weaknesses and faults, and still never have even the trace of sin found in Him. He did no sin and knew no sin, and therefore we may be made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor. v. 22.

The fact that Christ, the Son of God, is the Son of man, emphasises the dignity of manhood, instead of lowering the dignity of the Godhead. It shows us the standard of true manhood. We have all fallen far below that perfect standard, and therefore we must in Christ Jesus be made new men. Every man becomes "a perfect man" only when he comes to "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Eph. iv. 18. May the eyes of our understanding be enlightened by God's Spirit, that we may know "the hope of His calling," and walk worthy of it. To be a man-one whom God can call "a good man," is to occupy the highest place in creation.

"Have faith in God." There is none other in whom we can possibly have faith; for faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Rom. x. 17. People sometimes talk about having faith in their fellow-men, but this is a mistaken use of the word; whatever amount of trust we repose in the word or deed of any man, it is not worthy to be called faith. Jesus Christ to the Author and Finisher,-the perfecter of faith; and true faith centres only in Him.

Faith never disappoints. People are often disappointed in man, or things which they have expected, but it is impossible to be disappointed in God. No matter how good a man's intentions may be, there is always the possibility that he may not be able to do that which he has promised; but there can be no element of uncertainty in faith. It is as sure as God Himself. Faith leaves no room for doubt, because it is the very substance of the things hoped for, the evidence of the thing unseen. Therefore put no confidence in the flesh, neither your own nor that of others, but have faith in God. Then just to the extent that God is allowed free course in men will they be trustworthy.

Much of the bread eaten by the Chinese is said to be first boiled and then browned by baking. If this be true, it shows that the Chinese have a better knowledge of some of the first principles of hygiene than the people of most other countries have; for scarcely anything is more unhygienic than soft, poorly-baked bread. It is impossible to cook starch too thoroughly before it is eaten, and double cooking of grain-both boiling and baking it-is almost the only way that will ensure its perfect assimilation by the human system.

It is stated as a fact that "the longest lived people have generally been those who made breakfast the principal meal of the day." Whether there are any statistics to verify this or not, it is beyond question that people who take their principal meal in the morning have as much better prospect for health, other things being equal, than those who take a heavy meal at night, a custom which is all too common. The only reason why people do not generally have a hearty appetite in the morning, better in fact than at any other time of day, is that their digestive organs are exhausted with the labour that they have been forced to perform during the night, when they should have been allowed to rest.

What have we to do in order to please God?-Simply to allow Him to do; to see Him in all His works and all His gifts, and to know that He alone can do things well enough to be pleasing to Him, and that all that He does in you is reckoned as your own dead. And when He who does the good works dwells in you by faith, can there be any doubt that you will have in yourself the witness that you please God? Therefore "the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight."

June 6, 1901

"Praise" The Present Truth 17, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

"Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me, and prepareth a way that I may show him the salvation of God."

Look in the margin of the Revised Version, and you will find this as the exact rendering of the Lord, recorded in Ps. l. 33. That praise does reveal the salvation of God, is shown by the fact that God is our salvation, and that he dwells in the praises of His people. Ps. xxii. 3.

Praise is the way of salvation. "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise, because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." Matt. xxi. 16; Ps. viii. 3. Praise, therefore, is the weapon with which the weakest soul can silence and put to flight the adversary.

The only thing that anybody needs to do in order to be saved is to praise the Lord, and to keep on praising Him. Some one will say, "What about confessing our sins, and believing unto righteousness?" That is a part of praise. To confess our sins is to praise God's word of truth by agreeing with Him; and it is by the shining forth of our good works that men are led to glorify God. Our acceptance in the Beloved is "to the praise of the glory of His grace." Eph. i. 5, 6.

But it is true of simple thanksgiving, that it is all that is necessary for salvation. Man who once knew God became heathen solely because "they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful." Rom. i. 21. Let as see how it is that praise and thanksgiving open the way for God's salvation.

It is very simple, Thanksgiving is an acknowledgment of favours received. It is the recognition that something has been done by another. It is plain, therefore, that if we "in everything give thanks," we shall be continually recognising and acknowledging God as the Maker and Upholder of all things-the Giver of every good and perfect gift. Now it is plain that nobody can continually recognise God in everything, and at the same time treat Him with indifference. For instance, nobody who appreciates the fact that every breath is

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the direct gift of God, can over use breath in blasphemy; and all who acknowledge that their life comes from Him and belongs to Him, must yield themselves wholly to Him, that He may do His own will in them. Thus to live in a state of constant thanksgiving is to share God's salvation.

But can one continually thank God for gifts and its common blessings? Why not? His mercies are "new every morning;" and when we receive them as coming from Him we shall not regard them as "common," of trifling importance. In common politeness we thank a friend for favours done us, no matter how often they are repeated; and why should we not be as courteous to God? Whoever will recognise the simple truth of his own existence, is sure to be saved. Nothing more is required. Therefore "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." So "let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord."

"The Sabbath and the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Rev. i. 9-20" The Present Truth 17, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

Two verses out of the twelve set apart for the lesson will furnish us matter for all the space we have at command, and will give any class enough to think about for an hour. We read: "I John, who am also your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the Isle that is called Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet." Verses 9, 10.

THE LORD'S DAY NOT "THE DAY OF THE LORD"

In the first place a grave error must be corrected,-an error that comes entirely from neglecting plain statements of Scripture, or from not considering that when it speaks it means just what it says. In order to evade the Sabbath, the idea has been invented, that no special day is referred to in the text before us, but that the apostle means "the day of the Lord." To show the fallacy of this, it is only necessary to read the texts which do speak of the day of the Lord, and which show that is the day of Judgment. Thus:-

"The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low." Isa. ii. 12. "Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?" Amos v. 18-20. "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse, or, with utter destruction." Mal. iv. 5, 6.

Thus it appears, by even this little study, that the day of the Lord is yet future; "as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come." Joel i. 16. "The day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." At that time God "will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity," and "will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible." Isa. xiii. 9, 11. It is evident, therefore, that "the Lord's day," in which John was peacefully in the Spirit, and saw wonderful visions of God, was not "the day of the Lord."

WHAT THE LORD'S DAY IS

It is just as easy to determine this as it was the other. A few texts are sufficient to set the matter clearly before us. First, we read Ex. xx. 8-10:-

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."

"If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day," says the Lord; "and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, . . . then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord." Isa. lviii. 13, 14. "For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." Matt. xii. 8.

From these texts it is plain that the Lord's day is none other than the seventh day of the week,-the day which in the beginning God sanctified and reserved for Himself. Six days are given to man, in which to labour in whatsoever his hand finds to do; but the seventh day is the Lord's day, to be devoted to such service for Him as cannot bring us pecuniary compensation, as does the labour of other days.

It is sometimes urged that the day mentioned in Rev. i. 10 cannot be the seventh day Sabbath, since we do not find the Sabbath called by that title anywhere else. But that is most inconclusive, for since the specific term "the Lord's day" is not found anywhere else in the Bible, it is evident that no other day is known by it. Thus, the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday, is always designated numerically, as "the first day of the week" and is known as one of "the six labouring days" (Eze. xlvi. 1), and is never hinted at as being in any degree sacred. But the seventh day, ordinarily called Saturday, is directly declared to be the Lord's day, and God claims it as His own, calling it "My holy day." There cannot therefore be the slightest reasonable doubt that it was the Sabbath day, the seventh day of the week, in which John was in vision in the Spirit.

THE BLESSING OF THE LORD'S DAY

"In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and aIl that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex. xx. 11.

"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." Gen. ii. 3.

The seventh day, as the Lord's day, was blessed above all other days. In fact, it alone has received God's blessing. It is evident, therefore, that it must bring a blessing to all who use it as it was designed to be used,-as a day holy to the Lord. On the Sabbath day people who truly observe it find a blessing which they cannot possibly experience on any other day, and which they who do not keep the seventh day can never experience, no matter haw devoted they may be to God.

Do not make the mistake of supposing that it is claimed that people cannot be blessed on any other day than the Sabbath. God's blessing is continually upon His people, and every day He is showering down new blessings; but the seventh day

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itself is blessed, and so it brings a blessing with it, which other days do not bring.

More than this, the blessing of the Lord's day is not confined to the seventh day of the week alone, but reaches all through the week, and thus the keeping of it brings a height and depth and breadth of Christian experience that cannot possibly be known by the one who, no matter how sincerely and devotedly, observes another day, and devotes the seventh day to ordinary labour. That experience is a larger and more intimate knowledge of God.

God is Creator; He made the heavens and the earth. Where there was nothing but empty space, He spoke, and the worlds came into existence. He said, "Let there be light," and immediately light shone forth out of the darkness. How much strength and courage people deprive themselves of because they do not always keep this simple truth in mind. If everybody had continually in mind the power of the words, "Let it be," or "Let there be" so and so, as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis, and remembered that every time "it was so," there would be only "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost" when we read: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. ii. 5); "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you" (Eph. iv. 31); "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom," and, "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts" (Col. iii. 15, 16), and many other like passages; for the reader would know that it is so. Who can ever be discouraged, when he has ever before him the knowledge of the fact that the God whom he serves created the worlds, and that nothing is too hard for Him! He who did that can easily make a new man.

This is the blessing of the Sabbath; it is the fullest possible revelation of God, in that it opens the eyes of the observer to see God's everlasting power and Divinity-His mercy and power to save-in every created thing. It makes known the power of the cross; for it is the memorial of the first creation, in which we see God actually creating a new, perfect man. So we repeat: To those who truly keep the true Sabbath the true God is revealed as to no others. Begin the observance of it, and you will prove the truth of the statement.

It was most natural, therefore, that the wondrous revelations given to the loving disciple whom Jesus loved should be given on the Sabbath day. In peaceful, joyful contemplation of the Creator's power, and triumphing in the works of His hands, John was suddenly lost in a face to face vision of Him whom his soul loved. The Sabbath is the seal of God, revealing who He is, and marking the true observer as His, and the book of Revelation crowns the written revelation of God to man. It brings to view a people who perfectly "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus," and is itself a demonstration of the fact that the Sabbath gives the most perfect revelation of God. Therefore "blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it."

"The Law of Life. The Seventh Commandment" The Present Truth 17, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

THE ORDER OF THE COMMANDMENTS

We come now to the seventh commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Before entering into a more minute consideration of it, it will be worth while to consider its place among the ten. Did it ever occur to the reader that the order of the commandments is not accidental? It certainly cannot be, and there must surely be a lesson for us in their arrangement. We may not know all that there is in it, but it will certainly repay study.

The first reveals God in His essential attribute as the Saviour; "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; thou shalt have no other gods before Me. He is the only God, because He is the only One who can save. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside Me there is no Saviour." Isa. xliii. 11.

The second naturally grows out of this, for "they have no knowledge that eat up the wood of their idols, and pray unto a god that cannot save."

Then we have, in the third, the assurance and the power of God's name. We are not to bow down to graven images, which are nothing, but to take His name, and we have the assurance that we shall not take that for nothing, or "in vain." It supplies all that He Himself is.

The fourth commandment reveals the name, "for that His name is near, His wondrous works declare." It shows the Lord at work and at rest; and when we see His works understandingly, we learn His ways, and enter into His rest.

From the contemplation of God as Creator, we are neat brought to consider Him as Father. He is the Universal Father, and human parenthood is the revelation of God working through the flesh. From the honour due to our parents, we are to learn the reverence due to God, the Supreme Father of all.

As the life transmitted from father to son is God's life, the sixth commandment is designed to guard its sacredness.

Then we come to the seventh commandment, which also emphasises the sacredness of life in showing that it must be

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kept pure and unadulterated. God's life is simplicity itself. His is seen in the most common things by which He conveys life to us, as the air and water. The Apostle Paul says: "I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." 2 Cor. xi. 3. The sin of Eve was the first case of adultery, and all the specific acts of adultery since that time have been but outgrowths from that. She left the simple for the complex; the straight way of righteousness and life, for the maze of sin and death.

THE BEGINNING OF EVIL

It is not necessary for us to dwell upon the grosser forms of the violation of this commandment; they are generally regarded not only as sin, but as crimes, as offenses against respectability. Whether the gross violation of this commandment is worse than the violation of the other commandments God alone knows; but one thing is sure, and that is that the "commandment is exceeding broad." People generally regard it as prohibiting the culmination of sin, whereas it deals specially with the beginning of it.

Christ's words in the sermon on the mount, show the spirituality of the commandment: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery already with her in his heart." Christ was not adding anything to the commandment which He Himself had given; He was revealing the breadth and depth of it. His language is unqualified and unlimited. The commandment is violated by an impure thought or look, not simply upon a woman who is not one's wife, but upon any women whatsoever. The lustful thought is adultery. From the commandment as magnified by Christ's statement of it, we see that adultery may exist even within the marriage relation, for that relation does not sanctify lustful thought and impure action.

THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE

God Himself instituted marriage in the beginning. When God made man, He made him male and female, and gave them dominion, saying, Be fruitful and multiply and subdue and fill the earth. Gen. i. 29, 38. This was even before the Sabbath was given. On the sixth day, God created man, the last of all His works. The animals were all brought before him for him to name, but among them he found no help that was meet (suitable) for him. There was none that could be a companion for him. So God took from his side a rib, which He built into a woman, and brought to him, and, recognising his counterpart, Adam said, "This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh."

It was after the union of the man and the woman had been blessed by God, and the command to be fruitful had been given, that "God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." Gen. i. 31. Then came the Sabbath, the seventh day, which God blessed for man's good. These two institutions, marriage and the Sabbath, come from Eden, and belong to Eden. In marriage, even as in the Sabbath, we have that which, rightly understood, brings us closer to God in His working than anything else.

True marriage brings men into close connection with the Lord, making them partners with Him in His work. In it we have the revelation of the mystery of Christ in His union with the church. The Apostle Paul, after quoting the words found in the second chapter of Genesis, "They shall be one flesh," adds, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." And he says that husbands should love their wives, as Christ also loved the church, and that the husband should nourish and cherish the wife even as the Lord the church. "For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." Eph. v. 22, 23. Marriage is designed to teach us of Christ's saving union with us; but the institution has been so perverted, that as a general thing it is not a true revelation of Christ. We must learn first from Christ what marriage ought to be, and then it in turn will reveal to us more of the Lord than we could know without it.

THE FORBEARANCE OF LOVE

There is a world of instruction for as in the statement that "even Christ pleased not Himself." He loved the church, and gave Himself for it. Yet He does not force Himself upon any; He has an infinite and continuous longing for the response to His love, yet He is patient and forbearing. He stands at the door, and knocks, letting us know that He loves us with an everlasting love, but He will do nothing without our consent. He will not press His attentions upon us. His long-suffering, forbearing love, always pleading, and yet waiting, is the most marvelous in the universe. Whoever knows the love of Christ for him, will know the tender considerateness that ought to be shown to a wife.

"ARRANGING A MARRIAGE"

In order to understand the truth about anything, we must go to the beginning of it. When the disciples asked Jesus a question concerning marriage and divorce, referring to certain regulations that had been given by Moses, Jesus said that these were because of the hardness of their hearts, "but from the beginning it was not so;" and then He quoted the record in Genesis.

We often read in the papers that "a marriage has been arranged" between certain parties. Now if we would know exactly how a marriage ought to be arranged, we must go to the record of those which God has planned and controlled. When God would provide a companion for Adam, He made a woman, and "brought her unto the man." There was no mistake here; the pair were made for each other, and both recognised the fact, and were satisfied.

Another striking example is found in the case of the marriage of Isaac. He was the child of promise, the heir of the promise made to Abraham, and his life was in harmony with this fact. He was forty years old, yet even at that age he did not choose a wife for himself. Even professed Christians have not been ashamed to indulge in cheap wit at the expense of Isaac, saying they should not like to have their parents choose for them; but it must be remembered that Abraham did not choose a wife for Isaac. God Himself did the choosing.

Read the beautiful story in the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis. Abraham's tried servant, who had the same faith as his master, was sent in search of the one whom God had chosen for Isaac. When the servant said, "peradventure the woman will not follow me," Abraham replied, "The Lord before whom I walk will send His angel with thee, and prosper thy way." And so it was. And after traveling a long distance, the servant halted at a well, and prayed to the Lord to show him which of the damsels that

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came to draw water was the one for his master's son. He did not pray aloud, but spoke in his heart, and even before he had finished praying, the sign which he had asked was granted.

The whole matter was arranged by the Lord, and the relatives of Rebecca, as well as Rebecca herself, recognised the fact. They said, "The thing proceedeth from the Lord; we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebecca is before thee, take her and go, and let her be the master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken." And Rebecca, when asked if she would go at once, said, "I will go." Then the return journey was made, and the servant told Isaac all things that he had done, and Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebecca, "and she became his wife, and he loved her."

"Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." Yes; also as Adam was, we are new creatures. Therefore in those two instances we have a picture of true Christian marriage, of such marriage as will be an effective safeguard against the violation of the seventh commandment.

WHO SHALL CHOOSE?

But someone will say, "How unsatisfactory, to have no courtship, no love-making, beforehand." Well, satisfaction all one's life after marriage is far better than a little brief satisfaction beforehand. "Courtship" and "love-making" are terms that should not be used among Christians. Love cannot be made, for it is of God, and has existed from eternity. We can only allow Him to shed it abroad in our hearts by His Holy Spirit. Whoever attempts to make love can produce at the best only a counterfeit. And where God is allowed to direct and indicate His choice, there is no necessity for courtship. We hear much about heresy, which means, choosing for one's self. God is the only One who has the wisdom and the right to choose. He who chooses for himself, whether in the matter of marriage or anything else, is a real heretic. Such a course shows distrust of God; it is in reality a violation of the first commandment.

When the Scriptures say that the woman was created for the man, we are not to understand merely that women in general were created for men, but that as in the case of Adam and Eve, God who knows the end from the beginning, and who writes our members in His book even before they are formed, and who has a definite purpose for each individual that is born, provides for each man a help meet for him, and will as certainly bring the two together if they will have the patience to wait, as He brought Eve to Adam, and Rebecca to Isaac. And if they are both in Him, they will recognise His choice, and find their happiness in it.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Complete Service" The Present Truth 17, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

"Please explain Luke ix. 59-62."

The text in question reads thus: "And He said unto another, Follow Me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow Thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home in my bones. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking book, is fit for the kingdom of God."

I dare say you think that this is almost heartless language, and that Jesus showed very little sympathy for human ties and human affection. How ready people are to misjudge the Lord! Always doubting, always questioning. In spite of His great goodness, of which the earth is full; in spite of His mercies reaching to the clouds, now every morning, and enduring for ever, men meet every word of His they do not understand with a challenge. Now, as of old, He is misunderstood; and men are ready to believe any evil suggestion against Him. I know that it is not so with you who are asking this question, but I am speaking of men in general. Let the Lord say anything that seems obscure, and many even of His disciples are ready to put the worst construction on it.

Here is where faith has an opportunity to manifest its power as a revealer of secrets. True faith in Christ will not only keep us loyal to Him, preventing as from cherishing the faintest shadow of a thought of distrust, but it will also open the way to an explanation of all difficulties. Through faith we understand. Thus: we know that God is good, and that Christ is the embodiment of His goodness. The life of Jesus is an exhibition of Divine compassion. He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, and whenever on this earth He saw want or suffering He was moved with compassion. Therefore we know that He could not say or do anything that would tend in the slightest degree to wound the feelings of anybody. His mission was and is "to bind up the brokenhearted."

We are accustomed to speak of human ties and human affections; but there is no real tie, no tender affection, that is not Divine. "Love is of God." It is He who instituted the family relation; and that which He has joined together He will not separate or treat lightly. There is not in any person a single feeling of sorrow or sympathy for the suffering that is not a manifestation of the Divine compassion; no "natural affection" that is not the impulse from the heart of Him who is love. Do not for a moment entertain the thought that He who at the grave of Lazarus wept in sympathy with the sorrow that He was in a moment to turn to joy, would say a word to wound the sensibilities of any mourner.

You say, "Nevertheless He did in this case; for the words, Let the dead bury their dead, would not fail to wound the heart of any mourner." I say, no; He certainly did not; for the young man to whom He spoke was not a mourner. If the father had been lying dead at home, the son would not have been away. In Eastern countries, and especially in warm climates, burial takes place almost immediately after death. A dead body is not kept in the house for days, as with us. If

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the man's father had been dead, he would have been at home burying him. The known custom of the people, together with the fact that Jesus could not say an unkind or rude thing, makes it plain that the man's request was to go home and remain until his father should die, and he could settle the affairs of the family. He knew the Gospel, else Jesus would not have called him and told him to go and preach it, and it was therefore not for him to entangle himself with the affairs of the world; the spiritually dead could attend to all that.

It is plain that if everybody who knows the Lord, and who is therefore called to preach the kingdom of God, should wait until he has settled up all worldly business, the Gospel would not be proclaimed. If the man waited until his father was dead, he would receive the property, and nothing is more natural than for a pardon to think that he could be much more free to preach the Gospel, if he had a good income assured to him, and ample provision were made to meet all his wants; but such is not usually the case. The preachers who have stirred the world with a message from God have invariably been poor in this world's goods. There was nothing to hide the fact of their absolute dependence on God; they had no uncertain riches in which to trust; and being obliged continually to recognise the direct hand of God in their support, they could with force teach others to have faith in God.

The lesson to be learned from the text as a whole is that God must have complete and undivided service. It is not an arbitrary demand on His part, but an absolute necessity. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." It is impossible for a man to plough if he is looking backward; the plough will not stay in the ground. Whoever would plough must look straight ahead at his work, paying no attention to what is behind him. So the man who puts his hand to the Gospel work, and looks back, is not fit for the kingdom of God, because he is not doing the work of the kingdom.

Those disciples who followed Jesus to the last, and who laid down their lives for His sake, left all their possessions as soon as He called them. Peter and Andrew were casting a net into the sea when Jesus said "Follow Me," "and they straightway left their nets and followed Him." Matt. iv. 18-20. They did not say, "Wait until we have finished this catch." They left their business to take care of itself, for they had a call which they could not resist. James and John, in the boat with their father, mending their nets, did not stay to complete the task, but "they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed Him." It is such prompt, unquestioning service that Jesus loves. It is not that He would have any necessary thing neglected, or that He would have anybody insufficiently provided for; but He would have everybody prove and enjoy His blessed power to supply all need.

I have in my mind at this moment a young man who, called when far away from home to go to a far more distant land to proclaim the kingdom of God, did not return home to take leave of his friends, but went at once. Others have not stayed to dispose of property, but have left their affairs for somebody else to attend to, while they gave themselves to the work to which God had called them. Such cases are not uncommon, and in no instance is the trust of such ones disappointed.

Do you say that it is "not businesslike" to leave affairs unsettled? Well, the Lord knows fully as much about business as anybody, and we may be assured that no legitimate business would suffer if He had the complete management of it. All we need is to be sure of His call. If He has certainly called us to His work, then we may depend upon it that He Himself will pick up any valuable thing which we have in our hands, and which we must drop in order to obey Him. If He hasn't yet given us a definite call to engage in the public proclamation of the Gospel, then we must not run; for God will have all things done decently and in order; but we must allow Him to be the judge of what is right and fitting. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." For "God is able to make all grace abound toward you: that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."

God looks at what a man is, and not at what he seems to be. What he seems to be is what men estimate him to be, and depends largely on the eyes of those who look at him; what he is, is the measure of the power and wisdom of God that is in him. It is not position that gives authority, but authority that gives the real position. Many a humble, poor ma, on earth, with never an official title to his name, has occupied a position really higher and of greater authority than that of all the kings of the earth. Authority is the unfettered presence of God in the soul.

"For the Children. The King's Garden" The Present Truth 17, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS

Behold the first flower of the year, cheering messenger of hope, brave little snow drop! The first to break its icy prison, to come forth out of the house of bondage, how full of promise are its pure blossoms, and what assurance it brings of all that are to follow it, till the earth shall again be full of the glory of the Lord, as it is seen in the flowers.

And in all this the pure snowdrop to a perfect picture of the first flower that blooms in the King's Garden. You know already what that Garden is, and that your own heart is a "small corner" in it. We have learned also what the seed is,-"the Word of God." And now we shall talk a little while about the first seed that God plants there, from which comes the first sweet flower as the pledge of all that are to follow it.

"I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."

When Jesus was asked, "Which is the first commandment in the law?" He answered: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength."

So when God says to us, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," this is a promise that with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul, we shall love and serve Him only.

But when our whole heart to thus given up to God, when we hear and believe this word that He speaks so us, and so receive it as precious seed into our hearts, then the sweet flower of Holiness will spring up from it. Oh, how this will please the King as He walks in His Garden; for it will be a pledge to Him of all the other fair flowers that in time He will see growing there.

Holiness means simply, being whole. So when our whole heart, our whole being, is given to God, then we shall "worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness."

But this can be only through the power of His own Word, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," for this is the seed of Holiness, and without it our heart gardens can no more bring forth the flowers of Holiness than the dust of the ground could bring forth snowdrops if no seed had ever been planted there. It is the Word of God that makes the flowers grow in the ground, and it is His Word that makes the flowers of His grace grow in our hearts.

THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE

The snowdrop is the first of earth's flowers to show us the mighty power of that Word, and its grace, and purity, and beauty. From the hard cold ground it springs, showing the power of God to bring life from the dead, to bring us "out of the house of bondage," in spite of every obstacle.

To show us the power of the seed that God plants in our hearts when He says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," He reminds us that He is the One who brings us "out of the house of bondage." Do you know what this house of bondage is?

Jesus died to "deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Sin is what brings the fear of death, so it is sin that brings us into the house of bondage, and at last imprisons us in the grave.

Do you know that each one of us must at last become like that which we love and worship? There is no God but One, for "all the gods of the nations are nothing." What then must all those become who worship anyone or anything but the one true God?-Nothing. And this is just what God says of them: "They followed vanity and became vain," which means. They followed nothing and they came to nothing.

"Whate'er thou lovest, man,
That, too, become thou must:
God, if thou lovest God;
Dust, if thou lovest dust."

God's Word tells us that the whole creation is in bondage, made "subject to vanity;" that is, it is all ready to vanish away, to disappear, and come to nothing. And all this is because man has chosen to have other gods beside the Lord. He has put himself under the power of Satan, which is "the power of death," the power to destroy, and to make things vanish away.

This is what it is to be in the house of bondage, "the bondage of corruption" it is called. And it is the power of Holiness that alone can, set no free,-the power of God which is able to make us whole again, and keep us so for ever. This is to be brought out of bondage into "the glorious liberty of the children of God."

When the cold, dreary winter comes, earth's beauty fades and disappears. Its bright flowers, and the leaves that clothed the trees, where are they?-Vanished. Bound in the bosom of the earth, all its hopes lie buried, seemingly perished.

And thus it would be indeed and for ever, but for Him who has conquered death by overcoming sin. Because He "did no sin," it was not possible for the grave to hold Him in the "bondage of corruption."

So Jesus has the power to bring the whole creation out of "the house of bondage," "the bondage of corruption," and make everything whole again. And of the

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power of His Holiness, the pure snowdrop, the first flower to cast off the shackles of the tomb, is a sweet and fit emblem.

THE HOLY SEED

In the King's Garden everything beautiful vanished away because of sin. But Jesus Christ, the Word, was made flesh, and dwelt among us, that the holy seed might again be sown in the hearts of the children of men. Even when all things are dead, and the ground is hard and bare, the power of His holiness can loose the bonds and bring new, pure life from the dead.

God says, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." And He tells us what it is that is to make this wondrous change. "Ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you." That Word which drops gently upon our hearts like the snow and the rain to cleanse us, is also the seed which will take beautiful form in the pure, snowy blossoms of. Holiness that it brings forth.

To everyone of you, dear children, God is saying, "If thou will hearken unto Me, there shall no strange god be in thee, neither shall thou worship any strange god." In these words He shows us that all we have to do is to listen to His voice, when He says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," and then He will keep away every strange plant out of His garden, and root out all the weeds of sin, and everything that He has not planted Himself. Those things will all fade away, just as the fig tree withered at the Word of Christ.

The great ugly weed of self tries to fill up all the space in the garden, and it has such showy blossoms that we are sometimes deceived into thinking it is a very fine plant. But O, when we see "the Chiefest among ten thousand, the One altogether lovely," all our love for self will disappear, and this ugly weed will shrink and wither away as we say, "Not I, but Christ." And in its place the sweet innocent snowdrops,-pure worship of the one true God with all the heart and mind and soul and strength-shall fill the Garden with "the beauty of Holiness" for the pleasure of the King, and to show forth His praises.

"God shall be first in everything:
No other gods before Him;
Creator and Redeemer King,
'Tis pleasure to adore Him.

"First when with rosy morn I wake,
His power mine eyes unsealing;
First when His bounteous gifts I take,-
His Father's love revealing."

"The Snowdrop" The Present Truth 17, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

Did you ever hear the legend of the snowdrop? It is only a fable, but fables, you know, are often like the chaff which contains the wheat, or the shell which holds the nut,-useful and good in their place as a means of preserving the seed, but quite worthless in themselves, when they have served this purpose. So let us see if we can find the seed of truth in the snowdrop's story, and then we can keep that, and throw away the shell.

Long ago, in the first winter that ever cast its gloom over the fair face of the world, stripping the trees, withering the flowers with its icy breath, hushing the songs of the birds, and casting all nature into a deathlike sleep, the snow was falling silently upon the ground, covering all that remained of beauty in its thick mantle. Eve was greatly distressed at this strange sight, and as she watched what seemed to be the destruction of all she loved in nature, she wept bitter tears.

God looked with loving pity upon His sorrowing child, and sent an angel to comfort her with a message of hope. So the angel spread his wings and sped earthward with the falling snow.

"Why weepest thou?" he said tenderly to the weeping woman.

"I weep," she answered, "because the earth is bare and desolate, and nothing beautiful remains. Where are all the flowers that I loved so well? Tell me, if thou canst, if I shall ever see them more."

The angel as he called her attention to the falling snow." "See, Eve," he said, showing her its purity and perfect beauty of form, "is not this beautiful? so white, so pure, so gentle! This is the covering which your heavenly Father in His great love spreads over the cold earth."

Then he comforted her with the promise of the flowers' return, when all nature should wake up again, refreshed by its long sleep.

But seeing the tears still shining in her eyes, he caught one of the beautiful falling snowflakes, and his touch transformed it into a lovely blossom, as light and pure as the snow. This he gave to Eve as a pledge of the return of all the flowers, each in its own season.

"This is an earnest, Eve, to thee,"
The glorious angel said,
"That sun and summer soon shall be;
And though the leaves seem dead,
Yet once again the smiling spring
With wooing winds shall swiftly bring
New life to every sleeping thing;
Until they wake and make the scene
Look fresh again and gaily green."

And as he ascended heavenward, Eve saw that where his feet had rested upon the earth, a cluster of the same sweet blossoms were springing from the cold ground.

In weeping Eve we see humanity sorrowing over its lost hopes,-all things lost through sin. But in the gentle snowflakes, falling "silently, like the footsteps of angels," we have God's messengers, telling of a future gladness. The word

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angel you know means simply "messenger," and every little snowflake comes to earth with a message from God, a message of hope and comfort for those who mourn. While it falls like a winding sheet over the seemingly dead earth, it is itself the prophecy of the glad resurrection of all things.

"Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous,
God has written in the stars above;
But not less in the bright flowerets under us
Stands the revelation of His love,"

says the poet, and this is true. But not alone in the stars of the sky and flowers of the earth are God's messages written. The beautiful star-lilies of the air are also His white-winged messengers, which tell His truth and reveal His love, when the bright flowerets have faded, and the stars of the sky are hidden. For the icy breath of winter, which makes the fields and gardens bare, freezes the drops of water into shapes of exquisite loveliness, upon each of which is written the very message of the flowers, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

And besides this precept, which is itself the promise that we shall be brought back to the lost perfection of Eden, the snow bears also the bright message of the coming spring, the promise of the springing forth again of the vanished flowers. "For the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud." So you see it is no fable that the snowflakes are turned into flowers. In sending the snow, God is really raining down from heaven a fresh supply of blossoms, of which the flower-like shape of each little snowflake is a prophecy.

And the sweet, pure snowdrop, which comes before the snows of winter are past, is the first fulfilment of this prophecy and promise. It seems as though God has made it so like the snow that we can see its relationship, and recognise it as a transformed snowflake. Thus the snowdrop is to us an emblem of the resurrection, of the restoration to purity and holiness, and the bringing back through God's Gift sent down from Heaven, His own pure and perfect Son, the Holy Child Jesus,-of everything of which sin has robbed us.

"Electrical Possibilities" The Present Truth 17, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

In discussing the noiseless possibilities of the future, the editor of the Electrical Review gives this hopeful outlook for the future:-

"In the ideal city distracting noises will be unknown, and dirt and all unclean things will be kept without its pale. Electricity is the magician that can, and assuredly will, work the change.

"This admirable day may not be so far away. Electric power stations and electric light stations are being located farther and farther away from the city's heart; the horse-car, the steam locomotive, the engine in the basement, the coal stove, are one and all being replaced by the quiet, odourless and effective electric motor, by the electric locomotive, and slowly but surely by the electric heater.

"The rubber-tired electromobile is rapidly replacing the driven horse, and will replace him not only for driving but for heavy hauling purposes.

"The awful and constant volume of sound of his unnumbered thousands of iron-shod feet hammering resounding pavements will disappear for ever, and with it ninety per cent. of the filth and odour of the street. With the passing of the horse will go also the stone pavements."

It is possible that this forecast may be realised to quite an extent in the few years to come; but it is absolutely certain that dirt, friction, noise, and confusion will never be eliminated from "the present evil world." But we look for a city whose

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pavements will be of gold, and whose walls, not for protection, but for beauty, will be "garnished with all manner of precious stones." "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination." And the whole earth will correspond to its great capital city. This transformation will not be effected by any invention of man, but by the regeneration of man himself by the operation of the Holy Spirit. God goes to the root of all difficulty and discomfort, by making man himself new. When this is done, the whole creation becomes new.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

According to the official returns, 178 people ware killed by the recent volcanic eruption in Java.

An alarming increase of the bubonic plague is reported from Hong-kong, as many as forty fresh cases occurring daily.

The total number of plague cases in Cape Town up to May 26 was 666, of which number 308 were fatal.

The Presbyterian General Assembly, meeting at Philadelphia, voted in favour of the appointment of a committee to revive the Westminster Confession of Faith.

It now appears that the violent semen which have disgraced the Austrian Parliament are due to the liquor that is consumed at the night sessions. "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise," and is therefore unfit to legislate for other people.

Trustworthy advices from Armenia state that the country is overrun by agitators who are endeavouring to stir up a rebellion. This is published in European journals, and is therefore well known; yet as soon as the rebellion breaks out we shall hear the customary tales of Turkish barbarity in the attempt to reprove it. By the classification of people as Christians and Turks, and the assumption that whatever the "Christians" do is right, and all that the Turks do to wrong, it is easy for violent men to get a reputation for Christianity.

Dr. Herzl, the founder of the Zionist movement has secured from the Sultan important concessions for his scheme for the colonization of parts of Southern Palestine by Jews. Dr. Herzl, who is supported by the German Emperor, has secured what practically amounts to internal governing rights over great tracts of land. As a beginning, Jaffa Harbour is to be rebuilt by Jewish labourers; but no immediate rush of Jews is expected. The present scheme is not in any sense a charitable one. The Jews, who have undertaken it, look for business returns an their expenditure. The new colonists are to be by no means the submerged, but the best working classes. It is not expected that many English Jews will go back.

A movement which is increasing in strength, has been started in Berlin, against the wearing of long trains and petticoats in the streets. We can wish it abundant success. The wonder is that women's innate sense of decency and refinement is not sufficient to keep them from such a practice, as nothing is more disgusting than the sight of a gown with its bottom soiled by the filth of the street which it has been sweeping.

The art of photography is already so far developed that good prints in natural colours have been produced, and patents for the invention will soon be taken out. "The results obtained are, as far as can be judged, permanent, and are of an exceedingly delicate and beautiful character, resembling as much as anything pale watercolour drawings, the colours being true to nature. All colours are secured, the reds and greens being exceptionally brilliant."

Full to overflowing as the daily papers are of reports of crime, only a small portion of the crimes committed in the world are recorded in any one journal; and it is well that it is so. It in enough to know the fact that the earth is fast becoming "filled with violence," as in the days before the flood. Reports state that in almost all the provincial towns and large villages of Russia, extensive fires have occurred, nearly all of which are incendiary. "In almost each instance these fires have been followed by an out-break of Jew-baiting, as the inhabitants accuse the Jews of arson. The military have had to be called out to protect the Jews, who are subjected to terrible persecution."

From America come the usual frequent reports of negroes burned at the stake by mobs of "respectable citizens." Altogether there seems to be a fierce spirit upon the, people, such as was never before known, indicating the approach of the end.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.

"One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty sets.

"I will speak of the glorious honour of Thy majesty, and of Thy wondrous works.

"And men shall speak of the might of Thy terrible acts; and I will declare Thy greatness."

"They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness, and shall sing of Thy righteousness."

"All Thy works shall praise Thee, O Lord; and Thy saints shall bless Thee.

"They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; to make known to the sons of mail His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom." Ps. cxlv. 3-7, 10-12.

When John in prophetic vision saw the saints of God standing on Mount Zion, he heard them sing "as it were a new song before the throne," "the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb," and the substance of it was this: "Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints." Rev. xiv. 3; xv. 3. From this we learn that that "new song," is simply the continuation of the "old, old story of Jesus and His love."

Even now God puts "a new song" into the mouths of those who cry to Him from the mire of the pit; and that new song is "praise unto our God." Ps. xI. 3. It is plain, therefore, that the new song of the redeemed in the future kingdom of glory is identical with the new song of the redeemed in the present kingdom of grace. There will be no sudden break in our lives in passing from this world to the world to come, so as to cause us to lose our identity; but the first day in the now world will be the regular step in succession in the change "from glory to glory."

"The Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord will give Grace and Glory; no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." Ps. lxxxiv. 11.

Then if you have not the thing that you long for, you may know one of two things; either that it is not good for you, or that you are not fit to possess it. Know also that in either case the present possession of it would not make you happy, for there would be such lack of harmony between you and it that you could not possibly have complete possession. If it were good for you now, you would certainly have it now; and if it be a good thing, and you do not have it now, you may be sure that you will get more good by patient waiting than by impatiently seizing it, or fretting over your deprivation.

Remember that happiness is subjective, not objective. It depends upon the individual himself, and not on any possession. If we are not happy without any desired object, we should not be happy if we had it. The really happy man is he who has learned in whatsoever stake he is therewith to be content. Such an one will enjoy the good thing when it comes to him, and no other can.

Few people know at what risk their daily comforts are secured to them; but the reality is brought very close home to us when we read of the colliery disaster in Wales, where seventy-eight miners lost their lives by an explosion. Would that everyone knew that weeping shall endure but for a night, and that "joy cometh in the morning." Soon the eternal morning will dawn, when "sorrow and sighing shall flee away," for we shall have the fulness of all His gifts without labour and trouble.

When we tell sinners of God's great love, and of the wondrous things He has prepared for them that are willing to receive, one will say, "That is too much for me to think of asking or receiving." That may be so, but you must remember that it is not too much for God to give. We could not of ourselves think of receiving anything; but God can think of giving no much as He pleases. He is a King, and therefore He must give royally. He is infinite in His greatness and love, and therefore His gifts must be infinite in extent. Think how unbecoming it would be for the great King of the universe to bestow a gift no greater than we are worthy to receive. If we think to receive only a little from Him, we are attempting to have Him act in a manner unworthy of His dignity and honour. Rather let us rejoice in His greatness, and, by taking as freely as He gives, allow ourselves to be lifted out of our low and narrow estate.

Over 200 resolutions of protest from cities, towns, and parishes of the United Kingdom have been received by the Church Association against any alteration in the language of the King's Oath. This is quite independent of resolutions passed by vestries, Free Church Councils, branches of the Young Men's Christian Association, and Orange Lodges. It is claimed that each of the 200 resolutions expresses the Protestant sentiment of the district they profess to represent.

This statement of the principle of healing, which was advocated by the late Dr. Foster, of the Clifton Springs (U.S.A.) Sanatorium, is simple truth, and ought to be understood by all: "The Lord Jesus Christ is the real Healer, and it is the work of the wise physician only to put the human being, by personal cleansings and other ways, in harmony with the ordinary laws of life and health, and so in the proper position to got well; but the Divine power alone heals, no matter whether it is directly, or through means applied." This principle necessarily excludes the use of drugs, or anything which can cause death, instead of being a conveyer of the life.

We purpose making a slight change in the arrangement of the matter in PRESENT TRUTH, and we herewith call attention to it, in order that no one may think that there hag been a blunder if he misses a familiar sight. It is evident that a weekly paper, which must necessarily go too press some days before the date of issue, cannot be a newspaper, and ills PRESENT TRUTH has never professed to be such, There are many journal devoted to giving the current news, and but few to proclaiming the good news of salvation, and this last is our mission. No newspaper gives all the happenings in the line which it publishes, and much of that which is published as news makes no one the wiser. Therefore instead of giving a column of news items, we shall publish only those events that are worth editorial comment, and will from time to time have a column of instructive items. We believe that this will add to the interest and value of the paper.

June 13, 1901

"A New Heaven and New Earth. Rev. xxi. 1-7, 22-27" The Present Truth 17, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

(Rev. xxi. 1-7, 22-27.)¹⁴1

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God; and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more; the first things are passed away. And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true. And He said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be His God, and he shall be My son."

"And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, we the temple thereof. And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk amidst the light thereof; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory into it. And the gates thereof shall in no wise be shut by day (for there shall be no night there); and they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it; and there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie; but only they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." R.V.

If one will but take the marginal references and read some of the parallel passages in the Old Testament, where the prophets speak of the glory of Jerusalem, it will be sufficient to clear away all the fog that has clouded the mind with reference to "the return of the Jews" and the restoration of Jerusalem. For instance, in the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah we have exactly the same language that we find here. Read especially verses 11, 19, 20. This one passage is sufficient to prove conclusively that the references to Jerusalem in the Old Testament, and to its restoration and adornment; mean the

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making of it entirely new, and the making of a new heaven and a new earth at the same time.

Did you ever hear of the restoration of a city that had been burned down? Well, that is just what will be done at Jerusalem; only in this case the city will be rebuilt in another place, and will be moved bodily to the present and permanent site. Christ is now in heaven, building the new city. "When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory." Ps. cii. 16. Jerusalem which now is, "is in bondage with her children; but Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." Gal. iv. 25, 26. Compare also verse 27 with Isa. liv. 1. In Zech. xiv. 1-11 we have the account of the circumstances attending the coming down of the New Jerusalem from heaven. It will stand upon exactly the same spot that the present city does, only it will be vastly larger. "For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears. The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell." Isa. xlix. 19, 20. These children will be the city's bridal ornaments. Compare Isa. xlix. 18 and Rev. xxi. 2.

There can be no question but that the city mentioned in the Revelation is identical with that mentioned by the prophet Isaiah. It is to be inhabited by the children of Israel. See Rev. xxi. 12. The new city has twelve gates, three in each side, and on these three gates are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. As when God brought them out of Egypt they camped about the sanctuary, three tribes on each side (Num. ii.) so it will be in the new earth. But no one can enter the city except through a gate having on it the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel, showing that all "the nations of them that are saved" will be branches of the family of Israel. See Eph. ii. 11, 12, 19, 20. When God saves a man, no matter of what nationality, He makes Him "an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile."

Only overcomers will inhabit that city, nor will there be any others on the earth. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things." Then will the meek inherit the earth, and delight themselves for ever in the abundance of peace. The Lord says to Jerusalem, in anticipation of its restoration. "Thy people also shall all be righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified." lsa. Ix. 21. Why should anybody, in the face of the Scriptures, insist that all the promises are to be fulfilled in old Jerusalem, marred by the curse? Why should anybody wish to have it that the restoration means only what men can do, when God says that He will buildup Zion, and when the best work that men can do is but a heap of ruins compared with the work of the Lord? Far better cease trying to do the Lord's work for Him, and hasten the time of the restoration by placing ourselves, soul and body, unreservedly in His hands, that He may make us entirely new, so that we may be fitted to inherit all new things.

All this glory of which we read is the work of the cross of Christ. By its power the new creation is affected. And the proof, the demonstration, of the fact that all things will be made new for the inheritance of the saints, is the fact that God is now at work creating new men to dwell in the new heaven and the new earth. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [or, there is a new creation]; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God." 2 Cor. v. 17, 18. Compare Rev. xxi. 4, 5. The man who has himself become a new creature in Christ, and who experiences the working of the Divine life in himself, accomplishing even in his mortal, sinful flesh that which before was impossible, can have no doubt of the reality of the new heaven and the new earth. And, on the other hand, all the power required to make all things new-new heaven and new earth-is for us now, with which to live godly in Christ Jesus. "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." 2 Peter i. 3.

This is "the power that worketh in us." Eph. iii. 20. When the new heaven and the new earth appear, when sin and sinners have been destroyed with the curse, and all the inhabitants of the land are righteous, it will be said, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them." There will then be none in whom He will not dwell. But so far as individuals are concerned, it is true now, and may be true of all; for "the Word was made flesh and dwelt [tabernacled] among us." Solomon's question, "Will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?" (2 Chron. vi. 18) is answered. He will, and He does; for Christ is with us, even in human flesh, and His name is Immanuel, God with us. Men, human beings, are the true tabernacle of God. Of Christ it is said, "He shall build the temple of the Lord" (Zech. vi. 12, 13), and this He did when He rose from the dead. John ii. 19-21. So it is by the resurrection of the dead that the temple is presented perfect and complete. Individuals may and must now be the cleansed, and glorified temple of God; but all the saints together are required to make the house of God complete. Then no one will be able to see any temple in the city, because each one will be a part of it, according to that which is written, "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." Rev. iii. 12.

A city is built up by the increase of the people. It is the people that constitute the real glory of the New Jerusalem. The joy of heaven will not be the buildings and palaces, glorious as they are, but the presence of God in His people. In His presence there is fulness of joy. Consequently the joy of heaven is for every soul now, who receives the fulness of God's presence in the Spirit. Thus heaven begins here on this earth, and everyone may breathe the atmosphere of heaven if he will. By the power of the new lives that Christians lead,-new lives physically as well as spiritually,-and by that alone, can the world learn of the reality of the world to come, and be drawn to it.

"Prison Statistics" The Present Truth 17, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

The prison statistics of Scotland show that there were 60,503 committals during 1900-39,796 males and 20,708 females the largest number of persons imprisoned in a single year. Allowing for recommittals, it in estimated that the convictions represented the offences and crimes of only about 41,600 persons, some of whom had been sent to prison fifty times and upwards.

"The Law of Life. The Seventh Commandment. (Concluded.)" The Present Truth 17, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou shalt not commit adultery."

When all the animals; were brought before Adam, for him to name them, he could not find among them a help fit for him, but when God brought Eve to him he recognised her as his complement (completement). Suppose now that out of the thousands of women that a man may see, he chooses for himself one that was not made for him, who cannot fill out that which is lacking in his life, and who is not a help fitted for him. Is it not plain that the mistake which he makes is of the same kind, though less in degree, that Adam would have made if he had chosen one of the creatures that first passed before him, instead of waiting for the one whom God made for him? This is the reason why there is as much of the animal, and so little of the spiritual in many marriages.

I would that I could speak confidentially and personally to every young person whose life is all before him, and who has it in his power to accept happiness at the hands of God, or to make shipwreck of it. There are infinite possibilities before every one, when God is allowed to order the life. Contrast, for example, the uncertainties, the doubt, the uneasiness, the misunderstandings, heart-burnings and jealousies, the fear that one may be mistaken, the wonder if the other is sincere and constant, with the calm inexpressible joy, and quiet restful peace that comes when God's choice is rocognised. The two will know that God has brought them together as surely as they know that He is their Creator. It is a common saying that the course of true love never runs smooth; but when two persons love in the Lord, their trust in each other is the same as their trust in God, and the certainly of their mutual love is the same as their certainty of sins forgiven.

THE HIDDEN WORKING OF GOD

From the microscopic world we may learn a wonderful lesson. The careful and patient observer sees under his glass hundreds of simple cells, either of plants or animals, all in constant motion. There is as much definiteness in their movements as there is in those of the thousands of men that we see passing and repassing in the streets. Watch one of them, and you may see it in its coarse approach very closely to another one, but instead of touching they separate instantly, as when two similar magnetic poles are brought together. But watch it further, and you will see it come close to another, and these two by common impulse will join and become one.

Is this accidental? If it were, why did not the first two join when they were so close together that they had to change their course in order to keep apart? No; these simple cells have no mind of their own, but God's mind directs them. In them we see God at work in His secret place; and can it be that He who guides in the union of the lowest forms of life, in bodies so small that their universe is a drop of water, will not as certainly direct in the higher creation, in beings whom He has made to rule the worlds? If in this complex being the will of the Lord is as fully done as in the simple atom, then the work will be perfect, never to be undone, for "whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it; and God doeth it that men should fear before Him."

WORKING CONTRARY TO GOD'S PLAN

Christ, referring to the beginning when God brought Eve to Adam, said, "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." Man's attempt to put asunder that which God has joined is, according to Christ's words, the committing of adultery. Suppose then, having in view the exceeding breadth of the law, we carry this matter back to the beginning. If a man does not wait God's time to bring to him the woman whom He has designed as his counterpart, we have, if not the putting asunder of what God has joined together, the keeping asunder of that which God has designed to join, as well as the joining of that which God did not purpose should be joined. What else can this be but adultery? And this is one of the commonest causes of that which man recognises as adultery. God's commandments are not directed merely against the culmination, the final act of sin, but against its inception, against everything that could possibly lead to the end. "His commandment is life everlasting," and cannot possibly have any connection whatever with death, or with anything that can end in death.

FAITHFULNESS TO GOD THE SAFEGUARD AGAINST ADULTERY

Although we are God's offspring, He says, "I am married to you." Eve was Adam's offspring, yet she was married to him. So we are to recognise ourselves as united to God, channels for the stream of life from God, and are to give diligence, to preserve that stream uncontaminated. The committing of adultery, the perversion of that life, is primarily a sin against God, so much so that any injury to any person is eclipsed by it. David, referring to his sin, not only in taking the wife of Uriah, but in causing him to be killed, said, "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight." Joseph, when tempted by Potiphar's wife, reminded her of how much confidence his master reposed

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in him, having given him absolute control of his household; and then, instead of saying, as one might expect, that he could not commit such a crime against his master, he said, "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" We have therefore only to keep God before our eyes continually, and to be loyal to Him, allowing His life to flow through us, and there will be no danger of our doing any injury to any person on earth.

THE FLESH AGAINST THE SPIRIT

It is true in the fullest sense that we are God's offspring, for there can be no life except from Him. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." It is evident, therefore, that God ought by right to have the prime control in the bringing of every new creature into existence. Otherwise there is a violation of the commandment. This is plain from the following Scripture: "Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?" "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Love of the world, union with the world, is therefore the very essence of adultery, and as ouch is forbidden by the commandment. Now we read that "the lust of the flesh" is of the world. Therefore it follows that whatever is the result of carnal desire, and not the working of God's Spirit, is adultery.

INSTRUMENTS OF GOD

Someone doubtless say: How can it be otherwise, so long as we are in the flesh? Very easily, if God is allowed to have His own way. He has given Christ power over all flesh, and "ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." We are to recognise our bodies as the dwelling-place of God, and all our members instruments of His righteousness. He is to be allowed to work in us both to will and to do. The unrighteous man is to forsake his thoughts, but only that God may think His thoughts in him, and he is to forsake his ways, that God may reveal His ways in him, "casting down . . . every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." It is not simply on the Sabbath day, but all the time, that we are not to do our own ways, nor find our own pleasure. Even now, in individuals, God's kingdom is to come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven, in order that at last it may be so all over the earth.

Now it is evident that a child born of parents living thus fully joined to the Lord, would be born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. That this is possible is seen in the birth of John the Baptist; his parents were "both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the law blameless." And he was "filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb." Read also Gal. iv. 22, 23. "It is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the freewoman was by promise." And again, verse 29: "He that was born of the flesh persecuted him that was born of the Spirit."

Here we see a direct contrast: one child born of the flesh, another born of the Spirit; and since all who are Christ's are Abraham's seed, and in Isaac is his seed called, it is plain that just such a birth as Isaac had is the right of every child, and is to be expected of every Christian parent. We might mention the case of Jeremiah, who was ordained a prophet of God before he was born, and others as well, to show that the cases cited are not more unique specimens.

THE POWER OF THE NEW BIRTH

If any say, "This is too high; we cannot attain to it," or, recognising its possibility, mourn over their grievous failures, let them be comforted with the knowledge that God is able to make all grace abound, and that He does not remember the sins of our youth, but puts them away from us as far as the east is from the west. It is possible for a man to be born again, even when he is old, so that all may be heirs of God, and of Him only. By the new birth we are delivered from all the evil inherited in the first birth, and this is the comfort that parents may have, not simply for themselves, when they think of their sinful heritage, but for the children who through their ignorance or self-will, may have been born after the flesh.

The commandments of God are not mere negative precepts, but positive assurances: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." This is a promise that the stream of God's life, if we but yield to it, will flow through us undefiled, making us in all our ways perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect. This is the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. Given free course through us, it cleanses us from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, itself remaining undefiled. For by the power of the incarnation and the resurrection of Christ, His life will, if we believe, work mightily in us to swallow up death in victory. We may then rejoice in this commandment more than in all riches, and, submitting to the everlasting life, may begin a new life, fresh and clean, and find even in this sin-cursed earth, an Eden of joy.

THE HOPE OF ETERNITY

A man makes his own surroundings, so to him who is a new creature, "old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." Now God says: "As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, so shall your seed and your name remain." So God expects and provides that every child of truly Christian parents shall also be Christian, and shall live for ever. It is the same as with those whose union has been brought about by Him. "They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble, for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them."

"A Son of Belial" The Present Truth 17, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

A Son of Belial .-The "wisdom of the East" is proverbial, and the practical good sense of the Chinese ambassador to the United States shows that the New West may still learn from the Old East. With the simple freedom of the Orient, the ambassador asked a reporter what his salary was, and the reply was one hundred and fifty dollars (?30) a week. The ambassador bluntly said: "That is too much; you are not worth more than twenty-five dollars." Soon afterward he learned that the reporter actually received fifty dollars a week, but had said one hundred and fifty in order so make an impression.

The next time that the reporter visited the Legation for news, the ambassador refused to tell him anything, saying, "You lied about your salary, and you would misrepresent what I might tell you." Then, he added, "I wish to revise my former estimate: I said you were worth twenty-five dollars a week; but you are not worth anything."

This is exactly the Scripture estimate of the man who departs from the truth wicked person is called "a son of Belial. Now "Belial" is not the name of a person, but is a Hebrew term meaning worthless, good-for-nothing. The expression is equivalent to saying that he is a good-for-nothing fellow. No matter how clever a man may be, if he knows not the Lord, who is "the Truth," he is good for nothing.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Freedom of Worship" The Present Truth 17, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

In your issue of March 28, this statement is made: "There is no land on earth share people of all sorts of religion, have more absolute freedom in the practice of their religion than in England," That was tenable, but I cannot endorse its present correctness, for although I believe no country in the world was more bigoted than Chile against all creeds, other than the Roman Catholic religion, yet for many years now, all creeds are free there. If Turks or others of the same persuasion come there, they can keep Friday as their sanctified day; so can Jews keep the seventh day, the true Sabbath according to the commandment of God; so also can professing Christians keep either the first or the seventh day so their Sabbath; but one day out of every seven must be kept, then they are free, without molestation!

The PRESENT TRUTH does not hold a brief for any country on earth; for the best government in the hands of man is imperfect, and no law made and executed by man can fail to work injustice to somebody. God alone is just, and He alone can govern so that every soul shall receive equal and exact justice, and every soul shall have absolute liberty. Therefore it is to us a matter of very little concern whether England or Chile has the freer government. As a matter of fact, however, you have not made it appear that there is less freedom in England than formerly; for the Sunday laws to which you refer, are not something new, but have been on the statute books for centuries; and whereas they were once strictly enforced, now they are practically a dead letter. It is an extremely rare thing to hear of a prosecution in England for any Sunday labour, and when there is one, the "offender" is usually let off with the smallest possible fine, or a word of judicial advice.

The fact that the laws exist, although not enforced, does indeed constitute a menace for the future, since if some calamity should come, as there certainly will, and narrow-minded zealots should imagine that the laxness of Sunday observance is the cause of the evil, the machinery is all ready at hand, with which to carry on persuasion. Still that would not make much difference, since everything depends upon the disposition of the people: if they are imbued with the spirit of liberty, they will not curtail any person's freedom, even though all the means be within their grasp; and if they are filled with bigotry and demoniac frenzy, they can easily enact laws to suit their desires, or can even make it appear that their persecuting course is according to laws which forbid it. It is never difficult for people to find or make a "reason" for anything they are determined to do.

But all this is of secondary importance. The point in your letter which chiefly shows a misapprehension of the merits of the case is in those words: "One day out of every seven must be kept, then they are free."

Now this reveals the fact that Chile, no matter how greatly it has progressed, has not yet attained to a knowledge of what constitutes personal liberty. As long as a person is not left free not only to keep any day he wishes, but also to keep none at all, without molestation, there is no real freedom of worship in a country. It is recognised as unjust to compel a man to observe the first day of the week, when he believes only in the seventh day; but it is equally unjust to compel a person to observe any day whatever, when he does not believe in the sacredness of any day. The man who does not believe in God has the same right in this world that the man has who believes the whole truth, and should be left just as free to follow his lack of convictions as the other is to follow his convictions, and to abide by the consequences, God does not compel anybody to serve Him, or to profess to do so; and for men to stop in and do so is to exalt themselves above God. Therefore those who seek to compel others to worship God are opposers of Him equally with those who deny His existence.

It should always be remembered that the sinner injures himself more than anybody else. It a man refuses to worship God, he himself is the loser; his refusal does not hinder anybody else from worshipping. And it does no good to the man, to try to compel him to worship; for the essence and sum of true religion is love, and love cannot be forced. When God bears so long with transgressors, we can certainly afford to deal kindly with them. Surely God has no need of our championship, and as for that which concerns us, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets."

"The Editor's Private Corner. God's Creatures" The Present Truth 17, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

Your answer to the question on 1 Tim. iv. 1-3, might seem correct if the text stopped there; but do not verses 4 and 5 put a different light on the subject? Can we call fruits, grains, and nuts "creatures"? If not, would it not seem that the writer of the epistle had in mind creatures (animals) slain for food? I should be very glad to have more light on this through your valuable paper.

For the benefit of any new readers, I will give a brief summary of the talk entitled, "Meats Created to be Received with Thanksgiving," in the issue of May 30.

1. The word "meats" is not in itself specific, but signifies food, no matter of what kind. It is only in modern times that the word "meat" has been considered as synonymous with flesh. Is the Bible it is almost, if not quite, invariably used to designate food in general; when animal food is referred to, it is called "flesh," or "flesh meat," to distinguish it from ordinary meat. In the ancient sacrifices, the "meat-offering" consisted of fine flour. Lev. ii. 1.

2. The text refers us to creation, in that it speaks of "meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving." So we turn to the account of creation, to find out what sort of meat it was that God created for the use of man, and we read: "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." Gen. i. 26. This shows that fruits and seeds are the meats which God created to be received with thanksgiving. Even the beasts and the birds did not in the beginning have the flesh of other animals given them to eat; for we read further: "And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and 30 every thing that creepeth upon the earth,

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wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat." Verse 30.

These two points are sufficient to clear away the misunderstanding concerning the teat. Now what about the word "creature"; does it necessarily mean a living thing-an animal?-Not by any means. Take any English dictionary, and you will find the first definition to be, "anything created," "a thing," or some similar term. The Greek word rendered "creature" in the text is applied to anything created, or to the act of creation. It means anything established, and so it, or a kindred word, is rendered "ordinance" in 1 Peter ii. 13, and "building" in Heb. ix. 11.

"Every creature [created thing] of God is good, and nothing to be refused, it is be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." 1 Tim. iv. 4, 5. Of course this must be read in connection with what precedes, and understood as referring to every created thing that God designed for food. Everything that the Word of God has sanctified, i.e., set apart, for food, is to be received with thanksgiving. Asceticism does not enter into God's plan for man.

If any one should say that "every creature," every created thing, as used in this text, must necessarily include animals, and that therefore they are to be received and eaten with thanksgiving, it is sufficient to remind him that the term "every creature" standing alone includes stones as well as animals; but no one would contend that God made stones to be eaten. Because stones were not made to be eaten, we know that they are excluded in the consideration of creatures-created things-set apart by the Word of God to be eaten with thanksgiving; and for the same reason we know that animals also are not included in this consideration.

"For the Children. The King's Garden. Forget-Me-Not" The Present Truth 17, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

FORGET-ME-NOT

Here is the little flower that is sure to follow the snowdrop, and bloom with it in the King's Garden,-sweet Forget-me,-not, emblem of faithfulness. Do you remember the seed from which comes "the beauty of holiness," of which the snowdrop teaches us? "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." The Word which follows this is the seed from which comes the beautiful flower of Faithfulness and constant remembrance of God.

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor any likeness of anything. . . . Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God."

You know that people who love each other often give love-tokens one to another to keep the loved one constantly in mind. Have you not given little keepsakes to your friends? something that they were to keep for your sake, and the sight of which was to remind them constantly of you, so that no one else should take your place in their heart. Perhaps the best thing, and the one most often given, is a likeness, an image of the loved one.

Now God wants to have and to keep always our whole hearts. He says He is "a jealous God." He knows what a sad thing it would be for us if we should choose to have any other God beside Him, so He to jealous, for our sake, to keep our whole hearts to Himself.

And so that we may be constantly reminded of Him, He gives us for a keepsake and love-token a wonderful mirror, into which we may look and see the reflection of His glory and beauty. We cannot have an image of God; He is infinite, and it is not possible that His perfections can ever be fully known. But in this mirror we can catch gleams from the shining of His glory, we can behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, and thus we may get some of the "light of the knowledge of the glory of God," as it shines from the face of Jesus Christ.

Are you not glad that you have such a mirror in which you may see something of the King in His beauty? Perhaps you did not know that He had given you this, and so you have never need it for the purpose of seeing Him. Is that so? Then let me tell you at once what it is, so that you may begin now to use it to make you acquainted with Him.

"The means, therefore, which unto us is lent
Him to behold is on His works to look,
Which He hath made in beauty excellent,
And in the same, as in a brazen book,
To read enregistered in every nook
His goodness, which His beauty doth declare;
For all that's good is beautiful and fair.

"These unto all He daily does display,
And show Himself in the image of His grace,
As in a looking-glass, through which He may
Be seen of all His creatures, vile and base,
That are unable else to see His face,
His glorious face, which glistereth else so bright,
That the angels' selves cannot endure His sight."
-Spenser's "Hymn of Heavenly Beauty."

Do you want to see the King in His beauty? You could not now bear the sight of His fall glory, but all of it that you can endure is reflected in the works of His great creation. There you may see His glory in the heavens, His smile in the glad sunshine, His power in the ocean and the mountains, His wisdom, beauty and faithfulness, His eternal power and Godhead, in all the things that He has made.

The mirror is not now so bright and clear as in the beginning when God first gave it to mankind, for sin has dimmed it, and clouded our eyes. Yet even now in it you may "behold your God," and so learn to know Him more and more, as you see Him by faith more and more clearly. And at last the veil that hides Him will be altogether withdrawn, and "thine eyes shall gee the King in His beauty."

Who could look into the mirror, and up the glory of the Lord, and then make an image, and worship the works of his own hands, the likeness of something that he had seen?-Not one. It is only when people look at all these things without seeing the glory of God reflected in them, that they begin to worship the things themselves, and make images of them.

There is something that always goes before the making of images that can be seen, and what that is Paul tells us in those words:-

"When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations." It was because of this that they "changed the-glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things."

The image must always be in the mind, before it is made so that it can be seen. But ah, how many there are who set up an image in the mind and heart, though these "vain imaginations" never take outward shape! Yet they are bowed down to and worshipped, just as much as the gods that the more ignorant heathen make.

But when we really see God, we shall love Him with our whole heart and mind. There is no room for any images in the King's Garden, for it is all to be filled with the reflection of His own loveliness.

Once the ark of God was carried into the house of Dagon, the graven image that the Philistines worshipped. Inside the ark were the tables of stone on which these words were written: "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, Thou shalt not make auto thee any graven

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image." And before the power of this Word of God, Dagon fall down from his high place, and crumbled to pieces.

So when that same Word comes into our hearts, not on tables of stone, but as a living seed, a precious promise of God, with power to work out its own fulfilment in us, all vain imaginations will be cast down and rooted out, and the Lord alone will have the whole heart garden, and everything in it shall be but the reflection of His glorious beauty.

And among His fair flowers the faithful little Forget-me-not, will bloom. In this sweet little flower; as in every other, God's voice is speaking to you. He from whom all its beauty comes is, calling to you to keep Him always in remembrance, saying, "Forget-me-not!" Then is it not a precious little keep sake from the Lord, to keep Him in your mind?

And when this sweet flower of faithfulness to the one true God blooms ever in the King's Garden, keeping out every "vain imagination," through it the King's voice will be heard by those who see it there, and they, too will be reminded of their Creator as He calls to them through you, "Forget-me-not!"

"Our Feathered Friends. Sense of Beauty in Birds" The Present Truth 17, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

The more we study the works of God, the more we become convinced that He has made nothing without a purpose. "He hath made everything beautiful in its time" (Eccl. iii. 11), and it is evident that all beauty is not solely for man's pleasure, but that birds, at least, have as keen an eye for beauty as man has. The nearer we come to God, and the better acquainted we become with Him, the more we realise the fact that, as the offspring of God, we have kinship with all creation. Then we shall no longer look upon the creatures lose highly endowed than we, as formed to be servants to man, or to be served up in in dainty dishes to tickle his palate, but as companions, and even as teachers. See Job xli. 2-10.

God has given them the same sensibilities and the same emotions that He has to us, only in smaller degree, and, considering their limitations, they often reveal His working in a more marked manner than men do. Among the creatures that rival human beings in the love of adornment, are the Bower Birds of Australia, so called because their nests are veritable arbours, as seen in the out on this page. The following description is from Chambers's Journal:-

As the courting season, beautiful and curious objects are collected together in these bowers, which are often elaborate structures, and built upon the ground, the nests being in trees. The whole account reads somewhat like a description of the crockery, bead, and tinsel houses which rustic children spread out for themselves on a dry grassy knoll on a pleasant summer day.

One of these Bower Birds takes most readily to the arranging and re-arranging of brightly coloured feathers, bleached bones, and shells. Another likes to carry round atones, even from a great distance, and assort them with shells. A third species makes use of blackberries, fresh leaves, and pink buds.

At the courting season the males dance through their glittering halls, exhibiting the most grotesque antics. In an aviary in Now South Wales the male would sometimes chase the female, picking up a gay feather or large leaf, and uttering a low whistling note.

The Great Bower Bird has been seen amusing itself flying backwards and forwards, taking a shell alternately from each side, and carrying it through the archway in its bill. The bower of the fawn- breasted species is raised on o platform of sticks, and is nearly four feet in length. The quantity of gay objects in all cases surprises the observer.

Since the habits of the Australian Bower Birds have been narrated, Dr. Beccari, an Italian traveller, has described a new one, which he found in New Guinea, called the Gardener Bower Bird. This bird chooses a flat surface beside a small tree, round the trunk of which it builds a conical hut nearly three feet in diameter at the base. The hut is formed of the twigs of a parasitical hanging orchid, whose leaves, keeping fresh for a long time, add to the beauty of the bower.

Within the hut, a quantity of moss is arranged round the trunk of the tree. There is a meadow of moss, weeded of grass and stones, and kept xcrupulously clean, before the cottage door. Gay flowers, glossy fruit, fungi as well as bright insects, captured and killed, are placed on this green turf so as to form a pretty garden. Hence the bird's name of 'gardener,' which is also its native name. When the objects fade, they are removed out of sight, and fresh ones supplied.

THE HAMMERHEAD

Mr. Layard's description of the Hammerkop, literally, Hammerhead, also named the Umbrette, is equally interesting. Specimens, of late, have been occasionally secured for our Zoological Gardens. It is somewhat like a heron or stork, has a melancholy gait, lives on fish and frogs, and is considered in Africa a bird of evil omen. It is found in Cape Colony, some other parts of Africa, and in Madagascar. Under its quiet appearance, it nourishes ?sthetic tastes. When it casts off its sober demeanour; it indulges in a fantastic dance. In a state of nature, two or three join in the dance, skipping round each other, opening and closing their wings. They breed on trees or on rocky ledges, forming a huge structure of sticks. These nests are so solid that they will bear the weight of a heavy man on the domed roof without collapsing. The entrance is a small hole, placed in the least accessible side.

In a lonely rocky glen, Mr. Layard once counted half-a-dozen of their nests, some almost inaccessibly placed on ledges of rocks. One nest contained at least a large cart-load of sticks. They occupy the same nest year after year, repairing it as required. The female is credited with the joiner-work, and the male is the decorator. On the platform outside the inner portion he spreads out all kinds of objects of verin, brass and bone buttons, bits of crockery, and bleached bones.

If a knife, pin, or tinder-box were lost within some miles, the loser made a point of examining the Hammezkops' nests. Indeed, were it not that hyenas, leopards, and jackals ranged in their vicinity, it is highly probable man's curiosity or resentment would have often extirpated these interesting artists, or at least destroyed habits founded on leisure and immunity from persecution.

After such well-authenticated instances of birds showing a taste for ornament, one is less credulous of the statement that the Baya Bird of Asia decorates its elaborately constructed nest with fireflies, much as the Creoles in the West Indies adorn their hair with them for a dance or assembly.

We have the high authority of Mr. Gould for the fact that certain hummingbirds decorate the outside of their nests with the utmost taste, fastening thereon beautiful pieces of flat lichen, the larger pieces in the middle, and now and then a fastened to placed that the surface.

The nest of our long-tailed titmouse, which some authorities tell us is a variety peculiar to the British Isles, combines beauty of appearance with security and warmth. A favourite building-place is in the midst of a clump of almost inaccessible black-thorns. The outside of the nest sparkles with silver-coloured lichens adhering to a firm texture of mass and wool. The female is know to be the nest-maker, and it takes her nearly three weeks to complete her habitation.

PERSONAL ADORNMENT

Into the question of the personal beauty of birds, insests, etc., we have not space to enter. One fact is rather striking-namely,

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that these ornaments seem as if they were meant for display. They are either found on conspicuous pods, or on parts that can easily be rendered conspicuous at the will of the animal. We never find the colours which adorn the crests, the eyes, the necks, and the tails of birds hid away, for in stance, on the under part of the wing, where they cannot be readily noticed. Indeed, as Mr. Poulton has pointed out, the wings of these species of humming-birds and Insects which vibrate so rapidly that they are invisible, lack ornament, whereas the slower-moving wings of many insects and birds retain it.

On the other hand, almost all nightbirds are either white or very sombre. Brilliant birds have the habit of congregating and waltzing, dancing, or displaying their charms. Plain birds flit into the bush, or, if they charm each other, they betake themselves to song.

Our most beautiful domesticated bird, the peacook, is so vain that its shadow on a glass door or a polished stone, or the presence of a dog in the court, is sufficient to induce it to show off.

Were it not that the magpie is so much persecuted, its taste for collecting bright objects would be more marked, as also its remarkable gatherings known as "magpie marriages." Indeed, as if to make the analogy between human and animal dandies more complete, birds always have on their finest plumes at the courting season.

Physiologists inform us that the eyes of birds are constructed so as to enable them readily to discern every shade of colour. We may now consider that it was somewhat rash in the poet to tell us that flowers were ever born to blush unseen, or thoroughly waste their fragrance, since it is well known that colour and fragrance are as advertisements to insects that sip the nectar or make use of the pollen of the flowers, and, by their visits, assist in cross-fertilisation.

It is more pleasant to believe that birds enjoy their own soup, are each delighted with the other's beauty, and take a pride in personal appearance, than to regard them as dull and apathetic to those amenities interwoven with the sweetness and grace of life.

"Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacooks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? . . Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south? Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her neat on high? She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rack, and the strong place."

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them."

"Here and There" The Present Truth 17, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

In excavating for an electric tramway in Lisbon, an old house has been discovered, which was buried in the earthquake of 1755.

Rinderpest has again broken out in South Africa. After men have exhausted their strength in warring for a country, plague and pestilence and famine, the natural companions of war, will make it not worth possession by the victor.

Lack of rain in various parts of the world makes the crop prospects for this year anything but favourable. In South Russia and parts of the Balkan States the corn harvest is reported as "practically ruined," while the results of the unfavourable weather in Hungary is that rust has begun to spread rapidly in the lower blades of the wheat.

The report of the Commission appointed by the Prussian National Economic Board to inquire into the critical state of agriculture, owing to the bad winter, states that the loss in Prussia in the wheat and rye crops amounts to over 286,500,000 marks. The distress caused by the failure is described as unexampled in the history of Prussian agriculture.

Two Russian engineers have succeeded in building a boat which combines the properties of a submarine and an ordinary warship or merchantman. It develops a speed of sixty knots an hour on the surface, and of thirty knots an hour under water. It is claimed that the passage across the Atlantic could be made by this boat in two and one-half days. Such a boat must certainly prove the most powerful factor in war.

The bubonic plague seems to be increasing in virulence, the death rate being very high. According to a telegram from the governor of Hong-kong to the Colonial Office, there were 250 cases of plague for the week ending June 1, and 207 deaths. Out of 920 cases in the first five months of the present year, 896 have died, a death rate of ninety-eight and one-half per cent. is certainly not far removed from the "noisome and grievous sore" of Rev. xvi. 2.

Of late there have been strong evidences that the Swiss people are preparing for war in times and in a country of peace. The fever of imperialism has without a doubt coursed hotly through their veins during the past few months. They have a great military strength, and fine fighting blood, and they know their power. Military man?uvers are growing daily more complex, more exacting. Every national interest is subordinated to the craze for militarism. The number of their modern implements for deadly warfare is greater than those who have not followed the rapid efficiency of their great democratic army can guess, and their knowledge of warfare may soon surprise the world. Switzerland is ambitious, and Switzerland has enemies. It is a very natural inquiry: "Is Switzerland preparing to conquer Europe?" Facts seem to point to an affirmative answer.-J. D. Miller, in the Metropolitan Magazine.

It is stated in connection with the building of a new style of ship for the Russian Navy, that since 1860, forty-three per cent. of all the new men-of-war types have been of Russian origin.

Experiments have recently been conducted by the postal engineers between London and Glasgow, with an invention by a French engineer named Mecadier, by means of which it is possible to send twenty-four separate messages at one time over a single wire. The experiments are said to have been fairly successful, and their completion waits only on some repairs to the apparatus. The adoption of this device, when perfected, ought to mean cheap telegraphic messages.

There is a severe epidemic of typhoid fever in Canning Town and the neighbouring districts of East London, and the medical officer of health for West Ham has issued a notice warning the people against eating ice-cream, and advising them also to discontinue patronising the "hokey-pokey vendor." There can be no doubt that ice-cream and oysters are two prolific causes of typhoid fever, yet the fear of disease very rarely induces anybody to forgo that which appeals to a perverted appetite. The only thing that is efficient in keeping people temperant in eating and drinking, and thus healthy, is a sense of responsibility to God, as it is recognised that the body, as well as the life that animates it, belongs to Him.

"Altogether a nice little, tight little boat," is the satisfied comment of the Church Family Newspaper upon the cruiser Euryalus, which has just been launched, and which combines the speed of the cruiser with almost the fighting power of a battleship. "She is 440 feet long, 60 1/2 feet broad, and draws only 26 feet 8 in., so that she can enter every harbour very easily. Her bunkers hold 1,600 tons of coal. She has 31 guns, which vary from the 28-tons upon, firing a 380lb. shot, to the terrible Maxim, with its power to fire hundreds of shots effective up to three miles' range. Her speed will be twenty-one knots, and she carries four funnels and two masts." Perfectly adapted to the work she is to do, but a gruesome thing, to be shuddered at, and not to be rejoiced over. War is devilish, and all the instruments of destruction are cruel and horrible.

The papers are now crowded with statements of the increase of American trade, and the extent to which it is supplanting British commerce, and it may safely be taken for granted that a good many American dollars are invested in these newspaper reports, on the election campaign principle that the candidate who appears to have the most votes will draw the more to him. It is a fact that American trade is increasing by leaps and bounds, but Great Britain is by no means declining. Comparing last year with 1891, it appears that the total volume of British trade has increased from 744 millions in the year to 878 millions. In proportion to its population, the United Kingdom is a long way ahead of either Germany or the United States, and almost equal to the two combined. German exports last year were at the rate of ?3 16s. 7d. per head, and American at the rate of ?3 15s., while those of the United Kingdom were at the rate of ?7 2s. 6d. This, however, is not a cause for boasting; "a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth," and it is even so with a nation. The vast accumulation of wealth among any people is always the precursor of degeneration and ruin.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

"Him that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust." What a blessed thing it is to have a sure refuge, a safe dwelling place-a place where one can enjoy perfect liberty! The King's Declaration and Oath may be abolished without "the religions liberty which we have so long enjoyed" being in any wise "imperilled or curtailed," as so many fear. He who has made the Most High his habitation "shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord."

The Sabbath-the very day which ancient Israel kept, and for neglecting which they were punished-was for the purpose of revealing God. He says, "I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." Eze. xx. 12. And again: "Hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Verse 12. God never does anything in vain; therefore since He gave the Sabbath to men in order that by it they might know Him, it is evident that they who disregard it deprive themselves of the highest knowledge and closest acquaintanceship with Him.

"A wise man will hear, and will increase learning." Prov. i. 5. Since the way to add to learning is to hear, that is the way to begin the acquisition of it. To what shall we listen?-To the Word of God; "for the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." Prov. ii. 6. Absolute knowledge can be gained only by hearing and heading the Word of God; for in Him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowlege." The tendency of man is to push out for himself-to carry on "independent investigations," and to "create thought"; but "the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." Nothing is knowledge, unless it is true, and truth is known only through the revelation of Him who is "the way, and the truth, and the life."

The expression, "As rich as Cr?sus" is now out of date and meaningless, for recent discoveries have established the fact that the Lydian monarch's fortune was less than two million pounds sterling, which is a mere bagatelle, compared with the wealth owned by some modern millionaires. Last week there was a reception at the American Embassy, to the American business man who have been paying a visit to the London Chamber of Commerce, and the wealth represented was estimated at five hundred million pounds sterling. There are men to-day whose yearly income is several times as much as the entire possessions of Cr?sus. These are the days of wealth and degeneration.

What is called a "promising and practical scheme for promoting temperance" has been inaugurated by Earl Grey, in the establishment of a Public-house Trust Company in Northumberland. The idea is to eliminate as far as possible the element of private profit from the retail sale of intoxicating liquors. The company seeks to lease or purchase existing public-houses, and to acquire licenses where now ones are to be granted, and to furnish tea, coffee, and temperance drinks as readily, when called for, as beer or spirits. It is proposed to establish similar companies in every county in England, Wales, and England; and "it is hoped that this arrangement will aid in deposing intoxicants from the objectionable prominence into which, from motives of profit, they are pushed in the ordinary public-house." It is a project of doubtful value. Alcoholic liquors will intoxicate the man who drinks them, regardless of who mates the profit on them, or whether it be little or much.

It is stated by those who have visited the place, that the Casino at Monte Carlo is completely unventilated. "Not a breath of fresh air is admitted, and the atmosphere is stifling." It is said that there is a purpose in this, the foul air lending to make the minds of the gamblers less acute, while at the same time the poison promotes the gambling frenzy. One says of those present, "Everybody was deadly pale, and looked more or less dazed." Satan knows in what condition house devoted to his service; thing that too often Christian people allow him to control the ventilation of the house of God. Satan's object is to intoxicate and stupefy; God is best served by men in the fullest possession of their senses, and to this end an abundance of His life-giving breath is necessary.

The question of the use of tobacco by women is receiving considerable attention at present, and it appears that smoking by women is greatly on the increase. The Daily Mail has been publishing correspondence on the subject, and not a few women have boldly championed the filthy and poisonous habit. It is said that "a lady of fashion no longer apologises to her guests for lighting a cigarette after dinner," but it must of course be understood that there are many exceptions.

"Four of the leading physicians in Paris have recently joined the French Anti-Tobacco League, and one of them, Dr. Legrix, when approached on the subject condemned the fashionable vice in the most emphatic terms.

"He said that the habit of smoking is not confined to one class of woman, but is becoming common among all ranks, and is indulged in by both young and old.

"Asked as to the cause of this, he said it was due to lack of occupation among women of the world, imitation in others, to feebleness of will, and to ignorance of its effects. But the consequence in nearly every case is the same. They quickly become slaves to the vice, and the result is general social decadence."

This also is a factor in the hastening of the end of the world, since its effect must inevitably be detrimental to the race. Children have hitherto been born with diminished physical stamina, on account of the use of tobacco by men; but when its use by women becomes prevalent the evil effects will be multiplied. The Lord must come ere long, else vice and ignorance of the laws of life will exterminate the human race.

"Many are suffering in consequence of the transgression of their parents. They cannot be censured for their parent's sins, but it is nevertheless their duty to ascertain wherein their parents violated the laws of their being; and wherein their parents' habits were wrong, they should change their own course, and place themselves, by correct habits, in a better relation to health."

June 20, 1901

"Why Does Sap Ascend?" The Present Truth 17, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

Prof. S. H. Vines, president of the Section of Botany in the British Association, referred in a recent address to the force by which water is raised from the roots to the topmost leaf of a lofty tree, and remarked that it must be regretfully confessed that one more century has closed without bringing a solution of the old problem of the ascent of the sap. One of the suggested expIanations requires that in a tree 120 feet tall the transpiration force must equal a pressure of 360 pounds to the square inch. But Professor Vines says, there is no evidence that a tension of anything like such an amount exists in a tree.-Youth's Companion.

There would be no trouble whatever in solving this problem if it were not thought necessary that a "scientific" explanation must ignore the presence of God, and find the cause of any given phenomena in the object in which they are seen. That is to say, the almost universal tendency is to eliminate God as Creator, and practically to deify creation, making it self supporting, which in reality means self-existent, although few stop to think that the terms mean the same thing.

It is a fact that an analysis of the common idea of creation, even among Christians, really denies that God is Creator. People regard Him as having been Creator, but their thought does not embrace the fact that He is Creator now. It ought not to be difficult to see that it is not enough to admit that God once created all things, and then endowed them with power to maintain their own existence, and automatically perform the functions of nature. That is simply to admit that He once was Creator, and it transfers the creative power from Him to the created thing. This is the subtle way in which heathenism begins in the hearts of those who know God, who at Iast worship and serve the creature instead of the Creator.

God is Creator just as surely now as He has ever been. It is not necessary to consider Him as continually engaged in starting some new world; but His work as Creator is manifest just as much in continually upholding that which He has made, as in the original production of it. In Christ all things were created, and in Him they all hold together: "In Him we live and move and have our being," and this is true of all things that live or move or have a being, animate as well as inanimate.

If we keep in mind the truth stated in Scripture, that "all flesh is grass," and the repeated statements that men are God's planting, to be "trees of righteousness," and that even in the new earth the days of God's people are to be as those of a tree, we have the key to the solution of the problem as to how sap ascends in a tree. It is exactly the same as the problem how blood circulates in the human body.

To be sure, in this latter case we have the action of the heart as the immediate cause, but to say that the heart causes the blood to flow is no explanation at all. It is the same as saying that an iron pump causes water to rise from a deep well. But what causes the pump to act? What causes the heart to beat, forcing the blood

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out to the extremities of the body. It itself is dependent on the very blood which it transmits. Back of and in all vital phenomena God's personal presence and constant working must be recognised, or else we make the living thing take His place.

The statement, "In Him we live and move and have our being" is most literally true. God is the life of every living thing, the supporter of everything that has form or existence, just as everything first proceeded from Him. Christ is the Beginning; and all things continue only because the Word which was in the beginning with God, and which was God, by whom all things were made, continues today the same life that at the first gave existence to the visible creation.

At another time we shall show so clearly that no one can fail to see it, the truth which we here merely state, that the heart of the self-existent God beats for the universe, and that the blood which circulates in our veins and arteries comes directly from Him to us. Our hearts are but the agents which He employs after He has furnished us with the necessary supply. The unborn child is no more dependent on the life of the mother than we are upon God. "In Him we live." The river of life flowing from the throne of God,-from the slain Lamb in the midst of the throne (Rev. xxii. 1; v. 6),-comes from the very heart of God; it is the same stream that flowed from Christ's side on Calvary; for the only begotten Son "is in the bosom of the Father." John i. 18. The Fountain of Calvary still flows freely for all, and it is this, when received in faith, that cleanses from all sin.

But the life that is given to us, to make us "partakers of the Divine nature," and to raise us to the heights of God's throne, is the very same life that is bestowed to make every created thing perfect "after its kind." It is the life of the tree of the field, as well as of the human tree planted in the house of the Lord. The flowing of the sap through the roots and trunk and branches of a tree, is but a single item in the great circulatory system of all creation. God, who is "the Fountain of living waters" (Jer. ii. 13), sends the stream forth continually, and unceasingly it returns to Him to be sent forth again. He draws the drops of water to Himself, to let them drip down as rain, which becomes the sap of the tree. Job xxxvi. 27, 28, R.V. The rain which waters the earth, and makes it fruitful, comes from the river of God, which is full to overflowing. Ps. xlv. 9-11. All can see that the rich juice stored up in the cluster is but the sap which the roots of the vine drew up from the earth, and Jesus Himself has told us that the fruit of the vine is His blood; for He is the true Vine, the life of all vines and of all trees.

Can anyone say that this does not afford a perfect explanation of the cause of the flow of sap in the trees? To the thoughtful, reverent mind it offers the most complete and satisfactory explanation possible, because it gives a real cause. Best of all, it emphasises the nearness of God, and gives us everlasting hope and courage. It literally strengthens the heart. There is true science in the Gospel, even as there is no true science which does not reveal the way of salvation.

"Remember that thou magnify His work,
Whereof men have sung.
All men have looked thereon;
Man beholdeth it afar off,
Behold, God is great, and we know Him not,
The number of His years is unsearchable."

"Lynching as a Public Past-time" The Present Truth 17, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

The lawless execution of criminals, and of supposed criminals, is becoming so common in the United States that some thoughtful people are beginning to wonder what the end will be. As a matter of fact, Lynch Law is "government by the people" literally carried out, and is the natural result of long-continued teaching that it is the right of "the people" to rule. The following article copied by the Chicago Tribune from the Macon, Georgia (U.S.A.) Telegraph, tells some startling facts, and vividly suggests what will undoubtedly be the custom of the country not far in the future, just before the coming of the Lord, when, as in the days of Noah, the whole earth will be filled with violence:-

If the present tendency be not checked, the custom of lynching a particularly obnoxious criminal by fire promises to become as popular a spectacle in the United States as the bloody bull fight is in Spain. The growing boldness of the lynchers and the continually greater publicity of their hideous performances are appalling.

The Colorado burning was, we believe, the first that was witnessed by women. The affair at Leavenworth, Kas., was not only witnessed by women but by school children, and was allowed to proceed without interruption within the limits of a large city. The burning in Terre Haute, Ind., another city of considerable size, was similar in all respects, and in addition the leaders of the mob seemed to court notice. This is evident from a picture taken while the excitement was at its height, and which was reproduced in the Terra Haute newpapers. "Instead of trying to hide their identity in any way," we are told, "the lynchers stand boldly out," and one of them, perceiving the photographer, "even removed his hat, as if anxious for notoriety."

The climax in this ascending, or, it were better to say, descending, scale is reached in the more recent affair at Corsicana, Tex. It appears that the whole county turned out, if the reports are to be believed. "It was a county event," says one correspondent, "in which every resident who could took part. From early morning, when the negro was taken from the officers, until noon runners were travelling through the country districts telling of the punishment that was to be inflicted upon him and inviting spectators. Store and farm work was stopped and people poured into town by hundreds. They came in all sorts of vehicles from an ox cart to the special train of seven cars, all crowded, that was run from Ennis."

From all this it is but a step to a legitimate public spectaele in a great amphitheatre with handsome private boxes for the wealthy and tickets advertised a week in advance. For this last affair was recognised by a local representative of the law as altogether proper. H. G. Roberts, justice of the peace and Acting Coroner, put himself on record with these words. "I find that the deceased came to his just death at the hands of the incensed and outraged feelings of the best people of the United States, the citizens of Navarra and adjoining counties." What is to be the result of this startling evolution of the lynching mania? Are mobs henceforth to supersede the courts in all grave cases?

"The Foundation Stands Sure" The Present Truth 17, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

The New York correspondent of the Christian World, writing concerning the struggle in the Presbyterian General Assembly over the revision of the creed, says that no one seemed anxious to defend any tenet which the committee had marked for revision, but that many opposed revision, as being a dangerous proceeding, as no one could foresee the end of it, and adds: "No anthropologist regards the Adam and Eve in Genesis as the parents from whom all mankind inherit evil. No scholar regards the story of Eden as historical." If that be so, we are more than content to be considered unscholarly. The PRESENT TRUTH exists only on the basis of the literal exactness of the entire book of Genesis. When the first three chapters of Genesis are repudiated, the entire Gospel is undermined. However, the sapping and mining done by men cannot shake God's Word; for "the foundation of God standeth sure."

"The Law of Life. The Eighth Commandment" The Present Truth 17, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou shalt not steal."

There are very few people who need to be told that it is wrong to break into a shop and rob a cash-box; that burglary, house-breaking, pocket-picking, and so forth, are criminal and sinful acts. These are all recognised as vulgar crimes, and because of this many suppose the commandments that forbid such things are out of date, so far as Christians are concerned, and that Christianity has outgrown them. Many people have said: "What do we need of the commandment, 'Thou shalt not steal'? Everybody knows that stealing is wrong. Even a savage shows, by his attempt to conceal a theft, that he knows that it is not the right thing." But we must again repeat that the commandment is exceeding broad, surpassing man's highest thought of perfection. While all, with the possible exception of some who from infancy have been trained to theft, know that the grosser acts, of which the civil law takes notice, are sinful, there are very many professed Christians who in their daily business violate the eighth commandment without the slightest compunction.

THE PRACTICE OF THE MAJORITY

It is not an uncommon thing for people to charge different prices for the same goods; to expose one class of goods for inspection, and to deliver an inferior quality; to take advantage of a customer's ignorance; or in various other ways to get more than the annual worth of a thing sold. Everything of this kind is just as really stealing as to pick one's pocket of his purse; yet it is continually condoned on the ground that it is "business." The fact that "everybody does it" seems to many business men, even though they be professed Christians, to be sufficient justification for any act. They seem to have the idea that if the majority of people are united in any practice, the Lord will regard it as right, even though it is wrong in itself.

Indeed, not only with respect to this commandment, but with all the others, the general custom of the people is of paramount weight with very many. Call attention to a wrong practice, and the reply will be, "Everybody does it;" or present some requirement of the Divine law, and they will say, "Nobody does that nowadays," thinking that they have thereby settled the matter. But the Lord says, "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." (Ex. xxiii. 2); and, "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished." Prov. ii. 21. Much of the "business" that is done in this world is the devil's business, and will not stand the test of heaven: "Whatsoever ye would that man should do to you, do ye even so to them."

"BUSINESS METHODS." "MAKING A LIVING"

The false idea that it is the business of every man to "make a living," leads to many thefts, both small and great. Competition is very keen, and there are many engaged in business, who have no conscience of right or wrong, who fear not God, neither regard man, The unscrupulous customs which they have introduced into various lines of business, have led many Christian people little by little to lower their own standard. The desire to compete with their rivals, and to keep business, has blunted their fine perception of right and wrong, until things that would once have shocked them, now seem to be right and necessary.

By the term "business methods," men commonly understand something different from the somewhat old-fashioned principles laid down in the Bible. Business and religion are thought to be two separate things; and inasmuch as men are exhorted to be "diligent in business," men persuade themselves that whatever is "business" is correct. They forget that at the same time that they are "diligent in business" they are to be "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." The sole business of all man is to serve the Lord. "Fear God and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man; for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

God makes it His business to give us a living, and He alone can do it. It is a grave error to suppose that a living can be made out of methods which have death in them. Every sin, every deviation from the law of God, has death in it, and can end only in death. Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life." Therefore only the way of truth, Christ's own way, can give life, or in other words, give one "a living."

NON-PAYMENT OF DEBTS

If one puts his hand into another's pocket or cashbox and takes money, that is universally recognised as stealing. It must be evident that there is no less sin if one finds money belonging to another, and appropriates it. Likewise if one is entrusted with money to deliver to another, and he fails to do it, but uses it himself, this is also stealing, equally with the other, although it is sometimes designated by a milder

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term. What is the difference, then, if one has received from another goods or service, for which be owes a certain amount of money, and he fails to pay the debt? No matter now men may regard it, or what the law of the land may say about it, the fact remains that it is a direct violation of the eighth commandment. The Saviour's quotation of this commandment was, "Defraud not,"-deprive no one of that which is his due; so the convenient way some people have of forgetting to pay their debts is a transgression of this commandment. The Bible way is to pay a thing just as soon as it is due.

Some one will say, "One cannot always have by him the means wherewith to pay a debt." Very true, and this emphasises the necessity for the apostolic injunction, "Owe no man anything." If people realised that failure to pay a just debt is a violation of God's law, and if they had a proper sense of the sacredness of the law, they would not order things for which they cannot pay. You again might say, "I go in debt only for the actual necessities of life; if I have no food in the house, and no money, I cannot see my children crying for bread, when the baker will trust me." That is exactly the argument that some people use for taking money without leave. In either case it is lack of trust in God. Anyone who, because he is in need, incurs a debt which he has no prospect of paying, cannot condemn the act of stealing under pressure of need.

If people would, in fear of the commandment which says, "Thou shalt not steal," refuse to incur a debt, no matter what the need, they would enjoy some wonderful experiences of what God could do in supplying their need. He knows what His children need, and He says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." But when men reverse the order, seeking first to provide for themselves, they shut God off from bestowing upon them the riches of the kingdom. It is impossible to lay too much stress on this feature of the violation of the commandment.

If one has money laid aside for some specific purpose, it is very tempting and very easy to use it for something else. Of course this would be all right if it were simply that one were purposing to purchase a certain thing, and should use that money for something else instead; but it is far from being right; when the money thus laid aside is due to another. Thus: When one's rent is due quarterly, the only way that people with small incomes can be prepared to pay it, is by laying aside each week the weekly proportion. Even though the rent technically be not due until the close of the quarter, it is really due each week; and if the money be used for food or clothing, or worse yet, for pleasure, so that the sum is not ready by quarter day, there is a direct transgression of the commandment. One has appropriated that which is not his own. The money laid aside week by week belongs to the landlord, as much as though it were already in his pocket. The fact that we are allowed to keep it in our possession for a time, does not give us any more right to use it than we would have to use an equal amount that some other tenant had entrusted to us to pay to the landlord on his account.

WHAT WE OWE TO THE WORLD

To all of us the Scripture says, "Ye are not your own." The whole law of which the eighth commandment is a part, is summed up in these words: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself." Love means service. The fact that we are not our own, but belong to the Lord, who not only has made us, but who has redeemed us, shows that our service belongs to Him. The Apostle Paul recognised this when he said, "There stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve." So the law requires that we shall serve the Lord with all our soul and strength and mind.

But we cannot do anything directly for the Lord. He is not in need of food or clothing, and we could not supply Him if He were. But He has shown us how to render service to Him. His life is given to the world; therefore He says that every service rendered to man is done to Him. We are exhorted, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." To perform our daily labour with all the strength of body and mind that we have is, it done in the fear of God, to love and serve the Lord with all our strength. So the Apostle's exhortation is, "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service as man-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God; and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ."

Strength is more than money; therefore if one serves with less than his full strength, or is content to do poor work, on any pretext whatever, he is just as surely guilty of fraud as though he kept back money that belonged to another. The commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," requires us always to give our best strength, and to do our best work. It is a sin and disgrace for a professed Christian to do poor work.

This does not mean that anybody can at once be master of his business, but it does mean that one should always do his best, and always be striving to improve himself, and that he should not assume to be able to do what he is not. If a man be a carpenter, for instance, and someone entrusts work to him expecting him to be a skilled labourer, and he spoils the job, putting his employer to additional expense because of his incapacity, it is fraud.

People often excuse themselves for slack work, on the ground that they are receiving very small pay; but this is no excuse whatever. Our duty is to do with our might, in the best possible way, whatever we have to do, regardless of the wages received. We owe ourselves to God, and through Him to the world. If we hold back any part of ourselves, we are guilty of robbery. The debt has already been incurred, and we are to work in recognition of it. The wages we receive are not to be considered an equivalent for our labour, but as a gift from God.

Labour is life, and money is no equivalent for life. He who works only for what he gets, and who says that he is rendering sufficient service for the small wages he receives, has a very low estimate of the value of his life. If his work is really worth no more than the money he receives, he is robbing God of strength duo Him, and so is robbing the world of service that he ought to render; for, contrary to the common idea, "the world owes me a living," we owe to the world the living which God has already given us in advance.

(To be Continued.)

"The Editor's Private Corner. The New Birth-A Spiritual Man" The Present Truth 17, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

Please be so kind as to write something about Christ's words to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born anew [from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God." What is it to be born of the Spirit? How can a man be sure that he is no longer carnal, but spiritual?

It certainly will not be expected that one short article will exhaust this great subject, or that it will at all explain how a man can be born again. The first birth is a mystery beyond the knowledge of the wisest man (Eccl. xi. 5), and it cannot be repeated that the new birth will be any less wonderful; but we may know the fact, just as truly so we may know when a child is born into the world; or when the invisible wind blows. Without any pretence of giving any systematic study of the new birth, I will here simply note a few features.

OUR NATURAL INHERITANCE

We well know that all we have by nature we inherit from our parents. Our dispositions, our various traits of character, even our features and our manner of walking and talking, are transmitted to us by birth. Sometimes a child has characteristics not found in either parent, but found in a remoter ancestor, but the fact remains the same-everything has been transmitted through the parents.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John iii. 6), and "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption" (1 Cor. xv. 80), for "they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. viii. 8), because "the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Gal. v. 19-21.

It is not that God will not allow such ones to inherit His kingdom, but they cannot; they could not endure the atmosphere and surroundings. It would not be so difficult for a fish to live in the air, or a bird to live under water, as for a carnal man to live in the kingdom of the Spirit; his nature is not adapted to the conditions.

A NEW NATURE

Yet "it remaineth that some must enter therein." Heb. iv. 6. To this God has pledged Himself by an oath, staking His own existence on the result. It follows, therefore, that all who enter therein must receive a new nature; and for this God has provided means that will produce the result as inevitably as the means provided for the first birth, and a great deal more surely, because there is no possibility of failure, since all depends on God, and human frailty is no factor in the product. Christ "came unto His own, and His own received Him not; but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John i. 11-13. The Divine power of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ "hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that bath called us to glory and virtue; whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2 Peter i. 2-4.

God is, and of Him are all things. "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honour and the power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they were, and were created." Rev. iv. 11. In Christ were all things created; "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." Col. i. 16, 17. The everlasting God has been "our dwelling place in all generations." Ps. xc. 1. "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job xxxiii. 4. It is literally true that "in Him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 28.

ESTABLISHING CONNECTION WITH ETERNAL REALITIES

From the scriptures quoted in the last two paragraphs, it will be seen that in order to be born again, from above, instead of from beneath, it is only necessary to believe and hold fast to things that are, that is, to come consciously in touch with the eternal. Take the one truth: "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." This states our actual relation to God: we are in Him, in His bosom, just as truly as the unborn child is in the body of its mother. When the child is born, it has an independent existence, so far as its natural parents are concerned. They might die at once, and still it could live and flourish. This is because God lives, and He is the "one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all." We can never have an existence independent of Him. Down to old age and grey hairs, and even throughout eternity, we must be in Him, if we exist at all. He lives for us, even as He died for us. He lives, in order that we may live.

NO INDEPENDENT EXISTENCE

Now this is a truth as regards all mankind; but it is necessary for us to realise it, in order for it to be at practical use to no. "We are His offspring," whether we believe in His existence or not; but it is only as we cease declaring our independence; and do not try to live by and for our own will, and to manage ourselves, and submit unreservedly to God, that we become in the fullest sense "heirs of God." "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, His servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Rom. vi. 16. But, as shown in the parable of the prodigal son, as soon as we acknowledge ourselves to be His servants, wholly submissive to His will, He acknowledges us as His sons. Then a new relationship begins-new simply in that for the first time we know the reality of "that which was from the beginning."

THE ALL-PERVADING SPIRIT

Christ "ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things." Eph. iv. 10. The Spirit of God brooded over the face of the abyss in the beginning, and brought order out of chaos; and the same Spirit still fills all space, and is the power of cohesion even in the heart of the earth. Ps. cxxxix. 7-10. When we acknowledge that in God we live, and move, and have our being; that He is our life; and that we do not belong to ourselves, and that as we did not bring ourselves into being, and have no power to continue our existence a single moment, we have no right to make any movement of our own will,-then we begin to know "the riches of the glory" of our inheritance. The same Spirit that knit us together when we were "curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth," will make and keep no new creatures. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature."

It is in death that the everlasting union between us and Christ is effected. Our lives are forfeited; we cannot render to God that which is His due. But we may anticipate the execution of the death penalty. Instead of waiting until our life is taken from us by force, we may voluntarily deliver it up, even as Christ did His. This is no mere figure of speech; for to give up our lives, our own will and ways, involves often a greater struggle and greater pain than to consent to go to the gallows or the stake. As soon as we do that, God has unhindered and unlimited control. We have yielded up our lives to the law, and we are reconciled to God; because the sinoffering has been made and accepted.

THE TRUE SIN-OFFERING

What is the true offering for sin? Read Heb. x. 4-7: "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me; in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." A man may give is thousand sheep; but the sheep have not sinned, and even if they had, they are not the man himself, and so cannot take away his sin. He may even give his firstborn for his transgression; but even the fruit of his body is not his body; and his sins have been done in the body. Therefore nothing less than himself, his body, can be of any value in putting away his sin.

Will this do it?-Certainly, because this body of mine, that body of yours, every body in the world, is Christ's own body. Each individual body was made for the Spirit of Christ to occupy. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. Our bodies were formed for Christ to dwell in and do the will of God; and the proof that He can do it is given in that the Spirit of God took possession of the virgin Mary, doing to her according to His will, and in the body that was prepared Christ did the perfect will of God. What He has done, He can do, for He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Heb. xiii. 8. When we offer ourselves to God, we are really offering the body of Christ, which is accepted; and we can say: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Chriet liveth in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. ii. 20.

Our knowledge of "the power that worketh in us" (Eph. iii. 20)-the everlasting power that works in every created thing,-and our trust in it, makes this a reality. If we believe "the exceeding great and precious promises," the new birth is accomplished by the Lord Himself; for by believing we receive Him who gives us power to become the sons of God,-heirs,-partaking of His nature each moment, just as from our earthly parents we inherit their nature once for all.

TRANSFORMED BY A NEW MIND

Now we may better understand Rom. xi . 32-36; xii. 1, 2: "For God hath concluded [shut up] them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God I how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."

The mind is the measure of the man. It was the mind that was in Christ Jesus, that made Him an acceptable sacrifice. Phil. ii. 5-9. The Word, which was in the beginning with God, and was God, became, flesh, and dwelt among us, (John i. 1, 14), and therefore He has "power over all flesh." John xvii. 2. When we have in us the mind that was in Christ, which takes place as soon as we give the Word free course in us, it controls our flesh. Then we are no more in the flesh, but in the Spirit. The body of flesh exists, it is true, and is still sinful and corruptible; but the Spirit is sufficiently strong to control it, and do His own will in it and through it, keeping all its passions and evil desires perfectly in check. Thus the natural body is compelled to serve the Lord as completely as the spiritual body will.

OUR ASSURANCE

How then shall we know of a surety that we are born again?-"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Rom. viii. 16. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself" (1 John v. 10), because believing on the Son, as we have seen (John i. 12), is receiving Him into the soul.

The difference between the natural man and the spiritual man, then, is simply this: In the carnal man, the flesh controls the mind, while in the spiritual man the mind controls the flesh. It is impossible for any mind but that of God to control the flesh and its impulses. Our own minds, our will, are but the mind and will of the flesh, and are powerless.

The flesh would, and often does, make us believe that our desires are the will of God; our passions cloud our intellect; but we need not be deceived. If we are sincere in our submission to God; desiring that His will, and His only, shall be done in us, we shall "prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." When the mind of God is our mind, God's Spirit using our brain as the instrument of His own thought,-the mind will surely control the body, and we shall have come "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." The next step in the transformation will be the changing of "the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to

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subject all things unto Himself." Phil. iii. 21. This will be at the coming of the Lord. Then there will be no more inconvenience; but we shall have a body which will offer no resistance to the will of God. Now, however, are we sons; and God will demonstrate His mercy and His power, and vindicate His righteousness before all the universe, by demonstrating that He can work that which is good and well pleasing in His sight in a corruptible body as well as in an incorruptible one.

"Our Little Ones. The King's Garden" The Present Truth 17, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

Has not the bluebell a sweet story? Though the poem on the next page is but a fable, yet it teaches what should be, and is, the true story of the flowers in the King's Garden. For each little "King's Garden" on earth is a tiny bit of heaven, where the brightness and beauty of Jesus, "the Bright and Morning Star," is reflected.

And this brings us to the next seed which the King plants in His garden-the seed of reverence and adoration, which brings forth the perfect flower of a faultless character.

Remember as you read this third commandment, that each command of the King is a seed sown in His Garden, the hearts of His children; for "the seed is the Word of God."

"Thou shalt not take the Lord thy God in vain."

Read this carefully, and you will see that it, like the first and second commandments, is a promise. It is our Father's promise that we shall not take His name in vain.

What is it that marks one as the child of his earthly parents? It is the likeness that he bears to them. Their image is stamped upon him, and becomes more and more plain as he grows, causing him to be recognised as their child. Their name is written upon his face, their voices are heard in his tones, and their character is seen in his actions.

It is vain indeed for us to take upon us the name of the King as a mere outward sign, to call ourselves by His name-Christians-if the flowers that grow in our heart gardens do not reflect His beautiful image, and breathe out His sweet fragrance.

But here is the King's own precious promise that we shall not take His name in vain, or, for nothing. So if we let this Word come as seed into our hearts, it will, as it springs and grows up, write His name upon us in living characters that all may read. Then we shall be among the happy and glorious company that John saw standing upon Mount Zion, "having the Father's name written in their foreheads."

And the bluebell's little story teaches us how this is brought about. How did the bluebell get its soft, clear blue colour, and the reflection of the glorious star in its bosom? It was by looking and loving. The beauty of the blue sky, and the radiance of the lovely star, attracted its gaze ever upward, and the more it looked, the more it loved. The love thus awakened and increased made it want to keep on looking, and the more it loved the more it looked. It looked and loved, and loved and looked.

"Whate'er thou lovest, man,
That, too, become thou must."

So the lowly little flower lost itself,-its own characteristics,-in love for the blue heavens and the bright star which shone above it, ever in its sight, till at last it became but a little mirror in which they were reflected.

Notice how the beautiful flowers that grow in the King's Garden follow each other as naturally as the flowers of spring. Each one seems to be the result of the one going before it, until the full glory of the summer pours forth its sweetness in tender homage to the King.

First come the pure snowdrops of holiness, which must be followed by the faithful forget-me-nots. For to be holy is to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind;" but when all the heart and mind is given to God it is impossible to forget Him. He must be ever in the thoughts, and no image or likeness of anything else, no "vain imaginations," can take His place in the heart.

But we cannot give our whole heart and mind to the Lord and think constantly of Him, without being filled with adoration and loving worship of His matchless beauty. How, then, could we speak lightly of "that Glorious and fearful Name," "the Lord thy God"? How could we take it thoughtlessly upon our lips in vain, for no purpose?

As we look into that wonderful mirror we told you of last week, and got glimpses of His glory, as we learn of Him through the sweet story of His life that He has given us in His Word, we shall reverence and worship Him as "the One altogether lovely." The more we look, the more we shall love, and the more we love the more we shall look. And what will be the result? Let the bluebell tell us?

"The patient child whose watchful eye
Striven after all things pure and high,
Shall take their image by and by."

By beholding we become changed. So our constantly looking to Jesus will write His name upon us, and we shall grow into His image, as the lovely flowers grow.

In the second commandment God tells us that we are not to have any image or likeness of anything to take His place

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And then in the third He promises that we shall bear His own perfect image, telling His name by our faultless characters.

You know that the beauty of this world all comes through the sun. It is this that paints the flowers with lovely colours, and gilds everything with the glory that God has put upon it. And this is to teach us that all the beauty in the King's Garden comes from the glorious face of "the Sun of Righteousness," and is the reflection of His own beauty, the revealing of His image, the spelling out of His name.

As the bright sun looks down from the heavens, shining into all the corners of the earth, that it may beautify and glorify everything with its own brightness; so the true Sun, the light of all the worlds, sheds abroad throughout the whole earth the boundless love of God, to stamp His Divine image upon all who will turn their faces towards Him, and look unto Jesus.

Every child can tell what is the last part of the third commandment; but perhaps you have not seen the beautiful promise that is in it. "The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."

You know what guilt is, do you not? It is the stain of sin. Now of all those who have the Father's name written in their foreheads, we are told that "in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God." So when God says that we shall not take His name in vain, He is promising to make us guiltless, "without fault." He will "hold him guiltless" who does not take His name in vain, for His own perfect likeness will be seen in all such.

Yes; by looking unto Jesus, all our faults will be look; they will disappear, and His graces will take their place, as the star was imaged in the bluebell's chalice.

Then is not this a wonderful seed, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain"? Is it all that is needed to fill the King's Garden with grace and glory. For you will notice this about these seeds: each one has within it that which will produce all the graces that grow in the King's Garden. You cannot separate them, for they are one, as we have already seen and can all be summed up in one word, Love, which is the seed of all.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

The International Sunday-school lesson that in the regular course would appear in this week's paper, is a review of the quarter's lessons, which have already been studied; consequently there me no notes this week. Next week the notes will appear as usual, and will, we think, be of extraordinary interest, as the subject is, "God, the Creator of all Things."

At a meeting called to bid Rev. G. Campbell Morgan God-speed on his departure to America to take charge of evangelistic work in connection with Moody's schools, Dr. Parker said: "Only a Biblical ministry will last, I believe even anecdotes will ultimately fail. To me the Bible is always a new book, just published, with the Divine signature hardly yet dry."

The description, "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God," seems very applicable now, when we read that ?20,000,000 a year are spent on gambling in the United Kingdom, half of which comes from the pockets of the working-classes, and then remember the tremendous exertions that have been made for the past two years by one of the most influential denominations to raise a million guineas, without success as yet.

"Only the other day," says the Catholic Times, "the Bishop of Salford spoke out against the growing indifference to the precept of keeping Sunday holy. And there is plenty of evidence that such indifference is widespread and increasing. In Presbyterian Scotland, in Protestant England, statistics prove that men are lapsing from attendance at church. . . . Unless the churches gird up their loins for battle, in another century England will have ceased to be a Christian country."

Will some kind friend please tell us where that "precept" for keeping Sunday holy is to be found, and who gave it? We shall be glad to publish it.

"Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity." Heb. i. 13. "For Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with Thee. The foolish shall not stand in Thy sight." Ps. v. 4, 5. Then look upon me, O Lord, in Thine infinite compassion, and let me dwell with Thee for ever; let me always stand in Thy sight. So shall my iniquity be taken away, and my sin be purged; my wickedness shall be hidden from Thine eyes, cast behind Thee into the depth of the sea, and my foolish ignorance shall give place to the gracious wisdom that proceeds from Thee."

"Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord," said David; "for His mercies are great [many]; and let me not fall into the hand of man." How comforting it is to know that God is better than the best man-as much better as He is greater. Who is there, that has not occasion to be thankful that nobody on earth knows as much about him as the Lord knows? We shrink from letting our best friends know all our weaknesses; but "God is mighty, and despiseth not any." Happy is the one who has learned to trust the Lord, and who knows that it is his salvation, that the Lord knows all about him. He knows our frailties by bearing them, and in that He seen them, He Himself is our strength and our righteousness.

"Spiritual Law in the Natural World" The Present Truth 17, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

Did you know that the entire Gospel is presented as a living picture in the visible creation, and that everything in nature represents some feature of the wondrous power of God to salvation? It is even so. Drummond wrote about "Natural Law in the Spiritual World"; he had a glimpse of the truth, but an inverted one; the truth is, that spiritual law reigns in the natural world.

For example, the continual renewing of our bodies, the amazing promptness with which wounds heal, if the system is given any chance at all, in a standing lesson to us of the power of the new birth. A severe blow destroys the flesh in a certain part of the body; it drops away, or is cut out by the surgeon's knife, and soon new flesh takes its place. In view of these well-known yet mysterious occurrences, who can doubt God's power to make a man all over entirely new? For the power that makes a new muscle, or adds to the size of the muscle in the growing child, and which makes new blood for us every day, is the very same power that is able to do for us spiritually "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." Eph. iii. 20. Indeed, the fact that we are born at all, together with the fact that God is love, is sufficient pledge of the glorious truth. But the existence of men who have been transformed by the renewing of their minds, puts an end to all controversy; for what is the use of arguing about whether or not God can do a thing, when He has, already done it?

"'A Living Sacrifice'" The Present Truth 17, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

This is something entirely different from the sacrifices offered by the Jews of old, or on heathen altars. Theirs were dead sacrifices-the flesh and blood of dead animals; ours is a living sacrifice only one, in contradistinction to their many-our own body yielded to Christ as His own rightful body.

But what means this, that we are to offer our bodies a living sacrifice?

It means that He who has accepted us in the Beloved, and who provides the one perfect sacrifice, invests us with the life of that Sacrifice when we accept Him. Christ through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God-a living sacrifice. Slain from "the foundation of the world," He yet lived; always a sacrifice, "He ever liveth." Continually giving, it pleases the Father that in Him all fulness shall dwell-always on the altar, yet never consumed; His life-stream, flows constantly, yet is never diminished.

Now when we know that our body was prepared for Christ, in which He should do the Father's will, and offer an acceptable sacrifice, and give ourselves to Him, so that we can say, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me," it is evident that we are offering to God the sacrifice which He Himself provided; and this being so, all the life of that incorruptible sacrifice is ours.

He died, that we might not die. He laid down His life, that He might take it again, and take us with it. So the fact that His Spirit exhorts us to offer our bodies a living sacrifice, proves that He has provided us the life wherewith to do it. The exhortation is itself the promise of life. Our business is to learn the way of life. There is life for the body-every body-that is wholly subject to the ways of the Lord. We were by nature the children of wrath; but "God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."

June 27, 1901

"God the Creator of All Things. Gen. i, ii. 1-3" The Present Truth 17, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. i, ii. 1-3.)¹⁵1

It is said that at a dinner party at which Macaulay attended, a lady turned to him, and said, "I have wished so much for a long time to know the history of the world, and now that we have a few minutes while they are bringing on the fish, I wish you would tell it to me." We have a parallel to this story in the range suggested for a single Sunday-school lesson; for to study the creation of the heavens and the earth, and all things in them, together with the Sabbath which crowned the work, and God the Creator of all, is a far greater work than that assigned to Mccaulay. But a few suggestive thoughts and texts may open the way for each reader to study further to advantage.

THE BEGINNING

We begin with the beginning. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

How did He create them?-"By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." "For He spake, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast." Ps. xxxiii. 6, 9. Our translators have inserted in verse 6 the word "done," in Italic, which we have omitted, as the Hebrew text gives no hint of any such word. The idea is not that after God spoke something was done, but that as soon as He spake everything was in existence.

Now concerning the Word of God, by which all things were made, read these familiar words: "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 one thing made." John i. 1-3. This refers to Christ, for "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."

Not only did Christ begin the work of creation, but He Himself is the Beginning. Read the following texts:-

"In Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things have been created through Him, and unto Him; and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist [that is, hold together]. And He is the Head of the body, the church; who is the Beginning." Col. i. 16-18, R.V.

"These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God." Rev iii. 14. As stated in Col. 1. 15, He is "the Firstborn of all creation." When He was, everything was; although everything did not at once appear. "In Him was life," and from His own infinite, eternal life everything came. All the matter of the universe is but the manifestation of His existence. Thus we read that the mountains were "brought forth," literally, born of the everlasting God. Ps. xc. 2. This is far from saying that matter is God, or any part of God. The child is brought forth by its mother, yet it is not its mother. We can never understand the mystery of creation, any more than we can understand the mystery of God's existence; but we know that ever since the creation of the world, the invisible things of God, even His everlasting power and Divinity, are revealed in the things that He has made. Everything that He has made bears the impress of His being.

Jesus Christ is "the power of God, and the wisdom of God." 1 Cor. i, 24. Of God we read that "He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom." Jer. x. 12. Now hear what Wisdom says, "The Lord possessed Me as the beginning of His way, before His works of old." Prov. viii. 32, R.V., margin. In the Hebrew there is no suggestion of such a word as the "in" of the Common Version, or the "as" of the Revision; so it should read: "The Lord possessed Me, the beginning of His way." Christ, the wisdom and the power of God, is the Beginning of all things. In Him all things are, and hold together.

"LET IT BE"

"By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the Word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made of things which do appear." Heb. xi. 3. Christ is the Word, the expression of the Father's thought. All things are in Him, so that when He speaks, the word

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that goes forth from His lips contains the things named. Notice how easily He brought forth the heavens and the earth. At each successive step He merely said, "Let it be," and immediately it was. After each command, we read, "And it was so." The word rendered "so" has the idea of stability, steadfastness-to establish, to constitute, to confirm. Thus: "He commanded, and it stood fast." "Say among the nations, The Lord reigneth; the world also is established that it cannot be moved." Ps. xcvi. 10. Whatever God says to so. His saying go makes it so, because it was already in His word.

Remember now that creation is the assurance and pledge of redemption. God has a desire to the work of His hands, and has not made it to be destroyed. "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited." Isa. xlv. 18. "Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the word of My hands, that I may be glorified." Isa. Ix. 21. "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it; and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him." Eccl. iii. 14.

Therefore although the earth is defiled and corrupted, and men are depraved and lost, the fact that God made the earth, and made man to inhabit it, is proof that it, with man, will be redeemed and restored. Nay, more, it is proof that the work of redemption has been done; for "we which have believed do enter into rest," because "the works were finished from the foundation of the world." Heb. iv. 3. "Wherefore if any man is in Christ, there is a new creation." 2 Cor. v. 17, R.V., margin. In Christ, "who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation," we have redemption through His blood, because "in Him were all things created." Col. i. 14-16.

Let us then see what practical help there is for us in the repetition of the words, "And God said, Let it be," "and it was so," in the story of the creation. As we read the following texts we should remember that we may make them a reality to us by responding from the heart, "Amen," that is, "Let it be so," or "It is so." If we do this, we have creation repeated in us.

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Phil. ii. 5.

"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice." Eph. iv. 31.

"Let the peace of God rule in your hearts." Col. iii. 15.

"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." Col. iii. 16.

And finally, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding." Luke xii. 35, 36. And this: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt. v. 16.

These last texts are most closely allied to our lesson, for the first thing mentioned in creation is light. God said, "Let there be light; and there was light." Now it is God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," who "shined in our hearts, to give the light the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. iv. 6. The command to us is, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee." Isa. Ix. 1, 2. Is it not glorious to know that simple, implicit faith in the Scripture record of creation, and the recognition of the fact that God is still the same Creator, will drive away all the darkness of sin, and make us light in the Lord?

THE ALL-PERVADING, ALL-POWERFUL SPIRIT

"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The word rendered "moved" is the same that is used with reference to a bird fluttering over her nest (Deut. xxxii. 11) or brooding over her eggs or young. Here we have the Spirit represented as the source of all the power that brings order out of chaos, and gives every particle of matter its right relation to every other particle throughout the universe. Milton recognised this, when, in beginning the story of "Paradise Lost," he wrote:-

"And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples the upright heart, and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou knowest; Thou from the first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast abyss,
And made it pregnant."

There is a power the existence of which scientists recognise, yet which to them is a mystery. Following the ancient heathen philosophers, they have declared that there are various "forces" inherent in matter, and have named them "cohesion," "gravitation," etc., not heeding the obvious fact that what they were naming was not the power itself, but the working of the power, that which the power accomplished. Thus: Cohesion is not the name of a force, but the result of the application of a force. The word "cohesion" means holding together; and to say that atoms are held together by cohesion is absurd, since it is but another way of saying that matter holds together by holding together! There is such a thing as cohesion, for matter certainly coheres, or holds together, but the statement of that fact is far from telling us what holds it together, scientists recognise that there is a lack in their philosophy, but they are slow to accept that which will supply the lack.

In the third volume of "Nature's Miracles," Prof. Elisha Gray, in speaking of the mystery of electricity, says:-

"I cannot but think that there is yet a simple statement to be made of Energy in its relation to Matter, that will establish a closer relationship between the different branches of physical science. And this, most likely, will be brought about by e better understanding of the nature of the Interstellar substance called Ether, and Its relation to all forms and conditions of sensible matter."

This substance called Ether exists not merely in the interstellar spaces, but is everywhere. It pervades all matter. It is generally accepted as a truth that light is conveyed to us by wavelike motions in this unknown substance, and light pervades all things. The so-called X-rays, that is, the unknown rays of light, prove to us that there is light even in things previously supposed to be perfectly opaque, since by them men can now see through a board; and in view of this no man dare say that there are not rays of light that penetrate stones and all metals. God's question to Job, "Where is the way where light dwelleth?" still remains unanswered. God only knows, for "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."

In "Light Visible and Invisible," Prof. Silvanus C. Thompson, after showing that the waves of light are not waves of the air, says:-

"They are waves of another medium which, so far as we know, exists all through space, and which we know, using Sir Isaac Newton's term, the other. If you ask me what the other is made of,

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let me frankly say, I do not know. . . .They are waves of a medium which, though millions of times less dense than water or air, has yet a property that resists being torn or sheared asunder; exceeding the resistance to shear even of hard-tempered steel."

Now if we are but simple enough to believe that the God who created all things has in His Book given us an exact statement of the facts of creation, we may know this mystery that puzzles the wise men of the world. Read again Gen. i. 2, and with it this scripture: "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell [literally, hole, pit, the lowest part of the earth], behold, Thou art there." Ps. cxxxix. 7, 8. "God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God." Ps. lxii. 11. That is, power is the attribute of God. "There is no power but of God." Rom. xiii. 1. And the Spirit of God is the wielder of this power. "Not by might, nor by power [earthly might or power], but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Zech. iv. 6.

ONLY ONE FORCE

There are not, therefore, many forces in the universe, but only one force,-the power of the Spirit of God, who is, literally, "above all, and through all, and in all." Eph. iv. 6. It is the Spirit of God in Christ, that holds all things together. There are not different forces, but different manifestations of one force. The "simple statement" of Energy, for which Professor Gray wished, has already been made. The Word of God is Spirit and life; it "is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Heb. iv. 12, 13, R.V. The word "active" in this text is energ?s, which we have Anglicised as "energy." So the Energy which philosophers recognise as in all matter, but of the source of which so many of them are willingly ignorant, is the one Spirit of God.

Now we can understand why it is that the enemy of all unrighteousness has so persistently tried to induce men to reject the Scripture narrative of creation. He does not wish them to recognise the power that sanctifies and saves. For it is a fact that the Gospel is in creation. "We are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." 2 Thess. ii. 13. The power that is seen in all creation is the power that sanctifies. If men would only believe that which is,-would believe things as they are,-that which the earth itself reveals, they would be saved. "Truth springeth out of the earth" (Ps. lxxxv. 11, R.V.), because "the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord." Ps. xxxiii. 6.

GOD THE PRESENT CREATOR

In the face of all these truths that we have been reading from the Word, if we are not careful we shall still fall into or remain in a fatal error. So far has Satan succeeded in blinding men's minds that, even though they recognise the fact that God did create all things in the beginning, they do not recognise Him as still the Creator. They say that the operations of "nature" are carried on by certain "laws," as though God had retired from business, leaving somebody or something else to carry it on. They forget that the One who created all things is still "upholding all things by the Word of His power." Heb. iii. 3.

Let us for a moment consider the idea that things are regulated by laws, and that God Himself does not work personally in all things. Is it not clear that whatever it is that works in matter must be exercising the power of God, and that therefore if it is not God Himself, it must be somebody or something else equal to Him? But there is but one God, and He has not deified anything or anybody else. There is indeed a law directing and controlling all things, but it is the life of God. God's life is the law of the universe.

Bear in mind that no law that is "enacted" can enforce itself. The only law that can execute its own decrees is "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Men speak of "the law of plant life," as though the plant studied a book of law, in order to learn how it should grow. It does grow according to a certain law, but that law is the life of God in it. The commandment, "Thou shalt not have any other gods before Me," forbids our deifying matter or law, and shuts us up to the recognition of God Himself as personally present by His Spirit, upholding, directing, and controlling the universe and every atom in it. He is still the Beginning. The same power that in the beginning brought all things into being still works in them to keep them in existence. It is only the personal working of the Spirit of God that keeps the earth from dissolving into chaos, as at the first.

All this is "for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." It lets us know that the power that is creates throughout the universe is the power that works in us to will and to do the good pleasure of God. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, "according to the power which worketh in us." We have but to recognise God as the Creator of all things, as the ever-living, ever-working God, the One who wills our sanctification by the same Spirit that brooded over the face of the waters in the beginning, and to accept that will as ours, to be perfectly saved from sin. Just think! The God whose "exceeding great and precious promises" are given to make me a partaker of the Divine nature, and to save man from the corruption that is in the world through lust, is the God whose Word brought the worlds into being. Nothing is hard for Him. He who can create a world in an instant of time, can surely save me to the uttermost.

THE MEMORIAL OF CREATION AND REDEMPTION

"The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious; and His righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered." Ps. cxi. 24. Literally, "He hath made a memorial for His wonderful works." By what means has God made His wonderful works to be remembered?-By the Sabbath day; for when God had finished the heavens and the earth, and all their host, "He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." Gen. ii. 1-3.

The Sabbath was given to man, to be a continual reminder of God's wonderful works. Therefore He says: "I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord which sanctify them." Eze. xx. 12.

It is so self-evident that the seventh day of the week, commonly called Saturday, is the Sabbath here spoken of, that we shall not here take time to dwell upon that

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Sabbath means rest; it is God's rest that we are to enter into; and the seventh day is the Sabbath-the rest-of the Lord thy God. Nothing in time or eternity can ever change the fact that God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and rested on the seventh day; and therefore the Sabbath of the Lord can never be changed. Men may make another sabbath for themselves, as they have done; but this is but a park of the working whereby they have made other gods for themselves. Nevertheless there is really only one God, and only one Sabbath.

This seventh-day Sabbath is the sign and seal of redemption. Thus: It is the memorial of creation, but not of creation as it now appears. God did not rest from His labours until He "saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." The Sabbath commemorates a perfect, new creation.

THE SABBATH AND THE NEW MAN

Now we have only to remember that that new creation which God surveyed and pronounced very good, included man. There was a new heaven and a new earth, and a new man. The Sabbath, therefore, is the sign that a perfect, now man has been created; and so it is the sign and seal of a new man in Christ; for "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." The Gospel restores man in his original perfection, and the Sabbath is the assurance that God who made a perfect man in the beginning can still do it.

"We which have believed do enter into rest." Heb. iv. 8. The rest here referred to is God's rest, as the verse itself shows, and-that is the Sabbath, the seventh day. See the commandment, and also the verses immediately following Heb. iv. 3. God spoke in a certain place on this wise: "And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in this place again, They shall not enter into My rest." The Israelites that came out of Egypt "could not enter in because of unbelief." Belief justifies, makes righteous. So we are not required to keep the Sabbath in order to become righteous, but Sabbath-keeping is the natural, inevitable result of perfect, complete redemption-the finished work of God. When we accept God as the Creator of all things, as our Creator, then we rest in His finished work, the work which was finished from the foundation of the world; and the sign that we do thus accept Him is the keeping of His rest-the seventh day.

"The Law of Life. The Eighth Commandment. (Concluded.)" The Present Truth 17, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou shalt not steal."

ROBBING GOD

There is another feature of this question that few people think of. The commandment is continually broken by men who would no more think of taking money from another man than of cutting off their own right hand. You might leave any amount of money with them, uncounted, and they would return it all; yet they are guilty of robbery.

God asks this plain question: "Will a man rob God?" The people of whom He asks it think that they are innocent, for they reply, "Wherein have we robbed Thee?" and the Lord says, "In tithes and offerings." And then He continues, "Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, with the Lord, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts."

This reproof and promise have special application at this time, for the message has reference to the speedy coming of the day of the Lord. It is not local in its application, but reaches to the end of time. It is addressed specially b those who think they are serving the Lord, but who in a most important particular are not. If it is a grievous sin to steal from man, what can be said of robbing God!

One can rob another only by appropriating something that belongs to that other. So the fact that God charges us with robbing Him with respect to the tithe proves that the tithe belongs to Him. This is plainly stated in the Scripture. "All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy unto the Lord." It may be said that this is only under the Levitical law. But truth is truth for ever: that which is the Lord's once, remains His always. The tithe of all that we receive belongs to the Lord, and not to us, even though technically we have earned it, and it is paid to us in wages. To one tenth of our income we have no more right than we have to our neighbour's money. God lets it come into our possession for a test as to whether or not we really regard the rights of property, and rocognise Him as the owner of all things.

CHRIST'S TEACHING CONCERNING TITHE-PAYING

"But did not the Lord reprove the Scribes and Pharisees for their scrupulous payment of tithes?" No, He did not; hear His own words: "Woe unto you, Scribes and

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Pharisees hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and truth; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." Matt. xxiii. 28. Instead of saying that they ought not to have paid tithe, Jesus says that they ought to have done it, but they ought not to have made their strictness in this matter an excuse for neglecting something else. "Ye ought," means, Ye owe it. The Saviour recognised the tithe as belonging to the Lord, by saying that we owe it to Him. He says also that we ought to be very strict in this matter; for the Scribes and Pharisees tithed herbs that were of trifling value, and He says they ought to have done it.

THE TITHE BEFORE THE DAYS OF MOSES

The payment of the tithes was long before the days of Moses. When Jacob had his vision of God, as he was fleeing homeless and desolate from the wrath of his brother, he said, "Of all that Thou shalt give me, I will surely give a tenth unto Thee." And many years before this, Abraham returning with the recovered spoil, taken from the city of Sodom, was met by God's priest, Melchizedek, to whom he gave the tenth of all. Abraham had sworn that he would not take so much as a shoelatchet of that which belonged to the king of Sodom, so he returned the goods which he had recovered to their proper owners,-the tenth to the Lord, and nine-tenths to the king, to use as he thought fit.

All who are Christ's are Abraham's seed, and heirs with him of the promise. The oath of God to Abraham supports us in fleeing for refuge to the holy place where Christ is priest after the order of Melchizedek. Therefore the obligation to pay tithe is the same upon us so it was upon Abraham. And since the tithe belongs to the Lord, at should no more be considered a hardship to return it to Him, than it would be to pay to a neighbour some money that was given us in trust for him.

THE TITHE AND THE SABBATH

The tithe rests on the same basis as the Sabbath; the same expression is used of both: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." It to God's holy day. "The tithe is the Lord's." "It is holy unto the Lord." Both serve the same purpose. The Sabbath is not a burden, but it teaches us God's power, in which we may rest. The payment of tithe is not a burden, because it doss not belong to us; but God has arranged that it should come into our hands, in order that in returning it to Him we may be reminded that "He giveth us richly all things to enjoy." The curse that follows the withholding of the tithe is not an arbitrary exhibition of God's wrath, but is the natural result of our shutting God out of our lives. The abundant blessing that is promised if all the tithes are brought in, inevitably follows the recognition of Him which keeps us ever in His presence.

HONOUR GOD WITH THE FIRST-FRUITS

Many who do not deny the obligation to pay tithe, do not pay it, excusing themselves by saying, "I have nothing with which to pay; after I have fed and clothed my family, I have nothing left." But whoever has wherewith to get food and clothing, has wherewith to pay the tithe; for the principle taught by the tithe is this: that ninetenths of what we receive will, with the blessing of God, go further than the whole of it without His blessing. God is to come first in all our considerations; we are to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase." Prov. iii. 9.

It makes no difference to us what is done with the tithe after we have paid it into the Lord's treasury. There our responsibility ends. We are to pay, even though it be destroyed. Think of the multitude of offerings that were brought to the Lord merely to be burnt up. By this God would show the people that He did not need their gifts, and would remind them that He could support them even though all their property were destroyed. This is especially necessary for us to remember in these days, just before the day of the Lord, when the seed shall be "rotten under their clods," the garners laid desolate, the barns broken down, and the corn withered; when the rivers of water shall be dried up, and the fire devour the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame burn all the trees of the field; when the dust shall be turned into brimstone, and the land into burning pitch. Then it will be a grand thing to have learned that God alone is the hope and stay of His people.

THE BASIS OF STEALING

Why is it that people steal? It is because they think that they have not enough, and they cannot trust God to supply their needs. Some do not know the Lord, and they suppose that they are obliged to look out for themselves. Others who profess to know the Lord, lose their supposed trust as soon as they see difficulty. Therefore we see that the basis of what is generally recognised as stealing is identical with all distrust of God.

There are many who do not pay tithe, because they have never realised that it was a duty. "Will a man rob God?" Many do, who have never robbed their fellow-men, and who have a reputation for honesty. The Lord says that the tenth belongs to Him. Then He ought to have it. But if I keep it and use it, knowing what the Bible says about it, how can my neighbour have confidence enough in me to trust me with what belongs to him? If a man will rob God, will he not rob his fellow-man? Dare anyone trust such an one? Yes; because there is a law against theft, and the man who steals from his neighbour is not only punished, but he loses credit and reputation. The Lord does not demand His own immediately; He does not call for a settlement every mouth and every year; so in our blind

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selfishness we take liberties with Him, persuading ourselves that He does not see nor care. Ps. xciv. 7. And as nobody knows whether we pay tithe or not, we do not lose standing with men; or we may get the credit of paying tithe by paying a fragment of it, and calling it the tithe. That is, we are honest for appearance sake, and because of fear of the law. Let us ask ourselves, is our supposed honesty only a sham, an outside show, and are we honest only because there is danger of being found out and punished if we are act so?

THE SECRET OF ALL HONESTY

One thing more. The Apostle Paul bears witness to the great liberality of the churches of Macedonia, in spite of their "great trial of affliction," and "their deep poverty." He did not need to plead with them to make an offering to the cause of God, but says, "To their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift." The reason for this is that they "first gave their own selves to the Lord." 1 Cor. viii. 1-5. This is the secret of all honesty; for whoever is honest with the Lord will never defraud any man.

Not simply our property, but we ourselves belong to the Lord, and we are to render to Him His own. When we recognise that we are not our own, but that our whole being belongs to Him, we shall also recognise that we can have no property in our own right. Strength is more than money; and the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" forbids our robbing God of the strength that is His due. If I wantonly destroy my neigbbour's property it is the same as though I steal his goods. All our members belong to the Lord, as instruments of righteousness. If we misuse them in any way, making them serve our own personal gratification, we are guilty of theft. We owe to the Lord, not merely all the strength we may have at this present moment, but all that we might have if we lived according to the law of life in Christ Jesus.

And here we see again that the commandment is life everlasting. All God's requirements are really statements of His promises. He asks nothing from us that He does not first give to us; and in making for it of us He does not ask that we give it to Him, in the sense that we ourselves are deprived of it, but that we always have it in possession to render to Him. So the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" requiring us to give all the strength of our soul and body to the Lord, means that if we heed His word He will see that we have perfect strength to give to Him. His commandments are not grievous, but on the contrary they assure us all blessings. Everything grows with use, so as we keep the commandment, yielding to God all the strength which His own everlasting power works in us, we shall go from strength to strength, until at last we appear in Zion strength, until at before God.

"Our Little Ones. The King's Garden" The Present Truth 17, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

HEART'S-EASE

You all know this pretty little flower, do you not? Very likely you have gathered in the fields the tiny Heart's-Ease, or wild Pansy, with its smiling face; and of course you all know well its larger and more beautiful sister, the garden Pansy.

Do you know what this name means? It is from the French, pesee, meaning thoughtful. And this is a good name to put with the other while we think over together some Thoughts that give Heart's-Ease, ease or rest of heart.

We found out that each little seed contains a thought of God. His Word is the seed through which He puts His thoughts into the garden of our hearts. We have already talked of three of these wonderful seeds, and the beautiful plants that come from them; and it is in the fourth that we find the seed of Heart's-Ease or Rest.

"Remember the rest day, to keep it holy? Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the rest day, and hallowed it."

EVERLASTING REST

Do you know what it is to be so very tired that you long to rest? You would never have known what this feeling of weariness is if sin had not come into the world, bringing "death, and all our woe." For when God made men He "caused him to rest" in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had plenty of work to do, and yet they had rest all the time that they were doing it, and so they were never tired. Was not this a happy state to be in?

The word Sabbath means rest, and so to keep the Sabbath of the Lord is to keep God's rest. And this every one may do, for God has given it to all. He made the Sabbath, which is His rest, for man, and He tells every one to keep it.

But God "fainteth not, neither is weary." So to really have the rest of the Lord is to be like He tells us those will be who wail on Him: "They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." In giving us the Sabbath, the King is putting into His Garden the seed of His own everlasting rest, so that the flower of perfect Heart's-Ease may grow there.

EVERLASTING STRENGTH

Now let us see what it is that causes God to rest, and then we shall understand better how we may keep His rest.

Do you know that it is strength that gives rest? When one gets weary it is because he has "gone beyond his strength," as we say. You know you can run and play and work for a while without feeling tired, especially if you do not keep it up too long at a time. Your strength is renewed-that means that you get a fresh supply of it,-and so you feel at rest and at ease, even while you are working or playing. But when you keep on too long, and your strength is all used up, how tired and heavy you feel, and how tender and sore your muscles are!

Then you have to wait awhile, until you get rested,-that is, until you get a fresh supply of strength in your body. But the true rest that the Lord gives is to keep us from ever feeling tired in mind or body, and it will, if you keep it, bring us back to the happy state of Adam and Eve in Eden, so that we shall never need to stop and rest, because we shall be resting all the time.

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" just as soon as it is used up, and it is because of this that "they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

Now do you see why it is that God never faints or grows weary? It is because "in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." It is because of His everlasting strength that He has everlasting rest, and to able to give it; and the way that He gives us His rest, is by giving us His strength.

God tells us to look at all the things that He has made, in which we may see "His eternal power,"-His everlasting strength,-and then we shall understand that "the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary."

So when God puts the seed of His rest into His Garden, He is putting there His own everlasting strength, for this alone can give true rest. He does not tell us to keep our own sabbath, or rest, but "the rest of the Lord thy God." But the only way that we can have and keep God's rest, is to have God's strength, and so He says that we may be "strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power." Then we shall enter into His glorious rest.

To teach us to know His power so that we may rest in Him, God has given us

THE SABBATH AS HIS MEMORIAL

to keep in our minds the wonderful works of the Creator. "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day," because His works were finished.

The "Song for the Sabbath Day," (Psalm xcii.) shows that the Sabbath day is for us to remember and praise the great Creator, and think upon His mighty works.

"O Lord, how great are Thy works,
And Thy thoughts are very deep."

In all the works of God we see His great, deep, almighty thoughts unfolding all about us. We may read His thoughts, see into His mind, and learn to know Him and rest in Him.

One cannot rest on anything that is weak or unsound. Could you rest on a chair, or on your bed, if you were all the time afraid that it might give way and let you down?

Sometimes we see a little boy or girl trying to carry a younger brother or sister not much smaller than themselves. But although they bravely do their best, the little one in their arms does not look very happy or peaceful. It is afraid all the time of being let fall; it is not resting. But let the father come along and gather it in his strong, loving arms, and see the look of peace and trust that comes into the little one's face. It is resting in its father's arms, because it knows that he is strong.

So before we can rest in God, we must know that He is strong. Because of this He tells us: "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created theme [the sun, moon, and stairs], that bringeth out their host by number. He calleth them all by name; by the greatness of His might and for that He is strong in power, not one faileth."

We are to look up and see the glorious sun, the silver moon, and the bright stars,-some of which are suns many times larger than our sun,-we are to think of Him whose great power made them all, and who still, by the greatness of His might, holds them up in the heavens and keeps them all from falling.

Then we shall know something of the strength by which He gathers the lambs with His arm, and carries them in His bosom. Can you not, dear little ones, who are His little lambs, rest safely and sweetly in the bosom of Him who holds up the world, and the sun, moon, and stars? Can you not drop all your burdens, and let Him carry them and you also? for He says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

"THE AMEN"

In the beginning, God said of everything that He wished to have in the earth, "Let it be so," and "it was so." But sin, we have found, causes all these beautiful things to vanish away, and would have changed the earth into a desolate waste, but for one thing. What is that?

It is the Cross of Jesus Christ; for this is the power by which God again creates all things new. It is through the Cross that He gives out new life to all things. It is this alone which renews the strength of the whole creation of God. And so Jesus says that He is "the Amen," and that all the promises of God in Him "are yea and amen."

You know what this word means, for you say it and hear it very often. "So be it," or "Let it be so." It means, It shall be so because God has said so.

So to all that God said in the beginning when He made the world and all things in it, the Cross of Christ is saying, "Amen, it shall be so." It was because of this that God rested on that first Sabbath day of time, although He knew how all His beautiful and perfect work would be marred by sin, He knew the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ to bring all things back to the beauty and perfection of the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve first rested there, "and God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good." He knew the power of the Cross to make sinful people new creatures, pure and sinless as Adam and Eve first came from His hand.

So, do you see, dear children, that it is only through the Cross of Jesus Christ, through the gift of His life for you, that this beautiful flower of Heart's-Ease can still bloom in the King's Garden? And as He sees it there, in the hearts of all who truly keep His Sabbath, His rest, it is a sweet reminder of His beloved Son, who gave His life to save His creatures from perishing-"a sweet savour of Christ."

As the King walks in His Garden on the Sabbath, as of old He walked in Eden, He still rests and is refreshed, as He sees the new creation rising through the Cross of Jesus Christ. For the Sabbath is the token, the pledge, to Him as well as to us, of the complete restoration of that fair world, that most beautiful Garden, in which the King first rested. He says, "Hallow My Sabbaths, for they shall be a sign between Me and you."

So when you have "the flower called Heart's-Ease in your bosom," you have there the King's pledge of love that you shall be made perfect, and shall have a home with Him for ever in that beautiful new earth, when He shall make "her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the Garden of the Lord." Then never more will you faint or grow weary, but you will have the perfect rest that God gave to Adam when He first caused him to rest in Eden.

Then, dear children, let the sweet faces of the little pansies ever bring to your mind thoughts of the great power and love of Him who has poured out His own life to redeem you, and has given you "rest by His sorrow, and life by His death."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

The Governor of Hongkong, Sir H. A. Blake, reports to Mr. Chamberlain that for the week ending June 15 there were 151 cases of bubonic plague and 151 deaths. This is an unprecedented record.

According to the preliminary Census Report, the population of the United Kingdom is 41,454,000, almost double what it was in 1821. The population of London, within the Metropolitan area, is 6,500,000. The rapid increase in the population of the cities of every country is a sign of degeneracy. When God made the world He planted a garden; when Cain killed his brother, he built the city.

All crops on the Continent have suffered severely from the intensely cold weather. Snow has fallen in several places. On the 19th the thermometer recorded eight degrees of frost in Rome. These abnormalities are indications of the approach of the time when "the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof." Isa. xxiv. 1. The earth is getting old, and is tottering for its fall.

Recent experiments at Cherbourg with the submarine boat Narval are declared by the French Minister of Marine to have been entirely successful. The vessel remains under water for twelve hours, and the condition of the crew is said to have been normal at the end of that time. Thus a new element is introduced which will greatly increase the terror and destructiveness of naval warfare. The greater part of the inventive energy of men in these days is expended in devising means to destroy human life. Who cannot see what the end will be?

The Chronicle has learned by cable that the Superintendent of Immigration in the United States has ruled that tuberculosis is a dangerous, contagious disease, and states that the ruling that consumptives are not to be allowed to land in that country will apply to ordinary travellers as well as those in the steerage. This law, if carried out strictly, would prevent an English resident of the United States who might be tuberculous, from returning to his family after a visit to his native country.

One of the United States Treasury officials, who has been giving special attention to the matter of shipping, says:-

"I have examined the volume of commerce and navigation for 1900, just issued. If you look the figures over you will find that the last fiscal year, ended June 30, 1900, in one respect broke the record of American shipping. In the trade between the United States and Europe that year not one American merchant vessel went to or came from Germany, Russia, Sweden and Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Greece, or Turkey.

"Two small American vessels came the United States from France, one in ballast, one American sailing vessel came from Belgium in ballast, and one American vessel cleared for Spain. There cleared for or entered from the United Kingdom eleven American sailing vessels, and two small steam vessels went to United Kingdom in ballast. The American flag was never before such a rarity on the North Atlantic between the United States in Europe."

This does not mean that the amount of United States commerce is small, but that the most of it, on account of the laws of that country, is carried on under foreign flags, chiefly the British.

There are many incongruities in human legislation. The Chronicle, commenting on the prevalence of gambling on races, says: "The intelligent foreigner who reads in the morning of youths sent to gaol for gambling on an empty Thames lighter is astonished in the afternoon at seeing hundreds of such youths gambling at Ascot under police protection."

On its last trip from Liverpool to New York, the Cunard steamer Lucania was fitted with wireless telegraphy apparatus, and communication was maintained with land and was kept up for some hours after leaving. Passengers were allowed to send telegrams to their friends in England at the rate of 6?d. a word. When the installation instrument is completed on the Nantucket lightship across the ocean, American liners will be only two and one-half days out of touch with land.

Protective armour that nothing can pierce, and a projectile that will pierce anything invented, is the order of succession. The United States Government have decided to adopt Maximite, a new explosive invented by Sir Hiram Maxim, which is expected to revolutionise modern warfare. Though deadlier in its effects than Liddite, it is far safer to handle than ordinary gunpowder. Naval experts believe that the day of battleships is passing as projectiles charged with Maximite will pierce a 12in. armour plate, and the explosion that follows destroys everything within reach. What next?

The Pope scores every time. A Latin address was sent to him by Principal Story, on behalf of the professors and students of the University of Glasgow, recalling the fact that Pope Nicholas V. inaugurated the University, which now celebrates its 450th anniversary. In acknowledging this address the Pope takes occasion to observe that Nicholas V. by inaugurating the University, showed to England the progressive and enlightened spirit of the Papacy. He forgot, however, to show wherein this spirit has been manifested in the countries where the Papacy has had everything its own way, as in Mexico and the South American States. Our readers will recall the fact that 450 years ago Wycliffe and others, by spreading the knowledge of the Scriptures, had made it necessary for the Papacy to do something in the way of education, in order to hold its own.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

A traveller once tried to find out from an Arab dragoman in what the holiness of a Moslem saint consisted. "What does he do?" he asked, "He do nothing; he very holy man," answered the Arab. Unfortunately the idea of what constitutes holiness is not altogether confined to Mohammedans.

"A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven."

If all men recognised this truth, and kept it continually in mind, it would save a world of vain striving, disappointment, and mourning over the loss of fancied possessions.

What wars and fightings there have been for the possession of kingdoms on this earth; yet no man has ever really possessed any territory for which he fought; for scarcely has anyone found himself securely seated on the throne, as he fancied, before his lifeless hand dropped the reins of government, and the kingdom was left to others.

The reason for this is that, although God has given the earth to the children of men (Ps. cxv. 16), it is not "this present evil world" that He has given to men. On the contrary, Christ gave Himself for our sins, "that He might deliver us out of this present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father." Gal. i. 4. The earth as it is now in not from heaven, and therefore no man can have it and hold it, or any part of it.

It was because David knew and believed this truth, that he would not fight to dispossess Saul of the kingdom. If ever anybody was justified in using force to gain his "rights," David would have been, for the prophet Samuel, by the express order of the Lord, had anointed him king over Israel. Twice Saul was in his power, and David could easily have killed him; he was urged to let it be done, and it was plausibly agued that God, by putting his enemy in his way, indicated that now he was to help himself; but David wall inflexible.

Perhaps you have never realised how unseemly it would have been for David to seize the kingdom, and wrest it out of the hands of Saul. A common illustration will make it apparent. It would have been just the same as though, if a friend had promised you a book, or some other article of value, you, seeing it in his hand, should snatch it out, or should steal it out of his house or from someone to whom he had temporarily entrusted it. Such a course, besides being rude and wicked, would show that you did not believe your friend's promise, and would destroy all real pleasure you could have in the possession of the promised gift.

Just so it is with us when we cannot wait God's time to bestow on us all the good things that He has promised us. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." They come down; God does not withhold anything. With Christ all things are given to as, because in Him are all things, and if we do not see ourselves in actual possession of any good thing, we may know that we could not profit by it, or enjoy it, if it were now in our hands. The fruit is not yet ripe, and would make us ill if we had it; so the all-wise Father keep it back from no for a season. Shall we not be content? We should even be joyful in hope.

David knew that the kingdom was the Lord's, and that he, even at the height of royal power, was only a stranger and a sojourner in the land. 1 Chron. xxviii. 14, 23. As he would not fight to possess it, he held it subject to the Lord, and therefore it is secure to him and his house for ever. That kingdom is the earth made new-a spiritual kingdom, that is, where all is according to the law of the Spirit of life. Only that which in spiritual is everlasting; and so only the spiritual can be really possessed. Therefore "make no provision for the flesh," but wait patiently on the Lord for all good things; "for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Though hope may be long deferred, when the desire cometh it will be a tree of life. Trust in God begets everlasting patience.

Are you vacillating in character and easily swayed by others, go that you find it difficult to resist evil? Then rejoice greatly, since you are the more sure of going in the right way when you allow God to have full control. If you are easily swayed, you will offer the less resistance to Him; and if you give Him the sole right to swap you, all must be well with you. There is nothing like continual drinking of the Rock, to make a strong character.

A few days ago there appeared in one of the leading financial papers, an article entitled, "Consols and Cataclysms," in which the writer, a business man, justified the lack of attention to eternal things by men of the world as follows:-

But after all, the carelessness with which the business world regards the play of the stupendous natural forces all around it is probably based upon a very good appreciation of its own helplessness in the matter. If there is some astral body travelling in our direction, which must certainly crush us out of existence in fifty years from date, we do not know why then should be any change in the price of Consols. The interest on Consols will be regularly paid until the near approach of the said astral body makes things so hot for us that cheques curl up, and gold is impossible to handle.

How strikingly this agrees with the words of Christ: "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot: they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all; even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." Luke xvii. 28-30. It is true that every man is helpless, so far as preventing coming disaster is concerned; but every man may save himself from the wreck if he will.

"Ask, and it shall be given unto you." Matt. vii. 7.

When shall we ask?

Ask when you have need, of course; follow the example of the child, or of any young animal, which ads for food when it is hungry.

Well, then, if we ask when we are in need, when shall we receive?

You will certainly receive when you ask; "for every one that asketh receiveth." Matt. vii. 8. The Lord knows what we have need of before we ask Him, and He has provided it for us beforehand. He Himself feels the need, and has promised to supply all our need, awarding to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help its time of need." Heb. iv. 16.

July 4, 1901

"A Good Book for Business Men" The Present Truth 17, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

A Good Book for Business Men .-One of the best books for any man to study, is the book of Proverbs. It was written by the wisest man that ever lived, and its purpose is "to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion." The word "simple," is the same as in Prov. xiv. 15: "The simple believeth every word; but the prudent man looketh well to his going." Its root idea is that of open-mouthed credulity. This book, if heeded, will make such a silly person cautious and prudent, shrewd, and one who cannot be deceived. No matter how credulous and easily deceived and led astray one may be, the Book of Proverbs will make him wise. But that, of course, is on the condition that he listens to it, and ceases to bear false instruction. Then when he hears only the truth, his quality of believing every word will stand him in good stead; for the truth of God gives true wisdom. It is wisdom, and therefore everybody who receives it must necessarily receive wisdom. Then read the book; study it; become permeated with its teachings, and you will know how to deal wisely in every condition of life.

"A Good Book for Business Men" The Present Truth 17, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

A Good Book for Business Men .-One of the best books for any man to study, is the book of Proverbs. It was written by the wisest man that ever lived, and its purpose is "to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion." The word "simple," is the same as in Prov. xiv. 15: "The simple believeth every word; but the prudent man looketh well to his going." Its root idea is that of open-mouthed credulity. This book, if heeded, will make such a silly person cautious and prudent, shrewd, and one who cannot be deceived. No matter how credulous and easily deceived and led astray one may be, the Book of Proverbs will make him wise. But that, of course, is on the condition that he listens to it, and ceases to bear false instruction. Then when he hears only the truth, his quality of believing every word will stand him in good stead; for the truth of God gives true wisdom. It is wisdom, and therefore everybody who receives it must necessarily receive wisdom. Then read the book; study it; become permeated with its teachings, and you will know how to deal wisely in every condition of life.

"Pilgrim's Progress" The Present Truth 17, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

A Good Book for Business Men .-The late Sir Walter Besant claimed that the book which has influenced the minds of Englishmen more than any other, except the Bible, is Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." He claimed that to it Englishmen are largely indebted for the abhorrence of priestcraft, growing out of the knowledge of man's personal responsibility to God, which that book inculcates. Unfortunately "Pilgrim's Progress" is far less known by the youth of the present generation than it was by those that have preceded, and to this has been attributed the increasing influence of the Romish priests. Both Pope and Pagan are still alive and active. The child that does not read Bunyan's book so that he becomes thoroughly familiar with it, misses one of the essentials of a sound education.

"Beginning of Sin and Redemption. Gen. iii. 1-15" The Present Truth 17, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. iii. 1-15.)¹⁶1

There was a time when the man who dared say openly that he did not believe the whole Bible was called an infidel; in these days it is a rare thing to find a minister of the Gospel who dares say that he believes the Bible account of the creation and the fall of man. Even the most "orthodox," men who vigorously combat the "higher criticism," do not hesitate to declare the Mosaic record "a beautiful allegory." So far have those who are set to be leaders in the church departed from the old paths, that if a man professes to believe even a Iittle of the Bible he is not classed among the infidels. But a man does not have to tell falsehoods continually in order to be a liar; if he occasionally lies, so that you we not always sure whether he is telling the truth or not, he cannot be considered a truthful man. In like manner, if certain portions of the Bible are untrustworthy, it could no more stand as "the Scriptures of truth;" therefore whoever impeaches any of its testimony brings a charge against the whole of it; and he who disbelieves a portion of it is most certainly an infidel, no matter what his profession.

THE BEGINNING OF THE WORD IS TRUE

The first three chapters of Genesis are the basis upon which the entire Bible is built. With that portion torn away, there would be no foundation for the Gospel,-no proof that the Gospel is needed, no evidence of its power to save. If the first chapters of Genesis were an allegory, all the rest of the Bible would be only a myth.

All the Scripture writers accepted the first part of the Bible as the literal Word of God. Their references to it show this. The Apostle Paul speaks thus of the event which forms our lesson this weak: "I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ." 2 Cor. xi. 3. The Gospel which Paul preached was based upon the story of the fall and the redemption then made known; therefore

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that account is as true the writings of the Apostle Paul.

In Ps. cxix. 160, we read: "Thy Word is true from the beginning." An exact word-for-word rendering of the Hebrew of that verse, however, is this: "The beginning of Thy Word is truth." Thus the Holy Spirit has anticipated the attacks that have been made on the beginning of the Bible, and has linked all together. Of some things it is said, "It all stands or falls together," but of the Bible we say, It all stands together; for "the foundation of God standeth sure." "Every one of Thy righteous judgments endureth for ever."

THE SUBTLETY OF SATAN

"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast in the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"

The extreme subtlety of "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan" is not in this text made as apparent by our version as it might be. The words of the serpent contain a sneer, a covert insinuation against the justice of God, which was made all the more effective in that the thought that God had dealt arbitrarily was suggested to Eve by a question which feigned a doubt that it was possible that He had done so monstrous a thing. It is difficult to translate into English all that, is conveyed by the Hebrew word here rendered "Yes." It is a sniff of scorn or incredulity. Gesenius, in his Hebrew Lexicon, cites this very verse, in illustrating the meaning of the word, and renders the passage thus: "Is it even so, that God hath said, Ye shall not eat?" etc. Read this with that forcible breathing through the nose,-humph,-which indicates surprise, incredulity, or contempt, or all combined, and you will see how subtly doubt of God was insinuated into the mind of Eve.

"LIFTED UP"

"Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." Hab. ii. 4. The beginning of sin was the lifting up of self. Before the foundation of the world; Lucifer, the light-bearer in heaven, who, because of his pride, fell so low as to become only a crawling serpent, said in his heart: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stare of God; I will also sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north [literally, "the uttermost north"]; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High."

Now it is perfectly right to be like the Lord, if one sets about it in the right way; for He says, "Be ye holy, for I am holy," and Christ says, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." But perfection is not found in self exaltation. Although God dwells in "the high and holy place," and is Himself "the lofty One," He dwells "with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." Isa. Ivii. 15. Christ, who is the revelation of God, says: "I am meek and lowly in heart." Matt. xi. 29. It is evident, therefore, that whoever thinks to become like God by lifting himself up, deceives himself, and is drawing himself away from God. "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, love mercy, and to humble thyself to walk with God?" Micah vi. 8, margin. "The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that Is lifted up; and he shall be brought low." Isa. ii. 12.

It was by instilling his spirit-the same spirit that caused his fall from heaven-into man, that Satan compassed his fall. When Eve, in reply to the serpent's insinuation, repeated the prohibition against eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the penalty for disobedience, the Deceiver said: "Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be an God, knowing good and evil." Revised Version. It was not with an indefinite promise of being "like gods," that the serpent seduced Eve, but with the assurance that she should be like God Himself. Alas! her ambition was not to be like Him in goodness, but to equal Him in knowledge and power; and this is impossible.

"THE SPIRIT THAT NOW WORKETH"

The same spirit works in the children of disobedience to-day. Satan still makes thousands believe that God is unkind, and arbitrary, sitting in solitary grandeur, unmindful of the needs of man. The spirit that caused the fail of Eve is in the words so often uttered, "If God is just and all-powerful, why does He not put an end to all the misery on the earth?" or in these words, "God doesn't care anything about me." And so, in their impatient and unbelieving pride, they set about righting things themselves, and succeed only in making everything worse.

In the lie that the serpent uttered there was the germ of all wickedness and every form of unbelief. In accepting it, Eve turned away from God, repudiating Him utterly. Casting off all allegiance to Him, she put herself in His place. For the lie which she believed was to the intent that she was already equal to God, and needed only to assert her right, and take of the prohibited fruit, to assume her real position. Heathenism in all its forms was in that falsehood, and there is not a phase of error that cannot be traced to it. The fall was complete, and but for the mercy of God there never again would have been in the heart of man the slightest desire for God and His goodness.

WHAT THE WOMAN SAW

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

But she saw what was not so. She saw through the glass that the serpent held before her eyes. The fruit of that forbidden tree was not good for food. Its

"mortal taste
Brought death into our world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden."

But the same deception that made Eve "see" that the fruit of the tree was good for food still blinds the judgment of men. Although God "giveth us richly all things to enjoy" (1 Tim. vi 16), showing no partiality, but giving "to all life, and breath, and all things" (Acts xvii. 35), men count it all as nothing, compared with something that is forbidden on account of its harmful nature. A table may be loaded with the bounties of the earth, yet a tea-toper will consider that she has nothing if there is no tea; or the one who eats to tickle his palate will complain of "starvation diet" if his particular dainty is not present. To many the world is all out of joint unless they have had their dram, or their pipe; their whole happiness depends upon something which makes slaves of them, and gives them only wretchedness.

A TOO HASTY DECISION

One thing that people ever since the days of Eve have overlooked is that one can never get the complete taste of anything the moment it is placed in one's mouth. The Bible tells of things that are

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sweet in the mouth and bitter in the belly. A person takes a cup of tea or a glass of spirits, and fancies that it is exceedingly pleasant to the taste, and to be desired to make one wise. Some hours afterwards that same person has a headache, and wonders what is the cause, not knowing that the headache is part of the taste of the drink. One partakes of rich viands, and thinks that he has had a delicious dinner. Later on he is terribly sick, and suffering from griping pains; he does not know that all that is part of the taste of big dinner. If all the effects of the things that are so pleasing to the perverted appetite, but which lay a heavy tax on the system, were concentrated into the moment of putting the things into the mouth, so that the eater could not fail to recognise the connection, there would be very little intemperance in eating and drinking; but "because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully Bob in them to do evil." Eccl. viii. 11. There are thousands of people suffering from cancer, consumption, gout, and many other common diseases, which are yearly becoming more common, who will never know until the Judgment day that their diseases were simply the "mortal taste" of their delicate most. Yet they might know. God has given the warning; let all who know the danger labour by word and example to sound the warning to others.

THE THINGS THAT ENSLAVE MEN

Another thing that should be understood is that that which is wrong always enslaves its devotees, and that the good always leaves a man free. No person ever becomes a slave to anything that is really good to eat or drink. For example: A person who is accustomed to drinking tea or spirits, or to using tobacco in any form, is utterly lost and in a maze without it. Such ones become nervous and even very irritable, and sometimes are unable to go on with any work that is in hand, if they are deprived of their favourite beverage or weed beyond the usual time. How many there are who admit that they are "good for nothing" in the morning until they have had their accustomed stimulant, ranging from coffee to whisky. The writer has heard dozens of people say that they "couldn't live without eating meat!" Their food and drink was their master, not their servant.

Now it is not so with the man who lives of the simple, yet delicious and nourishing food that the Creator gave to man in Eden. It is good for a man to have regular hours for big meals; but if a truly healthful liver is compelled to delay a meal for some hours, or is deprived of it altogether, or when he gets it does not find the food that he expected, but some other equally good, he is not discommoded in the least. One thing, provided it is really good, suits him just as well as another. He is never the slave of any article of food or drink, so that he cannot eat if he does not have it; but everybody knows, most of us from experience, that this is the case with all who eat to gratify their appetite, rather than simply to live.

THE LIFE IS MORE THAN MEAT

People often say, "One might as well not live at all, as to deprive oneself of all the good things of life." That is what Eve thought. What was the use of living, if she could not have the forbidden fruit? There are not many of us that can throw stones at our common mother. But those same persons are often heard saying, "What is the use of living in this misery?" and too often they put a summary end to their lives. "Is not the life more than meat?" Would it not be far batter to deny the appetite, and even to eat food not quite so pleasing to the palate, and always be full of life and vigour, able to enjoy everything to the full, than to have pleasure at the table, and misery everywhere else? But this is an extreme statement of the case. The fact is that the man who is content with the things that God gave to man in Eden, as his bill of fare, gets more positive enjoyment out of the hours that he spends at the table than anybody else in the world possibly can. He alone knows the meaning of the word "delicious." Every morsel of food is a delight to him, for he alone has the "good things" of life. As he eats he thanks God, "who daily loadeth as with benefits." And not by any means the least of the enjoyments of the clean table is the knowledge that there will be no bad taste afterwards.

WHAT THEY LEARNED

"And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked." It is most significant that the words "subtle" and "naked" are only two forms of the same word in the Hebrew. "Subtlety" is not at all a bad thing, if obtained from the right source, The Proverbs of Solomon are "to give subtlety to the simple; to the young man knowledge and discretion" (Prov. i. 4); and the word "subtlety" in this place is the same as the word used of the serpent; but the subtlety that the Word of God gives is something entirely different from that which comes from listening to the serpent. The wisdom of the serpent is a desirable thing, if it be combined with the harmlessness of the dove. God is wise, and He "giveth wisdom;" the Serpent is wise, but whoever learns of him gains only the knowledge that he is naked. It is a poor school; Christ's is far better. He says, "Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." It is better to know a few things that are so, than to learn much that is only emptiness and nakedness.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL

God never designed that man should know anything but good. Why should anybody wish to know anything else? Is one better off for knowing how a nauseous thing tastes? How many people are there who think that there is a lack in their lives because they do not know how it fools to be bitten by a mad dog? Who is pining to know what it is to have small-pox or the plague? It is far better to know only that which is good; and in spite of what some "moralists" teach, it is not necessary to know evil in order to attain to real virtue. The strongest character ever known on earth "knew no sin." 1 Cor. v. 21. But He knew everything good, and there is enough of that to keep us all well employed throughout eternity.

Many who are set to be teachers of the Gospel imagine that they have to be acquainted with every form of heresy, in order to guard the flock against error; but the shepherd that leads the flock only in the green pastures that the Chief Shepherd provides, has no need to study noxious weeds. He who obeys the injunction to "preach the Word," will never feel the lack of the knowledge of unbelief. The missionary to heathen lands has no need to study the so-called "sacred books" of those who know not God. To be well acquainted with "Jesus Christ, and Him crucified," is a whole university education.

VICE NO AID TO VIRTUE

Neither is it necessary that a man should have become acquainted by experience, with all sorts of vice, in order to be able to deal effectively with souls. It is true

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that God, who makes the wrath of man to praise Him, can turn even a man's lost life to account, but be sure that good never comes from evil. No one can bring a clean thing out of unclean. "Never man spake like this Man," it was said of Christ; and it was because His life had always been the perfection of purity.

LOSING THE KNOWLEDGE OF EVIL

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse." "Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus we are delivered from every vestige of the fall. Therefore in Christ there is deliverance from the mixed knowledge of good and evil; the sin is "put away," and only the good remains, and that is multiplied. Who has not wished that he had never heard some things, and had never learned some forms of evil? and who has not longed to be able to forget at least some of his past life? Well, the Gospel makes provision for that. God says of the people who enter into His covenant, "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Heb. viii. 12. Now God cannot forget anything that exists, and when He forgets our iniquities it is because there is no trace of them in the universe, least of all in us. Just as the haters of God at the last day "shall be as though they had not been" (Obadiah xvi.), so will it be with the sins of those who have become the friends of God. Even so is it now; for God casts their sins behind His back, and buries them in the depths of the sea. Christ is the tree of life, and if we feed continually on Him, and drink from the fountain of His life, the evil that comes from the forbidden tree will cease to be. The worshippers once purged shall have no more consciousness of sin. Like their Master, they will "know no sin." This in the crowning blessedness of the Gospel.

Bear in mind that we are not speaking merely of the specific sots of sin committed, but of sin as a whole. The blood of Christ cleanses; from all sin, so that no trace of it will remain. The carnal mind, the mind that thinks evil, is to be exchanged for the mind of the Spirit, and it has no trace of evil in it. Is it not glorious to know that the hardened sinner, whose mind has been filled with evil, is not obliged to be tortured after conversion with temptations from his own mind, but may have the innocence of a child, combined with the prudence of a man?

MAN HIDESóGOD SEEKS

"The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke xix. 10. This was first demonstrated when "The Lord God called Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?" Sin produces fear. "The wicked flee when no man pursueth." So as soon as a man becomes conscious of sin he seeks to hide from the Lord. But that is a useless proceeding, for "the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." Prov. xv. 3. "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." Jer. xxiii. 23. So the Lord is sure to find every soul; and if that soul be not saved, it is only because he loves death rather than life.

Jonah thought to hide from the Lord, and he chose as his hiding-place the depths of the sea; but the Lord found him there. Yea, the Lord was there before him, and had a place all prepared for him, and from the pit of destruction He brought the runaway back to safety. "If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee." Ps. cxxxix. 9-12. Then let no one despair because some loved one who has been the subject of many prayers has run away to escape the restraints of piety. No matter where he runs to, he will run into the arms of the Lord, which are always outstretched even to a disobedient and gainsaying people.

"Oh, the height of Jesus' love!
Higher than the heaven above,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lasting as eternity;
Love that found me,-wondrous thought!
Found me when I sought Him not."

This being the case, who can measure the hope of the one who turns to seek the Lord?

"THE ENMITY"

"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed." Blessed enmity! But for that enmity which God by His grace implanted into the heart of mankind, no human being, provided the race had continued, would ever have had any more desire for righteousness than the devil himself has; for the fall of man was complete; he had sold himself wholly to Satan, and "for naught." Isa. iii. 3. But we have been "redeemed without money," even with the incorruptible life, "the precious blood of Christ." 1 Peter i. 18, 19. It is because of this enmity against sin, which the life of Christ places in every man, that we are able to "feel after" God when He seeks us in the dark. It is "the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." No matter how tainted an inheritance a child may have, no matter how vicious and depraved its parents are, it has as its birthright from God a spark of the light of life, which may be fanned by the breathing of the Spirit into everlasting glory in the kingdom of God.

THE BRUISING

We get some sore wounds from the serpent, and the wound on our heel makes us often stumble; but we can always say, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise." Victory is ours, for the promise is that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head, and that means its utter destruction. Christ has been tempted on every point to the utmost of Satan's power; and "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." 2 Peter i. 3. He took part in our flesh and blood, in equal measure with us, "that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Heb. ii. 13, 14. Everyone involuntarily names Christ as the seed of the woman, who is spoken of in Genesis iii. 15; but many overlook the obvious fact that we are the seed of the woman, as well as He. Think of the wonder of it! The ordinary idea is reversed: instead of saying that Christ is Man, as well as we are, we learn from this verse to say that we are men, as well as He is; and therefore all the promises to the Son of man belong to us. So we have the promise renewed in these words, "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." Rom. xvi. 20. "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

"Secular Instruction" The Present Truth 17, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

It is declared by Dr. Welldon, Bishop of Calcutta, who is now in this country, that the secular instruction given the natives of India by the Government has been to their detriment, in that, while it has separated them from their native beliefs, it has at the same time divorced them from what little morality was attached to those beliefs, without putting anything in its place.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Pentecost and the Sabbath" The Present Truth 17, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

"On what day of the week did the Pentecost mentioned in the second chapter of Acts fall? It has been stated that, as a matter of fact, the Sabbath was the day on which the Spirit was poured out. Can you give me any proof of this? I know there to a difficulty as to whether Thursday or Friday was the Passover day, Christ observing one day, and the Jews the other; but I thought the question was definitely settled by the resurrection, typified by the offering of first-fruits, on the sixteenth day of the first month. The fifty days were to be reckoned from this wave-offering, so that since that fall on Sunday, the fiftieth day would also fall on Sunday. I know that the particular day of the week on which Pentecost fell is a matter of no consequence; but inasmuch as it has been twice stated in the paper this year, with some show of authority, that Pentecost came on the Sabbath, I would like to have a brief statement of any evidence that supports that position."

This is a question that frequently recurs, and therefore we may for once take time to go into it somewhat in detail. The first thing to be settled is the time from which the Jews began to count the fifty days, the last of which is called Pentecost, in the Greek. The twenty-third chapter of Leviticus contains the list of the yearly festivals, and there we find the principal part of our information. We read verses 5-7:-

"In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord; seven days ye mast eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein." The first day of unleavened bread, the fifteenth day of the first month, was therefore a yearly sabbath. These sabbath days, it must be understood, were a class by themselves, distinct from and "beside the Sabbath of the Lord." Lev. xxiii. 38. Notice the difference in the directions concerning them: Of the weekly Sabbath we read, "Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein." Lev. xxiii. 3. But of the Passover sabbath already referred to, and all the other annual sabbaths, we read, "Ye shall do no servile work therein." On these days the heavy labour was to cease, but of the real Sabbath it was said: "In it thou shalt not do any work."

The Passover sabbath, the first day of unleavened bread, was the guide for reckoning the feast of weeks, as the Pentecost is frequently called in the Old Testament. We read further: "When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest; and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it." Lev. xxiii. 10, 11.

It is evident from the connection that "the Sabbath" here referred to is the Passover sabbath, which was the fifteenth day of the first month, regardless of the day of the week. So then "the morrow after the Sabbath" would be the sixteenth day of the first month. This is corroborated by Joshua v. 10-12: "And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the Passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year."

Turn again to Lev. xxiii. 15, 16, for the completion of the data: "And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; seven sabbaths shall ye complete; even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days."

Summing up the evidence we find this: The Passover was eaten in the evening of the fourteenth day of the first mouth; the next day, the first day of unleavened bread, was a sabbath; on the next day after this sabbath they were to bring a sheaf of corn as a wave-offering; and from this day, namely, from the sixteenth day of the month, they were to begin and number seven complete weeks; and the next day after the completion of the seventh week was the Pentecost.

Now we come to the particular Pentecost in question. That Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples at the regular time, there is no room for doubt, for we read that the disciples came to Him and asked Him, "Where wilt Thou that we go and prepare, that Thou mayest eat the Passover?" and they were told to go and say to a man whom they should meet, "Where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with My disciples?" If Jesus had directed the disciples to prepare the Passover a day before the regularly appointed time, they would have wondered at it, and would certainly have made objection, or at least asked some question. Likewise the man to whom they went would have expressed surprise at the uncommon occurrence. But it was the disciples themselves who introduced the matter; and they certainly would not have deviated from the regular custom. If a Jew were for some good reason prevented from eating the Passover at the regular time, he was allowed to celebrate it at the corresponding time in the second month, the month following; but for anybody to propose to eat it before the regular time would have been such an innovation as would have occasioned no end of controversy.

We must not suppose that it was necessary for Jesus to be sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the month, in order for it to be demonstrated that He is our Passover, or for Him to be raised on the day that the first-fruits were waved before the Lord, in order that He might be considered the first-fruits. His claims rest on Himself, and not on a ceremonial ordinance. They were nothing, but He is everything. He observed those feasts with His disciples at the regularly appointed seasons, but the virtue of His sacrifice depended upon Himself, and not on them.

Our way now is clear, for we know that Jesus was crucified on the day after they ate the Passover. Consequently the day of the crucifixion was the Passover sabbath, the first day of unleavened bread, and the

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day following the crucifixion was the day when they began to count the fifty days to Pentecost. Luke xxiii. 64-66, fixes the day of the crucifixion:-

"And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how His body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment."

The Sabbath the "drew on" as Jesus was taken from the cross and laid in the sepulchre was "the Sabbath day according to the commandment," the seventh day of the week. The sixth day, Friday, is the preparation for the Sabbath; but that day was also a sabbath that year, being the first day of the Passover. The day following, therefore, namely, the weekly Sabbath, was "the morrow after the Sabbath,"-the Passover Sabbath,-and was the day when the fifty days began. It is easy to see that, beginning on Sabbath, the first seven days would end on Friday, and likewise each succeeding seven, up to the forty-ninth, so that the fiftieth day would that year be on the weekly Sabbath.

That is the whole story. As you say, it makes no practical difference on what day of the week the Pentecost came, and so if anybody cannot see light in what is here set forth, and still thinks that Pentecost came on Sunday, that will not in itself affect his character or his hope of salvation. But let him not imagine that even if it could be proved beyond doubt that Pentecost came on Sunday, that would contribute one jot toward the sacredness of that day, or indicate that it should be observed. In the absence of the slightest hint of any commandment for Sunday observance, nothing that took place on it could make it a sacred day; and with the fourth commandment as explicit as it is, and the whole Bible agreeing thereto, no occurrences on the seventh day could add to or detract from its sacredness. It is, has been since creation, and will be throughout eternity, the holy Sabbath of the Lord, to be observed and delighted in by all mankind.

"Our Little Ones. The King's Garden" The Present Truth 17, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

EVERLASTING FLOWERS

Perhaps you may have seen the shining bunches of these pretty, old-fashioned flowers in vases on the mantel-piece, especially in country houses, where they are kept through the winter because they do not fade, like ordinary blossoms. It is because of this that they are called "everlasting flowers!"

Of course they do not last for ever, for all that is in the world passes away, "and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth." But all the flowers in the King's Garden are everlasting flowers, because they come from "incorruptible seed," even "the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever."

Last week we spoke of the beautiful land where God will give His people everlasting rest. And now we will see what it is that will give us long life in that beautiful land.

"Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

There is in this Word of God the fifth seed that He puts into His Garden-the seed of everlasting life. The Apostle Paul quoted this commandment, and showed one way in which it is fulfilled. He said, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord." We are to obey our parents, because to disobey them would be to disobey and dishonour our Heavenly Father, who has placed us in their homes, under their care.

Adam was "the son of God," and every child of Adam is the child of God, though many are prodigal sons, disobedient children. Adam disobeyed his Heavenly Father. This was sin, for "sin is the transgression of the law." All sin is disobedience of God, and all disobedience of God is sin.

You know that this was what cut short Adam's life, and prevented him from living for ever in the beautiful world God had given him. For "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." But the results of his sin did not end with himself, for "by one man's disobedience many were made sinners," and so "death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

If this were the end of the story, we could have no hope of long life in God's beautiful earth. But no; it is only the beginning; and the very commandment that we are talking of promises us this long life, so we know there is hope that we may yet obtain it by His exceeding great and precious promise. So let us read the rest of the story, and see how we may be brought back to obey and honour our Heavenly Father,-to "glorify God and enjoy Him for ever."

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous."

Who is this One, whose perfect obedience has power to undo the evil effects of the sin of the first man, and bring back his family to obedience and life? It is the One Man-the Man Christ Jesus. Just as we were made sinners, born sinful, through the disobedience of Adam, even as we may be made righteous, born again God's obedient children, through the obedience of Jesus.

For "because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts." The Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of perfect obedience and honour of His Heavenly Father, for He said, "I do always the things which please Him."

Then would you always honour your Heavenly Father by perfect obedience to your earthly parents, and by never doing anything displeasing to them or to Him? Here you see the way, the only way in which this can be done. Jesus is the way. You cannot please and honour God, but He can and always does. So you must have His sweet Spirit of obedience in your heart, through being born again of Him, if you are to be among the many who are "made righteous" by His obedience, But what about the long life? Does not death reign over all alike, whether obedient or disobedient? No; for as sin-disobedience-brought death, even so righteousness-obedience-brings back to the children of men their lost life.

"For as by one man came death, by Man came also the resurrection from the dead." Because Jesus always did the will of His Father, death could not reign over Him. He reigned over death, and arose from the tomb, the forerunner of all who shall be made righteous by His obedience.

"Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o'er His foes!
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives for ever with His saints to reign."

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"O grave, where is thy victory?" Because of the glorious victory that Jesus has won over sin and death, God says to all who will let Him make them obedient like Himself:

"Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. . . . And I will put My Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will place you in your own land." Eze. xxxvii.

So our days will be long in the land which the Lord our God giveth us, only through the resurrection from the dead, which has been made possible for as through the obedience of Jesus, the beloved Son of God.

Oh, may He sow this precious seed in your heart gardens, dear children (and He will if you will only listen to His voice) that it may break the power of sin and death over you. Then you will see that lovely land into which He will bring all whom He ransoms from the grave, and your days will be long in it-how long?-even for ever.

"Beautiful Zion, built above,
Beautiful city that I love,
Beautiful gates of pearly white,
Beautiful temple, God its light.

"Beautiful trees for ever there,
Beautiful fruit they always hear,
Beautiful rivers gliding by,
Beautiful fountains, never dry,-

"Beautiful light without the sun,
Beautiful day revolving on,
Beautiful worlds on worlds untold,
Beautiful streets of shining gold,-

"Beautiful crowns on every brow,
Beautiful palms the conquerors show,
Beautiful robes the ransomed wear,
Beautiful all who enter there.

"Beautiful throne of God, the Lamb,
Beautiful seats at His right hand,
Beautiful rest,-all wanderings cease,-
Beautiful home of perfect peace."

Have you ever thought that everything you do is either an honour or dishonour to your parents. You bear their name, and people will judge of them by what they see in you.

If you are naughty, rude, and disobedient, they will think your parents have neglected to train you properly, and that perhaps your bad behaviour is a copy of what they are in their own homes. So they will think much less of them, because you have dishonoured them.

But if you are obedient, gentle, kind, and obliging, they will think that you have a good father and mother, and your parents will be honoured because of you.

Do you remember our talk two weeks ago about the Father's name? When God puts His name upon us. He sows it in our hearts in seed from His own nature, that grows in His Garden His own beautiful character. But sometimes people take His name when they are not like Him in character. He says that His holy name is blasphemed because of these, for people who do not know Him judge of Him by what they see in them.

What a dreadful thing to so dishonour our Heavenly Father as to cause His glorious and fearful Name to be blasphemed!

But in His fifth commandment He gives no a safeguard against this. His Word of power speaks to us, bidding us honour Him. So let this Word sink as good seed into your heart garden, that the fragrant flower of perfect obedience to Him in all things may bring forth its everlasting blossoms to His honour.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

Everybody is shocked at the news of the cloudburst and flood in West Virginia, whereby some scores of lives were lost, and much property destroyed; yet, terrible as the disaster was, it was really slight, in comparison with that which is constantly occurring through the flood of intemperance.

One of the New York papers gives so an item of news that "one of the Iatest fade of the New York society girl is to learn to make her own frocks." That is well; but it does not speak well for "society," that the learning of a useful occupation should be considered as a "fad." It is not necessary nor by any means always advantageous far all people to do the work required for supplying their own needs; but it cannot need any argument to prove that the person who cannot do anything useful is of no use in the world.

We are very thankful to our friends for the interest which they have taken in the "Editor's Private Corner," and for their co-operation by sending in serious, intelligent questions. As it is our purpose to make that department supply the place of face to face conversation, as far as possible, and to give reasons, instead of editorial dicta, it is evident that only a limited number of questions can be considered. We hope, however, that none will be deterred on this ground from sending in their queries. Everything that we can answer with profit to the general reader will be considered in due time.

The last two International Sunday-school lessons have been specially comprehensive, embracing the subjects of the Creation, the Fall, and Redemption, and taking in the first three chapters of the Bible. Accordingly the Notes on these lessons have occupied a good deal of space, yet not more than the importance and variety of the subjects demand. As a consequence some other matter has been crowded out,-last week the "Private Corner," and this week the article on the commandments. There is no loss to the reader, since the sole object of the PRESENT TRUTH is to set forth the teaching of the Scriptures, and all portions are of equal value. It is Bible truth that is given, whether it be on one topic or another. The article on the Iaw will, however, appear next week as usual, and the ninth and tenth commandments will finish the series.

"Disobedient to parents," is a part of the inspired description of people in the last days. Illustrations of this are very frequently seen in cases that come before the magistrates. A mother summoned at Tottenham the other day for the nonattendance of her boy at the Board School, told the magistrate that he was quits beyond her control. Another mother at the same time declared that neither she nor her husband could control their boy of nine, whereupon the magistrate very naturally exclaimed, "What is to be the future of our country, if boys of nine are beyond control in this manner?" It is a live question, for such cases are very frequent. It must be remembered, too, that every such case advertises the parent as incompetent and lacking in character. When parents have so little sense of the responsibility of their position, that they feel no shame in publicly declaring they cannot control their children, the case is hopeless.

The first temptation that beast man on this earth was in the line of appetite. "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat," although she had an abundance without it. It was not good for food, and she had no need of it; but she took it simply because she wished to please and gratify herself.

Christ came into the world, the new Man, the second Adam; and the first recorded temptation that came to Him was also in the line of appetite. But how different the circumstances! He was famishing, and that which was offered Him was food of the simplest kind. If the stones had been turned to bread at His command, they would have made good bread, and He was sorely in need of it; but He would not take any, because He came not to please and gratify Himself.

What a contrast! The first man took that which he did not need, simply to please self, and died; the second Man refused that which He did need, because He would take nothing except from the hand of the Father, and would not please Himself alone, and He is alive for evermore.

Why was this? It was to show us the wonderful redemption that there is in Christ Jesus. He denied Himself that which was lawful, in order that we might be delivered from the power of that which is unlawful. By refusing even that which is good, He demonstrates His power in the flesh to deliver us from the evil.

But that does not state the whole case. He imparts to us the same power and the same mind, so that we ourselves may have the same mastery over self. It is not good for any person in this world to have everything he desires, even though his desires be lawful, and for that which is not injurious. For the sake of others, yea, even for our own sake, it is often necessary for us to refrain from things good in themselves. This is complete victory over the world,-the flesh,-to be complete master of self. He who can at will deny himself that which he knows is good, can more easily abstain from that which is evil, than the man can who indulges himself.

This does not mean asceticism or doing penance. The Lord does not wish us to keep ourselves on the rack. He wishes us always to be happy. "Strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness." The necessities and distresses that we undergo for Christ's sake must be a pleasure, else there is no profit in them. "Christ pleased not Himself," yet He found delight in doing and suffering the will of the Father.

The great end is to be conquerors, and even "more than conquerors." "All things are lawful, but all things are not expedient," and we must not be the servant of any. The child of God is not to be under the law but above it. This does not mean, as too many suppose, a disregard for the law, and ignoring of it; far from it. It is just the opposite of it. One is above it only in the sense that he is in the heavenly places, reigning with God, the Giver of the law. He is not bound by the law, but is loyal to it, as if himself were the giver of it, and zealous that its honour shall be maintained. So instead of being compelled by the law to do what it commands, he acts as the maker and enforcer of the law, compelling his body to yield perfect obedience to it, and taking the keenest, sweetest delight in exercising his authority over the flesh, and seeing it submit to the law.

July 11, 1901

"Saved in the Ark. Gen. viii. 1-22" The Present Truth 17, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. vii. 1-22.)

The title of the lesson for this week is "Noah Saved in the Ark," but the Scripture cited, namely, the eighth chapter of Genesis, does not correspond thereto, inasmuch as it tells us only of the closing scenes. We shall therefore have a brief study of the flood in general, without regard to the text referred to in the lesson outline.

UNBELIEF AND BLINDNESS

Everyone will have heard of the doubts that have been cast upon the Scripture record of the flood. Not only avowed infidels, but many professed ministers of the Gospel, do not believe that there ever was a general flood, covering the whole earth. The same cause of unbelief exists in this case as in that of the story of creation. Satan has instilled doubts of that in the minds of men, in order that they might become blinded to the power of the Gospel, and especially to the Sabbath, the sign of the cross, which creates new men. As disbelief of the story of creation hides the beginnings of this world, so disbelief of the story of the flood hides the view of the end; for the days of Noah are referred to by the Saviour as a parallel to the days of the coming of the Son of man. See Matt. xxiv. 37-39. The adversary of God and man would be glad to have all men ignorant concerning the coming of the Lord; and that is the cause of the disbelief in the record of the flood.

WILLING IGNORANCE

Still further: We are told that "there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." 2 Peter iii. 3, 4. How is it that these scoffers thus throw discredit upon the promise of the Lord's coming, and declare that there is no evidence of any such thing? The answer follows: "For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and in the water; whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished, but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men." Verses 5-7. Further on we are told that "the elements shall melt with fervent heat," and that "all these things shall be dissolved." At the day of Judgment there will be a sea of fire overwhelming the earth, just as the waters covered and destroyed the earth in the days of Noah.

From the margin of our Bible, together with the reading of the Revised Version, we can get a more clear idea of the text than we now have. We know that when the earth was created it was a watery mass. "Darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Then the waters were separated, some remaining on the surface of the earth, and the larger portion of it being stored up in the earth. These are called "the water under the earth." Ex. xx. 4. That is, in the beginning, "of old," the earth was "compacted out of water and amidst water," or "consisting of water," a large portion of which was stored up in the earth.

Now by this water "the world that then was perished." After Noah went into the ark, "all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." Gen. vii. 11. The very material out of which the earth was composed, and which was stored up in it, was made the agent of its destruction.

If men were not willingly ignorant of this fact, they would not be blind to the coming of the Lord, and the approaching destruction of the world by fire. The flood reduced the earth almost if not quite to its original chaos. At that time all the changes took place, which by unbelievers are attributed to the lapse of ages. Whole forests of huge trees were buried deep in the earth. These have since turned to coal, which has generated large amounts of oil and gas. As a consequence, there is a vast amount of fire stored in the earth, reserved till the flood of fire that is to overwhelm it. As in the time of the flood the water out of the depths of the earth united with that which poured forth from the open windows of heaven, so in the last day the fires in the interior of the earth will unite with that which comes down from God out of heaven, to destroy the earth. All things have not continued as they were from the beginning of creation. Once was the world destroyed by the very elements out of which it was composed, and all the agencies are ready for its second destruction, which, instead of leaving it more curse-marked than before, as was the case with the flood, will cleanse it from the curse, so that there will be a new earth, as in the beginning.

The texts already quoted prove that the flood was universal. It was as extensive as the fires of the last day will be. To deny this is to deny the writings of the apostles, and thus to undermine the Gospel. The third chapter of Second Peter mentions three worlds-the world that was "of old," from the creation; another, the one that now is, since the flood; and the third, the new earth, which will emerge from the fires of the day of the Lord. The three worlds are the same world in three different stages of existence. The universality of the flood is denied only by those who do not credit the prediction that the earth is to be destroyed again, this time more completely than before, by fire.

"SAVED BY WATER"

In 1 Peter iii. 18-21 there is reference to the flood, which sometimes puzzles the reader. The first portion of the text tells us that by the same Spirit by which Christ was raised from the dead, He went in the days of Noah, "while the ark was a preparing," and "preached unto the spirits in prison," that is, to the captives of sin, shut up under the law. The longsuffering of God waited one hundred and twenty years, while Noah was building the ark, "wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

Just a word about the expression, "saved by water." In the margin of the Revision we have this reading: "Few, that is, eight souls, were brought safely through water." The Greek word is the same as that in Acts xxiii. 24, where we read that the two centurions were commanded to provide beasts for Paul, whereby they might "bring him safe" to the governor; and a close parallel to the one in Peter is found in Acts xxvii. 43, 44, where we read of Paul's escape from shipwreck, together with his travelling companions. Some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship, "they escaped all safe to land." By means of the boards

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and broken pieces of the ship the people who were with Paul were all conveyed through the water to a place of safety; and by the ark Noah and his family were brought safely through the water. So here we see that the ark, and not the water of the flood, is referred to as the means of salvation.

"BAPTISM DOTH NOW SAVE US"

"The like figure whereunto baptism doth also now save us." How does baptism save us?-"By the resurrection of Jesus Christ." "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Rom. vi. 8, 2. "As many of you as have been baptized into Jesus Christ have put on Christ." Gal. iii. 27. Baptism means being enclosed in the life of Christ as really as Noah was shut up in the ark. Only in the ark could he find safety, and only in Christ is there salvation for any man.

Baptism saves us, but not if it is only a form. It is not the washing of the body in water, but the answer of a good conscience toward God; it is the cleansing of the conscience by the water of the life of Christ.

RIDING ON A SEA OF FIRE

But there is a still further parallel. When the waters overflowed the earth, destroying it, Noah and his family, safe in the ark, rode upon the sea. That which covered up the corrupt earth with its wicked inhabitants, bore righteous Noah in safety. Even so it will be in the last days, the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Before the final act of Judgment, the holy city, the New Jerusalem, will come down from God out of heaven, and will take its place upon the earth. We know that it comes down upon this old earth, before it is made new, because we read in Rev. xx. that at the close of the thousand years during which the earth will lie desolate, the second resurrection-the resurrection of the wicked-will take place, and that Satan will then go forth among them to deceive them, and to gather them together to battle. "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." After that the new heaven and the new earth are seen.

And where will the New Jerusalem be all the time that the flames are devouring the earth with its wicked inhabitants? It will be riding on the lake of fire as securely as the ark rode on the billows of the flood. The saints of God inside of it will be saved through the fire. They will be able to dwell with the devouring fire, and with everlasting burnings. Isa. xxxiii. 14, 15.

THE ARK OF SAFETY

It is just that great salvation that is secured by baptism into Christ, by being hidden in Him. "We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." Isa. xxvi. 1. Its walls shall be called Salvation, and its gates Praise (Isa. lx. 18), because "God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved." Its strength is simply the strength of the everlasting God, our refuge. The safety of the saints in the city, as it rides on the billows of fire that will rise literally "mountains high," will be only the safety that everyone now finds, who is hidden in the Rock of Ages.

"Not rocks nor hills could guard so well,
Fair Salem's happy ground,
As those eternal arms of love,
That every saint surround."

"The Law of Life. The Ninth Commandment" The Present Truth 17, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

If we were to attempt to enumerate and discuss all the ways in which this commandment may be and is broken, a whole volume of the PRESENT TRUTH would not be sufficient. But that is not necessary. We do not need to know all the ways of error, in order to keep in the right way. The man who is in search of treasure does not care to know the roads that lead away from it; all that he desires is to know the one road that will bring him to the right place. There are many wrong ways, but only one right way; and it we spend our time exploring all the devious paths of error, we shall never know the way of truth.

Yet in the present condition of things, it is really necessary to call attention sharply to some particular sins, while preventing the commandment of truth; because many people are so fixed in a wrong course that scarcely anything less than an earthquake will move them. They will listen to the commandment which forbids what they are doing, and will think that it commends their actions. One must put his finger upon the particular act, and say, "That is sin," before they will have any sense of wrong-doing. Thousands of people read the fourth commandment every week, and honestly think that they are obeying it in keeping Sunday; and many people take the name of the Lord in vain in various ways, without any consciousness of so doing.

"POLITE LYING"

Custom lies at the foundation of a large amount of the violation of the commandments,

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the ninth no less than the others. What "verybody does" is supposed to be justifiable. The custom of the people is responsible for a great deal of what is known as "polite lying." God forbid that any of us should, be any less courteous than we are; we certainly do not need to cultivate rudeness; but there is a false standard of politeness, and it is the one too often followed. The sort of politeness that depends upon falsehood is evidently not true courtesy; for "no lie is of the truth," and truth cannot come from lying. The same Scriptures that command us not to bear false witness, also tell us to "be pitiful be courteous" (1 Peter iii. 18); therefore we know that the most perfect courtesy is compatible with perfect truthfulness, and cannot exist without it.

Laziness and cowardice are at the bottom of a great deal of this "polite lying." It comes so easy for even Christians themselves to follow the universal custom of saying things to please people, and lightly to make promises that they do not expect ever to perform. The customer wishes the goods delivered immediately, and the professed Christian tradesman will promise to send them, well knowing that he cannot do so fur hours; yet he will not think that he has lied. He did not do so deliberately, but it was so easy to please the customer by making the promise, and then trust to some excuse to pacify him if he afterwards complained.

"THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN"

Satan, who is a liar and the father of it, is also called "the accuser of the brethren." Rev. xii. 10. He accuses them before God day and night. Now Satan would know better than to try to make the Lord believe that a person has committed a sin if which he is not guilty. He well knows that no act escapes the eye of the Lord, and that it is useless to try to make Him believe that He has overlooked some fault. Therefore it follows that in accusing the brethren before God, Satan confines himself to the things that they have actually done. Where then is the wrong? Just here: "It is God that justifieth," and whoever lays anything to the charge of God's elect brings false witness against God as well as against the brethren. When God has forgiven a man, it is a grievous sin to accuse the man of sin. Whoever brings up that fault and talks about it to the man's detriment, is doing the devil's work. There is no meaner way of serving the devil than to charge against a person the sin that he has confessed. As soon as a person confesses his sin, God calls him righteous; to call him guilty then is to bear false witness against both man and God.

LOSING CONFIDENCE

How many there are who cruelly suspect a person, and always treat him as untrustworthy, because of some sin or sins in the past. It matters not that he has confessed his fault, he is still held under suspicion. Some will say, "We know that he has fallen once, and he may again." Yes; and so may the critic. Just as though no man in this world is guilty, except the one whose sin has become public property! The fact that a man has fallen into any kind of sin is no evidence whatever in itself that he will do the same thing again. On the contrary if he has voluntarily, under the influence of the Spirit of God, confessed his sin (and no one ever voluntarily confesses a fault unless he is prompted by the Spirit), that is the best possible evidence that he will be on his guard. If a man has lied to me, and of his own free will comes to me and confesses it, I can have more confidence in him than ever before. When a sin has been confessed, we must beware of bearing false also witness by our condemnation. It is a terrible thing to condemn where God justifies.

This applies when the sinner is ourselves, just as much as when it is somebody else. When we have confessed our sin to the Lord, He has forgiven it, and we have no right to go on condemning ourselves. We are not our own; we belong to the Lord: and, leaving ourselves out of the question, we must not dare think that He has not forgiven, when He says that He has. How many there are who would place the most implicit trust in the word of a neighbour, but who do not regard it as a sin to contradict the Word of God, thus charging Him falsely.

TAKING THE RISK OF LYING

If we ever repeat any story about anybody, we are never safe from the possibility of having lied. In the first place, there is always the possibility of being mistaken: our informant may not have known all the facts, and it may be that the person talked about has dune nothing amiss. And in the second place, even if he were guilty, he may have confessed it to God, and been forgiven, before the story reached the ears of any other person. We may say that we certainly would not repeat anything against a person, if we knew that that person had repented; but as long as we do not know that he has not we are assuming all the risk of lying, both against God and man, when we take up a reproach against our neighbour.

TALE-BEARING

Many people seem to think that any amount of gossip is justified, provided one does not tell wilful lies. But the Bible says that the one who shall abide in the holy hill of the Lord is he who "backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour." Ps. xv. 3. That is as much as to say that he who has take up a reproach against his neighbour, will not dwell in the tabernacle of God. Aside from any other reason, it is a fact that it is next to impossible, if not quite, to talk about another's doings or sayings, and speak the exact truth. If we go so far as to tell his sentiments, or to judge his motives, then it is absolutely certain that we shall be guilty of falsehood; for nobody can state another person's belief, or tell what somebody else thinks. We shall at least tell that which we do not certainly know; and whoever does that is to all intents and purposes a liar. If we tell the truth on any such occasion, it is only by accident. The love of making a accusation is so strong that we are often willing to run the risk of telling an untruth, rather than miss the chance of being the first to tell the news.

If we were called upon to testify in court, we should not be allowed to repeat what we had only heard. We must confine ourselves to what has come under our own observation. Even then it is difficult enough to tell the exact truth. Shall we dare be any less particular as God's witnesses than we are required to be as witnesses for the State?

(To be Continued.)

"Trial Sermon" The Present Truth 17, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

The Christian says that G. Campbell Morgan, who is now conducting the evangelical work in Moody's Bible schools, was rejected as a candidate for the Wesleyan ministry, because of an adverse report on in his "trial sermon." They would doubtless not reject him now, but we trust that he now knows better than to consent to preach a "trial sermon" for anybody. It was all right, however; for anybody who will put himself and the Gospel on exhibition, as one shows off the paces of a horse that is for sale, ought to be rejected.

"The Editor's Private Corner. How God Hardened Pharaoh's Heart" The Present Truth 17, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

"In the seventh chapter of Exodus, third verse and part of the fourth, and in several places In the following chapters, we read that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he would not let the Israelites go; and in the fourth verse of the fourteenth chapter it is recorded that God said: 'I will harden Pharaoh's heart, to follow after them.' Why did God adopt a means of escape for the children of Israel, and then harden Pharaoh's heart while ten plagues were sent, and the firstborn slain, and finally harden his heart to follow them, to his destruction?"

This is a frequently recurring question, and the answer is found in the perception of the method, by which it was done. This we find in the narrative itself. In answering this question, we cannot do better than we have done in "The Everlasting Covenant;" so we will turn to that book and read a few pages together:-

PREACHING TO PHARAOH

It is a truth that "God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him." Acts x. 34, 35. This was not a new truth in the days of Peter, but has ever been true, for God is always the same. The fact that men have usually been slow to perceive it, makes no difference with the fact. Man may fail to recognise the power of God, but that does not make Him any the less powerful; so the fact that the great mass of God's professed followers have usually tailed to recognise that He is perfectly impartial, and have supposed that He laved them to the exclusion of other people, has not narrowed His character.

THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM INCLUDED THE EGYPTIANS

The promise was to Abraham and his good. But the promise and the blessing name to Abraham before he was circumcised, "that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also," Rom. iv. 11. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. iii. 28, 29. Therefore the promise embraced even the Egyptians, as well as the Israelites, provided they believed. And it did not embrace unbelieving Israelites any more than it did unbelieving Egyptians. Abraham is the father of those who are circumcised, but only of those who "are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised." If the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, their uncircumcision is counted for circumcision. (See Rom. ii. 25-29.)

GOD'S LONGSUFFERING

It should not be forgotten that God did not begin at once to send the plagues upon Pharaoh and his people. He did not propose to deliver the Israelites by killing their oppressors, but rather by converting them, if it were possible. God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter iii. 9. He "will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Tim. ii. 4. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." Eze. xxxiii. 11. All men are God's creatures, and His children, and His great heart of love embraces them all, without respect to race or nationality.

Accordingly, at the first, the simple demand was made upon Pharaoh to let God's people go free. But he impudently and haughtily replied, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice, to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go?" Ex. v. 2. Then miracles were wrought before him. These were not at the first judgments, but simply manifestations of God's power. But the magicians of Pharaoh, the servants of Satan, counterfeited these miracles, and Pharaoh's heart became harder than before. Yet the careful reader will see that even in the miracles that were counterfeited by the magicians, the superior power of the Lord was manifested.

PHARAOH'S HEART HARDENED

When mild measures failed to cause Pharaoh to acknowledge the power of God, judgments were sent. God, who knows the end from the beginning, had said that Pharaoh's heart would be hardened, and even that He Himself would harden it; and so it was. Yet it must not be supposed that God set about deliberately to harden Pharaoh's heart against his will, so that he could not have relented if he had wished. God sends strong delusion, that men should believe a lie, only upon those who have rejected the truth and who love a lie. (See 2 Thess. ii. 10-12.) Every one has just what he most desires. If any man wishes to do the will of God, he all know of the doctrine; but to him who rejects truth, there is nothing left but darkness and deception. (See John vii. 17.)

HARDENED BY MERCY

It is well to note that it was the manifestation of the mercy of God that hardened Pharaoh's heart. The simple request of the Lord was scornfully denied. Then the plagues began to come, yet not immediately, but with interval enough to allow Pharaoh to think. But as long as the power of the magicians appeared to be as great as that exercised by Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh would not yield. Soon it because manifest that there was a power greater than that with his magicians. They brought frogs upon the land, but they could not drive them away. "Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the Lord, that He may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord." Ex. viii. 8. He had already learned enough of the Lord to call Him by His name.

"And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs which He had brought against Pharaoh. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields. And they gathered them together upon heaps; and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw

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that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said." Ex. viii. 12-15.

"Let favour be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord." Isa. xxvi. 10. Thus it was with Pharaoh. The judgment of God caused his haughty purpose to weaken; but "when he saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart."

Again there came swarms of flies, at the command of the Lord, and Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away; entreat for me. And Moses said, Behold I go out from thee, and I will entreat the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, to-morrow; but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the Lord. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, and from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one. And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go." Ex. viii. 28-32.

And so it went on throughout the plagues. All the steps in each case are not recorded, but we see that it was the longsuffering and mercy of God that hardened Pharaoh's heart. The same preaching that comforted the hearts of many in the days of Jesus, made others more bitter against Him. The raising of Lazarus from the dead fixed the determination in the hearts of the unbelieving Jews to kill Him. The Judgment will reveal the Not that every one who has in hardness of heart rejected the Lord, has done so in the face of the revelation of His mercy.

GOD'S PURPOSE WITH PHARAOH

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, Let My people go, that they may serve Me. For I will this time send all My plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like Me in all the earth. For now I had put forth My hand, and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou hadst been cut off from the earth; but in very deed for this cause have I made thee to stand, for to show thee My power, and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth." Ex. ix. 13-16, R.V.

The still more literal rendering of the Hebrew by Dr. Kalish, reads that: "For now I might have stretched out My hand, and might have smitten thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou wouldst have been cut off from the earth. But only for this cause have I let thee exist, in order to show thee My power, and that My name may be acknowledged throughout all the earth." A close comparison will show that this idea is expressed in the Revised Version, as quoted above, but not so clearly.

It is not the case, as is too often lightly supposed, that God brought Pharaoh into existence for the express purpose of wreaking His vengeance upon him. Such an idea is most dishonouring to the character of the Lord. But the true idea is that God might have out Pharaoh off at the very first, and so have delivered His people without any delay. That, however, would not have been in keeping with the Lord's invariable course, which is to give every man ample opportunity to repent. God had borne long with Pharaoh's stubbornness, and now proposed to send severer judgments; yet He gives him fair warning, that even yet he may turn from his wicked.

God had kept Pharaoh alive, and had delayed to send His severest judgments upon him, in order that He might show unto him His power. But the power of God was being manifested at that time for the salvation of His people, and the power of God unto salvation is the Gospel. Therefore God was keeping Pharaoh alive, in spite of his stubbornness, to give him ample opportunity to learn the Gospel. That Gospel was as powerful to save Pharaoh as it was to save the Israelites.

The revised renderings have been used because they are clearer than those of the common version, and not because the same truth is not set forth in each. Take the common rendering, "In very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee My power; and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth" (Ex. ix. 16), and grant that it refers to the bringing of Pharaoh to the throne. Even then it is far from showing that God raised him up for the purpose of plaguing and killing him. The text says that it was for the purpose of showing God's power, and causing His name to be known throughout all the earth. To infer that God can know His power and make known His name only by the destruction of men, is dishonouring to Him, and contrary to che Gospel. "His mercy endureth for ever" 1 Chron. xvi. 21.

TO DECLARE THE NAME OF THE LORD

God's purpose was that His name should be declared throughout all the earth. This is what was done, for we read that forty years later the people of Canaan were terrified at the approach of the Israelites, because they remembered what God had done in delivering them from Egypt. But the purpose of God would have been accomplished just the same if Pharaoh had yielded to the wishes of the Lord. Suppose that Pharaoh had acknowledged the Lord, and had accepted the Gospel that was preached to him: what would have been the result? He would have done as Moses did, and have exchanged the throne of Egypt for the reproach of Christ, and a place in the everlasting inheritance. And so he would have been a most powerful agent in declaring the name of the Lord throughout all the earth. The very fact of the acceptance of the Gospel by a mighty king, would have made known the power of the Lord as effectually as did the plagues. And Pharaoh himself, from being a persecutor of God's people, might, like Paul, have become a preacher of the faith. Sad to say, he did not know the day of his visitation.

"The Betting Mania Officially Encouraged" The Present Truth 17, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

One of the Paris correspondents of the Daily Chronicle gives the "sporting" news from that city, and incidentally lots us see the madness and misery resulting from horse-racing. The worst of all is the fact that the Government is a party to the destruction of morals and happiness. The writer says:-

"Few outside France realise the extent to which racing goes on here. It has become a passion, a habit, a daily necessity with thousands of Parisians. The whole year through, with the exception of six weeks in winter, the afternoon diversion, or rather business, is immediately after dejeuner, to rush off to Asteuil, or Saint Ouen, or Maisons-Laffitte, or Colombes, or Enghien, or Vincennes, or Lanchhamps. These places are just outside the walls of Paris. Fortunes are made, and more often, unmade, in the fashionable paddock, or pesage, with its 20f. of admittance. Its frequenters, however, are the wealthy, the idle, and the dissipated.

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"But it is in the field, in the pelouse, where all may enter at the modest outlay of 3f. or If., that the real mischief is done. Here, every day, are thousands of the humbler sort-the garoon, the concierge, the butcher boy, the employe, old women, young wives-drawn irresistibly to that vortex, the pari-mutuel.

"The thing is made so easy for them; there are no dealings with doubtful bookmakers; all is plain sailing, and the system, horrible as it may seem, is under the protection of the public authority. Just a simple 5f. piece is sufficient to begin with, presented at the little counter, with a ticket in exchange bearing the number of the horse. The result, giving the sum won, is posted up in a prominent place immediately after the race. The lucky individual draws his money at once, at the rear of the said counter. The favor takes possession, the savings of years are swallowed up, work is neglected, until finally the poor wretch becomes a beggar, a thief, or a suicide.

"The State allows this to go on, on the principle that it brings in money to the Assistance Publique, and thus substantially relieves distress. The Assistance Publique receives seven per cent. of the takings of the pari-mutuel. A blind policy, for the racing about Paris creates more poverty and misery than the funds thus acquired can ever hope to assuage."

"'The Pleasures of Sin'" The Present Truth 17, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Of Moses it is said that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. The pleasures of sin at the best are but "for a season;" for the world passeth away, and the lust thereof;" but this is not all; for such is "the deceitfulness of sin" that it often makes its devotees wear out their lives with toil and anxiety over what is grimly called a "sport." A visitor to the gambling rooms at Monte Carlo gives the following description of the appearance of the players there:-

"These rooms are open from noon till midnight. As I went after dinner, I found the rooms very full. Every table was surrounded by gamblers, three deep. The front row were all seated close to one another. The other two rows stood peering eagerly over the shoulders of those who were seated and as occasion required thrusting forward their trembling arms to place money on the tables or to grab at money which they had won. As soon as a seat was vacated, one of those who were standing took it, and almost invariably some one else came up and stood in the outside row.

"Here let me say at once that nothing in this place impressed me so much as the extreme melancholy of everybody. The Monte Carlo gamblers are without exception the most wretched lot of foolish sinners upon whom I have ever set my eyes. The pleasures of sin, I know, are but for a moment; but most sins do bring their moments of simple pleasures. But here was none at all. A deadly silence, broken only by the croupier as he announced the course of the events, reigned over these gilded, close, melancholy rooms. No one laughed or smiled. There was not a trace of life or brightness. They looked as miserable as if they all were waiting to have their back teeth extracted without the relief of gas. I never saw such depressed wretches, and I pitied them from the bottom of my heart. This is, beyond doubt, the most melancholy form of 'enjoyment' the devil has ever invented."

"Our Little Ones. The King's Garden. Self-sacrifice" The Present Truth 17, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

SELF-SACRIFICE

This is a peculiar flower, is it not? But many of you will recognise this at once as the plant that we call "Lovelies-bleeding." Do you think that a strange plant to grow in the King's Garden? We have taken it to stand for the beautiful flower that grows from the seed of the Word, "Thou shalt not kill."

You think it a very dreadful thing to take the life of another, and so it is. But Jesus said that to be angry with another without cause is the same as to take his life. "Whosoever hateth his brother, is a murderer."

What was it that caused the first murder? It was anger and hatred. Cain was angry with Abel, and that led him to kill his only brother. He did not mean to do it, for he did not know what death was; he had never seen a human being cold and still, with the breath gone from the body, and the heart-beat stopped.

You see, then, that Cain's sin was in being angry, and hating his brother; for the taking of Abel's life was an accident which happened because of his anger.

Think of this, when any bitter feelings of anger or hatred towards anyone rise up in your hearts. Think of the dreadful sin of murder, and of the words of God that "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer," and ask Him to root out this bad weed from your heart garden, and make the sweet flowers of love to bloom there instead.

"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." This is what God tells us to do, and then He adds, "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

In sending the sunshine and the rain, God is giving out His own life to us. But we have learned already that He can only give life to sinners through His Cross. God does not take our lives because we are sinners and enemies, but He gives up His own Iife to save us. He pours out His own life-blood upon the Cross to reconcile us to Him, to make us His friends instead of His enemies.

Think of the Cross of Jesus Christ, but how Love lay bleeding upon it to save His enemies, and there you will learn the meaning of this commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." You will learn what it is to be a true child of your Heavenly Father; for "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."

And "hereby perceive we the love of God: because He laid down His life for us." So as we are to love one another as He has loved us, "we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren."

This does not always mean that we should die for them, but that we should live for others. We should give up our lives to serve others, doing all the good we can to all the people we can,-not to our friends only, and those who love us, but even to those who hate and are unkind to us.

"If thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst, give him drink." Thus you may "overcome evil with good," and turn your enemies into friends. Read the story of Elisha and his enemies on the next page, and you will see how he did this.

Jesus "went about doing good." His life was laid down long before He died on Calvary. From the beginning of the world He had been giving His life, that all His creatures might have life. And He can give His life to sinful beings, as are all in this world, only through His own death.

How different is God's way from the way of this world! Men fight and kill their enemies, and think that they do no wrong, or even that they are doing good and serving God. But God does not take the life of His enemies; He gives His own life to save them.

You must have noticed on the flags of Great Britain, the figure of the Cross, many times repeated. This is used as an ensign when the armies of England do battle with their enemies. Do not be deceived by this form, but always remember that the Cross of Jesus stands for life laid down for enemies. If we truly follow it, it will not lead us to kill, but to seek to save the lives of others, even though it be by the giving of our own.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." "When we

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were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son."

You have heard of the "Crusades," the Wars of the Cross, as they were called, which lasted for many years, and in which much blood was shed, and many lives were lost. But these wars had really nothing to do with the Cross of Jesus, for when the Son of God goes forth to war, all the blood that He sheds is His own, which He pours out to save His enemies.

This lovely and wonderful flower of Love and self-sacrifice grows not in the gardens of this world. It is of heavenly growth, and is found only in the King's Garden. The seed of it comes from the King's own heart of love, and "he that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love." When God says to us, "Thou shalt not kill," He is sowing in our hearts the precious seed of His own loving self-sacrifice, that by His grace given to us we may be willing to lay down our lives to save the lives of others. May this seed grow and flourish in your hearts, that your lives may glorify the King by revealing His goodness.

"Conquered by Kindness" The Present Truth 17, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Elisha was a prophet of the God of Israel. The king of Syria fought against Israel, but God showed his servant Elisha all the plans of the king of Syria, and he told them to the king of Israel. So the king was able to escape from his enemy, and did not fall into the traps that were laid for him.

When this had happened many times, the king of Syria thought there must surely be a traitor among his servants, who told the king of Israel his plans, and he asked them to show him who it was. Then one of the servants said:

"None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bed chamber."

Then the king said, "Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him." And it was told him that be was in Dothan, So he sent a great host, with horses and chariots, to take Elisha captive.

When Elisha's servant saw the hosts of Syria, he was very much afraid, but Elisha was not, for he knew that God was with him. He prayed that God would open his servant's eyes, and then the young man saw that there were horses and chariots of fire all round about Elisha.

Then Elisha prayed that God would smite the army of the king of Syria with blindness. So God smote them with blindness.

Then Elisha said to them, "Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek." But he led them to Samaria where the king of Israel's army was. Then the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were in the midst of their enemies.

Now it was their turn to be frightened, and no doubt they were, for they thought that they were caught in a trap, and would surely all be slain. The king of Israel thought so too, and he said to Elisha, "My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?" as though he were eager to begin.

But Elisha knew a better way of conquering his enemies than by killing them. He knew God's way, and he had read the words of the wise King Solomon: "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." When he prayed that God would smite them with blindness, it was only that he might have the opportunity to do them good.

So Elisha said to the king of Israel, "Thou shalt not smite them: set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master." And he prepared great provision for them, and when they had eaten and drank, he sent them away, and they went to their master.

We may be sure that the king of Syria was very much surprised to hear that they had been so mildly and kindly treated. Elisha's kindness quite conquered the enemies of Israel, and there was no more trouble with them, for we are told that "the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

The Marconi wireless telegraphy system is now fitted on thirty-seven ships in the British Navy.

Over 20,000 acres of land in Western Australia has been given by the Colonial Government to the Salvation Army, to be used for its "oversea colony."

"The eye is not satisfied with seeing." Although the coronation of King Edward is a year distant, seats "for pageant day only, or for Coronation week" are already being advertised for sale to the highest bidder.

Correspondents from Naples say that the crater of Vesuvius has been crumbling for some time, and that the whole mountain has altered in appearance, the height of the crater having been already reduced by more than 1,200ft. It is said that this phenomenon is always present just before an eruption.

St. Petersburg despatches say that news of an alarming character continues to be received from the province of Saratoff, where, owing to the continuance of heat and drought, the crops are withering and the grass is being scorched. The prices of corn are rising considerably, and a period of scarcity, as terrible as that of about ten years ago, is feared in the province and in the neighbouring Volga districts.

Combinations, confederacies, are the order of the day. The latest is a "lead trust," with a capital of twenty million dollars (over ?4,000,000), to control the output of the lead-fields in the south-eastern districts of Missouri, U.S.A. Most people see in these combinations the oppression of the poor by capitalists, but the danger does not lie in that direction. They rather tend to hasten the grand catastrophe that be the ruin of the moneyed men, since there must inevitably be a reaction from such interferences with the natural progress of trade.

The eastern portion of the United States has been suffering intensely from heat. From reports received, the Chronicle of July 4, said that "New York is like a city stricken by a plague," and one cannot read the accounts without thinking of the fourth of the seven last legs, when the vial of wrath was poured out upon the sun, "and power was given him to scorch men with fire, and men were scorched with great heat." Rev. xvi. 8, 9. Up to July 3, the deaths from heat alone reached a total of more than 500, more than half of which have occurred within twenty-four hours. As high as 120 degrees have been registered by the thermometer in some places, and both men and beasts fall in the street. It is comparatively easy to fortify a country against assaults by land or sea; but there are unseen enemies and weapons which cannot be guarded against, and which can very quickly lay the pride of man in the dust.

It is reported from Copenhagen that the Commission directed last year in Crete by Dr. Ehlers for testing the spread of leprosy has just sent in its report to Prince George, who initiated the Commission. Dr. Ehlers was able to testify to the existence of 399 lepers, but put down the total at about 600.

In imposing a fine upon an East Ham tradesman for selling margarine as butter, and who pleaded that it was an assistant's mistake, the magistrate very pertinently replied that "it is curious that the mistake is always in favour of the tradesman," and that one never hears of butter being sold as margarine. There is a sermon in that.

The art of man has not yet succeeded in successfully competing with natural locomotion, in point of speed. Some pigeons were recently let loose in Burgos, Spain, and one of them flew to its home in Brussels, a distance of 700 miles, in just fourteen hours. No machine has yet been invented that will keep up the rate of fifty miles an hour for fourteen consecutive hours.

A whole volume could not set forth the true character of war any better than it is done in a single sentence in a book entitled, "The Diary of the Wife of an Imperial Yeomanry officer during the Boer War," by Lady Maud Rolleston. She is one of the women who did valuable work as a nurse, and she says that when she got her patients pulled round, and sent off to the front again, "it made me feel as if I were a farmer's wife feeding chickens to be killed."

The drink bill of New South Wales, Australia, was nearly half a million pounds more last year than in 1899, nearly ?5,000,000 having been expended for liquor in that time. This makes an average of 70s. per head of the population, which is enormous when we consider that there are certainly many people there who do not drink. Of 24,000 convictions for drunkenness, one-sixth were women, the number of convictions against women being nearly double that of the previous year. Such a sudden, marked increase is indeed alarming.

Speaking on the Marriage Laws of England at a meeting of the members of the English Church Union, the Rev. R. R. Dolling quoted the remark of one of the Bishops, to the intent that "when this question came to be fought out, the Bishops would be found in their places," and said that he was one of those who thought that "the House of Lords was not the finest place for our Bishops." That was well, though very mildly put. Elders, which is another term for Bishop (see Titus i. 5-8), are especially charged against "being lords over God's heritage" (1 Peter v. 1-3) and therefore are sadly out of place in the House of Lords.

The adherents of the cult misnamed "Christian Science" evidently have no sense of humour. The leading article in their creed is that there is no such thing as disease; yet Mrs. Eddy, who is declared to be the woman of Rev. vii., and who is called "our revered mother," sent her latest revelation by post, her absence being explained on the ground that she was "too ill to attend"! No amount of absurdity and incongruity is too great for those who substitute human speculation for the plain teaching of the Bible.

In a speech at one of the meetings in connection with the Bicentenary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Bishop of Calcutta dwelt specially on "the supreme difficulty of the work of conversion in such a country as India. He frankly owned that if he himself had realised it at all, he doubted whether he should have gone out to Calcutta, and that what had impressed him most was not the fewness of the converts, but that there should be any converts at all." Yet since the "great multitude" of the saved will come from "all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues" (Rev. vii. 9), it is certain that there will be some from every one of the nations of India, and there are not wanting men who, filled with the Spirit of the Chief Shepherd are willing and glad to go into the wilderness to find even one sheep that is gone astray.

The Rev. Arthur Sowerby, of the China Inland Mission makes a strong plea, in the Baptist Times and Freeman, in defence of the claims which the missionaries have made for indemnity from the Chinese Government for property destroyed in the recent outbreak. From the ordinary citizen's point of view his argument for "restitution, rather than compensation" is sound. He says:-

Why do we missionaries so strenuously press that these claims should be advanced? The reason is this: our brethren and sisters have been killed as criminals, and charged with the grossest crimes. The Chinese Government justified its outrage on the missionaries by denouncing them as monsters of wickedness, guilty of inhuman deeds. In its procedure the Chinese Government was itself acting brutally and illegally. We desire an open declaration on the part of the Government that its action was illegal, and the murder and outrage an injustice. This we can get in no other way. Hence we claim, not so much compensation, still less punishment on the lex talonis method, as that the mission shall be restored, as far as possible, to the position it held before the outrages were committed.

This however was not the attitude of the Christians of former days, who "took joyfully spoiling" of their goods (Heb. x. 34), and who, when "made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things," could say, "Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer if it." 1 Cor. iv. 11-12. Neither is it the spirit in which the China Inland Mission was started, and it is to be regretted because it shows retrogression. The spirit that makes converts is that which suffers uncomplainingly, as Christ did, and not that which asks for compensation. We are therefore glad to find the Church Times saying: "Christian missions have nothing to do with indemnity claims. It is, or should be, their chief glory to suffer everything without complaint." Some of the church missionaries have, to their honour, refused any compensation for losses sustained through the Boxer rising. The Christians at home have, however, a plain duty in this matter.

All lovers of mercy will rejoice to know that the Royal buck-hounds have been abolished, and that royalty will no longer countenance the wearing of tame stags by hounds. The late Queen was not in favour of stag-hunting, but the abolition of the buck-hounds could not be accomplished except through Parliament, and that would have brought up the whole Civil List; but when the List had to be discussed, on the King's accession, His Majesty was the first to propose it. The Rev. J. Stratton, who did so much to enlist public opinion against the cruel "sport," has received a testimonial from the Humanitarian League, and he is now going on to enlist support for the Bishop of Hereford's Bill for the Prevention of cruelty to wild animals. He has asked the principals of colleges and the headmasters of public schools and grammar schools to sign a declaration that "the time has come for suppressing by law such sports as hunting park-deer, rabbit coursing, and shooting birds from traps," and already many signatures have been obtained.

In an interview last week, Mr. James Wilson, United States Secretary for Agriculture said: "In a few months Americans will be producing everything that goes on their tables, or upon their backs. We will then be industrially and commercially independent of all other nations. Whenever we get ready we can come pretty near starving any other country. An effective combination against us will be absolutely impossible." We are forcibly reminded of the fate of a man who said to himself, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." The history of nations shows that the height of their prosperity has always been the time of their downfall. The Babylonian Empire ceased to be in a single night, where it had in itself, and even in its capital city, all the necessaries for independent existence. People either do not read these things, or else they imagine that the same fate will not overtake them, that has befallen all their predecessors. It is only he that is down, that needs fear no fall.

The letter sent by the University of Glasgow to Pope Leo XIII. is so significant that we hearwith publish a translation of it in full, as it appeared in the Catholic Times:-

"To the Sovereign Pontiff Leo XIII., most holy, most revered, most learned, the whole University of Glasgow, the Chancellor, Rector, Professors, Graduates, and Students, Health.

"Amidst the great joy of the secular celebrations we are about to hold, it is a special pleasure to us to remember that this great University, now equipped with all the resources of talent and skill, which has been handed down to us by our ancestors, was started by the Apostolic See itself and established with the most hearty approval of the Sovereign Pontiff.

"For that devoted Pontiff Nicholas V., himself distinguished for his mental endowments and his acquaintance with the liberal arts, giving proof of his great love for those arts and for the Scottish people, in the year 1451 decided that a General Study should be provided here and that our teachers, masters, and students should have and enjoy all the liberties granted to the similar institution in his own State of Bologna.

"Grateful for such a benefit as a dutiful daughter towards a beloved mother, we think it fitting to entertain the hope that your Holiness will join in our joy, and to return deserved thanks to the Apostolic See for so great a service.

"We pray, therefore that you will deign by your authority to fill up the cup of our happiness; and if, owing to the evil times and so many difficulties of sea and land, your Holiness cannot come to take part in the celebrations, we earnestly desire that you will at least, through a representative, express your good will towards us, and that, as one most learned and a most elegant Latinist, you will in your kindness be good enough to dilate upon and recommend to ages still to come this our University, which was founded by the learned Nicholas, fostered by James, King of the Scots, cared for and defended by William Bishop of Glasgow, and furthered by numerous benefactions at the hands of many of our Kings.

"Given at Glasgow on the May 15th, 1901.
"T HE P REFECT AND V ICE- C HANCELLOR .

When such a letter comes from Presbyterian Scotland, the Pope may well imagine that the old days are returning. Such blasphemous adulation could scarcely be exceeded by Roman Catholics themselves. How long will it be before all the world will worship the beast? See Rev. xiii. Prophecy is rapidly fulfilling.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

The man who has a definite message from the Lord, for the people, will never be found picking flaws, or railing at his neighbours. It is the truth, and that alone, that makes men free.

Jesus said, "The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." He came to pick men up, not to knock them down. Let all who would be His followers remember this. "The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down." Then let us beware of trying to overthrow a follow man, and especially one who is himself labouring, even in an awkward manner, to lift somebody else up.

Praying for His disciples, and not only for those who then believed on Him, but also for all who should believe on Him, through their word, Jesus said: "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth," or, "truly sanctified." John xvii. 19. This is also to be the case with His followers. Our efforts are not to be for ourselves, but for others. We struggle against sin and gain victories, not in order that we may be "saved at last," but in order that we may be strong to help somebody else. We need have no fear that we shall not be saved if we do this instead of worrying about our own salvation; for only as we help to save others, and forget ourselves, can we really know the joy of Christ's salvation.

A short time since we stated that Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress " is almost an unknown book to the young people of to-day. We have just read that at a recent gathering of nearly a thousand young people, when the speaker asked all present who had read the "Pilgrim's Progress" to raise their hands, only four hands were held up. It is to be feared that those young people will never know what they have lost. Nothing can make up for the failure to read that wonderful book in childhood. We hope that all readers of PRESENT TRUTH, who have not already done so, will put it into the hands of their children, and have them read it. If they are too young to be able to read, read it to them, along with the Bible.

The word "Christian" is sadly abused, in that it is used to cover all sorts of beliefs-and unbeliefs. A paper which has the word as a part of its title does not hesitate to give place to a letter protesting against a Sunday-school hymn which refers to

...the Lamb
Who for our ransom died.

The ground of the protest is that the hymn enshrines a "dogmatic theology," "because it lays down as indisputable what is known as the vicarious sacrifice of Christ." The writer continues: "How far this theory, which has aroused the bitterest controversy amongst theologians for ages, can be spoken as an 'historic fact,' I must leave to impartial judges, but I decline to teach it as such to any children." The Scriptures, however, warn us of these times, saying that these teachers shall bring in damnable heresies, "even denying the Lord that bought them." 2 Peter ii. 1. It is sad that people who call themselves by the name of Christ should deny His redemption, and thus "bring upon themselves swift destruction," involing others also in their ruin.

"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing." Ps. xcii. 12-14.

What is the fatness of the cedar and the palm, or of any tree?-It is its fruit. It is not obesity,-not the result of the accumulation of waste matter, which simply increases the bulk, but does not add to the strength. Far from it. There is no tree that has more fatness than the olive, yet it is lean and unsightly in appearance. Its fruit reveals its fatness. So the fatness of the Christian, even down to old age, is not corpulency, but ability to work. By long observation of swine, people in this world have gained a false idea of fatness as applied to men. The two classes of creatures are not to be judged by the same standard.

"Comfort for the Oppressed" The Present Truth 17, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Comfort for the Oppressed .-Here is comfort for every one oppressed by the temptations of the enemy: "When the wicked spring as the grass, and all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed for ever." Ps. xcii. 7. The Polyohrome Version renders this and the preceding verse thus: "It is not discerned by a dullard, nor understood by a fool, that the wicked shoot up like the grass, and all evil-doers bud forth,-only to be rooted out for ever." On the other hand, those who trust the Lord may say: "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me." Micah vii. 8. "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly east down; for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand" (Ps. xxxvii. 24); for "the Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down." Ps. cxlv. 14. Satan's agents flourish to their destruction, while the Lord's agents are oppressed to their salvation.

"'The Two Races'" The Present Truth 17, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

"They which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize." In every human contest, only one can receive the prize, no matter how many engage in it; and so whoever wins does so at the expense of others. No one can win the prize without depriving somebody else of it. Each man is for himself, and anxious to defeat his fellow.

Herein lies the evil of all such tests. They engender emulation and strife, envy, jealousy, and even hatred. Their entire basis is selfishness, which is developed by them.

How different it is with the Christian race! There all run, and all may win. There is no room for heart-burnings and jealousies; for the law of the race is, "in honour preferring one another." Instead of depriving somebody else of the prize, the winner helps all the rest. Indeed, nobody can win except by helping others to win.

This is real life; and so, from the fact that in this real race each runner helps himself only by assisting somebody else, it follows that whoever in anything seeks to injure or disparage another, or to advance himself at another's expense, really sets himself back and does himself an injury. "So run that ye may obtain."

July 18, 1901

"The Call of Abraham. Gen. xii. 1-9" The Present Truth 17, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xii. 1-9)

"Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Gen. xii. 1-3.

How literally this promise has been fulfilled is scarcely comprehended. Taken in a purely physical sense, it has been fulfilled in a most marvellous manner. There to no other man known to history, to whom such a multitude of people can directly trace their ancestry. We know that we are all sons of Adam; but here we have something more definitely marked. Here we have a man whose numerous descendants bears his impress, a man who has transmitted a family resemblance to more people than any other man that ever lived. For we must remember that not only the Jews, whose family resemblance is known all over the world, but also the hosts of Arabians, are directly descended from Abraham.

But this, wonderful as it is, does not begin to exhaust the promise made in the call. Indeed, it scarcely touches it; for it is in Isaac alone that the true seed of Abraham is called (Gen. xxi. 12),-in Isaac, the child of promise, he who was born of the Spirit. Gal. iv. 28, 29. So we read the words of the prophet: "Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord; look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many. For the Lord hath comforted Zion; He hath comforted all her waste places, and hath made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody." lsa. li. 1-3.

Thus we see that upon the call of Abraham, and the multiplying of him into a great nation, yes, a multitude of nations, depends the comfort of Zion. His seed are only those who follow after righteousness, and the nations that can truly trace their ancestry to him will be "the nations of them which are saved," who bring their glory and their honour to Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. 24.

SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS THE ONLY REAL ONES

Notice the promise in the call: "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Let no one limit this to temporal prosperity. It is true that food, and clothing, houses and lands, the power to got wealth, are, if rightly obtained and used, blessings from the Lord, "who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;" yet the wealth of this world is at the best uncertain, and merely temporal. "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" To limit any promise of blessing from God to the things of this earth only, is to limit His goodness. "The eternal God" deals always with eternal things; that which we get from Him for the needs of this life are incidental, and only with reference to the life to come.

But there is no possibility for doubt in in the matter of the promise to Abraham. Words could not make it any plainer than it is put in the third chapter of Galatians. "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Know therefore that they which be of faith, the same are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,

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preached the Gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham." Verses 7-9. And again: "Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." Verse 16.

If we read the story of Abraham, and do not read the Gospel of our salvation in it, we read it to no purpose. More of this, however, will appear in a subsequent lesson. The blessing promised to the nations of the earth, even to all the families, is the blessing that comes by the cross of Christ; for "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree; that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Gal. iii. 13, 14.

CALLING THE GENTILES

It is strange that people read into the Old Testament history promises only to the Jews, and imagine that for some hundreds of years God cared for the salvation of only one people. Such things are read into the Bible, not in it. Look at the facts. God called Abraham, or Abram, as he was then named. Who was he?-He was a Gentile, the son of heathen parents (Joshua xxiv. 2), so that the very calling of him, without the specific promise, is a pledge of salvation to any other Gentile who will believe as Abraham did. And then the promise was, "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." His call, as we have read from Gal. iii. 3, had direct reference to the Gentiles to all nations.

To say or to think that for centuries the energies of God, so far as this earth is concerned, were almost wholly absorbed in caring for one people, "the fewest of all people" (Deut. vii. 7), or that, even if they did not absorb His energy, He was indifferent to all others, is most dishonouring both to His power and His goodness. How anybody who holds such a view can trust God for salvation, it is difficult to see. How can they believe that He now cares for all? How can they think that after hundreds of years of exclusiveness He has suddenly become broad-minded? He says that He does not change; how then can those who think that for ages He loved only the Jews, believe that "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life"? How plain it is, that to hold such views of God's dealing in the past is to undermine faith in the Gospel.

MISSIONARY EFFORT IN ANCIENT TIMES

All the Old Testament history and prophecy shows that God was working through the chosen seed of Abraham to save the world. He was trying to induce them to fulfil their mission, namely, to carry the Gospel of the kingdom to the whole world. When they would not do it, but instead of converting the heathen, became perverted by them, God made the truth known through the kings of the Gentiles. Read especially the second, third, fourth, and sixth chapters of Daniel. See how Jonah was sent against his will to the city of Nineveh. Read the direct appeals, warnings, and threatenings to the different nations by name, in the writings of the prophets. And, finally, read the words of God to Jeremiah: "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." Jer. i. 5. The word "nations" is the same as Gentiles, or heathen. So hundreds years before the advent of Christ, the Gentiles had a prophet specially ordained for them, just as afterwards they had an apostle. He dealt as well by them before the crucifixion as afterwards; but the most of the people whom He called would not go.

Why did God choose Abraham?-Because when God called, Abraham obeyed. He calls all, but those who will not hear the call cannot be used. Why did He work through Israel for so long?-Because, headstrong as they were, they were the only people near enough to Him for Him to work through.

NO CONTINUING CITY

Abraham's call was first to get out of his country. In that we see that the purpose of God for those whom He calls is not to give them a dwelling place on this earth in its present state. By faith Abraham "obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, so in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Heb. xi. 8, 10. "Here have we no continuing city." Everything reared by human hands is bound to perish. The proudest structure built by man crumble into ruin. But whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; and the city which He builds shall stand throughout the ages of eternity. All who will be blessed with faithful Abraham must be content to sojourn as he did,-not rooted to any spot on this earth, but looking for "a better county, that is, an heavenly."

PROTECTION

"And the Canaanite was then in the land." Gen. xii. 6. That was when Abraham dwelt in it, moving about from place to place as a stranger. What is the meaning of that item thrown in seemingly without any connection? Read the subsequent history of the Canaanites, and you will see. There were many kingdoms of them, and they were strong and cruelly fierce, all fighters. They had no love for the strangers that come among them. They had, as a class, no virtues, least of all hospitality. Read how the very sight of them by the spies whom Moses sent out, and the story of their warlike power frightened the whole nation of Israel. Yet Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelt safely in the land, because they believed in the Lord.

"He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations, which covenant He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac; and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and unto Israel for an everlasting covenant; saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance; when they were but few men in number, yea, very few, and strangers in it. When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people; He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, He reproved kings for their sakes; saying, Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm." Ps. cv. 7-15.

ABRAHAM A PROPHET

Yes; Abraham was a prophet,-a speaker for God,-one by whom God made His will known to the people. God said to one of the kings whom He reproved for Abraham's sake, "He is a prophet; and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt

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live." Gen. xx. 7. Ah, it was not merely for Abraham's sake that God preserved him and multiplied him. God sent Abraham to Canaan as a missionary to the heathen, and He protected him that be might bear his testimony to them.

And this is how he did it: "And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land; and there builded he an altar unto the Lord who appeared auto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east; and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called on the name of the Lord." Gen. xi. 7, 8.

Everywhere he went he created a place of worship. But that was not all; he "proclaimed the name of the Lord," or, as Young renders it, "He preached in the name of Jehovah." By a comparison of the Hebrew of this passage with that of Ex. xxxiv. 5, we find that the two passages are identical. So we find that Abraham did not merely call on the name of the Lord for his own sake, but he made that name known to the heathen. It was by their rejection of the message which he took to them, that their iniquity became so full that God was obliged to out them off.

PREACHING THE RESURRECTION

By the revelation of God to Abraham, we may know what he preached to the heathen in Canaan. God said to him, To thee and to thy seed will I give this land; yet Abraham himself never had any permanent dwelling place there, neither did lease or Jacob, nor, in fact, any of their descendants, not excepting King David. 1 Chron. xxix. 15; Ps. xxxix. 12. The whole nation was subsequently carried away, and they have no possession whatever in it to this day. God called Abraham to the land, but "He gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child." Acts vii. 5.

What is the trouble? Did God break His word?-Not by any means. Knowing that God cannot lie, and reading this inspired statement as to the facie of the promise, we are shut up to the conclusion that the promise to Abraham was to be fulfilled through the resurrection. The land was to be his for an everlasting possession after the resurrection of the just. Even so Abraham understood it, because God plainly told him that he was to die and be buried before the possession of the land was given. Gen. xv. 13-16. So Abraham died in faith, fully assured that the land was his, although he possessed not a foot of it.

It was by faith that Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country; and the faith that sustained him was the faith in the resurrection through Jesus Christ. See Heb. xi. 17-19. It was this faith, therefore, which he made known to the heathen in the land, and that same faith and hope is ours to proclaim today to the people among whom we sojourn.

"The Law of Life. The Ninth Commandment. (Concluded.) " The Present Truth 17, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

SUPERFLUOUS WORDS

There is a thing spoken of in the fifth chapter of Matthew, which is not usually understood as coming under the head of the ninth commandment, but is commonly referred to the third. Jesus says, "Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths; but I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven for it is God's throne; nor by the earth for it is His footstool; neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." Matt. v. 33-37.

This refers to ordinary conversation, and not to the giving of testimony in a court of law. The Saviour Himself gave testimony under oath, before the Jewish Council. The man who always tells the truth, and speaks nothing else can take a judicial oath without any fear. So the injunction, "Swear not at all," does not refer to this, any more than it refers to the taking of the name of the Lord in vain. The reference is to the strong assertions and pledges with which people are apt to back up their statements, in order to give them weight.

One will say, "If this is not so, you may have my head for a football." Now his head is not his own to give away, and he has no right to pawn his life in support of anything he may say. "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof," therefore we have no right to pledge anything in heaven or earth in substantiation of our assertions.

Some people seem unable to make a simple statement of fact, unaccompanied by something to make it emphatic. In this they show a lack of confidence in their own word, and unconsciously proclaim that their unsupported word is not to be believed. Unfortunately that which they rely on to substantiate it adds no force to it whatever. The Bible rule is to tell the simple, unvarnished truth, and let the

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matter rest there. Thinking people will attach more weight to that than to anything else. They will understand that the person so speaking is accustomed to being believed, and that is the same as saying that he is accustomed to telling the truth. Anything more than the simplest statement of fact is of evil.

PRACTICAL JOKING

Who has not heard people seek to justify themselves for some false statement made to some unsuspecting individual, by saying, "Oh, I was only in fun"? They wished to see how credulous the person was, and to make sport of his innocence. Then if any inconvenience or calamity results from taking the joke as a serious matter, the joker coolly throws the blame upon the deceived one, saying, "He ought to have known that I was joking." That is to say, he ought to have known that you were lying; he ought to have been so well informed as to your reputation, that he would not suppose you to be telling the truth, unless he was especially assured of the fact. How lightly the practical joker holds his character and reputation!

Do you wish to know how the Scriptures regard the sort of "fun" that consists in deceiving an unsuspecting person? Read this: "As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?" Prov. xxvi. 18, 19.

Would you think it a light matter if a man should throw a lot of live coals into a crowded room? or if he should begin shooting on the street? or if he should scatter poison in the fields, or in the springs of water? Nothing more terrible can be thought of; yet that is just the character of the practical joker. The man who lies in earnest has at least some hoped-for object to gain; but the man who lies in sport proclaims himself a fool. There are no more dangerous pests in the world.

THE ROOT OF THE MATTER

But let us now come to the very heart of the subject. If there is truth in the inward parts, there will be no outward manifestation of falsehood. Christ is the Truth; therefore when Christ dwells in the heart by faith, none of the errors to which we have referred will be seen in the life; for He came to bear witness to the truth. John xviii. 37. He is called "the faithful and true Witness." Rev. iii. 14. To us is given the high honour of being classed with him; for God says: "Ye are My witnesses, and My servant whom I have chosen." Isa. xliii. 10. Further on we read: "This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise." Verse 21. God made man, just as He made everything else, to be a revelation of Himself. "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light." 1 Peter ii. 9.

The inanimate creation is true to its calling, witnessing for God. See Acts xiv. 17. The everlasting power and Divinity of God have from the creation of the world until now been clearly revealed in the things that He has made. Only man has proved false to his trust, defacing the image of God, and repressing the truth in unrighteousness. Yet even in fallen humanity God's faithfulness and truth are to be seen; for every sinner is an unconscious witness to the long-suffering of God. The man who blasphemes the name of God, and even denies His existence, is a monument of His tender mercy. It is a fact that "all men are liars;" for while they were made in the image of God, to reveal His character, they exhibit the opposite.

Yet "we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth," no matter how much we try to, for God makes even the wrath of man to praise Him, and so the truth of God more abounds through our lie unto His glory. Rom. iii. 7. That is to say, God will see to it that His will is one, even in spite of man; and He will make them the agents of it; but they will have none of the benefit of it, because it is done against their will.

STRIFE AND FALSEHOOD

The commandments are all linked together; no one can break one of them without violating the whole. We have read that whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and in like manner we find that he is a liar as well. The Apostle James says, "If ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth." James iii. 14. Christ is the truth, and He is meek and lowly in heart; now it is a fact that He is come in the flesh, so that every man who cherishes or exhibits bitterness or wrath denies the presence of Christ in the flesh. He holds down the truth in unrighteousness.

THE ULTIMATE TEST: CONFESSING OR DENYING CHRIST

In 1 John ii. 22, we have the whole case summed up in a single question "Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?" The one who denies that Jesus is the Christ, is a liar, and according to this question, nobody else is a liar. Now we have traced falsehood to its lair, and can identify it in its very beginning. If a man has not denied that Jesus is the Christ, he is not a liar; but it he has denied this truth, he is a liar though he never speaks. If you wish to stop lying, you must go to the root of the matter. You may tear off a limb here, and pluck out an evil habit there; but until Jesus is fully recognised and acknowledged as the Christ of God, the lying disposition exists.

Peter at one time denied the Lord, but he did nothing more than every man has done. "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." 1 John iv. 2, 3. Moreover, "whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God;" "and whosoever is born of God sinneth not." 1 John v. 1, 18. By putting these statements together, and thinking carefully over them, we may see that every sin that we commit is a denial that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh,-a denial that He is the Son of God,-and therefore that it marks us as liars.

We are told, "The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart." Rom. x. 8. Christ is the Word, and it is by His presence that even sinners live. So we read further: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, than shalt be saved."

We can confess only that which already is so, it is a truth, therefore, that Christ is come in the flesh of every man, and that whoever will confess His presence has salvation. But to confess Christ,-to confess that He is come in the flesh,-is to say from the heart what the Apostle Paul wrote in Gal ii. 22: "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."

To confess Jesus, therefore, is to be just as He was-to allow Him to dwell in us, and to speak and set through us. If

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this be the case, we cannot help telling the truth, since He is the truth; and if this be not the ease, our whole life will be a lie. The man who has not Christ abiding in him cannot help being a liar.

So the only way any man can keep the ninth commandment is to give himself wholly to the Lord, to be used by Him according to His good pleasure. "It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit to truth." 1 John v. 6. Christ said: "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be My witnesses." Acts i. 8. Only as one has the Spirit of truth, can one be capable of telling the truth.

WITNESSES TO THE TRUTH

Jesus said, "To this end was I born, and for this purpose came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." John xviii. 37. Again, "As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you." A great mistake that many people make is to suppose that they cannot witness for the truth unless they do a great deal of talking. Just as it is possible for a person to act a lie, so may one act the truth. Often our testimony to a great deal stronger if we keep our mouth shut. It is not necessary for us to be always in an attitude of "defence." We are not obliged, as witnesses to the truth, to answer every objection that cavillers bring. The Lord says, "Who is blind, but My servant? or deaf, as My messenger that I sent? who is blind as He that is perfect, and blind as the Lord's Servant? Seeing many things, but Thou observest not; opening the ears, but He heareth not." Isa. xlii. 19, 20. Jesus is the Truth and the Life. His life was sufficient witness to the truth; then when He spoke, His words were faithful testimony, because He spoke just what He was.

RECEIVING THE TRUTH

It is a common thing to hear that such an one has received the truth. What is it to accept the truth-It is to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as one's own personal Saviour. No matter how correct anybody's belief is as to form, he has not the truth unless he has Christ within. Unless a man knows the Lord, he does not even know what the truth is; how then can he tell the truth? To accept the truth, therefore, is no light thing. It is not merely to want to it, but to be transformed by it.

BELIEVING FOR ANOTHER-DISBELIEVING GOD

This is an impossibility. We often here a man say, "I can believe for others, but I cannot believe for myself. I can believe that God forgives and saves my brother, but I cannot believe that He saves me." This is the worst sort of deception. It is real nonsense. One cannot play fast and loose with the truth in that way. Whoever really believes the Lord, believes Him all the time. The Lord does not change, and He does not display partiality. Therefore if He can be believed at all, He must be believed all the time. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life." 1 John v. 10, 11. Whoever disbelieves God to the slightest extent, makes Him out to be a liar. But God is not a liar. He "cannot lie." Therefore whoever charges God with lying is himself a liar. And whoever does not believe does this; therefore every person who does not believe that God has given eternal life, everlasting salvation, to him personally, is a liar of the worst sort.

Let no one persuade himself that he thinks well of God, unless he believes with absolute certainty that God saves him. Don't talk about believing that He will save somebody else, but not you. If God is true, you can believe Him all the time, when He speaks to you as well as when He speaks to somebody else. What would you think if a man should say to you, "I can believe everything you say, when I hear you talking to somebody else; but as soon as you begin to talk to me I lose all confidence in you, and think that you are lying." Would you think that he had a very high opinion of you? Yet that is the way many people regard the Lord, and they are not ashamed to talk such feelings out right before His face.

SAVED FROM LYING

You say, "Well, then, I am lost, for I have lied all my life." No; you are not lost, for Christ has given Himself to you, and since He is the truth He saves you from all untruth. All His commandments are promises; so when He says that we shall not bear false witness against our neighbour, He means that He will see to it that we witness to the truth, if we but receive Him. Christ died for the ungodly, for all the ungodly; therefore the sum of all lying, in fact, the only lie we can really tell, is to neglect this great salvation. It is the same as saying either that Christ has not died, or else that His death is not sufficient ransom. But, on the other hand, as soon as we accept salvation, our whole life of lying ceases.

It is not enough to be on our guard against falsehood; we must submit to the truth. We must by yielding bear witness to the fact that God is abundantly able to do all that He has undertaken. His word is true from the beginning, and is settled for ever in heaven; therefore we may depend upon it. It will not fail us. God Himself has such confidence in it that He says to every one who takes Him at His word, "Thou shalt not bear false witness." "If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Wine that the Lord Makes" The Present Truth 17, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

"Can you tell me whether the water that Jesus turned into wine at the marriage feast was fermented and intoxicating, or not? Also whether all the water in the vessels was changed to wine, or only that which was actually used. I have heard that the Greek word for wine means to inflame, and that consequently wherever wine is mentioned it must be intoxicating."

The word "wine," as well as its equivalent in the Greek, is not specific. There are various kinds of wine, but nobody can tell the nature of the article referred to by the unqualified word "wine;" some qualifying word must be connected with it, in order for us to know whether the article referred to is good or bad, fermented or unfermented, unless there is something else in the text that indicates it, as, for instance, the effect that it produces. For, just as a tree is known by its fruit, so wine is known by the consequences of drinking it.

There is good water and bad water-water that is pure, and water that is stale and nauseous. Fresh water is good, but the same water that is good to-day will be unfit to drink if allowed to stand a few days. It is water, however, even after it has stood till it is teeming with disease germs; and its name, "water," unqualified, does not convey any idea as to its character.

Just so it is with wine. When it is first pressed from the grapes it is pure, refreshing and wholesome; but after it has stood exposed to the air for a season it undergoes fermentation, or decay, and is then poisonous. It is still wine, however, although no longer good wine; and the term "wine," if unqualified, does not tell us anything as to which kind it is.

WINE IN THE CLUSTER

That the fresh, pure, unfermented juice of the grape is really wine, is seen from the following portions of Scripture: "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it; so will I do for My servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all." Isa. lxv. 8. Here we see that not only the freshly expressed juice of the grape, but even the juice while it is yet in the cluster in the vine, is real wine.

Again, in Gen. xl. 9-11 we read in the dream of Pharaoh's butler: "In my dream, behold a vine was before me; and in the vine were three branches; and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes; and Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand."

Thus we see that not only is the wine found in the cluster of ripe grapes, but it is such wine as in ancient time was thought to be a drink fit for a king; for Pharaoh's butler dreamed of what he had been used to doing.

THE LORD GIVES ONLY GOOD THINGS

Now as to the wine that Jesus made for the guests at the marriage feast in Cana. It is true that the word has no qualifying adjective in the narrative of that event; but the circumstances unmistakably indicate its character.

In the first place, let us remember that only good things come from the hand of the Lord. He sends blessing, not a curse; and we have just read that the blessing is in the wine that is found in the cluster. On the other hand, we are told that they who drink the wine "when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright," that is, when it is fermented, have woe, sorrow, contentions, and wounds without cause, and that such wine at the last "biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." Prov. xxiii. 29-32. It takes away a man's senses, so that he is like one "that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of the mast." Verse 34. Can anybody charge the Lord with preparing such a drink for men? Who that reverences the Saviour can for a moment entertain the thought that He would deliberately manufacture, and order to be given to the guests at a marriage feast, such wine as would tend to take away their senses, inflame all their passions, and set them in an uproar, and possibly cause them to fight?

FERMENTED WINE NOT A NATURAL PRODUCT

Still further: If it were true that on this occasion Jesus made fermented wine, it would furnish a most unnatural exception to God's work; for never in nature has such a thing as fermented wine been known. On the contrary, God takes the utmost pains to prevent the wine that He makes from fermenting. Let us study the case for as moment.

Examine a cluster of grapes. See how firm the skin is upon each grape, and how closely it is fastened to the stem. The skin of the grape, like that of other fruits, is its protection against decay or fermentation. As long as the skin remains unbroken, fermentation cannot possibly take place. Each grape is, in fact, a small bottle of unfermented wine, hermetically sealed so as to preserve it from fermentation.

While the grapes are in that condition they are good to eat-delicious and wholesome. But let us take another cluster. On this one there are some grapes that have been braised, so that the skin is broken, and some have been half-way pulled off the stem. What is their condition?-They have begun to decay; a little mould is seen in each wounded grape, and no one would eat them, not even the drinker of fermented wine, unless he had already drank so much of it as to lose his wits. Yet that which has begun on those wounded grapes is exactly what must take place in the expressed juice, in order that it may become fermented wine. You say the grapes that have been broken are rotten. So they are, or at least they are beginning to rot, and nobody likes to eat rotten grapes; yet the very same people who reject the decayed grapes, will eagerly drink the grape juice when it has rotted still more. How inconsistent! If the grape is unhealthful when it is diseased because of a wound, how can it be healthful when the disease has progressed so far that it has produced death? The fresh juice is life-producing; the fermented juice produces death.

"OLD WINE" THAT IS BETTER

Can you not now see clearly that the first state of wine, as the Lord makes it, is always unfermented? And not only so, but that unless man interferes, and changes the Lord's plan for the grape, the wine will always remain unfermented? God never makes fermented wine; that is always a product of the curse. Wine must stand some little time exposed to the air, before it becomes fermented wine.

Now we have the question answered as to the kind of wine that Jesus prepared for the wedding guests. Just as the sun ripens the sap that is stored up in the cluster, so Christ, the Light of the world, the Sun of righteousness, made the same change in the water that was in the waterpots; and it would be as forced and absurd to suppose that it was fermented, as to expect to find fermented wine in the grape cluster. The wine was drawn out and at once carried to the governor of the feast. If any of it was left over, and allowed to stand exposed to the air for a time, it would undoubtedly ferment, just the same as any other wine that the Lord makes.

As to how much of the water became wine, we have no means of knowing. It is usually taken for granted that all the water in the six water pots was changed to wine. Whether it was or not, makes no practical difference. Only this thing is evident: that if the water became wine only so it was drawn out, we have the case for unfermented wine emphasised. But whichever way it was there certainly was no time for the wine to ferment before it was carried to the table; and it must be remembered that time is an essential element in the production of fermented wine. God makes wine-good wine; man allows and assists it to decay, and become a curse. Be sure that Jesus did not go out of His way to make an unnatural product.

Such wine as Jesus made on that wedding day in Cana is good enough to be drunk in heaven, and will be furnished to all the guests at "the marriage supper of the Lamb." When Jesus passed the cup to His disciples on the night of the Passover,-a time when no leaven or ferment could be found in any Jewish house,-He said, "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." Matt. xxvi. 29. I hardly think there is anybody so irreverent as to suggest that the wine ("the fruit of the vine," mark you) on that occasion will be such as could by any possibility produce intoxication, that is, poisoning.

"Character" The Present Truth 17, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Thinking, speaking, acting, register themselves on the tablets of the soul and grow into character. By these processes and through these methods of activity-our thinking and speaking and acting-we are securing and preserving, as in stereotyped form, the sure record of ourselves. Our yesterdays are all in us and a part of us.

"Our Little Ones. The King's Garden" The Present Truth 17, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

"A little monitor presents her page
Of choice instruction with her snowy bells-
The Lily of the Vale."

What is the message of the Lily? You will all be able to tell at once, for the lily has ever been the emblem of purity. So the snowy bells of the valley lily ring out the message. Be pure.

"The red rose says, Be sweet!
The lily says, Be pure!"

Jesus is both "the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valleys." All the sweetness and the purity of the flowers come from Him who made them. He is the sweetness of the Rose, and the purity of the Lily. If you keep this always in mind, you cannot look at any of His works without learning something of Him.

The fair lily of purity is always to be found in the King's Garden. The seed of it to in the Eighth Commandment: "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

Do you know what is the purest thing in the world? Perhaps you will say, The snow. But snow can be soiled, as you have doubtless seen it, and then it is no longer beautiful. But there is something so pure that it cannot be defiled,-so pure that it purifies whatever comes in contact with it. It is light.

And do you know that the white-robed lily wears a garment of light? It reflects the beautiful, bright, pure rays that shine upon it, and this is what clothes it with its white garment.

Some of the lovely-coloured flowers we have talked about show us the beauty of the light, but the lily shows us its purity. But remember that the light is the reflection of the glory of the Lord. So we may say: Some of the flowers show us a little of the beauty of the Lord, but the lily shows us something of His purity.

When Jesus, the Lily of the Valley, appeared to a few of His disciples in the dazzling splendour of His perfect purity, "His raiment was white as the light," "so as no fuller on earth can white them."

These things teach as how we may obey the lily's message, "Be pure." It is by burning to the light, by living in the light, letting the light of God's few shine upon us, and reflecting it.

God tells us in His Word that He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and cannot look upon sin. Yet He says, "Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." So when we obey His call and come to Him, He will

"Show His reconciling face,
Shine away our sin and shame."

and we shall be purified by His presence.

If you have been in places where flax is grown for making linen, you have no doubt seen fields spread all over with linen thread put out in the sunshine to bleach, that is to be made white. If a white garment becomes stained or discoloured, it is put into the sunshine to whiten.

So if you would have the stains and marks of sin taken away, and be made pure in heart, come in prayer to God, and look up into the face of Jesus, who is the Light of the world, and He will make you clean and white. "If we walk in the light, . . . the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin."

"Consider the lillies, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, and yet say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you?" He who gives the lily its pure garment of light, shall much more clothe you with the robe of His everlasting righteousness and purity.

No matter what your surroundings may be, you may be pure in heart. Did you ever see a beautiful white water lily floating on a slimy, stagnant pool of water? And did you read the message that Jesus has written for you upon its petals? It is that even in this dark world of sin, you may grow in beauty, in purity, showing the grace and glory of Jesus to alI who look upon you.

Dr. T. L. Cuyler tells about visiting a coal mine; and he found growing at the mouth of the mine some beautiful white flowers, but alas! they were covered with the black dust of the place. He spoke of it regretfully to one of the miners, who took one of the flowers and shook it slightly. At once the dirt slipped off, and left the beautiful petals glistering white. "You see," said the miner, "this flower has the power to live in the midst of dirt without ever getting dirty." So the Christian can live in an evil world without being contaminated.

Think of the childhood of Jesus in His home in Nazareth. He "knew no sin," but lived a life of perfect purity "unspotted from the world," in a place where nearly all the people were of very bad character.

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When Philip told Nathanael about Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael said with astonishment: "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said unto him, Come and see!" And when he went he found the fairest and purest lily that ever grew in this world.

Now the King wants the lilies of purity to bloom in His Garden, so that anyone who does not believe that He has the power to make and keep us pure, can come and see. This is a greater miracle than a pure white water lily growing on a dark, slimy, muddy pool. The light that God sheds from heaven, over this dark world, can purify all who will come to it, and clothe them with grace and beauty.

"Maiden with the meek brown eyes,
In whose orb the shadow lies,
Like the dusk in evening skies;

"Bear a lily in thy hand,
Gates of brass cannot withstand
One touch of that magic wand."
-Longfellow.

It may be that you have read these lines before, and wondered what was their meaning. The lily in the hand represents purity of heart, by virtue of which we can gain an entrance wherever we will.

You know what it was that closed the gates of Eden, and shut man out from the Garden where he walked and talked with God. It was sin, impurity. But when this is taken away by "Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood," then again we may come into His holy presence, which brings back Eden to earth and makes heaven below. For Eden means delight; and "in His presence is fulness of joy."

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." They shall see Him now by faith, and as He reveals Himself, in all His works, and at last they shall "enter in through the gates into the city."

"There is a city bright,
Cloud are its gates to sin,
Naught that defileth
Can ever enter in."

The glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof, and

"The none of ignorance and night
May dwell in the eternal light
Through the eternal love."

In a poem of Milton's which some day you may read, he tells of a pure-hearted maiden who, when in danger was delivered by a guardian angel. As the angel ascends heavenward again, he says:-

"Mortals that would follow me,
Love Virtue, she alone is free;
She shall teach you how to rise
Higher than the starry skies;
And if Virtue feeble were,
Heaven itself would stoop to her."

"This Present Evil World. Stage Demoralisation" The Present Truth 17, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

In the April number of Munsey's Magazine there is a suggestive article on "Whom the Stage Demoralises," by Hartley Davis, from which the following paragraphs are taken. That Mr. Davis does not by any means write as a Puritan, is evident throughout the article. He is a believer in the theatre, and thinks that its mission is for good; he even advocates "an alliance between the church and the theatre;" but he gives plain facts as to the effect of the theatre upon the actors themselves. With marvellous inconsistency, he says:-

"If the player folk have improved with the march of progress, it has been despite the theatre rather than because of it. While the influence of the stage upon those who support it is for the better, its effect upon those who are supported by it is demoralising."

No man can labour to benefit others, without himself being benefited. He who waters others, shall be watered also himself. Therefore if the theatre were an elevating agency, its effect would be to elevate those who are connected with it. But hear further:-

"True it is that many things conspire against the actor. Some are of his own making, while he is the helpless victim of others, and they are so blended that it is often impossible to distinguish them. Some of the conditions that make it difficult, not to express it more strongly, far an actor to be a rational human being according to conventional standards are here set down:

"The artificiality of his life, which permeates and dominates his whole existence, and the consequent striving for effect and contempt for fact.

"His isolation from the prosaic workaday world.

"His lack of moral and personal responsibility.

"His hunger for praise and personal aggrandisement.

"The artificiality of his existence is a natural concomitant of the actor's calling, because it develops to the fullest extent a temperament bent in that direction. He must have an emotional nature to succeed, and he becomes the creature of his emotions. Sometimes he makes them subject

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to his reason, and rarely, both are dominated by a fine and noble nature. Then the world knows a great actor and a greater man.

"If actors with a deserved reputation for naturalness should conduct themselves in drawing-rooms as they do on the stage, they would not be tolerated; and the converse of this is true. Exaggeration and affectations are necessary to produce effects before the footlights; and after a time the players reach a state of mind where they could not recognise truth if it came up and shook hands with them.

"To the player, everything is a 'situation' or a 'scene.' He wants to be 'down stage' and in the limelight. The theatre is his criterion for everything, and he looks at everything from the stage point of view; necessarily, his deductions are false, and his whole life becomes a lie."

When we remember that "no lie is of the truth," that truth can never be built up through falsehood and deceit, and that "there shall in no wise enter into" the New Jerusalem "anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie" (Rev. xxi. 27), it is easy to see that no Christian can rightly have anything to do with the theatre, except to try to save people from it and its influence. The misguided clergymen who talk about an alliance between the theatre and the church are certainly not safe guides for inexperienced souls. But read further:-

"Nearly everything in the life of the player folk exemplifies the fact that they hold themselves free from moral and personal responsibility. The laws and conventions that govern the rest of the world are not for them. So long as an actor's private life does not interfere with his capacity or his inclination for work, it will not interfere with his stage success. This is true of no other profession or occupation. So long as the part is played well, the player's doings outside the theatre are of no concern to the manager.

"Actors and actresses are the one group of people who have no fear of the crime of discovery. In fact there are celebrities who can measure the value of scandal in dollars and cents. A condition of affairs that makes such a thing possible is bound to drag down those concerned in it."

Exactly; and it will, have the game effect on those who support it. One cannot touch pitch without being defiled. Still further:-

"One side of stage life, perhaps the most demoralising of all, has not yet been considered-that is the modern comic opera, burlesque, extravaganza, musical comedy, or whatever you may choose to call the performances made up of comedians, music, and a host of pretty girls who wear tights of many colours. The spirit pervading it is illustrated by the reply credited to a manager long identified with this class of companies.

"Is it possible for a young woman to succeed on the comic opera stage and remain virtuous?" he was asked.

"'Y-e-e-s,' he returned, 'it is possible, but it isn't necessary.'

"To see a comic opera stage at its worst, one should attend the rehearsals that drag along from three weeks to three months. During this time the performers work like slaves, and receive not a penny for it. When a new piece is in preparation, the producer is supreme. He may be the manager of the company, but more often he is a step manager who makes the putting on of new plays his business. Even when the manager time to keep his company on as high a plane as possible, it is extremely difficult to eliminate a certain degree of coarseness and vulgarity, while other organisations are characterized by a downright brutality and vileness that makes an ordinarily decent man's blood boil. Now and then there are players of position who resent this, and who take the part of the sufferers, but as a rule they become so accustomed to shocking things that their sensibilities an dulled.

"Some of the big stage managers are masters of malignant insult. Profanity, interlarded with coarse jibes, rolls from their lips. Some actors can out-Herod the producers. I have in mind particularly one very clever and popular comedian, who has the foulest mouth of, any human being I know. How these persons escape being thrashed to one of the marvels. . . . There is nothing in the world that can excuse the abominable language constantly used by some of the ablest stage managers of the day."

The writer does not wish to be understood as making a wholesale charge against the virtue of actors; on the contrary, he says that there are many who go through the ordeal of the stage, and, come out unscathed. But enough is told to show that the tendency of the stage is towards the demoralisation of all connected with it; and for that reason alone, even if its evil influence extended no further, Christians ought to consider it only as one of the devil's traps, against which it is their solemn duty to warn men and women, and especially the young.

One who does right to-day need not be troubled about doing right to-morrow. Every act done is a seed that will bear fruit, each after its kind. The man who is generous to-day will find it easier to be generous to-morrow. An act repeated often enough becomes a habit, and the fruit of habit is character.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

One who does right to-day need not be troubled about doing right to-morrow. Every act done is a seed that will bear fruit, each after its kind. The man who is generous to-day will find it easier to be generous to-morrow. An act repeated often enough becomes a habit, and the fruit of habit is character.

Before the coronation, the two-horsepower engine that now blows the organ in Westminster Abbey is to be replaced by one of ten-horsepower.

The Bureau of Vital Statistics reports that the number of deaths from the heat in Greater New York during the week ending July 6 amounted to 989.

The sum of $950,000 (nearly ?200,000) has been offered by Mr. Carnegie to the City of San Francisco, California, for the purpose of building a free library. Mr. Carnegie seems determined that "knowledge shall be increased," but it is to be feared that his well-meant contributions will not really further that desirable result.

The New York Christian Advocate says that in the United States "homicides are so numerous as to make a number sufficiently great in two years to surpass the killed in an extensive war." Yet there are comparatively few convictions for murder, that country being about the most comfortable part of the world for criminals.

The net result of the celebration of "Independence Day" (the Fourth of July) in the United States was twenty-one persons killed, and 1,611 injured by fireworks. The accidents were chiefly caused by the premature explosion of rockets and the bursting of toy pistols, arms or hands being frequently blown off. That would not be an inconsiderable loss for a battle, and the question still remains unanswered, What was it for?

The German Emperor, in a speech on the occasion when his second son formally received his commission as an officer in the First Regiment of the Guards, said: "The noblest task is the defense of the Fatherland, the noblest weapon is the sword, and the noblest uniform is the Prussian soldier's." To follow that line to the end, one must say that the noblest end of man is suicide, since the sword is the instrument of self-destruction. The Lord has said, "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."

One of the American scouts who helped Lord Roberts in the Transvaal War, and who afterwards spent six months in exploring for gold in West Africa has just returned. Among other items of experience, Major Burnham says:-

"One of the most amazing things was to see a stretch of country larger than Ireland absolutely destitute of inhabitants. It was the scene of one of King Samory's gigantic slave raids, and the whole of the population had been killed or driven away. Hundreds of human skulls, bleached by the burning sun, told a tale of terrible slaughter."

Truly, "the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty."

The real status of politics and politicians is set forth better than we have ever seen it before in a recent book delineating the attempt of a man to win a seat in Parliament, and is familiar. It is of course not an actual history, but simply a picture of the system. From a book notice we quote the following extract from a letter to the defeated candidate: "I trust you are cured. You have seen politics at close quarters. . . . There must be politicians, of course, as there must be scavengers; but you are under no compulsion to join their ranks. There will always be recruits from those whose tastes and education adapt them to a profession which is none of the highest. Needless risks of self-humiliation are better avoided by most men."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

"He must increase, but I must decrease."

These were the words of John the Baptist concerning the relation of Christ to himself; and they show the true relation of every man to Christ. Every follower of Christ must may from the heart, "He must increase, but I must decrease."

To what extent must this increase and decrease take place?-The answer is plain: Inasmuch as the statement is absolute, with no limitation, it is evident that the increasing and decreasing must go on an long as it is possible, that is, so long as there is anything of us left, which can be diminished.

It follows, then, that we must decrease until there is nothing left of us, and He must increase until He fills all things. This obliteration of self, the merging of ourselves in Him, is indeed the only way in which our existence can be continued. If we seek our own greatness, we shall at last be as though we had not been; but if we consent to occupy our true position, as nothing, that He may be all in all, we shall live for ever, and be as though we had always been. We do not lose our personality, but Christ becomes our personality, manifesting Himself in us for just what God has designed that we should be. To sink out of sight in Christ is greater than to exalt ourselves to heaven without Him.

Still there are people who think that the introduction of smokeless powder, long-range guns, magazine rifles, and other engines of death has made war so dangerous that the nations will be afraid to engage in it. They forget that relatively it is no more dangerous now than it always was. That is, it is equally dangerous to both parties. When guns loaded with powder and ball took the place of bows and arrows, there was a wonderful increase in the death-dealing power of weapons, but there was no less war than before. The reason was that each opposing army adopted the new weapons, and each fancied itself the stronger, just so before. Do not be deceived: as long as lusts war in the members of human beings, there will be wars and fightings.

"Who Is Reconciled" The Present Truth 17, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Who Is Reconciled? -The hymn containing the verse beginning, "My God is reconciled" is still found in some hymnbooks, and some people still sing it. Aside from that it is good; but what idea can those who sing it have of God? To what is God reconciled? Is it to sin? That is a fearful charge to bring against Him. You say, "Oh, no; not to sin, but to the sinner." Well, that amounts to the same thing. To say that God is reconciled to a sinner, is to say that God was once opposed to the sinner, but that He has now come round to the guilty one's position, and agrees with him. This is monstrous.

Change the line, and read it thus, "To God I'm reconciled," and you may sing it as lustily as you please. God never had any enmity in His heart toward anybody; therefore there is no need for Him to be reconciled. But the carnal mind is enmity against God, and "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." Christ takes away the enmity,-the carnal mind,-and gives the mind of the Spirit which makes us one with God. It is sad that few Christians think while they sing, and so they do nothing with the Spirit and the understanding also.

"To Keep Wine from Fermenting" The Present Truth 17, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Just after writing the article in the "Private Corner," on unfermented wine, we noticed the following note in the Church Family Newspaper:-

Your correspondent asserts that the Jews at the Feast of the Passover invariably use unfermented wine. If he could give all the particulars of the method by which the Jews prevent the fermentation of grape juice, it would be very interesting. It is described as "quite sweet," which suggests that the juice has been "preserved" in some manner. Grape juice, unless treated in some such manner, naturally ferments. Unfermented grape juice is called must, not wine.

It is true that the unfermented juice of the grape is called must, but it is not true that it is not called wine. It is called wine in the Bible, as our article in this paper shows, and it is the only perfect wine. But the question is, how to keep it so, and as there are no doubt many who think that it is a difficult matter, if not impossible, we will tell how it is cone. It is very simple.

(1) Select good grapes, mod press them just enough to break the skins, but not to crush them. This can be done by spreading them out on a wooden tray, and passing a roller over them, which is kept from pressing on them too heavily, by the low sides of the tray.

(2) Take the grapes so broken, and put them over the fire in a saucepan, until they become merely heated through, but not until they boil. This is only in order that the juice can be pressed out more freely.

(3) Put the heated grape-pulp in a thin cloth bag, and press out all the juice, either with the hands, or by a press.

(4) Place the juice on the stove again, heat it just to the boiling point, but do not let it boil. Then while hot pour it as quickly as possible into the bottles that have previously been thoroughly cleaned and sterilised in hot water. Fill the bottles full, so that there will be no air space below the cover, and seal them so tightly that no air can got in. The result, if care has been taken, will be wine that will keep pure and unfermented for years. The is personal experience.

It will be seen that nothing whatever is added to the juice. Most unfermented wine that is sold for communion wine, has some acid added to it to preserve it. This should not be done. Nothing should be put into it. Do not put even sugar in. The grapes have all the sugar that is needed. The grape juice does not need sugar, any more than raisins do. The natural wine properly made from good grapes is so sweet that most people will want to dilute it with water when they drink it.

Such wine as this may be drunk as freely as the state of one's finances will allow, for nothing in the world is more wholesome. And no other wine should ever be used at communion. It is in order that this sacred service may not be profaned by the use of wine that is intoxicating, that we devote the space to the subject that we have. It is very certain that if Christ were present at a communion table which had fermented wine, He would not take the cup and say, "This is My blood." Let us be careful never to bear false witness in this matter.

July 25, 1901

"The Source of Wisdom" The Present Truth 17, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

"Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the band of the Lord hath wrought this?" Job xii. 7-9.

What is it that the birds and beasts and fishes will teach us?-Not how to build houses, and conduct business affairs, although men may learn many things from them in these lines; but that which we may specially learn from them is the care that God has for all His creatures, and that all the wisdom possessed by bird, beast, or man, comes from God. He teaches the birds all that is necessary for them to know; and if man were as teachable as the lower orders of creation, He would teach them all that they need to know, and more than they have yet dreamed of.

When the Lord spoke to Job, to bring down his self-confidence, He asked him: "Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?" Job xxxix. 36. And of the ostrich He said, "God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither both He imparted to her understanding." Verse 17. So we see that the wisdom which the birds display is the manifestation of the all-pervading Spirit of wisdom working in them.

But they do not possess all their wisdom by birth. In common with man, they have to learn by experience. There is a common way of speaking of birds and beasts as moved by "instinct," which is, without thought understood to mean that they act automatically, without exercising thought or reason. This is a great mistake. Animals think, and reason, and exercise forethought, just as truly as men do, and some learn much more quickly than others. The American naturalist, Wilson, called attention to the fact that the nests of young birds are distinctly inferior to those of older ones, both as regards their situation and construction; and in species that have been closely watched for a sufficient length of time, a steady improvement in the construction of nests has been observed.

A missionary from South Africa tells of some swans that had been imported to that country and set at liberty. In their old home they had been accustomed to build their nests on the river banks, and so they did in their new locations. But the rivers were subject to sudden floods, and their nests were washed away. This occurred twice, and then one wise pair conceived the idea of building a floating neat, and attaching it to something immovable, so that it would rise and fall with the stream, and not be carried away. Seeing the success of this scheme, other birds did the same the next year, and the year after all the swans on that and other rivers built the same kind of nests, and

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suffered no further loss of their homes. Here was clearly a case of learning by experience and observation, just as men do-sometimes.

In a book strangely named, "Illustrations of Instinct," but which ought rather to be called "Illustrations of the Reasoning Faculty in Animals," Couch tells the following story of a swan:-

"This swan was nineteen or twenty years old, had brought up many broods, and was highly valued by the neighbours. She exhibited, some eight or nine years past, one of the most remarkable powers of instinct ever recorded. She was sitting on four or five eggs, and was observed to be very busy in collecting weeds, grasses, etc., to raise her nest; a farming man was ordered to take down half a load of haulm, with which she most industriously raised her nest and the eggs two feet and a half; that very night there came down a tremendous fall of rain; which flooded all the malt shops, and did much damage. Man made no preparation; the bird did; instinct prevailed over reason. Her eggs were above, and only just above, the water."

Does not this show that what he calls "instinct" is higher than man's "reason"? Ought not the man, then, to learn from the bird! What would not the men of that neighbourhood have given to be in connection with the swan's source of information! for she did not have the knowledge inherent in herself, and must have learned from some source. How humiliating, that a bird should know more than a man! This is not as it should be; everything in man has been perverted. When man comes into full connection with God, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," and is filled with "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him," he will take his rightful place as head and Lord of creation, and then will the birds learn from him.

"Spiritualism" The Present Truth 17, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

A paper has been handed us, which contains several articles and reports of sermons teaching the doctrine of probation after death, together with that which it always accompanies, namely, the gathering of the Jews to Old Jerusalem. The same paper contains an account of a Spiritualist meeting, in which one of the speakers, who was in a trance, "alluded to the interest being evinced in the question of salvation after death, and said they counted that as one of the healthiest signs of the times." Of course they do, because the doctrine of probation after death is nothing but one phase of Spiritualism.

"A Lesson in Unselfishness. Abram and Lot. Gen. xiii. 1-18" The Present Truth 17, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xiii. 1-18)¹⁷1

When Abraham left his native country at the call of God, and came into the land of Canaan, he took his nephew Lot with him. For some time they remained together, Lot accompanying Abraham in all his journeyings. From the twelfth chapter of Genesis we learn that they passed through Canaan, and went down into Egypt; our present lesson tells of their return to Canaan.

"And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; unto the place of the altar, which he had made here at the first; and there Abram called on the name of Jehovah." Gen. xiii. 2-4.

ABRAHAM A PREACHER

We see that Abraham did not forget his mission in the land, which was to preach the Gospel. Bear in mind what was said concerning the expression, "called on the name of the Lord." In the Hebrew the words are exactly the same as those in Ex. xxxiv. 5, where we read that the Lord descended in the cloud to Moses upon the mount, and "proclaimed the name of the Lord." Now it is evident that this is correctly rendered; because it is exactly what the Lord did on that occasion, as we learn from the succeeding verses; and it is equally evident that it would be most improper-absolutely impossible-to render the expression, "called on the name of the Lord," as in Gen xii: 8; xiii. 4. Therefore we are justified in giving to the term in these instances the same rendering that it has in Exodus, where we know it is correctly rendered. So we render the last part of Gen. xxii. 4 literally, thus: "And there Abram proclaimed the name of the Lord," or, which is the same thing, "preached in the name of the Lord."

DIVISION IN THE CHURCH

"And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together; for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together and there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle, and the herdmen of Lot's cattle; and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.

"And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me; if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou wilt depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." Gen. xiii. 5-9.

We have termed this a division in the church, for Abraham's large family was emphatically a church-a congregation of believers. Abraham was "called out," which is the literal meaning of the Greek word commonly rendered church; and we have seen that his sole business in the land of Canaan was to proclaim the name of the Lord, and to establish the worship of the true God. The immense wealth that God gave him contributed to this end; it was simply a means of supporting the workers. Rightly used, as it was, it gave Abraham prestige among the people of the land, and assured him a hearing wherever he went.

But while possessions bestowed by the Lord ("for it is He that giveth the power to get wealth." Deut. viii. 18), are designed as a great blessing (See Mal. iii. 10-13), they may, and often do, prove a source of trouble and backsliding from God. A blessing misused and its source unrecognised, always becomes a curse; for a curse is simply the wrong side of a blessing. So the first trouble in the church in the land of Canaan, even as it was in the church in the days of the apostles (Acts v. 1-10; vi. 1), was over the matter of the division and distribution of funds. In the case before us it was Lot that made the mistake, and Abraham who acted strictly according to Christian principle.

THE SECRET OF ABRAHAM'S GENEROUS CONDUCT

This is found in the last five verses of chapter thirteen, together with Gen. xv. 5, 6. Abraham remembered the promise of God, that the whale earth was to be given to him and to his seed; therefore he could afford to be generous. The man who has everything can always be generous; in fact, we should expect him to be. Now the same promise applied equally to Lot, for "they which be of faith are blamed with the faithful Abraham." Gal. iii. 9. We

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are also included in the promise; for "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse, . . . that the blessing of Abraham might come" on us through Jesus Christ. Gal. iii. 13, 14. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Rom. viii. 32. The early Christians not only gave liberally, but "took joyfully" even "the spoiling of their good," knowing that they had "in heaven a better and an enduring substance." Heb. x. 34.

It was this knowledge that made Abraham so generously courteous. He looked for a better country, that is, an heavenly, and whatever of temporal possessions he might have were only an incident. He knew that he was but a sojourner in the land; then why should he strive for the possession of any portion of it? All men are but sojourners, equally with Abraham, and if they recognised that truth there would be no wars. Who would not think it most foolish even in small children, to light for the possession of soap bubbles? Yet the greater part of mankind is engaged in equally foolish and profitless work. "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." It is useless to contend over that which we cannot hold, even if we succeed in seizing it. As to the everlasting possession that God gives, the fact that God Himself gives it to us shows that it is not to be gained by strife and contention; and nobody can take it from us, even though they kill us. Moreover the inheritance is inexhaustible, therefore we may be very "ready to distribute." 1 Tim. vi. 17-19.

"ALL THINGS COMMON"

If Lot had been as mindful as Abraham was, of the purpose for which God had sent them into the land, he would not have separated from Abraham in the way he did. It might indeed have been necessary for them to separate for the more extensive proclamation of the name of the Lord; but it would not have been over a division of property. Lot was a righteous man, and he did not allow his wealth to corrupt him, for his character remained pure even in Sodom; but he allowed the cares of this world to prevent him from being a missionary, and so he eventually lost all that he had. Earthly possessions are for no other purpose them to be used in the propagation of the Gospel; whoever uses them to this end will always have "all sufficiency in all things," "being enriched in everything to all bountifulness" (2 Cor. ix. 6-11); but those who attempt to hold them for their own personal use, will finally lose everything. They may be saved, as Lot was, yet it will be "so as by fire."

On this basis, and on this only, can men have all things common, as was the case in the early church. "The multitude of them that believe, were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common," and as a matter of course there was none among them that lacked. Acts iv. 32-35. Modern Socialism aims at an equal distribution of property, but it is radically defective, and can never succeed. Its principles, while they seem to many to be Christian, are directly opposed to Christianity, as everything must be that leaves Christ out. The Christian way is for each one to say that what he has does not belong to him, but is given him in trust, to be need for the benefit of the world; the human way is for each one to say that he has a right to what belongs to somebody else, and that the world owes him a living. The former method will provide everybody with all he needs all the time; the latter loads some down temporarily with that which they cannot use, while others are destitute, and at last leaves all empty-handed, for their riches take wings of fire, and in smoke fly away towards heaven.

So we say that if Lot had not allowed his wealth to tie him up, so that he could not continue in the missionary work, but had remembered that it was not his, his life would not have been the total failure that it was.

OPULENCE AND SIN

"Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, . . . even as the garden of the Lord; . . . then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, . . , and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom ware wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." Gen. xiii. 10-13. Now read what God afterwards said to Israel-the church-when they had lost the missionary spirit, and had become like the heathen round them:-

"Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." Eze. xvi. 49. While it is true that wealth is a blessing from God, if received as from Him, the majority of mankind, who are poor, have no reason to complain; because poverty is a still greater blessing than wealth. "Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?" James i. 5. Jesus said unto His disciples: "Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. xix. 23. Better, infinitely better, poverty in this world, with the heirship of heaven and earth, than to have the whole world and lose our souls.

Look abroad over the world in history or at the present time, and see where the simple virtues are most prevalent, and where vice most abounds. The inhabitants of tropical and semi-tropical lands, where abundance of food grows almost spontaneously, and people can live with scarcely any exertion, are invariably of looser morale than their brethren of lands where severe toil must be put forth in order to enjoy the products of the earth. This does not apply to the natives of those regions, whose desires are moderate, so much as to those who go there because of the ease with which wealth may be gained. It is in the North, where the climate is severe, and the earth in many places yields but a scanty supply, that the Word of God finds freest course. Cormpare the Scandinavian countries with Italy and Spain.

In the early history of the United States, and especially in the Colonial period, when the population was mostly confined to the North-east, where the land is rocky and responds only to the most patient industry, the simple, sturdy virtues were predominant; but when wealth began to multiply from the rich farming lands and the mines of the far West, and when money literally flowed from the ground, in the oil regions, dissolution and crime increased in proportion. There is no other country on earth where wealth is so abundant, and no other country has degenerated as the United States has in the last few years. When wealth accumulates, men always decay. "They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." 1 Tim. vi. 9. "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out, and having food and raiment, let us be therewith content."

"The Law of Life. Tenth Commandment" The Present Truth 17, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou shalt not covet."

We come now to the last of the series. We have completed the circle, and end just where we began. We say that we end just where we began; for the ninth commandment says, "Thou shall not have any other gods before Me," and in Col. iii. 5 we read that covetousness is idolatry.

THE INFINITE CIRCLE OF THE LAW

The law of God is a complete circle, beginning and ending in God; or, rather, having neither beginning nor end. God inhabits eternity, and the circle of His law encompasses the universe. There is nothing in heaven or earth that does not come within the circle. Its range is unlimited. "We know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law [literally, "in the law," that is, "within the range, sphere or jurisdiction of the law"]: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under under judgment of God." Rom. iii. 19, R.V.

GOING OUTSIDE THE LAW

What is sin?-"Sin is the transgression of the law."

What does "transgression" mean?-It means "a going across." Sin, therefore is the act of going across God's law.

But when one transgressions,-goes outside the bounds-God's law, where can he go? Ah, that is a pertinent pertinent question. There is no piece for one to go outside of God's law, except to go out of the universe, that is, to cease to be. "The wages of sin is death." "Sin, when it is full-grown, bringeth forth death."

This can be made apparent in another manner. The law of God is His life, flowing in an endless stream from His throne. Now wherever the word of God has free course, there is perfect life. It we allow ourselves to be simply channels for the river of life, as we are designed to be, the life flowing through us will hold us in life. But what will take place if we put ourselves squarely across the stream? Everybody knows the result of placing any obstacle in the way of a stream of water. The first thing is a damming up of the stream, and when water is dammed up, and becomes stagnant, it breeds death, until the force of the on-coming stream breaks away all the barriers, and the waters flow on again unhindered. But that is the destruction of the thing that placed itself across the current. It is infinitely better to be in the line of life, in harmony with it,-channels for the stream of life,-than to be obstacles to be swept away.

GOD'S MERCY TO TRANSGRESSORS

You say that there we many people who transgress God's law, and yet live. Yes there are, and that is one of the greatest marvels of the grace of God. Unbelievers rail against God, charging Him with injustice, because sentence of death is pronounced upon the ungodly; but they forget that the infinite mercy of God is manifested every moment in keeping them in life, to allow them opportunity to come into harmony with it, so that they need not die.

This life is but a span, a moment long as it seems to short-sighted men, it is but the twinkling of an eye to God. We do not at once see the results of the transgression of God's law, and men fancy that because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, as they reckon time, they can sin with impunity. "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Prov. xxix. 1.

NOT IMPUTING THEIR TRESPASSES UNTO THEM

The reason why men who transgress the law do not instantly die, is that God is still in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, "not imputing their trespasses unto them." "If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared." Ps. cxxx. 3, 4. God does not now impute sin to men; but takes it all on Himself. He knows that men are foolish and ignorant, and He has "compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way." Heb. v. 2. Knowing their ignorance, He does not take them at their word, when they say that they do not wish to be kept within the bounds of His life,-that they wish to be free from its "restraints," as they call it, and to live their own lives, independently of Him. His long-suffering still waits as in the days of Noah; but by and by there will come a day when sufficient light will have shone to enable every one to make a final choice; and then those who deliberately choose to go outside of God's law, will be taken at their word, and will be allowed to go-where? Where can they go, when God's law fills the universe, and they go outside? For them there will be no future; they will "be as though they had not been."

NOT IMPUTING THEIR TRESPASSES UNTO THEM

In the tenth commandment, more than in any other, the unity of the entire law is seen. It summarises all the commandments, even as the first of them does. It takes in the whole duty of man. "Thou shalt not covet." This precept underlies and is the heart of every commandment. In Rom. vii. 7 we read: "I had not known sin but by the law' for I had not known

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lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."

Someone says, "I thought lust had to do with the seventh commandment." So it has, and with every other one as well. Lust simply means desire; and since in the fall the desire of mankind is only to evil, lust has degenerated into evil desire, it makes no difference for what. A desire for anything that is forbidden is lust, and is contrary to the whole law of God. "When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin."

So we see that the tenth commandment strikes at the root of all sin. The Apostle Paul takes it and, makes it the summing up of the whole law. He who keeps the tenth commandment, cannot so much as think of breaking any other; be cannot have the slightest idea to sin.

SPIRITUALITY OF THE LAW

"We know that the law is spiritual" (Rom. vii. 14), and this commandment reveals its spirituality more clearly than any other. Men talk about enforcing the law of God,-about incorporating the divine law into human laws. They fancy that because human laws punish the person who kills another, that they are putting the sixth commandment into effect. They imagine that they are safeguarding the seventh commandment, because there are laws against adultery. It is a very common thing for people to think that they can enforce the fourth commandment. But let them try it with the tenth. How will they succeed?

Well, men have actually been so blindly presumptuous as to try to enforce the tenth commandment. There was only one way, and that was by the Inquisition, invented by the Papacy, which exalted itself to God's place, and even above Him. Men were tortured to wring out of them the secrets of their hearts, and punished for even the thought that they confessed to having harboured. But nobody but God can find out the secrets of men's hearts, and He does not have to find them out, because "all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Heb. iv. 13. So no human power or wisdom can ever determine when the tenth commandment has been broken. When the thought of sin, which is forbidden by the tenth commandment, goes so far as to manifest itself, it comes under the head of some one of the other commandments. To take one's neighbour's wife is a violation of the seventh commandment; to seize upon his house or goods, is a violation of the eighth.

So we see that this tenth commandment deals with that which is all within one's own mind, and is simply the drawing out and summing up of the entire ten. It shows the breadth and spirituality of the whole law of God; for as we have previously learned, "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his heart." It is not necessary that one shall have carried his wrong desire into execution, in order to have violated any one of the commandments. "The thought of foolishness is sin." Prov. xxiv. 9.

The tenth commandment is no more spiritual than any other; but it makes the spirituality of the law more apparent than the others do, in that the violation of it is wholly within one's heart, out of sight from all human eyes; yet one cannot break any one of the first nine commandments without first breaking the tenth; and as soon as one has broken the tenth, all the rest are broken.

Thus we see the utter futility of all human attempts to execute the law of God, or to punish transgression of it. Such attempts cannot be made except by those who do not have any sort of just comprehension of the law, and the nature of it; and that is why every effort to enforce or execute God's law results in a perversion of it. It is only a perverted view of the law that men have, who think to take it into their own hands, and so what they enforce is not God's law, but something directly opposed to it.

This appears when we consider all so-called "Sabbath laws." They are of course Sunday laws. Men will in the same breath talk about the sacredness of the fourth commandment, and about the necessity of rest for the body one day in seven, and of securing it by legislation in favour of Sunday. But the fourth commandment contains no reference to Sunday, except to tell all men that in it they may labour, and do their own work, and, moreover, the Sabbath of the Lord is not more physical rest, but is spiritual rest,-God's rest-for God is Spirit.

The tenth commandment, therefore, closes up the circle of the law, and unites the two ends, and then surrounds the circle itself, bidding everybody to keep his hands off from it, and leave God to conduct the affairs of every portion of His universal kingdom, even to putting into us the desires that we ought to cherish.

(To be Concluded.)

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Coming of Christ" The Present Truth 17, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

"Could you please explain to me Mark ix. 1. I think God's Word speaks as much to as now an It did when Christ spoke to His disciples when on the earth. Some say Christ is to came three times; First, when He came as a Babe; Second, when a person becomes a child of God; Third, when Christ comes to gather His own to go and dwell with Him.

"Does not Christ come into His kingdom only when He comes down in the New Jerusalem, to the possession of the new earth, after the millennium?

"When so many different doctrines are being taught in so many different ways, It makes things so dark, and it is so hard to believe."

Let Christ's own words answer your question. You know them well: "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John xiv. 2, 3.

Jesus was on the earth, among men, when He spoke these words to His disciples, and therefore they meant that He would literally come "again," once more, to this earth.

The second coming of Christ is plainly mentioned In the Bible, as related to the first coming. "As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. ix. 27, 28.

These are the two comings spoken of in the Bible, and the Scriptures tell of no more. They do, indeed, speak of His abiding presence by His Representative, the Holy Spirit; but the two comings of Christ, spoken of In the Bible, refer to two visible bodily appearings, as visible that He can be seen by saint and sinner alike.

When a person becomes a child of God,he comes to the Lord, instead of Christ coming to him. Christ by His Spirit is present with men who know Him not, striving with them, endeavouring to bring them to a knowledge of Himself. He does not hold Himself aloof from man until obey become Christians, and then came to them, for it He did they could never become Christians. On the contrary, He is near them-(He is not far from every one of as, "for in Him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 27, 28), daily loading them with benefits, and when, like the prodigal son, they come to themselves, they come to Him. Then when He comes the second lime He will take to Himself and crown as kings all those who know Him, and who love His appearing.

Now as to the events connected with the second coming of Christ. There are very many. You know that the first advent of Christ was not confined to the night when He was born in Bethlehem. It covered the whole thirty-three years of His life on this earth as a Man among men. At His first coming He worked as a carpenter, He was tempted by Satan, He want about doing good, teaching and leading the multitudes, and He was mocked, rejected, and crucified, and then rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. All these things took place at His first coming.

In like manner the second advent of Christ will cover a period of time, but much longer than the first. Let me in a few words show this from the Scriptures.

First, let us read a text or two telling what things will occur when He comes again.

"The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17.

"Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people: Gather My saints together unto Me, those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is Judge Himself." Ps. l. 3-6.

"It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who, we troubled, rest with as, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints." 2 Thess. i. 6-10.

These texts tell us that at the second coming of Christ the righteous shall be taken to dwell with Him, and the wicked shall be destroyed; but they do not set forth the particulars. If we had nothing also, we might suppose that all would take place in a single day; but from other passages we learn the details of the second advent.

The texts quoted have spoken only of the resurrection of the righteous; but there is to be a resurrection of the dead "both of the just and unjust." Between these two resurrections a thousand years will intervene. Read Rev. xx. 4-6:-

"And I saw thrones, and they sat on them; and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."

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From this we learn that, although the righteous will be taken to heaven, and the wicked will be destroyed at the second coming of Christ, there will be a full thousand years between the two events. So we know that the second advent will cover more than a thousand years. During the thousand years between the first and the second resurrection, the saints will be reigning in heaven with Christ, sitting in judgment upon the wicked, all of whom will be dead. The earth will be desolate, and Inhabited only by Satan, and his host of evil angels. At the end of that time the wicked dead will be raised, and, led by Satan, will go up and surround "the beloved city," in which the saints are, who will have come down from heaven with it; and then fire from God will devour all the ungodly, and purify the earth. Then the second coming will be complete.

COMING IN HIS KINGDOM

No; Christ does not first come into His kingdom at the end of the thousand years. We know this from the fact that He has gone "to receive for Himself a kingdom, and to return," and that when He appears it will be "in His kingdom." When He returns to gather His people, He will have received His kingdom. See Luke xix. 11-15.

Moreover, when He comes and raises the righteous dead, changing the living also to immortality, taking them to Himself, He places them on thrones of judgment, and they life and reign with Him in heaven a thousand years, He will come sitting on the throne of His glory, and will say to the righteous, "Come, ye blessed of My Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the earth." This shows that He will then be reigning in His kingdom.

You say that you thought the kingdom was this earth. You are right; this earth was prepared for man's dominion from the beginning; and the saints will be reigning over it during the thousand years that they are in heaven before the resurrection of the wicked. The earth will have been given to Christ for a possession, and He will be sharing it with His saints, else they could not sit on thrones of judgment, judging the men of this world. Is not that clear?

The saints will be with Christ in the New Jerusalem, the capital of the earth. They will be in Eden, which is a part of the earth, having once been on it, and destined to be on it again, the spot where dominion was first given to man. On the very place where man first began to reign over this earth, the dominion over it will be restored.

A WORD ABOUT BELIEVING

You say that it is difficult to believe, when so many different things are taught, and there are so many conflicting doctrines about the same thing. This should not be. Let me tell you something: Never believe or try to believe anything that you find it hard to believe. Why not?-For various reasons, chiefly because each "belief" is not belief at all, and besides, that which is really hard to believe is not true.

Belief, true faith, is spontaneous. It comes from hearing God's Word of truth. Truth, self-evident truth, is never hard to believe. It carries conviction with it, and compels belief. Error has no real foundation, and we should not try to believe it. In short, that which ought to be believed carries its own credentials with it; and that which does not bear the stamp of truth, that which is not a plain, "That saith the Lord," must not be believed.

It is true that people may, by parleying with truth, and rejecting it, get into a condition where they cannot possibly believe truth. That will be the condition of all who are lost; and therefore we ought to be careful never to trifle with our conscience. When truth comes to us, we should welcome it and accept it at once, no matter how contrary to our former ways and thoughts, and it will then be our shield and defence.

"Eating the Passover" The Present Truth 17, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

"Please harmonise John xviii. 28, last clause, with the third column in 'Editor's corner' of PRESENT TRUTH No. 27. Thanks for the truths already opened up."

The article referred to in fixing the day at the Pentecost following the crucifixion, incidentally points out that the Friday, on which Jesus was crucified was the first day of the Passover week and consequently a ceremonial Sabbath, from the morrow after which the fifty days were reckoned, and that the evening before, the night that Jesus ate the Passover lamb, and was betrayed, was the regular time for that feast, the fourteenth day of the first month.

The verse referred to reads thus: "Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the hall of judgment; and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover."

This was in the morning following the betrayal of Jesus. There are two explanations which suggest themselves. One is, that the reference is to the whole Passover week, in which unleavened bread was to be eaten, and no leaven, that is, nothing of corruption was to be in the houses or about the persons of the Jews. The whole week is frequently spoken of as the Passover. The Pharisees who were eager for the death of Jesus, did not wish to be hindered from proceeding with the festival.

It is possible, however, that in their eager plotting to capture Jesus these Jews had not had time to partake of the Passover the night before. It was still early in the morning, and they had done a great deal that night. The first suggestion seems the more plausible; but it is impossible to say with certainty which is correct, and this very fact shown us that the question is not a vital one.

"Our Little Ones. The King's Garden" The Present Truth 17, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

HONESTY

Honesty is the name given to the plant in our picture. The seed-case is very pretty, and looks something like a pearl or silver coin. Bunches of these are sometimes used to ornament rooms.

We have chosen this plant because of its name, to stand for the flower of Honesty which springs from the reed of the eighth commandment-"Thou shalt not steal."

Everyone, even a very little child, knows that it is wrong to steal,-to take something that belongs to someone else. This is because God has put the seeds of His truth into the heart of every little child that is born. He writes His law in the members of our bodies, and so even the heathen who have never heard His name, know that they ought not to take that which is not theirs.

God gave to Adam and Eve the whole world, and everything in it except one tree, which He told them not even to touch. You think they ought to have been very happy and contented with a world fall of beautiful things, and so they were for a time.

Then Eve began to long for the one thing that God had not given them. She looked at the forbidden tree, touched it, and at last "took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat."

They broke the law that God had written in their members, and they thought that they had gained a great deal. But, do you know that one "can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven." We may try to get what God has not given to us, but this is the surest way to lose it altogether.

All that God sees is for our good, He will give us when the right time comes; for "your Heavenly Father knoweth what things we have need of." So let us trust in Him, and then we shall never want to steal,-to get by dishonesty what He has not given to us. We may seem to grasp and hold it for a time, but "the wages of sin is death," and that means the loss of everything.

Listen to the advice which Paul gave to young Timothy: "Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment; let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare."

There are other ways of stealing, besides putting forth our hands, as Eve did, and taking for ourselves what is not ours. Did you ever hear Shakespeare's lines:-

"Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis some thing, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that fliches from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed."

"A good name," God's Word tells us, "is rather to be chosen than great riches," so if by our words we steal away the good name of another, we are doing him a greater injury than if we took his money or any of his goods.

We can also steal the time of others, by giving them unnecessary work to do for us. When you are careless or untidy in your habits, or when you need constant watching in order to be kept at your work or lessons, you are stealing the time of your busy mothers, and older brothers and sisters, and robbing others of the work that they might be doing for them.

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The Bible tells of those who "rob God." Perhaps you do not know how we can do this. God has kept for Himself one-tenth of all that He gives to man. He leaves it to us to give Him back a faithful tithe-a tenth part-of all that He gives us. So if we do not pay Him that which He plainly tells us is life own, what are we doing?-Robbing God.

He says that those who thus rob Him are "cursed with a curse," but those who bring Him all the tithes will not have room to receive the great blessing that He will give them. Would you not rather have nine parts with God's blessing, than to keep all ten parts and have a curse instead?

Besides the tithe, God has kept for Himself one of the seven days of the week. This-the Sabbath-He calls "My holy day." Then if we use this day for our own work or pleasure, are we not robbing God of His holy time?

But God says to us, "Thou shalt not steal," and His Word is Spirit and life, able to fulfil itself, and to keep us from doing anything that He tells us not to do. So when He says, "Thou shalt not steal," there to the same power in that Word as when He said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

His precious Word of power will keep out of our hearts every seed of the evil weeds of dishonesty, and fill them with the sweet, fresh flowers of honesty and perfect truth.

"Our Little Ones. In the Woods" The Present Truth 17, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

God has made everything beautiful in its season. He has also fitted each thing perfectly for the surroundings in which He has placed it.

Watch the fish, how easily and swiftly they dart about in the water! This is their element, for God has made them to live there; but take one out of the water into the air, and how helpless it is, and how soon it dies.

The birds which float in the air would be just as helpless, and lose their lives just as quickly, if they were put under the water. Their light bodies and buoyant wings were made to fly in the open firmament.

There are some creatures that can live under the earth, like the mole, and the earthworm, because God meant that for their home.

It is a wonderful study that will last you all your life, to see how beautifully each creature is exactly fitted by God for its place in His kingdom.

"O Lord, how manifold are Thy works!
In wisdom hast Thou made them all,"

and we may learn wisdom by studying the wonderful works which God's wisdom has planned and formed.

In this world of sorrow and death, where "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain," all creatures are in danger of having their lives taken by others. It is a part of the curse that sin has brought, that instead of living as God meant them to, upon the green herbs, the animals prey one upon another, and there is a constant warfare between them.

But God has given to each creature a means of defending itself from its special dangers. You may have seen a little hedgehog rolled up into a prickly ball, which would make it very uncomfortable for anyone who interfered with it. And you have felt the sharp claws of your little kitty, if you have been too rough in your play.

Some insects secrets a fluid with a most unpleasant smell, which they can send over their enemies if they are attacked. There is a fish which can give a sharp electric shock to anyone who touches it, and another which can stain the water all round it an inky black, which hides it and gives it a chance to escape.

But there are some creatures which seem to have no other means of defence, that look so much like their surroundings that it is almost impossible to distinguish them. You have heard of the chameleon, which changes its colour to suit its surroundings; of caterpillars which are able to make themselves look just like pieces of dry stick; and of insects which take the exact ships of the leaves on the trees where they live.

Things quite as wonderful and interesting are going on at your feet and over your heads every day that you walk in the fields or woods. The busy bee goes buzzing loudly among the flowers, in full sight, for its sharp sting keeps other creatures from being free with it, as you may know to your cost, if you have ever tried it.

But the gentle, harmless butterfly flits silently from flower to flower, and though it can easily be soon when flying, it folds its wings and settles like a petal of a flower upon the grass or shrubs. Have you not often mistaken one for a flower leaf? And no doubt other insects and birds are often so deceived.

This morning when I was walking in the forest, I saw some deer whose light brown costs-a pretty constrast to the deep green foliage all around them-made it very easy to watch them. But how fleetly they bounded away among the trees when my footsteps startled them. Their light flying feet are their means of self-defence.

I sat down to rest at the foot of a tree, and presently heard a slight rustling ground about a yard away from me. Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw what I am sure I should not otherwise have noticed: the pretty head of a little brown mouse slightly raised from its hole, so that it could look round and see if it was safe to venture out. It was the exact colour of the ground, and would never have been

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observed by anyone who was not watching for it, as it waited "as still as a mouse," till it was satisfied that there was no danger. Then it came up out of its hole, and started in search of food, but catching sight of me, it scampered quickly home again, and did not come out as long as I was there.

A short distance farther on, I saw what I took for a tree-toad, that I had disturbed, dart into a heap of dead leaves. I searched for it carefully where I had seen it fall, but I had some difficulty in finding it, because it was so much like the leaves among which it lay motionless, as though it knew that its only hope of escape was in being mistaken for one of them. And indeed, its wrinkled yellow skin was a perfect match, and its mouth looked exactly like the curled edges of the dry leaves.

I lifted the toad gently several times with a stick, but it flopped limply back among the loaves without a sign at life, its tiny "hands" spread out like little bite of dry, yellow leaf stalks. When I had scraped away the leaves all round it, it gave one lively hop into the midst of another heap, where It lay as limp and motionless as before, and did not move again, though I wafted for some time.

My way home led me past a pond in the wood, and as I walked down to the water's edge, about a dozen creatures darted at once from almost under my feel, and splashed into the water. Every step disturbed others, which hastened to join their comrades in the pond. I looked closely to see what it was that had escaped my notice, but at first could see nothing. Then I saw that what I had mistaken for green leaves floating among the green scum on the surface of the water, were the heads of small green frogs, which had been lying among the grass, at the water's edge.

I looked for others, but could see them only when they moved, although I must have disturbed at least fifty in the space of a few yards. Both on the land and in the water their bright green bodies were so much like the grass and rushes and leaves among which they lay or floated, that it was difficult to see them, even when looking for them, until one's eyes became used to seeing them.

In any ordinary country walk you will, if you make use of the eyes that God has given you to read in His great Book of Nature, see much that will teach you of His love and wisdom in caring for His creatures, and lead you to put your full trust in Him.

"Here and There" The Present Truth 17, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

The Catholic Times says that "in Holland the Catholics not so many years ago were ill-treated and powerless," but that "at the elections which have just taken place in that country the Catholics were so successful that they are now, like the Catholic members of the German Reichstag, the dominating Parliamentary factor."

The Pope has written a very indignant letter concerning the French legislation against "Associations," which is merely that Roman Catholic convents should be under Government supervision. This is called "persecution" on the part of the State. There is no doubt but that such supervision is necessary, since enough occasionally comes to the light to show that in many convents and Roman Catholic asylums a regular system of slavery exists.

Truth is none the less true by being told by those who ordinarily pervert it, and so the following from the Catholic Times, entitled, "The World in the Church," may be read with profit by all. The tendency toward giving the people what they naturally desire, instead of only what they need, is so great that all Christians must be on their guard against it. The Times says:-

"We had been accustomed to think that churches were buildings into which the world came in order to be made other-worldly. But, apparently, we were mistaken. The world is to be introduced for its own sake, and on its own terms. So at least it would seem if we may accept the statements given by the daily papers last week. Mrs. Brown-Potter, an eminent American artiste, has been declaiming beautiful poetry in a certain Anglican church, at the request of the clergyman in charge. Vast crowds assembled to hear the distinguished lady recite, and we have no doubt the occasion was a great success. But what is the Establishment coming to when such dramatic recitals are tolerated in places of worship? Is there no authority to prevent the Anglican churches from being converted into merely secular amusement halls? Of late there has been a great variety of entertainment in Protestant and Dissenting places of worship. One man gives magic lantern shows; another lectures on the posts; another surrounds his pulpit with relics of Waterloo; yet another serves out hot coffee in the porch. It may be all very well, but it does seem as if the people could no longer be attracted to church by means of religious services alone. It appears to be evident that the National Church has lost its hold on a nation, and that it can no longer manage to get a congregation. And we venture to add that not even by these worldly means will it succeed in keeping a congregation. The novelty soon wears off, and then people who have been used to come to church from motives of worldly curiosity or worldly pleasure will cease to come at all. By all means get the world into the church, but as a sinner, and not as a sight-seer; to be converted, not to be amused."

The Gospel is still "the power of God untp salvation," and it is the only thing that has power.

It is said that the new Federal Defence Bill in Australia "can hardly be described as conscription," but it is certainly not far removed from it. It provides that in case of war or other emergency, all male inhabitants who are British subjects, who have been resident in the Colony for six months, and are between eighteen and sixty years of age are liable to compulsory service. It is estimated that on this basis 970,000 men would be available in time of war. The great proclamation among the nations is beginning to be, "Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war drawn nearer." Joel iii. 9.

The Evangelists of the London City Mission say that it is a familiar scene to see a drunken woman staggering through the streets with a baby in her arms and one or two little ones clinging to her skirts. What the future of the little ones must be cannot be put into words. Some of them will surely be saved from the pit, but what of the rest? With their inheritance of sin, and their training in vice from infancy, they will help to make the times perilous. And the case is not much better when we turn to the middle and upper classes, only that the plague spot is better concealed. A morning paper, speaking of the women of those classes, says that "they drink alcohol in a way that would have shocked their mothers fifty or even twenty or thirty years ago." Undoubtedly it would, since such a thing was almost unknown then.

Two professors of the Medical department of the University of Michigan (U.S.A.) have discovered a most powerful antiseptic in organic acid peroxides, which they are able to prepare in any quantity. They have demonstrated that these peroxides become decomposed in water, giving solutions which, even when containing only five-thousandsth of 1 percent. of active oxygen derived from hyperoxides, are fatal to all bacteria, while a solution of ten times that strength will destroy spores. The hyperoxide used is benzolactyl hyperoxide, which may be safely taken internally in large doses without poisonous effect. Every person has to a large extent the essential element of this antiseptic at his own command, in the air, if he only cares enough for his health to use it. Pure air in abundance, pure water, and heaven's sunlight will preserve one free from the ravages of almost any sort of microbe.

"How We Live. Wesley on Health" The Present Truth 17, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

It is well known that John Wesley lived to a good age, and during his whole life worked very hard and preserved excellent health; but not all who know this consider that his good health and ability to work was the result of careful attention to hygienic rules. Here is some of his teaching, which is as good now as when he wrote it:-

We may strengthen any weak part of the body by constant exercise. Thus the lungs may be strengthened by loud speaking or walking up an easy ascent; the digestion and the nerves, by riding; the arms by strongly rubbing them daily.

The flesh-brush is a most useful exercise, especially to strengthen any part that is weak.

Those who read or write much should learn to do it standing; otherwise it will impair their health.

The love of God, as it is the sovereign remedy of all miseries, so in particular it effectually prevents all the bodily disorders the passions introduce, by keeping the passions themselves within due bounds. And, by the unspeakable joy and perfect calm, serenity and tranquility it gives the mind, it becomes the most powerful of all the means of health and long life.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

When asked his opinion as to the secret of happiness, Mr. Carnegie, the Scotch American millionaire, replied: "A good conscience and a good digestion; and poverty is favourable to both."

It has been well said by Lord Rosebery that "vanity is a centipede with corns on every foot." The reason why some people are continually being "hurt," or "having their corns trod on," is their excessive vanity. Sensitiveness is another spelling of selfishness.

Life is action. A young man who had suicidal mania was sent to a lunatic asylum where all manner of occupations, exercises, and amusements were provided, and who recovered his mental balance by learning to play cricket, at which he became expert. Any other employment that would have engaged his attention, and kept him active, would have done as well. It seems strange, but it is true, that the only people who kill themselves are those who think a great deal of themselves. The man who thinks more of another than he does of himself will never take his own life. The man who has the meet to do, especially if he be doing it for somebody else, will have the longest and the happiest life.

What a difference between the way the Sabbath question is treated by Sabbath-keepers and the way that Sunday-observers handle it. Ask one of the letter about it, and he will begin to talk about "the custom of the church," and quote from the uninspired writings of men who are called "Fathers," for what reason nobody can tell; or he will begin negatively by saying that he does not believe that we are now required to keep the old Sabbath, but are free to do as we please. But ask the Sabbath-keeper, no matter in what part of the world you find him, and be will promptly reply, in the words of the Lord:-

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made the heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." What is the chaff to the wheat?

It will doubtless be remembered that a few weeks ago we asked where the "precept" for keeping Sunday holy is to be found (meaning where in the Bible, of course), stating that we should be glad to publish it if it were sent to us. Someone has sent us, by way of furnishing the desired information, a paper in which certain texts are referred to, which mention the first day of the week, but which contain no semblance of a command for its observance, or the slightest intimation that it is any different from other days. We fear that our friend misunderstood us. The article also contains some quotations from some of the so-called "Fathers," and from writings attributed to them, and thinks those doubtful sayings of men will take the place of the commandment of God. It will not do. What saith the Lord?

"Fleeing from Safety" The Present Truth 17, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

The other day a little sparrow fell, or rather, fluttered down into a narrow court. It could use its wings, but was not strong enough to make the directly upward flight necessary for it to get bask to its nest. The mother flew down to it, chirped a few encouraging words, and then flew up, to show it how to do it, repeating the action several times, and then the little one bravely made the attempt, but could not accomplish it. They were in sore distress, and dreaded other birds from neighbouring nests came about to offer advice and sympathy.

Then came the thing most feared and dreaded-a terrible man! The mother bird flew away in despair, yet hovered near in great anxiety, while the little one fluttered along the pavement, trying to escape this horrid monster that was surely seeking to devour it. The mother chirped down to it a few short, sharp directions, but its own fears guided it, first into the dark corner, behind the boxes, and then, when its relentless pursuer discovered it there, back to the other end, then in through the open door, under the great printing-press. Instantly the machinery was stopped, the little thing was driven from its place of refuge, and soon the awful man had it in his hands.

How its little heart beat for fear! Once it managed to escape, as the opening for its head was made a little too large, but the hand was quickly over it again as it crouched in the corner of the stairway, and it uttered a wild shriek as it found itself once more a prisoner. Only for a minute, however. There was a hole just under the roof, and as the hand that held it approached that place, and opened, the little bird flew out with a note of triumph, and was quickly with its friends, telling off its wonderful escape.

Ah, thought I, how much we resemble that bird. We are away from home, and unable to lift ourselves up. A Friend sees us, and pities our fallen, helpless condition, and comes to help us. But we do not recognise our Deliverer. In that trouble that overtakes us, and in that forced captivity for a season, we do not recognise the Father's hand, and we struggle to be free.

The bird could not possibly get back to its nest unless I carried it in my hand; I was desirous only to have it, and would not have hart it for any consideration, yet its frantic struggles to got away compelled me to hold it more tightly than I would otherwise have done. Thus any pain that it might have felt was self-inflicted. Its place of safety was in the hand that kept it a prisoner, for away from that it would become an easy prey to a really cruel cat.

It is sad that there is such misunderstanding and fear of one another among God's creatures; it was painful to know that the little bird regarded me as an enemy, and my kind efforts in its behalf as attempts on its life; but far sadder is it, that the highest of God's creatures do not know their Creator, who lives only for their welfare, as He died to save them. To-day, as of old, Christ is seeking to gather His lost ones into His strong arms, yet but few know the time of their salvation. The Jews of old thought that Jesus would surely cause their ruin; how often should we, if we only had spiritual discernment, see that the cloud which we think is about to overwhelm us, is only the shadow of our Father's hand, and not the shadow of death. Let us learn to rest in the everlasting arms that are already underneath us, and be glad that no one can pluck us out of His hand.

August 1, 1901

"God's Promise to Abraham. Gen. xv. 1-18" The Present Truth 17, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xv. 1-18)

Our last lesson left us with Lot separated from Abraham, and on his way to Sodom. Although the nephew of Abraham improved his worldly condition by his new move, he was very soon in a position where be owed all that he had, and possibly his own life, to his generous uncle. The king of Sodom rebelled against the powerful King Chedorlaomer, to whom he had become subject, and the latter, with his confederate kings, came against the king of Sodom and the other kings of the plain, and reconquered them. "And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their vituals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt In Sodom, and his goods, and departed." Gen. xix. 11, 12.

News of this was brought to Abraham, who book three hundred and eighteen of his own servants, with some chiefs who were friendly to him, and pursued the victorious army. Coming upon it at night, he scattered it, and recaptured all the prisoners and the property. This encounter might well give Abraham some uneasiness, for he could scarcely expect anything also than that the hosts of the East would return in stronger force, and give him trouble. But God did not forsake Abraham, but appeared to him in a vision, saying, "Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward."

GOD OUR DEFENCE AND REWARD

We have all things in having the Lord Himself, He is our righteousness, our strength, our light, our reward, and our salvation. He does not merely impart strength, righteousness and salvation to us, but He Himself is all that to us. So He is our reward. Having Him, we need nothing more. The psalmist says: "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee." Ps. lxxiii. 25. Or, as the Norwegian has it: "When I have Thee, I have no desire for anything on earth." There is nothing also that one can desire; for since "in Him all things consist," that which is not in Him cannot continue.

Note here that God never promises or gives anything to His people separate from Himself. The land that He promised to Abraham could be inherited by him and his seed only as they were in Christ; and the countless seed of Abraham are only those who are Christ's. Gal. iii. 29. Those who have not God as their strength, their life, their salvation,-who are not satisfied with Him as their portion, can never have any part in the inheritance promised to Abraham.

ABRAHAM'S DESCENDANTS NOT TO BE SERVANTS

Abraham evidently understood what God meant, but he could see no other way for the inheritance to come than through his servant Eliezer. He said, "What wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me, Thou hast given no seed; and, lo, one born in mine house is mine heir." Verse 2 is thus given in the Revision: "He that shall be possessor of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus."

But it was not God's purpose that the seed of Abraham should be a race of servants. So the Lord said to him: "This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir."

"And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now, toward heaven, and tell the stars if thou be able to number them; and He said unto him, So shall

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thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness." Gen. xv. 44.

THE FAITH THAT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS

Why should Abraham's simple belief in the promise that he should have a posterity as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea be counted to him for righteousness?-Only because it was righteousness; for we may be sure that God does not play at a thing, calling it so when it is not so. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Rom. x. 10. Read the context, and see that the thing which the heart believes unto righteousness is that Christ, the Word, is very nigh, even in the mouth and in the heart. Now remember that Abraham "believed in the Lord." He believed in Christ revealed in his flesh, and that from the life at Christ all this would be wrought. "For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yes; wherefore also through Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us." 2 Cor. 1, 20, R.V. So we see that the promise to Abraham was in Christ, and Abraham saw Christ in it. It was the Gospel to Abraham. It was no half-way Gospel, dimly get forth, but the complete Gospel of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read that Abraham "staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief," although the vastness of the promise to a man in his circumstances was enough to stagger one; but he was fully "persuaded that what He had promised, He was able to perform; and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed. If we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for offences, and was raised again for justification." Rom. iv. 20-26.

WHAT ABRAHAM BELIEVED

That which Abraham believed in, was the offering of Christ for sin, and His resurrection for our justification. That is, he believed that Christ was already crucified "from the foundation of the world," and that He had come in his flesh with His resurrection life. He believed in and experienced the power of the resurrection; and he knew that God, who could make a new man of him, could make millions more.

More than this, he saw Christ revealed to all the world in his flesh, recognised as descended from him according to the flesh, and he know that the power that could perform this is the Divine power that gives to us "all things that pertain unto life and godliness." So God indicated to Abraham, and through Abraham to us, that his seed is to be composed only of those who through Christ are free from sin.

A COVENANT CONFIRMED BY DEATH

Then God made a covenant with Abraham. The Hebrew idiom expressing, to make a covenant, is, "cut a covenant." It always implies the shedding of blood. The covenant was based on the life of God, the shed blood of Christ.

In the deep sleep that fell on Abraham, in which "an horror of great darkness fell on him," God said to him:-

"Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterwards shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shall be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." Gen. xv. 13-16.

What does this tell us?-In the first place it confirms the statement that the faith which was counted to Abraham for righteousness was faith in the resurrection; for he was plainly told that he should die without inheriting the land. Not only so, but none of his posterity could have any inheritance in the land of Canaan until after four hundred years. "He gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child." Acts vii. 5. Abraham died in faith, not having received the promised inheritance. It is evident that he never looked for a possession in the land except by means of and after the resurrection of the just. The covenant taught Abraham not only that death could not break it, but also that death-the death of Christ, and his death with Christ-was the very means by which it would be established.

WHEN THE LAND WAS TO BE POSSESSED

Another thing that we learn from the verses quoted is that Abraham's seed were to return to the land "in the fourth generation," after four hundred years of sojourning and oppression. That is, they were to inherit the land at that time. There would then be nothing in the way of their possessing the country, for the iniquity of the Amorites would be fall. But the children inherit from the father, not the father from the children. The seed cannot enter into the inheritance of the father before the father himself possesses it. Therefore since there was a definite promise that Abraham's seed should inherit the land of Canaan after four hundred years, it follows that that was the time appointed for the resurrection. If the children of Israel had not failed, because of unbelief, to possess the land, the resurrection of all the righteous dead would have taken place at the time of the Exode.

GIVING THE HEATHEN A CHANCE

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Again, we learn that God will not cut off the heathen, as long as there is any hope that they will accept the Gospel. He would not allow the Israelites to dispossess the Canaanites of their land until the Canaanites had sinned so grievously that the land could not hold them. And in the meantime there was salvation for any of them who would accept a place among the people of God, as demonstrated by the case of Rahab. This truth shows the fallacy and the blasphemy of the doctrine of a future probation-a probation after death. It is not necessary, because God has given all men "a chance" ever since the creation, "so that they are without excuse" if they have not repented. Rom. i. 18-21. And to claim that a future probation is necessary, is blasphemous because it charges God with trifling with men, and not dealing in the same way with all.

CANAAN TO BE POSSESSED ONLY BY THE RIGHTEOUS

Still further: from the passage in Genesis we learn that the land of Canaan could be possessed according to God's promise only by righteous people, The Canaanites were cast out because their cup of iniquity became filled up. The Israelites who came out of Egypt could not enter because of unbelief. Therefore those who did enter did not hold the possession, because they did not keep the faith; and they were at last carried far away into captivity because of their sins. The promise was of land for an everlasting possession; not that it should pass from one generation to another, but both Abraham and all his seed were to possess the land for ever. But an everlasting possession means an everlasting life in which to possess it; and everlasting life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore it follows that all talk about the fulfilment of the promise by the emigration of the Jews to Palestine is not only absurd, but is a denial of the Gospel.

The promise is to us, if we have the faith of Abraham. Christ is now in the heavens until the time of restoration of all things; and in the meantime He comes to us by the Spirit, in the power of His resurrection, to bless us, in turning as away from our iniquities, so that we may share the inheritance with Abraham when He appears in glory.

"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." Heb, iv. 1.

"The upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it."

"The Law of Life. Tenth Commandment. (Concluded.)" The Present Truth 17, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou shalt not covet." Covetousness is idolatry. This is indicated in 1 Tim. vi. 17: "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." As you read this, remember the words of Christ: "Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." Luke xii. 15. And then follows the story of the man whose ground brought forth abundantly, and whose barns were overflowing, and who proposed to say to his soul, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." That man was trusting in uncertain riches, instead of in the living God, who had given him his abundance. Instead of trusting God, whom he could not see, he made a god of that which he could see, and his hands could handle.

THE LOVE OF MONEY

"They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil [all kinds of evil]; which, while some coveted attar, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."1 Tim. vi. 9, 10.

Mind, the text does not say that money is an evil, or the root of evil. It is the love of money that works mischief. There have been very wealthy men, who were also patterns of goodness. Job had the testimony from God Himself that he was a good man, yet he was the wealthiest man in the country. But he did not trust in his riches. He was willing to distribute and the cause which he did not know he searched out; and when his wealth was taken from him in a day he was not in the least upset by it. He still trusted in God who had given it, and who was able to care for him without it.

HOARDING MEANS POVERTY

"There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." Prov. xi. 24. It is a law God's universe that that which is hoarded up withers away, and that which is scattered abroad increases. It is not money, that is the evil, but the love of it which leads one to hoard it up merely to look at, or as a fancied security against future need. Hoarding up wealth not only tends to poverty, but it is a sign of it. The miser has a constant sense of lack. The old epitaph on a miser who had heaped up thousands, ended thus:-

"Yet this poor man, with all his store,
Died in great want,-the want of more."

The man of small means, who freely divide what he has with others, is the real rich man. His action shows his recognition of

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the fact that he is in connection with a boundless store of wealth. A small stream of water constanty flowing it far better than thousands of barrels of it stored up in a cistern.

RICHES NOT ROBBERY

There seems to be in this age a special onslaught against rich men, as though to be rich were synonymous with being a robber. Corrupt practices are not to be defended; but we are not warranted in attributing all evil to men of means. There in just as much covetousness among the poor as among the rich. The man who covets wealth, and succeeds in getting it is certainly no worse than the one who covets it, but falls to grasp it. It is covetousness, not the possession of wealth that is idolatry. It is not how much one has, but how one uses it, that determines his character.

CONTENT WITH FOOD AND RAIMENT

The word "covetousness" is translated from a number of different words, but as used in our study it means to desire more than one needs. If a man has no coat, it is not a sin for him to desire it sufficiently to make the effort to get it; that this is compatible with perfect content, for consent does not mean lazy indifference.

"Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content." The evil arises from this, that people think that they must specify just how much and what kind of food and clothing they shall have. The principal thing for no is contentment; God has charged Himself with she task of seeing that we have food and clothing sufficient for our needs. He made the first clothing that man ever wore (Gen. iii. 21) and it filled every requirement; it supplied covering and warmth, God is zealous for the carrying out of His own laws; and since He has ordained that every creature should have a covering suited to its stake, we may be sure that He will not neglect the creatures whose need is greatest and most apparent.

Just a word with regard to clothing. Do not forget that its true object is comfort and decency, and not adornment. It should simply be that which is suitable, and then one need have no fear of its being in bad taste. When one is specially noticeable because of what one has on, that is just as bad taste as to be noticeable because of a lack of clothing. One should be noticed, if noticed at all, for what one is, and not for what one has or has not. The clothing, that is no part of the individual, is altogether secondary to the clothing which grows on one as the result of the Spirit within. A knowledge of the relative value of things, and that God Himself, who gives us life, and who thereby shows that it is His business to supply the things necessary for its proper sustenance, and that He alone can do it, will bring constant and perfect content.

CONTENTMENT NOT LAZINESS

Someone may say, "That doctrine will tend to laziness; if the stimulus of the necessity to earn one's own living be taken away,-if men get the idea that God will provide everything for them,-they will not labour." Not so; the man who serves the living God can never be lazy. We have learned that man is not to work for money, but because he owes his best service to the world. The man who knows the Lord, and who understands his relation to Him, will work just as hard and as diligently without any prospect of wages, as he will for a large salary, knowing that it is his business to give his strength so the world, in the service of Christ, and the Lord's business to sustain his life.

DISCONTENT OR WORRY IS COVETOUSNESS AND IDOLATRY

Look again at what constitutes covetousness. We have all thought that it consisted in not desiring a rich man's possessions, but we shall see that it comes much closer to us than that. Jesus says: "If God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles [heathen] seek." Matt. vi. 30-32.

We see from this that anxiety for food and drink and clothing, is the characteristic of the heathen, and is therefore idolatry. So again we are brought face to face with the truth that covetousness is idolatry, "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." We cannot be worrying over what we have not, or over the loss of something that we had, and at the same time be serving God. Everything in this world belongs to somebody; therefore if we covet something that we have not we are coveting what belongs to somebody also wishing to deprive some other person of something in order that we may be pleased. But that is not to love our neighbour as ourself, and so is a violation of the whole law. Or, if it be claimed that there is a great deal that is not in the possession of any body, and which is therefore open to all, we must still admit that it belongs to the Lord, who will put us in the way of getting it, if it be right for as to have it; and if we complain because we have it not, we are manifesting a lack of trust in God's loving care for us.

ABSOLUTE TRUST IN OUR FATHER

See how this commandment teaches us absolute trust in God, which is the perfection of Christianity. The Lord knows what we have need of before we ask Him, and He has provided it before we become conscious of our need, just because He is our Father. We have much to learn from the relation between parent and child. We are to receive the kingdom of God as little children; and the child is the perfect example of trust and content, yet it is not lazy. The unspoiled child, or the child

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yet too young to have learned any of that worldly wisdom that consists in worry (dignified by the title of "looking out for the future") expects as a matter of course to have its wants supplied, and it is content with what it receives. It never thinks of food until it is hungry, and then it receives the necessary supply, because the parents have anticipated the little one's needs. Why cannot those parents learn a lesson from themselves? Why should they think that they are better than their Father?

TRUST, NOT IDLENESS

But the child is not idle; far from it. There to nothing more active than a healthy child. The father does not work so many hours a day, nor apply himself so persistently as his child does. It will work the whole day for nothing. To no purpose, do you say? Oh, no; it is obeying the Scripture injunction, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Laziness is an acquired habit, the result of wrong training by parents. It is only the man who thinks that the responsibility of the world rests upon him, that works to no purpose; for he goes about his tasks with a drawn, set face, and a look of anxiety, which reflects no credit whatever upon the God whom he may be professing to serve; and remember that the sole business of man on this earth is to glorify God.

SAYING, "THERE IS NO GOD"

People become sad and moody under their self-imposed burdens. That is equivalent to saying that there is no God. The fool says in his heart, "There to is God," and he acts as though there were none, and that the weight of the world, and the responsibility for conducting its affairs properly, rested on him. Having an abundance of goods in one's possession, and trusting in them, is not a whit worse than worrying over the lack of them. The one who does this, shows that he would do just as the rich fool did, if he were but situated in the same way.

THE TRUEST HAPPINESS

The rich man does not have all the pleasures of life. The best things in the world are those that money cannot buy; and the possession of great wealth actually hinders one from enjoying some of the most delicious pleasures. One of these is the pleasure of self-denial, of going without a thing that one might lawfully possess. There is the pleasure of royalty in finding oneself independent of things which most people deem necessary. The real king is not the one who has everything at command, but the one who can command himself to be content with little, and can cheerfully obey.

THE SUM OF THE WHOLE MATTER

The sum of the whole matter is to trust God, and be satisfied with the fatness of His house, even though to the man, who blindly burrows in the earth like a mole, it may seem leanness. This absolute trust in the Lord is absolute righteousness, the very opposite of heathenism.

"Incline thy heart unto My testimonies, and not to covetousness." Ps. cxix. 36. Covetousness, therefore, is the desire for anything contrary to the commandments, anything except God's life. That we may desire with our whole soul. The man who can say to the Lord, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none on earth that I desire beside Thee" is safe from the transgression of the tenth commandment, and so from the commission of any sin.

SATISFACTION IN SERVICE

The commandments of the Lord are life everlasting, "and in keeping of them is great reward." Not for keeping them, mind you, but in keeping them. The reward is the pure, perfect, simple life that they bring. Take heed, beware of covetousness even in the service of God. Beware of thinking that you would serve God, keep His Sabbath, for instance, if you were situated financially so that you could. There would be no virtue in your service even if you did keep it under such conditions. What kind of god is it that you propose to serve? Is it one who needs your service? or one whom you need to serve whom is rich reward? The answer to this marks the difference between heathenism and Christianity.

The satisfaction of serving Christ indeed, of knowing Him, and feeling His life in us, impelling us to action, is so great that with it one cares for nothing else. The deliciousness of perfect trust, of resting in the everlasting arms, and by that very resting partaking of their intense activity, is greater than the possession of all riches. He who has, and appropriates, the fulness of God's life is so far from desiring anything else, that he would spurn the offer of anything that would rob him of any of that which is his by faith. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give up all things?" and he who has all things, and knows that he has them, is absolutely shut off from the possibility of covetousness.

"Your Members on the Earth" The Present Truth 17, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

"If ye than be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory, Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth." Col. iii. 1-5.

With this text read also the following, so as to have both in mind at the same time: "God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even while we were dead in sins, hath quickened as [made us alive] together with Christ (by grace are ye saved), and hath raised us up, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Eph. ii. 4-6.

Here we have death and resurrection. If you read the first chapter of Ephesians, you will see that Christians are expected to have the same experience that Christ had. We are to know the exceeding greatness of the power of God in us who believe, "according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places;" and we know this power only by being made alive, and raised up with Christ, and made to all with Him in the heavenly places.

Note the exact parallel: Christ says "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore" (Rev. i. 18); we should say, "I am crucified [dead] with Christ, nevertheless I live" (Gal. ii. 20) and since He is our life, and He says, "Because I live, ye shall live also" it follows that we also have "life for evermore." That is the blessing that God commanded. Ps. cxxxiii. 3.

Then if we are really in Christ, where are we?-Where He is, of course, in heaven. All the life the Christian has is there; "for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." So we are to live as being in heaven.

But someone will say, "I am on this earth, nevertheless."

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The Spirit of the Lord has anticipated this objection, by saying, "Mortify therefore your members which are on this earth." That is, make them dead. Do not try to live in two places at once, to keep up two establishments, as it were. Why put the members on earth to death?-For the reason just given, because we are risen with Christ and have been seated with Him in the heavenly places. We are to have our individual life in heaven.

We have members on this earth, it is true, but they are to have no more voice in our control than if they were buried. "The life that I now live in the flesh, I Iive by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me," and who spoke of Himself while on earth talking with Nicodemus as "the Son of man which is in heaven." Even so is to be with us. The body is flesh; but it is the Spirit that is to have supreme control. God will demonstrate with us, as He did in Christ, that the flesh cannot control Him, but that He has "power over all flesh."

Who has not felt the flesh, the nature of his members which are an earth, to be a clog to him, a hindrance in the Christian life? We could not do the things that we would. Well, God's purpose for us, which He is able to carry into effect, is that the flesh shall be so deadened that it will have no more affect to hinder us from living as we ought, than it will when changed from corruption to incorruption. Thus He gets glory to Himself.

"The carnal mind"-"the mind of the flesh"-"is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. viii. 7. The carnal mind is the mind dominated by the flesh. It is enmity against God, because the flesh is opposed to the Spirit. And the flesh will control the mind as long as it has any power. The flesh cannot be converted, for "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Therefore it is that another mind, the mind of Christ, must take possession, able to subdue the flesh and put it to death. The dead members then become simply passive instruments of righteousness. The mind of Christ can do this, because it led Him to humble Himself unto death (Phil. ii. 6-8), and He literally put Himself to death, that is, He laid down His own life. John ii. 17, 18. When Christ is given unreserved right to dwell in us in His fulness, the power of His death and resurrection will crucify our flesh (Gal. v. 24) so that our members on the earth will be "dead indeed unto sin" yet alive unto righteousness as though already changed from corruption to incorruption. "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!"

"Our Little Ones. The King's Garden. Sincerity" The Present Truth 17, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

SINCERITY

But lately some of the trees in the gardens and parks were covered with sweet-scented lilac blossoms. You saw them; were they not beautiful? Where are they? Gone, you say.

Yes; their frail beauty has faded, but are they altogether gone?-No; they have left something behind them; they have left an impression on your mind and heart.

"For every humble hedgerow flower that blows,
And every little brown bird that doth sing,
Hath something greater than itself, and bears
A living Word to every living thing."

Someone once said: "I am a part of all that I have seen," meaning that his character had been formed by all the things that he had ever seen, so that a part of all that he had over looked upon still existed in him.

The truth of this should make us all very careful what, and above all, how we see. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," who is revealed in all the things He has made. Then the impressions made upon our minds by all His works will be sweet and holy.

The American poet, Whittier, after watching a glorious sunset until it faded, put this thought into the following beautiful verse:-

"But beauty seen to never lost;
God's colours all are fast;
The glory of this sunset heaven
Into my soul his passed."

The lilac had a message. Did you read it? What did it say to you? You remember the beautiful shape of the spray, and how it was made up, not of one large blossom, but of many small delicately-formed ones. The beauty of the whole spray depended upon the perfection of every one of those tiny flowers.

In this the lilac teaches a lesson of truth and faithfulness. It tells that it is the little acts and words of our daily lives that make or mar the beauty of a perfect character.

"Behold Thou desirest truth in the inward parts," David said; and when truth is in the heart, every word will be true, and every act will be sincere. To make things appear to be what they are not, is to "bear false witness." So we may sum up the message of the lilac in the words of the Ninth Commandment: "Thou shalt not bear false witness." This is the seed which fills the King's Garden with the flowers of sincerity and truth.

Did you notice that the lilac had frequent visitors? The bees love it; you know why. It is because its tiny blossoms are full of sweet, pure honey; it is a storehouse from which they can gather rich supplies to fill the combs in their hives.

"How sweet are Thy words unto my taste!
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb."

sang the Psalmist; and he told what it was that made God's Word so sweet to his taste.

"Thy Word is very pure,
Therefore Thy servant loveth it."

It was the perfect purity-the truth, fatness of God's Word, that made it sweeter than honey to him. So in the pure honey that fills its dainty cups, the lilac is teaching us the same sweet lesson of sincerity.

Do you know what God says of those who have lying lips that bear false witness,-those who do not speak the truth? "The poison of asps is under their lips."

Think how we dread the poisonous bite of the deadly serpent. You would not like such poison to be found under your tongue, would you? Then ask Jesus, who is "the Truth," to dwell in your heart; then you will have the truth that God desires in the inward parts, to fill your mouth with sweet words. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

When we were talking of the lilies, we found that their message is, "Be pure." The message of the lilac is, "Be sincere." Do you know the meaning of this word?

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It in from two Latin words which mean, "without wax."

It is thought by some that the word came to have its present meaning because it was used to describe honey that was perfectly pure. When it had been prepared and strained until it was entirely clear and free from the wax in which the beeshed stored it, it was sincere, "without wax," nothing but honey.

So the word has come to be used to describe anything that is pure and true, and just what it appears to be-that which does not "bear false witness." Would you not like this word to be a true description of you?

It is the life working in the tree that fills the lilac cups with honey. And it is the same Life-the life of Jesus-that brings forth the flowers of truth in the King's Garden, and fills them with the honey of sincerity. No fair appearance, while deadly poison lurks within, bears false witness in the King's Garden, but the sincere sweetness of Jesus fills all the beautiful blossoms with the honey of truth.

"The words of the Lord are pure words;
As silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times."

There is no "false witness" in His Word. It "is true from the beginning" to the end, as pure as silver or gold many times purified. And "the Iaw of truth" is in the lips of His children, so that "in their mouth was found no guile." May you be among that happy company, for "a lying tongue is an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are His delight."

"Our Little Ones. Lessons from the Bees" The Present Truth 17, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

Now the bees are busy gathering honey while the sun shines and the flowers bloom. God has spread a rich feast for them in more beautiful dishes and cups than were ever made by the hands of the most skilful workman to adorn the king's table.

"God might have made the earth bring forth. .
Without a flower at all."

He might have fed the bees without the lovely colours and scents which give no do much pleasure, and which must surely add sweetness to their feast and their work. Like all the rest of God's creatures,

"That thou givest them, they gather;
Thou openest Thine hand; they are satisfied with good."

God does not put the honey in their mouths or in their hives, but He teaches them where to find it, how to gather it from the flowers, and how to make the perfect little six-sided cells of the comb in which to store it for use in the winter when the earth will not bring it forth.

Watch the bees at work, and notice the flowers that they visit,-the sweet-scented and pretty-coloured ones. Suppose that in a beautiful, sweet-smelling flower, the bee should find no honey, but poison instead. Then that flower would be bearing "false witness," showing fair colours to lure living creatures to their destruction.

There is a plant called the Pitcher Plant that does something very much like this. It has a long, pitcher-shaped cup, which it fills with a sweet, intoxicating fluid. This is a snare to the insects, which crowd into it, and drink until they are too dazed to escape. Then the cruel plant closes over them, and sucks their life blood.

That plant is a false witness. Its fair form, and the attractive liquid within it, invite the insects to come in and feast and get new life; but they find death instead. See how like this is the picture God has given up in His Word of the one who does not speak the truth:-

"There is no faithfulness in their mouth;
Their inward part is very wickedness;
Their throat is an open sepulchre;
They flatter with their tongue."

Sometimes people flatter others in the hope of gaining something from them. Sometimes they speak fair words, but mischief is in their heart. There are false witnesses, seeking their own welfare at the expense of others, instead of, like the sweet flowers, attracting others by their loveliness, so that they may feed them and do them good.

There are some insects that feed on carrion-decaying matter. These flies are attracted by the most unpleasant smells, to the place where they will find what they most like. For them some pale flowers give forth a sickly odours to draw them.

But these the bee passes by. It loves purity and sweetness, and the most pleasant odours attract it to the plane where these are to be found. Little children should be like the bee, attracted to those things that are pure and lovely, abstaining from all appearance of evil.

What teaches the bee where to find honey, so that it does not make a mistake and draw deadly poison instead from some plants which contain it? It is the same thing that teaches the birds to fly South in the winter, and brings them home again in the spring, the same thing that teaches the flowers to put forth their lovely petals, that "inspires their balmy odours," and fills them with honey-the Spirit of God, which is the life and inspiration of all things that live and move. He guides the bee to the flower, just as He directs the bird in its flight over the pathless ocean.

It is the Spirit of God alone that can guide you in the right way, keep you from evil, and lead you into all truth. The Bible speaks of those who "approve the things that are more excellent," because they are "instructed out of the law."

The life of God is the law of the bee and the flower, and instructs each to grow and to go in the way that He would have it. And this same law of His life will keep you also in His way, if you will only let Him guide you. Then He will teach you to "approve the things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

The French Budget Commission met July 18, and decided on the suppression of the French Embassy at the Vatican. In political circles the incident is regarded as serious.

Speaking of "summer drinks," it is strange that it has never occurred to anybody to wonder how all our four-footed friends, as well as the birds, have no need to have recourse to beer or any sort of "made" drink, but thrive well on water. How clear it is that the more people make use of the discoveries and inventions for making them comfortable, the more they suffer discomfort, so as to need them.

The Daily Mail says that a correspondent who has a peculiarly wide knowledge of what he calls "outwardly the most attractive profession in the world," writes that "no one who knows how bitter are the disappointments of stage life will harshly judge the two young actresses, Ida and Edith Yeoland, who have sought releases from their troubles to death." The dramatic suicide of the two sisters shows also how unreal is an actor's whole life, and how imagination magnifies molehills into mountains of difficulty.

Official telegrams from Madrid tell of a most serious collision between the Catholics and Freethinkers, in which nearly fifty persons were injured. Groups of rioters threw stones at the officers of the Catholic journal, the Noticiero. They next entered the building, and did considerable damage. The manager of the journal received injuries. The Catholics formed in procession, armed with knives and revolvers. Catholics, who claim Peter as their patron saint, should heed the instruction given to him when he began to use weapons for defence. Every such occurrence in the name of Christianity, brings the name into disrepute, and helps to hasten the time when all the practices of the fallen world will be carried on as religion.

This is the time when the papers are giving all sorts of directions for making "summer drinks." The best and the only really good summer drink is the purest water one can get with a little lemon or other acid fruit juice in it. This is the natural drink. If abundance of juicy fruit be eaten, too the exclusion of host-producing foods, the result will be found to be excellent. By that means we can positively enjoy hard work in the hottest weather. The amount of starchy foods should be reduced to a minimum during very hot weather, and sugar, salt, and all condiments should be absolutely discarded. Many people will of course look aghast at this advice, and cry out against it in indignation, or also reject it with laughing scorn, as a bit of asceticism. Well, everyone to his liking; if they prefer to perspire and pant and be "all beat out" and "generally useless," it is their privilege. There are some, however, who prefer really to enjoy themselves both at the table and all the time between meals, and it is for the benefit of those that we write. No one need suffer at all from the very hottest weather. The assurance and promise, "The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night," is present truth to all who will recognise the Lord, and are willing to walk worthy of Him. There are promises in the Bible sufficient to deliver everybody from all the daily ills and afflictions which most people suffer; but they must be practised. Strange that people love ease and self-enjoyment so much that they will not make the effort nor subject themselves to the self-denial necessary to avoid suffering and misery. What a contradictory thing human nature is!

Another proof of the savagery that is inseparable from real militarism is brought to light in the nominal sentences imposed upon some sergeants in the German army, after their tardy conviction for cruelty to men under them. Nothing was done with them until, of several men who had long been ill in consequence of abominable cruelties practised upon them, one in despair committed suicide. Then the worst offender received a sentence of five months' imprisonment. If it be said that such savagery is not an inevitable accompaniment of military life, and the British Army be cited as proof, it is sufficient to say that Great Britain carries on war as a pastime, while in Germany, war, and the preparation for it, is the business of the country.

An evidence of how militarism can make senseless barbarians out of otherwise sensible, civilised man, has just been furnished in Germany. A young lieutenant in Saxony, while under the influence of liquor, struck an officer belonging to the same regiment. The following day the aggrieved officer sent a comrade to ask why the blow had been struck. The young lieutenant, who remembered nothing of the incident, tendered his apologies, which were accepted. Nevertheless, the matter was referred to the decision of the officers of another regiment, composing a so-called "Court of Honour," and the officer who was struck and accepted the apologies offered, was dismissed from the army on the ground that he had sent a comrade to the offender with the intimation that a peaceful settlement would be welcome. The colonel of the regiment, in announcing the decision of the Court to the officers, appeared much agitated, and said: "I can only advise you, gentlemen, in all cases to challenge, at any rate to a duel with swords." It is the highest honour to a man to take not the slightest notice of an insult, whether intentional or otherwise. To the extent that a man can calmly ignore everything of that kind, he shows that he has the character of royalty, and is allied to Divinity; but to the notice of every insult or injury, and to be on the alert to defend one's "honour," shows the essential characteristic of the nature of adog or a wild beast. It is the cultivation of that characteristic, however, which largely conduces to make the German army the best fighting machine in the world. But it must not be understood that this is anything more than the lowest sort of courage. In fact, it is cowardice: for a large number of German officers have signified their opposition to duelling, but nevertheless dare not refuse to fight on the slightest provocation. One must honour the officer whose courtesy and good breeding have cost him his position and his "good name," while one can only pity those who preserve their "good name" by sacrificing their sense of kindliness.

In a Fourth-of-July speech at the American Legation in Paris, Senator Depew is reported to have said that industrial trusts would in future rule the world and that as "America could form trusts against the world," while the world is "unable to respond against America." It was clear that "America would soon boss the globe." The present paralysis of the greatest trusts by the greatest strike ever organised, proves that the eagle screamed too soon that time, and that when America "bosses" the globe it will be a reign of anarchy. That reign is sure to come soon, and America may as well lead in it as any other country.

The PRESENT TRUTH has nothing whatever to do with politics or parties; but the letter of Lord Rosebery to the Liberal Club cannot be passed by unnoticed, inasmuch as it shows the grave condition of affairs at the present time. Writing of the irreconcilable division in the Liberal Party, he says:-

"To me, however, it is a matter of national and not of party importance, or I should not attempt to deal with it. And to that great multitude who are not politicians at all it must in any case be a sorrow and an anxiety to see a weak Government faced by a weaker opposition at a juncture of foreign hostility and international competition, which needs all the vigilance, power and ability at our command. I believe that public opinion is becoming aware that this is a crisis in our history which may have an unlimited effect on our future. Yet for the moment I see no favourable issue."

Nothing that has ever before been known has equalled the great strike in America. Many thousands of men voluntarily out of work, and determined that many thousands more shall leave their employment, for the sole purpose of crippling capitalists. Steel and iron enter so largely into so many occupations, that a strike among steel workers cripples or paralyses many other industries, even though the employee in those trades did not join in the strike. Anything more deliberately fiendish than such a strike as this, it would be difficult to imagine. The huge combinations of businesses, called trusts, are disastrous because abnormal; but they provide labour, and so food, for the people; while the "labour" combinations put the knife to the throat of rich and poor alike, and especially the poor, by forcibly stopping labour. The Bible declares that those who will not work shall not eat; but in a strike it is those who would work, but are compelled to be idle, and the helpless women and children, who suffer for food, while those who are responsible for the unrighteous proceeding suffer nothing. But God lives, and greed and oppression cannot long triumph.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

If you wish to reap the benefit of the "exceeding great and precious promises" of God, you most sow them. Asking, in the Bible use of the term, means more than a mere verbal petition. The heart and the flesh must cry out for God. Ps. lxxxiv. 2. This is in very deed "muscular Christianity," and it strengthens both muscles and nerves.

Did you never notice that those who take the most pains to resent insults and slights, are the ones who are oftenest insulted and slighted? The man who carries weapons, is the man who is assaulted; while the man who never carries them never has any use for them. The lesson is obvious: if you would never be insulted, never look for injury, and never have any thought of resentment.

"Amusements and Christianity" The Present Truth 17, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

Amusements and Christianity .-Much is said about the duty of the church to provide amusements for the young, and sometimes for the old as well. Many well-meaning people think thereby to save the young from drifting into the world for amusements; but in this they manifest only the wisdom of the man who procured a license to sell liquor in his own house, to keep his boys from going to the public-house. Just why a thing is better if done by "the church" than if done by "the world," has never yet been pointed out.

In addressing the delegates to the British Y.M.C.A. Conference, Dr. Fairbairn, although still of the opinion that he held when he was a young minister, that "amusements should be made Christian," said that he was not sure that the modern tendency was not "to make Christianity amusing." That is inevitable; for if it be the Christian church's duty to provide amusements, then amusements must be a part of the Christianity of the church, and just to the extent that it so, will the type of Christianity which the Church presents be amusing.

"But should Christians always be gloomy and sombre?" By no means; on the contrary, they should always be joyful, and even merry. It is necessary to distinguish between amusement and entertainment or recreation. Amusement serves simply "to kill time, to dull the faculties, and to banish reflection." Surely this is not the thing for thinking people, or people who ought to be thinking, to say nothing of Christianity. Entertainment, on the other hand, "awakens the understanding," and true recreation does just what the word says, makes anew. Mere amusement is simply dissipation, and while it may produce laughter, it can never clause happiness; for there is no happiness without the exercise of thought. The almost universal desire for amusements is one of the saddest features of the times.

"Sleeping in Safety" The Present Truth 17, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

How dare a person go to sleep at night, if he doesn't believe in God? If he doesn't believe in God's constant care for him, how dare he trust himself out of his own care? It would seem as though he would want to sit up and watch himself, to be sure that he did not stop breathing during the night.

Who is there that has not really had some such feeling as this at some time? It is safe to say that there are very few who do not know the sensation of feeling afraid to go to sleep, lest they should not wake up again. It is not a pleasant feeling, is it?

Truly, the only safety for anybody in sleep is in the Lord who "wakes and watches." "He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor deep. The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." Ps. cxxi. 3-6. Only because the Lord keeps awake, is it possible for us to go to sleep and to awake. But for His watchfulness we should literally "sleep the sleep that knows no waking."

Why is it necessary for the Lord to keep awake, in order that we may sleep? It surely is necessary, else He would not take such pains to assure us that He, our keeper, will not slumber nor sleep. He does nothing that is not necessary. But if the idea that so many have were true, that God has "set certain laws in operation," in accordance with which everything regulates itself, as it were, then He certainly could go to sleep occasionally, and leave the universe to run along by itself for a time. Even the man who is minding an engine in a huge factory can dose off once in a while, when the fires are well and the boilers are full, for the machinery once set in motion will run by itself. If he sleep too long, however, woe to the people dependent on his watchfulness!

But God sleeps not. Of His vineyard-His people-He says: "I the Lord do keep it: I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Isa. xxvii. 3. The reason why is that He has not machines, but living creatures, to tend. He must supply them with life; and life is something that cannot be stored up, but must be fresh every moment. So

"Moment by moment I'm under His care,"

and moment by moment He breathes into our nostrils the breath of life, just as He did for Adam in the beginning.

What a mighty God is ours! Think of the greatness of Him who personally supplied breath to every living creature. For every creature born since Adam, God has moment by moment been repeating the operation of breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. And yet this does not exhaust His energies, nor tax His time, but He has sufficient of both to give personal attention to the innumerable worlds, keeping them all in their proper orbits. Who cannot trust Him?

"Beneath His watchful eye
His saints securely dwell;
That hand that bears creation up
Shall guard His children well."

The writer can never forget the sweet content that came when he first learned to trust the Lord over night. He cannot forget it, because it continues still. The man who tumbles into bed and goes to sleep without a thought of fear, any more than the beasts, nor any more thought of God than they, does not know anything about the joy of life. That comes only when one knows whom he believes, and who is his keeper, and consciously rests in the arms of God as a babe in the arms of its mother.

To such an one the joy of childhood continues to old age; and if childhood has been robbed of its rightful heritage of joy, old age may find it. "I will lay me down in peace, and sleep; for Thou, Lord, makest me dwell alone in safety."

August 8, 1901

"The Comfort of the 'I Am'" The Present Truth 17, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

"When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force, to make Him a king, He departed again into a mountain Himself alone." John vi. 15.

This was immediately following the feeding of the multitude. By reading another record we learn that before He departed for the mountain He sent the disciples away,-"constrained His disciples to get into the ship." This word would imply that He was obliged to insist that they get into the ship. They did not want to do this, for they with the rest who desired to make Him king, wished to be with Him; and they, doubtless more than any of the others, desired this, for they knew His power better than the others did, and could not understand why He refused to use it in the ordinary way.

"And when even was now come, His disciples went down into the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come in them." That was a lonely time, but Jesus saw them thus from where He was, for we read that He saw them "toiling and rowing."

"And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship; and they were afraid. But He said unto them, It is I; be not afraid."

On reading this, one cannot help thinking of the last words of Christ as recorded in Matt. xxviii. 18-20: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go

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ye, therefore, and teach all nations. . . . and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

Here in this Gospel commission, that all are familiar with, we have a command, the reason, and the consequence. "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth, therefore go and do this work."

Who is this that presumes thus to speak? What mockery it would be in any ordinary person to make such a statement,-it would be simply making sport of us. There is nothing more discouraging to a person who is losing heart, who feels helpless and weak, than to see somebody else go ahead and succeed when he cannot; and this discouragement is increased tenfold if that other, boastful in his strength, says, "It is easy enough for me; why don't you do it?"

So the statement of Jesus, "I have all power in heaven and in earth,-I can do whatever I will, now you go and do the work;-if I can do it, you ought to, would in an ordinary man be mockery, and totally discouraging. But that is not the way He says it. He says, "Go ye and do this work, and, lo, I am with you."

Who is with us? I AM-that is His name. It is His NAME that goes with us. The name of the Lord, the strong tower, that name that is above every name, that name in which there is salvation, is with us; and that is what He said to the disciples that night when they were toiling and rowing. Although they were out in the sea, twenty- five furlongs from either shore, they were not alone. Jesus was in the mountain praying, but He saw them. Then after a time they saw Him coming to them, and they were frightened; but He said to them, "Be not afraid; I AM." He announced His name, they received Him gladly, and immediately the remaining distance was covered; when He was in the boat with them, they had reached the end.

"RECEIVING THE END OF YOUR FAITH"

Because He came into the boat, when they did not know of His presence, because they didn't see it,-and what our eyes cannot sea we are, like the heathen, prone to forget,-they were toiling in rowing, wearing themselves out. As soon as He came into the boat, they were at the end. Why?-because He is the Beginning and the End, the Author and the Finisher, the Perfecter. So when we get to the very beginning of our work, lo, it is ended-that is, when we begin in Him.

That is the way it will be in this work of proclaiming the last Gospel message: when we think it has scarcely begun,-because there seems to be so great an amount before us still to do,-lo, the work will be finished, because He says He will out short the work in righteousness, and as He is our righteousness, He will out short the work in Himself.

And here is something that should serve as a warning: While many are flattering themselves that by and by they will be ready to serve the Lord, ready to engage in the work,-and to engage in the work of the Lord is simply to serve Him,-before they know it, the work will be ended, and the opportunity for ever gone.

When the disciples received Jesus willingly, gladly, into the ship, "immediately the ship was at the land whither they went." The work was done. So when we gladly receive the Lord without any reservation, without any hesitation, then we will find that the work is done. That is what does the work. "Lo, I am with you,"-the One with all power in heaven and earth.

Jesus walked on the sea. He had power over the earth, the waves, the winds, and the elements. That power came to Him from the Father. Why? Because it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell, because He did always the thing that pleased the Father, and the Father was pleased to be manifested in Him, and them He showed His power. When they received Him into the boat,-Him in whom is all fulness, all completion,-their work was completed.

HIS POWER GIVEN TO US WITH HIMSELF

The One who did this is the One who says, "Now go, and I am with you. My name is with you;"-That name by which the poor man at the gate of the temple was healed: "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise and walk." What is the name? I AM. That name worked with the man, so that it was no more difficult for him to walk than it was for Christ. The presence of Christ came into the man and then he could walk. Jesus could walk where others could not. That man, practically without any legs, could walk when he took the name of Jesus.

So when Jesus says, "I am with you," He does not mean along side of us, taunting us with an exhibition of His superiority over us, making us discouraged at the sight of what He can do. No; that name "I AM," identifies itself with no, and operates in us, and then is the saying fulfilled, "Ye are complete in Him."

How can we come into communication with that power? How can we be so conscious of it that we can let ourselves rest upon the name, and in the name? "All power is given unto his in heaven and in earth." Then you cannot get away from the power-you cannot go where the power of God is not. "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?" Where will man go that he will be beyond the presence of God's power? He cannot get off the earth, and the earth is full of the glory of the Lord. The earth is a standing memorial of the power of the Lord, and the heavens proclaim it. All speak the words, "I AM," and make known everlasting help and salvation.

POSITIVE TERMS

Mark well the words that Jesus uses. He says "I AM." There is no negative with Him. We very often put a negative with the I AM, that is, "I am not." But He does not does not do so. Rachel would not be comforted for her children, because they were not, didn't exist. That is our condition. We are not-anything; we are less than nothing, and vanity. We are not sufficient; then comes One who is-I AM. I am not able to do the thing that I should,-but Jesus says, "I AM." There comes every time the reply,-I AM.

Our very word of complaint is a suggestion of victory, if we would only recognise it. In stating our lack of sufficiency, we begin with the very term which means success. I am not able. We start in with I AM. If we leave off the not, then we have the success.

It is not we who are able; "not that we are sufficient of ourselves" even to think anything, but our sufficiency is of God who hath made us able to be administrators of the new covenant; and thus out of the very depths we can step at once to the heights; out of our discouragement we can find courage; out of weakness we are made strong. So when we begin to say, "I am not" just stop-"Lo, I AM." Christ is the positive truth,-I AM,-so we can leave off the negative, and there we can rest.

When we say we are not able to bear the burden we are struggling under,-we feel that it is crushing us-Jesus says, I AM. "My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Cast all your burden upon Me-I am able." When we say, "I am not

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able to endure this contempt, this slight, this lack of appreciation, this being out off and misunderstood," Jesus says, "I AM." So whenever we may say of anything that needs to be done-I am not able,-then we may go back and cut off that negative, listening to Christ-"I AM able." He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. He is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. And the evidence of this, although we cannot see Him, is the power that we see all about us-in the heavens, and in the earth; yea, it is "the power that worketh in us."

If we keep our mind on the presence of Christ, if we let Him impress our dull, stupid minds with the fact of His presence; it we will let Him write His law upon our hearts, end put it into our minds-then we can know what it is to have the strength of Him who said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," and His presence will give us rest, no matter how hard the work may be.

"The Revealer of Secret Things. Gen. xviii. 16-33" The Present Truth 17, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xviii. 16-33.)¹⁸1

Whoever reads the Old Testament thoughtfully cannot fail to be impressed with the fact that the people who knew the Lord in the days of which it tells lived on very intimate terms with Him. It could really be said of them that they knew Him. They did not merely know of Him, but they were personally acquainted with Him.

SIMPLE LIVING GIVES CLEAR VISION

If you ask for the reason for this familiarity with God, you will find it in this, that the lives of the people in those days were more simple than the lives of people now. They did not live in so great a rush. They did not have so many artificial wants to be supplied. There were not so many inventions as there are now, to make living complex. For it should not be overlooked, that what are called "modern conveniences" have greatly increased the trouble of living.

People often wonder how our forefathers managed to live without the "improvements" that we have. The truth is that they lived much better and more happily than the most of their descendants. Many inventions have now made wants that then were unknown, and people were then as a general thing more satisfied and contented. They lived peaceful lives, and had time to think. They did not have so many books, but they studied the vast book in which God is revealed, and He was to them a personal Being, and not an article in the creed.

ABRAHAM INTIMACY WITH GOD

Nowhere is the intimacy that existed between God and men more strikingly apparent than in the history recorded in the eighteenth chapter of Genesis. The Lord Himself, accompanied by two angels, visited Abraham in visible form, enjoyed his hospitality, and talked familiarly with him. When Abraham first saw them he could not recognise in them anything more than ordinary travellers, and such he received them. Yet when he learned, as he soon did by their conversation, that his guests were heavenly beings, it does not seem to have made any difference with him. He did not become embarrassed, and begin to apologise. There was the same free yet dignified hospitality. One would think that he had been accustomed to meet and talk with heavenly messengers every day, and so he had. He was acquainted with the Lord, and to see Him face to face did not throw him out of balance.

HOW TO TREAT OUR FELLOW-MEN

There is one thing that we must not forget in reading this narrative, and that is the instruction it gives us as to how to best our fellow-men. Abraham treated the Lord and His angels just as if they were really ordinary men, because he was accustomed to treat mere men as courteously as if they had been the Lord. He did not have two sets of manners; his best were for everyday use; and when the Lord came to visit him, he could not do any better than he was in the habit of doing. This is true courtesy, true hospitality. It is the courtesy that comes from dally association with the inhabitants of the court of the King of kings.

GOD CANNOT KEEP ALOOF FROM MEN

When Abraham's guests started away, he accompanied them a little distance. Than the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?" That is to say, "How can I keep a secret from Abraham?" That is the language of one with regard to another, whose friendship he values; and this was the case. The Lord loves the society of men, and has chosen them for His intimate companions. He cannot hold Himself aloof from them. It is wonderfully helpful and encouraging to know that it is not mere pity, that prompts God to seek to save us. It is not merely because He has compassion on us in our fallen condition, but because He loves us. His love for us, and His desire for our companionship, lead Him to search us out. How greatly He longs for us may be, learned from the sacrifices He makes to obtain us.

The Lord thought so much of Abraham, that He could not keep anything secret from him; but Abraham is not the only one so favoured. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant." Ps. xxv. 14. Jesus says: "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you" (John xv. 14); and friends share one another's secrets. Again Jesus said: "The Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth." John v. 30. But Jesus also prayed that His disciples might know that the Father loved them even as He loved Him (John xvii. 23); therefore we may be sure that God will show us all things that He does. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets" (Amos iii. 7), and He reveals His secret to them in order that they may in turn pass it on to whomsoever will hear.

THE JOY OF THE REVELATION

Many fail to get the comfort that they should from the statement that there is nothing secret that shall not be revealed, because they do not sufficiently consider the connection. Jesus was sending the disciples out to preach, and in forewarning them of persecutions that they must endure at the hands of wicked men, He added: "Fear them not therefore; for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. And what I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light; and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops." We see that the hidden things that are to be revealed are the deep things of God, which we in turn are to proclaim to the world. "He revealeth the deep and secret

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things; He knoweth what is in darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him." Dan. ii. 23

GOD KNOWS WHOM HE CAN TRUST

The best reading of Gen. xviii. 17, 18 is, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; and Abraham shall surely become a great nation," etc. The connecting word is "and," and not "seeing." That Abraham should become a great nation comes in incidentally, and not as the reason why the Lord would favour him with His confidence. The reason for that is found in the next verse: "For I know him." That was why the Lord could not keep His plans hidden from Abraham; He knew him; He could trust him. How easy of comprehension the character of God is! We do not trust our secrets with those whom we do not know, but only to those whom we know, and whose loyalty is approved. God knows whom He can trust, and He trusts those whom He knows.

"For I know him, that He will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him." Gen. xviii. 19.

WHAT GOD'S FOREKNOWLEDGE DOES FOR US

The expression, "I know him," implies more than more acquaintance. Gesenius renders it: "I have chosen him, that he may command," etc. The French of Segond, and the Swedish also have, "I have chosen him." That is, the Lord had known, or recognised, Abraham in the multitude as a kindred spirit, and had singled him out. He knew what Abraham would do, and He had chosen him to do that very thing. The Lord knew Abraham so well that He allowed Abraham to know Him. In this we have a sidelight on the unnecessarily difficult question of foreknowledge; for it is evident that the saying that God had known, or chosen, Abraham, indicates that He foreknew him. He knew him beforehand. He knew Abraham before Abraham knew Him. He knows us before we can possibly know Him, He knew Cyrus more than a hundred years before he was born, and appointed him to the great work of his life. He knew Jeremiah, and ordained him to be a prophet, before his birth. So also with Samson, John the Baptist, and, in fact, everybody; only most people will not accept God's foreknowledge, with the position of labour and blessing to which it calls them.

Then let us be glad and rejoice in God's foreknowledge and foreordination, for "we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" Rom. viii. 28-31.

COMMANDMENTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

God said of Abraham: "He will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord." He knew that there would be force to Abraham's commands-the force of his own righteous life. He would command, and it would be done. Here we see a likeness to God's commands: "He spake, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast." Why?-Because His own life was in the word spoken. When men "say, and do not," there is no life in their teaching, and it cannot be expected that there will be any results. The scribes and Pharisees, as the successors of Moses, taught good precepts; but they did not cause the people to do righteousness, because there was not the power of righteousness in their utterances. When a man has learned to rule himself in righteousness, that is, to submit himself completely to the rule of the Spirit, he can rule others; but there will be nothing of the despotic in his commands.

PARENTS SAVED IN THE SALVATION OF THEIR CHILDREN

"They shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him." Abraham's salvation depended upon his children. This is strikingly suggested in the fact that the promise could be fulfilled to him only through his Seed-Jesus Christ. In that the Lord indicates that the salvation of the fathers depends largely upon their sons. "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the Government shall be upon His shoulder." God could not bring upon Abraham that which He had spoken of him, unless he so commanded his children that they kept the way of the Lord. lf the father allows his children to go to destruction, there is fear that he will also be destroyed. The Christian must be able to say with Christ: "Here am I, and the children whom Thou hast given Me."

The last part of the eighteenth chapter of Genesis is taken up with the account of Abraham's intercession for the city of Sodom. It reveals in a striking manner the humble boldness of Abraham. There was no self-assertion, he was most humble and respectful, and yet he pressed his petitions with increasing boldness. Each point gained gave him confidence to press another. This speaks volumes for the longsuffering kindness of the Lord. He can be pleaded with in behalf of weakness and transgression. "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

"Become a King" The Present Truth 17, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

"If by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." Rom. v. 17.

When shall they reign in life?-All the time they have life, from now throughout eternity. As soon as one receives Christ in His fulness, and knows the gift of righteousness by grace which covers and takes away all sin, he becomes a king. Such ones can join with the beloved disciple in giving thanks "unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests; unto God." Rev. i. 5, 6. To know the power of the Divine nature, that has royal authority over the world, the flesh, and all devils, is to know greater joy and peace than words can express.

"The Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works." Ps. cxiv. 9.

"Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord." Ps. xxxi. 24.

"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him." Nahum i. 7.

"The f of the Living" The Present Truth 17, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

"Why is it said that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, when just before He is declared to be the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob? I believe the text, but should be glad to have it made more plain through the pages of PRESENT TRUTH."

Here we must learn, as elsewhere, that the answer lies in the text itself. Of course other texts serve to make it plainer; but in every case the very text over which we stumble has within it the way out of the difficulty.

Plainly stated the case is this: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are dead; yet God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Strange it is, indeed; yet there is no contradiction, and it is not a puzzle, but the statement of a glorious truth.

The first thing to do in the case of any difficult text is to find what is the subject of discourse. Here we find that it is the resurrection of the dead. Jesus was teaching the people, and the priests and scribes had tried by trickery to entangle Him, so that they could accuse Him, and had failed. "Then came to Him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection;" and they presented a hypothetical case, which they thought would either force Jesus to deny the resurrection or else would bring Him in conflict with the teachings of Moses.

But Jesus was equal to the occasion. He convicted His opponents of ignorance of that which they professed to know, and then proceeded to give positive Scripture proof of the resurrection of the dead, saying, "Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto Him." Luke xx. 27-38.

When it is said that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and is not the God of the dead, but of the living, there is no denial of the fact that the patriarchs are dead. That we know, because the Scriptures plainly tell us that they died. But they will live again; their life is hid with Christ in God, and is as secure and sure to them as if they were now in possession of it. God "quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things that be not as though they were." Rom. iv. 17. With Him the thing that is to be is the same as that which now is; for He inhabits eternity, and the future is present to Him.

God is "the living God," and He gives life to all. That which is extinct has no connection with Him. There are people now on earth as there always have been, who do not claim Him as their God, and whom He does not acknowledge me His people. Those who know not God will at the last day be destroyed for ever, with no hope or possibility of a resurrection. It is plain that He will not then be their God; they will have nothing to do with Him, and hence their destruction. It is practically the same with the wicked who now lie in their graves: they will certainly be raised, but not to life, and it is as though they were already extinct. When they lived they were "without God in the world" (Eph. ii. 12), and, dying the same way, it is evident that He is not their God. But it is not so with the righteous. There is hope in their death. They "sleep in Jesus" (1 Thess. iv. 14), and their life is just as sure as is the life of Jesus; for He Himself is their life. Therefore God, who is the God only of the living, calls Himself their God. He is "not ashamed to be called their God; for He hath prepared for them a city."

This is the ground of the Christian's hope. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy both begotten us again unto a lively [living] hope by the

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resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1. 5. This is the power that has overcome, and still overcomes, the world. The power of the resurrection of Jesus is the power of the Christian life-the secret of holiness. Being crucified with Him, we nevertheless live, because He lives. And just as the righteous who have been dead thousands of years, are alive in His thought, so that state of perfection which is designed for us is ours now in Christ.

This is the secret of calling those things that be not as though they were. It is the victory of faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and when we believe in the Lord with all our heart, the good thing longed for is ours. Heaven itself comes down to us, and imparting the power of its glory to us, lifts us up to its level, so that while still on earth, we sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

"Our Little Ones. The King's Garden. The Perfect Fruit" The Present Truth 17, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

THE PERFECT FRUIT

"A man there was (though some did count him mad),
The more he gave away, the more he had."

Did you ever hear of such a man? John Bunyan tells about him in "The Pilgrim's Progress." This man had learned the secret of true riches-"Thou shalt not covet."

To "covet" is to desire to have things that belong to others, and to grasp and try to keep to ourselves what we already have we have found that Love is the summing up of the law of God. God is love; and, so the law of God to the law of love. Love is the beginning and the end of the law. The first commandment, Jesus said, is "Thou shalt love." Love is "bond of perfectness."

But "love seeketh not her own;" love does not covet the things of others, nor even seek to keep that which is its own. Love gives all, "God so loved that He gave." "The Son of God loved me, and gave Himself for me."

So the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet," is but the first in another form: "Thou shalt love," for it is love alone that can keep as from coveting.

This commandment is plainly written for as in God's great Book of Nature. You may read it in the garden in every plant that grown. For that plant would not be there it some other plant had not given away something precious-the seed from which it has springing.

Do you think that the beautiful flowers in the garden are put forth by the plant for its own adornment? It is not so; they are a part of a wonderful scheme of love.

Last week we told you that the bright colours and the scent of the flowers attract the bees to gather the honey that is in them. But all these things, the beauty, the perfume, and the honey are love-Iures, for the purpose of perfecting the needs which the plant has set apart to be given away. For in gathering the honey the wings and legs of the insects become powdered with pollen-the yellow, fertilising dust of the flower. This they carry with them and leave in the heart of the next flower that they visit, and it is this that perfects the seeds and makes them fruitful.

So the beauty of the flowers is not for its own sake, it is all for use,-to help the plant to produce and give away precious seeds which shall make the earth beautiful in coming years. The flower does not covet anything for itself; all its work is for others.

The law of God's life is written in His Book of Nature, the law of love, which "seeketh not her own." So in all nature we may read the commandment, "Thou shalt not covet," for love shows itself in giving; this is the law of life.

"Living is giving; giving is living,
All things would die if only receiving,
Give!
This is the law of love by which we live."

Satan was the first to break this law of love. He coveted the riches and glory that belonged to Christ. This was the glory of the self-sacrificing love that was always giving itself out for others.

The crowning glory of the plant, the beautiful flower, comes through its self-sacrifice,-its gift of life contained in the precious seed that it gives away.

And all the glory of Christ, "The Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the valleys," was not for His own sake, but for others. All things that He received from God He took not for Himself, but that He might give them forth to all the creatures that His hands had made.

But Satan sought for his own glory and honour the high place that Christ alone could fill. In seeking to grasp it, he lost all that he had before, and was cast out of heaven.

Jesus coveted nothing for Himself, but freely gave up all that He had so that we might share it. "Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich."

"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: who being in the form of God thought it not a thing to be desired to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant."

In this He was fulfilling the law of love, the commandment "Thou shalt not covet." But this is the secret of wealth, and the one who has it in his heart has all riches, for the more we give away the more we have. "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name."

"There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty."

Perhaps you have learned already that the way to get plenty of flowers in the garden is to pick and give away as many as you can. Have you not noticed but the more they are picked, the more they grow? This is another way in which the same lesson of love-"Thou shalt not covet"-is written for us in the Book of Nature.

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We have had many talks together about the King's Garden, and the flowers that bloom there from the precious seed of the Word that He sows in it. And the lesson which this last commandment teaches us is how the Garden may be kept ever fresh and green, and full of lovely flowers, sweet perfumes, and pure honey. It is by giving. Every flower blooms for the sake of the seed within it, which is set apart to be given away. And every flower that grows in the King's Garden has within it a seed that is to be dropped into the heart garden of another.

Does the flower of love shed forth its fragrance in your heart? Its attractiveness is to draw others, that, they may receive from it seed that shall cause the same flower to spring up in their hearts, making them lovely and loving.

The bright flowers of joy are to scatter their seeds over the barren ground of joyless lives, to make the wilderness like Eden-the Garden of Delight.

When the forget-me-nots that grow in the heart gardens of His children, please the King by their continual incense of grateful remembrance, it is that others also may be made happy by being reminded of Him who made them, and who still loves and cares for them. Then their hearts shall bring forth the same tokens, and they too shall sing:-

"Bless the Lord, O my soul.
And forget not all His benefits!"

Thus it is with every one of the fair flowers that beautify the King's Garden. The seed multiplies by being sown, and there will be no end to the beauty and the brightness and sweetness that shall gladden the lives of others from the seed which grows in your heart, for the pleasure and praise of the King.

Do not be afraid to give away what God gives to you, for "if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul . . . Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."

"IMMORTAL Love, for ever full,
For ever flowing free,
For ever shared, for ever whole,
A never-ebbing sea."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

"The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner." Christ "is despised and rejected of men;" yet He is exalted above all, King of kings, and Lord of lords. That is the way God works, and it is because of that that we may rejoice. "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which me despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are." 1 Cor. i. 27, 28. In this is our hope.

"The desire of the wicked shall perish" (Ps. xxii. 10); "for yet a little while and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shall diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." Ps. xxxvii. 10. "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof." 1 John ii. 17.

What a different prospect is placed before those who acknowledge Christ as Lord of all-the One in whom they live! "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shall thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Ps. xxxvii. 3, 4. What more could be asked for?

Read further: "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him; He also will hear their cry, and will save them." Ps. cxiv. 18, 19. "The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him; but the desire of the righteous shall be granted." Prov. x. 24.

God is a most indulgent Father. He gives all His children everything that they desire. Yes, to the wicked, as well as to the just. How is it then, that there is such a difference?-Because "the desire of the righteous is only good; out the expectation of the wicked is only wrath." Prov. xi. 23. The wicked desire everything except the Lord; but as nothing can exist without Him, it follows that when they get their desire they have only destruction; while they who desire only the Lord have everything in Him.

Therefore when one's heart and flesh cries out for the living God,-when one says, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee"-the Lord will "send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;" "grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel." Ps. xx. 2, 4.

At a recent meeting of the London Baptist Association a minister read a lengthy paper on "The Second Coming of Christ, the Early Christians' Hope," which closed with these words:-

Would God this were the hope to-day! Only comparatively few within her bounds lay hold of it. The doctrine of the Second Advent is by most neglected, although the word of God is full of it. When not entirely relegated to the lumber room, it is often held up to ridicule, and they who dare to say that they believe in it are treated as well-meaning folk, perhaps, but-simple souls, and far behind the age. Well, some of us are quite content to be behind the age. Whenever it, in any matter, goes ahead of Jesus Christ and His immediate followers, we shall let it go. "The goodly fellowship of the Apostles" is good enough for us, and on the subject now before us we are with that noble company. Simple we may seem to modern men to be; but it is the ancient truth we hold, the good old way we tread; and though we look "like them that dream," we still will watch and wait the coming of our Lord.

A discussion followed the reading of this paper, and "the chief statement made against the reception of its teaching was, that since the Lord has not yet come, the early church must have misunderstood His promises as to a Second Advent." The Apostle Paul was particularly named as having "been mistaken" in this matter. What a striking and sad fulfilment of the Scripture, that in the last days men shall say, "Where is the promise of His coming?" ignorant of the fact that a thousand years is with the Lord as one day, and that "the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation." The Lord waits only that all men may hear "the Gospel of the kingdom," and accept salvation if they will; but when the church regards His waiting as an evidence that He will not come, the inevitable result is that it will prove recreant to the trust committed to it. Only a firm faith in the soon coming of Christ, and bright hope in it; can result in making one fit for the presence of the Lord now and at His coming. "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even so He is pure."

It is a common notion among men, that to be quick to resent any insult or abuse, whether fancied or real, is a sign of noble manhood. So one is thought to be lacking in manhood, if he does not stand on his dignity and "defend his honour." But that is a false view of the case. Here is the truth: "a fool's wrath is presently known; but a prudent man covereth shame." How can it be thought to be a sign of manliness, to emulate a dog, a wolf, or a tiger? The truly wise and noble man is the man, no matter what his state, who can bear real injuries silently, without giving any sign that he has been slighted. No person can exhibit folly more surely than by quickness to take offence. "With the lowly is wisdom."

It is impossible for one to be joyful when fighting a losing battle. Neither can one rejoice when engaged in a life and death conflict, of which the issue is doubtful. Now we have a contest on hand,-a battle with wicked spirits and our own evil selves,-yet we are commanded and expected to "rejoice evermore." How can this be? Only because the victory is sure, yea, is already ours; for "this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith." Christ's life is a victorious life, and in order that we may continually have the victory, it is only necessary for us to let that life dwell in us and control us. In the possession of this life we cannot be otherwise than joyful.

A young woman employed as a postal clerk was recently sentenced to three months' imprisonment for stealing letters containing postal orders. The defence was that her will power had become so weak that she could not resist temptation. That is the trouble with the whole world of sinners. "The carnal mind . . . is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." What hope have we then? Only this, to get a new mind and a new will; to allow God to work in us, to will as well as to do. Thank God, that hope is ample, for He can do His own will, and none can hinder Him.

August 15, 1901

"The Test of Faith. Gen. xxii. 1-14" The Present Truth 17, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xxii. 1-14.)¹⁹1

Doubtless everybody who has read the history of Abraham and Isaac has thought that the test that Abraham was called upon to undergo was the severest that could possibly come to any man; yet, few readers grasp all the details, and comprehend all that was involved in it. Let us briefly rehearse the facts.

Abraham was an old man, as men reckon, when he received the promise from God that he should have a son. He was seventy-five years old, and his wife was sixty-five. They had no child, and, humanly speaking, it was impossible for them to have one. Nevertheless God assured them that it should be as He said-that they should have a son of their own.

But not at once did God fulfil the promise. The promised son was to be His gift, received by faith, and it must be very apparent that it was wholly His gift; and also the faith of Abraham and Sarah mast be so strengthened and purified that the deadness of their bodies would not in the least degree diminish their assurance that it would be even as God said.

Accordingly, they had to wait twenty-five years before the birth of Isaac. It was thus that their faith became strong, purged from everything earthly and fleshly, and centred only in Christ. How different from men's ideas! People talk about faith getting weak through long waiting; and most of the joyous professions of "faith"-statements to the effect that "now I fully believe the Lord"-that one hears come as the result of a gift already received. In their joy over finding their desires fulfiled, people fancy that they have perfect faith in God; but that is not true faith. It is not the faith that comes by hearing the Word of God, but a manufactured faith. It is of the same nature as that expressed in the remark, "I'll believe you when I see you do the thing."

It is not that kind of faith that justifies and gives peace with God. Abraham believed God when the promise was first made known to him; and, with the exception of one misstep, which resulted from uninstructed faith rather than absence of it, his faith grew stronger as the years of waiting passed. And "by faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed when she was past age, since she counted Him faithful who had promised" (Heb. xi. 11), although she had once laughed at the mention of such a thing. There is a great lesson for us in this; for only those who walk in the steps of our father Abraham can share the promise with him. "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

At last Isaac, the child of promise and of long expectation was born. The joy of Abraham and Sarah was more than ordinary joy when "a man is born into the world;" for the promise ran, "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed," and, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." They well know that this meant the Messiah, Jesus, and that on the Seed that was to be born in Isaac's line depended their eternal salvation, and that of the whole world. No other person, save Mary of Nazareth, ever had such wondrous reason to rejoice over the birth of a son.

In this joy Abraham and Sarah lived for

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twenty-five years, until Abraham was one hundred and twenty-five years old, and Sarah one hundred and fifteen. Isaac was twenty-five, in the full vigour of young manhood. Then came the supreme test: "Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Gen. xxii. 2.

CUTTING OFF THE MESSIAH

From what we have already learned, we know that this meant literally the cutting off of the Messiah. The call tested not merely Abraham's fatherly love, but his faith in God's love, who "so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not parish, but have everlasting life." John iii. 16. He had believed that God would give him a son, through whom the Messiah should be born, and now he was called on to sacrifice that son, and, seemingly his hope of salvation, since another son was not in the question.

FAITH IN THE RESURRECTION

But "by faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called; accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure." Heb. xi. 17-19.

Abraham could offer up his only begotten son, because of his confidence that God had-not would, but had-already offered up His only begotten Son, and that by virtue of the death and resurrection of Christ Isaac would be raised from the dead. That is, the Messiah yet to be born of Isaac's line would raise Isaac from the dead in order that He might be born! (Yet in the face of this, men talk about the pre-existence of Christ as though it were a debatable question.) This was but a test of the faith by which Abraham first received Isaac; for the birth of Isaac was life from the dead. Abraham did not lose sight of the promise that in Isaac his seed should be called, and he knew that the same power that brought Isaac into the world would raise him from the dead.

A FIERY TRIAL

However, if anybody thinks that Abraham set about the execution of this order with a light heart, let him read the story of Gethsemane. Although Christ knew that He came into the world for the express purpose of giving His life for it, and had repeatedly told His disciples that He should be crucified and should rise again the third day, the night of His betrayal was the trial of His life. Be sure that Satan whispered all sorts of doubts into Abraham's mind before he set out on his journey to the land of Moriah. It is no sin to be tempted; the sin comes only in yielding to the temptation; and Abraham let all the doubts that Satan could suggest be swallowed up in the promise of God.

A TYPE OF CHRIST

Isaac was a type of Christ. In him we see all the particulars of Christ's birth, life, and death pictured out. He was born of the Spirit, contrary to nature, as men understand it. On him rested the salvation of the world, because of the promise of God; and in his cutting off it looked to human understanding as though all hope was lost, even as to the disciples it seemed that everything perished when Christ was laid in the tomb. Yet that very cutting off was what was to beget a living hope in thousands; and so the offering of Isaac assured salvation, since it was the crowning act of faith, by which we are saved. Christ carried the cross on which He was to be offered, and Isaac carried the wood for the altar on which he was to be offered. Christ offered Himself voluntarily, although sent by the Father; and Isaac likewise meekly yielded himself to death; for he was young and strong, and his aged father could not have bound him to the altar without his consent.

THE CLIMAX OF FAITH

"And on the third day Abraham lifted up him eyes, and new the place afar off. And Abraham said onto his young man, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." Gen. xxii. 4, 5.

Here we have the climax of faith. In those two verses we read Heb. xi. 17-13, which have already been quoted. Abraham knew that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead, and he expected that it would be done at once, so that they would came back together. For notice that his words to the young men were that they would both go to worship, and that both would return to them. There was no trace of doubt in this faith.

We do not need to follow the history farther, for we well know the result. Now that Abraham had showed that his faith was perfect (See James ii. 22), and that he believed the simple word of God, that word was confirmed by an oath. Thus we see that the strongest assurances come as the result of faith, instead of faith depending on the fulfilment of something. Faith itself is "the evidence of things not seen." Heb. xi. 2. It was for our sakes that God confirmed the promise by an oath. Abraham did not need it; but in order that we who flee to Christ for refuge might have strong consolation, God gives us even stronger assurances than He did Abraham.

THE FRIEND OF GOD

"And he was called the friend of God." James ii. 28. That test brought Abraham and God very near together. They were bound together by mutual suffering and mutual sacrifice. In offering up his only begotten son, Abraham entered fully into the experience of God in offering up His only begotten Son. Abraham became the special friend of God, not because of any partiality on the part of God, but because no one who had not passed through that experience could possibly be so closely bound to Him. True friendship is not a matter of fancy, but the communion of souls that are bound together by a peculiar experience common to both, and by mutual understanding.

The honour of being friends of God may, be our as well as Abraham's, and we may each be received into as close fellowship, if we are willing to share His sacrifice and suffering. "Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's suffering, that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." 1 Peter iv. 12, 13.

"The Law of Life. The Law of the Spirit of Life" The Present Truth 17, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

For four months we have been studying the commandments, taking each in detail; and considering a little of its breadth. Now we want a little glimpse of the law as a whole. It must be a very brief one, for so comprehensive a subject.

Them is much misunderstanding about the law. Men have made so many difficulties that do not exist. The difficulties are not in the Bible, but in us. It is not because the sun is not shining every day, that the blind man cannot see it; the defect is in his eyes. The Bible itself has no difficulties; then are in it some things hard to be understood, but it is only the unstable and unlearned who wrest them to their own destruction. It is not the sun's fault that its rays do not penetrate a piece of clay. When the veil of unbelief is removed, and our hearts lose their opacity, things that have seemed dark will be found to be bright light. A child can understand where philosophers stumble.

I once heard a man who had himself been but a year out of the gutter, conduct a mission service. He read a chapter of the Bible that is thought very difficult, and which I myself had in times past had some difficulty with. He made some comments as he read, and I never heard the chapter set forth more clearly and simply in my life. He did not know of any difficulty there, and he made none; he simply read the Word, and understood it, unconscious of the fact that theologians regarded it as a puzzle. It spoke to him, and he received it without any trouble.

The deep things of God are hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes. The one who has the simplicity of a child to receive and to learn, will find that the so-called difficulties have vanished.

When we read something about the law, many people say, "Oh, but that is the ceremonial law!" thinking thus to avoid the duty. They forget that such a term as "ceremonial law" is not to be found in the Bible.

"But does not the Bible speak of two laws?" It speaks of more than two; but in this study we shall speak of only two distinct laws, as easy to distinguish as daylight from midnight darkness,-the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and the law of sin and death.

In the third chapter of Romans the Apostle speaks of these two laws as the law of works and the law of faith, and sets forth the way of salvation. "By the law is the knowledge of sin." The law of works in bondage, "for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." The law of faith is life, for there is "no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ makes us free from the law of sin and death.

LETTER AND SPIRIT

In the third chapter of second Corinthians these two laws are again set forth and contrasted. "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." If the ministration of death written and engraven in stone was glorious, how much more shall the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory, etc.

Here we have the ministration of condemnation and death, and the ministration of righteousness and life. But the two came at the same time, and were both revealed at Mount Sinai. The ministration of death was that which was written and engraven in stones; the ministration of life flowed from the lips and heart of Christ before the tables of stone were made.

What! the ten commandments death? Yes, "for when we were in the flesh the motions of sins which ware by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." "The strength of sin is the law." And yet at the same time the commandments of God are life and peace; "for we know that the law is spiritual," and he in whom the law is in truth, has life and peace. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."

A little study of the giving of the law will enable every soul to determine whether he is in the bondage of sin and death or in the freedom of the Spirit of life. God called Moses up into the mount, and said, "Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine; and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation."

The point in this is that He brought them unto Himself. In the third chapter of first Peter we are told that "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." We are separated from God by our sins, and Christ suffered that He might bring as nigh to God. God was bringing the children at Israel to Himself; and Christ was the Leader who went before the armies of Israel in the pillar of fire, to accomplish this end. He is the Deliverer, and He it was who was carrying Israel and bringing them to God. They had seen how He was doing it; they had seen Christ set forth crucified among them.

This was God's promise: Ye shall be a kingdom of priests, if ye kep My covenant. Mark that God did not say, "If ye will perform My promise." He never expects anyone to perform His

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promises, but He fulfils them Himself. Our part is simply to keep, to accept and hold fast to them, and then as He fulfils them we get all the blessedness of it. His covenant is His promise. "If ye will keep My promise, keep the faith, I will do all this for you." By His exceeding great and precious promises we are made partakers of the Divine nature, made kings and priests. God reminded them of what He had done: Ye have seen My way of working, now hold fast to My promise, and I will fulfil all My word to you.

GRASPING A SHADOW INSTEAD OF THE SUBSTANCE

Three days after sending the Israelites this message, God spoke the law, in the midst of such grandeur as will never be seen in this earth again until Christ comes and shakes not the earth only, but also heaven. The people were terrified, and said, "Let not God speak with us, lest we die." Moses told them not to be afraid, and he himself drew near to the thick darkness; but the people stood afar off. When he came down from the mount, his face shone so that the people were afraid to come near him, and he had to put a veil over his face for their sakes. So instead of receiving the glory, they shut it out. Instead of receiving the ministration of life, they received the ministration of death. Instead of receiving the substance, they got the shadow. Instead of becoming a kingdom of priests, only one tribe received the priesthood, and they were not priests indeed, for they served only the shadow. Instead of the real law of which the body is Christ, they got only "the form of righteousness and of the truth in the law."

The boast of the Jews was the law; but the one who really knows the law will make his boast in God, for Christ is the perfect law of liberty. When the Apostle Peter says that we are a kingdom of priests, he says that when we come to Christ, the living Stone, we also become living stones, a house that grows into a holy temple. Christ is the Living Stone, and those who do not receive Him indeed, get the law on dead tables of stone that can do nothing for them but fall upon them and kill them. They get only form and ceremony.

DRINKING THE LAW IN THE LIVING ROCK

A living picture was before the children of Israel when the law was spoken, so that they need not have got mere form instead of reality. The people had been famishing for water, and when Moses at the command of God struck the rock, water had gushed from it, and was even then flowing in the dry places like a river. God "turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters." Ps. cxiv. 8. That solid rock became water, and yet existed there as rock nevertheless. Such is the infinite variety of the forms of God's Iife.

Christ stood on the rock, and He is the Rock, the Living Stone. The law is in His heart, and He came to magnify and make it honourable. In Him "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." The Lord would have us know that the very mountain that burned with fire was pouring forth the word of life. The statutes and judgments were commanded in Horeb for the people, but the rock was there pouring out a stream of life for them. The fountain that it was death to touch, was sending forth rivers of life.

That mountain was the dwelling place of God for the time; it was His throne, and from the throne flows forth a pure river of water of life. Out of the throne also proceed thunders, lightnings, and voices. Rev. iv. 5. That same throne that burns with fire, and from which come thunders and lightnings, is the throne to which we are invited to come boldly.

THE LAW FROM THE CROSS

You say, "We would rather come to the cross of Christ, and Him crucified." But this is Christ crucified. Have you never read, that when Christ was crucified there was an earthquake, and darkness and terror? But at the same time the stream flowed from His wounded side to convey life. At Sinai you have the law as both life and death, and you take which you will. At Calvary you have the law slaying the sinner, but life flowing from Christ, to wash the sin away. So in the midst of the throne is the slain Lamb, and the river of life proceeds from Him. But He is the living stone, and the law which is the foundation of God's throne is written upon Him. In receiving Him we drink of the Rock.

If Israel had believed this they would have had the law only in Christ, the living Stone, which sends forth fountains of water. They drank of the Rock, and the Rock was Christ. They drank not merely from the Rock, but of it, and we likewise must drink of the living Stone, only not faithlessly, as they did.

WATER THAT IS ALSO ROCK

Water is an emblem of instability: "Unstable as water." "He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea." Yet rock, the emblem of strength, can by the power of God become water. In drinking the water, they drank of the Rock. The water which we think so unstable the Lord has made use of to establish the earth, "For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods." The water of life is a solid rock foundation. Christ walked on the water just as one can on the solid rock.

This is coming to realities, and not forms. We drink of the Rock, Christ Jesus, and thus in Him receive the life of the law, the living law of liberty. He is made a quickening Spirit, and gives the water of life freely to every one who believes in Him. Coming by faith to the Lord Jesus and receiving the Spirit into our hearts, we receive the solid rock of God's eternal truth. It is thus that we receive power to witness to the truth, for the throne in which is the slain Lamb from whom proceeds the river of life, has seven lamps of fire burning before it, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Remember this, that while for forty years Israel drank of the water that flowed from the rock in Horeb, which was turned into water, the rock was not diminished. Christ gives His life in an ever-flowing stream, yet He always has as much more to give.

"TAKE HEED HOW YE HEAR"

So you can take the law as moral or ceremonial, just as you will. Someone said to me, "You do not in your teaching make any distinction between the law and the Gospel." Certainly not. The Gospel is the life of God's living law, which is perfect, converting the soul. That was the only thing that God ever really gave to His people. But it depends on how we hear and how we see, whether we get life or death from it. There is nothing good that may not at the same time be ceremonial and formal, as well as spiritual; but not to the same person.

If we receive the law in Christ, every one of the commandments is a promise of God, that cleanses from sin. If we put a veil before our eyes we got nothing but death. Often we see how real the blood, the life, of Christ is, remembering that the Spirit and the water and the blood agree in one, it is easy to drink in the righteousness of God. If our hearts are cleansed so that

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we can see the stream of blood flowing, we can fill ourselves with His righteousness.

The woman who was drying from the loss of blood, came near to Christ, and established a connection with Him; she got into touch with Him, connected with the main stream, and so the blood of Christ, the water of life, flowed through her. We may have the pipes properly located in our houses, but if there is no connection with the main we get nothing. The woman's life supply was nearly exhausted, and she came where all fulness dwells and made the connection by her faith, and received that which she lacked. Christ is the means of connection between heaven and earth.

"Oh," you say, "if we had only lived in those days, and seen these wonderful miracles! What advantages the people then had, that we do not have."

Not a bit of it. The blood is the life, and we have blood in our arteries and veins at this moment. Will that stay there uncorrupted day after day and year after year for ever?-No; the whole body is undergoing chance continually. Every moment, even every thought, destroys some of the matter of our bodies. The blood undergoes the most rapid change, and quick destruction. It is completely changed every few days. New blood must continually be supplied.

You can readily prove for yourselves that your blood does not continue. If you should eat nothing for a week, would you have as much blood as now? No; you would become weak and would show by the pallor of your cheeks that there was a lack of blood and nourishment. We live because we get fresh blood every day. There is a stream of blood flowing from the throne of God through every soul that lives, whether he knows it or not. The blood is constantly being used up, and continually being renewed.

"Oh, then, we make blood!" No; God gives it to us in the air, light, and food, and it flows into us, and supplies our lack, and quickens us. Our bodies are supplied with life blood directly from the heart of Christ.

The reality of the cleansing accomplished by His blood is seen every day. Let the circulation stop, and there is poisoning and death. There must be continual circulation through us; and so the stream of life from God is flowing through us, and we are only little portions of the channel of life.

This shows us the reality of the blood of Christ that cleanses from all sin by putting His own life of righteousness in us. He declares His righteousness for the sending away of sin. And so as God sends forth His life of righteousness, the blood of Christ, the stream flowing from the Rock, the living Stone, in which is the living law,-the law that gives life,-we receive the righteousness of the law as our daily life.

But even though it be coming into us, if we say we have not faith, we get only the form, which is death. How easy for us, if we would only believe it, to have the righteousness of God! Just as really as we can expand our lungs and have a draught of fresh air, just as we are refreshed from head to foot by a draught of water, so we can have the spiritual life come into us without any visible medium, and find ourselves refreshed.

To-day the Spirit of Christ is hovering over the face of all creation, to put life into it. We should stop and think, God is here, and He puts life into me. In the morning we can think of Him who has been keeping the stream of life flowing through us all the night. Thus we may escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The curse is simply the wrong side of a blessing. The pillar that separated the Israelites from the Egyptians was light to Israel and darkness to the Egyptians; it was life to some and death to others. So the law is life or death to us, according to our relation to it. If we transgress it,-go contrary to it,-it will cut us in pieces, grind us to powder and sweep as away; but if we walk in it, it will be in us a well of water refreshing us day by day, and springing up into everlasting life.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Scripture Records Literal and Real" The Present Truth 17, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

"With reference to the International Sunday-school lesson for July 14, do you wish us to understand by your exposition that it was a real serpent which appeared to Eve and conversed with her in the garden of Eden? I can hardly believe it to have been so. If you think it was so, will you oblige me by stating what your reasons are for so thinking. I shall be very grateful if you can give me something to convince me, as I have some very grave doubts on the subject, and it has made me feel very miserable."

No wonder, for that is the natural effect of doubt. Nobody can ever feel any other way than miserable, if he cherishes doubt, for doubt is the most unsatisfactory condition in the world. It is also the most foolish and unreasonable thing. A thing is either true, or it is not; if it is true, it is to be believed; if it is not true, it is not to be believed, and that is the end of the matter. But to doubt-neither to believe nor really to disbelieve-is to be nowhere.

Yes; I most certainly wish all who read to understand that it was a veritable serpent that talked with Eve, just as truly as it was a real ass that spoke to Balaam, and reproved him. "The dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet" (2 Peter ii. 16), and the serpent speaking also with man's voice, or, rather, with Satan's voice, beguiled Eve.

Why do I believe that it was a real serpent?-Because I believe the Bible, of the truthfulness of which I have ample evidence. How can we help believing it? I believe that it was real, because I believe that there was a real garden at Eden, and a real man and woman in it; that there was a real tree in the midst of the garden, from which they were forbidden to eat; and that the sin committed in the garden was the beginning of all the sin and sorrow that has cursed this earth. I believe that the serpent was real, for the same reason that I believe the curse to be real.

The Apostle Paul wrote: "I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." 2 Cor. ii. 3. Was the Apostle, writing by inspiration of the Holy Ghost,

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frightened at a shadow? for if it were no real serpent that beguiled Eve, then the whole story would be a myth.

Why should one doubt that the serpent was real, and still believe that the tree and the garden were real, and that the woman really ate and gave to her husband, and that they lost their purity and dominion? It is true that there are people who doubt all these things, and there are also people who doubt the entire Bible; but how anybody who professes to believe the Bible as a whole can single out as unreal a particular item, and that a leading one, in a narrative which he otherwise accepts, I cannot understand. The mystery of godliness is great; but the mystery of doubt-the mystery of iniquity-is more incomprehensible.

Why do I believe in the absolute truthfulness of the story of the deception by the serpent?-Because, I believe the Gospel. You ask what that has to do with the Gospel. I will tell you in a few words. The Gospel is the good news of salvation from sin, and the sin from which we are to be saved is the sin that came into the world when the serpent beguiled Eve. Now the same book that tells of the fall, also makes known the way of redemption; but if I cannot implicitly believe one, I have no assurance of the other. Do you not see that it is not a light matter whether we believe or not? All truth is one; all parts are woven together, each part with every other; break one thread, and the whole fabric is ruined.

But we will not talk of ruin, so far as the truth is concerned; for it endures for ever. We cannot effect it in the least by any doubt or unbelief; but our doubts have an influence on ourselves, in the same proportion that faith does. The ruin is to us, if we allow ourselves to doubt a single word of God; for if we doubt one thing, the whole will have no power in us.

I might well ask you, why do you doubt the story of the serpent? but I will not, for I know it is not good to talk doubt, or to talk over doubts, much less to seek to manufacture a foundation for them. The best thing to do with doubt is to bury it under the everlasting mountains of truth. "I believed, therefore have I spoken," is a motto that we all do well to follow. Thank God, there is enough to believe to keep us employed throughout eternity.

"The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy." Ps. cxlv. 8.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

The sanitary authorities have discovered fifty-one persons living in one house in a London slum, and nine persons occupying one bed.

Mr. Carnegie has handed the Treasury ?5,000 for the stamps necessary to make his deed of gift to the Scottish Universities a legal document. This is the largest amount ever paid as stamp duty.

Such news items as the following from Switzerland are grimly significant: "The town of Zurich, having recently become notorious for the number of undiscovered crimes, the authorities have decided to introduce bloodhounds for the tracking of criminals."

Sometimes figures give a rude shock to popular illusions. So skilful are Americans in self-advertising, that it seems to be quite generally for granted that everything new comes from the United States; yet as a matter of fact, of the 24,000 patents granted, the world over, in the last twelve months, 16,800 was to inventors in the United Kingdom, and 3,184 to inventors in the United States.

The Japanese are coming to the front in the matter of education, and a re equalling even Americans in enterprise. The late Professor Max M¸ller's library, containing 13,000 volumes and eighty-one Sanscrit MSS., has been purchased by Baron Iwasaki, for presentation to the University of Tokio. The books will have a building to themselves, to be known, as the Max M¸ller Library, which will be "open to any student engaged in studies similar to those of Professor M¸ller.

Quite a sensation was made by Dr. Koch, at the recent congress on tuberculosis, who claimed that there is no connection between the tuberculosis of cattle and that of man, and that the use of the flesh and milk of tuberculous animals does not tend to produce the disease in human beings. It to easy to convince people when their appetite coincides, and many who have hitherto indulged in unnatural food with more or less fear and trembling, will doubtless now fling caution to the winds; but it must be remembered that Dr. Koch's colleagues, fully as eminent as he, did not agree with him. The basis of his conclusion was certainly very weak. It was in short this, that large quantities of flesh and milk containing live tubercle bacilli are consumed in cities, and if they were inimical to man more people would die. But the fact is, people are dying of tuberculosis by the thousand, and to say that the eating of diseased food has no influence in producing disease is as absurd as to say that healthy food has no influence. In promoting health and strength. In this connection it is worth while to note the statement of a dairyman and butcher, made in the Daily Mail, that certainly not less than sixty per cent. of the cows are tuberculous, and that he had never killed an animal that was free from disease.

The recent suicide of two young actresses has called attention to the enormous amount of cocaine that is used. Several bottles that had contained it was found in the girls' apartments, and it is said that "It has been increasingly in demand by woman of late years."

"The habit grows rapidly; a mild 10 per cent. solution obtained at a chemist's to cure a tooth ache has given many people a first taste of the joys and horrors of cocaine. The first effect of a dose is extreme exhilaration and mental brilliancy. The imagination becomes aflame. The after-effects-reaction, utter loss of moral responsibility, a blotched complexion, and the lunatic asylum or death."

The same longing for an artificial stimulant that leads people to use tea, coffee, tobacco, etc., leads to the use of cocaine. An unnatural mode of living demands an unnatural support, and the natural end is death.

Speaking at the British Congress an tuberculosis, Lord Lansdowne, former Minister for War, said: "We have lately been passing through all the anxiety and sorrow of a prolonged war. To how many homes has that war brought desolation, and calamity. Yet I am not using the language of exaggeration when I say that no war that has ever been waged by the human race has brought with it anything like the burden of misfortune which tuberculosis has from time immemorial carried with it to the peoples of the world." Yet insidious as are its workings, it is an enemy against which every person has it within his own power successfully to defend himself. No disease ever comes when it is not invited; and it is every person's duty to be informed on the means necessary to employ to discourage the visits of such guests.

From the Pall Gazette we learn that "there has lately been established in San Francisco the headquarters of a Japanese Buddhist Mission to America, which not only teaches Buddhism to the Japanese in California, but looks to make converts among Americans. Dr. John Fryer, of the University of California, in an article on the subject, in Harper's, says a director and four priests, all having received a good English education in Japan, have been sent out by the wealthy members of the 'Shlu-shiu,' or True Sect of Buddhists, and are already actively at work. About 500 Japanese attend the regular services of this Oriental church, which are, of course, conducted in the Japanese language. The Young Men's Buddhist Association connected with it numbers over 200 members. Three branches are established at other cities of California. There is a separate service on Sundays in English." Thus we see that instead of Christianity sweeping the world before it, false religious are actually invading what is commonly supposed to be Christian territory. While this is a sad state of things, it is no cause for discouragement to the Christian. It is, in fact, just what the student of the Bible would expect; because the Scriptures give no warrant for the supposition that the whole world, or even a large part of it, will ever be converted, nor for calling any country on earth Christian. The work of the Gospel is to call out from every country and people those who will accept the salvation of Jesus Christ; and there is no intimation that one nation will have a larger representation in the kingdom of God than another. In the eyes of God every nation on earth is heathen, but "in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him."

The United Kingdom produced ?121,653,000 worth of coal (226,181,000 tons) last year. Germany produced ?48,199,000 worth and the United States ?67,040,000 worth. Smaller quantities were produced by France and Belgium. The total for the five countries was nearly 700,000,000 tons.

Speaking on the Royal Declaration Bill in the House of Lords, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said that, although he did not like the exact form of it, he thought that "the House would do well to pass a Bill of this kind, because, the question having been raised, it was very important that no mistake should be made about the attitude of the country in regard to the matter. To have no Declaration at all after what had passed would be simply to indicate that they did not feel that there was any longer need for any such security. The security was required not on religious but solely on political grounds. This country was determined to govern itself, and it would not have any interference from any outside Power. The Roman Catholic body declared its allegiance to a supreme Power outside this country altogether, and as long as that body was hampered in that way it was of the greatest importance that the Sovereign should make it perfectly clear that to that body he did not belong."

It is remarkable to what lengths people will go to avoid believing the Bible and still keep up the appearance of belief, or, rather, still delude themselves with the idea that they believe it. A physician, discoursing on longevity, in the Church Family Newspaper, says:-

"Without being able to rival the great ages given in Biblical records, modern times can show some by no means poor examples of longevity, with regard, however, to Scriptural records of the longevity of the early inhabitants of the world, we believe there exists some doubt as to the ages there recorded representing the length of time we should at first sight be led to imagine. According to Hufeland, theologians have shown that the chronology of the early ages was not the same so that used at the present time. Hensler, he states, has proved that the year at the time of Abraham consisted of but three months, then it was afterwards extended to eight, and finally, in the time of Joseph, to twelve. . . . Supposing Hensler to be correct, it is not difficult to conceive of Methuselah attaining the age of 200 years, however difficult it may he to accept that of 900 years."

That is to say, that it is not difficult to believe the Bible if you only suppose that it doesn't mean what it says! People substitute their own fancies also for Scripture statements, and accept those fancies, imagining that thus they are showing reverence for God's Word. They do not know that thus they are emulating the Pope of Rome. As to the question under consideration, it is no more difficult to see how a man who lived in harmony with the laws of life could live a thousand years, than to understand how one who transgresses them can live at all.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

The worst possible thing that can happen to any person in this world is to have his own way.

Remember that nothing is too small and insignificant for the Lord to give His attention to, and that nothing is too great and too difficult for Him to do. The greatest thing is nothing to Him, and the smallest thing that affects one of His children is very great in His estimation.

In commercial reports we frequently as the statement that "money is easy." A youth's paper incidentally throws a great deal of light on the term, by throwing in the explanation in the course of a story, that it was "easy to borrow, but just as hard as ever to pay back." "Easy" money is one of the greatest snares to the unwary, for it is very tempting, and the borrower is ever servant to the lender.

Self-control is that which marks the difference between a boy and a man. The child must be "under tutors and governors," because he is not competent to control himself. So when we see a person grown to the size of a man, who flies into a passion and storms and raves, if his will is crossed, we know that he is simply an overgrown baby. There are many people in society, in the church, and in State affairs, who frequently reveal by their actions the lack of faithful parental discipline in the early period of their lives.

"Suffer the Children to Come" The Present Truth 17, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

There has been considerable discussion among the Methodists lately on the subject of baptism. In the Methodist Times of July 4, a "Layman" wrote: "As a Methodist parent I sincerely hope that ere long we may have some definite Scriptural doctrine on baptism. You seem to wish that we may go on in the future as in the past, holding a variety of views on the subject, but I respectfully submit that this is not a matter that we may interpret according to our personal wishes and views, but calls for definite Scriptural teaching."

That is the right position to take, but it is at the same time a humiliating confession of the present uncertain, unscriptural position of the Methodist body on a subject that has at the very foundation of the Christian life.

Another writer, however, a man who writes "Rev." before his name, is not, pleased with this confession, and wishes it to be understood that Methodists have clear, Scriptural authority for infant baptism, and he boldly quotes it and italicises it thus: "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

How strange it is that none of those who use this text to support infant baptism, so-called, do not realise that it directly opposes such a practice, and that they interpret the command to suffer the children to come, and not to forbid them, into a command to bring them whether they will or not, and when they have no will whatever in the case. Certain it is that the Saviour's words imply that the children are to be left free to come of their own choice, and it is equally certain that if they have proper training, and are not forbidden-held back-by inconsistent lives of professed Christians, they will come soon enough. But a baby a few days or weeks or months old has no occasion to be either suffered or forbidden to come to Christ.

"The Promise of Affliction and Deliverance" The Present Truth 17, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

Did you think that you would have an easy time in this world, if you became a Christian? Did you suppose that all trouble would at once cease? If so, you did not read the Bible carefully; for God has never held out any such prospect to anybody.

When he called Paul to do a great work, He said, "I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake." Acts ix. 16. And this he did before Paul began his labour, so that he was not disheartened when trouble came; for He said: "The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me. But none of these things move me." Acts xx. 23, 24. So he wrote: "Unto you is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake" (Phil. i. 29), and "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Tim. iii. 12.

In like manner the Apostle Peter wrote: "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you." Such things are to be expected; trials and afflictions belong with the Christian life, and they always come in the way that is most difficult to bear, and usually where one least expects them. But with the announcement that they are no strange thing comes the encouragement: "Rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." 1 Peter iv. 12, 13. Only those will be glad with exceeding joy at the coming of Christ in glory, who now, because of their knowledge of Him, learn to rejoice in tribulation.

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken." Ps. xxxix. 19, 20. This is the sure promise of God: afflictions and deliverance. Do you wish to know the joy of salvation? then you must not refuse to endure affliction. You may possibly save yourself some trouble here, by compromising the truth or giving it up; by avoiding a disagreeable duty, or refusing to practice an unpopular truth, you may gain some ease, and escape some reproach; but by so doing you only bring upon yourself greater tribulation and anguish, because you lose the great salvation.

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for inasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Cor. xv. 58.

Every man must become a little child, in order to enter the kingdom of heaven; in fact, since it is by a new birth that one becomes a Christian, it necessarily follows that he becomes a babe. But this does not mean that he should be a baby to begin with. Infant baptism has no shadow of warrant in the Scripture, yet it is certainly quite as allowable to baptize a baby six weeks old as one forty years of age.

August 22, 1901

"Front Page" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

It is a striking illustration of the slowness of the human heart to grasp the means of blessing, and the blessing itself, which God provides, that clouds, which are always associated in the Bible with grandeur, and power, and love, and hope and blessing, are among men the symbols of darkness and despair. Thus has Satan succeeded in perverting the gifts of God.

People speak of being "under a cloud," when they feel despondent; and to have the way cloudy means to them the absence of hope; yet God spoke to Moses and to alI Israel out of the cloud, giving them instruction for all time; and it was by a pillar of cloud that He led them through the wilderness. It was only those who had rejected God, who found the cloud a trouble. The same cloud that was darkness and gloom and disaster to the Egyptians, was brightness and joy and salvation to the Israelites.

The same thing is true to-day; for the same God is leading His people from the same "house of bondage" to the same deliverance, and by the same means. "The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet." Nahum i. 3. Our gloom and destruction or our hope and salvation depend on our relation to the cloud. On one side it is dark, but on the side next to God it is light. Nothing that human eye has ever seen is more gloriously beautiful than a cloud lighted up by the sun; and whoever is crucified with Christ, and so risen with Him, has been made to sit with Him in the heavenly places, and so can look upon every cloud from God's side of it. No cloud can shut out God from the view of him who is in Christ. It was from the cloud that overshadowed Jesus and His disciples that the voice came, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matt. xvii. 5.

Are we told that clouds and darkness are round about the Lord? it is only to assure us that "righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne." Ps. xcvii. 2. The bow of promise is set in the cloud, and apart from a cloud we can never have that most beautiful evidence of God's presence; for that in viewing the rainbow we see very close to God's throne, we know from the fact that is to His bow (Gen. ix. 13) that is set in the cloud, and that the rainbow is "round about the throne." Rev. iv. 3. So the cloud contains God's gracious promise of salvation: it reveals His love and mercy.

But the cloud contains not merely the promise of the future blessings; it is the means of conveying God's blessings to us. We read that "the clouds are the dust of His feet," and that His "paths drop fatness." Ps. lxv. 11. From the clouds come the showers with which God blesses the springing of the earth (verse 10); and this blessing is only for the purpose of showing us the reality of His gift of righteousness; for we read: "Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together." Isa. xlv. 8. Let us then thank God and be glad for clouds.

"Isaac the Peacemaker. Gen. xxvi. 12-26" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xxvi. 12-25.)²⁰1

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." Matt. v. 9.

What is a peacemaker? Most people suppose that it is one who separates people who are fighting, or who acts as mediator between two persons who are quarrelling, bringing them into at least outward agreement. A peacemaker is this and much more: it is one who literally makes-manufactures-peace, and who always keeps a stock on hand, so that nobody and nothing can exhaust the supply. The man who makes peace by being so peaceable that it is impossible for anybody to quarrel with him, to a peacemaker in a far higher sense than is one who merely induces belligerents to cease their outward warfare. It was this sort of peacemaker that Isaac was. Read the story of how he made peace in the land of the Philistines, whither he had gone on account of a famine in the land of Canaan. No apology is necessary for reprinting it.

"Then Isaac sowed in that land and received in the same year an hundredfold. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great; for he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants; and the Philistines envied him. For all the walls which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them and filled them with earth.

"And Abimelech said unto Isaac: Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we. And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

"And Isaac digged again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham; and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours; and he called the name of the well Esek [contention]; because they strove with him.

"And they digged another well, and strove for that also; and he called the name of it Sitnah [hatred]. And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not; and be called the name of it Rehoboth [from, wideness]; and he said: For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."

Take in the whole situation, and you have a most striking lesson. Isaac was wealthy and powerful. His father Abraham had so many trained servants in his own household that he could arm them and pursue a victorious army and put it to flight; and Isaac had inherited all his father's wealth and had greatly increased it. The Philistine king himself acknowledged that Isaac was mightier than he; yet at his request that Isaac should leave him, Isaac left without a word. This was the first instance of Isaac's peaceable disposition.

It would have bean but natural for Isaac to respond to Abimelech, when the latter said, "Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we," "Go yourself; I am more powerful than you are, and you cannot help yourself; I have as much right to the country as you have; and shall stay where I please." That would have been natural; but Isaac was born of the Spirit, and therefore the peace of God reigned in his heart; so to avoid all trouble he quietly went away.

Then the Philistine herdman claimed a well of water which clearly belonged to Isaac. It had formerly belonged to his father, and Isaac's servants had dug it out afresh. "There," someone might say, who believes in one's standing up for his rights, "that is just what might have been expected: let people impose on you once, and they will keep on imposing on you; when once they find that you will not resist, they will take everything you have." Well, it didn't work that way in the case of Isaac, as the story shows. True, the Philistines did take advantage of Isaac's meekness to seize two valuable pieces of property that belonged to him; but at the last God made room for him, and he really lost nothing; whereas if he had stood on the defensive, some lives might have been lost, and no property on earth is worth as much as one human life.

The second well was dug, and the herdmen strove for it; but Isaac would have no strife, so he quietly went away and dug another. What a marvellous exhibition of meekness! Why was the account written?-In order that we might know how all might act; who claim to be heirs of God by faith in Christ Jesus. "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." Gal. iv. 28.

It is said of the Christians immediately after the great Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out so abundantly, and all were filled with it: "Neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own." Acts iv. 32. That being the case, it is evident that none of them would have fought or gone to law to recover any property which a covetous person might have seized. Whenever professed Christians make use of carnal weapons, or go into the courts of earth, in defence of their possessions, they really deny God; they tacitly say that their support is the same as that of the world, and that God does not specially care for His people, but that they must look out for themselves. Oh, how little real Christianity there is in the world! It is a hard thing for those who have riches, or for those who want to have riches, and who trust in them, to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Isaac had riches; but he held them only under God, and therefore he would not strive for them. The man who does not claim anything that he has as his own, has no occasion or inclination to fight for it.

When at last the Lord had made room for Isaac, he built an altar, and preached in the name of the Lord, just as Abraham had done. Gen. xxvi. 25. What effect do you think his preaching would have had if he had quarrelled with the Philistines, even in the most dignified and legal way, for the possession of his property? Do you not see that when Isaac proclaimed the name of the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the heathen readily saw that he believed in the existence of such a Being? But if Isaac had striven with them, and had insisted on maintaining his "rights," they would have said, "If you believe in a God that made heaven and earth, and that still upholds all things by the word of His power, why do you not trust Him to take care of you, and to protect you? you make use of exactly the same methods that we do; what is the difference between you and us?" How often the name of God is blasphemed among the heathen through the worldly policy and unbelief of professed Christians! Who will show himself to be a child of God indeed, by keeping the peace of God, which Christ left to all His followers?

"The Harvest Blessing" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

"And Isaac sowed . . . and received . . . an hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him." Gen. xxvi. 12. The Hebrew particle which is rendered "and" has also a host of other uses. In fact, there is scarcely any connective for which it does not stand. Gesenius, the Hebrew lexicographer, tells us that "this particle is very widely extended in its use, since the Hebrews, in many cases in which sentences require to be connected, did not make any precise distinction of the manner of connection; and thus in the simplicity of ancient language they made use of one copula, in cases in which, in more cultivated languages, adversative causal, or final particles would be used." Instances are numerous in which the same word so often rendered "and" is correctly rendered "because."

With this explanation we may be sure that we are not taking any liberty with the text when we read it thus: "Isaac sowed . . . and received . . . an hundredfold; because the Lord blessed him." Segond has it: "car l'?ternal le b?nit."

The blessing of the Lord does not come because of our prosperity, but is the cause of it. Man may sow, but it is God who gives the increase. He does not always give us material wealth, as an evidence of His blessing; yet we have this sure promise:-

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. iii. 10-13.

However, no thought of what we may receive should ever enter into our service to God; for in that case it would not be service to God, but mere self-serving.

God's promise to Isaac was, "I will multiply thy seed." Gen. xxvi. 24. This was a repetition of the promise to Abraham, that God would bless him by giving him an abundant posterity. Now take notice of the significance of the statement occurring in the same chapter, that God blessed Isaac in giving him an abundant harvest for his sowing. God multiplied his seed that he sowed, and from this Isaac could learn the reality of God's promise when He said, "I will multiply thy seed," meaning his own posterity. Thus every returning harvest is a reminder to us that God will multiply godly men and fill the earth with them, and it is at the same time an announcement of the coming gathering of the faithful at the final harvest, which is the end of the world and the coming of Christ.

"Only Believe" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

The man who came asking Christ to heal his afflicted son, said, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief;" and many people who have read the account have supposed that they ought to utter the same petition. To all such we say, Do not do it; the Lord doesn't ask you to pray for faith, but simply to exercise the faith that His Word his given you. That is amply sufficient, for

"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word;
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who to Jesus for refuge have fled?"

The man's words were self-contradictory, and that is sufficient reason why we should not use them. First he said, "Lord, I believe." That was good, and was enough, if it was true; but he immediately added, "Help Thou my unbelief," and that showed that he did not believe. Belief and unbelief cannot exist together. If one has the slightest degree of unbelief, he has no belief at all. So if one has faith as a grain of mustard seed, he cannot have any unbelief,-he has faith enough to remove mountains if necessary. So let us not say that we believe, and the next instant deny it.

Did you ever think what an insult it is to God, to ask Him to help you to believe Him? It is equivalent to telling Him that you do not believe Him. Now be frank and definite with the Lord, and say to Him straight out, "Lord, I don't believe You." You dare not say that to the Lord's face, dare you? No; you dare not; for if you do, immediately the question will come, "Why do you not believe?" and for that you have no answer.

You say that you cannot believe; why not? What has the Lord said or done, that has made it difficult to believe Him? Has He ever told an untruth? You answer promptly, No; lie cannot lie. Is it so? Then you cannot help believing. It is as difficult to believe one who always tells the truth. The easiest thing in the world is to believe the Lord.

Then be content to say, "Lord, I believe." Ask the Lord to forgive your unbelief, and be assured that He will do it; but don't add to your sin in the very asking for forgiveness.

"Scattering and Finding" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

In the scripture assigned for the International Sunday-school lesson we have read that "Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold." The Revised Version has "found" in the place of "received," and this is also in the margin of the common version. As indicated there, it is the exact rendering of the Hebrew. Isaac sowed, and found.

Now this suggests a great truth, which we may learn if we will think as we read. What does one do when he sows grain? He scatters the grain on the ground, does he not? He actually throws it away. And this is the meaning of the Hebrew word, to sow. It means, to scatter, as we might naturally expect. So we may read the text thus: "And Isaac scattered in that land, and found in the same year an hundredfold." He scattered, and he found. Now we have the lesson clearly set forth before our eyes.

"There is that scattereth, and yet increase; and there is that withholdeth more than is meat, and it tendeth to poverty." Prov. xi. 24. "Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days;" and when you find it, you will find more than you cast away. Would it not then be the part of wisdom to scatter-sow-all that we have? Keep all the talents you have, whether of money, intellect, or strength, in constant use to God's glory, and they will increase. Withhold nothing, or you will lose it.

"A man there was, though some did count him mad;
The more he cast away, the more he had."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Are the Ten Commandments Binding?" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

"One said to me to-day, 'The ten commandments have nothing to do with us now. We are not in the dispensation of the law, but of grace, so that the law is not binding on us; it is all done away with.' I do not quite understand this doctrine. I read that Christ said He did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it-to prove its righteousness. The Bible tells us Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, not the works of God."

Do not try to understand such doctrine, for it is of the devil. You read correctly, and will do well to hold fast the sound words of Christ.

The idea of dividing time, especially as connected with God's dealing with man; into "dispensations" having no foundation in the Bible, and unknown to the men who were used by the Spirit to write it. It is a libel upon God, intimating that He is fickle and uncertain in His ways, dealing differently with men, according to varying moods.

But God does not change, and He has but one way of saving men. There can be no other way, because Christ is the way, and in Him all fulness dwells. "To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." Acts x. 49. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts iv. 12. Jesus Christ's "going forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity" (Micah v. 2, margin), and He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Heb. xiii. 8.

These texts make it as certain as the Bible is true, that there is but one way of salvation from the beginning to the end of time, and that is Christ, who is the beginning and the end, the first and the last. But this is positively denied by those who say, "We have nothing to do with the law now, nor it with us; for we are now under grace." That implies that when people did have something to do with the law, or it with them, there was no grace for them. For the idea in the minds of those who talk thus about the law is that it is opposed to Christ, and that those who are in Him must ignore the law-that they are really in duty bound to break it.

Now read what the Scriptures say. "The law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. v. 20, 21. The grace of God in Christ never was manifested in more abundant measure than when the law was proclaimed from Mount Sinai.

Again, Jesus says: "Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart." Ps. xl. 7, 8. He also said, "I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." John xv. 10. And the beloved disciple says: "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked." 1 John ii. 6.

Jesus fulfilled the law. What for? Was it that we might violate it? We were doing that already, for "all have sinned," and "sin is the transgression of the law." Surely no one in his senses can really think that Christ came and died, in order that men might be able to do that which they had all been doing all the time!

If someone says that the object of His coming was not that men might break the law, but that they might not be punished, the case is not altered; for if He did not come to save them from punishment by saving them from the transgression of the law, then it would be the case that He came to enable men to sin with impunity-that is to "strengthen the hands of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life." This is horrible doctrine even to think of.

Christ fulfilled the law. Why?-"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. viii. 1. "To be carnally minded is death," and the reason is "because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. vii. 6, 7.

But does not the Bible say, "Ye are not under the law, but under grace"? It certainly does, and it immediately adds: "What then? shall we sin (transgress the law), because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." Rom. vi. 14, 15. Those who are not under the law are the only ones who can and do keep it. The moment one breaks the law, he is under it; the law has its hand upon him, and holds him for punishment. But grace saves us from the punishment which the law indicts upon transgressors, by saving us from transgression. It takes away the carnal mind, which is not subject to the law of God, and gives us in its place the mind of the Spirit, which is of the same nature as the law; "for we know that the law is spiritual." Rom. vii. 14.

It is legitimate to say, however, that the law is not "binding" on true Christians, but not in the sense that the objector said it to you. It is in full force to-day, as much as it ever was, and will be throughout eternity; but it does not bind, or coerce, the followers of Jesus. No; because, just as Jesus said, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart," so His follower will say, "O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day." Ps. cxix. 97. The man is blessed whose "delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth He meditate day and night." Ps. i. 2.

To such a man the law is not a yoke of bondage. He does not feel it, because he has been transformed, and is one with it. He and the law coincide in every particular, so that there is no chafing against it. He is not under the law, but in it, yea, really above it, in that he sits with Christ in the heavenly places, where the law is administered. He unites with Christ in administering the law to himself, his part being to acquiesce; and he takes pleasure in seeing how powerful the law in Christ is to bring the body under, and to keep it in subjection.

The follower of Christ is not bound, that is, in bondage, in any way, because "the

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law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" has made him "free from the law of sin and death." Rom. viii. 2. The only man who feels that the law is binding on him is the man who is transgressing it, and he who is transgressing it, and he frequently denies that it is binding, that is in force. The Christian, on the contrary, who does not feel that the law binds him, because he gladly obeys it, feels the force of the law, as it is life in Christ, working in Him for righteousness, and delights to know that it is for ever established, and thus ensures to him everlasting salvation.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Going to Law" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

"A man in business sells goods to another, and the one to whom they are sold will not pay for them, although able to do so; would the seller be acting contrary to Scripture it he sued for his money in the county court?"

Your question indicates that you desire to know what the Scripture says about going to law, and that its teaching is to be regarded as of final authority; therefore we here only to turn and read what is written.

Jesus said: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." Matt. v. 36-40. This one statement is sufficient to settle the question; for since we are forbidden to resist evil, it is most certain that we cannot be justified in ourselves being the aggressors in any case.

A hasty reading of the Scriptures often leads people to suppose that the old-time saying, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" meant that any person could take his case into his own hands, and treat his adversary as he himself had been treated; but that is a great mistake. A reading of the passages in the Old Testament, where those words occur, plainly shows that they were part of the instructions for the judges. In Ex. xxi. 22-24, we read that the offender in a case of assault "shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."

Read also Deut. xix. 16-21. "If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother; so shall ye put the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall hear and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."

These are a part of the laws that were given to the Israelites because of the hardness of their hearts; but they are not for the followers of Christ, who as such cannot be hard-hearted, Jesus cites them, and adds, "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." It may be thought "an hard saying;" but all who are filled with the Spirit of Jesus will be able to hear it, and to act in harmony with it.

Do not get the idea that there was any injustice in the Old Testament regulations. If a man wilfully injures another, he suffers no injustice if he is treated in the same manner; but the point is that the Christian is to leave the execution of justice to the Lord, to whom vengeance belongs. It may be that a man deserves punishment; but we are not to punish him, nor to secure his punishment by the judges.

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." Rom. xii. 19, 20. All this is said with reference to bodily injury; but the instruction against prosecuting for physical violence would also prohibit suing for money, since no amount of money is to be compared in value with the body. The Saviour speaks, however, directly of property, saying, "If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have your cloak also." That is, if he is about to sue you, to get your coat, let him have your cloak also, rather than go to law. Now when this instruction is given concerning defending one's property in court, it is manifest that the case is still stronger against baking the initiative to recover property.

There is practical wisdom in the Saviour's instructions, for in more than ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, both parties in a suit would far better if they would settle their difficulties out of court. The papers recently reported a case in Milan, where, a man died leaving a fortune of ?600,000. His will was disputed by the heirs, and the result of the litigation was that over ?400,000 went to the lawyers in fees, leaving scarcely ?200,000 to be divided amongst the heirs. It is evident that even on the ground of worldly policy, the suit was utter foolishness.

And so it usually is. It would be amusing, if it were not pitiful and disgusting, to see the petty childishness that is displayed in most of the cases that come up in the courts. The suit is entered in order to gratify the sense of vindictive spite. It is the same spirit that leads the ruffian to fight. But all such spirit is utterly foreign to Christianity, and the Bible is everywhere against it.

"All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Gal. v. 1-1. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. xiii. 10. But love "suffereth long, and is kind;" love "seeketh not her own." 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5. So it appears that going to law, whether it be to gratify spite or to recover property, is directly contrary to the Spirit of Christ.

We know very well that such teaching as this is foolishness to the carnal mind. The natural man will raise a thousand objections to it, and will see in it the loss of all one's goods. With that we have nothing to do. We believe that God is able to protect His people, and we know that He cares for them; but even if one, by adhering to the Christian plan of peace, should lose all his goods, that would be no more than many men have joyfully suffered for the cause of Christ, and we applaud them-at a distance. God desires martyrs-witnesses-all the time, and not merely when some doctrinal difference is in question. We have nothing to do with the results of obeying the Gospel; our part is simply to trust and not be afraid. The conclusion of the whole matter, therefore, is that no Christian can voluntarily go to law without acting directly contrary to the principles of his profession. Christ absolutely refused to be made a ruler or a judge, or to have anything to do with the division of property; and just to the extent that His followers depart from that position, do they deprive themselves of His power in the world. If the truth be kept in mind, that the eternal world to come, and not "this present evil world," is our home, the case is very clear.

"The Peace of God" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

All our communings with Nature make it plain to us that God, the Author of Nature, must be the God of peace; for all the greater operations of Nature are carried forward in tranquil silence. The wonderful upspringing of life from the earth, the daily miracle of evaporation, the movements of the starry hosts through space-how silently it all goes on! Energy is going forth for which we have no measurements; yet it is all as peaceful as an infant's breathing. And it is in these greater operations of Nature that God most clearly reveals Himself to us; not in the earthquake nor in the storm so much as in the still, small voice of the silence that follows.

What Nature thus clearly hints, all our deeper insights confirm. He is the God of peace because He is the God of righteousness. It is one of our primary ethical intuitions that perfect character dwells in perfect calm. And we have found by experience that when we are at one with God, we are at peace with ourselves. When, without wavering, we choose the highest that we know, there comes into our souls a great sense of tranquility. It is the peace of God: "Thou wilt keep his mind in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

The Church Family Newspaper says that "the diminution in the attendance at Sunday-schools is a sufficiently important question to arouse general interest." "With an increasing population, Sunday scholars are not only not increasing, but are actually diminishing, so that results are really worse than they appear."

The United States Department of Agriculture has issued its crop report by which the total loss on account of bad weather is estimated at ?56,908,640. Independent statistics compiled by a member of the statistical committee of the Produce Exchange, show that the outlook is even worse than the official report reveals.

The inventor of the first rapid fire gun in modem warfare, Dr. R. J. Gatling, of St. Louis, Missouri (U.S.A.), has invented a motor-plough which, he claims will, under the guidance of one man, break the surface of a thirty-acre field in one day. He has organised a company with ?800,000 capital, and is about to erect a large factory.

It appears that the severe drought which has wrought such havoc with crops in America, has not extended to Canada, if we can judge by the fact that 20,000 men are called for to assist in gathering the harvest. The London offices of the High Commissioner for Canada have been of late besieged by men anxious to avail themselves of the good wages that are offered in the Dominion.

Nothing is more foolish than sin, because sin is itself the essence of folly. This is often apparent in the actions of criminals, who will work much harder for the uncertain prospect of getting money dishonestly then they would for a sure income. Quite recently a workman employed in the Selby Smelting Works at Vallejo, California, worked three months to dig a tunnel, by means of which he conveyed gold bricks to the value of ?68,000 away from the works. These he dumped into the sea, close by, where he could not recover them without assistance, and then acknowledged his crime, thus losing his booty, besides securing for himself the prospect of thirty years' imprisonment.

The Catholic Times tells its readers that "popular rights will be obtained by popular clamour." This is the teaching of anarchy. Nothing lasting can be secured by such methods. Whatever is permanent must rest on a more solid basis than popular clamour. "The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." Besides, clamour of any sort is in direct opposition to the Spirit of God, whose fruit is peace. "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Eph. iv. 30-32.

In giving evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Commons, Mr. Hawks, secretary of the National Anti-Gambling League, said that in five years-from May 1886 to May 1901-there had been 80 suicides, 320 embezzlements, and 191 bankruptcies, clearly traceable to betting, amongst postal telegraphists, police, and other public servants. For a large amount of this the Government is directly responsible, as the Postoffice always sends a special force of telegraphists to race meetings, and all the gambling news must necessarily pass through their hands.

The Catholic Times, complaining about the terms of the Accession Oath, which repudiates certain Roman Catholic dogmas, says, "Why are we worse than Mohammedan Hindoos or idolatrous Kaffirs? Yet His Majesty is not compelled to swear his disbelief in, and rejection of, the tenets of these classes of his subjects." No; and the reason why is plain. It is because these classes of his subjects do not hold their religion as a State affair, to be imposed upon all wherever they have the power. England does well to recall the blighting effects of Papal supremacy, yet we have no idea that the Accession Oath has any real influence in averting a repetition of it.

On the 16th last. the well-known inventor, Herr Sozepanik, made a trial before a number of newspaper reporters in Vienna, of a breastplate which he has recently invented. It is constructed of silk tissue, and weighs only two kilogrammes. "Herr Sozepanik fired at the breastplate with a revolver of seven millimetres calibre from a distance of five paces. The bullet struck the breastplate, but caused only a slight dent of one-third of a millimetres in depth." Thus is man's inventive genius being directed more and more toward facilitating appeals to arms. Defensive armour tends to make people defiant, while none was ever yet invented so strong but that a weapon could be found to pierce it.

The Nonconformist ministers who have, by issuing a Manifesto, so ostentatiously declared themselves friends of peace, have not thereby done service to the cause of Christ. It is an old saying that when a man boasts of his honesty, and a woman of her virtue, both are to be doubted; even so when a professed minister of Christ to obliged to make a declaration to the effect that he is a man of peace, the case is dubious. More than this, the sight of a few ministers of the Gospel seriously taking it upon themselves to advise the Government, without having been asked, is ridiculous, and shows a desire to win prestige for themselves and their calling. The true church of Christ is not reduced to any such straits. It does not seek notoriety, but the salvation of souls; and all the advancement it can have is through the simple preaching of the Word. The Manifesto has had the natural result of bringing the ministers into contempt.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence from the pride of man." Ps. xxxi. 20. The man from whose pride we have most to fear is our own self. Pride naturally encompasses us like a garment, and if not removed will certainly destroy us. But we can hide in Him who is meek and lowly in heart, and there pride, and the destruction that follows it, cannot approach us.

"I AM poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: Thou art my help and my deliverer, O Lord, make no tarrying." Ps. lxx. 5. What bold language to use to the Lord! How dare one speak so to Him? Because they are the words which the Holy Spirit puts into our mouths. They make us know God's will toward us, and show us a picture of how He deals with the poor and needy. He makes haste and comes instantly to their help. "Who is a God like our God?"

The only real injury that any person can receive is that which he inflicts upon himself. Nothing that any other person can say or do can cause us any real or permanent injury. This is seen in the Saviour's words: "Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do." That is but a trifle, for the body is mortal anyhow, and must be changed before we can enter heaven; but the soul God has placed, under Himself, in our own keeping, and nothing but our own thought or action can in any wise injure it or tend to its destruction.

"Growth in Grace" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Growth in Grace .-The exhortation is, "Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ"; but some people are afraid to grow, lest their new growth should seem a disparagement of what they already have. Let all ever remember that new and enlarged Christian experience does not cast any reflections upon previous Christian experience, but adds lustre to it. One who knows a little of Christ does not have to deny that little, in order to get more. On the contrary, every bit of truth that one has must be held most tenaciously, or else there can be no growth.

All light is the same; the difference between the light of the sun and that of the wax candle is in intensity, not in kind. Indeed, the light of the candle is but a little gleam of the sun's light. "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars;" yet all shine forth the light of their Maker who is the light of the world. Consequently light is never in conflict. If an electric light is turned on in a room which is but dimly Iighted by a little candle, the blazing light does not put out the candle, nor in the least diminish its shining. Then do not be afraid to receive more light; it is the only way you can keep what you already have. "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

"Restoring What Has Been Lost" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Restoring What Has Been Lost .-"The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke xviii. 10.

Have you lost anything? If you have, then be assured that Jesus has set Himself to seek it, and to restore it to you;for there is no limit; whatever has been lost, He has come to save.

What a blessed, comforting assurance that is! I am lost; therefore He has come to seek and to save me. But that does not tell it all; He will not only save me, but He will find and restore all that I have lost,-lost opportunities, wasted talents, abilities lost through lack of use, or by being perverted;-all these Christ has come to seek. He will pick up all we have scattered by the way, and will restore it all to us, so that if we accept Him and His work, we may be as though we had never sinned, but had always served Him. Wonderful love! Marvellous manifestation of saving grace! "What a wonderful Saviour!"

"Tell it Out" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Tell it Out .-"O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He both redeemed from the hand of the enemy." Ps. cvii. 1, 2.

There are two ways of reading the last part of this text, and both are correct. The first is the most common: "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so," with the emphasis on the word "redeemed." That is good, for the redeemed of the Lord ought, certainly, above all others, to say that the Lord is good; but the better way to read it makes this much more emphatic. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." If the Lord has dealt well with you, say so; tell others of it. Do not keep it to yourself, for that is dishonouring to God and unfair to your neighbours and friends, who have a right to the encouragement that you could give them. Silence is also disastrous to yourself. "When I kept silent my bones waxed old," says the psalmist. He who never tells others of what he knows of the goodness of God, will soon lose his sense of it. When a lamp does not shine it is darkness; "and if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness."

"Why Give Thanks?" The Present Truth 17, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Why Give Thanks? -"O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever." Ps. cvii. 1.

Notice well the reason for giving thanks to God. It is because He is good. Most people who give thanks unto the Lord, or who think that they give thanks to Him, do so because they have received some special thing that they longed for; because they feel well and happy; because they feel in just the right mood for giving thanks; because they are in comfortable and favourable circumstances; but none of these things are the true reason for thanksgiving; there is just one ground, and that is, because "He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever."

Thus we have a constant cause of rejoicing; for God is always good. Everything else fluctuates; but the goodness of God is continuous. The times may be hard; we may have trouble and affliction; the way may be dark before us, and everything may seem to be against us; but none of these things need diminish our thanksgiving; for God is good, and His mercy endureth for ever.

God is equally good at all times, and He is always as good as it is possible for Him to be. He is just as good and just as near, in the darkness and the storm, as in the sunshine and the calm and it is His goodness alone, that is the reason for giving thanks. "Oh that man would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"

August 29, 1901

"From Earth to Heaven. Gen. xxviii. 10-22" The Present Truth 17, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xxviii. 10-22.)²¹1

An infidel once thought to tease a little girl by asking her, "How far is it to heaven?" She replied, "I don't know, sir; but I sent a message there this morning, and got an answer back in less than a minute."

It was this nearness of heaven to earth that Jacob learned that lonely night at Bethel. Up to that time he had been an ignorant believer. He was not "a profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright." He had a believing nature, or rather, we may say, he had retained his childish faith; but it was uninstructed. He believed in the promise made to his father, so much that he was willing to use any means to secure this inheritance, but he was so ignorant of spiritual things that he did not know God can be worshipped only "in spirit and in truth," and that He must fulfil His own promises. It was an exceedingly crude faith that he had, but God recognised it and responded to it.

"When my father and my mother forsake me; then the Lord will take me up." This Jacob learned also that night. It is true that his parents had not cast him off, yet he was nevertheless an outcast from his home. He had the birthright, but he was a fugitive from home, with no possessions but a travelling staff. Then God gave him his first real lesson in fatherhood and home. For the first time Jacob had a conception of the magnitude of the Father's house, in which there are many mansions. That night he learned that God is everywhere-that heaven is His throne, and the earth His footstool (Isa. lxvi. 1), and that one cannot travel so far as to be out of His presence. Ps. cxxxix. 7-12.

There are many professed Christians to-day as ignorant as Jacob was. Often, if their eyes were opened, they would be compelled to exclaim, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." Wherever one may go or stay, it can truly be said: "The Lord is in this place;" the sad thing is that His people do not recognise His presence. When one awakes to the truth that God is in every place,-not as a dim theory, but as a living personality,-the earth to him becomes new, and heaven rests upon it. Then one first begins really to live. To see God everywhere, in everything that He has made, and where nothing at all is visible to the eye of the body,-more than this, to feel Him, and know Him, is the highest wisdom possible to man.

"And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Do not make the mistake of confounding the word "dreadful" with "frightful." The Hebrew word here rendered "dreadful" is identical with that which in Ps. cxi. 9, is translated "reverend:" "holy and reverend is His name." That is, the name of God is holy and to be feared. Think of this word as synonymous with awful, that is, filling with awe. Such is the place and the presence of God; and they who dwell in His house will never be found indulging in light and foolish talk or actions. A knowledge

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of God's presence must produce a dignity and steadiness of character. "Holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, for ever." Yet this consciousness of being in God's house, in His immediate presence, by no means begets sadness, gloom, or melancholy. Quite the contrary. There are no long, woe-begone faces in His house. "Happy are they who dwell in Thy house; they will be still praising Thee."

"Before Jehovah's awful throne,
Ye nations bow with sacred joy."

CHRIST THE CONNECTING LINK

What is the ladder that Jacob saw, set up on earth with the top reaching heaven, and "the angels of God ascending and descending on it"? John i. 51 contains the anawer in the words of Christ to His disciples: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." It is He who unites earth to heaven, and makes both one. "In Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth; . . . and in Him all things consist." Col. i. 16, 17. In coming to earth, He has brought heaven with Him, and His presence recognised makes a heaven of any place in earth.

"In Him all my wants are supplied,
His love makes my heaven below."

Christ is so much greater than anybody has ever yet realised. No one has yet comprehended to the full, "what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height" of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. He is the substance of all reality. Scientists have for years vainly sought "the missing link;" if they would only look to Christ in simple yet perfect faith, they would find it. In Him is life, for He is the Word of life which was from the beginning (1 John i. 1, 2), and it is His life that gives every created thing its existence and its distinctive character. He it is, also, who gives to all things in creation their family likeness. There is indeed a unity in all nature; but instead of teaching, as evolutionists imagine, that all things are but developments of one original portion of matter, which evolved itself from nothing, this likeness reveals the presence of Him from whom all things have come. The highest intelligent creature is indeed related to the lowest plant, but this relation is not that of offspring to parent, but of brotherhood, because all things, high and low, great and small, draw their life from one common Source. From the bosom of God all created things draw their nourishment; for in Christ all things were created and still consist, and He is in the bosom of the Father.

God dwells "in the high and holy place," and at the same time with him "on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" (Heb. viii. 1), He is on earth with His people. He is "not far from every one of us;" but that alone is not enough; we must by our conscious recognition of His presence, come near to Him. God has united all men in Himself "if haply they might feel after Him and find Him." Many jostle against Him in the throng; few touch Him by faith; but the few know the reality of the joys of heaven. Christ is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all," so that when we come unto Him by intelligent faith we at once receive the end of it. Thus in Him earth and heaven meet.

"The Land and the Church" The Present Truth 17, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

Then God appeared to Jacob in his dream at Bethel, He said to him:-

"I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Gen. xxviii. 13, 14.

This was the repetition of the promise that God had already made to Abraham and Isaac, and which they both understood. It was the promise "that he should be the heir of the world" (Rom. iv. 13), and was "to Abraham and to his seed." That same land that was promised to Jacob that night, had also been promised to Abraham and to his seed "for an everlasting possession." Gen. xvii. 8. Now the world-"this present evil world"-"passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" (1 John i. 17), and his everlasting abiding place is this earth made new and fit for new creatures, as in the beginning. This new earth is the land which was promised to Jacob, and the promise holds good to us, if we keep God's commandments; for we read: "Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

To that land-the earth made new-the true church occupies a peculiar relations-a relation which the church has vainly sought to attain in this world. This will be better understood when we learn that God's purpose with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was not to build up a nation, like the nations of the earth, but a congregation of worshippers, nowadays known as a church. This appears in the parting blessing of laaac to Jacob, but is concealed by our translation of the word.

Isaac said to Jacob: "God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people." Gen. xxviii. 3. In the margin we find, "an assembly of people," and in the Revised Version, "a company of peoples," both of which more nearly express the real meaning. The Hebrew word in this place is the same that in almost every instance of its occurrence is rendered "congregation," and sometimes "assembly," which is the same thing.

Take, for instance, Ps. xxii. 22: "In the

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midst of the congregation will I praise Thee." This text is quoted in Heb. ii. 12, where we find the word "congregation" rendered in the Greek by the word commonly translated "church," which appear in the English. So, coming back to our study, we may read Isaac's inspired words to Jacob thus: "God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee; that thou mayest be a church of people," that is, a vast congregation of people "called out" from the world, and separated from it.

That this blessing was realised, we see in the vast host that God called out of Egypt by Moses, which is called "the church in the wilderness." Acts vii. 38. They did not enjoy the fulness of the blessing, however, because they lost sight of the object, and fixed their affections on this earth, instead of on heavenly things. They wanted to be like the nations, and such they became. But as such they lost their power; for all the power either the churches as a whole or its individual members can have, is over the world to come. Whenever the church and Christians seek any sort of worldly power, they become weak, "like any other man," but when they are entirely separated from the world and worldly policy they have real power, above that of all the kings of the earth.

"The Recognition of God" The Present Truth 17, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, in the way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God; and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee." Gen. xxviii. 20-42.

Jacob had learned that God is everywhere and that everything exists only in Him, and so he accepted Him as his God. His vow expressed recognition of God, and is not to be considered as a bargain made with the Lord. This is apparent on the face of it, because when all things are known to come from God, one cannot think of enriching Him by giving a portion back to Him.

"All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy unto the Lord." Lev. xxvii. 30. God has reserved the tithe to Himself, just as He has reserved the seventh day out of the week. "The seventh day is the Sabbath," and nobody can change it. It is God's Sabbath day, whether anybody keeps it holy to Him or not. Likewise the tithe is the Lord's, even though we do not give it to Him. If we withhold it, and use it upon ourselves, we are guilty of robbery. See Mal. iii. 8-10.

What good does it do God for us to devote the seventh day to Him, and to give Him the tenth part of our earnings?-No good whatever; for "Who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things." Rom. xi. 35, 36. God's requirements are not for His own benefit, but for ours. It does us good to recognise God, and to acknowledge Him in all our ways; for to know Him is life eternal.

The Sabbath was given that men might know God and His sanctifying power. Eze. xx. 12, 20. The tithe serves the same purpose, also, in a different way. We are constantly receiving life from God,-continually earning, by the strength that He gives us, the means of continuing our existence. Now we are forgetful creatures, and apt to lose thought of God; but if as often as anything comes to us from His hand, we religiously lay aside one-tenth to be sacredly devoted to His cause, we cannot forget Him. It is simply an acknowledgement of the fact that "in Him we live, and move, and have our being."

The tithe is a test of our trust in God, not merely for temporal things, but for eternal salvation; for if, through stress of poverty, or the fear of want, we keep the tithe, how can we make it appear that we trust God as our everlasting Saviour? If we cannot trust Him to provide us a living for a few days or years, how can we trust Him to keep our souls alive in eternity? "In alI thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Christ's Coming and the Millennium" The Present Truth 17, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

"Bear with me while I point out what to me and many more seems utterly ridiculous, namely, your conclusion as to the meaning of the coming of Christ. For example, you state that for a thousand years the world will be given up to Satan and his followers, all the wicked dead to be raised again, after telling us at other times that the wicked have only natural life."

If the PRESENT TRUTH had ever contained any such incoherent teaching as you attribute to it, "utterly ridiculous" would be a very mild term to apply to it; but the trouble arises from a too hasty reading of what was doubtless only a partial statement of the case. Several times there have been passing allusions to certain events connected with the coming of the Lord and the end of the world, when the main topic was something else; and it is doubtless to this that the misunderstanding is due. I will therefore give a detailed, though necessarily brief, presentation of the Scripture statements on this subject, and you can judge for yourself.

In the first place we must accept the Scriptures as true, and as meaning just what they say. When Christ says: "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself," we must believe that He will actually come again as really as He was here once.

In like manner, when we read that the disciples saw Jesus taken up from the midst of them, and that they watched Him till a cIoud received Him out of their sight, and that "while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven," we must believe that He will come personally and visibly in the clouds of heaven.

We have now before us the fact that He will come again, the reason why He will come, and something as to the manner of His coming; next we will learn something about what will take place when He comes. "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead In Christ shell rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17.

And this: "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.

Now the case is clear as regards the righteous at the coming of the Lord: the dead are raised, and all, both living and dead, are changed to immortality, and caught up to meet the Lord in the air, evermore to dwell with Him, and to follow Him whithersoever He goes.

But what about the wicked? Here is where you have fallen into error. You have assumed that the wicked dead will be raised at the same time that the righteous are; but this is a great mistake. It is true that "there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust," but not all at the same time.

In Rev. xix. 11-21; xx. 1-15 we have the whole story told, and I will ask you to read it just now. I might summarise it, but I wish you to see the connected account exactly as it stands in the Bible:-

11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, and LORD OF LORDS.

17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the greet God;

18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beset, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

21 And the remnant were slain with the word of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

CHAPTER XX

1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand,

2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.

3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

6 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.

8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom to as the sand of the sea.

9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beset and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that eat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

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12 And I saw the dead, small end great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

13 And the sea, gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was east into the lake of fire.

Please note carefully the order of events in the sacred narrative. First, we have Christ coming to earth with all the armies of heaven. Verses 11-15. Compare 2 Thess. i. 7-9 and Hab. iii. 3-16. The wicked who have survived the seven last plagues will be consumed with the Spirit of His mouth, and destroyed with the brightness of His coming. See 2 Thess. ii. 8.

But this does not bring to view the final destruction of the wicked, because all the fowls of the air are called together to feed on their flesh. Verses 17-21.

At the same time the righteous dead are raised immortal, and the righteous living are in like manner changed by the same glory that destroys the wicked, "This is the first resurrection."

From the foregoing scriptures it is evident that the earth will thus be divested of all its inhabitants, for the righteous being taken to heaven, and the wicked slain, there will be no men left. Even so says the prophet:-

"I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war [compare with the scriptures already quoted]. Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is spoiled; suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains as in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? . . . I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void [compare Gen. i. 2]; and the heavens, and they had no light. I behold the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I behold, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger. For thus saith the Lord, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end." Jer. iv. 19-27.

You have of course noted that the resurrection of the wicked does not take place until a thousand years after the resurrection of the righteous (See Rev. xx. 4-6), and during this thousand years the earth is in a chaotic state, as in the beginning. This is "the millennium," for it is the only place where a thousand-year period is mentioned in the Bible.

Will there be no inhabitants on the desolate earth?-Yes, Satan and his angels, but no man. This will constitute the binding of Satan; for to be confined to the earth, reduced to a bottomless pit,-"the deep" of Gen. i. 2,-with no people on whom to exercise his wiles, and nothing to do but to contemplate the ruin that his rule has caused, will be a most terrible bondage for his active, restless spirit. He will see the full development of his kingdom-a desolate prison.

At the close of the thousand years of the earth's desolation, during which time the saints will be in heaven, sitting in judgment (compare Ps. cxlix.), the wicked will be raised, and then will Satan be loosed from his bondage for a little season. He will go out to deceive them, making them believe that they can capture the holy city, the New Jerusalem, which in the meantime has come down from God out of heaven. Then will the final destruction of the wicked, together with Satan and his angels, take place, in the lake of fire which will cleanse and renew the earth. "The elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter iii. 12, 13. "For evildoers shall be cutoff; but those that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." Ps. xxxvii. 9-11.

This is the case in outline, as nearly in the language of Scripture as it can be given. It is not our opinion, but God's Word, and our only conclusion in the matter is that it is true.

"How We Live. A Relish for Sausage Eaters" The Present Truth 17, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

The Daily Chronicle of Aug. 17 says:-

"That an extensive trade prevails in converting horseflesh and other cat's-meat into sausages seems, from inquiries in official quarters, to be beyond question. . . . Dr. G. P. Bate, medical officer of health for Bethnal-green, deals at length with the subject in his annual report, and thus sums up the situation: 'I have absolutely no doubt that there is an enormous amount of filthy, poisonous food (of course deeply masked with condiments) dealt in, and that regular, well-established markets and agents exist for this purpose.'

"Another official interviewer yesterday said that consignments were received by the dealers from all parts of the country. The meat was ostensibly intended for cats and dogs, but undoubtedly much of it found its way into German sausages, saveloys, etc., which contained a lot of condiments. Besides horseflesh, cows that had died or met with accidents were dealt with. The authorities were still actively on the lookout, ready to pounce down on law-breakers; but they knew much went on which they could not satisfactorily bring home to the artful offenders."

So it appears that there is no assurance that the practice will be discontinued, and consumers of sausages may enliven their breakfast by guesses as to whether it consists of beef and pork, or horseflesh and offal. Perhaps the feeders upon such carrion will object that it is not at all nice to speak about such things; they think it nicer to eat them in silence. We prefer to eat that which is good, and which is a delight both to the eye, the palate, and the mind. Those who live on the food which God has provided for men, are never troubled, with doubts as to its quality. We must add, however, that the reason for abstaining from flesh is not that it may be diseased, but that at its best state it is unnatural, and not such food as will develop the highest type of manhood.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

The famous "No. 1" Great Northern engine recently completed its four-millionth mile. It was built in 1870. It is still regularly employed on express passenger work.

A postman employed at Crayford (Kent) has recently died "the result of being stung in the eye by a mosquito. The eye was removed, but the operation failed to save the man's life.

At the Congress on Tuberculosis, Professor Brouardel, chief medical adviser to the French Government, said that alcoholism is an important factor in propagating tuberculosis, and that any successful measures against the ravages of alcohol would diminish the mortality of the disease.

The action of same of the Free Church ministers, in seeking to direct the Government, has called out some clear statements on the relation of Christianity to politics. Herbert Hodgson writes to the Chronicle: "I doubt whether even Dr. Clifford can prove that applied Christianity can be reconciled with politics. For instance, politics and war can be reconciled; Christianity and war-never.

"Sterling honesty of purpose and purity of motive may and do characterise many of our political leaders, but political partisanship does interfere with Christian teaching. And as long as the words of the founder of Christianity stand-to wit, 'My kingdom is not of this world; if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight'-so long will political parties be denied to those who profess to be called ministers of Jesus Christ."

The Daily Chronicle has lately contained a good deal of correspondence about the matter of smoking on trains or buses. The nuisance his been well ventilated, but we fear that it has not yet been given sufficient air to neutralise or sweep away the vile fumes which people who desire to live clean lives are often compelled to breathe. It is encouraging, however, to learn that in spite of the hardening, benumbing tendency of tobacco, there are smokers whose gentlemanly instincts have not been wholly obliterated by the filthy habit. "An Old Smoker" having written that he always made it a rule, if a lady sat beside him on a train to "go through the form of asking if smoking were unpleasant to her," and added, "I don't bother about gentleman," a "Middle aged Smoker" scores him for taking credit to himself for a very cheap form of "unselfishness," saying; "He altogether ignores the fact that though anyone can go through this form, yet there are very few who possess the moral courage to raise an objection, even when appealed to. Such a request might not to be put to a stranger, as he is thereby at once placed in a false position. If 'An Old Smoker' were even rudimentarily unselfish, he would not smoke when sitting quite close to a nonsmoker."

The founder of the Social Democratic Federation, Mr. H. M. Hyndman, has recently withdrawn from its management, dating in a latter explaining his motion, that he "failed to detect among the English workers that class consciousness and class antagonism without which no good whatever could be done." We are sorry that we are forced to believe that Mr. Hyndman is mistaken in his estimate of the working class, for we think there is a large amount of "class antagonism" among them; but we are glad to note this confession that socialism depends for its power to do "good" upon the subversion of the principles of Christianity. Perhaps some workingmen will take this to heart, and will put their trust solely in the Gospel and in Gospel methods.

All the world wondered at the marvellous manner in which France recovered itself and its credit after the Franco-Prussian war; but there is a limit to human exertion, and it appears that it has been reached in that country. The French National Debt, which now amounts to ?1,200,000,000, or more than ?31 for each man, woman, and child in the country, is constantly increasing. Between 1875 and 1889 the actual deficit amounted to ?328,580,000, and for the first six months of the present year the revenue shown is falling off of ?2,700,000, as compared with the same period last year. "France has to pay ?50,000,000 for her debt and pensions alone, and the Army and Navy swallow ?41,000,000; so that ?91,000,000 disappears before the general interests of the country can be taken into consideration." An "armed peace" is in the long run as ruinous as a war, as might be expected, since it is really no peace at all.

Or all the foolish suits at law, the most childishly silly is a libel suit, or a suit for "defamation of character." By no other means could the one who brings it so completely show lack of character. Look at the case: If a man sues another for money or other property wrongfully taken or withhold, he has some prospect of getting it returned; but when he sues for defamation of character, what can he get? Will he ask for money? It so, that is a confession that his character is represented in value by a few coins. But, worst and most humiliating confession of all, the very fact of entering suit in such a case, is to declaration that the plaintiff's character is of such a nature that it can be taken away by a few words spoken by another. The truly virtuous man will never whine or complain or lose his temper because somebody assails his character; it is only the man who is conscious of the weakness of his own character who feels called upon to defend it. "The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression." Prov. xix. 11.

If anyone thinks that superstition is a thing of the past, or is confined to what are known so "heathen lands," let him read the following, which appeared in a recent number of the Catholic Times:-

"If all those who are in debt were to be told that with the doing of a short task each day for fifteen days their debts would all be paid in full, how gladly they would accept the offer at once. The Church offers the sinner full pardon and absolution of all his sins if he visits a church, four times a day for fifteen days and saying the usual prayers, then making a good Confession and Communion. Do not hesitate, but commence at once and gain the great Indulgence of the Jubilee."

No one who knows the Gospel of Jesus Christ needs to be told that this is pure Paganism.

A case of military tyranny is reported from Austria. "A lieutenant called a baker vile names in a restaurant at Taschen. The baker reported the matter to the lieutenant's superior officer. Thereupon a military Court of Honour was called, which decided that it was an insult for a baker to complain of a lieutenant's conduct. As a mere baker could not be challenged, the Court deputed three officers to chastise him with horsewhips, and to use their swords if he resisted. The baker did resist, and is likely to die from the wounds which were, in consequence, inflicted."

It must not be supposed that the Austrians are naturally more brutal than other people; but the frequent recurrence of the outrages must be set down to the brutalising tendency of military training.

The report of the loss of the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company's steamer Islander, which ran into a submerged iceberg near Juneau, Alaska, and went down in a few minutes in forty fathoms of water, contains some striking points for the moralist. Two may be mentioned. A returning miner strapped 8,000 dollars in gold round his waist, and the weight of it made the life-preserver topple over, and he was drowned. Several others were lost in the endeavour to save the gold for which they had toiled so long and hard. In contrast with their selfish death was that of the captain who, seeing that the raft to which he had escaped was overcrowded and was in danger of sinking with its load of passengers, said, "There are too many here," and quietly allowed himself to drop into the sea, and was drowned. Surely He who notes the fall of a sparrow keeps a record of such acts.

It is significant that citizens of the country whose principal boast is its freedom should receive in a monarchy a needed lesson in democracy. At one of the hotels in London there are at present a number of gentlemen, including two or three bishops, who have come to attend the Methodist ?cumenical Conference. Those gentlemen are coloured, and their white fellow-citizens from the United States objected to their presence in the same building as themselves, and waited as the manager with a threat that they would leave the hotel if the coloured men were not sent away. The manager informed them that such social prejudices were not recognised in England, and that the only conditions for entertainment at his house were prompt payment and civil behaviour. He said that he should not turn his coloured guests away, even if all the rest left; and the others, doubtless concluding that they had made a sufficient exhibition of snobbishness, decided to stay.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

"Whoso keepeth the commandment shall know no evil thing." Eccl. viii. 5, R.V. It was the transgression of the commandment that brought the knowledge of evil into the world; the keeping of it, through the faith of Jesus, saves us not merely from the doing of evil, but from the knowledge of it. What a blessed assurance that is.

When there is so much that is real, it is folly to spend time on that which is only fancy. Still if one must dream, it is better to build castles in the air than to dig holes in the ground; it is better to expect good than to anticipate evil. But we need not deal in uncertainties at all, nor ever fear evil; for God "giveth us richly all things to enjoy."

The St. Louis (U.S.A.) Post-Despatch says that "nearly every patient taken to the city hospital on account of heat prostration is a steady drinker." We read of a time when the sun will be given "power to scorch men with fire;" but all may be assured that it will not have this power over any who have not first kindled the fire in themselves.

"A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none." This represents the Lord; He is looking for good, not for evil. People dishonour Him when they think of God as acting the part of a detective, seeking to discover some crime, and the Judgment as a search for sin. God does not want to find sin; it would please Him never to see any; and He looks at men for no other reason than to discover the good that is in them, and to quicken it into activity. If He finds no response to His efforts, then the rejection that follows is a natural consequence.

"Cleanliness and Godliness" The Present Truth 17, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

Cleanliness and Godliness .-We have all heard from our childhood that "cleanliness is next to godliness;" but the truth is that true cleanliness is godliness. The forgiveness of sins is the washing of them away by the blood of Christ. The promises of God received by faith make us partakers of the Divine nature-sons of God,-and these promises are to cause us to "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." The Pharisees of old thought that cleansing of the body alone was godliness; the monks of a later date thought that the body must be neglected and allowed to become as filthy as possible, in order to purify the spirit; but he who truly knows the Lord, and appreciates the purity of His life, will give diligence to be perfectly clean both without and within. "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

"Excuses Not Reasons" The Present Truth 17, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

Excuses Not Reasons .-The American philosopher, Benjamin Franklin, said that the advantage of being a reasoning creature lay in this, that it enabled a man to find a reason for anything he was determined to do. We are reminded of this when we read in the Methodist Times, at the beginning of an argument for infant baptism, that "there is no express injunction in Scripture for the baptism of infants; and we might even concede that there is no definite instance of such baptism recorded in the New Testament." Surely, then, whatever "reason" is given for so-called infant baptism, it cannot be a Scriptural one. Even philosophers sometimes mistake an excuse for a reason.

"Some Wisdom of This World" The Present Truth 17, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

We read that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God," and it is quite easy to appreciate this statement when we see some phases of it. In a Daily Chronicle review of a new text book on Zoology, written by two college professors with several letters after their names, we find the following:-

"The long neck of the giraffe has been acquired, think the authors, to enable it to browse on the foliage of trees. Or to be more accurate, they rather imply than actually state this conclusion in so many words. It seems to us to be more likely that this six-foot neck is related to the need of spying out a crawling hungry lion advancing through the herbage. Here again we are far from wishing to contradict the authors. What we want to insist upon is the absence of finality in such statements of opinion; the uninstructed reader will get an impression that such opinions as those quoted are definitely ascertained facts."

It is refreshing to know that "the absence of finality of such statements of opinion" is recognised. Some, at least, of "the uninstructed" will wonder how it happened that no other animal save the giraffe ever developed a long neck by browsing on the foliage of trees; for it is certain that many other animals do have an appetite for such food. And again, we cannot help questioning how it came to pass that other animals who have just as much need of spying out hungry lions, never developed ouch an observatory. Yet even in the face of these absurdities of evolution, the man who believes the simple, straightforward Bible account, that God created everything "after its kind," is pitied as credulous! Anyhow, it is better to give credence to sense than to nonsense.

"The Victory of Faith" The Present Truth 17, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

The Victory of Faith .-This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John v. 4, R.V.

"Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. xv. 57.

The crown of victory is peace, and this has been given us; for Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you." John xiv. 27. Therefore we know that the victory which Christ has won once for all, He gives to us.

Our fighting, therefore, is not to gain the victory, but to keep it. We are exhorted to keep that which is committed to us. The victory is in the faith of Jesus; and if we keep the faith, we shall never lose the victory.

Remember this, then, that Satan with all his host has been overcome. He has suffered an irrecoverable overthrow. Christ has done that for us, since we were without strength. Now Satan exerts himself to snatch the victory from us, but he never can succeed as long as we remember that the victory is ours, and know our right to it.

The leader of the armies of heaven-the One who sits on the white horse (See Rev. vi . 2 and xiv. 11-16)-goes forth "conquering and to conquer." Thus we are to do. If we would conquer, we must go forth conquering. The one who goes forth doubting, fearing, hesitating, wondering if he can get the victory, will certainly put to flight; while he who goes out to battle shouting victory through Jesus Christ the Lord, will stand in the evil day.

September 5, 1901

"Face to Face with God. Gen. xxxii. 1-32" The Present Truth 17, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xxxii. 1-32.)²²1

When Jacob had by treachery secured the birthright and the father's blessing, "Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob." Rebekah heard of Esau's purpose, and she told Jacob of it, and said to him:-

"Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban, my brother, to Haran; and tarry with him a few days until thy brother's fury turn away; until thy brother's anger turn from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him; then will I send and fetch thee from thence." Gen. xxvii. 41-45.

Also, poor woman, she little knew the depth of fury that was in Esau's heart. He was a "profane person," and "did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever." Amos i. 11. The "few days" had lengthened into twenty years, but never had Rebekah dared send for Jacob. Now, after long exile, he was venturing back, driven by unbearable oppression in the place whither he had fled for safety. Uncertain as to the state of Esau's mind, Jacob sent messengers ahead to greet him, and to seek his favour; but those had returned, bringing the alarming news that they had met Esau coming to meet him with four hundred men. The situation was most critical, and Jacob might well be "greatly afraid and distressed."

But Esau's company was not the only band that was ahead of Jacob and his family. Before this, as he went on his way, "the angels, of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host; and he called the name of the place Mahanaim," that is, "two hosts, or camps."

"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." There were two companies encamped on the plain,-one with no strength at all, and the other with all power,-and between them they were invincible without striking a blow. What a blessed thing to know ourselves as part of "the whole family in heaven and earth." Jacob saw the angels of God, and called it God's host-mahaneh; then he saw his own feeble company, and straightway doubted it-Mahanaim-two hosts. It is as though God's hosts of angels, strong and mighty as they are alone, have double power when doing service for those who shall be heirs of salvation.

It was night, and the next day Jacob must meet his revengeful brother. How could he face him?-There was only one way: he must first meet God. So, having done all that lay in his power to provide for the safety of his family, he remained alone by the brook Jabbok, to have a season of secret prayer. He must know that there was no separation between himself and God, before he could meet his angry brother. Now it is sin alone that separates men from God, and prevents Him from exercising His strong arm in their defence; therefore we know that Jacob went to the secret place of prayer to confess his sin to God, and to receive the assurance of pardon and of union with God. What a grand thing it was that years before he had learned the way into the house of God.

"And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking

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of the day. And when He saw that He prevailed not against him, He touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, Let Me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me. And He said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And He said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked Him, and said, Tell me, I pray Thee, Thy name. And He said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after My name? And He blessed him there."

We read of Jacob that "by his strength he had power with God. Yea, he had power over the Angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto Him; he found Him in Bethel, and there He spake with us; even the Lord of hosts; the Lord is His memorial." Hosea xii. 3-5. It was "by his strength" that Jacob prevailed. And what was his strength? It was his helplessness. Jacob wrestled all night with one whom he supposed was a man seeking to take his life; but when that mysterious stranger touched his thigh and put it out of joint, he knew that he was in the presence of God. Then what did he do? He most certainly did the only thing that a man under such circumstances, with his thigh suddenly put out of joint, could do-he threw his arms round the neck of the angel for support.

And now a wonderful thing happens: the victor turns suppliant. He who had power utterly to disable Jacob with a light touch, begs the stricken, clinging man to let Him go. What does this show?-That God cannot tear Himself away from the helpless one that clings to Him for support. He is the Almighty, and can easily loose the joints of the stoutest wrestler, but He cannot unloose the arms that confidingly clasp His neck. Jacob caught at that word, "Let Me go," and declared, "I will not." Ah, with what boldness we may draw near to God. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."

Do not fail to notice how Jacob first began His request to God. He said, "Thou saidst, Lord, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude," Gen. xxxii. 12. He pleaded God's promise. He told God what He had said; and when one does that, and remembers that God cannot lie, he has the things that he asked for. Only one thing is necessary to enable anyone to have all good things that He needs, and that is to believe that God is true.

From henceforth Jacob had a new name. Up to that time he had been the "supplanter,"-the one who in the battle of life would stoop to take a mean advantage of his brother, and, catching him by the heel, would trip him up. But that method could not give him a real victory. He earned the name Israel-prince, overcomer, by yielding himself up.

Now we know who are Israel. They are the sons who overcome. No matter what the nationality-the man who has power in prayer with God, is an Israelite. The first one who received the name was a Syrian; since then men of every nation under heaven have been enrolled by that name in God's book.

Such ones have power indeed. "He that overcometh, and keepeth My words unto the end," says the Lord, "to him will I give power over the nations." Rev. ii. 26, 27. No enemy can stand before the face of the man who can stand before the face of God. He who can see God face to face and have his life preserved, need have no fear of man. Esau's fury was disarmed while Jacob was weeping in the arms of God. Before that Jacob was afraid, but he said, "What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee;" and then, having seen the Lord, he could say, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Christ Our Brother" The Present Truth 17, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xxxii. 1-32.)²³1

"Who is the 'him' spoken of in Heb. ii. 13?

"The reason why I ask this question to this: to me it seems, from the context, that 'him' must refer to man. From a human standpoint at least, it seems exceedingly strange that God, Christ could put His trust in man,-and still that is just what it seems to me He did when He risked everything to save him. I have asked several concerning this word, and nearly all, including our very best Bible students, or teachers, have thought that 'him' has reference to the Father, in whom Christ put His trust when He took upon Himself to save man. Now I do not doubt for a moment that Christ always trusted in the Father, but I fail to see the logic of Paul's presenting that fact in such a connection, for he is not giving some Scripture evidences that Christ is not ashamed to call man His brother.

"I would be very thankful for an answer to this question. If it is man, it is plain enough to me, and a most wonderful thought; while if it be God, I would be glad to have a word of explanation as to how that can be harmonised with the context."

Let us first ascertain from the text and the context exactly what the writer says, and then we can take a little time to consider the reason why he says it, and the lesson that it contains for us.

The passage, as you well know, sets forth Christ's oneness with man. The first chapter of Hebrews presents Christ as greater than the angels,-the effulgence of God, and having by birthright inheritance the name of God,-while the second chapter presents Him in man's place, in all things "made like unto His brethren." Man, crowned in the beginning with glory and honour, a king, has lost his crown of glory, and well-nigh, obliterated the Divine likeness from his soul. Still, however far he has wandered, the prodigal is the Father's son, having the same Source of life as Christ, the only-begotten Son. It is this that is stated, and supported by citations from Christ's words, in the following verses:-

"Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of One; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying,

"I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee.

"And again, I will put My trust in Him.

"And again, Behold I and the children which God both given Me."

Here are three distinct sayings of Christ. The first one is from Ps. xxii. 22. The last is from Isa. viii. 18. The second one we must find if we can.

Note first the exact words. "I will put My trust in"-whom? "in Him," not in them. If the brethren were referred to, we should expect it to read, "I will put My trust in them;" but it is not so. He says, "I will put My trust in Him," evidently in the One of whom are both "He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified."

Let us now see if we can find any place where these words here quoted are used. Negatively, we may read John ii. 23-25:-

"Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in His name, because they saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man; for He knew what was in man." Or, as in the Revision, "Jesus did not trust Himself unto them."

This seems quite conclusive. We may add to it the frequent warnings against putting trust in man. For instance: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help." Ps. cxviii. 3. "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." Ps. cxviii. 8.

"We are the circumcision [the true children of faith], which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Phil. iii. 3. And so far is this carried, that it applies even to Christ's flesh; for the same apostle says: "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more." 2 Cor. v. 16.

Christ did not even trust in Himself as man, for He said: "I can of Mine own self do nothing;" and, "Verily, verily I say, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do." John v. 30, 19.

These statements are sufficient on the one side; let us now look at the other side.

Jesus did trust absolutely in God. Even His enemies admitted this. When He hung on the cross, they said: "He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him." Matt. xxvii. 43. It is significant that these words are an exact fulfilment of Ps. xxii. 7, 8. That psalm is the expression of Christ's sufferings, and it is from it that we have the first of the sayings quoted in Heb. ii. 11-13. In it we find several plain statements to the effect that Christ put His trust in God. Thus: "Thou art He that took Me out of the womb; Thou didst make Me trust when I was upon My mother's breasts." Verse 9.

Read also Ps. xxi. 7: "For the King trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High He shall not be moved."

The sixty-ninth psalm, which is manifestly the utterance of Christ, is a psalm of trust.

Read also Isa. i. 7-9, the words of Him who gave His back to the smiters, and His cheek to those that plucked off the hair; that hid not His face from shame and spitting: "The Lord God will help Me; therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I not My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be moved."

Here is a plain statement concerning Christ, "who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously." 1 Peter ii. 23.

And lastly, as showing how absolutely He was in all things like unto His brethren, we read in Heb. v. that "in the days of His flesh" He prayed for deliverance "with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him," just as the weakest one of us is constrained to do.

Now I know that you have been almost impatient while we have been reading these texts, because your real difficulty has not been touched. The fact that Christ trusted in God for everything here on earth, even for deliverance from the power of temptation, you know as well as I; your question is, "What reason is there for mentioning that fact in the second

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chapter of Hebrews, to show that He is not ashamed to call man His brother?" Why, that is just what most strikingly shows His relationship to us,-His oneness with humanity. If He had nothing in common with us, He might be ashamed to call us brethren; but "compassed with infirmity," compelled to trust God for deliverance just as we must,-His nature our nature,-He is our Brother; He is one with us in all things. We can go to Him with our confidences more freely than to any earthly friend, because we know that by painful experience He can sympathise with us better than anybody on earth. He will not despise us on account of our weakness, because He Himself knows by experience how utterly helpless is humanity. Nothing of myself that I can reveal to Him will surprise Him, or cause Him to turn away in scorn; for He has struggled with all the besetments of our common human nature.

But He sinned not; and as surely as He is our Brother, His victory is our victory. Nothing can bring Him more lovingly and tenderly and helpfully near to us than these words of His, "I will put My trust in Him." In this He identifies Himself absolutely with us, and that is our assurance of perfect victory. "As He is, so are we in this world," because as we are, so is He.

"Advice on Reading" The Present Truth 17, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

Nobody can be sure, says Mr. John Morley, that he has got clear ideas on a subject unless he has tried to put them down on a piece of paper in independent words of his own. It is an excellent plan, too, when you have read a good book, to sit down and write a short abstract of what you can remember of it.

It is a still better plan, if you can make up your mind to a slight extra labour, to do what Lord Strafford and Gibbon, and Daniel Webster did. After glancing over the title, subject, or design of a book, these eminent men would take a pen and write roughly what questions they expected to find, answered in it, what difficulties solved, what kind of information imparted. Such practices keep us from reading with the eye only, gliding vaguely over the page; and they help us to place our new acquisitions in relation with what we knew before.

It is almost always worth while to read a thing twice over, to make sure that nothing has been missed or dropped on the way, or wrongly conceived or interpreted. And if the subject be serious, it is often well to let an interval elapse. Ideas, relations, statements of facts are not to be taken by storm. We have to steep them in the mind, in the hope of thus extracting their inmost essence and significance. If one lets an interval paws, and then returns, it is surprising bow clear and ripe that has become which, when we left it, seemed crude, obscure, full of perplexity.

All this takes trouble, no doubt; but, then, it will not do to deal with Ideas that we find in books or elsewhere as a certain bird does with its eggs-leave them in the sand for the sun to hatch and chance to rear. People who follow this plan possess nothing better than ideas half-hatched and convictions reared by accident. They are like a man who should pace up and down the world in the delusion that he is clad in sumptuous robes of purple and velvet, when in truth he is only half covered by the rage and tatters of other people's castoff clothes.

"The Hot Water Ordeal" The Present Truth 17, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

It is not often that a human being gets through life without lemming by experience how great a "power to injure" is contained in a single drop of boiling water. For this reason an article in the Wide World Magazine, on the Hot Water Ordeal of the Shintos, will appeal to most people with double force.

It takes place in a peaceful looking temple. Some thirty priests, in gorgeous raiment, conduct a long and elaborate religious service as a preliminary to the ceremony. In front of the temple, in a square bounded by bamboos, two iron cauldrons are set up over crackling wood fires. Drums throb, banners flutter, priests chant, and coolies flit to and fro as attendant spirits on the leaping flames, the hissing, spluttering water.

When all is ready, the devotees who are about to undergo the ordeal appear upon the scene, clad in white. After various preliminaries they seize bamboo branches tightly fastened together, dip them into the boiling water, and then drench themselves with a scalding shower-bath by means of those branches. Again and many times again this performance is repeated, till all the water in the cauldrons is used, the devotees dancing a wild dance all the time, and coming out of the ordeal unhurt, unscalded. The high priest, in his robes of white and gold, gives it as his opinion that the boiling water, if used in faith for a religious purpose, loses its power to hurt.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

M. Pictet, a Genevese inventor, has discovered a process which will revolutionise the metallurgical trade. His invention consists of a method for manufacturing oxygen gas at a cost of less than a farthing per cubic yard. Messrs. Galloway, a Manchester firm, have bought the patent at a fabulous price, outbidding American and French firms.

There is now in actual operation a new system of telegraphy between Budapest and Flume, a distance of 375 miles, by which 40,000 words an hour can be transmitted. This is three times faster than the fastest Morse apparatus, and what is more, requires no skilled transcription, as the messages are written in Roman characters. Negotiations are in progress for establishing the system in France and Germany.

In his report for 1900 the British Consul at Frankfurt (Germany) says the number of postcards dealt with by the German authorities reached the colossal figure of 736,000,000. "This can only be accounted for," he adds, "by the German mania for souvenir cards. Between August 9 and August 16, although the travelling season was not at its height, the daily average of souvenir postcards sent was 1,446,938.

Now that the great strike of the Grimsby fishermen has reduced the business of the port almost to nothing, and thousands of its once prosperous inhabitants almost to starvation, it may be interesting to read how the fishing industry has grown within the last fifty years. "In 1854 there were less than five hundred tons of fish landed at the port; in 1860 there were over four thousand, and from then Grimsby carried all before it. In 1870 the fish tonnage had increased to 26,324; in 1880 it was 46,931; in 1890 it reached 71,882; and now it has turned the six-figure corner. The Board of Trade estimated the value of the fish which Grimsby caught in 1899 at no less than a million and three quarters sterling."

Now we know that "all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword," the outlook for a country that is so devoted to the sword, and to all that it signifies, as the following item from a Berlin correspondent to a daily paper would indicate, is not at all exhilarating:-

As illustrative of the position assumed by military officers in their dealings with civilians, I might mention an affair which recently happened in the garrison town of Thorn. An officer brought an action against a civilian for an alleged insult, giving his evidence on oath. The civilian was supported by three other witnesses, who denied the accuracy of the officer's statement. The judge, however, declared that the sworn evidence of a Prussian officer could not be impugned, and declined to administer the oath to the defendant's witnesses, giving judgment for the plaintiff.

The ninety-seventh annual report of the British and Foreign Bible Society has just been issued, and it contains some very interesting Items. The total number of copies of Scripture issued by the Society since its foundation amounts is no fewer than 169,971,654. Last year 845,587 Bibles, 1,308,176 New Testaments, and 2,760,586 portions of the Bible were issued. The Society's list now contains complete Bibles in 100 languages, complete New Testaments in nearly 100 others, and some portion of Scripture in more than 150 others. To print these over 50 different sets of characters are required. Appealing for funds to make up a deficit, the report says: "Hitherto no genuine application from the foreign field for a grant of Scriptures has ever been denied. Hitherto no missionary society's request to print and publish a properly authenticated version of the Scriptures in a new tongue has ever been refused. There is also this significant statement: "As a rule we still experience the cordial and steady co-operation of the Russian Church, in contrast with the sleepless opposition of the Roman Church in all countries where it has power."

It is reported that the fires by which a vast part of Russia has been visited this summer are becoming more and more numerous. "Whole towns and villages, manufactories, woods, and moors are being burned, and the extent of the damage which will be suffered by the Government and private uninsured individuals is, according to the estimate of reliable authorities reaching the vast figure of ?10,000,000 sterling." It is estimated that a quarter of a million acres of timber in the imperial forests have been destroyed within the past eight weeks, and that no fewer than 187 villages have been completely or partially burned this summer. There is no doubt but that these fires are incendiary in their origin, and, as usual, the crime to charged to the Jews. This has made the condition of that people much more serious, and several lynchings have occurred.

The inexorable tyranny of military rule is becoming more and more manifest. Not long since two German soldiers were charged with the murder of an officer. The chief evidence against them was the fact that the dead officer had treated them so outrageously that they might naturally be expected to kill him. One of the accused men has been twice tried and acquitted, but, according to the Hamburger Nachrichten, "it is widely felt in army circles that the immunity from punishment of the murderers of Captain Krosigk would be so terrible a blow against discipline, that it is better an innocent man should be executed than no one." It says: "The interests of a solitary individual like Marten must be subordinated to the general interests of the army. Even were he innocent his execution would cause a wholesome fear among the men." Yes, and also such a wholesome hatred of the machine that so relentessly crushes the life out of individuals as will some day lead to a terrible outbreak of anarchy.

"The Typhoid Season and Oysters" The Present Truth 17, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

The Daily Chronicle has an occasional entitled, "Science of the Day," conducted by Dr. Andrew Wilson. In the issue of August 22 the Doctor had the following concerning the subject at the head of this article:-

The season of the year when typhoid fever is mostly with us is fast approaching. It is a fever which attains its maximum yearly development in the fall of the year. Hence it may be well to remind my readers of their greater liability to infection during September and October. It is then specially that our water supplies demand attention, and I should advise paterfamilias that on his return from holidaying the cisterns of the domicile should be specially seen to, and the local plumber instructed to clean them out. This domestic precaution will not be thrown away in a sanitary sense.

There is no doubt whatever that typhoid fever is liable to be conveyed to us also by infected shell-fish. Before me lies a report of a case of this ailment occurring at Kingsbridge, Devon, the medical officer of health attributing the ailment to the patient having eaten cockles taken from the estuary of the river. The sewage, it is added, was carried where the cockles were found. Recently the public were informed that all British oyster-beds, save two, could be guaranteed to be free from contamination by sewage, which of course is liable to contain the germs or bacilli of typhoid. I should very much like to learn the names of the two beds alluded to. Perhaps some of my readers will be able to notify them to me.

The observations of scientists on typhoid germs in oysters have shown that the bacilli live in the oyster in pure water for about fourteen days. Where the water is of an impure character, the germs will doubtless survive for a much longer period.

It is clear that there can only be one measure, and one only effective, for the preservation of the public from this preventible scourge, and that is, the exercise of care on the part of the oyster companies in order to prevent any access of sewage to their beds.

There is another most effective measure that can be taken 'for the preservation of the public from this preventible scourge," and that is to leave the oysters to repose in their beds, and not swallow them. This is the one and only sure safeguard against disease from them. And it is the course that ought to be preserved, even though the molluses are enjoying the best of health; for such unclean creatures as shell-fish are unfit for the human stomach. Man is made largely of what he eats; and the most superficial thought should be sufficient to convince anyone that good human brain and muscle, capable of thinking the highest, purest thoughts, and doing the best work, cannot be built out of such low-grade material as is found in the mud at the bottom of the sea. All those creatures are scavengers, so that at the best those who eat them feed on refuse matter.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

Here is an excellent example to be followed by all who find themselves the subject of gossip or slander: "They that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long. But I, as a deaf man hear not; I am as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. Yea, I am as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no arguments." Ps. xxxviii. 12-14, R.V., margin. No end of trouble would be saved if more would learn the art of being deaf and dumb; and if we truly suffer with Christ we shall learn it.

Are you in trouble? If so, hear this gracious invitation and promise: "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me." Ps. l. 16.

But you say that your trouble is peculiar. That makes no difference; "He comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." 2 Cor. i. 4. He knows all our troubles; He cares for us in our infirmities; and He is abundantly able to save all that put their trust in Him.

"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Nobody stands by inherent strength. Nobody can by a life of virtue become so firmly established in it that he cannot fall away. Past victories, however great and precious, are not sufficient for to-day. "Thou standest by thy faith. Be not highminded but fear." God is our strength, and all the strength we have, and it is our present relation to Him that determines whether or not we stand. Trusting Him, building on Him, we are secure; but the one who loses his sense of dependence on God, and who thinks himself strong enough to stand alone, will instantly fall, though he may have lived uprightly for many years. Therefore, "my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."

The Christian must live above sensual indulgence; yet he who looks upon sensual pleasures with stoical contempt, has never experienced the perfection and joy of Christian victory. The Christian is not, as the ancient heathen thought, an ascetic, having nothing in common with human kind, and despising all human feeling. On the contrary, the real Christian is in closest touch and fullest sympathy with mankind, and is more keenly susceptible to pleasurable emotions than anybody else; and that is just why he scorns sensuality. He knows joys so infinitely higher and more lasting that merely carnal, sensual pleasures are less attractive to him than the toys of childhood are to the mature man. It is the joy of the Lord, that is the Christian's strength against temptation. Will-power, or the adherence to right solely because it is right, that is, a mere sense of duty, will not long avail to keep a man from falling a victim to some one or more of the lusts of the flesh; but the fulness of the joy of acquaintance and association with the Lord will draw a man away from earthly pleasures, and keep him faithful to the end.

"Can God Defend Himself" The Present Truth 17, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

Can God Defend Himself? -In Ps. xvii. 7 we read, "Show Thy marvellous lovingkindnes, O Thou that savest by Thy right hand them which put their trust in Thee from those that rise up against them." This is very comforting, for "the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly" (Ps. cxviii. 16); but if you will look at the marginal reading you will find an exact translation of the Hebrew of the last part of this verse, which is much stronger than the paraphrase which the translators thought best to put in the body of the text. Thus we may read it: "Show [or, make distinguished, prominent] Thy loving-kindness, O Thou that savest them which trust in Thee from those that rise up against Thy right hand." God counts every attack on us as directed against Himself, and so it indeed is, since "in Him we live." Then the oft-repeated, and oftener thought query, "Can God save me?" may be changed for, "Can God successfully defend Himself?" But to ask such a question is to answer it, and so there is an end to doubt and fear. What a blessed thing it is to know that our life is "bound in the bundle of life with the Lord," and is as safe as His.

"A Sure Dwelling Place" The Present Truth 17, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

"Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations." Ps. xc. 1. What the Lord always has been, He is still, for He changes not. Because He changes not, we are not consumed. Mal. iii. 6.

If the Lord should change, should cast us out, and cease to be our dwelling place, we should cease to be; for only "in Him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 28.

But "the Lord will not cast off for ever." Lam. iii. 31. Even though He chasten us, and cause grief, "yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies." His chastenings are in tender love, being only the washing and cleansing of the wounds that sin has made.

He will not cast off, and no one can pluck us out of Him bosom-our dwelling place. We may, like prodigal sons, attempt to shake off home restraints, and chose to live independently, but we cannot succeed; for even the portion which we call our own, and which we squander, is His provision for us, and wander where we will, we are never out of the grasp of His loving, sustaining hand.

What a blessed, joyful assurance that He is "not far from every one of us"! Though we fly to the ends of the earth, or go into its depths, His salvation is near, for "all the ends of the earth" are called on to behold the salvation of our God. He saves with His right hand and His mighty, outstretched arm-the arm that encircles the universe.

Then how easy it is always to find salvation. "Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear Him; that glory may dwell in our land." No matter how far we have wandered away, at no time need it take a minute to find ourselves safe in the sheltering bosom of the Father. Although no soul on earth is out of His hand, that is not our dwelling place. The soul can never find rest and peace while so far separated from God as to be merely in His hand; it is in Him that we find peace in absolute union with Him, our whole soul, body, and spirit swallowed up in His. "In returning and rest shall ye be saved." When our will is wholly lost in His, and we find our delight solely in Him, then shall the promise be fulfilled: "My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in dwellings, and in quiet resting places."

September 12, 1901

"A Lesson in Temperance. Proverbs xxiii. 29-35" The Present Truth 17, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

(Prov. xxiii. 29-35.)²⁴1

"Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again."

Here we have a brief but complete description of the drinking habits and its results. It brings woe, or wailing and lamentation. It brings sorrow, or want, poverty, wretchedness; for all these ideas are conveyed by the Hebrew words rendered "woe," and "sorrow."

The drunkard also has "contentions." The Hebrew word from which this is translated as the root idea of judging, and primarily means "to attack one judicially," "to contend before a judge," not excluding, of course, ordinary strife between man. So a litigious disposition is one of the products of wine-bibbing. Wine in flames the passions, makes one self-important, it gives one an exaggerated sense of his own dignity, and an inclination to resent any affront, together with a quickness to detect affront when none was meant.

The drinking habit also produces "babbling" or complaining, as it is in the Revised Version. Who has not seen a strong man manifest all the carelessness and pettishness of a spoiled child, making a most shamefully ridiculous exhibition of himself, simply because he had put an enemy into his mouth, to take away his brains?

The wine-drinker has also "redness of eyes," or, as in the margin of the Revised Version, darkness of eyes. The Hebrew lexicon gives as the rendering of the Hebrew word in this place, "darkened flashing" of eyes, "referring to the with fierceness arising from intoxication." The drinking of intoxicating liquor makes men silly, quarrelsome, and stupid, according to the decrease of intoxication.

The loss of sense is most vividly depicted in the last verses. What could be more foolhardy than to lie down for rest in the midst of the sea, or on the top of a mast? And, most of all, the one who has been stricken and beaten by this enemy, which appeared to be a friend, will say, "When the shall I awake? I will seek it yet again." He is bound in chains, so that he follows after that which brings him all his wretchedness and misery.

But it must be noticed that it is only a certain kind of wine that affects these results. It is the "mixed wine" that sparkles and carries a "bead;" that is, it is fermented wine. Natural, unfermented wine, the kind that the Lord makes for man, is good and wholesome, refreshing and health-giving. It is not simply harmless, but it is actively beneficial, been the pure fruit of the vine. It does not deceive.

Now that we have looked at the picture of the drunkard,-a picture with which we are unfortunately too familiar without the Bible presentation of it,-we come to the heart of the matter, and ask, What is the sin of wine and spirit-drinking? Why is it wrong to drink alcoholic liquor of any kind, no matter what its name?

The answer must be that the evil is in the effect produced. The act of drinking is not sinful, for it is the same when wine is strong or as when the beverage is water. If wine never produced any more ill effects than water does, it would be no more sinful to drink it than to drink water. So of any other article of food or drink. There is no arbitrary command, the list of things that must not be touched; but there is the command: "Keep thyself pure;" "abstain from fleshly loss, that war against the soul;" whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." We are to be "ready to every good work." We belong to God, and are to yield our members to Him as instruments of righteousness; whatever habit or practice tends to lower our vitality, or in any degree, even though temporarily, to unfitness for the best service is possible for us to render, is a sin against God.

The thing that is most what did it in the Bible is wisdom,-true wisdom that comes from above,-wisdom that shows itself in all one's acts. It is the Spirit of God that gives wisdom, and so we have the exhortation: "Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." Eph. v. 17, 18. The spirit of wine-alcohol-is in direct opposition to the Spirit of God; and it is absolutely useless to pray for wisdom, or to be filled with the Spirit, while at the same time one is putting into the body that which drives out wisdom.

A little thought will show anyone that this principle is a far-reaching, having to do with many things besides wine. Whatever article of food, or combination of food or drink, or quantity of it, tends to produce dulness, stupidity, irritability, having this, or in any way to diminish one's physical or mental powers should be shunned as rigidly as alcoholic liquors. It is certainly as bad to brutalize one's self by indulgence in eating as by indulgence in drink.

Moreover since the stream of life flows fresh and full and free for all, it follows that whenever we are not fresh and active, we are not taking up that pure stream, but are in some way perverting it or adulterating it. Then our duty is to find out as soon as possible what it is that is hindering its free flow, and remove it.

There is no ground here for anybody to say, "Well, if the sentences in the evil effects, then it is not wrong for me to drink wine, since it doesn't harm me," or to use the same argument about in the habit of eating or drinking, by which men curtail and destroy their usefulness, for the truth is, that what ever is injurious to anybody is injurious to everybody. Some people are stronger than others, and can longer endure abuse without succumbing, just as some people can carry a heavier load than others. But it would be absurd for the man and you can easily lift twenty stone to say that there is no muscular power required, and no cell structure broken down, and lifting ten stone, beyond which another man cannot go without serious injury. This of course is not a perfect parallel, because exercising muscles within bounds is beneficial, while alcohol is always poison; but the parallel is here, that although one may be able apparently to resist its attacks for a long time, the fact that it is poison, and that thousands die from it, is evidence that it is surely yet insidiously undermining his constitution.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

You cannot win people from the world to Christ by lowering the standard of Christian living. The standard must be exalted; the Saviour must be "lifted up."

"What Is Faith?" The Present Truth 17, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

The American branch of the Society of Psychical Research has issued a circular for ascertaining the sentiment of people regarding a future life. Six questions are asked, and the last one is this:-

"Would you like to know for certain about the future life; or would you prefer to leave it a matter of faith?"

We call attention to this, because it indicates a very common idea of faith, and one which lies at the root of so many failures by professed believers. Very many who profess the faith have no conception of what faith really is, and as a natural consequence they fail to get the victory of faith. this same faulty view of faith causes so many to say, "I am so constituted that I cannot believe," or, "it is very difficult for me to believe." We would glad say a word to help some to the real joy and peace that comes with the exercise of real faith.

Let us first, in order to keep clear of all speculation, read what the Bible says about faith. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Heb. xi. 1. Or, as in the Revised Version: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proving of thins not seen." Faith is reality, not fancy.

The too common idea, as indicated by the question that we have quoted, is that one does not know that which one accepts by faith. Faith is supposed to be imagination, and knowledge if suppose to put an end to it. The truth, however, is quite the contrary: Nobody can ever really know anything except by faith; and continuous knowledge means continuous exercise of faith. It is by faith that we understand and know. If there were a man who never had any faith in anything, he would know absolutely nothing.

Take, for example, so small a thing as learning the alphabet. The child, or even the adult who has never learned to read, must learn the letters by being told their names. He cannot know them without being told; and if he does not implicitly believe what is told him, he will never know. Having been told, he knows, and if he holds fast to his primitive faith in his teacher's word, all the treasures of human knowledge will be opened to him.

But it may be objected that this is not a fair illustration, since the names as well as the forms of the letters are somewhat arbitrary. Without stopping to discuss that point, we may take any one of thousands of things that the child, or the man

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either, learns, and we shall see that he knows them only because he is told. Take most people's knowledge of scientific facts; very few have made any original experiments, but thousands of people make use of them, having accepted the principle on trust.

The case may perhaps be clearly illustrated to many minds by a reference to the art of swimming. It is most certain that nobody can learn to swim except by faith. Why is it that one person boldly plunges into deep water, while another cannot be persuaded to let go of some solid support? It is because one has faith that the water will buoy him up, while the other have not. The instant one really accepts the truth that the specific gravity of the body is less than that of water, and that if he keeps perfectly still in a horizontal position in the water he can no more sink than a log of wood, he can swim with ease. After that, experience will so accustom him to the truth of the principle, that he will act on it as a matter of course; yet it will still be true that he really swims by faith. If by any means he lost his confidence in the power of the water to support his body, he would sink.

It ought to be understood that true faith always rests upon a basis of solid fact. God never asks men to build on anything less than "a sure foundation"-one that has been "tried." "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God;" and that Word upholdeth the universe. Whoever accepts that Word, and trusts it implicitly, builds upon certainty.

As before remarked, it is the false idea of faith that leads man to say, "It is difficult for me to believe," or, "I am so constituted that I cannot believe." What they mean is, that they find it difficult to believe without evidence, or to make a thing seem true that has no existence; for that is what they imagine faith to be. Now they do well not to try to believe what does not exist, and not to believe a thing without evidence; but surely no sane man will say that Ii is impossible or difficult to believe a thing on the best of evidence, and that is what faith is. Indeed, faith is the evidence itself, it knows nothing of uncertainties; it is that by which we know things that really exist.

Read the eleventh chapter of Hebrews for a brief list of what faith accomplishes, and you will see that "to leave it as a matter of faith" is the only way that anyone can "know for certain about the future life." It made Noah know that the flood was coming, so that he could prepare for it, while others, not believing, were taken unawares and drowned. Faith delivered the children of Israel, made a way through the Red Sea, and caused the walls of Jericho to fall down. Instances are innumerable of people "who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again." Heb. xi. 33-35.

Surely there is something very real about anything that can accomplish such wonders. And the last item mentioned settles the question of the future life. "Women received their dead raised to life again." What stronger proof of a future life can we have than that?

But someone says, "I have never seen the dead raised to life." No, but you yourself are alive; and your existence is only by the power of the future life. There is no life but that of God, and to know Him is life eternal. John xvii. 3. Faith makes one acquainted with God, able to give sworn testimony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and effects changes in one's life identical with the raising of the dead to life. Whoever through believes on the name of Christ receives power to become the son of God, and out of weakness is made strong to work righteousness, knows the certainly of the endless life and the power of it; and such ones are the only can who ever can know it.

"How to Think Right Thoughts" The Present Truth 17, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

How to Think Right Thoughts .-One of the most common questions asked by old as well as by youthful enquirers is this: "How can I control my thoughts?"

To this we are obliged to answer, You cannot do it at all; there is only one remedy for your wicked, wayward thoughts; and that is found in Isa. lv. 7-9: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Better than trying to control our own thoughts, is to get an entirely new lot, and then leave the Lord to do our thinking in us. This is possible; for we have the assurance: "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established." Prov. xvi. 3.

"'A Very Present Help'" The Present Truth 17, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

"A Very Present Help." -Many times in the Psalms we find this prayer repeated, "O Lord, make haste to help me." It is a prayer inspired by the Spirit of God, and therefore is equal to a statement of what God will surely do. Let this then be a comforting assurance to those who say that Satan springs temptations on them unawares, and they fall into sin before they think. God is certainly quicker, as He is more powerful, than Satan, and He is "not far from very one of us." It is by the word of His lips that we keep ourselves from the paths of the destroyer (Ps. xvii. 4), and "His word runneth very swiftly." Ps. cxlvii. 15. Thus He is "able to keep you from falling."

"Inclined to Speak as We Please" The Present Truth 17, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

When we are inclined to think that we have a right to say whatever we please, it will be well for us to read the following: "The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things; who have said, with our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?" Ps. xii. 3, 4. Our lips are not our own, for we ourselves are not our own. Every organ of our bodies belongs to the Lord, for Him to use as He will, to His glory; and since "the tongue can no man tame," we do well to deliver ourselves unreservedly over to the Lord, praying, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." Ps. cxli. 3.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Prayers for the Dead" The Present Truth 17, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

"I should like to ask a question which has engaged my attention for some time. It is this. A friend of mine holds the idea of prayers for the dead, and says he believes that such prayers are of avail. He quotes the following verses in support of his belief: Peter iv. 6; iii. 18-22. I fail to see any dead meant here, other than those who are dead in sin. I have told him so, but cannot convince him, so I told him I would ask the Editor of PRESENT TRUTH about it."

Without stating any opinion about the matter, let us study it, and find the truth from the Bible itself. We will come at once to the very heart of the question, and consider the two texts to which you refer. Every text of Scripture means exactly what it says, but all texts do not say what many people, by a too hasty reading of them with preconceived ideas, think that they say.

It is best to take the texts in their order, so we will first read 1 Peter iii. 18-20: "Christ also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison: which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."

WHAT DOES THE TEXT SAYS?

Read it again, read it a dozen times, and you will see that it says not a word about praying for the dead. Let us analyse it, taking each clause separately, and find out exactly what the text does say.

1. Christ once suffered for us, that he might bring us to God.

2. He was put to death in the flesh.

3. He was quickened [made alive] by the Spirit.

4. By this same Spirit He went and preached to the spirits in prison.

5. They were is prison-"kept under the law, shut up" (see Gal. iii. 22, 23) "when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing."

6. It was in the days of Noah, while the ark was building, that Christ, by the Spirit, preached to the wicked spirits before the flood. God's longsuffering waited one hundred and twenty years, while His Spirit was working with that sinful generation; yet He said, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man." Gen. vi. 3.

That is the sum of this text, so far as the present question is concerned; the instruction that we are to receive from it is this, that the preaching of the Gospel is by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. The public ministry began with these words: "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." Isa. lxi. 1. The captives in prison are the bondservants of sin (John viii. 34), "the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." 2 Peter ii. 19.

SUFFERING AND LIVING WITH CHRIST

Now let us read the next text referred to, which is but a continuation of the first one. We will read enough to get the full connection:-

"Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. . . . For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit." 1 Peter iv. 1-6.

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. ix. 27, 28.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but is placed out of death into life." John v. 24, R.V.

Christ's sufferings in the flesh were for us. How much He suffered cannot be put into words, but it is certain that He suffered all that the wicked will have to suffer in punishment for their sins. This may be learned from Ps. xxii. 1, and especially from Isa. liii. 5, 6: "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

Now we are to be armed with the same mind, sharing His sufferings. Phil. iii. 10. Joined to Him in "the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death," we live with Him; we have thus passed out of death into life, and so we do not come into Judgment. We enter with Christ into the heavenly places, experiencing the powers of the world to come and to us it is the same as though the Judgment were already past.

It was to this end that the Gospel was preached to them that are dead. Note well that the text does not say that the Gospel was preached to them that were dead, nor that it is preached to them that are dead, but that was preached to them that are dead. The reference is clearly to the time spoken of in 1 Peter iii. 10, 20. The preaching was in the days of Noah, to those who were the captives of sin.

The latter part of 1 Peter iv. 6 itself shows most plainly that the preaching of the Gospel to them that are dead was while they were still living. The Gospel was preached to them, in order "that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit." The Gospel was preached to them for the very same purpose that it is now preached to us,-that while still in the flesh they might pass out of death into life, and thus pass the Judgment, and henceforth live in the flesh as though their bodies were already made spiritual. "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit if so

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be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Rom. viii. 9.

Now we have before us exactly what the two texts say, and just what they mean. They say nothing whatever about preaching to dead men or about praying to or for them; and neither here nor anywhere else in the Bible is there the slightest hint of any such thing, The two texts referred to teach us a must precious lesson, however, as to the power of the Gospel when it is received into the heart; and it is very sad indeed that so few who read them get this real, personal help and comfort from them.

We might leave the subject here, as the question is answered; but while we are about it we might as well see how utterly foreign to the Bible the thought or practice of praying for the dead is, and also what is involved in that teaching.

PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD AND PURGATORY

Have you ever thought what inevitably follows the teaching of prayers for or preaching to the dead? it means, of course, that they are on probation, the same as the living, and it is, in fact, nothing but the doctrine of purgatory. This is plain enough; for if we were to pray for the dead it could be only for their deliverance from some sad state. So purgatory is part of the doctrine of prayers for the dead.

PRAYERS TO THE DEAD

Prayers for the dead leads also to prayers to them. Bear in mind that no intelligent Roman Catholic professes to pray to the dead as to God; the invocation of saints is the request for them to make supplication for us, just as we ask our friends here on earth to pray for us. We all know that "the supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working" (James v. 18, R.V.), and we like to know that good people as praying for us. It is with the idea that the dead are able to do all that the living can do, that Roman Catholics pray to them, asking an interest in their prayers. Now if it were of any use to pray for the dead, it would just as certainly be profitable to ask some of them to pray for us; and so with prayers for the dead we have another Papal dogma.

UNIVERSAL SALVATION

But this is not all: If it were true that the dead are on probation, in a condition where prayers can benefit them, then we must come to the conclusion that there will be probation for sinners until every one is saved, and that no sinner will ever be destroyed. In short, probation after death means universaIism; for if the preaching of the Gospel in life has not been sufficient to decide a man's destiny, there is no assurance that it would be more efficacious after death. If God must continue probation to the impenitent, after death, in order that they may "have a fair chance," then He must continue it indefinitely.

We need not pursue this line any further, but if we should, we should find all manner of contradictions and absurdities; for when the truth of the Bible is once departed from there is an end to all consistency.

A DENIAL OF THE ATONEMENT

One other thing, however, must be mentioned, and that is that the idea so commonly misread into 1 Peter iii. 19, that between His crucifixion and His resurrection Christ went and preached to dead people, is subversive of the very foundation of the Gospel. The very statement of it is a denial of the death of Christ, a denial, in fact, that there is any such thing as death. That false idea would make everything to be a sham. It would have it that Christ did not really die, but only appeared to, and thus leave the world without any propitiation for sin. But then it really denies that there is any difference between the dead and the living, and so that there is any such thing as death, and consequently no need of salvation. And finally, it directly contradicts the Bible, and so makes havoc of everything.

THE STATE OF THE DEAD

What says the Bible? "The living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything; . . . also their love, and their envy, and their hatred, is now perished." Eccl. ix. 5, 6.

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, not knowledge, nor wisdow in the grave, whither thou goest." Verse 10.

"Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom is no help, His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. cxlvi. 4.

"The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps. cxv. 17.

Hezekiah, rescued from death, said to the Lord: "Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for Thou hast put all my sins behind Thy back. For the grave cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit [the grave] cannot hope for Thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee as I do this day." Isa. xxxviii. 17-19.

Death is the opposite of life; but the idea that the dead are conscious and capable of being preached or prayed to, having the same thoughts and feelings that living people do, puts no difference between death and life, and makes nonsense of the distinction. Note, however, the marked contrast in the text last quoted.

That the dead are not alive, is shown by Rev. xx. 4-6, where we read of the righteous dead that "they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years." "This is the first resurrection." "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." So we see that the dead cease to live, and then live again, which is consistent and reasonable.

Much more might be cited from the Scriptures, but this is sufficient to show that the idea that the dead need our prayers, or are in a condition to be benefited by them, is pagan superstition, transmitted to this generation through the Papacy, and wholly destitute of any scriptural basis. It is opposed to common sense, in that it makes the terms death and life meaningless, and it is opposed to the Gospel, in that it robs the sacrifice of Christ of its reality.

"For Little Ones. A Living Temple" The Present Truth 17, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

We have had many talks together about the journeyings of the Children of Israel in the wilderness, and the Object Lessons that God gave them there. All His wonderful works were to teach them to know Him, His love, His power, His wisdom, and His tender care for them.

But they were slow to learn the sweet lessons. In Egypt they had worshipped the false gods of the Egyptians, things they could use and handle. The Lord was teaching them to see Him everywhere, and in all things, working out His purposes of love for them; for He fills heaven and earth.

Through the pillar of cloud and fire, He would have them learn to see Him in the firmament and in the light. Through the manna He would have them see Him in the growing grain, and all things that He made to grow for their food. Through the fresh streams of water flowing from the smitten rock, He would teach them to see in every draught of pure water the stream of His own life poured out that they might live.

But though they saw His works, they did not learn His ways. The veil of unbelief was over their hearts, and hid His glory from them.

At last God said to Moses "Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." And in obedience to His Word, the Tabernacle was built. In our picture the coverings are removed from the top, so that we can see inside, but in reality the Tabernacle was a large tent. It was set up in the midst of the camp, with the family tents of the people round about it.

Do you think that this was the Lord's own choice-to dwell in a tent separate from the people, though among them? No, for He tells us plainly what the house is that He has chosen: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"

"For God is never so far off
As even to be near;
He is within, our Spirit is
The home He holds most dear."

Yes, we are His dwelling place, for He fills all things. How large, then, is the House of God?-It is as large as the universe,-a living, growing temple.

Hundreds of years afterwards, when the martyr Stephen was speaking of this very Tabernacle that the Children of Israel built, he said: "Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is My throne and earth is My footstool; saith the Lord. What house will ye build Me?"

Like the air, which is His breath, the life-giving Spirit of God fills all things. We are surrounded with it; we dwell in it; without it we could not live a single moment; and we are filled with it.

Thus we dwell in God, who is "our dwelling place," in whom "we live, and move, and have our being," and He dwells in us, filling us with His universal Spirit of life.

"To think of Him as by our side
Is almost as untrue
As to remove His throne beyond
Those skies of starry blue."

Why, then was this tabernacle built, that God might dwell among the people? Ah, it was for their sakes, that they might have an Object Lesson to teach them of God's presence with them, and all that this would do for them.

The prophets who looked into heaven and seen "visions of God," have told us of His living temple which they have seen them. In this we see how the will of God is done in heaven, because every part of that temple is controlled and guided by the Spirit of life from God who dwells therein.

This living temple is a sample, an example, of what God would have the whole universe. It shows us what this world of ours will be when our Lord's prayer is fully answered, and God's will is "done on earth, as it is in heaven."

And the Tabernacle built on earth was to be an Object Lesson to the people of this heavenly sanctuary. God let Moses see in the mount the pattern like which it was to be made. Everything in it had most precious lessons, and of these we shall talk together in the weeks to come.

But no man can really build an house for God. God alone build His own house, and He "dwelleth not in temples made with hands." His temple grows, built up and formed by the Spirit of His life who dwells within it.

You are His dwelling place, and how is the temple of your body built?-It grows, because you are alive, because you have life within you. Jesus Christ is "the Life," and so it is He who by His life giving Spirit is building up your body in strength and beauty, to be His dwelling place. The noble trees and beautiful flowers, and all things in which is His life, grow into an holy temple. Every place whereon we tread is holy ground, for it is all the house of God.

God dwells in us because we dwell in Him, just as the air fills us because we dwell in the midst of it. We are always in the Fathers house.

This in what He was teaching the Children of Israel in the wilderness. They thought they had no food, but He shows them that in the Father's house there is always an abundance, by preparing a table for them in the wilderness. They were thirsty and had no water, but "there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the. . . tabernacles of the Most High," and of this He gave them to drink. In the darkness, "the glory of God did lighten them." There is always food, and water, and light, and joy, in the Father's house. Blessed are they who dwell there.

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that
will I seek after;
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life."

Though all are really living in the Father's house, so many, oh, so many, do not know it; so like the Israelites they are

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troubled, and sad, and anxious, and weary. They do not know that their heavenly Father knows what things they have need of. Can you not make some of them happy by telling them? Here are the words of one man who had not known it, when he found out the joy that he had been missing:-

"So all the while I thought myself
Homeless, forlorn, and weary,
Missing my joy, I walked the earth
Myself God's sanctuary."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

The King has appointed a Royal Commission to investigate Prof. Koch's theory that tuberculosis is not communicable to man by animals.

Another plague is now threatening England. The Colorado beetle, which wrought such devastation in the potato crops of America a few years ago, has made its appearance, and has begun Its depredations. Its arrival is reported from Tilbury, and the Board of Agriculture has sent down experienced men to dig up the crops and do everything possible to stop the progress of the pests.

At the autumnal meeting of the Sanitary Inspector's Association, held in London the 29th nit., Sir James Crichton-Browne said that Dr. Koch was premature in his recent announcement, that the experiments on which he relied were too few and equivocal to warrant his conclusions, and that he had unjustifiably ignored a mass of observations and experiments which, if correct, must negative those conclusions. His suggestion that bovine tubercle could not be transmitted to human beings was peculiarly deplorable, for it had already led to some revolt against existing precautions, and must, if erroneous and uncontradicted, have mischievous and far-reaching effects.

This is not the not the first time that Dr. Koch has made much ado about, nothing, rushing before the public with exaggerated statements of his discoveries and we are sorry to see that some journals have been so far misled by him as to make the precautions that have hitherto been taken against tuberculosis the subject of jest and ridicule. Such inconsiderate trifling is criminal.

In the paragraph of the Methodist Pastoral, preceding the one which bewails the materialism and degeneracy of these days, the so-called Higher Criticism is referred to, and it to said that "from the furnace of historical criticism into which it had been cast, the New Testament has come, loosed from the thongs of tradition;" and the Wesleyan President in his address to the Conference said:-

"As regards the Bible, the changes there are quite as noticeable as in any other direction. The examination and inquiry to which the sacred books have been subject have not, blessed be God, impaired the substantial position of the Bible among us . . . . But the way in which the Bible has been regarded has been changed. The kind of authority which many are prepared to accord to it has been changed. The appeal as to what the Bible said cannot be made in the same fashion as it used to be made. Different opinions are held as to the extent of the changes to which we have gone or ought to go. My point is this: If there are these changes with regard to the Bible, how we need in every sense of the word to be made wise and capable teachers under the hand of God."

That doesn't promise well for the fight against materialism and worldliness. He is not a wise soldier who stops in the midst of the battle to blunt the edge of his sword and to make a few gaps in it. The victories of early Methodism were won by men who believed the Bible, and that is why men trembled under their preaching.

Some idea of the depth of poverty in which the masses of people in Austria live may be gained from two cases that have just come before the courts in Vienna. A seamstress was accused of stealing cloth to the value of 16s. She admitted the theft, but pleaded extreme poverty as an excuse. In the investigation it transpired that by working hard for eighteen hours a day she could earn the sum of 4d., with which she had to maintain a family of nine children. It is stated that "in view of these circumstances she was sentenced only to a brief detention." What her family lived on during that brief detention, is not stated. The other case was that of a women whose husband had been killed in a quarrel with a fellow-labourer. In sentencing the slayer to a period of imprisonment for manslaughter, the judge asked the woman if she claimed compensation from him, to which she replied she had five young children, and would be grateful for compensation to the extent of a penny a day. This she said would be her only support. Accordingly the prisoner was ordered to pay her one penny daily until the youngest child is fourteen years of age.

The Methodist Church is very much in evidence this year. The British Conference was recently held, and now we have the Ecumenical Council, just held in City-road Chapel, at which were representatives from every branch of Methodism in every part of the world. It is the third of a series of Councils at intervals of ten years, the first one having been held at the same place twenty years ago. In view of this the following from a pastoral prepared at the direction of the recent Wesleyan Conference, by its President and Secretary, will be of interest:-

"Slowly yet surely the harvest of materialism is ripening, and good men are filled with dismay at the prospect. With the obscuration of the heavenly vision, superstition takes the place of faith, priestcraft begins again to exercise its baleful influence, religion degenerates into ritual, and conscience is lulled to sleep. Upon the people a strange lethargy has fallen. Men hesitate to face vital moral issues, and fear to grapple with grave moral problems. The one pursuit that in the eyes of men of this generation justifies the effort is the quest of riches. Material wealth is sought after by all classes with eager and venturesome haste. The means by which it is obtained are considered of but secondary importance. The things most highly esteemed are such as money can secure-abundance, ease, self-gratification, fame, display."

This state of things tallies exactly with the Bible description of the time immediately before the coming of Christ; yet there are not a few who imagine that the world is even now growing better. How many there are who will be like the men before the flood, and "know not" until the overwhelming flood of destruction carries them away.

"How We Live. Food Contamination by Exposure on the Street" The Present Truth 17, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

The Lancet which is not given to sensationalism has the following to say about the danger of a custom which is almost universal:-

In busy and crowded thoroughfares the practice of exposing food for sale is open to the greatest objection. The air of such places presents a terrible bacteriological history, and the contamination of food sold in open places becomes an easy possibility. Street dust is full of tubercle bacilli from the detestable habit of spitting, it also may contain the microbes of pus, malignant ?dema, tetanus, and septic?mia.

It is true that the taint deposited on food exposed for sale may be purged in the process of cooking, and micro-organisms may be destroyed, although it has been pretty strongly asserted that the cookery of fish in particular has not been effectual in destroying the typhoid bacillus, instances of typhoid fever having been traced to contaminated yet cooked fish.

The avidity with which certain foods would appear to absorb noxious odours is well known. Milk is peculiarly liable to take up unpleasant odours and so, also, is fish. The former is employed when exposed in shallow trays to reduce the smell of paint in a house. Fish cannot be placed in the same parcel as coffee, or other pungent smelling articles of food, as it so readily absorbs the odoriferous principle.

Busy streets are seldom free from offensive effluvia, and it is reasonable to conclude that these would easily affect many articles of food exposed to them. In our own knowledge quite recently complaint was made that a salmon tasted strongly of creasote. The fishmonger might easily have been charged with selling fish brushed over with a powerfully smelling antiseptic. But it subsequently proved that the Strand (as usual) was "up," and that the stacks of black wooden bricks were giving off a strong naphthalene odour corresponding exactly with the taste of the salmon, bought in a Strand shop, at the very moment when the bricks were being dumped down on the pavements. This explanation was convincing, but we only quote it as a proof of the liability to contamination of food exposed for sale in the street under an environment which can seldom be described as hygienic. The fish was probably not injurious to health, but it possessed a decidedly unpleasant taste.

Butcher's meat might easily get tainted in the same way. It has been recorded that meat exposed to a current of tobacco smoke has proved powerfully toxic, and this again affords a further illustration of the dangers involved when food is indiscriminately left in contact with air of doubtful purity.

It is not desirable that food offered for sale should be exposed to the free influx of air from the streets. If it must be presented to view to attract customers it should be exhibited behind a glass screen, and adequate provision should be made for ventilation with pure air.

Here is where those who eat only man's natural food-the food which God gave man in the beginning-have the advance over those who live on their fellow-creatures. Fruits, nuts, grains, and even vegetables, if one wishes to go so low down in the scale, do not absorb germs; and even though they be exposed to any amount of micro-organisms, washing in pure water will thoroughly cleanse them. Better yet, the outer skin, beyond which no germ can penetrate, so long as it is unbroken, can be removed, and then one has food as pure as God makes it. How much better and more sensible to eat food which is wholly life-giving and refreshing, and at the same time delicious to the taste, than food which, besides being a depository for disease germs, has hosts of them in itself.

"Perfect health," as someone has well expressed it, "is a perfect circulation of pure blood in a sound organism." Perfect health is the foundation of true beauty. If we would be truly beautiful, let us lay the foundation for beauty by building a strong, vigorous and healthy body.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

On this page you will find the most positive proof that the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day rest, has not been changed, and never can be; and the proof, although so overwhelming, is so simple that a child can understand it. Nothing preventing, you will find on the last page of the paper next week equally clear and positive proof that the first day of the week is not, and never by any possibility can be, the Sabbath day,-that just as God Himself cannot cause the seventh day to cease to be His Sabbath, so even He could not make a Sabbath of the first day. Look out for it, and read it, and show it to your friends.

The attempted assassination of the President of the United States makes it more evident that lawlessness is on the increase, and not mere disregard for law, but hatred of it, and of everything and everybody connected with it. It is a sign that we are nearing the time when, as in the days that were before the flood, the land will be filled with violence.

Nothing in the world more perfectly shows the utter foolishness of wickedness than these attempts on the lives of rulers. There have been in the history of the world wicked rulers with despotic power, who were personally and solely responsible for much of the oppression which the people suffered; but such is not the case now. Throughout the civilised world the rulers are generally men of high character, and conscientiously desirous for the welfare of the people; and, more than this, the death of any of them has really no effect upon the policy of the country. In most countries, even the most autocratic, as Russia, the ruler is simply the representative either of a system or of the majority of the people. The attacks of anarchists, therefore, reveal only a hatred of order of any kind, and a lust for blood.

Yet so distorted may the human mind and conscience become, that the most base and lawless acts may be performed under a sense of duty. The would-be murderer of Mr. McKinley, Judas-like, approached him in apparently friendly greeting, and while shaking hands with him shot him with a revolver held concealed in his left hand. When asked why he did it, he replied, "I am an anarchist, and I have done my duty." When people turn from God's law, they come under the control of Satan, so that to them evil ceases to seem evil. With their leader they say, "Evil, be thou my good," and can think they do God service in murdering even His saints. When wickedness is perpetrated from a sense of duty, and lawlessness becomes lawful, then are the times perilous indeed.

"An Everlasting Foundation" The Present Truth 17, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

There is one thing about a fact that many people never take into consideration in dealing with the Sabbath question, and that is that it can never cease to be a fact. The word is from the Latin facio, meaning to do, or to make, and is simply a shortened form of the perfect participle, so that a fact is a thing done or made. Now the characteristic of a fact, a thing done, which is so often lost sight of, is this, that although a thing done or made may be destroyed, the fact that it was once done or made can never be changed.

Take some illustrations: A man builds a house; that house may be destroyed by fire or storm; yet it will always remain a fact that it was once built. A person goes to a certain place, and immediately returns; yet his returning does not do away with the fact that he went. One may tell us something, and then deny it; but the denial does not wipe out the fact that the thing was said. We have all sinned; our sins may be blotted out, so that they will have no existence any more, yet to all eternity the fact that we have sinned will remain. Our very songs of rejoicing over our redemption will emphasise this.

In like manner it must always remain a fact that "the seventh day is the Sabbath." How did it come to be so? "In six days the Lord made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Though the earth should be destroyed, so completely that no trace of it could ever be found, that would not undo the fact that it had once been made. To all eternity it must remain a fact that God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and rested on the seventh. God Himself cannot abolish that fact. Even if He were to say that He did not do it, that would not abolish the fact. But He cannot say so, for He cannot lie, "He cannot deny Himself."

The word "Sabbath" is the Hebrew word "rest." It is a pure Hebrew word adopted into our language without translation. So instead of saying "Sabbath," we may say "rest," if we please, and the meaning is the same. Thus: "The seventh day is the rest of the Lord thy God." God did rest on the seventh day; therefore it still remains, and must remain a truth to all eternity, that the seventh day is God's rest day-God's Sabbath day. The fact never can be altered or abolished, God Himself cannot change it, any more than He can deny that He lives and is God. The only way to prove that the seventh day is not the Sabbath, is to show that God never rested on it from the work of creation,-that is, to deny the Bible from the beginning. But that is not all: To deny that God rested from creation, would be to deny that He created. So then, whoever says that the seventh day is not the Sabbath denies that God ever created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them; and the man's own existence shows the folly of his assertion.

It is evident, therefore, that all talk about the Sabbath being changed or abolished is the veriest nonsense. It is utter foolishness, and can be indulged in only through a disregard of the first principles of truth. It is no irreverence-no disparagement of God-to say that God Himself cannot change the Sabbath day; on the contrary it is a tribute to His unchangeability,-a recognition of the sure and solid foundation that is given us to build upon. If a fact could cease to be a fact, we should be living in a chance world; so if the Sabbath could be changed, there would not be one thing on which we could depend with any certainty.

Let us then never hear any talk about the change of the Sabbath. It is a fact that men have departed from God's rest day, and that they have adopted a rest day of their own in its stead, thus trying to make themselves God; but God's rest day endures undisturbed throughout eternity. Are you not glad of it? Think of it seriously, and say if you do not rejoice to know that God's rest abides for ever, and that you have the privilege of sharing it.

We hereby acknowledge with thanks the receipt of ?1 from "A Friend," "to be used for missionary work, and making known the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." It shall be so applied.

September 19, 1901

"'The Harvest of the Earth'" The Present Truth 17, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

In heavenly vision, filled with and encompassed by the Spirit of God,-the Spirit of wisdom and revelation,-John saw and heard "things which must shortly come to pass." The greatest of these things, and the one that sums them all up, is the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation begins and ends with the assurance of Christ's second advent. In the first chapter we read: "Behold, I cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him," and the last chapter contains the words of Christ: "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Several times between, the words are repeated: "Behold, I come quickly;" and the entire book has but one grand object, namely, to make us acquainted with the time and manner of Christ's coming, and so to reveal Christ to us that when He comes He may not be a stranger.

The fourteenth chapter of Revelation contains a summary of the messages that are designed to prepare men for the great advent of the ages,-the thing that was promised before man was driven out of Eden, and to which all prophecy and history point,-the coming of the Lord. Those messages are the entire Gospel concentrated into few words, and close upon the proclamation of them is the revelation of Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven. This is what John, with eyes enlightened so that he could see to the end of all things, saw as though it had already taken place:-

"And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap; for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth to ripe. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." Rev. xiv. 14-16.

This, however, is only one part of the harvest, for we read further: "And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a harp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden, without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horses' bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs."

That presents to us a complete picture of the end of this present evil world; for "the harvest is the end of the world." Matt. xiii. 39. Those who accept Christ as their Lord, and who live by His Word, shall be gathered into the heavenly garner, while those who will not have this Man to reign over them,-the chaff, the tares, the thorns, and the briers,-shall be burned up with unquenchable fire.

Now the question is, How much warning of this fearful, terrible, glorious, joyous, consummation has God given the world? Men are saying, more than ever before, "Where is the promise of His coming?" but it is only because they are blindly ignorant of that with which they continually have to do.

When God made the sun, moon, and stars, He said, "Let there be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years" (Gen. i. 14); and stars the wicked world had been destroyed by a flood of water, He said: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Gen. viii. 22. Men do not know it, because they do not heed God's Word, but the truth is that every year with its changing seasons is a prophecy of the coming of the Lord, and a testimony to the truthfulness of all the prophecies of the Bible which foretell that event.

The people of the earth are plants, springing from the earth even as the grass,

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the corn, and the vine. Read the first chapter of Genesis and you will see that the earth is the mother of all things on it. "For the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant" (lsa. v. 7); but He says: "I have planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me?" Jer. ii. 21. The gathering of the fruit and the corn at the proper season of the year is no more really and literally "the harvest of the earth" than will be the gathering of God's people at the end of this present world, and the utter destruction of those who are but useless cumberers of the ground.

"So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come." Mark iv. 26-29. Every year, therefore, is a living picture of the entire Gospel age, and each recurring autumnal harvest is designed to keep before us the fact that the Lord is coming to reap the greater harvest.

But it is not merely of future events that the harvest reminds us; it instructs concerning present realities, as well. Just as surely as the autumn harvest preaches the coming of the Lord, so surely does the ripening grain, and the seed-sowing that preceded, preach the Gospel of the kingdom, and show the power of God to develop the fruits of righteousness in man. "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." Isa. Iii. 11. In exactly the same manner, and by exactly the same power, that the earth brings forth fruit for the use of man, does God bring forth, from those who acknowledge His ownership, the fruits of righteousness, which are to His glory and praise.

You look at yourself and feel despondent, thinking that it is impossible that perfection can come from this body. But look now at this black tree trunk, and those dry sticks projecting from it. The sun warms the earth, the sap begins to ascend, the leaves appear, and now we see the rich, luscious fruit hanging on those pieces of wood. Can you look at it without amazement? Can you ever cease to marvel at the wonder? How can it be? How can such soft richness come from those unpromising pieces of hard wood? Ah, it is by the power of the Life-that eternal life which was from the beginning.

"Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him." Isa. liii. 1, 2. Yes, so few believe in the reality of righteousness through Jesus Christ, that enquiry has to be made to ascertain who they are; but every year the truth is set forth visibly before every eye. Of a truth, the people of earth have eyes, but they see not.

The harvest is the illustration and the proof of the resurrection. "That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat or of some other grain; but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him; and to every seed his own body." "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." 1 Cor. xv. 36-33, 42-44.

The only thing that hinders us from seeing and experiencing the righteousness of God, is our exalted opinion of ourselves. This of course tends to diminish our sense of the power of God. If we could but remember continually that we are but the dust of the ground, then the marvelous transformations that God works in the dust of the earth,-bringing juicy fruits out of its dryness, and spiritual, incorruptible bodies out of the corruptible matter in the graves,-would remove from us all possibility of doubt, and with that gone, the possibility of our sinning will go too.

Every plant and tree that the Lord had caused to grow out of the ground, was designed to yield fruit "after its kind." So man was caused to spring forth from the dust of the ground, to yield fruit after his kind. With these fruits of the earth before us, "why should it be thought, a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?" And if you believe in the resurrection of the dead, how can you avoid believing in your own resurrection? And if you believe in the resurrection of your own body, how can you doubt that He who has such power over the flesh when the spirit has gone from it, can work equally great wonders in it while the breath remains in it? Out of weakness and dishonour He brings power and glory.

Will you learn the lesson that the harvest teaches? Shall this harvest season be the beginning of a new life to you? Your harvest time is fast approaching, what shall the harvest be? It may be what you will; for the sowing is in your hands, and "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall to the Spirit reap life everlasting."

"The Grace that Brings Salvation" The Present Truth 17, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

"For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing as, to the intent that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world." Titus ii. 11, 12.

It is in "this present world," if ever, that we are to live soberly and righteously and godly. We well know from experience how difficult, yes, impossible, we have found it to live righteously and godly, because it was contrary to our nature; but the grace of God teaches us how to do it and provides the power. And it is in this present world that the life must be begun. If we do not live righteous and godly lives in this world, we shall have no opportunity to do so in the next; nor could we live righteously in the neat world, if we had the opportunity, if we do not live righteously here; for there will be no more power then to keep us from sinning than there is now. Nothing but grace can save a soul from sin, and God has as much grace now as He will ever have.

In the fifth chapter of Romans we read something about this grace, and its effect. "If through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." And what is "the gift of grace"? The answer is here: "If by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."

Then comes the immeasurable greatness and power of grace: "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

That is what the grace of God does for everyone who gladly receives it. Grace has power enough to keep everyone who yields his members as instruments of righteousness unto God; for the assurance is repeated in the most positive terms: "Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Rom. vi. 13, 14.

Now sin is crouching like a wild beast of prey at our door; and if it does not have dominion over us, it is solely because we have dominion over it. Either we must rule over sin, or it will control us; but the power over it may be ours; for God says to us as well as to Cain: "Sin lieth at the door; and unto thee is its desire, but thou canst rule over it."

Sin is of the devil, "for the devil sinneth from the beginning;" therefore it follows that to have the dominion over sin is to have authority over Satan and all his hosts. If there were one devil over which we had no power, then we should still be under the dominion of sin. Think, then, what the grace of God gives to us,-nothing less than "power and authority over all devils" (Luke ix. 1),-the power with which Christ invested His twelve disciples when He sent them forth to preach the Gospel.

THE ENDUEMENT OF POWER

With this in our minds we can read with infinite satisfaction the apostolic benediction that so frequently occurs in the epistles: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." But the one that sums up everything, and which every person who wishes victory over sin should have so indelibly upon the tables of his mind that it will continually ring in his cars, is in Rev. i. 4, 5. Thus it reads:-

"Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness, and the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth."

Remember what grace does for all who receive it in truth, and you cannot fail to see that this is a formal bestowal of power over all devils. Grace brings righteousness and salvation; it brings dominion over sin, and consequently power over all devils; now just as Christ actually imparted power and authority over all devils to His disciples as they went out into the world like sheep among wolves, so these words, which are as living and fresh as though first spoken to-day, and to each one of us individually, actually impart the power to rule over all devils, to all who continually bear them in faith. They are our commission.

Think, now, from whom this commission comes. First, from the One who is, and who was, and who is to come. That is the name by which He made Himself known to Israel as their Deliverer from Egypt. That name to our commission gives it all the power of the eternal ages. Our stronghold against all the attacks of all devils is the One who is "from everlasting to everlasting." The power of the self-existent One,-the power by which He perpetuates His own existence,-is ours by this gift of grace.

Then there is another signature to the document which not only declares our position of authority, but imparts it to us; and it is a sevenfold signature: "the seven Spirits which are before His throne." That is the fulness of the Spirit that in the beginning brooded over the abyss and brought order out of chaos. It is the Spirit that has made as and given us understanding. The seven Spirits are a guard before God's throne; and when we allow the God of peace to make His abode with us, the devils can no more approach us to do us harm than they can sit on the throne of God.

Another Name still appears on our warrant, and that is the name "which is above every name." He who bears it is the ruler of the kings of the earth; not merely the ruler of the visible kings, the mortals that sit in the place of authority, but the ruler of the principalities and powers that are marshalled under the banner of "the god of this world." He has "spoiled principalities and powers," and openly exhibited them in His triumphal procession. Not only the loyal angels, but even the fallen hosts know and acknowledge the power of the name of Jesus. He has broken the gates of the grave, so that the power of the resurrection from the dead comes with the grace that gives us the victory over sin and Satan.

"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." If we do not fall asleep and lose this word out of our bosoms, we shall not only be able to hold all the powers of darkness at bay, but to send them fleeing from us. Let us once more read the full terms of the instrument of gift: From the eternal God, whose everlasting arms uphold the universe, of whom, and to whom, had for whom are all things; and from the seven Spirits, the mystery of whose existence and sacred power no created being can ever fathom; and from Jesus Christ, who witnesses to this deed, who has power over death and likewise over death and likewise over "him that had the power over death," take the armour and clothing of righteousness, and authority over all devils. By that He makes us His firstborn, "higher than the kings of the earth." Do you believe it? If you do, all things are possible to you.

"The Editor's Private Corner. God's Promise and Its Fulfilment" The Present Truth 17, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

"If, as has been stated, Abraham and his seed have not yet entered the promised land, how does that harmonise with the statement in Joshua xxx. 43-45?"

It is hardly correct to say that the children of Israel did not enter into the promised land, and that has not been stated in PRESENT TRUTH. What has been said is this, that the promises to Abraham and to His seed have not yet been fulfilled. This we shall now proceed to examine from the Scripture, and afterwards we will compare it with the text referred to in Joshua. We shall find, as we study the question, that it is not a matter of dogma, but that "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."

Most of the trouble over God's promises, as to their fulfilment, etc., arises from a misunderstanding of what He has promised. We must therefore begin at the beginning, and know exactly what God promised Abraham.

The first statement of the promise (Gen. xii. 1-3) is this: "I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."

This promise was the proclamation of the Gospel, and would be fulfilled only in Christ; for "the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed." And the blessing promised to Abraham comes only through the cross of Christ; for we read that Christ was made a curse for us (in hanging on the tree), "that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Gal. iii. 8, 13, 14. Now the work of the Gospel is not yet complete, and many more souls are yet to be gathered out from among the Gentiles by the preaching of the cross; therefore it is evident that the complete object of the promise has not yet been met.

Again: when God made a covenant with Abraham, promising to give him the land of Canaan for an inheritance, He said: "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation whom they serve will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." Gen. xv. 13-16.

This plainly tells us that there could be no thought of inheriting the land until after four hundred years, during which time Abraham was to die and be buried. Now, even though the seed of Abraham had fully realised the promise at the end of four hundred years, it is evident that it could not have been realised by Abraham, except by his resurrection. But that did not place, consequently the complete realisation of the promise is to Abraham and his seed still a future event.

We know well that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did not inherit the land of Canaan, for we read: "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed: and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. . . . These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Heb. xi. 8-13.

STRANGERS AND SOJOURNERS

So we see that neither Abraham nor his seed (for Isaac and Jacob were his seed) inherited the land. They were strangers and sojourners in the land of promise; and many years afterward, when their descendants had been settled in Palestine for centuries, and the kingdom of Israel was at the height of its glory, David, the king, prayed thus before the vast assembly of his people: "We are strangers before Thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers; our days on the earth are few, and there is none abiding." 1 Chron.xxix. 15.

Still further: That the fulness of the promised inheritance has not yet been realised, is evident from the fact that the land promised embraced nothing less than the whole earth. This we know from the following: "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to His seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Rom. iv. 13. Much more evidence might be cited, but this is sufficient. We might add, however, that the fact that "the fathers" died in faith, not having received the promise, is proof that in order to receive it they must have a resurrection. But the resurrection of the dead takes place only at the coming of Christ; hence it is then that we must yet expect the consummation. "These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Heb. xi. 39, 40.

For we must not forget that all believers are Abraham's seed, and heirs of the promise to him. Consequently we have an equal interest with him in the promise. That promise was confirmed to him by an oath of God, not for his sake, but in order that "we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us." Heb. vi. 17, 18.

Now we may read the text in the book of Joshua, which seems to you, as to so many others, to contradict what we have just been learning. It reads thus:-

"And the Lord gave unto Israel all the

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land which He sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that He aware unto their fathers; and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass."

ONLY BELIEVE

If we believe every word that we read in the Bible we shall have no difficulty, but the things which seem to be contradictions will be the sources of our richest comfort and blessing. We know that all the promises to Abraham are open to us, and we also know that hundreds of years ago God gave to His people every good thing that He had promised, without a single exception. What then must be the conclusion? Simply this, that all "the power of the world to come" is ours now to use, if we will, in our condition in "this present evil world." Can you not see glorious comfort in the supposed contradiction?

Read a little further in the book of Joshua. "Along time after that the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies round about," Joshua "called for all Israel, and their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers," and rehearsed before them God's wondrous dealings, reminding them of all the good that He had done to them, and then said:-

"Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward. And the Lord your God, He shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land as the Lord your God hath promised unto you. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left; that ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you: . . . but cleave unto the Lord, your God, as ye have done unto this day. . . . Else if ye do in anywise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you. . . . know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares, and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you. And, behold, this day, I am going the way of all the earth; and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof." Joshua xxiii. 1-14.

FAITH APPROPRIATES

From this we see that although God had given the people everything that He had promised, all depended upon whether or not they appropriated them. Not a man had been able to stand before them, and the Lord had given them the land, and rest from all their enemies, yet there was much of the land still occupied by their enemies, whom they were to dispossess. And their future depended on their faith and obedience; and we know that, not believing and not obeying, they did not make the victory their own, and were themselves eventually carried away from the land.

We are in just the same position that they were. God "hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Eph. i. 3. Someone says, "Why then do we not experience all these blessings?" The answer is, Because you do not lay hold of them and appropriate them. Christ has given us His own peace, and that means His victory over the world; but unless our faith makes it a reality to us, it is the same as though it were not done. "This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith." The world, the flesh, and the devil, all have been overcome, yet we have them all to fight with; we may keep the faith, and have continual victory and peace, or we may be in constant turmoil and at last lose everything. All depends on us.

A FINISHED WORK

God's work is a finished work, finished from the foundation of the world. He Himself asks, "What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it?" When Christ hung on the cross, which abolishes sin and death and all the curse, and restores the new creation, He cried, "It is finished." God has done everything,-has wrought all good works for us,-and we have only to enter into the rest that He has given us. Are you not glad? "We which have believed do enter into rest." Let us do this, instead of standing outside, trembling, hesitating, doubting, wondering why God's Word does not harmonise with our unbelief.

"Little Folks. The King's House. The Pattern" The Present Truth 17, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

THE PATTERN

"Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." This was the message that God gave to Moses for the children of Israel. We have already of found what is the Lord's real sanctuary, and where He most delights to dwell. "Ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." The tabernacle in the wilderness was built to teach God's people what He would have them be.

God is very particular about His dwelling place. He did not leave it to the people to choose what kind of sanctuary to build, and to make what they thought best. He called Moses up into the mount, and there He showed him a pattern of all things that He wanted them to make. And He said: "See that thou make them after their pattern, which hath been showed thee in the mount."

It was very important that everything should be like the pattern God had shown to Moses. But it was not enough for the people to see and know all that God wanted them to do. It was not possible for them to do the work, and make everything as He would have it, without special help from Him. He chose the ones that were to do the work, and He said to Moses:-

"See, I have called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee."

God filled the people with His Spirit, and this is what gave them wisdom and power to do the work, and to make everything just like the pattern.

Last week we learned that each one of you is a little sanctuary, an house not made with hands, but growing into an holy temple for God to dwell in. Now do you know that He has given you a pattern, to show you just how you are to grow? He sent His own Son from heaven, that we might have a perfect pattern of the dwelling place that He wants on this earth.

Do you remember that Jesus said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing." "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." And again: "The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing: for what things soever He doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner."

God the Father is Himself the perfect pattern, the true heavenly Sanctuary. He said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." And so each member of the human family, made in His image and filled with His life, was to he a little sanctuary, a perfect copy of our Father who is in heaven.

But you know how man through sin lost the beautiful image in which he was first made. Then Jesus, who is "the image of the invisible God," came down to earth to show us again the pattern like which God would have each of His human temples grow. All that the Father is, and all that He does, Jesus showed to men, that we might know what we may be and do, when God dwelleth in us. But this He could do only because He was the Son of God, and the Spirit of His Father dwelt in Him.

So God has shown us the pattern; He has shown as His own glory and beauty in the life of Jesus Christ His Son. Just what He would have each little child to be was seen when Jesus was a little child. He left us an example-a pattern-"that we should follow His steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth."

In His Word He says to us, "Be ye imitators of God as dear children." The word here used is the Greek word mimic. You know what it is to imitate or mimic another,-it is to do just what you see him do.

Have you not seen your little baby brother or sister imitate your mother or father, or try to do all that they see you do? All young animals learn by mimicry,-by imitating their parents. This is the way that the little birds learn to fly, and the baby ducks to swim. The old birds show them what they should do, and the

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young ones try to follow their parents' example.

But the reason why they can follow the example of their parents, and imitate them, is because they are their own young ones, -they have the same nature. The little chickens could never learn to swim, no matter how hard they might try to follow the example of the ducks and swans. And the young ducks could never mount up like the eaglets, no matter bow much they might stretch and spread their little wings in imitation of the old eagles.

And so it is only the children of God, those who have His own nature, who can copy the Pattern, and be and do as He is and does. "What things sover He doeth, these the son also doeth in like manner." We are to be imitators of Him as His dear children.

So it is not enough for us to see the Pattern, to learn what Jesus did when He was a little child, and then try to imitate Him. We must have His Divine nature before we can copy the Pattern and grow like Him. And we can get this only by the gift of His own Holy Spirit. Like His people of old, we can make all things like the pattern only by being filled with the Spirit of God, and this He has promised to give to all who ask Him.

Of the boy Jesus we are told that "the child grew, and waxed strong in Spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him." So may the grace of God be upon you, dear children, His Spirit filling you, and His hand over you, to form you into His perfect image, in all things tike the Pattern He has shown you.

The words of King David to his son Solomon who was about to build a magnificent temple for the Lord, are for each one of you also: "Take heed, now: for the Lord hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it."

God has chosen you that you should grow into His own beautiful image to be "an house for the sanctuary." He has shown you the pattern like which you are to grow, and has given you His Holy Spirit that you may "be strong, and do it." Do not disappoint Him, but "grow up unto Him in all things," to the praise of the glory of His grace.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

There has just been invented by a young English electrician, Mr. Varicas, a torpedo that it is said "may revolutionise naval warfare." All torpedoes now in use can move only in one direction, the gunner losing all control over it after it is fired, the same as a cannon ball. If they miss the mark, they simply keep on until their force is spent. By the new invention, however, the torpedo, while hundreds of feet away from the point of discharge, travelling at express speed, may be controlled by the operator and turned in any direction desired, the same as if he were in it guiding it by its rudder. This is another indication that coming wars will be the most deadly ever known.

Progress is certainly being made in the navigation of the air, for M. Santos Dumont, at the last trial of his air-ship, steered it "In every direction, moving gracefully and with the greatest facility from right to left, describing circles, and rising and falling entirely at will." To what perfection it may yet be brought, no one can say.

Still new inventions come, showing that nations, instead of not learning war any more, are making it their chief business to learn how to kill men the most expeditiously:-

"Mr. F. M. Garland, a well-known gunmaker of Connecticut, has invented a one-pound gun designed for use in the fighting tops of battleships. He claims that his new gun will fire 280 projectiles automatically in a minute, which can pierce an inch thickness of chilled steel. The agents of the Russian Admiralty have opened up negotiations with a view to purchasing the patent."

Up to the present time 214 cases of lupus have been treated at the London Hospital by the Finsen light-cure. Of these cases forty have been completely cured, and nearly all the remainder an under successful treatment. The only objection to the Finsen lamp is its expense, the first cost being ?100, with a large sum to keep it up; but the Hospital engineer has devised an improvement, by which greater power can be obtained with less cost. At least four times as many patients can be treated by the new lamp as by the old, and the cost for each patient is only 3rd. per hour instead of 2s. per hour, as formerly. Moreover, ten or twelve minutes' treatment with the new light is equal to an hour of the old, As the good effects of light are more and more appreciated, it is to be hoped that some who benefit by it may remember that "God is light," and may begin to "walk in the light, as He to in the light," and find that the blood,-the life, the Iight,-of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.

It is said that a wheat-stack twenty-eight years old stands on a farm at Stradbroke, and is in excellent preservation. When it was built the owner made a vow that he would never thrash it until the corn would realise 25s. a sack. That was a rash vow, and the result has been a wicked deed. God sands seed time and harvest every year, and His mercies, like the manna, are new every morning, to show that hoarding is contrary to His nature. God wishes His currency to be continually in circulation, and nobody has a right to check it in its round. Nothing has any value, except as it is in use. The value of corn to just the life that it can convey, and no more; and when it is stored away, and its life withheld from mingling in the great stream, it is valueless. Even gold that is laid away in treasure houses is not worth anything. All should remember this, that use, and the measure of usefulness, is the only standard of value. If the farmer referred to had threshed his corn, and sowed it year by year until now, he would have realised many times 25s. a sack for it. "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there in that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty."

At a recent inquest remarkable testimony was borne to the benefit derived by consumptives from the open-air treatment. Returns show that during the year 332 cases of phthisis, in all stages of the disease, have been treated at Hampstead, and seventy per cent. have shown marked improvement. This to the natural method of treatment, that is, the Divinely natural method; for the breath which in the beginning God breathed in man's nostrils, to make him a living soul, perfection of any part, is that by which He keeps us alive. This open-air, common-sense treatment of consumption should serve to impress upon everybody that abundance of fresh air, which can be had only by free ventilation and active exercise, is the best preventive of all lung diseases, and of all other diseases as well.

Writing to the Baptist Times and Freeman, the Rev. T. Witten Davies presents the following picture of the state of religion in the established church in Germany:-

"A German Lutheran pastor of thirty years' standing, who has strong evangelical and evangelistic leanings, told me a few days back, that the Protestant State Churches of Germany (Lutheran Reformed, and Union) have practically no hold upon the people; that any minister in the Church who departs from its customs-even to get at the masses that never go to church-will be a marked man, and promotion will be to him impossible. If, on the other hand, he falls in with precedent, preaches his one sermon a week, with no allusion to the evils of the day, drinks his wine, smokes his pipe or cigar, and hobnobs with the authorities, then he will have ease and success."

But "success" of that kind is the worst calamity that can befall a church or people.

Some time ago Cardinal Vaughan obtained from France some "relics of St. Edmund," accepting the tradition as to their genuineness. Now it transpires, after all the ceremony gone through with in receiving them, that they are not what they were supposed to be, and the Cardinal has frankly acknowledged that he was mistaken. But the most amazing of all to the on-looker, is the fact that Leo. XIII. has sent him a letter, duly sealed with "the Fisherman's Seal," congratulating him on his acquisition. It is a little awkward for a Pope who claims infallibility; but the excuse is made for him, that he does not profess to be infallible about such things. And yet there are thousands in "this enlightened age," who believe that the Pope is God's representative on earth. The things that rest on no evidence are most believed, while eternal truths are rejected.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

"With His stripes we are healed." Are you healed? If not, why not? Do you not believe that He was wounded for your sins and sicknesses? Or do you think that He suffered in vain? Take heed that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

"He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." Isa. liii. 3. Now see how differently He treats us: "He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath He hid His face from him; but when he cried unto Him, He heard." Ps. xxii. 24. In this not enough to make you change your course, and instead of being ashamed of Him, to say, "My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation"?

"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." Are you allowing Him to carry yours? If not, what was the use of His ever carrying them? If He carries them, why should you insist on sharing the burden? It doesn't help Him, and it wears you out. "Cast thy burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain thee." He is able to do it; let Him do it in His own way.

"The Climax of Self-exaltation" The Present Truth 17, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

Last week we had on this page a brief presentation of the Sabbath of the Lord, showing the foundation on which it rests, and how absolutely impossible it is for it ever to be changed. It stands fast for ever and ever. Just as it never can cease to be a fact that God made the heavens and the earth in six days, and rested on the seventh day, so it can never cease to be a truth that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord." God did rest on the seventh day; it is therefore His rest or Sabbath day; and to make it otherwise one must prove that the heavens and the earth were never created.

We have now, according to promise, to show how absolutely impossible it is that Sunday, the first day of the week, should be the Sabbath of the Lord. It is very simple and plain. It is often said that man can make any day a sabbath that he chooses. It is true that man may abstain from labour on any day he pleases, and that day will then be his rest day or his sabbath day; but no man can by resting on a day make it God's Sabbath day; and it is God's rest, not ours, that we are commended to keep. It is only in God's rest that we find a blessing.

While man cannot make any day the Sabbath of the Lord, we must admit that in the beginning God could have made some other day than the seventh the Sabbath day, if it had been His will to do so. Do not forget, though, what we have already learned, that after He had once made the seventh day the Sabbath, He Himself could not change it, and put another in its stead. If another day were to have been the Sabbath, it must have been so from the creation, and then it could never have been changed.

Let us now see how far it would have been possible to go in this direction. We may admit that God could have created the heavens and the earth in five days, and rested on the sixth day, and then every sixth day could have been the Sabbath. He might have completed the work of creation in four days, and rested the fifth, in which case every fifth day would have been the Sabbath. Or God could no doubt have made all things in three days, and rested, on the fourth, and thus have made the fourth day the Sabbath. Do not fail to notice, however, in these supposed conditions the week would have been shorter, consisting only of six, five, or four days, and that there would never have been any seventh day of the week. To go farther: God could without doubt have created the heavens and the earth in two days, and rested on the third; thus making the third day the Sabbath; or we can conceive that it would have been possible to bring everything to perfection in one day, making the second day His rest day; and then we should have had alternate days of labour and rest.

But there is one thing that God could not have done: He could not have created all things and at the same time have rested from all His works on the first day. The beginning of creation, the first day of time, must have been a working day; and it is self-evident that it could not at the same time be a day on which no work was done. But the first day of the week is the one which man has chosen as his sabbath. That is to say, man has presumed to exalt himself above God so much as to choose for his rest day the day which God Himself could not possibly have taken for His rest day! How evident it is that the setting apart of Sunday as the rest day was the work of that "man of sin," "the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God."

The seventh day Sabbath is the Lord's rest day. To keep it understandingly signifies the acknowledgment of God as the sole Creator, the One who alone can make all things new. It signifies absolute trust in Him as the Saviour-ceasing from our own works, and resting in His finished work. The seventh day, therefore, stands as the sign of justification by faith, not by works. By it boasting is excluded, because "all things are of God."

The first day, on the other hand, is wholly of man's choosing as a rest day. God had nothing to do with it and could not have. It stands, therefore, as the sign of man's trust in himself, and his exaltation of himself above God. It is the sign of self-righteousness, of attempted justification by one's own works, and is the crown of boastful, arrogant pride. The fact that there are thousands of sincere, humble Christians who keep Sunday, does not disprove this; it only shows how great is the deception that Satan has brought into the world.

In ancient times there were many faithful worshippers in captivity in Babylon the Proud, and so it is to-day. They were there through no fault of their own, and God delivered them. Even, so to-day He sends forth the call, "Come out of her, My people." And let him that heareth take up the sound, and say, Come. Never mind how sincere you have been in your keeping of Sunday; show your continued sincerity and loyalty to God by making haste to walk in the light so it shines with increasing brightness. "Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him."

September 26, 1901

"Joseph Sold into Egypt. Gen. xxxvii. 12-36" The Present Truth 17, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xxxvii. 12-36.)²⁵1

Who that has ever read the Bible at all does not know the story of Joseph and his brethren? To most it is little, if anything, more than an interesting story; but it is really one of the most striking likeness of the work of Christ to be found in the Bible. Of all the Old Testament characters, Joseph is throughout his whole life the most complete type of Christ. This is set forth most vividly in the scripture appointed for our present lesson, although we have only a partial view.

It is often said of a child who exhibits unusual strength of character, that he is "wise beyond his years." If that were ever an allowable expression it might be used of Joseph; but it is not. At twelve years of age Jesus astonished the learned scribes and doctors of the law by the depth of his understanding; and the account of it is given us, not to show us how different He was from other children, but to teach us what all children of that age ought to be and know. So Joseph, before he was seventeen, had wisdom from God, that made him envied and hated by his brethren, who were many years older than he. Like Daniel, he had understanding in visions and dreams. The secret of his wisdom is given in James iii. 17: "The wisdom which is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to he entreated, full at mercy and good fruits." "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." Joseph was pure, in heart, and therefore he had communion with the great Source of wisdom and knowledge. "First pure." That is not only the requisite for wisdom, but it is the beginning of it. In order to be wise, one needs only purity of heart. This ought to be, and often is, most found in children, and it is for this reason that the deep things of God are hid from the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes.

"The wicked plotteth against the just, and

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gnasheth upon him with his teeth." Ps. xxxvii. 12. "All they that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution." 2 Tim. iii. 12. So "the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt." Acts vii. 9. Thus it was with Christ. His pure life was a constant reproof to the wickedness and hypocrisy of the rulers of the Jewish people. His righteousness exceeded the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, and so He would not resort to the multitudinous forms and ceremonies to which they had recourse to conceal their emptiness. They hated Him, because He was better than they; and when at last they seized Him, and delivered Him bound to the Roman governor, "Pilate knew that for envy they had delivered Him." Matt. xxvii. 18.

"And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I. And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flock; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem."

In like manner Christ, came to declare the name of His Father unto His brethren. Joseph went to "see the peace" of his brethren, and to carry greetings from their father: and Christ came preaching peace. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." They said, "Let us kill Him," even as Joseph's brethren said when they saw him coming. Seldom has the church had a reformer whom it has not slain, or attempted to slay. "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?"

But not every one who is on the side of the hosts of evil is wilfuly bad. Many are not decidedly against the truth, but they are simply not for it. They would be in favour of it, with all the heart they have, if others were; but they are "unstable as water," and must needs go with the wind of public sentiment. Such a man was Rueben. He would gladly have rescued Joseph from his murderous brethren, for he had no desire to kill him. We see that they readily fell in with his proposal not to kill Joseph, but to put him into a dry well; and we may be sure that if he had only had enough strength of character to assert himself, he might as the oldest, have turned aside all their ill will, and sent Joseph back to his father in safety. But he temporised, and therefore his good intentions want for nothing, and he became one with those who had no thought of good. Indeed such a temporiser is really worse than the brutally wicked, since he has impulses to good of which they know nothing, and allows them to be stifled.

In Reuben we see the type of Pilate, who could have rescued Jesus from the mob if he had had the courage of his convictions. Reuben proposed a compromise, to save the life of Joseph; PiIate said to the Jews who were clamouring for the death of Jesus, "I will scourge Him, and let Him go." But there was no reason for doing Joseph any harm, and there was no cause for scourging Jesus, since no fault was found in Him. Having made some concessions to the spirit of murder, everything had to be yielded. A compromise with error is always a victory for the devil. Truth and error, righteousness and sin, will not mingle.

The greatest lesson of all, however, both in the case of Joseph and that of Jesus, is how all things work out the will of God. It is true that Joseph's brethren sold him to the Ishmaelites to gratify their own hateful, envious dispositions; yet we read that God "sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant." Ps. xv. 17. And Joseph himself, seeking afterward to comfort his brethren, said, "Be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life." Gen. xlv. 5. In this he represented the tender lovingkindness of Jesus, who said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." But the main thought now before us is that God causes the wrath of man to praise Him. So "the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. For of a truth against Thy Holy Child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of lsrael, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done." Acts iv. 26-28.

God works all things after the counsel of His own will. Whether we will or not, His will must be done. If God's will is done with our will, it is well for us; if our wills are opposed, our very obstinacy and opposition will accomplish His purpose, but we shall suffer. When His will is done through us, He counts it the same as though we had done it; but it we do not wish His will to be done, then our sin is as great as though we had defeated His purpose, even though our act accomplishes His design. Thus since God's purpose will be carried out in any case, how much more sensible for us to yield to it gladly, than to be unwilling instruments of it.

The comfort and hope that we get from this story of how God's will is done even by men who are doing their utmost to thwart it is this: Since the wrath of men praises God; since even our hatred and opposition are used in His service, how much more must our willing mind be used by God, even though we have no power. How easy it is for us to know that our faith is counted for righteousness, when even our unbelief and rebellion work out His righteous will.

"God's Rest" The Present Truth 17, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

We have before us two criticisms directed against the reasons given for keeping the Sabbath of the Lord-the seventh day of the week. They are not arguments, mind you, for nobody ever brings an argument against the Sabbath, but only attempts to excuse himself for not keeping it. One of these criticisms is from a minister, and the other from an unbeliever, and strange to say, the one from the unbeliever is in exact harmony with the Scriptures, while that from the minister is directly opposed to the Word.

The minister, referring to the statement that the Sabbath means spiritual rest, says: "It is pure cant to speak of spiritual rest; what is spiritual rest?" The unbeliever takes the following from PRESENT TRUTH: "The word 'Sabbath' is the Hebrew word 'rest.' It is a pure Hebrew word, adopted into our language without translation. So, instead of saying, 'Sabbath,' we may say 'rest,' if we please, and the meaning is the same. Thus: 'The seventh day is the rest of the Lord thy God.' God did rest on the seventh day; therefore it still remains a truth to all eternity, that the seventh day is God's rest day-God's Sabbath day." To this the critic says: "What sort of rest? God is never weary."

Without paying any more attention to the two critics, whom we have introduced only because they represent two classes of contradictory objectors of agree in opposing the Sabbath, we will turn our thoughts to the subject of rest-God's rest.

That God did rest, and that He has a

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rest, needs no argument; the Scriptures state it very plainly. "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day." Ex. xx. 11. "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." Ex. xxxi. 17. "I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest." Heb. iii. 11. "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." Ex. xxxiii. 14. "He hath said somewhere of the seventh day on this wise, And God rested on the seventh day from all His works; and in this place again, They shall not enter into My rest." "Let us fear, therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it." Heb. iv. 1, 4, 5, R.V.

Now the question comes, What sort of rest is this that God enjoys, and that He gives to us, if we believe? The understanding of this lies at the very foundation of all Sabbathkeeping. The question is answered by the statement of what God is. "God is Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." John iv. 24. There are people who think that it is pure cant to say that there is such a thing as a spiritual being; but that thought can be answered by the statement that it is pure Scripture; and it is self-evident that when God, a spiritual Being, declares that He rests, that rest must be spiritual rest. And, further, since it is God's rest that we are to keep, in keeping the seventh day, it follows that the Sabbath of the Lord is spiritual, and not physical, rest.

"God is never weary." That is just what the Bible says. "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength." Isa. xl. 28, 39.

Now since God is Spirit, cannot get weary, and yet He rests, and He invites us to share His rest, it follows that the Sabbath is not for the purpose of resting the body. The night is given for rest, and nobody has any business to get so wearied by his daily toil that he cannot get rested over night, so as to be fresh in the morning. The night is given for physical rest, and the Sabbath for spiritual refreshment. If man needed no other rest than rest of body, there would be no need for the Sabbath; and whoever comes up to the Sabbath so jaded in body that he is obliged to devote all or a portion of it (the night, of course, excepted) to sleep and physical recreation, is not a keeper of it, but a Sabbath-breaker.

We do not forget what physicians and scientists have said about the necessity of one day in seven for the recuperation of the physical powers; but we also remember that they did not know the Sabbath. The millions of toilers in India and China, who know nothing of the Sabbath, nor of any weekly rest, disprove the statement made by the so-called scientific men. We have seen the Chinese work day after day, month after month, more hours in a day than white men would think of working, and yet they were more fit at the beginning of each week than white labourers would be. We repeat, that whoever depends upon the hours of the Sabbath for physical recuperation (excepting the hours designed for sleep) breaks the Sabbath. To use the Sabbath, either partly or wholly, as a means for recovering the jaded energies, so that one can plunge into the struggle for gain with renewed force, is an abuse of the best gift of God. Six days of the week are given man for his own work, and the nights accompanying them are sufficient for refreshment from all reasonable toil.

The Sabbath is given us, in order that we may know God. It is a time for renewing and deepening our acquaintance with Him. But it is not merely on the seventh day that we are to have this communion with God. His rest is constant, and the rest on the seventh day is simply the sign of the eternal rest in Him. It is the sign of the new creation in the cross, by which we are brought back to the Eden state, and to Eden freshness. It is the sign of absolute and perfect rest in God,-in His finished work,-bringing delight in Him, and triumph in the works of His hands. See Isa. lviii. 13, 14; Ps. xcii. 1-5.

But the greater includes the less. To

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be spiritual is greater than to be fleshly. Christ, the quickening Spirit, has "power over all flesh;" and if we allow His Spirit to dwell in us, so that we be not in the flesh, but in the Spirit (Rom. viii. 9), then the spiritual rest which we enjoy through the Sabbath (not merely during the hours of the Sabbath day, but constantly) will reveal its power through the flesh; for "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 Him Spirit that dwelleth in you." Rom. viii. 11.

So we shall prove that, while the Sabbath was not given for the purpose of resting our bodies from a week's toil, it does sanctify and refresh spirit and soul and body. We shall then know that He who forgives all iniquities also heals all disease, redeeming the life from destruction, and renewing the youth. Just as the man who doubts or murmurs or complains does not know the Sabbath, although he may cease his work on the seventh day, even so with the man who allows himself to become tired out and run down physically. The Sabbath is the sign of a perfect, new creation, and the fact that it is continued to us in this sin-cursed earth, shows us that God will, in spite of the curse, do the same thing for us that He did for man in Eden. The power of God is magnified by the fall; for the perfect, all-powerful life of Christ is manifested undiminished in the mortal flesh of all who have intelligent and perfect faith. God will manifest in mortal bodies in this world, the same power that He will reveal in immortal bodies in the world to come,-the power of an endless life.

The "everlasting God" has "everlasting strength;" because He has everlasting and infinite strength, He has everlasting rest; and that is why He is never weary. When we get so well acquainted with Him that we know the secret of His power, and share it, so that He becomes our strength and our salvation, we shall know the working of the Spirit to renew us physically day by day. For "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

"The Strength of Weakness" The Present Truth 17, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, "Ye know that because of an infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospel unto you the first time." Gal. iv. 13, R.V. It was not simply in a time of infirmity, because of it, that he preached the Gospel first in Galatia. We know something about the way it was received, and the result. Through the working of the Spirit there was a revelation of Christ set forth crucified among them, and they testified to the blessedness that they experienced. There is no evidence that Paul ever preached with greater power than at this time. Never, perhaps, had the Gospel been presented more powerfully than when Paul, because of his infirmity, was forced to stop among the Galatians.

The Gospel that Paul preached he himself declared to be "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." It was the Gospel of Christ, who came "preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people." Matt. iv. 23. The Gospel that will do that is power, and he who truly preaches it will not give occasion to the enemy to blaspheme and say, "Why does it not have some of the same effect on you?"

But you say, Paul was infirm and weak. Yes; but we might well pray for some of the infirmity that Paul had. Read 1 Cor. xv. 10. "By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not found void; but I laboured more abundantly than they all." R.V, margin. Paul is here speaking of the other apostles, of whom there were twelve; yet he laboured more abundantly than all. There is not much to regret or be ashamed of in infirmity which enables one to do so much more than other men. Paul was not cast down over it. He said: "I will glory in the things which concern mine infirmity." In answer to his thrice-repeated prayer for the removal of it, the Lord had told him, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for My power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore Paul said, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the strength of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Cor. xii. 9.

Paul's infirmity was a gift of God that he was to keep, in order that the power of the Gospel might be manifested in the highest degree. The Lord needs weakness in order to show His strength. Therefore "my brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye maybe perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

"'Unquenchable Fire'" The Present Truth 17, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

In one of a series of articles on "A Visit to Palestine," in the Baptist Times and Freeman, the Rev. Fraderic C. Spurr tells of a mill with modern machinery, at Ashdod. The owner, a German, had transplanted a bit of the new West into the midst of the ancient East; and the writer says, "There is no waste anywhere. The chaff is, in his case too, burned up with unquenchable fire, for he uses it in his little furnace, under the boiler."

We cannot help wondering how many who read this have the idea that Herr Schmidt is piling up the chaff in his mill, and saving it. Of course not one. Every reader well knows that the chaff is speedily consumed when put into the furnace, and soon ceases to have any existence. Why, then, will they insist that when the Bible says that the wicked are, to be burned up with unquenchable fire, it means that they are to writhe in torment throughout eternity?

"But the fire is unquenchable!" Exactly; and that is just why the wicked are burned up in it-consumed utterly, so that they become "as though they had not been." If the fire could be quenched, there might be some hope of escape; but since it cannot be put out, it must consume that upon which it preys. And what then?-It will go out of itself; for an unquenchable fire always dies as soon as it has burned up that which it was devouring. When everything has been reduced to ashes, then the unquenchable fire ceases to be. It is not quenched but it is no more. So we read of the last day-the day following the final judgment, when the difference between the righteous and the wicked shall have been discerned:-

"Behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings, and ye shall go forth and gambol as claves in the stall. And ye shall tread down wicked; for they tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day that I do make, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. iv. 1-3.

"The Editor's Private Corner. What Is Man?" The Present Truth 17, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

"The other day a letter of mine was inserted in one of our local papers, denying the assertion of a socialist lecturer, that man is an animal; and now I see it again asserted in paragraph 6, article by J. H. Kellogg, M.D., July 18th. Will you kindly inform us in your next issue if you approve of this teaching generally believed by all sorts of unbelievers as well as medical men?"

We must pay no attention to what somebody else believes or does not believe, but simply ask, What is truth? Many people are frightened away from a truth, because, it is believed, by somebody who is reputed to be an unbeliever, and who may indeed he sceptical about many things. We must not refuse to eat, drink, breathe, and sleep, because infidels do those things. If a thing is wrong or untrue, it is so because it is not in harmony with God's Word, and not because a wicked or unbelieving person does or believes it.

Let us therefore have a brief study of what the Scriptures teach about man, and that will be far better than to compare the beliefs of different classes of men. The weakness and the greatness of man are set forth in the following texts:-

"God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them." Gen. i. 26, 27.

"The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of Me; and man became a living soul." Gen. i. 26, 27.

"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower bhan God [literal Hebrew], and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea." Ps. viii. 3-8.

"Behold, Thou hast made my days as an hand breadth; and mine age is as nothing before Thee; verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity." Ps. xxxi. 5.

"He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone." Ps. ciii. 14-16.

"All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass." Isa. xl. 6, 7.

"The earth is full of Thy riches. So to this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. . . . These wait all upon Thee; that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That Thou givest them, they gather; Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled; Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth." Ps. civ. 24-30.

"Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be acccounted of?" Isa. ii. 22.

What then is man? He is "dust and ashes;" animated clay, made from the very same ground that all other living creatures on earth are made, and breathing the same breath that they breathe; yet made to have dominion over them all, because he aIone of all living creatures is made in the image of God.

Man was made to share with God the dominion of the universe, yet he was not made to be God. And can never become God. His power is not inherent in himself, but God alone is his strength. The man who knows this, and who makes the Lord his trust, acknowledging that in comparison with God he is nothing, yea, less than nothing, and vanity, is elevated to a position of dominion and authority with God, and is in the place of God to all the creatures that were formed on this earth before he was; but, on the other hand, "man that is in honour and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish." Ps. xlix. 20.

Now what is an animal? It is a creature that has anima, or breath. The primary meaning of the Latin word anima is, "that which blows, or breathes." It is a living creature having the breath of life, as distinguished from plants. Man, therefore, is most certainly an animal, although designed to be far above all other animals-their lord and master; but when he loses sight of his high calling, by forgetting how frail he is, and his absolute dependence an God, he loses his dominion, and comes at last to be on a level with other animals, and even below them.

There is a mistaken idea that "animal" and "brute" are the same. All brutes are animals, but all animals are not brutes. Do you not remember the description which John gives of God's throne: "In the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts, full of eyes, before and behind." Rev. iv. 6. This is an unfortunate translation, it is true, for "living creatures" is far better; but it shows that we need not be afraid of applying the term "animal" to man, when it is used even of the beings that help to compose God's throne.

Man is the crown of God's creation, God created him, that he might be the highest and most perfect expression of Divine power. But God's power is made perfect in weakness, and that shows that man is nothing of himself. Whatever is attributed to man, as inherent in him, is so much detracted from God. So many people have a horror of the term "conditional immortality," not recognising that it simply means that man has no life except in Christ. Our boast is not in what are, but in what the Lord by His loving power can make of us. "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that He may set him with princes, even the princes of His people."

"Our Little Ones. The King's House. The Holy Place" The Present Truth 17, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

THE HOLY PLACE

"I dwell in the high and holy place." This is what God, the King of heaven and earth, says about His dwelling place. He is the "Most High," so wherever He dwells is a high place.

And He has chosen you to be His dwelling plans. So you may be "a high and holy place," made so by the presence of God.

In the tabernacle which God taught the Israelites to build in the wilderness, there were two apartments. The larger and outer one was called the Holy place, and the inner and smaller one was the "Most Holy." The space for a certain distance round the tabernacle was railed off, and this was also holy.

What was it that made the tabernacle and its surroundings such a holy place? It was the presence of God there. He did not dwell in it because it was a holy place, but His dwelling there made it holy.

Do you remember His words to Moses at the bush: "The place whereon thou standest is holy ground'? It was God's presence in the bush that made it a holy place. "The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."

So we have not to make ourselves holy for God to dwell in us. His dwelling in us is what makes us holy. Do you know that your body is a holy place, because God made it for His own dwelling place, and fills it with His own Spirit of life?

The Most Holy place, the innermost apartment, the secret chamber where none but God and one person ever met together, teaches as what the heart should be, the centre of God's dwelling place in the human body, where He is to be enthroned.

But not this place alone was holy. The other apartment, and the outer court, were made holy by that sacred Presence in the Most Holy place. So God dwelling in our hearts makes the whole being holy. The mind, all the thoughts, are to be His; and every member of the body is to be set apart for His service.

With what reverent care we should treat our bodies if we remembered always that they are God's holy dwelling place. We should be very careful to keep them clean and pure, and to do nothing that would harm them.

Just after telling us that our bodies are the holy temples of God, the Word of God says, "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

Long years afterwards, one of the kings of Israel set up an image, an idol, in the Lord's temple in Jerusalem, and others defiled the house by putting forbidden things into it. God was angry, and said that they had profaned His holy place, and so He allowed it to be destroyed by fire.

Afterwards the temple was built up again; but when Jesus came to it, you remember that He found in the sacred court, merchants, and money-changers, making confusion. And He sent them all out, saying, "My house shall be called an house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."

Have we, any of us, an idol in the Lord's holy temple? Is self, or some other being, allowed to take His place upon the throne of the heart? If so we are defiling the temple of God.

Are thoughts and things of this world allowed to fill our minds, and take up our time and use the powers of mind and body that He has given us for His service? Is the thought of God shut out by other things, so that we have no time to worship, to praise, and to pray? If so, we are making God's temple a den of thieves,-of things that are robbing God, and profaning His holy place.

But, thank God, Jesus can cast them all out. No idol can stand in His holy presence, if only we will let Him in to rule His own house. All those things that are robbing Him of our love, our worship, our time, and our service, must go out from His presence as the money-changers of old fled from before His face.

So let us give ourselves to Him that He may fill our whole being, body, soul, and spirit, with His own sweet presence, that we may be holy and undefiled, and "meet for the Master's use."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

In situations so free from moisture that they may be called practically dry, the durability of timber is almost unlimited. The roof of Westminster Hall is more than 450 years old. Scotch fir has been found in good condition after a known use of 300 years, and the trusses of the roof of the basilica of St. Paul, Rome, were sound and good after 1,000 years of service.

Among its many peculiarities South Africa includes the "sneeze-wood" tree, which takes its name from the fact that one cannot cut it with a saw without sneezing, as the fine dust has exactly that effect of snuff. Even in planing the wood it will sometimes cause sneezing. No insect, worm, or barnacle will touch it; it is very bitter to the taste, and its specific gravity is heavier than water.

The Pope, it to stated by an eminent ecclesiastic at the Vatican, deeply regrets the death of Mr. McKinley, because the President always showed himself favourably disposed towards Roman Catholicism, and was on most intimate terms with some of the leading Catholic prelates of America. From the new President, Mr. Roosevelt, the Pope does not expect so much for Catholicism.

The Westminster coroner, at a recent inquest held on a hotel cook twenty-six years of age, who was taken suddenly ill while on the top of an omnibus, stated that "death was due to syncope caused by excessively tight lacing, an overloaded stomach, and the exertion of climbing on to the roof of the omnibus." Tight-lacing and overeating cause many deaths that do not come under the notice of the coroner.

The storm in the North Sea last week caused the destruction of the fastest boat in the world, H.M.S. Cobra, which struck a rock and went down with nearly sixty of the crew. The Cobra could steam thirty-five knots an hour, and was a sister ship to the Viper, which was lost in the Channel during the manoeuvres a short time ago. These events are indications of how quickly the country might be stripped of its main defence without the firing of a gun. Nations will yet find that a ship, as well as a horse, is a vain thing for safety.

There can in reality be no such thing as a conflict between capital and labour, because labour itself is the only real capital there is. Therefore the worst and most dangerous monopoly, or "trust," to use a modern term, that there can possibly be is a monopoly of labour. Millionaires may tie up all the moray in the country, if they wish, but the labouring men still have the capital, and their strength will produce their daily bread; but when any body of men get the power to compel all labourers to cease work at their bidding, then distress and ruin must follow. That time can come only when the labouring men themselves are willing slaves.

At a meeting of representatives of the London trade unions and the Social Democratic Federation, held in Memorial Hall, on the 18th, it was generally admitted that the day of successful strikes is over, owing to the recent decision of the House of Lords in the Taff Vale case. It was decided that, as an alternative to strikes, the trade unions must enter politics, and secure the return of workingman to Parliament. The spending of more money on political action, and less on strikes, was recommended. This will be a great improvement on the past; but a still better remedy for the present ills would be a compiance with the Scripture injunction, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Less money spent in politics, and more heart and brain put into labour, would be a good motto.

Last week a treat was given at Tilbury by the military authorities to the children of the gunners engaged at the Thames forts. Shortly after eating ham sandwiches the children began to exhibit symptoms of ptomaine poisoning, and within an hour about forty of them were lying about the field in a state of collapse. All eventually recovered and have doubtless profited so little by the experience that they are ready to repeat it.

The American steel strike has ended in a victory for the Trust. It extended to two months, and cost the Trust ?30,000 a day, while the men sustained a Ioss of upwards of ?5,000,000 in wages. Yet with all this loss the workmen are far better off than if they had gained their point, for in that case they would have gained such a monopoly of labour as would have made it almost impossible for a man to obtain employment without first becoming a slave.

A severe shock of earthquake was felt throughout the Highlands of Scotland early in the morning of the 18th. Beyond some slight damage to a few buildings, no injury resulted, but as is always the case when an earthquake occurs, people showed how utterly impotent they are in themselves. As long as people feel the earth solid beneath their feet, they can be very confident and boastful and independent, but when the earth trembles abject fear seizes all except those who rejoice to know that they rest in the hands of a God who is powerful enough to shake the world.

The French Benedictine Monks, who object to the proposal of the Government to inspect their monasteries, are settling in the Isle of Wight. They are coming to this country to avoid what they call "persecution." It they call Government inspection of their monasteries persecution, what name would they invent for the treatment of Protestants by Roman Catholics a few centuries ago. Those monks are what they call "a contemplating order," doing nothing but meditate, and it is probable that they are as harmless as it is possible for people to be who lead useless lives.

The Czar witnessed some of the French manoeuvres, while on his recent visit to France, and after highly complimenting the French army, he spoke of it as "a powerful support at the principles of equity, upon which repose general order and the peace and welfare of nations." The Daily Chronicle well says that "it is one of the irenies of the situation that the author of the Disarmament Conference should be called upon to express his sympathy for 'friendly France,' first by admiring her fine navy, and then by admiring her brilliant army." But then no one in the world would have been more surprised than the members of the Peace Congress themselves, if anybody had taken the matter seriously.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

The Lord says: "Behold, My servant shall deal prudently." Are you the Lord's servant? Have you yielded yourself to Him? Then this means you. Don't say that you have not acted wisely, and therefore you are not His servant; say rather, "I am the Lord's servant, therefore I shall deal prudently."

Everything that Christ is to us or gives to us through any visible agency, He can be and give to us by His spirit without any visible means. "Therefore, although the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, and the earth itself be removed, God's people can rest secure in His invisible, but everlasting arms.

"When other helpers fall, and comforts flee,
Oh, Thou who changest not, abide with me."

God has revealed wonderful truth in His Word. If we believe them we shall know them, and to say that we know is only an expression of faith, and not presumption. The presumption comes in when one, after having heard or reads says that he does not know. Such an one presumes to say that God does not know. Not to know is not to believes; and whoever disbelieves God, declares Him to be a liar. How is it possible that any mortal dare venture to doubt a thing that God has spoken?

"Not Creeds, but Light" The Present Truth 17, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

Not Creeds, but Light .-In 1748 John Wesley uttered these words, "The distinguishing marks of a Methodist are not his opinions of any sort. . . . I make no opinion the term of union with any man. I think and let think. What I want is holiness of life. They who have this are my brother and sister and mother." That is Christianity. The church of Christ is merely the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the leaven to permeate and influence all nations of mankind. Opinions are nothing, for they can never have any influence on a person's life and character; but beliefs are of importance; 'for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." But even the most perfect doctrine-not opinion, but Scripture-can have no effect is not incorporated into the very existence. Formulas and creeds, no, matter how correct, have no power to produce holiness. Only the life of the Lord can do that. It is not with the intellect, but with the heart, the whole being, that man believeth unto righteousness.

"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Faith, therefore, is that which draws us onward to new attainments in righteousness; it is that which makes us grow in grace; and this shows, still further, that in order to grow we must always believe greater things than we have yet experienced. Faith goes before experience, but experience must follow hard after. The reason why so many people make little or no progress in the Christian life is that they try to manufacture faith out of their experience, and are afraid to say that they know a thing from God's Word alone.

The reason why people shrink from accepting God's will in place of their own,-why they think it is a hardship to deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow the Lord-is that they misjudge Him. They allow the voice of the serpent to linger in their ears, and, to a greater or less extent, regard God as a Being absorbed in the contemplation of His own immensity, and having no sympathy with their feelings. They think of Him as not merely unmindful of our welfare, but as actually taking pleasure in depriving us of pleasure, if not in torturing us.

This is the heathen idea, and it tends to make men hard and devilish. But the truth is that God "hath pleasure in the prosperity of His people." Ps. xxxv. 27. He is exalted, only that He may have the more mercy." Isa. xxx. 18. He finds His only pleasure in pleasing the creatures whom He has made. "If He thought only of Himself; if He gathered to Himself His Spirit and His breath; all flesh would perish together." Job xxxiv. 14, 15, according to Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, French, and German translations. But He thinks upon man, even the poor and needy (Ps. xl. 17), and therefore we may have life. Day and night He sleeps not, for thinking of us and our welfare; and so far is He from not caring when we suffer, that "He hath borne our griefs, and carried out sorrows."

"We then that we strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification." So shall we be sharers in the joy of the Lord-the joy that is everlasting as God HimseIf. It is this self-sacrifice that links us to the Divine, and enables us to appreciate infinite realities. He who lives only to please himself, narrows his horizon to the measure of his own body, and can never know more than there is in his own little and ever-diminishing world. But whoever lives to please others, and in so doing to please God, has ever-widening prospect, with infinite knowledge and joy and wisdom opening up before him. To euch an one the years will never come when he will say, "I have no pleasure in them."

"Even Christ pleased not Himself." Yet He did not live a life of unsatisfied longing or torturing regret. His word to Father was, "Lo, I come to do Thy will," and "I delight to do Thy will, O My God." He found pleasure in no pleasing Himself. This is the lesson set for us, summed up in the saying that whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but he that will lose his life shall save it to eternity. That which we grasp, we lose; that which we give up, we are masters of. He who gives up everything, has all things to enjoy, and is lord of all.

Why should a man be like a child imagining that everything was made for him, and grasping after everything that pleases his fancy? How slow we are to learn the lesson of the fall-that that which is pleasant to the eye and to the taste, taken merely for self-gratification, brings dissatisfaction, pain, woe, and death? We are so prone to judge after the sight of our eyes, instead of with the mind of the Spirit of God; and even after having made proof of it, we so quickly forget that the way of the cross is the way of present and eternal joy, the joy of victory. There can be no happiness in bondage, even though our chains be golden; but in freedom-freedom from self, which is the only real liberty-there is the knowledge of God, which is "joy unspeakable and full of glory."

October 3, 1901

"In Prison with the Lord. Gen. xxxix. 20; xl. 15" The Present Truth 17, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xxxix. 20; xl. 15.)²⁶1

The life of Joseph is a practical illustration of the words of Christ: "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." At home in the vale of Hebron he had recoiled from the coarse words and actions of his brothers, and received in dreams from God intimations of future events. Sold into Egypt, and thrown at the tender age of save seventeen into the society of vicious servants, and a still more vicious mistress, he retained his integrity. Most youths of that age would be carried away by their surroundings; but Joseph had character, and his life in Potiphar's household was pure as in his father's tent.

"And to what profit?" Some in his position would be inclined to ask. "They will not believe that I am innocent; I might as well have the satisfaction of doing the thing, since I shall be suspected anyhow," is language that is not infrequently heard. Oh, it is under just such circumstances that one's character, or lack of it, appears. The one who wishes to sin, but who is restrained only by fear of the consequences, will take advantage of the opportunity if he can do so without being found out, or if he is sure to be suspected of it whether he does it or not; but Joseph did not regard the committing of sin as any satisfaction. A conscience void of offence was to him the highest satisfaction. When tempted from a quarter where even to be noticed was flattery, he was firm as a rock. To the strongest assaults upon his virtue, he replied: "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" It was not with him even a question of how he could keep from sinning; but in him we find an Illustration of the scripture: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." 1 John iii. 9.

"And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt but God was with him." Acts vii. 9. "And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound; and he was there in the prison. But the Lord was with Joseph." Gen. xxxi. 20, 21.

Joseph had not forsaken God, and God did not forsake him; when Joseph had to go to prison, God went there with him. Most people look on going to prison as a great disgrace; "gaol-bird" is with them the worst form of reproach. But the truth is, that there is no disgrace whatever in going to prison. Hardship and suffering there may be, but not disgrace. The disgrace connected with prison life is all in the sin that brings the victim there, and if the prisoner be innocent, and especially if he is imprisoned because of his uprightness, the prison is no disgrace, but on the contrary a palace of honour. There is a special blessing for those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.

No one need ever be afraid or ashamed to go anywhere with God. Any place is pleasant where He is; for "in His presence, is fulness of joy." The man with whom God goes to prison is far more free, than the men who can go where he chooses, and who chooses a way apart from God.

God's presence with Joseph gave him favour with all with whom he came in contact. "The keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand: because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper." Here we have the same word as in Ps. i. 3, where

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we read of the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, that "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Joseph's case shows that the prosperity that comes from keeping God's law and taking it for one's life is very real. No amount of "political influence" or of "standing in" with prominent men of shady reputations could have won that position of trust for Joseph. The Hebrew slave had confidence reposed in him, because God was with him. The keeper of the prison did not know this last fact; he knew nothing of God's influence in the matter; he only knew that Joseph was trustworthy; but we well know that Joseph's faithfulness soon made the name of God known, not only in the portion, but in the palace as well.

Few men would regard a prison, where one is held in bondage, as a place to win success; but Joseph found it so. That prison was the way to the palace, and to the governorship of Egypt. Joseph did not know that at the time, but it made no difference to him. He knew that God was with him, and he was content with that. Instead of bemoaning his fate, and brooding over his unjust treatment, he improved his time in preparing to be ruler of Egypt. He did not know that he was fitting himself for that position, but he nevertheless went the right way about it, namely, making himself useful where he was, without worrying about either the future or the past.

Be sure that Joseph did not associate so much with the Lord without becoming well acquainted with Him. So when the two most notable prisoners in the prison had dreams that troubled them, Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me then, I pray you." "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God" (Dent. xxix. 29), and "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." Ps. xxv. 14. Now Joseph began to reap some of the visible fruits of his purity of life. The pure in heart see God; and they who see God-not occasionally merely, but continually-are seers. The wisdom that is possible to the soul that is joined to God, is beyond all calculation. Such an one sees clearly where others stumble in darkness.

The way to deliverance, not only for Joseph himself but for all his people, was through the prison. In this Joseph was still the type of Christ. Christ had to be bound, in order to break the bands from His people. Joseph's committal to prison was his release from slavery; and so we see that instead of saying that Joseph's loyalty to righteousness got him into difficulty, we may rather say that it procured for him freedom and honour. People generally take too short views. Still it was not for his own sake that all this happened to him; Joseph, as a figure of Christ, was to be the saviour of his people; and no man can truly serve others except by personal sacrifices and suffering.

It is marvellous how well a man can get along, and keep not only "abreast of the times," but far ahead of them, when shut up in prison, away from the world. This shows us not merely that a man can get along without the world, but that real separation from the world is the best way to prosperity. This does not mean that one must shut himself up in a cloister, or be out of touch with human needs; but the rush and gossip of the world do not tend to make one really wise or useful. Some of the best things in the world have come from prisons. The world would probably never have been blessed with "Pilgrim's Progress," if John Bunyan had not gone to prison; and some of the brightest of the epistles of Paul were written in a dungeon, in chains. It all depends on whether or not God is with the man.

"A Servant of God" The Present Truth 17, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

How little appreciation there is of what this means. The common idea seems to be that one must be a preacher, or one whose whole has been devoted to some sort of public ministry in the Gospel. Moses, Elijah, Daniel, and Paul are recognised as servants of God, as indeed they were, and it is thought that it would be almost presumptuous for us to call ourselves by that title, as the apostles did, and a sort of irreverence to apply it to anybody less noted for Christian service than they.

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But what says the Scripture? Speaking to every soul, the Inspired Word says, "To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are." Rom. vi. 16. So it makes no difference what our sphere or calling: if we have given ourselves to the Lord, to serve and obey Him, we are as truly servants of God as ever Moses and Paul were. No matter how circumscribed our field, or how limited our capacity, if we are devoted to the Lord, we are His servants, and are engaged in the Lord's word; for the Lord's servant cannot work for any other. "No man can serve two masters." All ought to be servants of God; therefore the exhortation is, "Be not ye the servants of man."

"Will not this idea unfit the person who entertains it for the common duties of life?" you ask. "Will it not make a household servant, for instance, neglectful of her duties, and impertinent to her employer?" Far from it; quite the contrary. Read this: "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God; and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ." Col. iii. 22-24. Those whose duty it is to scrub floors, or wash dishes, or run errands, will be much more conscientious and faithful in the discharge of those duties, if they know that they are servants of God, and not of men.

And no one who knows this truth can feel any trace of contempt for those whose lot it is to do the most "menial" service, as it is called; nor can any one of these feel humiliated or discontented over his lot. There is no comparison of work with God, and so there can be none among His servants. God is as great when making a blade of grass as when making a world, and it requires just as much power for one as for the other. He is as great when listening to the cry of the ravens, and supplying them with food, as when listening to the prayer of Moses, and feeding the millions with manna. It is not what one does, but the spirit in which the work is done, that measures the grade of service. The man who makes the coat in his humble attic, and the man who wears it when addressing thousands, are equally servants of God, if love for God prompts them both in their work. Do you ask what you shall do in order to be the Lord's servant? The answer is, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Heathen and the Gospel" The Present Truth 17, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

"A point has arisen in discussion with certain Christians, relating to the state of the heathen with reference to the Gospel. I venture to solicit your assistance in coming to a clear understanding on this point.

"These people hold that the heathen are one and all raised again during, a thousand years' millennium, and then have the Gospel preached to them, under conditions which render it easy for all to hear and accept it. They advance in proof of this, the following considerations:-

"1. The Gospel according to John states that the Word was 'the true Light, which Iighteth every men that cometh into the world.' This, according to their view, is manifestly not now being done, since [again their figures] seventy-five per cent. of the heathen die without ever hearing the Gospel.

"2. Salvation is offered to all mankind on condition of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in no other way. How then does this offer include the heathen who have not yet heard His name, and have perished in their ignorance?

"3. Finally, this preaching to the heathen, and the consequent salvation of many of them, must necessarily take place in the future, and if so, when but during the thousand year's reign of righteousness spoken of [?] in the Scriptures?

"The point I ask your assistance on is not in connection with the doctrines which go under the name of the 'Temporal Millennium,' for it is evident to me that no such doctrine is taught anywhere in the Scriptures; but I wish you to point out if there be any definite scriptures indicating the Lord's dealings with the heathen who have not heard the name of Christ, and also how such texts as John i. 9; John iii. 16 [where it gives the condition of not perishing]; John xii. 32, etc., apply in the heathen world."

If you have the PRESENT TRUTH of August 29, you will find in it a brief statement of the Scripture teaching concerning the Millennium, by which you can see the fallacy of the views you refer to. The preaching of the Gospel will be finished before the beginning of the thousand years' reign of the saints with Christ, and there will be no people on earth during that period, to whom the Gospel could be preached; the saints will be reigning with Christ in heaven. This has been treated of so lately in this "Corner" that it need not be discussed at length now, and we will devote all our time to the case of the heathen in this present age.

It is very strange that people professing to believe the Bible will read a Scripture statement, and at once say that it is not so. Instead of allowing the Bible to enlarge their understanding, they make their lack of understanding the measure of its meaning. The Bible says that the true Light lighteth every man that cometh into the world; your friends say that seventy-five per cent. of the heathen have never heard the Gospel, and therefore it cannot be true now; whereas they ought to say that John i. 9 is sufficient proof that none die without having had the light of the Gospel.

Let us read John i. 9 carefully. "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." The Revision has it, "which lighteth every man, coming into the world," and in the margin is the rendering still more literally given: "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man as he cometh into the world." The Word of life "was from the beginning" (1 John i. 1), and its light shines into and upon every soul that is born into the world. By that Word we live, and its life is the light of men. The Gospel is life, and every living soul of mankind is an involuntary witness to its truth.

Many hundred years ago a heathen poet, who had never heard the name of Christ, seeing the truth that in God we live, and move, and have our being, said, "we are also His offspring." Acts xvii. 28. Every person with reason can see that we do not give ourselves life; our very existence is proof of the existence of a being who 'giveth to all life and breath and all things." But this is the whole of Gospel-life from God. So we know that no heathen dies, nay, no heathen comes into the world, without seeing the Gospel. "For the Life was manifested," even "that eternal Life which was from the beginning." The life by which all men exist is the eternal life of Jesus, which is abundantly able to save every one and all

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who accept it as coming from God, and who in consequence acknowledge that they are not their own.

"WITHOUT EXCUSE"

In Rom. i. 16-20, the case of the heathen is set forth so clearly that we have only to read, in order to understand: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one 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 the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from [since] the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse."

If, in the face of this, anybody says that the heathen have no chance to know the Gospel, he thereby declares himself an unbeliever. The text plainly says that the everlasting power and Divinity of God, even all that may be known of Him, are clearly seen in the things that He has made, including man himself. The true Light lights every man; the most of them cover it up, and do their best to extinguish it, and walk in the light like blind men; but that light whether acknowledged or not, leaves all "without excuse."

All are "without excuse," although the natural tendency of man is to excuse himself. Thus we read: "When the Gentiles [heathen], which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or also excusing one another." Rom. ii. 14, 15. Every soul has had sufficient light either to save or condemn him, according as he foIlowed or neglected it. Whoever walks in the light that he has, will have more; but one who refuses to follow the light that he has, no matter how small it may be, would not profit by more if he had it. Whoever does not accept the Gospel in this life, would not accept it if a thousand millenniums were given him in which to hear it.

Take another text: "The Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How the shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe on Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shaII they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed Gospel. For Isaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." Rom. x. 11-18.

Here it is plainly stated that, although all have not believed the Gospel, all have heard it; for the heavens themselves have proclaimed it. God's wondrous works declare His name, for, like the Master Workman that He is, whose works are perfect, and not to be ashamed of, He has stamped His name upon every one of them. In the darkest heathen times "He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." Acts xiv. 17. This name which God's works declare, is the very name that Christ Himself declares.

THE NAME OF JESUS

The name of Jesus is not merely the five letters composing it; it is not the mere sound of a word: it is what He is Himself; it is His life. His name is called Jesus,-Saviour,-because He saves. Wherever saving power is manifested, there is the name and person of Jesus. That power is everywhere, even in our own bodies, working to repair and to restore and to build up. The presence of the power that regenerates the soul, is shown by the restoration of the body after disease, or the renewal of strength day by day. Whoever trusts the everlasting power that he sees working everywhere, in himself, yet not of himself, will be saved, even though he has not heard the sound of the name. Abraham, the father of all them that believe, is an instance of one brought out of heathen darkness into the marvellous light of God, by listening to and heeding the voice of God within him. That voice led him out of self into God. From knowing nothing of the name of God the Saviour, he came to be the intimate friend of God, a sharer of His secrets, all by heeding and following the light that all heathen have; and Abraham's case is placed on record, that we may know the possibilities before every heathen.

Christ has been lifted up, and He is drawing all, both in earth and heaven, unto Himself. He is drawing by "the power that worketh in us" (Eph. ii. 9) and in all creation. The power of the cross is the selfsame power that upholds the universe; its power is felt in every man; and if all would only believe the simple truths which their daily life, yea, every breath, brings to them, they would be saved.

WHY PREACH TO THE HEATHEN?

Someone will say, "If the heathen have the Gospel, why need we make such efforts to carry it to them?" When presenting this truth, I have heard some say, "If I believed that, I should never do anything more to help missions;" and yet those same people continued going to church, although they had heard the Gospel preached all their lives. Why continue preaching the Gospel in this country year after year for generations? Why continue preaching to a congregation of Christians?-In order that they may "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

I do not mean to be understood as saying that the heathen by any means appreciate the light that they have. Neither do all professed Christians. The abominable practices of the heathen have blinded their minds so that they have little sense of spiritual things, and they need to be taught. The people of our own land have the same need also, although to a lesser degree. We cannot be blameless, if we possess good things, and are not willing to share with those who have less.

And this brings us to the grand lesson that we need to learn, namely, that

"God doth not need
Either man's work or His own gifts."

He has committed the preaching of the Gospel to us, not because He needs our help, but because we need the discipline. He is not dependent upon man for the revelation of Himself. Far from it. It is He Himself who does all the work, even when we are the most active in His service. He uses men only as His instruments.

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If we have light which we refuse to share with others, our loss will be greater than theirs.

But while God is not dependent upon man for the revelation of Himself, it is also true that the highest and most complete revelation of Himself must be made through man. In all the things that He has made His everlasting power and Divinity are seen; but it is in man, whom He made to be lord of the earth, that it must be revealed in fullest measure. When Christ comes there must be a people on earth, in whom the life of Christ is perfectly represented. This will be the fulness of the Gospel. Now among this number must be some out of the very lowest and most depraved tribes of mankind, in order that it may be most clearly manifest to all that all the lost are without excuse, and that God may judge the world. It is necessary also, in order that God's marvellous power and love may be seen.

So while we will not relax, but rather redouble, our efforts to preach the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ to the heathen, we may be sure that God is just, and that when the coming of Christ which we thereby hasten, ends the preaching of the Gospel, everything will have been done for all mankind that possibly could have been done.

"True Optimist" The Present Truth 17, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

The true optimist is not he who believes the world is growing better, but he who believes that a better world is soon to take the place of this one that is so filled with sin and misery.

"For Our Little Ones. The King's House. The Throne" The Present Truth 17, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

There was once a prophet who looked into the King's house in heaven, and saw "visions of God" He wrote out a description of some of the things that he saw; we may read it in the book of Ezekiel. In the first chapter he describes the living throne that he saw there.

In the sanctuary that was built on earth to teach the people about the Lord's true temple, there was a veil separating between the holy and the most holy places, of which we spoke last week. On this veil, figures of angels were worked in gold thread. This was to teach that the Lord's real temple is a living house.

God's throne in heaven, made of living creatures, is a pattern of what He means His whole universe to be; it shows that He is to be enthroned in every creature, ruling it by His Spirit.

Read in the first chapter of Ezekiel the description of the beings that form God's throne, and you will see how the will of God is done in heaven. This will teach you how He would have it done in you on earth; for Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."

"Whithersoover the Spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go." We are told what it was that made them always want to go the way of the Lord; it was because "the Spirit of life was in them."

This same Spirit of life is in everything that God has made, and wherever He is allowed to have His way, the will of God is perfectly done. It is this that makes the flower grow in the way that God wants it, it is this that teaches the bird the way in the air. All nature is part of that great living temple where God is enthroned, and yet each living being is a complete separate little sanctuary.

But the place where God most desires to have His throne in this earth is in the heart of man. This He made to be the Holy of holies-His own secret dwelling place. "The kingdom of God is within you."

We have found that God rules by His Spirit of life, within the living beings that He has made. Let us see how this was represented in the worldly sanctuary.

Within the Most Holy place there was but one article of furniture-the Ark of the testimony, over which was the Mercy-seat, and cherubim with outspread wings, figures of those of which you have read in Ezekiel. So it is clear that this was meant to represent God's throne.

Within the sacred Ark were two tables of stone, upon which were written the ten commandments. Those commandments; were to teach the people the way of the Lord. This shows that all our hearts are to be the throne of God, and His will is to be done in us, we must have His way within us. But there is only one thing that can put it there, and that is "the Spirit of life."

You will remember that when God spoke the law with His own voice from Mount Sinai, the people were afraid, and went and stood afar off, that they might not hear the voice of God. They said, "Let not God speak with us lest we die."

But God does not speak His Word to kill us; it is to give us life. Moses said to them, "Hear, and your souls shall live." And Paul afterward said that we receive the Spirit that makes us able to do God's will, by hearing His Word in faith.

This shows us that the Spirit of life is in the Word of God. The law, the Word of God, that was in the Ark, was to show that His law written in our hearts will make us His living throne, from which He will rule over our whole bodies. It will lead us "whithersoever the Spirit is to go," and make us able to do His will on earth as it is done in heaven.

But could the law as the Israelites had it, on tables of stone, do this wonderful work for them? No, for all things in that worldly tabernacle were only a shadow-"figures of the true." It could show the people what they ought to do, but it could not give them the power to do it.

But "to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin," and sin brings death. So this was "the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones." It could condemn people to death, but it could not save them.

God wrote His law on the tables of qtone, and gave it to the people because of their ignorance of Him, and their unbelief, that it might be their schoolmaster to bring them to Christ. It was to show them that they were sinners, with no power in themselves to do the will of God, so that they might come to Jesus to be saved from sin, and receive from Him the "Spirit of life," that would enable them to walk in the way of God.

For when we come to Jesus, and listen

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to His Word in faith, it is "written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." This will put the way of God within us, so that we shall always go in it.

When Moses brought down from the mountain the tables of stone that God had given him, his face shone so that the people could not look upon him. And when the Ark containing the law was put in the tabernacle, a cloud of glory rested over it. So glorious was God's holy law, even when written upon tables of stone.

But God says that "if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious," "the ministration of the Spirit" written and engraven on the living tables of the heart, shall "exceed in glory."

So, great as was that glory, it is much more glorious to have the law of God written in our hearts. When this is done, the Word is made flesh as it was in Jesus of Nazareth. Of Him John said, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, . . . full of grace and truth!"

The grace and truth that come into your hearts when the Spirit of Jesus writes His law there, will be more glorious than the cloud that rested over the Ark, or the glory of Moses' face.

The King's house is made for glory and for beauty. It is His presence within that makes it holy, and that also makes it "all-glorious within." When He takes up His abode there, the glory shining out in the life will bear witness to His presence within, for He cannot be hid. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

God says to each one of us: "My son, attend to My words; incline thine ear unto My sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart; for they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

The total number of missionaries to be sent out this year by the Church Missionary Society is 198.

It is reported from Buenos Ayres that general conscription had been adopted in the Argentine Republic.

More than a dozen cases of plague are reported from Naples. It was brought there by rats a ship from Calcutta.

The Pope is displeased because the last lot of French piIgrims did not leave any contribution to "Peter's Pence." It is feared that this omission may establish precedent.

The gross receipts that passed through the hands of the Commission of Inland Revenue for the last year amounted to the enormous sum of ?102,322,775, an amount far in excess of that for any other similar period in the history of the country.

A man named John MacDoue, on the West Coast of Ireland, has just died at the age of 125. One cannot help asking, What made him live so long? and, Having lived to so great an age, why did he not live longer? If a man can live 126 years, why should he not live 200, and on indefinitely? There is a wide field for thought here.

In the Annual Report of the Commissioners for Prisons and Directors of Convict Prisons, the Governor of Wormwood Scrubs calls attention to the large, number of persons, especially women, constantly reconvicted of drunkenness. He could, he says, name a score who practically live in the prison. The inebriates' homes, he adds, seem hardly to have touched the fringe of the problem.

By a recent decree, the Spanish Government requires all religious associations in Spain, especially such as are foreign, to make a formal declaration at the Ministry of the Interior of obedience to the law, and it is understood that the Vatican has asked for explanations from Madrid. Of course, any intimation that the law is to be obeyed brings "that lawless one" to his feet in protest.

It is not a very pleasing prospect that the sixty-sixth annual report of the London City Mission presents. Drunkenness outstrips the endeavours for reform. One of the 380 missionaries reports: "In thirty minutes I saw twenty-four person enter a public-house in my district. Of them, sixty-five were woman and nine were men. Most of the women had little children with them." Another says: "The women troop into some of the public-houses and beer shops, five, six, and seven abreast, whenever they are out shopping. In the morning, at noon, or at night." Still another writes: "My district was never, probably, so full of gamblers as now. Men and boys lay wagers on almost everything. The boy of seven and the old man of seventy are both addicted to the vice." As for other vices unnamable, they are so many that they themselves tarnish proof that there is still good in the city; for "except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah."

The Board of Trade return of railway accidents for 1900 shows that 583 railway servants were killed and 4,685 injured last year. In marked contrast with this is the list of passenger casualties. Out of a thousand million journeys by railway travellers, exclusive of 1,760,000 season-ticket holders, who must have made many million journeys, only sixteen terminated fatally.

A new temperance crusade has started in this country. The Rev. Dr. J. Q. A. Henry, Superintendent of the New York Anti-Saloon League, has come over from America at the invitation of the Free Churches, to assist in securing 1,000,000 new total abstinence pledges, which it is thought will be accomplished by December 5. A house-to-house canvass of the country is to be made, following meetings in all the large cities.

The common saying is, "In time of peace prepare for war," and this is what the nations are doing; but it is well in time of peace to think what a fearful thing war is, so that it may be avoided. The following bit from a recently published book entitled "How our Navy is Run" will help us to get a little idea of this:-

"When it is remembered that the battleship Canopus can fire from her guns seven tons of shot and shell per minute, and that she may in war be pitted against another ship hurling out death and desolation at the same rate, it will be understood what awful engines of destruction are our thirty odd battleships already in commission."

Paris is said to be in the grip of a financial crisis. At the commencement of the year the Bank of France had ?44,000,000 on its books, representing tradesmen's accounts; at the end of June that amount had fallen to ?19,000,000, showing a diminution of ?25,000,000, and this is only a reflection of what is taking place over the entire country. A prominent Lyons banker estimates that not less than ?80,000,000 has left the Lyons district alone within the last eighteen months. The amount of money spent in war preparations shows no diminution however.

A trial at the new ventilator for railway carriages is shortly to be given by the inventor, Mr. Pullman, of the Pullman Company. A trip is to be made from London to Southampton in a Pullman Car with all the ordinary means of ventilation hermetically sealed, and two of the new ventilators substituted. Mr. Pullman says: "I shall stipulate that everyone must smoke as much as possible during the journey, and, in spite of the closed compartment, I think I can guarantee a current of fresh air without any draught throughout the trip." Unfortunately this will be no test at all, as experience has amply demonstrated that smokers never know whether there is any ventilation or not. If Mr. Pullman can invent a ventilator that will enable a non-smoker to breathe with comfort in a compartment crowded with smokers, he will be a benefactor of mankind.

We are sorry to see that there is a movement towards reviving the senseless and barbarous habit of wearing earrings. Why in the ears more than in the nose, as is common among African tribes, no one seems to know. It ought to be understood by Christians, who "as Isaac was, are the children of promise," that the wearing of earrings is the mark of the children of the flesh. In Judges viii. 24 we are told that the men who requested Gideon to rule over them "had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites." Ishmael was born after the flesh, and "they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of promise are counted for the seed."

The senseless spirit that furnishes employment to lawyers and courts was recently exhibited in a most striking manner in a district in France. A lamb strayed from its owner's pasture into the property adjoining, and was kept. A lawsuit was the result, and after three judgments in favour of the owner, the Court of Cessation has just delivered the fourth. The loser must restore the lamb, and pay the court costs, amounting to ?700. A man with the wisdom that is "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated," can purchase lambs at for less cost than that, and can keep them too, when he has paid for them.

"A remarkable labour dispute" is reported from Sunderland. "Certain membors of the Gasworkers and General Labourers' Union employed at Messrs-- timber yards have come out on strike owing to the refusal of the firm to dismiss a cartman who does the journey to Newcastle and Shields in three hours' shorter time than other drivers take. The firm engaged new drivers, and while one of them was driving a team of horses attached to a timber load he was attacked by the strikers, who left him unconscious on the road." This only emphasises what we have so often declared, that the so-called Labour Unions are devoted to the deterioration and destruction of labour, instead of to improving it. There will be labour troubles as long as the efforts of men are directed toward seeing how little they can do for a given wage. The writer can remember when it was the pride of labourers to see who could accomplish the most and the best work in a given time, and such men were never out of employment, and never had any trouble with their employers. Every man, whatever his station, ought for his own sake to keep himself actively employed, and to do with his might what his hands find to do, even though he receive no wage at all. A man will in the end prosper much better by working diligently at even a low wage than by working listlessly for high wages.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

There is no one who would think of trying to teach a child two years of age by appealing to its reason. It is too young to exercise what we call the "reasoning faculty," and could not comprehend your explanations. You teach a little child, by telling it the new truth that you wish it to know, and it learns by believing.

Now put yourself in the place of the child, and let God be the teacher. Will you attempt to make a comparison? You cannot. When you consider the infinite difference between God's mind and yours, the difference between your mind and that of the child is nothing in comparison. Then how can anyone expect to understand God's truth by his reason? It is the height of presumption for any man to expect to comprehend by his reasoning power "the wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge."

Can we not then know anything?-Certainly but by a far higher and more sure means than our puny and infallible intellect, and that is the mind of God. We accept His mind, His reason, believing what He tells us, and thus we know. But do not make the mistake of supposing that reading the Bible and then trying to reason it out to our understanding is accepting the mind of God. The Spirit must flash the Word of life, which is the light, into our hearts and minds, so that we see is clear as sunlight. This the Spirit will do for everyone who wills to do God's will. Thus we may know for a certainty things which philosophers speculate on in vain.

"The Light of Life" The Present Truth 17, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

The Light of Life .-At the last meeting of the governors of the London Hospital, the report presented stated that the Finsen light treatment for lupus continued to be a great success. Two hundred and thirteen cases have been treated in fifteen months, and the chairman said that the cures effected "appeared to the lay mind in the nature of miracles." And that is just what they were; for no disease is ever healed except by a miracle. It is God's own working, often in spite of the so-called "remedies" used, but in this case by His own life, for "God is light." As men see what a marvellous power there is in light, to heal the most obstinate diseases, they should learn from it the reality of the truth, "if we walk in the light as He is in the light, . . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." How can all who see these cures help exclaiming, "Marvellous light!" and rejoicing in it?

The Gospel is life, and that is why no man can preach the Gospel unless he lives it; and it is why no one can take it away from the one who has it. Speaking on this subject recently, Dr. Parker aptly asked if anybody was going to destroy a faith wrought into the very fibre of his life, by giving him a half-penny pamphlet against the existence of God. People who know the truth do not become alarmed and think the whole fabric is about to fall, because somebody has written a tract or book against it.

"God's Unmistakable Sign" The Present Truth 17, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." 1 Cor. i. 22-24.

What does this teach us?-Just this, that the cross of Christ is the sum of all the wisdom which philosophers and sages and scientists have longed for, and is the sign of the presence and power of God. All that the heathen in their blindness have groped for; all that philosophers have sought to discover; all that philanthropists have yearned to see as an evidence of the passing away of the reign of suffering and sorrow, is revealed in the cross in perfection past all human conception.

It was for this cause that when the Pharisees and Sadducees desired Jesus would show them a sign from heaven. He said: "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; but there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas; for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matt. xii. 39, 40. The only sign that Jesus would accord them was His crucifixion and resurrection. He did not mean by this that He would not show them anything; but that He would let them see the greatest sign that heaven had to display. The sign of Jonas was enough; He could not show them anything more.

The forerunner of Christ, John the Baptist, did no miracles. His message is the one that reaches to the coming of the Lord in flaming fire to Judgment. It is the Gospel message for these days. Therefore people who are looking for miracles as a sign of the Gospel in these days are likely to be deceived. The sign for three days of preparation for the coming of the Lord, is "a peculiar people, zealous of good works,"-a people in whom the power and wisdom of the Crucified One are fully manifested.

In the last days Satan will work "with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness." 2 Thess. ii. 8, 9. Of the "beast" that stands in Scripture as the direct representative of Satan, it is said, "He doeth great wonders, so that He maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do." Rev. xiii. 13, 14. Those, therefore, who are resting their faith on signs and wonders are quite sure to be led astray.

Now while God has power to work miracles beside which the greatest signs and wonders that Satan can work will pale into insignificance, we must not suppose that He will condescend to any rival exhibition of strength with the devil. People will not be put to the necessity of deciding as to the relative value of two miracles, in order to know on whom to believe. The plain word of truth, the Gospel of our salvation, unsupported by anything except its own inherent righteousness, will be the sole ground of faith; and the great miracle,-for God will work with power infinitely greater than that of Satan-will be the transformation in believers in the truth,-a transformation in spirit, soul, and body. Christ says, "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given Me are for signs and for wonders." Isa. viii. 18. These will be signs that cannot be counterfeited. Who is willing to be made one of the Lord's signs?

October 10, 1901

"God's Servant Exalted. Gen. xii. 38-49" The Present Truth 17, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xii. 38-49.)²⁷1

"Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted, and extolled; and be very high." Isa. iii. 13.

CHRIST THE PATTERN

These words of God were spoken directly concerning Christ; but Christ, as the servant of God; sets the pattern of service for all other servants; for all who yield themselves to God, to serve Him, are accepted as His servants. Christ declares Himself to be the pattern, in these words: "Whosoever would be great among you shall be your servant, and whosoever would be first among you shall be your bond-servant, even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto [served], but to minister [serve], and to give His life a ransom for many." Matt. xx. 26-28, R. V., margin.

But Christ was made in all things like His brethren, in order that they might in all things be like Him. He has no honours that He does not share equally with His brethren; for we are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." So as He sets the pattern for the kind of service to be rendered, we may be sure that He is also an example of the honours and promotions to be received. Every true servant of God-every one who gives undivided service,-no matter who or where he may be, or how meager his advantages have been, has the promise that he shall deal prudently, and shall be exalted.

NATURAL PROMOTION

It was therefore really in the natural order of events when Joseph, who was faithful as a shepherd lad, doubly faithful and loyal as a slave in the house of Potiphar, and who still served with cheerfulness and fidelity when he was most unjustly shut up in prison, should be exalted and placed very high. His governorship of Egypt began in prison, or, earlier still, when he was caring for his father's sheep.

Being pure in heart, and knowing God's Word as a life, and not as a mere creed, Joseph had insight into the secret things of God; so when the King of Egypt had dreams that he was sure meant something, but he knew not what, Joseph was the one man who was ready at a moment's notice to give the interpretation,

CALAMITIES STEPPING-STONES TO SUCCESS

Here we see an illustration of how "all things work together for good to them that love God." It was cruelly thoughtless in the chief butler, to whom Joseph had brought such a cheering message, to pay no more heed to him after he was out of prison. Two long years Joseph was compelled to wait after freedom had seemed almost in sight. It might well seem that his bondage would never end, when suddenly a messenger came with the command for him to appear at once before Pharaoh, and within a few hours at most Joseph was the second man in the kingdom in name, and the first in real power. But what if the butler had thought of Joseph, and had secured his release from prison as soon as he himself gained his liberty? Doubtless Joseph would never have been heard of again. But God had a great work to be done,-a work affecting the whole world, even to the end of time,-and His servant had to be kept where he could be found for service when he was needed. Joseph was serving God as faithfully in prison, as he ever did anywhere, and it was because he was a real servant of God under every condition, that he was so marvellously exalted.

THE WISDOM OF OBEDIENCE

"And Pharaoh said unto His servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art; thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled."

Here we have a practical fulfilment of a truth stated long afterwards through Moses: "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." Deut. iv. 5, 6.

Joseph's wisdom was nothing more than that which naturally comes with perfect obedience to the law of God,-not mere forced compliance with its precepts, but a life which springs from the inborn Word. God gave Joseph success, and caused all that he did to prosper, in harmony with this truth: "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." Ps. i. 1-3.

"The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job xxviii. 28. "A good understanding have all they that do His commandments." Ps. cxi. 10. Wisdom and understanding are as natural to the one whose life is the law of God, as beauty and odour are to the flower. Such lives as that of Joseph are recorded in the Bible, not as something strange and unique, but to show what is really the natural state of everyone whose life is wholly the Lord's.

HOW TO GET EMPLOYMENT

One of the commonest complaints that men (and boys) make is that they "cannot get any employment." Joseph had no difficulty. He could get all his own work, and that of others, as well. Everybody was willing to let him work. The keeper of the prison turned all his work over to Joseph, and even the king entrusted all his duties to him. And Joseph welcomed all the work that came. That was the reason why he had so much to do. And right here we discover the reason why so many people are out of work. They are afraid of overwork, of doing too much. They carefully calculate how much, or how little, they ought to do for their wages, or how much they feel like doing, and when work is slack their employers have no difficulty in determining that they can easily dispense with their services. But real worth makes a place for itself. The man who knows, and who can do, and who, above all, is hungry for work, and not merely for wages, will never be long out of employment. There is lots of work waiting to be done in the world, but it yields only to the one who will do it, and not to the one who merely toys with it. When Joseph was in prison, receiving no wages, he put all his heart and strength into the work, as much as though it had been his own private business. Whoever will do that, will find that he is wanted. Most men out of employment would laugh to scorn the suggestion that they should take hold and do something, working for nothing rather than be idle. "I can't afford to work for nothing," would be the reply. But a man can afford to work for nothing a great deal better than he can afford to be idle for nothing. Real, lasting success comes to the men who love work for its own sake.

"And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a chain of gold about his neck; and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee; and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt."

EXALTED THROUGH HUMILITY

Here again, without the slightest straining of the matter, we see in Joseph the likeness of Christ. It was not merely after his humiliation, but because of it, that Joseph received honour from the king, and homage from the people. The mind was in him that was also in Christ Jesus, "who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant; ... wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow." Phil. ii. 5-10. "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

THE PRINCE OF LIFE

Lastly, the name given to Joseph was most significant. Zaphnath-Paaneah, according to Egyptian etymologists, means, "Prince of the life of the world," or, "Saviour of the world." Bread is the staff of life; and as Joseph had supreme control of all the corn in the land, he was literally prince of the life of the world; and he was, under God, of course, or, by God working through him, the saviour of the world; because it was through his wisdom and energy that corn was laid up in abundance, "and the famine was over all the face of the earth. And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands." Gen. xli. 56, 57. It was no fancy title that was given to Joseph.

In this Joseph was a type of Christ, the Saviour of the world, the Prince of life, the Bread of life that came down from heaven to give life to the world. But we should see more in this than Joseph as a type of Christ. We should see in it the truth that we, like Him, are to be saviours of the world: For as Christ is the Bread of life, so "we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread." 1 Cor. x. 17. Bread is made solely to be eaten, that men may get life from it; so as Christ gave Himself for the life of the world, we likewise "ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." This we do in holding them always ready for any kind of service, no matter how humble, hard, or exacting.

"The Law of Progress in Understanding" The Present Truth 17, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

The Law of Progress in Understanding .-Here is the statement of a truth that cannot be too often repeated, for it explains why do many people have difficulty in understanding the Bible: they are not willing to pay the price of knowledge:-

"The law of progress in understanding the word to that the truth already received shall have been obeyed in the life. The Bible is a sealed book to thousands of people, because there has not been response in their lives to the measure of truth received. There must be the disciple's heart for the reception of truth. The characteristics of the true disciple are willingness to learn and determination to work. Prejudice and laziness will inevitably dull the mind and obscure the vision."

"Blessed Forgetfulness" The Present Truth 17, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

God's promise to His people in the new covenant is, "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Heb. viii. 12.

All the promises of God are in Christ, and He is ours, so that we get the benefit of every promise now. Here is a prayer inspired by the Holy Spirit: "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions." Ps. xxv. 7. The Spirit knows the mind of God, and makes intercession for us according to His will; therefore this prayer, uttered in faith, must always be answered. Moreover, since we are to offer it now, it must be answered now. We may know now that God forgets the sins of our youth.

But God never forgets anything that exists. "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." Prov. xv. 8. If the sins of our youth existed, God could not help remembering them; but when we accept His abundant mercy, we may know that "as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." Ps. ciii. 12. Mind, this does not mean, the fact that we have sinned, but the sin, the evil habit itself. He transforms us by the renewing of our mind, so that we ourselves forget the sin of our youth; for the one who committed them is dead, and the one who now lives-"not I, but Christ,"-never did any sin.

Who has not often wished that he could forget some of the scenes of his youth,-forget that he had done certain things? The thought of them troubled our conscience, and not only that, but it was like an evil companion, always drawing us downward. But to forget that we have committed certain sins, while still retaining the nature that committed them, would be the worst kind of folly. It is not that, however, for which we pray. We have at once the promise and the assurance of forgiveness so complete that the sin is gone, not only from our memory, but from our being. We have not only forgotten the specific sin that we did, but we have forgotten how to do it. Blessed forgetfulness? We know that we have sinned, but that is all we know, except "Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins in His blood."

"The Editor's Private Corner. A Talk about the Judgment" The Present Truth 17, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

1. "Over whom will God's saints sit in judgment during the millennium?"

"Do ye not know that the saints shall judge its world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3.

"For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people; He will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edge sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written; this honour have all His saints." Ps. cxlix. 4-9.

To the Son God says: "Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." And Christ in turn says to His people: "He that overcometh and keepeth My words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of My Father." Rev. ii. 26, 27.

The earth was given to man in the beginning, as his dominion; and "whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever;" He never takes back a gift. But the earth was given to man in his perfect state, and when Adam sinned, he lost his crown of glory, and his dominion. Only righteousness can really rule. So Christ, the Just One, has won the kingdom back, and the earth is now the rightful inheritance of the saints: "Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." When Christ comes in His kingdom, sitting on the throne of His glory, He will say to the righteous: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. xxv. 34.

The kingdom prepared for God's people from the foundation of the earth, was the perfect, new earth; but now it is marred by the curse, and overrun with weeds and thorns; and the chief of these cumberers of the ground are the rebellious ones who will not have Christ to reign over them. Therefore when the earth is given over to the saints, they have, with Christ, the work of clearing it from its defilement and fitting it for habitation by a perfect people. This is properly the work of man; for since the earth was given to man as his kingdom, it is but proper that he should pass judgment upon offenders. So Christ says: "As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man." John v. 26, 27.

As for the righteous themselves, they do not come into Judgment at all, since Christ has appeared in the presence of God for them. He says: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into Judgment, but hath passed out of death into life." John v. 24. The mere fact that they are counted worthy of the first resurrection, or of being changed to immortality if alive, at the coming of Christ, shows that Judgment is passed for them. So the coming of Christ to Judgment concerns only the wicked, and it is upon them that the saints will sit in Judgment during the thousand years.

2. "Will the persons reigned over and judged during the millennium be dead or alive?"

Let the Scriptures answer this also. "Then shall that wicked be revealed,

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whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and destroy with the brightness of His coming." 2 Thess. ii. 8.

"Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before Him." Ps. l. 3.

"A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about." Ps. xcvii. 2.

"Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled; . . , for My people is foolish, they have not known Me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form, and void (Compare Gen. i. 2); and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains; and lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld and in, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down in the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it." Jer. iv. 20-28.

This presents the earth as it was in the beginning, before any living thing was created-"the deep," an abyss, the bottomless pit, into which Satan is to be cast and shut up for a thousand years; for the Greek word rendered "bottomless pit" in Rev. xx. 1, 3, is the same that appears in Gen. i. 2, in the Greek Version, the Septuagint. The wicked will be all dead during that thousand years; for

"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground." Jer. xxv. 32, 33.

"Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he that fleeth from the noise of the fear, shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit, shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall real to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high (compare Eph. vi. 12), and the kings of the earth that are upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit; and after many days shall they be visited." Isa. xxiv. 17-22.

"They shall be visited" at the close of the one thousand years; for then the second resurrection will take place,-the resurrection to the announcement and execution of Judgment. This resurrection will be necessary, in order that all who have ever lived upon the earth may be together at one time, when all the thoughts and actions of men, and all of God's dealings with them, will be set forth, so that every one may confess that God is just, and on bended knees swear that all His ways have been right.

3. "Where will these judges be enthroned, and where will the judged persons exist during the millennium?"

The texts already cited show that the judged persons-the wicked-will have no existence during the millennium. Only Satan and his angels will inhabit the desolate earth during that time. Satan can then see to what he would have brought heaven itself, if he had been allowed to stay there. Then he will realise that his kingdom is a prison-house of death, and that his freedom is bondage. The picture of that time is presented to us in advance, in order that we may see the inevitable result of Satan's rule, and throw off his yoke in time.

As to the judges, who live and reign with Christ a thousand years, they will be in heaven. There is where the New Jerusalem, the capital of the new earth is, so that they will actually have taken possession of their inheritance. The thousand years of Judgment will be the preliminary work of clearing their land of its incumbrances, and fitting it for habitation.

4. "What will become of the earth on which we live, during the millennium?"

This has already been answered. It will be desolate, "without form, and void." It will be the bottomless pit, or the abyss, "the deep," as in the beginning. It will be awaiting the final act in the new creation.

5. "Will the new earth (Rev. xi. 1) be the present earth simply purified by the fires of judgment, as it was by the water at the deluge, or will the new heaven and the new earth be as new a creation as recorded in Gen. i. 1?"

"He that sat on the throne said, Behold I make all things new." Rev. xxii. 3. "And there shall be no more curse." Rev. xxii. 3.

It was not so at the deluge. There was no purification of the earth-only the destruction of the wicked; the curse was more marked after the flood than it was before. But the fires of the last Judgment will make the earth absolutely pure, so that it will be a new creation, just as in the beginning. It will be "the first dominion" restored. "We, according to His promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter iii. 13.

6. "We shaIl reign on the earth." How long? and when will that reign begin?"

"And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people." Dan. ii. 44.

"The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever." "The kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him." Dan. vii. 18, 27.

Christ makes His people kings and priests. All who are loosed from their sins in His blood are that now, the extent of their empire being their own bodies. God will not have in His universe, when restored to His sway, any lower rank than kings. All will be kings, and all will reign for ever and ever. The reign with Christ over the earth will begin at His coming; the first thousand years will be passed in heaven, in the New Jerusalem, and then the city will come down on the earth, where they will continue their reign to all eternity.

This is as far as we can carry this conversation this week. Next week, God willing, we will resume it, and answer the remaining questions before us on this subject.

But we must not dismiss the subject, even for a week, without seeing the practical lesson for us in all this. It is suggested in these words: "He shall not fail, nor be discouraged until He have set judgment in the earth." Isa. xiii. 4. Also

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see 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3, already quoted. Sin is blindness and ignorance; it deceives the mind, and perverts and destroys the judgment. Christ's work is to restore that which was lost, and to establish judgment in the earth.

The only change that will take place in God's people at the coming of Christ, will be the changing of their bodies from mortal to immortal; their minds and characters will undergo no sudden change, but will go on developing and expanding day by day throughout eternity. Therefore we see that even in this life, and in these mortal bodies of ours, Christ will by His gracious Spirit develop such judgment as will be sufficient to decide upon everything that has occurred since the foundation of the world. God says, "My servant shall deal prudently," and now is the time. What a glorious prospect! It is necessary for us to know what God designs for us, in order that we may plan for it, and yield ourselves to His working. But if such marvellous attainments in judgment are to be ours in only a little while, is it not time for us to cease all petty debate and strife, and the contemplation of everything that tends to degrade the mind?

"For Little Ones. The King's House. The Golden Candlestick" The Present Truth 17, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK

In the outer apartment of the sanctuary we have been learning, about, there were seven golden candlesticks, or rather, one large candlestick with seven branches. At the end of each branch was a lamp, filled with oil, and this was kept always burning to light up the house. The lights were many times reflected from the beautiful golden walls of the holy plus, and made it most glorious within.

We know that everything in this tabernacle was to teach us something about ourselves; for we are the true temples of God, and this one was only a figure. What then may we learn from these candlesticks, with their golden lamps filled with oil, always burning?

Jesus told John what the candlesticks represent. John had a vision in which he saw Jesus standing in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, and he was told, "The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches."

The number seven in the Bible stands for completeness, fulness. So this shown us that God's candlestick on this earth is His whole church, and that Jesus, the Light of the world, is in the midst of His people. But you know that the church is made up of many members, and so each member is to be a candlestick in God's house, with Jesus in the midst, in the heart.

What is a candlestick for? It is not itself a light, but it is to be a light-bearer. Perhaps you remember Jesus said that when men light a candle they do not hide it under a bushel, but they put it on a candlestick, so that it may give light to all that are in the house. A candlestick is to hold up the light so that it may be seen and give light all around. So every one of you, dear children, God wants to be His little light-bearers.

But a candlestick is no use without light. Where does the light come from that God's candlesticks are to hold up? This too we see very plainly told in God's Word. For John saw also "seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God."

Think again what seven stands for, and you will see that God wants His Holy Spirit to be poured out in its fulness into His people on earth, and that is what will make them the light of the world. For the candlesticks were to hold up and show forth the lamps, and these lamps represent the Spirit of God. The lamps were filled with oil for the light, and oil is used in the Bible as the symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Do you want to be God's light-bearer? Then you must have His Holy Spirit in your heart to light the lamp, and a fresh supply of His holy oil to keep it ever burning. Do you remember the parable by which Jesus taught this?

There were five foolish virgins who took their lamps, but no oil with them when they went out to meet the Bridegroom. So their lamps went out, for they could not borrow the oil from any of the others, and they were shut out from the marriage feast. We must have oil if we are to be burning and shining lights, and this oil is the Holy Spirit of God.

And now, how are we to get a constant supply of the precious oil to keep our light burning clear? Have you read the "Pilgrim's Progress"? If so you have been with Christian to the house of Mr. Interpreter, and will remember the illustration that he used to teach him about this.

Then I saw in my dream that the Interpreter took Christian by the hand, and led him into a place where was a Fire burning against the wall, and one standing by it, always casting much water upon it to quench it; but did the Fire burn higher and hotter.

Then said Christian, "What means this?

The Interpreter answered, "This Fire is the work of Grace which is wrought in the heart; he that casts water upon it, to extinguish and put it out, is the Devil; but in that thou seest the Fire not withstanding burn higher and hotter, thou shalt also see the reason of that." So he had him about to the backside of the wall, where he saw a man with a Vessel of Oil in his hand, of the which he did also continually cast (but secretly) into the Fire.

Then said Christian, "What means this?" The Interpreter answered, "This is Christ who continually, with the Oil of His Grace, maintains the work already begun in the heart; by the means of which, notwithstanding what the Devil can do, the souls of His people prove gracious still. And in that thou sawest that the man stood before the wall to maintain the Fire, that is to teach thee that it is hard for the tempted to see how this work of Grace is maintained in the soul."

Again we must go to God's Word to see how He does this work of pouring the oil of His Spirit into His candlesticks to keep their light burning. For God showed it all to the prophet Zechariah by a beautiful figure, that he might write it out for us to read.

"And the angel that talked with me came again and said unto me, What seed thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold, a candlestick all of gold with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof; and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side thereon. . . And I said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the oil out of themselves?. . . . Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, which stand by the Lord of the whole earth."

It you recall our last week's talk you will remember the ark covered with the mercy seat, which was a figure of the throne of God. On each end of the mercy seat was the figure of an angel, representing the two anointed ones that stand in the presence of God. From what was shown to Zechariah, we learn that it is through these heavenly beings that the golden oil of God's Holy Spirit is made to flow from Him to us.

God says of His angels that they are all "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." Jacob in a dream saw the angels coming and going between heaven and earth. The way to the throne of God is ever open, and these heavenly messengers are the channel through which God pours the golden oil of love and grace into His people. It is through these precious

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Word has been given to man; for He sent them the prophets the things that they wrote to enlighten the world.

This Holy Word is as the golden pipes through which the oil was emptied from these anointed ones into the candlesticks. So if we would have always a fresh supply of oil, if we would burn brightly for the glory of God and the good of others, we must study God's Holy Word, that through this channel His own Spirit may be poured into our hearts. Then we shall "shine as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of life."

God wants His people to be full of the wisdom of His Holy Spirit, so that they may teach and enlighten the whole world. This will be done when each little light burns bright and clear just where He has put it. He wants by His golden candlestick in this earth, to give light to all that are in His house. You know that the Father's house is a very large place,-much larger than this earth,-for it takes in the whole universe.

Does it seem to you that you are so hidden, and your light is so small that no one will get any good from it? Then here is something for you to think about: "We are a spectacle unto the angels," "to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." That means that even the high and holy angels may learn more of the riches of God's grace, and of His wisdom and power, by seeing what He is able to do in the hearts and lives of His people in this world.

Is it not marvellous and inspiring to think that you are always being thus watched? So let nothing put out your light, for nothing can if the golden oil of the Spirit is allowed to flow freely into your heart. All the efforts of Satan to quench it will only make it "burn higher and hotter."

When he finds that he cannot quench the light that God's light-bearers are shedding over the world, Satan tries to get rid of the candlestick by persecuting and killing those who are holding up the light. But all that this does is to spread the light into the hearts of many more, who also become light bearers.

You may have heard of the words of old Bishop Latimer to Ridley, when together they suffered death by burning for the sake of the Word of God. "Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, for we shall this day light such a candle in England as by God's grace shall never be put out."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

There is a bird in Mexico that is a remarkably expert bee-catcher, it is a kind of bee-martin, brown and gold in colour. It has a way of ruffling up the feathers on top of its head so that they look exactly like a beautiful flower. When the bee comes to sip honey from this delusive blossom it is trapped and quickly devoured.

It is stated on good authority that 16,000 secret police were sent by the Russian Government to France as soon as it was definitely decided that the Czar should visit that country, and that those secret agents, with their expenses, will cost their Government on this occasion more than half a million roubles.

The consumption of beer in the United Kingdom last year amounted to 31ï7 gallons per head of the population. This average is exceeded only in Bavaria and Belgium, where it was 54 gallons and 47 gallons respectively. No less than 56 per cent. of the revenue of this country is raised by duties on alcoholic beverages. Spirit drinking is also on the increase. The consumption of wine, however, is only 39 gallons per head of the population in Great Britain, while in France it is 24ï4.

There is a growing interest in the "Zionist Movement" among the Jews in London. At a recent meeting of delegates from the East London Jewish Societies, the chairman states that the persecution of their race is again assuming serious form in Europe, and is in some countries taking official form, so that large numbers of Jews are being reduced to pauperism, and his conclusion was that a restoration of the old national life is the only remedy. But Zion will never be inhabited by her children until the complete restoration takes place, not only of the people, but of the land itself to its Eden state.

Here is an interesting item connecting the history of the past with the present:

"The expedition of learned men which the Russian government last year sent out to Mukden, in Manchuria, in order to investigate and catalogue the precious collections of MSS. and books that are preserved in that town, is soon returning to St. Petersburg. The report of the expedition is expected to be of great interest, as it is now known that the Huns did not destroy all the literary treasures they plundered in Europe, but took back with them to their homes in Manchuria many valuable Greek, Roman, and other MSS.

So even the invasions of Europe by the barbarous Huns, who, according to Gibbon, appeared to be savages even to the savage Goths and Vandals, may prove to have been not without value in helping to preserve uncontaminated copies of the Word of God.

The island of Jersey is awakening to the dangers of the new invasion by the monks and nuns who are leaving France in order to find a place they can be free from Government inspection of their monasteries. A Bill has just been introduced into the Jersey Legislature prohibiting foreigners of any religious order from settling in numbers more than six, whether in one or more houses, under penalty of expulsion. His Majesty's Attorney-General, in supporting the Bill, characterised these rich, foreign, religious bodies as politically dangerous and an anti-English influence. Already one child out of every four in Jersey is educated under the auspices of foreign ecclesiastics. The influx of these religious orders, which are essentially political, holding laws in contempt, constitutes a menace to English liberty, which will before long make itself felt. Nevertheless, it is not, lawless people in the county, but the lawless principle in the heart, that constitutes the real menace to liberty.

A recent exhaustive work on tobacco says: "At the lowest computation one-third of the population of the earth are smokers, for it is only in Europe and Anglo-Saxon countries that women, and to a large extent children, do not smoke."

On their last trip the Cunard liners Campania and Lucania were in communication for two hours in mid-ocean, by means of wireless telegraphy. The conversation began shortly after midnight, all the vessels were thirty-six miles apart, and continued until they had met and passed out of range. They were not visible to each other at any time.

What strange ambitions some people have. An American lady was recently arrested in London and for attempting to gain money by forging certificates of shares of railway stock, and her solicitor explained in court that, having received ?20,000 as a legacy from her grandmother, she was anxious to die worth a million sterling. Just what good it would do her to die after having acquired that sum, was not stated. That, however, is but a sample of the working of the minds of the majority of mankind: if they can only gain the whole world, they are content to lose our own souls, and the world also. Others, who are religiously inclined, and fancy that almost anything is "good enough to live by," if they can only have a good faith "to die by." But life, and not death, is the burden of the true Christians thoughts; for "the just shall live by faith."

The coming of the French monks to England, together with the announcement that Cardinal Vaughan means to use them for the purpose of determining Romish aggression, makes very pertinent the recall by a correspondent of the Daily Mail, of a remark made to him some time ago by the British Consul at Rome. His kindness to the priests during the Revolution in 1848, when he saved the lives of more than 800 of them by getting them on board an English vessel, opened the way for a close acquaintance with the inner workings of the Romish Propaganda, and he said: "You in England are sleeping over a volcano. To the Jesuits is committed the conversion of England to the yoke of Rome. The men, the means, and the material are set apart for that purpose, and they will leave no stone unturned in order to effect it." And they will succeed surely as the Prophetic Word is true. Who by taking heed to that Word will escape the ruin that will follow?

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

Belief of that which is not the truth is unbelief.

Which is higher and greater, to love, or to be loved?-To love, most certainly, because God, who is the Most High, and the Almighty, loves even when He is not loved. His love, put into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, enables us to love, and that exalts and magnifies us. True greatness comes only through service rendered to others.

Everybody recognises the fact that we labour for those whom we love; but many do not know that it is equally true that we love those for whom we labour. If there are people for whom you feel no love, do something for them. Whoever performs a service for another, with his whole heart in it, is sure to want to repeat the act. The real pay for doing a kindness is the privilege of doing another.

The Bishop of London preached the opening sermon at the recent Church Congress, his text being, "The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power," and in it he gave utterance to this truth that every Christian should know and remember:-

Remember, the whole question comes at last back to the individual; the kingdom of God anywhere can only be with power if the individual members of that kingdom of God are filled themselves with power, and they cannot be filled with power unless they are filled with the Spirit of God. "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."

Some grammarian's have classed "truth" as an abstract noun, saying that there is really no such thing as truth, but only a conception of it. But this is by no means the case. The primary meaning of the word "truth" is "that which is." It is that which always exists; it is self-existent, and is the source of everything else that is lasting. In fact, truth is the only thing of which it can be said absolutely that it is. The most real, tangible thing in the universe is truth. He who doesn't know it, and who cannot instantly recognise it whenever he sees it, lacks the elementary principles of true education. He who knows the truth, has the key to all mysteries and all knowledge.

"Rules About Worrying and Fretting" The Present Truth 17, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

Rules About Worrying and Fretting. -Here are two good, practical rules for the regulation of worrying and fretting. The first is, Never fret or worry over a misfortune that can be remedied. It is evident that to do so would be a great waste of time, and very foolish, as well. For a person to spend time mourning over a difficulty that he could easily remove, instead of removing it, which show that he preferred trouble to ease, and he would not be deserving of any pity.

The second rule is, Never worry or fret over anything that you cannot help, for it is also useless, and a waste of time. While you are mourning over the irreparable, you might be at work on something to take its place. The rule sums up thus: Don't fret if you can repair the mischief, and don't fret if you cannot. If at any time you feel as though you must worry, just put it off until after you have read the thirty-seventh Psalm.

"The True Prayer-Book" The Present Truth 17, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

The True Prayer-Book. -There is in some "advanced" church circles a prejudice against using the language of the Bible in prayer; yet the very ones who object to the use of inspired language, have no fault to find with the repetition of prayers composed by a committee, and learned by heart. To all we would say, Let the Bible be your Prayer-Book; let it, in fact, do your praying for you. That is, let the inspired Word so permeate you, that it will come spontaneously from your lips. There is no true prayer except that which the Holy Spirit indicts, for "we know not what we should pray for as we ought," and shall pray in vain, no matter how fine our language, unless the Spirit helps our infirmities. We must not pray by rote; but this is not the case when the Word of Christ dwells in us; then his Word is our word, and we utter the petitions of the Spirit as though we ourselves had originated them. Every phase of human experience is covered in the Bible, and when the Bible language comes naturally to our lips, we know that we have the things asked for, because we ask according to the will of God.

"Living to Work, or Working to Live" The Present Truth 17, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

Living to Work, or Working to Live. -The question whether or not it is necessary for one to work for a living may easily be settled. We have only to remember that life is first, and work second. If it were the case that we must work in order to live, then one would need to work before he could have life; but that is an absurdity, and impossible. One must have life first, else one can never work. There is not a man in the world who did not have life for years before he did a stroke of work. Every one gets life without any thought or effort on his own, and has it continued to him for years when he is not competent to do anything. All these years the younger human being, under proper conditions, is carefully tended and instructed, and given the best possible chance for life-what for?-In order that in later years he may be able to take his place among the world's workers. Thus it is self-evident that instead of having to work for a living, life is given to us in order that we may work.

If men would remember this simple truth, they would never hesitate to obey any of God's commandments, lest they could not "make a living." "We know that His commandment is life everlasting." "Righteousness tendeth to life," and God says, "Keep My commandments and live." Prov. iv. 4; xi. 19. Therefore the surest way to get a living is to obey God implicitly. Then one will work more than ever, not to get a living, but from thankfulness to God who bestows life as a free gift.

October 17, 1901

"Cedars which the Lord Planted" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

"The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon." Ps. xcii. 12.

Among the famous trees of the world, the cedars of Lebanon occupy a prominent place. The Scriptures have made the name a familiar one even to those who have never seen the tree growing; yet a lack of knowledge of the characteristics of this noble creation of God keeps many from deriving all the comfort they should from the likeness of it to the righteous. To most people the words convey no idea beyond the mere fact that God's people are likened to a tree of some sort. A little study of it will serve to make the Scripture comparison more vivid to our minds.

It is a very common thing in Scripture for people to be likened to trees, and even called trees; so when the likeness is to particular trees, as the palm tree and the cedar, we may be sure that some special feature is designed to be made prominent. The very name of the cedar tree is significant. The Hebrew name is derived from a root meaning compact, firm, applied specially to a tree that has firm roots. The English word cedar, which is only the Greek name (kedros) transferred, is undoubtedly derived from the Arabic kedr, worth or value, or from kadrat, strong. Thus the name is descriptive, since the roots of the cedar are very strong. The power of the roots may be gauged by the top, it being doubtless well known that the underground branches of a tree practically correspond in extent to those above. The diameter of the area covered by the branches of the cedar is sometimes nearly twice the height of the tree; so it will be seen that the roots must be very strong, and must have an exceedingly firm hold on the sod, to keep the tree from being blown down by the fierce gales that sweep the mountain sides where it grows.

Even so it is with the people that are planted in the house of the Lord: they shall flourish in the courts of our God. The righteous "shall not be moved for ever;" "he shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord." Ps. cxii. 6, 7. The winds of adversity and the storms of persecution may beat upon him, but they cannot overthrow the one who is "rooted and built up" in Christ, "and established in the faith." Col. ii. 7. He is like the cedar of Lebanon, "steadfast immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord."

This last likeness is not far-fetched, nor is the scripture inapplicable; for the cedar has abounded in the work of the Lord. From the durability of the wood it was of

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old in demand for building, and it was the principal timber used in the building of Solomon's temple. So the children of God, His temples, are to be enduring. Lamartine tells us that the Arabs regard the cedar trees as endowed with the principles of continued existence, and with reasoning and prescient powers, which enable them to prepare for the changes of the seasons. So indeed they have, yet not of themselves, but from the life of God, which makes them what they are; and even so it is with God's human temples. The life of God in them preserves them from destruction, and makes them prudent and "the prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself."

The following paragraph from an article by an old-time writer on "The Magic of Nature," serves to justify the idea of the Arabs just referred to:-

"The provision made by nature to defend the cedars of Lebanon from the heavy snows which fall upon the mountain, is among the convincing proofs of a protecting Providence with which the vegetable creation abounds. The branches of the tree, which is of great magnitude, shoot out horizontally at equal distances, in rows from the base to the top of the tree; the branches would inevitably be crushed by the weight of the snow, were it not that, when winter is setting in, and all through the severe season, they change their position, and, becoming erect, embrace the body of the tree, and thus prevent the snows from resting upon them."

The timber-work of Cordova Cathedral, built eleven hundred years ago, is composed of cedar, as are the roofs of many other ancient buildings; so we need not wonder that Pliny said that the wood of the cedar is everlasting. Even so "the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance." What else could be expected than that they who "are builded together for an habitation" for the everlasting God should themselves be enduring as eternity?

But the wood of the cedar is not merely enduring in its nature: it has the property of preserving other objects. The oil of cedar, distilled from the wood, was used by the ancients for preserving their books from moths and damp; and even now drawers of cedar, or chips of the wood, employed to protect furs and woolen stuffs from injury by moths. Thus it is with the righteous. The presence of a single righteous man has often saved the lives of many people who knew not the Lord nor the way of salvation. But more than this; the man who is filled with the Spirit of life from God must unconsciously diffuse that life, and impart it to others. The odour of his righteousness pervades his associates, so that, unless they put up a barrier between themselves and him, they will through his influence become like him.

This preservative, cleansing power was symbolised in the ceremony of purification from leprosy and other uncleanness. "Cedar wood and scarlet and hyssop" were used for sprinkling the blood and the water of separation upon the one to be cleansed. This may teach us that, as the righteous are like the cedar, they are to be used by the Lord in His great work of salvation. Being saved, men are used to save others. To all who believe, God's people are "a savour of life," even as Christ Himself; for they are sent in His stead, commissioned to do His work; and "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." "As He is, so are we in this world."

"'Eternal Fire'" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

In a previous article we have talked about "unquenchable fire," the fire which shall consume the worthless chaff of mankind. Because it cannot be quenched it will utterly consume and destroy all the wicked, so that "they shall be as though they had not been." Obadiah 16.

But someone asks, "What about eternal fire? if the fire into which the wicked will be cast is eternal, does not that indicate that they will continue to burn to all eternity?" Not by any means, so we shall see from the Scriptures. Let us first read Jude 6, 7:-

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."

"The same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." Luke xvii. 29, 30.

We read that God, "turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly." 2 Peter ii. 6. And in Lam. iv. 6 we read: "The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of My people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her."

Thus we see that the result of suffering the judgment of eternal fire is instant destruction, turning to ashes. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrha were very soon reduced to ashes,-"as in a moment,"-and ceased to burn, so in the day that shall burn as an oven, "all that do wickedly shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of host, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. iv. 1, 3.

What will then become of the fire? Will it go out? Certainly not; for it is eternal. The fire that consumes the wicked is the Spirit of the Lord's mouth, and His own brightness. 2 Thess. ii. 8. "Our God is a consuming fire," and He is from everlasting to everlasting. "A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about." Ps. xcvii. 3. But still He is the everlasting dwelling place of His people, who are able to dwell with the devouring fire, and with "everlasting burnings." Isa. xxxiii. 14. The same fire that destroys the wicked will be a protection to the righteous.

When we understand that "the eternal Spirit" of God is the "eternal fire" that consumes the wicked, we can see how it is that the righteous can dwell in the midst of it. They will live in it for ever and it will be refreshing coolness to them, even the water of life; for the "Spirit of burning" is the "living water" that washes away the iniquity of all who believe in Christ.

Righteousness is everlasting: it is indestructible. Fire cannot consume it. But everything that is not exactly right has in itself the element of decay. Now God will never destroy anything that is good. his work is to restore and build up and make new. So He sends His Spirit now to all men, to burn up and wash away all their impurity. Those who fully believe and yield wholly to the transforming power of the Spirit of God, are made perfectly pure. They are tried by fire "

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as gold is tried" (Zech. xiii. 9); for the Lord "is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap; and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." Mal. iii. 2, 3.

Then when the Lord "shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power" (2 Thess. i. 7-9), the righteous will be safe, for the fire will already have wrought its work in them. The object is only to purify, and they will have been purified. And it will still be doing the work of purifying, blotting out sin; only in the case of the wicked who have resisted the previous working of the Spirit, and have become wholly permeated with sin, and one with it, the blotting out of their sin means the blotting out of themselves from existence.

"Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," for the eternal Spirit of burning that has cleansed them and the earth will be their everlasting glory.

"Ruffled Feelings" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

Some people are always imagining that others are thinking of them, and making remarks about them. They cannot see two or more persons talking together without imagining that they are being criticised. The reason is twofold. First they are conscious of defect meriting criticism, and second, they know that under similar circumstances they would criticise others. But "love thinketh no evil," and therefore the one who loves never has his feelings ruffled.

"The Papacy Beaurocracy" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

A recent writer in the Monthly Review, who speaks from long and intimate acquaintance with the Roman Catholic Church, as a member of that body, says that "a Pope is not his own waster, and the real, supreme government of the Church is a beaurocracy" consisting at the present time very largely of Jesuits. There have been popes with marked individuality and force, who made themselves, yet every pope has been more or less the creature of the system and the prelates who placed him in his position. "The Pope," therefore, stands for "the Papacy;" and the "man of sin" is not any particular man as distinguished for other sinners, but the power that puts itself above God and His Word. So when it is loosely stated that the Pope changed the Sabbath, or thought to, the meaning is that the change in the practice has been wrought by the Papacy, which grows by such acts.

"Divine Forbearance. Gen. xlv. 1-15" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xlv. 1-15.)²⁸1

Filled with the Spirit of inspiration, Jacob on his death-bed said: "Joseph a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall; the archers have sorely grieved him, and shot him, and hated him; but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." Gen. xliv. 22-24.

Whatever happened to Joseph tended to his advantage, "For God was with him." But if we leave the story of Joseph with merely the thought that he was a wonderfully successful man, we shall make a great mistake. His life history was not recorded for the sake of making us wonder, but to show us the sure result of loyalty to God and faithfulness to duty. Of every man who delights in the law of the Lord it is said, "Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Ps. i. 1-3. Yet professed Christians will even to-day, in the face of this testimony of the Scripture, argue that strict obedience to the law God, including the fourth commandment, will lead to ruin. We must remember that the Bible is not a book of amusing stories, but a guide to everlasting life.

The likeness of Joseph to Jesus is nowhere more apparent than in his treatment of his brethren. To be sure he spoke harshly to them when they first came to Egypt to buy corn, but that was only in keeping with what another in his position would have done, and was for the purpose of proving them. Even in his seeming harshness, however, he was kind to his brethren, providing for their needs without cost, giving them bread for nothing.

And now the time had come when Joseph could no longer refrain from making himself known to his brothers. "And he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud; and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land; and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing [ploughing] nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance."

Notice the tender regard for the feelings of his brethren, who had never shown any consideration for his feelings. How careful Joseph was to avoid giving his brethren pain, and to make their wicked conduct appear a slight matter. There was not a word of reproach. Not a word was uttered about the injury done him; there was no hint of the years of loneliness and suffering and anguish. On the contrary he would make as though he had never been in any worse condition than he then was, and he seemed to give his brethren credit for the good results which followed their unnatural deed. How natural it is for us, even when we feel the most kindly-disposed toward an offender, to say something intended to cause him to feel the heinousness of his offence, and the great concession that we are making in passing it by; but Joseph did not spoil his record. He had never complained in time of trial, and he did not indulge in any accusations or insinuations when he had his persecutors in his power. He manifested only whole-souled generosity that marked him a true type of Him who on the cross said of His murderers, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Joseph recognised that he was sent as a saviour of life. He had been charged with the mission to save the lives of his brethren who had hated him, and God was in Him to do it, even as "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." From the action of Joseph we may learn

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how we are to act as ambassadors for Christ, to whom is committed the ministry of reconciliation.

How different things look to us after the bitter experience has past. When Jacob heard that Simeon had been kept a captive in Egypt, he said, "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away; all these things are against me." But they were not against him; on the contrary there were all working for him-working out a great deliverance, and a peaceful, happy old age. We can see it clearly enough; yet when our trials come we complain, just as though ours were exceptions to the rule that "all things work together for good to them that love God." If we were absolutely sure that good would result, we should bear the trial and the pain uncomplainingly; but in spite of all the assurances and all the examples of God's Word, we persist looking at things as they seem now, instead of from the standpoint of eternity.

Does anybody suppose that when we stand by the river of life in the Paradise of God we shall have any regrets or sorrow for what we have suffered here? Of course not. We know that we shall not, then what is the use of doing so here? We know that if God be for us nothing can be against us, and that all things work-are now working-together for good to them that love God. Moreover, it is our privilege and our duty to look at things from the eternal side instead of from the temporal side; for God is our dwelling-place, and He inhabits eternity. "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. The glory is being worked for us while we look, if we only look beyond the seen to the unseen. Why not do it, and get all the joy and happiness as we pass along, instead of putting the bliss off till the future?

"The Editor's Private Corner. Righteous Judgment" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

1. "'Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed Thee; what shall we have, therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' Matt. xix. 27, 28. Where will the apostles and the Israelites be when the former judge the latter? and will the judged be dead or alive?"

The text answers the question. It is "in the regeneration when the Son of man sits on the throne of His glory." It is the time when all things are regenerated, made new (see Rev. xxi. 1, 5), and the people judged will of course be alive; for in that new earth state "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away."

You evidently have a mistaken idea of the word "judging" in this place. To judge does not necessarily always mean to condemn, or to execute penalties. God is Judge to all eternity, but "He will not always chide." To judge a people means to be ruler, to guide their affairs, to assist them with the superior wisdom which one must have in order to occupy the place. There will be Government in the new earth, with God as supreme Judge or Ruler, and kings reigning under Him, not placed arbitrarily over others, but occupying the position which their nature entitles them to.

We are too apt to get our ideas of Government from what exists on this earth. On the contrary, we should get it from the Lord. He is our Shepherd; but in the Bible a shepherd is a ruler. Thus in Matt. ii. 6, we read that God says to Bethlehem, "Out of thee shall come a Governor that shall rule My people Israel," and the margin has feed. He who can render the people the greatest service will occupy the highest place in the kingdom of God, and all will see that it is just as it ought to be, and the only thing that could be.

2. "Where and when will Isa. lxv. 17-25 be fulfilled?"

Here again the text answers the question. "Behold, I create new heavens and the new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy," says the Lord. The verses referred to describe the state of things beginning with the destruction of sinners and the renewing of the earth, and reaching on indefinitely through eternity.

If a sinner be a hundred years old at the time of execution of judgment upon the ungodly, he will be but a child in comparison with the saints who will then have spent a thousand years in the New Jerusalem; and he "shall be accursed;" for "if a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he." Eccl. vi. 8. The wicked have been destroyed, the saints "shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another in habit; they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the days of the tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands."

3. "Was Daniel an Israelite or a Christian?"

Both; for there is no difference; the two terms describe the same people. This question is answered by considering the meaning of the word "Israel." It signifies a Prince of God, or one who prevails or overcomes. Read Gen. xxxii. 24-28. Christ says: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am sat down with My Father in His throne." Rev. iii. 21. All Israelites, therefore, will sit with Christ

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in His throne; and none others will, for none but overcomers can share His kingdom.

Christ has overcome. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and has prevailed over all foes. He has power as a prince with God and with men,-even all power in heaven and earth. Therefore His name is Israel, and by that name He is addressed in Isa. xlix. 3. There can be no doubt but that that Scripture primarily refers to Christ, as we can see by reading it.

"Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called Me from the womb; from the bowels of My mother hath He made mention of My name. And He hath made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, and made Me a polished shaft; in His quiver hath He hid Me; and said unto Me, Thou art My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." Verses 1-3.

Since Christ Himself is Israel, it is self-evident that every Christian is an Israelite, and every Israelite a Christian. All who are "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord," art "no more strangers and foreigners," "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise," but are "fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." Eph. ii. 12, 19-21. The children of God by faith in Christ Jesus are Israelites, members of the commonwealth of Israel. Daniel was "an Israelite indeed," a Christian, and his "people" are all who are Christ's.

4. "Has reconciliation been made for iniquity?"

Yes, verily; "for Christ also hath one suffered, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." 1 Peter iii. 18.

"For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight." Col. i. 19-22.

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation." Rom. v. 1, 2, 10, 11, margin.

Still more than this. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." 2 Cor. v. 17-19.

5. "Has everlasting righteousness been brought in?"

Most assuredly; for Christ is our righteousness, and "His righteousness is everlasting." The righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ, is "unto all and upon all them that believe." His righteousness is as enduring as He Himself.

Do you believe that God forgives sins? He says so. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanses from all of righteousness." 1 John i. 9. This He does by importing His own righteousness to take the place of our sins, which He remits, sends away, as far from us as the east is from the west. Then just as we believe this, may we know that "it will last."

The fear is often expressed that some new convert "will not hold out," and many people are afraid to testify to the salvation which they have from God, lest it should not last, and they be put to shame for their boasting. Know, then, that "in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength," and none that boast of His power will ever be put to shame. "The Lord God will help me; therefore shall l not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. And He is near that justifieth me [maketh me righteous]." Isa. l. 7, 8.

By bringing in everlasting righteousness Christ is made an end of sins. He condemned, put to death, sin in the flesh, so that "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." Rom. viii. 1, 2. Both sin and death have been overcome, so that "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." "This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith."

God has done everything that possibly can be done for mankind. His work is finished, so that when we believe, and thus receive His work, we enter into rest-rest from sin, even while the battle continues to rage. Therefore, "trust ye in the Lord for ever."

"For Little Ones. The King's House. The Bread of the Presence" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

THE BREAD OF THE PRESENCE

Besides the golden candlestick that we learned of last week, there was in the holy place of the tabernacle, the table of show bread. This was a golden table on which twelve loaves of bread were kept always before the Lord. The bread was changed each week on the Sabbath day, so that it was kept always fresh.

If you remember our talks about the Manna, you know who is the true Bread of life. It is Jesus. Bethlehem, the town where He was born, means "the house of bread." The Father's house, which the tabernacle represented, is the house of bread; for Christ the Son is Himself the Living Bread on which all may feed.

When Joseph was made Lord over all the land of Egypt, to gather up a great store of grain to feed the people in time of famine, Pharaoh called him by a name which means, "Prince of the life of the world," or, "Saviour of the world." This was because he was the keeper of all the bread, and everyone had to come to him for it. And Jesus is the "Saviour of the world." This was because He was the keeper of all the bread, and everyone had to come to Him for it. And Jesus is the Saviour of the world because He is 'the Bread that cometh down from heaven, that man may eat thereof and not die."

Bread is of no use unless it is eaten; and before it is eaten it must be broken. At the last supper that Jesus ate with His disciples, He took bread and broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body, which is broken for you." The Bread of life which was broken on the cruel cross, that we might feed upon Him and have life through His death.

If Jesus had not died for us, we could have had no life at all. And He is the One from whom our daily bread comes. His life is in it, and it is this that makes the bread food for us; for the power of Jesus which made the grain grow, changes it into the flesh and blood of which our bodies are made.

So in every meal that we take to sustain our life, we are eating "the bread of the presence," and feeding on the broken body of Christ, whose life-giving presence is in it. Our daily bread is a token of the presence of Christ; and it is to remind us that He died to give us life.

When we feed by faith upon Jesus, the Bread of life, we become like Him,-sharers of His own nature; "for we are members of His body." His Word says of all who do this that "we have being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one Bread."

Do you understand the meaning of this-that if we partake of that Bread, we shall ourselves, by His life in us, become bread to feed others and give them life? It means that our lives will, like His, be given up for the service of others. If the Bread of the presence is in our hearts, as it should be in every house of God, then wherever we go we shall carry Jesus with us, to make us a blessing, to feed and give life and help to others.

This was the meaning of the twelve separate cakes of bread. It was all "one bread," representing Jesus the true Bread, yet it was in twelve cakes, one for each tribe, to show the children of Israel that they were meant by the Lord to be the bearers of that bread of life to the world.

The bread was always in the presence of the Lord, always before His face, always offered to Him. This shows us the Spirit of Jesus, ever present with the Father ready to do His will.

We are told what was the language of His heart when He gave His body to be broken, that God might feed the world with living bread, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." And this will be the language of all who eat of that living Bread, for they will become like Him.

We are told to "present our bodies, a living sacrifice." This means that we are to be ever in the presence of the Lord, ready for His service, ready for sacrifice, ready to suffer, if thereby others may be fed and blessed and saved. If we are thus ever ready before His face, when there is need of the service that we can do, we shall say, "Here am I; send me."

But can even little children carry the living Bread, and help to feed the world starving multitudes? Yes; if Jesus is in your heart, it cannot be otherwise, though you may never know of the hungry souls whom He is feeding through you.

Think of the lad who carried the few loaves, and how many people were fed with them when Jesus blessed and greatly multiplied them. And He is the same to-day; He can still multiplied the bread. So let us present our bodies, our little influence, our one small talent, whatever He has given us. Let us lay before Him saying with Jesus, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." He will accept the offering, and in His hands it may by His blessing give life to a multitude.

Remember that the bread had to be changed so that it was kept fresh. So if we would be ever ready to feed others with the Bread of life we must have constantly a fresh supply of that ourselves. "The inward man, Christ Jesus," must be "renewed day by day." And the Sabbath especially is the day when we may receive a fresh supply of life and blessing that shall make as a blessing to others through the week.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

The Baptists have no fewer than ten missions in the Congo Valley.

The number of religious Communities who have applied for authorisation under the new French law is 8,800, out of a total of 16,468.

It is stated that no fewer than ninety novels were recently offered to trade for subscription on a single morning. What can become of the minds of the people who make it a point to read every new novel?

The Bishop of London has just said that four centuries ago the answer to the question, "Why am I a Churchman?" would have been, "Because I am a Christian;" but that that answer would not now be just or true. By this he does not mean that no Churchman is a Christian, but that all Churchmen are not Christians, and that there are Christians who are not Churchmen.

Brigands in Bulgaria have seized an American Missionary, Miss Stone, and are holding her for a ransom of ?20,000, which is being raised by popular subscription in the United States. It is significant of the inability of most people to do justice to the Turks, and the determination to find some cause for exterminating them, that this Bulgarian incident is referred to as an evidence of Turkish misrule!

Although wine in France is so plentiful and cheap, it is said that adulteration of every kind is greatly on the increase. A serum is used, which is a fruitful source of kidney trouble; and the white wine is doctored with bi-sulphurate of soda or potassium, which is said to produce cirrhosis of the liver. As the natural effect of wine is to injure both the kidneys and liver, it will be seen that the adulteration is in line with the original article. The people, however, have an easy remedy, since water is abundant and cheap and can easily be made free from all impurities.

The Daily Chronicle says that "before the year is out the long-talked-of substitution throughout Russia of the Gregorian for the Orthodox, or Old, Calendar, will be an accomplished fact. The Commission to consider the matter, which is presided over by the Grand Duke Constantine, has already resumed its sessions, and before Christmas it is believed the much-desired alteration will be definitely settled." Russia is now thirteen days behind the rest of the world in her reckoning, yet the days of the week are the same there as elsewhere. Now let them who claim that the change from Old to New Style by the rest of Europe made such confusion in the days of the week that the Sabbath was hopelessly lost, keep their eyes on Russia from now till Christmas, and see if any day of the week slips out of sight when the change occurs.

An anarchist who recently arrived in Italy from abroad has been arrested for uttering threats against the Pope and Cardinal Rampolla. And yet those men are the leading representatives of a system which is itself essentially anarchistic and the fountain of anarchy, subversive all law except its own will. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.

It is mentioned as showing how democratic the Baptist church is, and how "the Divine Spirit is no respecter of persons in touching the hearts of persons of all ranks with missionary zeal," that of the missionaries present at the meetings of the Baptist Union at Edinburgh, one has been a working engineer; another has served an apprenticeship as a practical printer; a third has been a photographer; a fourth is the son of a veteran missionary; a fifth was born in Edinburgh of Presbyterian parents; and a sixth, a coloured pastor, was born in Jamaica. That is just what ought to be expected; for real missionaries are simply Christians living abroad. The true missionary is the faithful Christian sent abroad to live just as he did at home.

"The peace of the world" rests on a very slight foundation. The Ameer of Afghanistan has just died, and although Russia and England are both "Christian nations," at peace with each other, and bound together by ties of blood relationship, the first thought has been the probability a war between them over the succession in Afghanistan. It seems probable now that the succession will be peaceful for the present, although civil war is expected later on; but the despatches that have been published show how great is the tension in that quarter. The Daily Mail's St. Petersburg correspondent said:-

"So long as Great Britain remains neutral in the impending strife of parties which will shortly take place, Russia will look on unconcernedly. Should, however, England make any advance in Eastern Afghanistan, Russia will respond by a policy of action in the western part of the kingdom.

"Even to-day (Oct. 9) telegrams have been sent to Kushk ordering large reinforcements of troops along the frontier, in order to advance on Herat, should it be necessary, and seize it by a sudden move."

The Chronicle says editorially: "With the reins of power in Afghanistan in new and untried hands we shall need to safeguard even more closely than hitherto the frontiers of India, and all the approaches thereto." Thus the farce of peace is played, but the tragedy will soon begin.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

"Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by His blood; . . . to Him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever." This is equivalent to the clause in the Lord's prayer: "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever." It is an acknowledgment that Christ is our rightful Ruler, and a request that He will exert His power in us, and reign in us in glory. He has all power in heaven and earth, so that when we allow Him to occupy His proper place of authority over us, we can rest on His assurance: "Sin shall not have dominion over you." Oh, then let us yield to Him His own right, that the work which He has began He may finish to His own eternal glory, and to our own glory in Him.

"Lifted Up By the Cross" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

Lifted Up By the Cross .-We can never tire of singing that grand hymn,

"Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee;
E'en though it be a cross
That raiseth me,"

but we ought in our minds, if not with our voices, to amend one line, making it,

"Although it be a cross
That raiseth me,"

Since nothing but the cross can raise us up to sit with God. Jesus fell beneath the weight of His cross as He carried it; yet it was that same cross that lifted Him up from the earth; and by nothing else could He have been raised to a seat at God's right hand. It is by it also that He draws us to Him. Then let us say, "Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified unto me, and I unto the world."

"Bless them which curse you; bless, and curse not." The Greek word rendered "bless" is our word "eulogise," which needs no explanation. It describes what is done to benefactors and men of great and noble deeds. It is a strong word, and the exhortation is very comprehensive. If we are to speak in terms of highest praise of those who are actually injuring us, and even seeking to take our lives, there surely is not place for speaking ill of anybody. We have a notable example of this respect; for God has eulogized us, rebels as we have been (See Eph. i. 3), and Jesus prayed in pity for His murderers. When God has blessed us, it ought to be easy for us to speak well of everybody; and so it will be when we fully realise His blessing.

"Sin shall not have dominion over you." That is a blessed promise, and by it we may conquer; but we must remember that conquering implies fighting. We must not imagine that the promise frees us from sin's attacks. Satan, the author of sin, still goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, but he cannot overcome us while we resist him steadfast in the faith of God's Word; for the assurance is: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." A continual victory means continual fighting in the strength of the Lord Jesus."

"For the Sake of Jesus" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesus said: "Every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." Matt. xix. 29.

How many who read these words look upon it as a call to make a sacrifice to please the Lord. They regard it as though He had said: "I know it is hard; I am asking a great deal of you; it is a great sacrifice that you are called on to make; but do it for My sake-just to please Me." And with this understanding some give up all their possessions, and subject themselves to many privations, finding their only solace in the thought that God must surely be pleased with what they have offered, and that so great sacrifices and Iabours ought surely to get a good rest and reward by and by.

Not all look at the matter in this way. There have always been and are still many who understand what it means to yield up something, yea; everything, for the sake of Jesus. They know that it means for the sake of getting Him. They do not think to buy the Lord's favour; but they give up emptiness for the sake of getting fulness. They know that God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His people, and therefore does not ask them to give up something that they delight in, merely to please His fancy. "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." He never takes a good thing away from anybody; but He would have us accept all good things only at His hands-finding in Him the sum of all good.

There is power in the name of Jesus,-the power of salvation. His name is what He is-Saviour. "His name, through faith in His name" made a man walk and leap, who had never walked a step in his lifetime of more than forty years. He Himself has all power in heaven and earth; all things consist in Him; therefore in giving up something, yea, ourselves and all that we have, for His sake, we are simply letting go of that which is least for that which is greatest.

God said to Abraham, "I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." Each one of God's people may say: "The Lord is the portion of Mine inheritance and of My cup; Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yes, I have a goodly heritage." The only reward we need or can have, here or hereafter, is the Lord Himself, so the Psalmist said, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none on earth that I desire beside Thee." Or, as the Norwegian Bible has it, "When I have Thee, I have no desire for anything on the earth." Ps. lxxiii. 25.

Can you say this? If not, make haste to get acquainted with God. Having found Him, you will for very joy part with all that you have, if need be, that you me by have His abiding presence and fulness.

"The Consummation. The Hope of the Promise" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

When Paul stood before Agrippa, to answer for his faith, he briefly stated the chief experiences of his life, and than said: "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers, unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. . . . why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? Acts xxvi. 6-8.

From this it is evident that the promise of God to the fathers, in which Paul, together with all faithful Israelites, had hope, was the promise of the resurrection from the dead. In 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52; 1 Thess. iv. 15-17, as well as other passages, the Apostle Paul tells us plainly that the resurrection of the dead takes place at the coming of the Lord. Therefore we know that the promise of God to the fathers was the promise of His coming, and that this was the hope of the people of God from the earliest times.

This is corroborated by the words of Peter in the third chapter of his second epistle: "There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." This shows that the scoffers know of a promise made to the fathers, but do not believe there is any prospect of its fulfilment.

The writings of the Apostle Paul are especially full of references to the Lord's coming. Some critics have referred to this in somewhat the same manner as the scoffers mentioned by Peter. For, say they, Paul thought that Christ was coming in his day, and He came not, and there is no more evidence that He will ever come. Such talk, however, discredits the entire Bible; for the prophecies of the Old Testament and the Psalms abound with anticipation of that most joyful event. A careful study of the prophecies will enable one to see that the near coming of the Lord has been the blessed hope of God's people in every age since the fall, and that in this they were justified by the Lord Himself.

THE PROMISE OF THE RESTORATION

From the time that Eden was lost, its restoration at the coming of the Lord has been the one thing set before men. The prophecies are so full of it that the disciples firmly expected it when they recognised Jesus as the promised Messiah. So they asked Him after His resurrection, "Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" He did not tell them that that was a vain hope, but said, "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power." And a little later on Peter spoke with confidence of the coming of Christ; saying, "Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets which have been since the world began."

FIRST SPOKEN BY THE LORD

This restoration "at the first began to be spoken by the Lord" Himself, before Adam and Eve left the Garden; for God said to the serpent, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." The bruising of the head of the serpent, that is, the destruction of Satan, means the end of sin, so here we have the promise of the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

THE PROPHECY OF ENOCH

In all the early prophecies of Christ's coming, the event alone was mentioned, without any reference to the time of it. So Enoch, "the seventh from Adam," seeing the prevailing wickedness, said, "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all." And his faith in that event was so strong and practical, that by it he was translated without seeing death, as thousands will be when the Lord comes. God is not partial, and the fact that Enoch was translated shows that every man living on the earth at that time might have been translated, if he had had the same faith. That is, the Lord would have come in the days of Enoch, if the world had been ready to receive Him.

ABRAHAM'S FAITH

We pass over several hundred years, to the days of Abraham, who was preeminently the father to whom the promises were made. The promise was that he should be the heir of the world (Rom. iv. 13), yet God "gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet He promised that he would give it to him for a possession," even "an everlasting possession." Acts vii. 5; Gen. xvii. 8. This manifestly involves the resurrection, since God cannot lie; and Abraham so understood it, for he died in faith, looking for a heavenly country, and a "city that hath foundations, whose builder and Maker is God." Heb. xi. 10, 16.

THE FIRST TIME-PROPHECY

In making the covenant with Abraham, and promising to give him the land, God said that his seed should be afflicted in a strange land for four hundred years. "But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace: thou shalt be buried in a good old age. And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." Here we have the first time-prophecy concerning the coming of the Lord. If Israel had been faithful to the trust committed to them, the resurrection would speedily have taken place on their deliverance from Egypt. Ps. lxxxi. 13-15. For Moses was born about the time of the promise which God sware to Abraham; and the oath of God to Abraham was that all his enemies, including of course the last one, death, should be destroyed.

But Israel did not believe, and so did not enter in, and therefore God spoke by David of "another day," saying, "To-day, if ye will hear My voice, harden not your hearts." For hundreds of years the promise was open, and the Lord would have come any day that the consecration and faithfulness of His people had prepared the world for His coming.

THE SUPPORT OF JOB IN TROUBLE

It was this "blessed hope" of the Lord's coming that in every age cheered the hearts of the few faithful ones who were looking for it. It was this hope that was Job's anchor in the overwhelming sea of trouble that threatened to sweep him

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away, for he said: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." And again, "If a man die, shall He live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer Thee: Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands."

A JOYFUL HOPE

David, full of joyful hope, said: "Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth; the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved; He shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth." Ps. xcvi. 11-13.

ISAIAH'S VIVID DESCRIPTION

Isaiah, with burning lips, said: "O that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence. . . . For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him." Isa. Ixiv. 1-4. And elsewhere he tells us what will be the effect of the Lord's coming upon the two classes here mentioned, His adversaries, and them that wait for Him.

"The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: . . . The idols He shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth. for fear at the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth." Isa. ii. 11-21. But it shall also be said in that day,-the day when God will "swallow up death in victory" and "wipe away tears from off all faces,"-"Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save as; this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." Isa. xxv. 9.

GOD'S PROMISE THROUGH JEREMIAH

Jeremiah, at the word of the Lord, stood in the gate of Jerusalem, and said to the people, as they passed in and out, "It shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto Me, saith the Lord, . . . then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, . . . and this city shall remain for ever." "But if ye will not hearken unto Me, . . . then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." Jer. xvii. 24, 27.

THE HOPE DEFERRED, BUT NOT DESTROYED

But all the promises, warnings, and exhortations by the mouth of the prophets were unavailing, and at last Jerusalem was destroyed, and Israel wait carried captive to Babylon. While there the Lord gave Daniel a vision of events reaching to the time of the end. Although the events noted in these visions covered hundreds of years, the language was in such terms that Daniel did not understand it, and when he asked the Lord how long it would be until the end of these things, the reply was, "Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." God would not have His people relax their diligence through the thought that His coming was hundreds of years in the future; so He left the time indefinite, in order that each generation might regard it as imminent, and live in harmony with the words of Christ, "Watch, for ye know not at what hour your Lord will come."

Paul was favoured with wonderful revelations, and we know that, like Jesus, he preached the prophecies of Daniel (2 Thess. ii.). But since God had said that the time was sealed up until the time of the end, we know that He would not reveal it to Paul any more than to Daniel. So Paul's earnest desire was to depart and be with Christ, whose coming was his principal theme. How he expected to be with the Lord, he makes clear in 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17: "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

A PRESENT HOPE

And now we have come to the time of the end. The prophecies of Daniel have been unsealed; many have turned to and fro in them, and knowledge of them has been increased. The signs which Christ gave have been fulfilled, so we know that He is near, even at the door. We know not the day nor the hour, but we do know that "yet a little while and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure."

"He which testifieth of these things saith, Surely I come quickly;" and let all who love Him also love His appearing, and respond with the beloved Apostle, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

"Confidence in God's Promise. Gen. l. 15-26" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. l. 15-26.)²⁹1

"And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will folly requite us [literally, "he will surely return, upon us,"] all the evil which we did unto him.

"And they sent a message unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall we say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin, for that they did unto thee evil; and now, we pray thee, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father.

"And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not; for am I in the place of God? And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not; I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them [to their hearts].

"And Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father's house; and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. . . . And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die; but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which He sware

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to Abraham, to lsaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt."

It is characteristic of evil-minded people, that they cannot comprehend goodness in another. They cannot conceive of such a thing as disinterested benevolence. They imagine some ulterior motive in every kind act they see. This is expressed in God's words to the wicked: "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself." Ps. l. 21. So Joseph's brethren thought that he had shown kindness to them out of respect for his father, but that now he would surely have revenge, and do to them as they had done to him. Their suspicions showed what they would have done in the same circumstances.

"And Joseph wept when they spake unto him." Nothing can wound love more than to suspect it. He was not angry, but grieved. It was not that his feelings were hurt (he had suffered too much injustice and oppression to be wounded, by misunderstanding of his motives), but he wept even as Jesus did over Jerusalem, when He said, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!" it was sad that Joseph's brethren had received only the physical benefit of his kindness all these years, and had not understood it well enough to be won by it and be transformed by it.

"We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." How plainly this is demonstrated in the case of Joseph and his brethren. God had by dreams foretold that his brethren should bow down before him. They had taken effectual measures as they thought, to make it impossible for such a thing ever to take place. They had said, "Let us slay him, . . . and we shall see what will become of his dreams." By selling him as a slave they had separated him from them so completely that for years they themselves believed him to be dead; yet it transpired that what they did to prevent the fulfilment of his dreams was what brought it about. "As for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good." He "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." Eph. i. 11. "Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?" Lam. iii. 37. "The Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" Isa. xiv. 27. Whatever the Lord thinks will surely be done, no matter though all the world tries to prevent it. All that is done will only further His plans.

This is for our comfort; for just as in the case of Joseph His purpose was to save life, so now, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification;" and though Satan and all his hosts array themselves against us they cannot thwart God's will. His will must be done, and will be done. The only question is, Shall it be done in spite of us to our destruction, or with our hearty assent, to our salvation?

Joseph's hope was in the promise made of God unto the Fathers. See the article on "The Hope of the Promise." He knew that when God said to Abraham, "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall serve them four hundred years . . . But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again" (Gen. xv. 13-16), and afterwards confirmed this promise with an oath, saying, "Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies" (Gen. xxii. 17), He was promising the inheritance through the resurrection, when death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed. He understood the glorious hope that God was holding out to Israel, and died full of faith in it.

The course of Joseph, in directing that his bones should not be buried in Egypt, but should be kept until God delivered His people, is a lesson even for us. "By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones." Heb. xi. 22. During all the oppression, when the children of Israel experienced that which their fathers had made Joseph undergo, they had the bones of Joseph as a constant reminder of his trust in the faithfulness of God, and how it had been justified. Never had they any excuse for forgetting the promise of God; and in for forty years' wandering in the wilderness the bones of Joseph were a constant reproof of their unbelief and murmuring.

That same promise is ours to-day. The fact that they to whom it was preached did not believe it, and "could not enter in, because of unbelief," does not in the least shake the surety of it. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is Iongsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Thus "the longsuffering of our God is salvation."

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Sabbath and Christ" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

"In Col. ii. 16, 17 we read that we are not to let anyone judge us in respect to the Sabbath days 'which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.' If the Sabbath is a shadow, the body being Christ, does it not necessarily pass away with the coming of Christ, like all other shadows?"

It is a great mistake to draw conclusions from a single sentence taken out of the body of the text without any consideration of the connection in which it stands. While it is true that the Bible in every place means just what it says, it is also true that in order to know just what it says in any place we must know what goes before it. You know well how that by taking a single sentence or part of a sentence out of a man's speech he can be made to appear to say something directly contrary to what he means. Now of all the people whom I have heard quote Col. ii. 16, 17 against Sabbath-keeping and also against any instruction about healthful diet, I have never seen one who could give even an outline of the contents of the chapter, or who had tried to follow the line of the Apostle Paul's argument. We have not time nor space now to go into the whole subject at length, but I think it will not be difficult to enable you to see at least what the text in question does not teach.

First of all, then, the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day of the week (Ex. xx. 8-11) is not a shadow of something to come, but a memorial of something already done. "God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." Gen. ii. 3. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work; . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."

"The works of the Lord are great; sought out of all them that have pleasure therein" (Ps. cxi. 2) because it is in the works of His hands that His people rejoice and triumph. Ps. xcii. 4. "His work is honourable and glorious; and His righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered." Ps. cxi. 3, 4. Or, more literally, as indicated by Young, "He hath made a memorial for His wonderful works," and that memorial is the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was before the Gospel, because it originated in Eden, before sin entered into the world. Hence it is impossible that it should be in any sense whatever a shadow or sign of something connected with the Gospel. It is, indeed, the substance, to which the Gospel endeavours to bring us. There were sabbaths, not weekly, however, but yearly, connected with the Jewish round of service, and designed to illustrate some feature of the Gospel. These, of course, were "a shadow of things to come." They would never have been given if it had not been for sin and unbelief; and of them we need not now speak particularly; but the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is something far different.

Though the Sabbath is not a shadow, it is a positive assurance of something to come. Thus: It originated in Eden, and is inseparably connected with the earth in its new, perfect state. It is the seal which God set on His works, to show that they were finished and perfect. The earth is now very imperfect; yet "whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever" (Eccl. iii. 14); therefore it is certain that the present state of the earth must be only incidental and temporary, and that it must again become as new and perfect as in the beginning. The Sabbath is the assurance of this, for it brings Eden to us. The earth is now cursed, but one part of it, Eden, was not; and the Sabbath brings us its blessing. God blessed the Sabbath day in Eden, and whoever rightly understands it, and truly keeps it, has the blessing, the joy, the rest, and the power of the world to come, which is the world that was in the beginning.

"But the body is of Christ," for "in Him all things were created," "and in Him all things consist." The reality, the substance, of the Sabbath is found only in Christ. He who does not know the Lord as his personal Saviour, does not and cannot keep the Sabbath, though he most scrupulously refrains from labour on the seventh day of the week. The day is to him only a shadow, of no worth, except as through it he may in time come to a sense of what the Lord's rest really is, in that sense the seventh-day Sabbath may be only a shadow-an empty form; but the coming of Christ to the man will fill out the form and make it a perfect substance.

The Sabbath is a sign of a perfect creation. It not merely reminds us of the fact that it was God who created all things, but it shows us the power of creation; and its continuation to us shows us that God still lives as Creator. So as it is the assurance that Eden will be restored to this earth, it reveals to us the power by which we now may be made new-"meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."

Thus the Sabbath is inseparably connected with the cross of Christ, for "if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become now; and all things are of God." 2 Cor. v. 17, 18. As Christ was about to yield up His life on the cross, He cried, "It is finished," showing that in the cross are to be found the perfect works of God that "were finished from the foundation of the world." Instead of the cross putting an end to the Sabbath, it is only in the cross that we find it; "for we which have believed do enter into rest."

Sabbath is rest. Sabbath-keeping is resting in God. Christ says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matt. xi. 28, 29. In Him we find perfect and everlasting rest-eternal Sabbath-keeping. Therefore "As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall

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your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord."

"For Little Ones. The King's House. The Altar of Incense" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

THE ALTAR OF INCENSE

There was one thing inside the tabernacle, of which we have not yet spoken-the altar of Incense. This was a small golden altar that stood in the outer apartment, before the Ark, from which it was separated by the veil.

The sacred fire burning on this altar, lit by God Himself, and never allowed to go out, was fed morning and evening with fresh incense, which ascended in fragrant clouds, an offering to the Lord.

When the priests came into the tabernacle, they brought censers with them, in which they placed some of the same kind of incense, and lighted it with the holy fire. Two of the sons of Aaron once through drinking of wine forgot the importance of doing as God had told them, and they took "strange fire," instead of the holy fire from the altar, and offered this in their censors. Because of this they died before the Lord.

Every morning and evening, at the time of incense, the people gathered outside the tabernacle and waited in silent prayer before the Lord while the cloud of incense offered by the priests inside the tabernacle, arose with their prayers.

You will remember, perhaps, that when Zechariaih, the father of John the Baptist, was offering incense in the temple, and the Angel Gabriel appeared to him, "the people were praying without." This reminds us of the words of David in one of his psalms, "Let my prayer come before Thee as incense."

John saw in a vision heavenly beings "having golden vials full of odours (incense) which are the prayers of saints." And he also saw an angel "having a golden censer, and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of the saints on the golden altar that was before the throne."

When Noah, after the flood, offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise to God, for His goodness in sparing the lives of his family, "the Lord smelled a sweet savour." All these things show us that the incense represented the true worship of God, which comes up before Him as "an odour of a sweet smell."

The incense went up in a cloud that could be seen, and its fragrance also made it known. So it is with the true worship of a loving heart that pours itself out in prayer and praise to God. Such worship is not empty words, but it comes up before God as something sweet that can be seen and felt. Its fragrance makes it known to Him, giving Him pleasure, and bringing down His blessing upon the worshipper. But when the love of the heart is not in the prayer, and it is only a form, there is then no incense and the prayer cannot rise to God.

We have nothing of our own to bring to God. We cannot offer anything to Him except that which He first gives to us. God must provide Himself a sacrifice; He must supply the incense, and light in our hearts the holy fire that will enable us to offer to Him an acceptable sacrifice.

This God has done in giving us Jesus, "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ" who "hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour." He is the true incense, and it is only when we have Jesus in the heart that we can have anything to offer to God.

All true worship, every good thought, every feeling of love to God, every desire to come to Him, comes from Jesus. It is His Spirit that kindles the sacred flame of love in our hearts. If we come to God without this, and with only a form of words, we are like those who offered "strange fire" before Him. "They that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship Him."

Not our prayers only, but everything that the love of Jesus in the heart prompts us to do, comes as incense before God. The angel that God sent from heaven to the house of Cornelius, said to him, "Thy prayers and thine alms are come up before God." And Paul said that the gift some of his brethren sent to him was "an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God."

The fragrance of the incense upon the altar in the tabernacle spread itself out for miles around in the wilderness. Thus anyone coming there might be led to the house of God to find out what it was, and so would have an opportunity to learn the way of life.

And so in every little earthly tabernacle

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where Jesus dwells, His sweet presence will shed its perfume all around, to draw people to Him.

"As some rare perfume in a vase of clay
Pervades it with a fragrance not its own,
So when Thou dwellest in a mortal soul,
All heaven's own sweetness seems around it thrown."

Where Jesus dwells, gentle, loving words, and thoughtful, unselfish actions, kind looks and ways, will go forth as sweet incense telling that He is there, that people may be drawn to learn of Him.

The altar of incense is always to be found in the house of the Lord. And the whole universe is His temple; so all the world is an altar, and the fragrant incense of praise is being offered continually from all His works. For "in His temple everything saith, Glory."

But, like ourselves, nothing in nature has anything of its own to offer to God. All the glory, all the strength, all the beauty, all the sweetness of nature, come from Christ. It is "a sweet savour of Christ" that all nature offers as a sacrifice of praise to God.

It is the life of Christ poured out freely into all things, that gives strength to the mighty oak, whose leaves, moved by His breath, clap their hands in His praise; that gives beauty to the pure lily and the blushing rose, and makes of them censers in which fragrant incense offered to the Lord; that gives us airy lightness and its dainty plumage to the bird that sings among the branches thanksgivings to its Maker.

God's life and love poured out upon all His works, comes back to Him in the glad worship that nature thus renders to Him.

"And prayer is made, and praise is given,
By all things, near and far;
The ocean looketh up to heaven,
And mirrors every star.

"The green earth sends her incense up
From many a mountain shrine
From folded leaf, and dewy cup,
She pours her sacred wine.

"The mists above the morning rills
Rise white as wings of prayer,
The altar curtains of the hills
Are sunset's purple air.

"So Nature keeps the reverent frame
With which her years began;
And all her signs and voices, shame
The prayerless heart of man."

"How We Live. Loss of Appetite" The Present Truth 17, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

"There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth and honor, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it; this is vanity, and an evil disease." Eccl. vi. 1, 2.

How aptly these words describe the case to-day can be appreciated only by looking at the advertising pages of the daily and weekly journals. There is scarcely one that does not contain one or more advertisements of patent medicines warranted to cure all ills; and among the afflictions enumerated which will speedily be removed by taking the vaunted remedy is almost always "Loss of appetite." Sometimes you will see this at the head of the page, as though it were the original difficulty, and if the sufferer could only get something to spur his jaded appetite, and make him eat, he would be well.

It is a fact that tens of thousands of people never know the blessing of real hunger, and the consequent enjoyment of good food. They awake in the morning dull and unrefreshed, weak and languid, listlessly prepared for the duties of the day. They sit down to breakfast with no desire for food, and force themselves to swallow a few mouthfuls in order "to keep up their strength," yet they get no stronger; so it goes throughout the day, except when a stimulant incites them for a time to unnatural zeal and energy, to be followed by still greater lassitude and disgust for food.

Now this is indeed "an evil," as the wise man says; and it is very "heavy upon man." R. V. It is "an evil disease," but there is complete cure for it as for all other ills. This cure, however, is not to be found in anybody's pills or potions. Settle it in your minds that a natural appetite can never be created by swallowing anything whatever. Everybody in the world can have an appetite if he is willing to pay the price; and the poor can command the price as easily as the rich.

Did you notice in the text that it is the man who has riches and wealth, and who lacks nothing, who has not power to eat? Who ever heard of a day labourer suffering from loss of appetite? His only complaint is usually that he cannot get enough. Now this is not because the labourer eats such good food, nor because he always eats rationally, but because he works hard enough to get hungry. And this brings us to the root of the difficulty. People take so little exercise, eat so frequently, that they never have a chance to get hungry, and then complain that they have no appetite. Appetite is hunger, and what sense is there in a man longing for an appetite, and yet in constant fear lest he should get hungry?

Have you not noticed how fearful people seem to be of getting hungry? John doesn't want to eat his breakfast, and the anxious mother says: "Oh, you must eat or you will be hungry before dinner." Then before dinner time he must have a lunch to guard against the dreadful calamity, and at night, although he may already be stuffed as full as a Christmas goose, he must eat something more before he goes to bed; lest perchance he should gat hungry before morning. And then they wonder at the loss of appetite.

"Blessed are they that hunger." "The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." Prov. xxvii. 7. Do you ask how to get hungry? The answer is simple: go without eating for awhile. How long must you fast?-until you get hungry. Depend upon it, that if you abstain absolutely from food or drink for from one to four or five days you will conquer the worst case of loss of appetite.

You will starve to death? Not a bit of it. Don't be afraid of that. People do not starve to death without ever getting hungry. Trust your stomach to let you know when the system is crying out for nourishment.

But mind, and don't begin to eat as soon as you feel an unpleasant sensation in your stomach. That is not hunger, but the expression of the weariness of the overworked stomach. When you sit down or lie down after an unusually long walk, you have a sense of weariness in your legs, that you were not conscious of while they were on the strain; but you do not take that as evidence that they need more exercise. You know that they need rest. Well, why can we not deal as sensibly with our stomachs as with our legs?

When the natural cure, fasting, is applied, the digestive organs should be given complete rest. It will be found most helpful to cleanse the bowels by a full enema, not by physic. Thus you will help the system to throw off the load of accumulated poison.

After the fast, what is to be done? Begin to eat with moderation and discretion. Eat no more than three meals a day, at the most; and if you confine yourself to two you will find it better. But of course you must eat food that is really nourishing,-food that has some other recommendation than merely that of pleasing the fancy. If your fast has been long, and you feel the sensation of genuine hunger, as you will, be careful not to undo all the good you have gained. Eat sparingly and of food that is easily digested. If you wish to keep a good appetite, you must do as with good credit: don't

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overtax it. He who never incurs a debt, always has credit; so he who always finishes his meal with an appetite for more, will always have an appetite.

Someone has doubtless said: "I am not a glutton; I never gorge or eat a great quantity at any meal; I believe in taking a little at a time, and frequently." And that is just the trouble; for it is the frequent nibbling rather than the heavy meals, that causes loss of appetite. The stomach becomes discouraged with the constant demands made on it to begin its digestive work all over again. It is not the occasional overloading of the stomach, bad as that is, but the constant working of it; that wears it out.

There are still more rules to be observed for getting and keeping a good appetite. The primary one is exercise. God still says to every one of us, as to Adam, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." This is not the pronouncing of a curse, but the relief from it. Sweating is necessary, in order to carry off the impurities from the system. The stream of life must be kept constantly moving. One ought to exercise sufficiently every day, in some way or other, to induce free perspiration; only so can health, be maintained. Important as it is to have correct habits of eating and drinking, good health depends more on activity than on diet; that is to say that a person who has a good amount of proper exercise in fresh air, and a faulty dietary, will have better health than the one who has a faultless diet and no exercise. But neither need be faulty. If we eat for strength, and use the strength that we get, health and happiness must be ours.

God doesn't arbitrarily take away anybody's appetite; but where one's system is overcharged with poisons from undigested food, the only salvation is, in loss of appetite. Think what the result would be if one could go on eating without limit when the system is already overloaded. Death would speedily ensue. The loss of appetite corresponds to the ball which stops the flowing in of water when the cistern is full. Man's own acts bring the curse; what God does is to order things so that we may bear up under it.

Above all things, abstain from eating between meals. Nothing is so destructive to appetite and to the digestive organs as constant or frequent nibbling of food. When you have finished one meal, let that be absolutely an end of all eating until the next regular meal. Never make any exception in this matter. No matter what your fancied sensations of hunger, do not give way. You cannot possibly starve to death in one day. Your stomach is naturally inflamed from over-exertion: then soothe it with a little water, either warm or cold case best suits you. Soon the unnatural craving will pass away, and you may not feel hungry at all when your next meal-time comes. Then skip it, and wait till the next one, and keep on with your work. Depend upon it, you will find your appetite before long.

These are only a few of the simplest and most obvious rules for getting and keeping an appetite. There are others just as simple, but these are the first to be observed. Throw pills, powders; and potions, not to the dogs, but into the sewer, give your stomach a rest, and work with your might, and you will find that eating will be a delight in prospect, in the process, and best of all, in retrospect.

October 24, 1901

"The Voice of God in the Forest" The Present Truth 17, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel." Luke i. 80.

"The Word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Luke iii. 2, 3.

Forth from the forest came the prophet, the greatest ever born of woman, full of the Word and Spirit of God, to cause kings to tremble with his message, and to speak to the hearts of the children of Judea, and comfort them with the tidings of Divine mercy and pardon. To him came men of all classes, the rulers, the soldiers, the men of business, asking advice and counsel; and to each one he spoke the word that was needed. The simple were taught, the haughty were reproved, the humble were comforted, and thousands were converted.

Whence came the prophet's wonderful wisdom, that made him fit counsellor for both king and commoner? In what school did he learn? Not in any school taught, by man, for he was taught of God, and his books were the trees, from whose leaves he could clearly read the truth of creation and redemption, written with the finger of God. The whole earth contained no better school-room than the wilderness, for

"The groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned
To hew the shaft and lay the architrave,
And spread the root above them,-ere he framed
The lofty vault, to gather and roll back
The sound of anthems; in the darkling wood,
Amidst the cool and silence, he knelt down,
And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks
And supplication."

In the grand temple,-the forest,-

"Fit shrine for humble worshipper to hold
Communion with his Maker,"

whose solitude God filled, John learned, "the wisdom that is from above,"-wisdom far higher than that to be learned in any school taught by man. There he learned man's relationship with all created things, and that "all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field," and that though the grass withereth and the flower fadeth, "the Word of our God shall stand for ever." This was the burden of the message that was to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord.

Then to the forest let us turn our steps, or at least our thoughts, that we may learn to recognise the Word that dwells them; for even now may we see our lesson plainly written. The budding trees in spring-time, and the rich, green leaves that deck their branches remind us that God spake, and it was, and show us the very tones of His voice in varied tints and innumerable forms; but no less legibly is the Word written in the falling leaves; for

"The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness
The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord ...
strippeth the forests bare;
And in His temple everything saith, Glory."

It is God's voice that causes the leaves to fall, as well as to spring forth; and autumn tints and fading leaves, no less than the springtime buds and blossoms, proclaim the glory of God, which is revealed that all flesh may see it together.

THE CURSE PROCLAIMS THE CROSS

You say that you have always regarded the fading leaf as the result of the curse, and the evidence of its continuance. So it is; but Christ has paid the price of redemption from the curse, "being made a curse for us," and has thus made even the curse itself to proclaim to us the glory of the cross. The presence, the power, the wisdom, the love and the life of God are revealed in the falling leaves of autumn.

To most people the falling leaves bear only a message of death, as if they would say, "so must ye also fade and die;" and this is correct to a degree; but we ought to learn that it is life,-the active life of God-that causes the leaves to fall, as well as to spring forth. They die, but in dying they secure the continuation of life to the tree that bore them. Let us read a passage from one who knows the trees well, even though he may not know the voice that speaks through them.

"It certainly appears strange that the leaf-fall should be sometimes connected with the approach of cold, and sometimes with that of hot weather . And yet this is the fact. Heat and cold are only the indirect causes; the primary cause of the fall of the leaf is the danger threatened to the plant by the continuance of transpiration when either heat or cold is excessive. The danger of transpiration during continued dryness of soil and air scarcely requires much explanation. The conditions may be summed up in a few words: the throwing off of the transpiring surfaces when the drought commences, and the temporary stoppage of the sap-current the so-called 'summer sleep'-furnish one of the best protective measures in plants surrounded by air against excessive transpiration and withering.

"It is more difficult to explain the connection between the fall of the leaf and the commencement of the cold period. . . . In regions which annually pass through a long period of cold, the leaves of the plants are as liable to be dried up by the cooling of the soil round their roots when winter approaches, as are the trees in the catlingas of Brazil when the hot dry season commences. They also denude themselves of their leafy raiment as these do, since otherwise they would be unable to make good the water exhaled by the leaves. When the temperature of the air sinks below zero, frost ensues, and the water in the plant stiffens into ice; this hastens the fall of the leaf, but it was already partially accomplished before the frost set in, and where the leaves still cling to the branches preparations are already made for their detachment, which is brought about by the limitation of transpiration.

"It must not be concluded from this that plants foresee the approach of winter, and that the preparations for the fall of the leaves result from such an intelligent foresight. . . . The ultimate cause of this instinctively adaptive periodicity is certainly not yet explained; it is as mysterious as those life processes and phenomena which regularly recur at certain periods, which are perhaps hastened or retarded by favourable or unfavourable external conditions, but cannot be stopped by them, and which the plant carries out, or endeavours to carry out, without immediate external stimulus."-Kerner's "Natural History of Plants."

Ah, but the mystery is revealed in the great Index to God's Book,-the Bible, where we are told that the voice of the Lord strippeth the forests bare. It is true enough that the tree does not foresee the approach of winter, but God does, and He is eyes and reason for it. God would preserve life, and as the fall of the leaves is necessary for the tree's protection against the chill of winter, He speaks to them, and, obedient to His voice, they yield up their lives into His hands. It is in the silence of the forest that one can best hear the voice of God.

And what of the leaves which careless feet trample into the ground? He who marks the fall of the sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads, keeps watch of every leaf that in falling does His commandment, hearkening to the voice of His Word. Into His hands they commit the life that He gave them, and it is not lost. They protect the young shoots, and enrich the soil around the roots of the old tree, contributing so the next year's growth, and are reproduced in the leaves of succeeding summers. And thus in the yearly round of service in God's great temple are we taught the lesson that death is swallowed up in eternal life.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

The Budget of the Russian Minister of Marine for 1902 has just been issued. It has risen from ?6,374,820 to ?10, 411, 106, an increase of ?4,086,280.

The Chinese plenipotentiaries have forwarded to the Spanish Minister, as chief of the diplomatic body, the sum of 450,000,000 taels indemnity to the Powers.

In connection with the present outbreak of smallpox in London "it has been carefully estimated that the total cost so far entailed on public bodies and individuals for vaccination purposes, including the cost of lymph, payment of public officers and private medical men, opening of vaccination stations, and setting the whole machinery of public vaccination in motion, is ?700,000."

At the opening of the new temperance hall in Birmingham, last week, Mr. Chamberlain delivered an address, in which he said that he was sure that no one would be likely to believe him to be opposed to political agitation, and then he asked the members of the Temperance Society: "What have politics done for you? I defy any one of you to point to any Act of Parliament during the last seventy years which has had any effect whatever in reducing drunkenness, although I think it would be easy enough to point to several which have had the effect of increasing it." Again: "In the review which you may permit me to take to-night of the seventy years during which this Society has been in existence, it must be evident that any improvement in the habits of the people, any diminution in intemperance, has been due to the devoted work and labour of individuals, and not to the work of the politician, nor to statutory compulsion, nor to the enactments of Parliament." These are true words, and yet "temperance work" nowadays almost always is taken to mean political working, instead of the personal help of former days.

Incongruous as it is for a minister of the Gospel to be a drinker of intoxicating liquor, there are many hundreds of them. At a meeting of the Congregational Total Abstinence Society, in connection with the meetings of the Congregational Union in Manchester, the secretary reported that when the assembly met in Manchester twenty years ago it was recorded that of the 2,555 ministers connected with the Union in England and Wales only 856 were abstainers, whereas at the last annual meeting they were able to announce that there was a total ministry of 2,890, of which 2,514 were abstainers. That is a great improvement; but it ought not to be any more necessary to enquire if a minister drinks than to enquire if he swears.

The magistrates seem to be having a difficult task on hand, in trying to decide questions of conscience. The law allows the "conscientious objector" to vaccination to receive a certificate of exemption, but it seems that a man's statement to that effect is not sufficient. He must prove to the satisfaction of the magistrates that he is conscientious. Of course the thing is impossible, for in a case of that kind no one can do more than solemnly to declare his conscientious convictions. The result is that the granting of the exemption depends wholly upon what the magistrate believes in the case, and not on what the applicant believes. The worst feature about the matter is the precedent that is set, that a man's conscience may be a subject of legal examination. The Inquisition was built upon that.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

"When I am weak, then am I strong," said the Apostle Paul, and the converse is equally true: when we are strong, then are we weak. When we know our weakness and at the same time know the Lord, then we have everlasting strength; but we must not fail to remember that when we have that strength we are as weak as ever. If we assume that now we are strong, then a fall will make us painfully conscious of our weakness; for it is God alone who works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. Unless we continually remember that our strength is wholly in God, our time of greatest victory is the time of greatest danger.

"I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." That is why the Lord gives us life-that we may declare His works, and thus glorify Him. If we do not glorify Him in our bodies and our spirits, we are of no use in the world, and there is no reason for our existence, except the mercy of the Lord, who is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, and who waits that we may let Him be gracious to us. But since God has formed us for Himself, that we should show forth His praise (Isa. xliii. 21), we may be sure that as long as we declare the works of the Lord, bearing a perfect testimony, He will give us the life with which to do it.

It is not uncommon for one to be so overwhelmed with a sense of his sins and general worthlessness as to say, "I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." At such times the Lord does not play the part of a flatterer, attempting to encourage us by telling us that we are not, as bad and helpless as we think. No; He knows that we cannot put too low an estimate on our ourselves, and He says: "Fear not, thou worm." Yes; He agrees with us, that we are but worms; but He does not agree that there is any cause for discouragement. To the despised worm He says: "I will help thee." "Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and thou shalt make the hills as chaff." The Lord leaves us no possible excuse for giving up in despair, or even for being despondent. Why should we be, with Him to do everything for us and in us?

"God looked down from heaven upon the children of men." What for?-"To see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God." Many people judge God by themselves, and imagine that He is looking on man to discover imperfections. One looks for what one wishes to find; and God does not desire to find evil. There is enough of evil; but God is certain to find all the good there is. What are you looking for?

The following from the Daily Chronicle's notice of the marriage of Mr. Rockefeller's son, in connection with which the father's uncounted millions naturally occupy a prominent place, fits very aptly with the text quoted in our article on "Loss of Appetite":-

"Mankind stands astounded at the wealth accumulated in one generation, and sympathises unenviously with the quiet unassuming head of the family, who can buy all the food he needs, but not the stomach to digest it with."

Mr. Rockefeller, with his millions, is a dyspeptic; but what money cannot buy for him he could get for nothing if he would put the same energy into gaining health that he does into gaining wealth. Health is as free for all as is the sunshine, the air and the water that God so richly provides. But men must exert themselves to gather what He gives.

There is no promise of God for the future that is not for our help in the present time. Take the following:-

"When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." Isa. xli. 17, 18.

Do you know how much that means? Read the following partial description of the earth during the time of trouble immediately preceding the coming of the Lord:-

"The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch." Isa. xxxiv. 9.

"How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate." "The beasts of the field cry also unto Thee; for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness." Joel i. 18, 20.

Yet out of the dry, barren ground, where the very dust is burning pitch, the Lord will bring springs of water, and cause pools to stand in the midst of the flames. Water from the rock is wonderful; but water from burning pitch is a manifestation of power past all comprehension.

What about the present application of this promise? Ah, do you not remember the words of Christ: "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit." John vii. 38, 39. You think you are an unpromising subject, and dare not claim enough of the Spirit to save you, to say nothing of sending forth streams of refreshing to others. Well, nothing is too hard for the Lord. He who can bring water out of the fire, and make burning, pitchy dust yield a copious flow, can surely do as much with a man. God tells us of the wonderful power to be revealed by and by in time of need, that we may know what we may depend on in our present need; for He is always the same.

"Need of a Pure Language" The Present Truth 17, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

"They buried his body by elevating it on a pole."

"What nonsense!" someone exclaims.

Yes; it does seem a bit incongruous, to say the least; but if that is wild, what shall be said of this: "He baptized her by sprinkling"? One is just as possible as the other.

"Baptism" is a Greek word meaning, immersion, plunging, dipping, burial, and it never meant or could mean anything else; so to speak of burying a man by putting him on a pole is as correct as to speak of baptizing him by sprinkling a few drops of water on him.

Much evil has resulted merely from the wrong naming of things. If instead of calling sprinkling baptism, and Sunday the Sabbath, all religious teachers would plainly acknowledge that they have substituted sprinkling for baptism, and Sunday for the Sabbath, many who now accept those innovations without thought would hold to the old ways.

October 31, 1901

"Prosperity by Adversity. Ex. i. 1-14" The Present Truth 17, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

(Ex. i. 1-14.)³⁰1

"Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy Word." Ps. cxix. 67.

"Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed." Rom. v. 3-5.

"Let patience [endurance] have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing." James i. 4.

"Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." James v. 11.

Nothing happens by accident in this world. "The curse causeless does not come." No person on this earth ever suffered anything that was not made necessary, either by his own sins or the sins of others. If the suffering was wholly the result of his own sins and errors, it was in the nature of instruction and warning, that he might learn to shun the evil course and its consequences in the future; and so it was a message of peace. And whether the suffering came for his own sins, or wholly because of somebody else's failure, it was that the sufferer might be filled to assist others in affliction. Even the Captain of our salvation was made "perfect through sufferings," being in all things "made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted." Heb. ii. 10, 17, 18.

Thus one object of the oppression which the Israelites suffered in Egypt was to teach them mercy. God said to them, "Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge; but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing." Deut. xxiv. 17, 18. In many places were the Israelites admonished to be merciful, by the memory of what they had suffered in Egypt.

Furthermore, if the children of Israel had never been oppressed, they would never have wanted to leave Egypt. They were situated in the most fertile part of the country, and if they had been left wholly at ease, they would have had no incentive to go to the far better country which the Lord had given them. "As the eagle stirreth up her nest," throwing the young ones out when they will not of themselves attempt to fly, so the Lord dealt with Israel. Even so it is now. If we had everything to our liking, we should be far less likely to listen to the message of salvation. This is the way it is with those who are "not in trouble as other men," but who have only prosperity:-

"Pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. . . . And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; the increase in riches." Ps. lxxiii. 6-12.

But they stand in slippery places, and shall "be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them." Prov. i. 31, 32. It is much better, therefore, to be afflicted and saved from ruin, than to have prosperity and go to destruction. For although God's stirs His people out of their nest, He also, like the eagle, beareth them on His wings.

"The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly [literally, "swarmed"], and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew." Ex. i. 7-12.

Truly "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." That "new king," the first of a new dynasty from Assyria, who "knew not Joseph," and therefore "without cause" (Isa. iii. 4) oppressed Israel, thought that he was planning very shrewdly; but the very course that he took to crush the numbers and strength of the Israelites only caused them to multiply and grow stronger. It was not simply that God worked an unusual miracle, to defeat the purpose of the heathen king; the truth is that hardship and toil, instead of breaking down the human frame, build up and harden it. Idleness and ease are the foes of health and strength. With the luxuries of civilisation, and labour-saving machinery, come unfruitfulness, feebleness of body, and inability to resist disease.

There is a practical lesson here for us, not only as a nation, but as individuals. People are taught to think that their benefactors are those who procure them "shorter hours of labor," and to bring luxuries within their reach and "make life easy" for them. All this is indeed pleasanter for the time, and more acceptable to natural inclination; but if it be a benefit to have a long life of health, then it is a question whether all the "modern conveniences" are benefits.

This is not an apology for oppression; for "he that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker;" but it is a plea for people to exercise a wise self-restraint, and, like the Apostle Paul, to keep the body under, and "bring it into subjection." It is, indeed, a fact, that in spite of all the oppression of the poor by capitalists and trusts, the most of the real troubles of the poor in every land arise from their own evil habits and lack of desire for self-improvement.

"In every government, though terror reign;
Though tyrant laws and tyrant kings restrain;
How small, of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.
Still to ourselves in every place consigned,
Our own felicity we make or find."

"And the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and

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their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage."

Although oppression of God's people always causes them to prosper (for the man whose delight is in law of the Lord, and who meditates in it day and night will have prosperity whatever his circumstances), that does not make oppression a virtue. The Lord is always on the side of the oppressed, and against the oppressor. "He hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death." Ps. cii. 19, 20. "For the oppression of the poor, for the signing of the needy, now will I rise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him." Ps. xii. 5. Read James v. 1-8, to see how God regards the poor and their oppressors. The only obstacle in the way of the poor is the disbelief in God, and the lack of regard for Him. If they would believe in Him as a present help in trouble, and would heed His commandments, walking in His ways, and would cry to Him, instead of to Parliament, they would see even in their adversity such prosperity as they have never dreamed of.

The treasure cities which the Israelites built for Pharaoh have ceased to exist. Their very sites unknown, and the treasures they contain have long ago been scattered to the winds, or consumed by the moth. The pyramids, which they doubtless helped to construct, are empty shells, serving only to show that there was once a great and powerful kingdom in the land of the Nile; but the poor, oppressed slaves, who were to be exterminated, are still flourishing. Though still oppressed in many lands, they nevertheless multiply, and never swell the list of paupers. Even though they have forgotten God and His covenant, and have ceased to be His peculiar people, His mercy has preserve them as a monument of how futile it is to fight against the Most High. Though we believe not, "yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself."

"Christian Warfare" The Present Truth 17, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

In our Christian warfare we may learn a lesson from even a prize-fighter, for the apostle Paul has given us a valuable lesson from the prize ring. The Bishop of Chichester says that when he was a young man at the University he was taking lessons in boxing, and once when he got a very hard blow in the face he struck out wildly. His instructor, an old prize-fighter, took him aside, and said to him:-

"Mr Wilberforce, when you get a blow, don't strike out, but take a step back, and ask yourself-what was I doing wrong, that I got that blow for?"

That is practical advice that we would all do well to heed. We should know that we never get a blow that we have not invited by our carelessness, or do not need for our correction; and instead of angrily and wildly resenting it, we should at once seek to find out the fault in us that caused it, and learn how to avoid a repetition of it.

"The Life-giving Word" The Present Truth 17, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life; . . . that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you."

The words that Christ speaks to us are Spirit and life. The word is a thing, and not a mere sound; it is not something that can be heard only, but it can also be "seen" "looked upon" and "handled."

In the Hebrew there is but one word, to express both word and thing. This teaches us that the Word is a thing, and there is power in this truth, if we grasp and hold it, to transform the whole life.

Not only is the Word of God a living thing; it is also a life-giving thing. It is life, and it has the power to impart life. We have the Word written in the Bible; yet the Word of God existed before ever there was a Bible made, before pen had ever been put to paper; for it is "that which was from the beginning."

Neither does the Word depend upon this written form of it; for there will come a time when everything that has been made by man will be destroyed and disappear, but "the Word of the Lord abideth for ever."

This is not disparaging the Bible; it is THE Book. Yet it is not the real Word of God, but only the transcription of it, and the truths contained in it are not true because they are written, but they are written because they are true.

By the Word which was in the beginning, the heavens were made, and all things were upheld. In that Word we live, and move, and have our being. For the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us, is Christ, and in Him we live.

"The seed is the Word of God." The Word is life-giving; it is seed. All seed has within it the life principle, and wherever there is life, there is the Word of God. So wherever there is seed, there is the Word of God.

There was a time when the earth was empty. Then the Lord caused to grow out of the ground everything having seed in itself. From this we see clearly that the Word of God is the seed, for every plant that He caused to grow in the ground came from that Word. It is the seed from which the oak tree and the tiniest blade of grass alike have sprung.

The Lord has told us these things to make it easy for us to grasp the infinite mysteries of the Gospel. We can grasp the truth only by experience, and the things we really know are beyond our comprehension. There are many things that we cannot explain to a little child, even though they be quite plain and simple to our own minds. Yet compared with God we are infinitely less than the little child is as compared with us, for we and the child are on the same level, but God is infinitely above us.

When one is up above the earth in a balloon, the comparative height of all objects on the earth's surface is indistinguishable. So from the height of God; looking down on the children of men, what difference is there between the babe and the philosopher?

Yet the truths of God we are to understand and know. How can this be when they are past our comprehension, and cannot be explained to us? By feeling, seeing, experiencing them; by breathing in the truth.

The child knows nothing about the composition of the air; yet it can breathe. It knows nothing of the laws of life, but it can see the sun.

And so it is with the Word of God. It must be sown in us as seed; it must be breathed in and eaten by us, and transformed into our being, that we may get life from it, and so know it.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Calvary and the Judgment" The Present Truth 17, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

"How can God destroy the wicked and not destroy a part of Himself?"

This question takes us to Calvary, where in Christ God gave Himself for the world. To speak of God destroying Himself is misleading, since God is indestructible; but if the question were put this way, "How can sinners die, and God not die?" the answer would necessarily be, They cannot. There was no way possible for God to judge the wicked, and to cleanse the world of sin, but by the sacrifice of Himself.

Christ was in the beginning with God, and was God. John i. 1. He was the out shining of the Father's glory, and the very impress-character-of His substance. He and the Father were so completely one, that in giving Christ God gave Himself. This is shown in Paul's exhortation to the elders of Ephesus: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood." Acts xx. 28.

We need not now go into a consideration of how and why it was that God must needs give His life; suffice it for the present that He did it, taking the guilt of the world upon themselves; for "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." 2 Cor. v. 19. And as He took the sins of the world upon Himself, so He took upon Himself the penalty for sin. "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed." Isa. liii. 5.

On the cross Christ, and God in Christ, takes the punishment that is naturally due to sin, suffering all that any sinner, and all sinners together, can possibly suffer in being cut off for their sins. "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust." 1 Peter iii. 18. "He was cut off out of the land of the living" (Isa. liii. 8), and that is the utmost penalty that can be visited upon any sinner.

In the cross we see the judgment and the execution of the penalty against sin: "The soul that sinneth it shall die." The cross brings salvation; but salvation is the destruction of sin; and the destruction of sin necessarily involves the destruction of those who will not allow sin to be separated from them. There was the same awful terror at Calvary when Christ offered up His life, that there will be at His second coming. Compare Matt. xxvii. 50-52; Luke xxiii. 44, 45, 48, and Rev. vi. 12-17.

"In Him we live, and move, and have our being"; "for we are also His offspring." Acts xvii. 28. God is still in Christ, bearing the sins of the world, and the cross is as real to-day as it was the day that Pilate gave judgment against Jesus of Nazareth. Not a soul suffers a pang that God does not feel; for even the fall of a sparrow to the ground sends a vibration to His heart. So it will be until the last great day, when the consummation of the mystery of the cross will be seen. The anguish of Gethsemane and Calvary will be there, and God will be affected the same as before, yea, even as He now is; for it is no light thing for Him to cut off any of His members. In the statement that God "is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish," we have the truth set forth that He still suffers for sin; and some know that He will also suffer in the destruction of the wicked. The truth of this, made apparent to all the universe, is what will convince all that God is merciful in His justice, and that "there is no unrighteousness in Him." At the Judgment all the world will see, and the wicked will experience, what God has suffered these six thousand years since sin came into the world.

But God has the power to lay down His life and to take it again. If He had not, the weight of sin upon Him would have crushed Him. He has "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," demonstrating by the cross that although He bears it He has no complicity whatever in it. The life that He gives is perfect and free from sin, and every one who takes it, having suffered with Christ in the flesh, has ceased from sin. So when the wicked are destroyed, God will not be destroyed, because He Himself has long since passed through the experience, in order that they might be saved from it. No new thing will then be begun, but an end will be put to that which was begun from the foundation of the world.

This truth, that no sinner can be destroyed without causing God pain, and that He suffers all that all men suffer because of sin, is the assurance that in Him is perfect, free and full salvation for all.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Making Peace and Creating Evil" The Present Truth 17, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

"Please give an explanation of Isa. xlv. 7: 'I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I the Lord do all these things.'"

This text has caused much trouble to many people; and this emphasises the necessity of knowing that God is good and unchangeable, and that He cannot deny Himself.

In the first place, let us refresh our minds with some statements concerning God's character. "As for God, His way is perfect." Ps. xviii. 30. "He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He." Deut. xxxii. 4. "The Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." Ps. xcii. 15. "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious; and His righteousness endureth for ever." "The works of His hands are verity and judgment; all His commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness." Ps. cxi. 2, 3, 7, 8.

These texts are sufficient to show us that God never does anything wrong, and that He cannot be the originator of anything that is wrong. He has no pleasure in wickedness (Ps. v. 5), and is "of purer eyes than to behold evil." Hab. i. 13. Therefore we know that the word "evil" in Isa. xlv. 7, which God is said to create, does not mean sin; because what is said

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of God in one place in the Bible cannot be contradicted another place.

What then does it mean? Now that we know what it does not mean, we are driven to look a little more closely at the text itself, and also to examine the context.

In this case we find that the Lord is comforting His people with an account of the wonderful deliverance that He will work for them in the overthrow of Babylon. Cyrus was the visible agent in the overthrow of the Babylonian Empire, but he was merely God's instrument. The angels of God led him into the city of Babylon just as surely as they led Joshua and his army into Jericho. So the evil-the judgment-that came upon that city and kingdom, was of God's creation, and not of man's. The word "evil" in this case undoubtedly is used in the sense of judgment, or calamity, as in the following instances:-

"Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people be not afraid? Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?" Amos iii. 6. The Revision has it, "Shall evil befall a city, and the Lord hath not done it?" which removes all possibility of misunderstanding.

"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth." Jer. xxv. 32, 33.

The text in question teaches us to look for and discern the hand of the Lord in the great changes that take place on the earth, and in great judgments and calamities. In all events God is working out His own purpose for the redemption of the world; and every judgment that befalls any people only signifies the near approach of the great Day of Judgment upon all the earth.

"For Little Ones. The King's House. The Laver" The Present Truth 17, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

Outside the tabernacle, in what was called the outer court, was the laver-a large basin made of brass. This was kept filled with water, and the priests were obliged to wash their hands and feet in it before they went into the tabernacle. They had to be quite clean for the service of God, to handle the holy things in His house.

Afterwards, when Solomon built the temple, he made "a molten sea" in the place of the laver. This was a huge basin made of brass highly polished so that it shone like glass. It was large enough to hold sixteen thousand gallons of water. It was held up by twelve oxen made of brass. Besides this there were ten layers, each of which held two hundred gallons of water.

What did this laver represent? for we have found that everything connected with the tabernacle was a pattern of things in the heavens by which God shows us what He wants His sanctuary everywhere to be.

John said, "And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."

From the throne of God in heaven, which the ark with the mercy-seat represented, flows a sacred stream of pure, living water. God's own life is in it, and in it carries life wherever it goes.

You know that water is the life-blood of our world. Ever moving, in the springs, rivers, seas, oceans, and clouds, it circulates through the world as the blood does in our bodies, washing away impurity, and carrying life.

All this water comes from God, "the Fountain of living waters." "He visiteth the earth and watereth it, and greatly enricheth it with the river of God which is full of water." So the life-giving water which quenches our thirst and cleanses our bodies, comes to us from the throne of God, and through it He is giving us His own life to strengthen and purify us.

Do you know the cleansing power of running water? Think of the rivers that flow through our large cities. The refuse and impurity of the city finds its way to the river. It is swallowed up in its waters, and what becomes of it? It is lost and disappears for ever, while the water flows on, purifying itself by its own movement, until, when but a few miles from the city, it is as fresh and sweet as ever.

This shows us how the pure life of God can wash away all our sins, everything that defiles us and brings death. It is a picture of how death is swallowed up of life. It shows how we may be washed from our sins in the life-blood of Jesus, so that we may "dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

The prophet Ezekiel saw the temple of God, in a vision, and flowing out from it was the clear river of life. God told him that the waters would bring healing everywhere they went, and "everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh."

Do you remember the words of Jesus to the woman of Samaria? "Whoso drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life."

This well of water in our hearts is not to be for our own refreshment only, but for the blessing of others also, that they may drink with us of the water of life. For Jesus said: "He that believeth on Me . . . out of him being shall flow rivers of Iiving water. But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive."

The Holy Spirit of Jesus, in the heart of each of His little living temples on earth, will be as a river of life flowing out from them to give life to others. Then they too may be washed from their sins, and quench their thirst from this sacred stream.

But before we can be used of God to serve others, we must ourselves be pure and clean. Like the priests we must be washed from every stain, that like them we may be ready to bring help and blessing to others.

Jesus gave Himself for us that He might cleanse us "by a water-bath in the Word." He said to His disciples, "Now ye are clean, through the Word that I have spoken unto you." "The words that I

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speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."

The living Spirit of Jesus comes to us in His Word, and if we receive it into our hearts by faith, it will not only make us clean, but it will also make us "like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."

"The Hermannsburg Mission" The Present Truth 17, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

In the story of the Moravians and their mission enterprises, and in individual mission enterprises, the Lord has furnished object lessons in the power of prayer in behalf of missions.

Pastor Harms assumed the pastorate of Hermannsburg about 1844. His soul was made alive with missionary zeal as he read of the needs of the heathen world. A sketch of his life tells the simple story of the work wrought out by prayer and consecration.

The parish included seven of the villages that dot the Luneburg Heath, an expanse of thinly-peopled moorland. The parishioners, about forty-five hundred in number, were, for the most part, sturdy, self-reliant German yeomanry and peasantry. The religious life of the pariah was cold and formal, with little spirituality; The new pastor, by his singularly devout life, fed by deep communion and unceasing prayer, soon raised the people to a higher spiritual level, and a great religious awakening followed. He soon succeeded in kindling the fires of missionary enthusiasm through-out his parish. The first-fruits were three gifts,-six shillings from a widow, a six-pence from a labourer, and a penny from a little child. Erelong men as well as money began to be offered, until soon a company of twelve stood ready to go wherever God would send them. These untaught peasants, though filled with the Spirit, with faith and heroism, were by no means prepared for the work. A training school is established, and the prospective missionaries enter upon a four years' course. Besides a daily round of manual labour, the curriculum included Bible study, church history, dogmatics, history of missions, etc.,-a formidable array of subjects to men unused to study. This, however, as all else connected with Hermannsburg, was accomplished through prayer. The missionary enthusiasm ran high. As many as sixty offered themselves. Eight more were accepted and put under training.

"Perplexing questions arise. How is this large company to be sent to the field? The field chosen was a district in south-eastern Africa, occupied by a fierce and bloodthirsty tribe to whom as yet no Gospel herald had carried the story of the cross. 'Build a ship,' was suggested. 'The proposal is good,' says Harms, 'but the money.' That was a time of great conflict, and I wrestled with God. No one encouraged me. My friends hinted that I was out of my senses. I was spending a night in prayer. I laid the whole matter in the Lord's hands. As I rose from my knees at midnight, I said, 'Forward, now, in God's name!' The crisis was passed. The contract is let. The ship is built. Hermannsburg is a scene of activity. The women and girls by their sewing and knitting have contributed. The outfit is complete. Eight of the missionaries have completed the course and are ordained. Farewell services are held. The pastor's final counsel is given: 'Give heed to the reading of the Word, and pray without ceasing;' and on October 28, 1853, the first missionary colony from Hermannsburg set sail."

Year after year the work grew. As the demands exhausted the local supply of funds, the little people who had consecrated all to God, sought Him in prayer, and the Lord was able to open treasuries in the hearts of people outside of their community. Prayer and the spirit of consecration brought the community into the place where God could co-operate with their efforts.

"So greatly was the mission blessed of God that in 1860, seven years after the first missionaries sailed, the Hermannsburg mission in the homeland owned, and had in successful operation, the mission house occupied by forty-five students, a mission farm, a refuge farm, and a printing house; owned in Africa, ten thousand acres of land, occupied by eight stations, at each of which comfortable houses and workshops had been erected. One hundred of their own number were on the field, and fifty converts had been gathered from the African tribes. Besides they owned a ship and a mission magazine. The work of one pastor and his congregation of humble peasants!

"The financial record of the mission has been a marvel. Such operations demanded large outlays of money, and neither Harms nor his people were rich in anything but faith. Though they gave with great liberality, one missionary giving his farm, and some others all they had, it was quite impossible for them to furnish more than a tithe of the whole amount. Where did it come from?-God, who manifestly directed the enterprise, sent it in answer to prayer. Contributions came unsought from all parts of the world. How richly his faith was rewarded! His experiences of answered prayer were as remarkable as those of George M¸ller.

"While they were so busily engaged in sending the Gospel to the heathen, the windows of heaven were opened to them. During the whole period of Louis Harm's pastorate, there was an uninterrupted revival in the Hermannsburg parish, in which it is said ten thousand souls were brought into the kingdom. Professor Park, who spent three weeks with Pastor Harms during this period, says: 'Supposing the parish was then in a state of special revival, I asked, "How long has this revival continued?" "About seventeen years," was the reply, "ever since Pastor Harms came among us."'"

The missionary interest grows out of persons experience. And missionary effort reacts in continuous blessing at home. A thoroughly united effort in behalf of lands and needs beyond our borders is the sure way, of keeping hearts in the home churches aglow with the love of God and the joy of service. The work to which we are now called so urgently in other lands will prove God's way of bringing new life and power into the home work.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

By thirty-six votes to four the Jersey Parliament has passed the Bill closing the island to all foreign religious orders numbering more than six.

The national revenue led year was ?190,000,000, and the national expenditure ?183,000,000, leaving a balance of ?53,000,000 on the wrong side of the account.

Last year the Post Office delivered more than two thousand million letters, and sent nearly a hundred million telegrams for the people. It also handled 80,000,000 parcels, weighing in the in the aggregate 2,000,000 cwt.

Preparations are being made all over the Roman Catholic world, and especially in Rome, to celebrate the Pontifical Jubilee of Leo XII. Still, as that cannot take place till April, 1903, there are many chances that the old man will have a successor before that time.

An alarming outbreak of typhoid fever running into hundreds of cases, is being dealt with in the East Northumberland mining districts. Polluted mussels and ice-cream are given as among the causes of the epidemic. At Partic, near Glasgow, 500 persons are reported as suffering from the effects of drinking contaminated milk.

Ten years ago the acreage of wheat in Grant Britain was 2,800,000, but now it has dropped to 1,800,000, a diminution of half a million acres. The acreage of oats, however, has increased by 200,000. But it is worthy of note that while the average production was thirty bushels of wheat and forty-one bushels of oats to the acre, it has now gone down to twenty-eight and thirty-seven bushels respectively.

At the beginning of 1898 there was about ninety political newspapers published In Finland. Since then twenty-one have been suppressed by the Russian Governor, and twice that number have been suspended for various periods. The Governor, it should be noted, does not understand the language of the people he governs; but those who rule simply because they are placed in authority, and not because they are real rulers, necessarily act without reason.

The marvellous possibilities with electricity are becoming more and more apparent. Two gentlemen in North Bucks have accidentally discovered that with the help only of an electric battery, and no wire, it is possible to telegraph through both earth and water. With only the transmitters and receivers, and a bar of iron driven six feet into the ground, it has been found possible to hold conversation at a distance of three or four miles. The discoverers claim that they can fit ships with their apparatus, so that they can communicate with each other at distances of ten or fifteen miles, with nothing but a small battery in each, with a couple of wires dangling over the stern into about ten feet of water.

It is quite amusing to read the indignant protest of the Church Times, which is echoed by the Catholic Times, because His Majesty the King, on the occasion of his recent visit to Scotland, conformed to the service of the Presbyterian Church. They talk about "practicing two religions, essentially diverse, at the same time," although all the world knows that the only difference between the Presbyterian Church and the Church of England is on question of government. There is no essential religious difference, except to one to whom religion consists only in form.

Great excitement and many indignant protests have resulted In the United States because President Roosevelt had Mr. Booker T. Washington, a coloured man, to dinner. The President had been warned beforehand that such a course would alienate many people from him; but he insisted on his right to choose his own society. Mr. Washington, it should be stated, is a cultured gentleman, and an orator, and an educationalist of more than national fame,-one of the really great men of the United States,-whose presence at dinner with any of the little souls who are governed by petty prejudice would be an honour to them.

The Archbishop of Canterbury delivered an address in the People's Palace, Mile End, October 34, on "Christian Imperialism," in which he said that the nation was face to face with great opportunities, because their commerce extends to every land, their ships were in every part of the world, and their language was heard in every country. This imperial position, he declared, was theirs in order that they might carry the Gospel to all people, and he therefore asked Englishmen, whether Episcopalian, Baptist, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, or members of the Church of Rome, to join in one great effort for the evangelisation of do world."

Here is an extract from a conversation, repotted in the Catholic Times, between the reporter and a young man said to have been cured at Lourdes:-

"'Your religious faith came back, did it not, just as the Blessed Sacrament passed by?' 'No,' he replied; 'it came back in the morning at the Grotto, when I received Holy Communion.' We ventured another question: 'Why did you receive Holy Communion if you did not believe?' The answer was: 'I saw death approaching, and I wanted to be in readiness.'"

Yet there are not wanting people calling themselves Protestant ministers of the Gospel, who tell us that Roman Catholicism is a branch of Christianity! What is called "Holy Communion" is regarded simply as a charm, which will save a man's life, or make him fit for death, regardless of his faith or unbelief. It is simple paganism to-day, as it has always been; and this is "the church" that brought in the observance of Sunday instead of the Sabbath of the Lord.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

"Sing unto the Lord."

Why?

"For He hath done excellent things."

Where has He done them?

How can you ask? "This is known in all the earth." Isa. xii. 5.

Remember this: No matter what you have done or have not done; the fact remains that God has done excellent things; and that is why you should sing. And He still does excellent things. Then sing; for so you will come to Zion; for "the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion."

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God; and they that hear shall live." That means a revival, for a revival is simply living again. All life comes from God's word, and this living word is the only thing that can ever bring about a revival. A constant, prayerful study of God's word,-a devotion to it,-will result in a constant revival. "He that hath ears to hear, let him here."

"'No Lie Is of the Truth'" The Present Truth 17, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

"He is a very good man, so spiritual and elevating in his influence. You must mind, however, and be on your guard against believing his stories, for his judgment is so poor that he often tells egregious lies, supposing them to be true. He cannot tell the difference between truth and error, and is very credulous; but there is no doubt that he is a sure guide in morals and religion."

Do you believe anybody could be found so foolish as to talk that way about any man? Would you accept, as tutor to your children, a man, even if he did not tell wilful lies, gave utterance to the most ridiculous nonsense about matters which he considered it his special province to explain, in which he professed to know more about than anybody else?

Of course you would not; yet that is just what, following the leading of the so-called "Higher Criticism," a great many ministers of the Gospel are telling us now about the Bible. They will pick flaws in almost every Bible narrative, and declare that many of them are utterly impossible and absurd, and that no man of education could think of believing them, and then will hasten to assure us that "the fact that it is mistaken in all these things does not impair its value as a religious guide." They try to make themselves believe that they are relieving the Bible of some of its "difficulties;" but they are, so far as their influence goes, weakening its hold on the people. Their teaching is more pernicious than that of any of avowed infidel. We know that the Bible speaks the truth, because it tells us the truth about ourselves, and therefore we know it to be true when it tells what happened before we were born.

"The Invisible Source of Strength" The Present Truth 17, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

It is a well-known fact that the branches of trees spread out above the ground in full sight, just as far as the unseen roots extend beneath the ground. The visible, wide-spreading branches bear witness to the invisible wide-spreading roots of which they are the effect.

Hence the significance of the Lord's description of these people under the name of Israel: "He shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon: his branches shall spread." Note that he is not to spread out his branches as Lebanon, but to "cast forth his roots." Then, as a natural consequence, and without any effort on his part, "his branches shall spread, his beauty shall be as the olive, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return. They shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine."

Our effort, then, is not to be directed to the outward and visible,-the spreading of our branches, extending of our sphere of influence, and presenting a good appearance in the eyes of the world. But we are to "cast forth our roots as Lebanon," laying by faith an ever firmer, deeper, stronger, and more comprehensive hold upon Christ for life and nourishment. Then unconsciously to ourselves, and altogether without effort, will come the widening influence which shall revive and cause to flourish those who come within its sphere; the beauty of Christ our life will clothe us; and the fragrance of His love permeate us.

Are you so sorely beset by the enemy that you claim, with David,

"Lord, how are mine adversaries increased!
Many are they that rise up against me.
Many there be which say of my soul,
There is no help for him in God"?

Then read these gracious promises from the God of the universe-the God of your salvation:-

"Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness."

That is excellent, but see what boldness God puts into the hearts of those who trust Him, and how completely He saves them:-

"Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded, they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shall not find them, even them that contended with thee; they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee." Isa. xii. 11-13.

Instead of cowering before our enemies in fear, we are to seek them; but our victory is to be so complete that they cannot be found. What more could we ask?

Of the city of God it is said, "God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early." Ps. xlv. 5. God's presence gives firmness, stability; everlasting strength, for He Himself is "a very present help in trouble." Therefore "cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." God's presence in the individual will do for him all that it does for Zion.

When men come to know the true meaning of "blood" they will have no difficulty in speaking of "the precious blood of Christ." The very flowers find their bloom in blood. At the heart of every star is a red flush which finds its kindred crimson in the cross. For He whom we love with ever deepening love, was slain from before the foundation of the world, and His breathing is the gravitation which keeps the universe together.-Dr. Parker.

November 7, 1901

"A Rare Opportunity. Ex. ii. 1-10" The Present Truth 17, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

(Ex. ii. 1-10.)³¹1

"God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."

Never, except in the case of the Babe of Bethlehem, of whom he was a type, has this been more fully exemplified than in the case of Moses. The outcast child of a slave father and mother, is the one chosen of God to make the haughty monarch tremble on his throne, and to be known in all ages, over all the earth, as one of the mightiest leaders of men.

Moses was born and at a most critical time for Israel. Heavy burdens and cruel bondage had only resulted in making them more hardy and fruitful, and the decree had gone forth that all the male children that were born should be cast into the river. This was more than a threat; it was actually done; for Stephen said of Pharaoh the oppressor: "The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil intreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end that they might not live. In which time Moses was born." Acts iii. 19, 20.

How many young children perished, we have no means of knowing; but we can see how similar the circumstances attending the birth of Moses were to those at

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the time when Christ was born. At both times an effort was made to destroy all the male infants.

"By faith Moses, when he was born, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment." Heb. xi. 23.

They were not afraid of the king's commandment, but they took every precaution to save the life of their child. Indeed, their very efforts showed their lack of fear; for it is very evident that the decree to destroy all the male children was accompanied by a severe penalty to be visited upon all who disregarded it. But the parents of Moses would not destroy their child, no matter how arbitrary the king's commandment.

"Because they saw that he was a proper child." When his mother "saw him, that he was a good the child, she hid him three months." Stephen says that he was "exceedingly fair;" literally, "fair to God." The expression just quoted from Exodus, that his mother saw that he was a goodly child, is identical with that which occurs so frequently in the first chapter of Genesis: "God saw that it was good." The Swedish of Acts vii. 20 has it that "he was pleasing to God." From all this it is evident that Moses had a good birthright inheritance, and that these were plain indications that God had designed him for a special work. Since the Lord has given "to every man his work," ought not the same to be true in the case of every child?

"And when he was cast out Pharaoh's daughter took him up." In this there was a fulfilment of the words: "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." Ps. xxvii. 11. It was not accidental that Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river that day, nor that her heart was moved with compassion when she saw the little baby in the basket. That was God's way of taking up the child. Here, as in the case of Joseph, the thing that seemed the end of hope was the means used by God to fit His servant for the work He had for him to do. By being brought into the household of Pharaoh, Moses gained an experience that stood him in good stead in his afterlife.

But, after all, the secret of his success in life, and of his steadfastness in the path of duty, lay in the few years that he spent with his mother, who was hired to nurse him. How marvellously God wrought in answer to the faith of the parents of Moses. They would not tamely submit to the king's wicked commandment, and instead of suffering for their faith it was so ordered that the mother could have her child openly, and be paid good wages for the service that she so gladly rendered. It was because "they were not afraid of the king's commandment." Fearlessness delivers one from many threatened dangers. Fear invites attack, and it is the fearful soul that is lost. Confidence in God will not only give one victory over trial, but will often save one from difficulties that overwhelm the fearful. So because Amram and his mother were fearless souls on account of their faith in God, they had their son with them during the most important years of his life.

A Roman Catholic priest is reported to have said that if he could have the training of a child till it was six years old, he did not care who had him afterwards; he was sure that the impressions made on it at that period of life would never be erased, and that it would be a Catholic. The mother of Moses evidently appreciated her opportunity and did her work so well, teaching her infant son the principles of the Gospel and promises of God so thoroughly that "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." Heb. xi. 24-26.

Would Jochebed have been so earnest and faithful in teaching Moses, and have improved time so well, to sharpen his mind with the Divine precepts, if she could have had him with her as mothers ordinarily have their children? It is hardly probable. There is no doubt but that the knowledge of how brief her time with him would be, of the influences which he was soon to meet, quickened and increased her diligence. But this case is left on record for an example and a warning. It is a warning; for no mother knows how soon her child may be torn from her arms, and be thrust into conditions exactly opposite from those

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that she has provided. The death of a mother leaves many a child subject to influences as unlike those of its home as it is possible to conceive. And the case is an example, in that it shows how much a mother may accomplish in a few short years. Oh, that all parents would see and appreciate what far-reaching consequences depend on how they train or neglect their children even in earliest infancy, and what a mighty power God has placed in their hands.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Constantine and Christianity" The Present Truth 17, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

"In a book called 'Royal Readers,' the following appears relative to Constantine the Great:-

"'When going to fight one of his rivals, the vision of a cross the appeared to him in the sky, with a Greek legend signifying, In this conquer. He became a Christian after this, and always used the cross as is standard. He encouraged Sabbath observance, rebuilt Christian churches, and called the General Council of Nicaea (in Bithynia) in 325, when the Nicene creed was adopted. His murder of Crispus, his son, in a fit of jealousy, casts a stain on his memory,' etc.

"This does not agree with the statements that appear in 'Bible Readings for the Home Circle.' Will you help me to an understanding of the difficulty?"

It is a matter of very small moment whether there is agreement between the statements in two books, or not; if we can ascertain the truth, it is all we want; so without entering into any comparison of authors we will go directly to the standard histories, and see what they say. I might say, however, that the paragraph which you quote sounds like a passage from a child's story book, but one who had heard some talk about Constantine, but had not read enough to have definite information. An author writing to give information would not speak of the alleged vision as taking place when Constantine was "going to fight one of his rivals," but would have named Maxentius. But let us see what basis there is for the story of

CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS

The story rests on the sole authority of Eusebius, who wrote as the eulogist of Constantine, rather than as a historian. Moreover Eusebius does not tell of it as something that he himself knew, but says that Constantine told it to him "long afterwards." I will give the words of Eusebius, taken from his "Life of Constantine," book I. chapter 28:-

"While he was thus praying with fervent entreaty, a most marvellous sign appeared to him from heaven, the account of which it might have been hard to believe had it been related by any other person. But since the victorious emperor himself long afterwards declared it to the writer of this history, when he was honoured with his acquaintance and society, and confirmed his statement by an oath, who would hesitate to accredit the relation, especially since the testimony of aftertime has established its truth? He said that about noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eye the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, CONQUER BY THIS. At this sight he himself was struck with amasement, and his whole army also, which followed him on this expedition, and witnessed the miracle."

The story of Eusebius is sufficient in itself to stamp the whole thing as a fabrication. He says that the whole army "witnessed a miracle;" yet nobody ever knew anything about it until Constantine related it to him with an oath "long afterwards." The story is utterly destitute of plausibility, but Eusebius had infantile credulity wherever Constantine was concerned.

Then after saying that it would have been "hard to believe" if it had been related by anyone else, he adds that "the testimony of aftertime has established its truth"! But how could "the testimony of aftertime" establish the truth of a thing which no one knew except by hearsay? A story does not become established by passing from mouth to mouth, although it is a sad fact, that many so-called Christian customs, and much that is called "Church history," has no better foundation.

Dr. Murdock, the translator and editor of Mosheim's "Ecclesiastical Commentaries," says on this point:-

"I think, if there is any measure of truth in this famous vision (which I will not take upon me to deny, in all pertains to the dream.) But Constantine, long time afterwards, to procure for himself greater influence with the bishops, and to gain the reputation of being in high favour with God, added from his invention all the rest; and Eusebius recorded the whole just as he stated. Such frauds, in that age, were common among Christians; nor were they deemed unlawful."-Century 4, Section 7, Note.

If Protestants accept the story of Constantine's vision of the cross, and the use he is said to have made of it, why do they not also make the same use of the cross the Catholics do? Why should they make so much of Constantine's Christianity, and his services to the church, when all that he did to build up "the Church" was to support Catholicism, as will presently appear?

But leaving this myth, let us have a few words about

CONSTANTINE'S RELATION TO CATHOLICISM

Upon this point we need do no more than quote two of Constantine's own letters. The following is from a letter directing that the clergy should be exempt from political services, and shows incidently the policy of the emperor:-

"Greeting to thee, our most esteemed Anulinus. Since it appears from many circumstances that when their religion is despised, and which is preserved the chief reverence for the celestial power, great dangers are brought upon public affairs; but that when legally adopted and observed it affords the most signal prosperity to the Roman name and remarkable felicity to all the affairs of men, through the Divine beneficence-it has seemed good to me, most esteemed Anulinus, that those men who give their services with due sanctity and constant observance of this law, to the worship of the Divine religion, should receive for recompense for their labours. Wherefore it is my will that those within the province entrusted to thee, in the Catholic Church, over which Cecilianus presides, who give their services to this holy religion, and who are commonly called clergymen, be entirely exempted from all public duties, that they may not by any error or sacrilegious negligence be drawn away from the service due to the Deity, but may devote themselves without any hindrance to their own law. For it seems that when they show their greatest reverence to the Deity, the greatest benefits accrue to the State."-Ecclesiastical History. (Eusebius), book 10, chapter 7.

From another letter to those whom he styled "heretics," we take the following:-

"Forasmuch then as it is no longer possible to bear with your pernicious errors, we give warning by this present statute that none of you henceforth presume to assemble yourselves together, we have directed accordingly that you be deprived of all the houses in which you are accustomed to hold your assemblies; and our care in this respect extends so far as to forbid beholding of your superstitious and senseless meetings, not in public merely, but in any private house our place whatever. But those of you, therefore, who are desirous of embracing the true and pure religion, take the far better course of entering the Catholic Church in uniting with it in holy fellowship, whereby

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you will be able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth. In any case the illusions of your perverted understandings must entirely cease to mingle with and mar the felicity of our present times. . . . And in order that this remedy may be applied with effectual power, we have commanded, as before said, that you be positively deprived of every gathering point for your superstitious meetings, I mean all the houses of prayer, if such be worthy of the name, which belong to heretics, and that these be made over without delay to the Catholic Church that any other places be confiscated to the public service, and no facility whatever be left for any future gathering."-Life of Constantine, book 3, chapter 64.

That he was a zealous and consistent Catholic is shown by the fact that he not only proscribed Arius and his followers, but commanded that all his books should be burned, and ordered that whoever should be found secreting any of his writings should be put to death. Thus, by the way, it happens that nobody in the world knows what were the real teachings of Arius himself, since his views have come down to us only as manifestly distorted by his enemies.

CONSTANTINE, THE STATE, AND THE CHURCH

The order of this heading should be strictly noted, for it accurately expresses the proper order of things as they existed in the mind of Constantine. All that he did for the church was solely with a view to its effect on the State, and he regarded himself as the State. The eminent church historian, Dr. Philip Schaff, says:-

"Constantine. . . was the first representative of the imposing idea of a Christian theocracy, or of that system of policy which assumes all subjects to be Christians, connects civil and religious rites, and regards Church and State as two arms of one and the same Divine Government on earth. . . . At the same time, however, Constantine stands also as the type of an undiscriminating and harmful conjunction of Christianity with politics, of the, holy symbol of peace with the horrors of war, of the spiritual interests of the kingdom of heaven with the earthly interests of the State."-Church History, Third Period, Section 2.

Dr. Draper, in the "Intellectual Development of Europe" (chapter 10) also sums up the result of Constantine's policy:-

"The policy of Constantine the Great inevitably tended to the paganisation Christianity. An incorporation of the pure doctrines with decaying pagan ideas was the necessary consequence of the control that had been attained by unscrupulous politicians and placemen. The faith, thus contaminated gained a more general and ready popular acceptance, but at the cost of a new lease of life to these ideas. So thorough was the adulteration, that it was not until the Reformation, a period of more than a thousand years, that a separation of the true from the false could be accomplished."

And even then the separation was only begun; for the Reformation is not by any means yet complete. Time and space would fail us even to make reference to the mass of testimony to be found in the various histories concerning Constantine and his work; for it is a fact that contributed more than any other one man, to the union of Church and state, that is, the union of Christianity with Paganism, which, when completed, constituted the Papacy.

Thus it was, as Schaff says, that "he enjoined the civil observance of Sunday, though not as Dies Domini, but as dies Solis, in conformity to his worship of Apollo, and in company with an ordinance for the regular consulting of the haruspex," a piece of heathen jugglery.

Remembering that none of the writers from whom we have quoted were prejudiced against Constantine, we will let Dr. Schaff sum up his character:-

"It must, with all regret, be conceded, that his progress in the knowledge of Christianity was not a program in the practice of its virtues. His love of display and his prodigality, his suspiciousness and his despotism, increased with his power. The very brightest period of his reign is stained with gross crimes, which even the spirit of the age and the policy of an absolute monarch cannot excuse. After having reached, upon the bloody path of victor, the goal of his ambition, the sole possession of the empire, yea, in the very year in which he summoned the great council of Nicea, he ordered the execution of his conquered rival and brother-in-law, Licinius, in breach of a solemn promise of mercy. Not satisfied with this, he caused soon afterwards, from political suspicion, the death of the young Licinius, his nephew, a boy of hardly eleven years.But the worst of all to the murder of his eldest son Crispus, in 326."

This is the man who regarded himself as a Bishop of bishops, and who "established" the Church. A sad day it was for the Church when his eye lighted upon it. And sad is it that even yet men have not learned that "it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." However much "the Church" may boast of Constantine, Christians will make their boast in the Lord, upon whose word and power alone Christianity rests.

"Spiritism or Spiritualism" The Present Truth 17, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

"Some have told me that spiritism and spiritualism are two different things. I was under the impression that they both meant the same. I shall be very glad if you will tell me through the Private Corner which is correct."

Practically, there is no difference, both words being used with reference to belief in communication with spirits of dead people.

It is true that the primary idea of the word "spiritualism," is the state of been spiritual; but its most common use is to indicate dealings with spirits. Indeed, it is very rarely used to indicate a condition of spirituality, while it is used almost to the exclusion of a "Spiritism," as the name of a false religion. For a man who repudiates professed dealings with the dead to declare himself a spiritualist would almost invariably be understood is meaning that he believed in communication with Spirits. Of course to understand that there is really no such thing as communication with the dead, but that it is the spirits of demons who deceive people with that notion.

"What It Costs" The Present Truth 17, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

"Does the Lord require me to give this up? Can I not be saved if I do not?"

Have you not often heard such questions? Perhaps you yourself have had similar thoughts. There is among many people a feeling that God is exacting; that He requires too much of us, and that He ought to be satisfied with less. Indeed, if people would analyse their thoughts they would find an idea that God is really benefiting Himself at their expense.

That this idea is actually held, is shown by the words of Elihu to Job: "Thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's? For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin? I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee. Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou. If thou sinnest, what doest thou against Him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto Him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou Him? or what receiveth He of thine hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man." Job xxxv.

This thought, often unexpressed and half-unconscious, is nothing else than the reverberation of the subtle temptation by which the serpent caused the fall of Eve. With a contemptuous sarcasm he asked the question, "Has God really said that ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" and then followed up this insinuations against God's justice by boldly saying that there was no harm in eating from the forbidden tree: "for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof ye shall be as gods." Thus He made her believe that it was unjust for God to require her to abstain from eating the fruit of that

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tree; that she was really been abused; and that God was profiting by their abstinence.

What now is the real truth in the case. Just this: that whenever we give up anything in obedience to God, we profit greatly at His expense. We talk about sacrifice, and what it costs us, foolishly forgetful of the fact that it is the Lord who has made the sacrifice, and the only real one that ever has been or can be made. Do you know what it costs the Lord every time you give up an evil habit?-Nothing less than His life. You think it will cost you your life, or at least all that life is worth, to give up that darling practice, yet in doing so you will find life in such rich measure and so full of joy as you never knew before, but it cost Christ's heart's blood to enable you to do it. Ah, never again let the shadow of the thought enter your mind, that God is causing huge inconvenience to gratify Himself. He is, on the contrary, giving you happiness that the cost of His own life.

In this lies our strength, and the assurance that nothing is impossible to us. God is really asking us to receive something, instead of to give up. He asks us to receive His life, in which there is no shade of evil, and which is the very essence and fulness of light, and joy, and peace in order that we may be delivered from that which is to us darkness, sorrow, misery, and death. And the fact that our deliverance from the bondage of evil habits costs the Lord His life, is the assurance of deliverance; for His life has proved victorious over every temptation. Then instead of murmuring about what we are required to give up, let us give thanks to God for His unspeakable gift.

"What shall I render unto the lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." Ps. cxvi. 12, 13.

"Our Little Ones. The King's House. The Altar of Sacrifice" The Present Truth 17, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE

There was another altar belonging to the tabernacle, besides the altar of incense, of which we have lately learned. This was a large altar made of brass, that was not kept in the Holy place, but outside in the court, opposite to the entrance of the tabernacle. Every morning and evening, a lamb without spot or blemish was slain, and offered up as a burnt offering upon this altar.

Long before the tabernacle was built, in fact, ever since the days of Adam, God's people had offered sacrifices. Abel, you remember, brought one of the firstlings of his flock to offer to God. Do you not think he must have been sorry to take the life of the lamb? But this showed the suffering that sin has brought, and taught of One who has given His life to save the sinner from death.

The first thing that Noah did when he left the Ark, after the flood, was to build an altar of stones and offer as a sacrifice to God some of the animals that had been on with him in the Ark.

Abraham built an altar wherever he pitched his tent, and offered sacrifices. To try his faith, God told him to offer up his own son Isaac. He bound Isaac upon the altar, and would have slain him, if the angel of the Lord had not stayed his hand.

Do you remember Abraham's words to Isaac when the boy asked him; "Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" He said, "God will provide Himself a lamb." And when God had told him not to kill Isaac, he saw a ram caught in the thicket, and be offered this instead of Isaac, who went joyfully home again with his father.

Jesus is the sacrifice that God has provided. For when He was on earth, John the Baptist said of Him to the people, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." God has given His own Son to take our place, and taste death for every one, so that we may all go free.

Jesus "was brought as a lamb to the slaughter." Why did He thus suffer death? The innocent little lambs that were offered upon the Jewish altars had done no wrong. They were not slain for their own misdeeds. Their lives were taken because of the sins of the people.

But could the blood of these animals take away their sins?-Oh, no; but they were to teach them about the true Lamb of God, who suffered death that they might live.

Besides the morning and evening sacrifice, when any one of the people had sinned, he brought a sacrifice to be offered on the altar. Before the lamb was, killed, he put his hands upon its head and confessed his sin. This was to teach him that "the Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all."

"I lay my sins on Jesus,
The spotless Lamb of God;
He bears these all and frees us
From the accursed load."

When we confess our sins to Jesus, He takes them right away from us, and bears them Himself. They are washed away in the blood that He shed for us, and they will never be found any more.

When the lamb had been killed and offered, the blood was taken inside the tabernacle, and sprinkled in the holy place and before the Ark.

"The blood is the life." When Jesus shed His blood, He gave His life for us. But this will not save us unless we receive the life that He has given. The life of Jesus must come right into the inner apartment-into the heart-to make us clean, and to keep us from sin.

"Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain,
Could give the guilty conscience peace,
Or take away the stain.

"But Christ the heavenly Lamb
Takes all my sin away,
A sacrifice of nobler name
And richer blood than they.

"My faith would lay her hand
On that meek head of Thine,
While as a penitent I stand,
And here confess my sin.

"Believing we rejoice
To feel the curse remove;
We praise the Lamb with cheerful voice,
And trust His bleeding love."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

Some idea of the work done in preparing war may be gain from the fact that the average amount paid weekly in wages at the Woolrich Arsenal last year was ?44,000. The average number of employÈs was ?24,530. The value of the work done was estimated at ?4,852,000.

On the last trip of the Cunard liners Campania and Lucania, the two ships were in wireless communication in mid-ocean five hours, and seventy-five messages were exchanged, several of them being for passengers. Communications ceased when the two vessels were 170 miles apart.

The victims of mob violence in the United States numbered 115, and of these 107 were Negros. Only a few days ago a Negro was burned at the stake in Mississippi for an alleged outrage on a white woman. It is worthy of note, however, that no white man was ever lynched for an offence against a coloured woman, although such offences are not of rare occurrence.

The latest reports from the Philippines are very serious, and indicate that fully 60,000 troops will be needed there to maintain American rule. General Chaffee says that the whole people of the Philippines are practically waging war against United States. The only friendly natives are chiefly those holding offices, and their loyalty will only continue while they draw American dollars.

A clergyman who is on trial charged with certain misdemeanours is reported as having stated under cross-examination: "I often knock off drinking and smoking as self-discipline, and as an example for others." He will undoubtedly find many others to follow his example, for the coachman seeking a situation is not the only one who deceives himself into thinking that the simple statement that he is sober is not nearly so high a recommendation as is the statement that he is "frequently sober." The "discipline" involved in very frequently breaking off a bad habit is quite pleasing to the flesh.

The King Alfred, the first of three sister ships designed for the Navy, has just been launched. These huge engines of destruction, the largest and fastest armoured cruisers in the world, are 500 feet long, with 14,100 tons displacement, and will be armed with thirty-five guns, and carry a crew of 900 officers and men. When chasing an enemy, the King Alfred will be able each minute to fire 116 projectiles weighing 5,720 tons. Her cost will be considerably over ?1,000,000. At the launching, the Secretary to the Admiralty, Mr. Arnold Foster, M.P., said that it is "a matter for gratification to everyone whenever a great ship is added to the British Navy." We dissent, but the Government will go on adding big ships to the Navy just the same until the end comes and demonstrates how worthless they are as a defence against real danger.

The Vatican has entered into negotiations with China with a view to sending a diplomatic representative to Peking.

On the 31st ult., Mrs. Elizabeth Hanbury, who was believed to be the oldest person living in the United Kingdom, died at Richmond, in her one hundred and ninth year. She was born June 9th, 1793, and had good health until shortly before her death.

A report just issued shows that there were 119 Alpine accidents this year, which is more than double the number of accidents last year. The most of these lives are sacrificed to emulation and vainglory. If half the number of missionaries have lost their lives this this year, which is more than double the number of accidents last. The most of these lives were sacrificed to emulation and vainglory. If half the number of missionaries had lost their lives this year in carrying the Gospel to savage heathen, it would have caused ten times the amount of talk about "foolhardiness."

The Lancet states that recent rumours concerning the health of His Majesty the King "are entirely without truth or foundation. He is in good health, and has undergone no operation whatever." The British Medical Journal makes a statement to the same effect. The King himself, while on his recent trip to Denmark, expressed himself as "feeling uncommonly well." It seems evident that the "news" concerning his dangerous throat affection and the several operations already performed on his vocal cords, was a part of the news that is manufactured abroad.

In connection with the effort of American tobacco dealers to secure control of the British tobacco trade, it is stated that "there is no parallel in any other business the whole world over to the expansion of the cigarette trade." "One wholesale firm which used to turn out a quarter of a million cigarettes weekly has now an output of five millions; and another firm, which had hardly been heard of a few years ago, is now turning out thirty millions weekly." And the effect of this "expense in trade" is seen in the faces that one meets on the street. This is one of the most striking illustrations, in a double sense, of how "men decay" as wealth accumulates.

From St. Louis (U.S.A.) comes the news that no fewer than eleven children have just died as a result of anti-toxin administered to them as a preventive of diptheria. Several other children were in danger of death. The cause of death in each case was tetanus, and the physicians in attendance are unanimously agreed that it was brought about by the anti-toxin. Yet in spite of such cases, frequently recurring, and the life that is manifested to light every man, people will still go on putting death into themselves, expecting to get life from it. Not only so, but they will, when well, put a disease in the themselves, in order to keep from getting the disease! Only from life can life come.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

The liberty of the Gospel is not freedom to sin, but freedom from sin.

Man alone is the most helpless of all creatures. He can do nothing of himself; yet with God he can do all things.

"Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." What then? Everything; "for if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ."

"All things are possible to him that believeth." That is because believing is receiving Christ, and all things are in Him. Oh, the marvellous depths and heights and breadths there are in Christ! Whoever has any just sense of "the unsearchable riches of Christ," can never complain about anything, or feel that anything is impossible to him.

Real self-control is Divine control. No man can ever be free if he throws off the restraint of the Spirit of God. God's rule is the only human liberty, because no man is complete without God. It takes a human body and the Spirit of God together to make a complete man; for God breathed His Spirit into man in the beginning, to making a living soul, a perfect creature. So instead of its being slavery to submit ourselves to God, it is the attainment of the highest and fullest freedom, and the only manifestation of true manhood.

Our greatest need is to have the eyes of our understanding enlightened, that we may know what is our "high calling" in Christ. One great reason why we make so little advancement spiritually is that we do not appreciate the possibilities. But it is not simply as "possibilities," that we are to think of what God calls us to; we are to remember that He has from the beginning designed us for a place at His own right hand of power. If we ever kept before us the high place which God has prepared for us, that, and the knowledge that what He has promised He is able to perform, would help us to walk worthy of the calling wherewith we are called.

"Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Rom. viii. 15.

The Scriptures abound with exhortations of "Fear not." In time of danger God appeared to our father Abraham, saying, "Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward" (Gen. xv. 1.), and many times we read the words to this effect: "Fear not; for I am with thee." So we know that fear does not come from Him. "Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, wicked cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken."

This is not vain confidence, but that solid trust which comes from a knowledge of the fact that God is greater than all, and that He has conquered Satan. We are not to fear, but the exhortation is, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; whom resist steadfast in the faith." 1 Peter v. 8, 9, and the sure promise is, "resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James iv. 7.

It is by its roar that the lion frighten its prey and makes it incapable of resisting or flight. Now it is only our confidence in God that prevents our foot from being taken. The devil must first frighten us, causing us to lose our confidence in God's Word, before he can have any power over us. Be assured that the devil never makes a prey of any soul who he does not first frighten away from the sure retreat of God's Word.

"Fear hath torment; but "perfect love casteth out fear." "The Lord Jehovah is our strength," and we are to be "strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." We are not to have any confidence in the flesh,-there is to be no vainglorious boasting,-but are to know that Christ has power over all flesh, and that His Divine power which has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, can accomplish as much through our mortal flesh as He can through His own. "He that believeth shall not make haste,"-shall not run at the sound of the devil's roaring,-but will stand still, confident in the power of the sword of truth and the shield of faith, and will see the salvation of God.

"Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the wealth of his house is increased; for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away." Though a man amass enormous wealth in his lifetime, the world on the whole will not be any poorer for it, because he cannot take any of it away with him when he dies. The wealth will remain behind, on the earth, and will usually be scattered again; for it is a rare thing for one's heirs to inherit his money-getting and money-saving faculty. So don't be alarmed, and think that a few men will have all the wealth of the world; there will be enough left for us.

"The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all." The boundless universe forms His dominion; yet "the kingdom of God is within you." Hence the promise, "He that overcometh, and keepeth My words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations." Whoever can rule himself, has a power greater than that of all the kings of the earth together. Nothing is beyond the power of him who can govern his own spirit, and rule his own flesh. And, on the other hand, we have the assurance that all the power is God's and His domain is concentrated into the compass of our bodies, to enable us to overcome.

Here is the commandment that is as important as any in the Bible: "Sing unto the Lord, bless His name; show forth His salvation from day to day." Ps. xcvi. 2. But we must not make the mistake of supposing that it is only in song that we are to "show forth His salvation." It would be wholly a vain thing to talk about God's salvation, if our lives did not show evidence of it. So the psalm is a commandment for us to be saved from day to day. But we cannot save ourselves, least of all can we accomplish God's salvation. God alone can exert His saving power. Therefore the commandment is the assurance that God will save us from day to day, our part is simply to offer no resistance to it. With this assurance we can afford to sing.

November 14, 1901

"The Twelve Tribes of Israel" The Present Truth 17, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

When the Apostle James, about thirty years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, wrote the epistle which remains till this day, and which is part of the Scriptures written by inspiration of God, and profitable, "that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works," he addressed it "to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad." That greeting is just as pertinent and timely to-day as when it was penned, because the Word of God "liveth and abideth for ever." It is as though the Spirit of God were still breathing those words into our ears. Let us see what they teach us.

(a) We may learn from these words that the twelve tribes were all in existence when James wrote his epistle. There were no "ten lost tribes," but all were equally well-known, or else all were equally lost.

(b) The twelve tribes were all scattered abroad. This is as plain is language can make it.

(c) Glancing onward in the epistle, and comparing the first verse of the second chapter with the first verse of the first, we find that these twelve tribes, to whom the epistle is address, had "the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ." That is, they were all Christians. This is so important a matter, yet one so almost universally misunderstood, that we must emphasise it. Read the words of the Apostle Paul, in Acts xxiii. 6; xxvi. 6-8, and it will be seen that the twelve tribes are those who are "earnestly serving God night and day," and hoping in the promise of the resurrection. It was so then, and it is so now, as surely as God's Word is living.

These three items, are self-evident from the text. This one verse is of itself sufficient to overthrow all the theories and speculations about Israel, which come in swarms like the flies in Egypt. The reading of the Word with attention and faith will disperse these plagues. But let us note further.

THE TWELVE TRIBES AND THE NEW JERUSALEM

We see from these plain, simple statements of Scripture that the twelve tribes of the children of Israel are all Christians. The New Jerusalem, the capital city of their redeemed kingdom of God, "lieth foursquare," and has twelve gates, three opening to each of the four cardinal points of the compass, so that the saints from every quarter of the new earth may march up and enter in without turning to the right or to the left; but these gates have written on them "the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel." Rev. xxi. 12. That is to say, that none will "have the right to come to the tree of life," and "enter in through the gates into the city," except the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. Not only are the twelve tribes of Israel all Christians, but all Christians are enrolled in and compose those twelve tribes. In short, the twelve tribes of Israel are identical with the church of Christ, the saints of God.

"SCATTERED ABROAD" ACCORDING TO GOD'S PLAN

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Note the expression "scattered abroad," or, "of the Dispersion," as in the Revision. The Greek word in this place has the signification, to sow seed. This tallies exactly with the words of Christ in Matt. xiii. 30: "The field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom." The good seed is sown broadcast over the land. Each individual is not sent everywhere, but everywhere one may be, there is where he has been sown, that he may bear fruit to swell the harvest. God's people, the tribes of Israel, are scattered over the face of the whole earth, and are to be found among every nation, kindred, tribe and people, and are not recognisable from the peoples and tribes of the earth except as the truth of God marks them as "a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

This is exactly in harmony with God's original design for Israel. No one should imagine that God's plan has been frustrated, because the twelve tribes of Israel are now scattered abroad. Quite the contrary. God chose Israel at the first that they might be a missionary people. Only as they are a missionary people, and scattered abroad, widely dispersed, is there any use for their existence, in fact, they can have any existence.

WHY ABRAHAM WAS CHOSEN

Take Abraham, the father of the tribes of the faithful. He was chosen because he answered and came when He was called. To all God says, "Come," those who heed the call are His chosen ones, and to them and He says, "Go." Abraham was a wandering preacher to the heathen, and Isaac and Jacob followed his example. Wherever they went, they built an altar, and "proclaimed the name of Jehovah." When they were few men in number, and strangers and the land, "when they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people, He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, He reproved kings for their sakes; saying, Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm." Ps. cvi. 8-15.

THE SPIRIT OF COLONISATION

Those men were Christians, trusting in Christ to save them from sin by the power of His victory over the grave. It was not so, however, with the most of their descendants, except for certain short periods. "They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in His law." Ps. lxxviii. 10. "They believed not in God, and trusted not in His salvation," they desired a king from their own number to deliver them, that they might be like the heathen around them. They chose to colonise, rather than to be scattered abroad as seed, and consequently they had to be carried away by force. They could not learn the lesson, that Israel's country, the real Canaan, is an heavenly country, and even the earth made new, but persisted in making this earth as it now is their home. Being therefore utterly useless for the purpose for which God chose them, their house was left to them desolate, and others were raised up in their stead, from among the Gentiles, as they themselves had been, to build up the tabernacle of David that had fallen down.

That same desire to colonise, to gather in groups to be preached to by men who will preach just what they like to hear, still characterises the professed church of God. Nevertheless His people are scattered abroad, and fulfilling their mission to an extent never before known except in the few years immediately following the notable Pentecost. Day and night the twelve tribes of Israel, scattered abroad in every part of the earth, serve God in Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus.

ALL ISRAEL GOD'S CHILDREN

All of the twelve tribes of Israel are children of God. When God sent Moses to deliver His people from Egyptian bondage, He said, "Israel is my son, even My firstborn." Ex. iv. 22. "When Israel was a child, and I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt." Hosea xi. 2. This prophecy was said to be fulfilled when the Infant Jesus was taken to Egypt to escape the fury of Herod, and was called out (Matt. ii. 14, 15), thus showing the identity of Christ with Israel. Indeed, Christ Himself declares that God has directly addressed Him as Israel, in whom He will be glorified. Isa. xlix. 1-6.

In harmony with this is the statement that "they are not all Israel, which are of Israel;" that is, "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are accounted for the seed." Rom. xi. 6-8. "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." Gal. iv. 28. Being children of promise, as Isaac was, we are children of God, truth is right; for it is by the "exceeding great and precious promises" of God that we become "partakers of the Divine nature," and so birthright members of God's own family.

Receive, then, into your hearts and lives these promises of God, which are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus, and you will be "no more strangers and foreigners," "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel," "but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God," and be "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom all the building fit the frame together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord."

"The Servant of God" The Present Truth 17, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting."

Have you ever noticed how frequently the Scripture writers call themselves servants? The Epistle to the Philippians begins, "Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ;" Paul addressed himself to Titus as "a servant of God;" and Peter began his second epistle thus: "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ."

When Paul was on his way to Rome, a captive in chains, and the decree and long-continued storm had reduced all the other passengers in the ship, as well as the crew, to a state of helpless terror, he stood up before them all, exhorting them to be of good cheer, and assuring them that there should be no loss of life; "for," said he, "there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve." Acts xxvii. 23. And Christ recognise this condition when He quoted the first commandment: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Matt. iv. 10.

This is the more noteworthy, because the idea of service is foreign to our human nature. We naturally like to be independent, and to be a servant is by most people looked upon as degrading. See how indignantly the Jews repudiated the suggestion that they were in servitude, in Christ's words, "If ye continue in My words, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Instantly they flung back the implied charge, saying, "We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man." John viii. 31-33.

SLAVES OF JESUS CHRIST

If we recall the meaning of the Greek word rendered "servant," we can better understand the feeling of the Jews, and how it hurt their pride to have it applied to them; and we can at the same time appreciate the humility of the apostles, who did not hesitate to call themselves servants, and who even seem to regard

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it as a title of honour. It is, in short, nothing less than the despised word "slave." There are many who are willing to be known as servants, who would most strongly object to being considered slave; yet the Greeks knew no such distinction; and the apostles signed themselves unqualifiedly, slaves of Jesus Christ.

That is what we are in truth, and why should we seek to shut our eyes to the reality? "What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own! For ye are bought with a price." 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. That states the case exactly; we are slaves; we have been regularly bought and paid for, and we are not our own; we have no manner of claim on ourselves, our time, our talents, our property, or anything that pertains to us. Our bodies are not our own, but, together with soul and spirit, belong to Him who has purchased us.

THE PRICE PAID

With what has the Lord bought us? and what is the strength of our bondage to Him?

"Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, . . . but with precious blood, . . . even the blood of Christ." 1 Peter i. 18, 19. The church of God "He hath purchased with His own blood." Acts xx. 28. The price paid is great enough, and the transaction is valid.

As great as is the price paid for us, so powerful are the bonds that hold us in our servitude to God. Hear Him: "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with a lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Jer. xxxi. 3. "I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love." Hosea xi. 4. Ah, then, it is not hard, cruel bondage, to which we have been sold, although it is everlasting, and stronger than death. No; our fetters are bonds of love, and the surface is the service of love. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

WHY PURCHASED?

Why has the Lord bought us? What does He want of us?

He wants to use us as instruments of righteousness through whom His will may be done on earth as it is in heaven. Of this He assures us in the very words in which He makes known to us our lawful condition of slavery. "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" And stronger still, "Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall have no dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Rom. vi. 13, 14, 16.

ENSLAVED IN ORDER TO BE FREED

God has bought us, in order to make us free; for His service is the only real freedom. The more firmly we are bound to Him, the freer we are. "He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's free man; likewise also He that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men." 1 Cor. vii. 22, 23. He has "delivered us from the power of darkness," and He assures us that sin shall not have dominion over us. That which He has purchased with His blood, and He will guard with His life.

"Servant of God" is the highest title that any creature in the universe can bear; for it is borne by Him in whom all things were created. God refers to Christ again and again as "My servant." When Christ came to this earth He "took on Him the form of a servant" (Phil, ii. 7); the reality He already had in heaven. To His disciples, even while justly claiming to be their Lord, He said, "I am among you as He that serveth" (Luke xxii. 27); and His greatness is due to the fact that He willingly performs the greatest, or as men would regard it, the lowest, service. So He says to us, "Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." Matt. xx. 27.

"HIGHER THAN THE KINGS OF THE EARTH"

Striking instances of how God delivers His servants, and makes them higher than the mightiest kings of earth, are given in the book of Daniel. The prophet was cast into a den of hungry lions, because he would serve God first of all, and would not serve anybody, not even himself, except in God. Yet the king at whose decrees he was cast into the den, recognised that his power was nothing in comparison with that given to Daniel a servant of God, and he said: "Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee." And so it was. All night long Daniel was in the den of lions in peace, while the king was in his palace, in torment, and very early in the morning the king hastened to the den, and cried: "O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?" And Daniel replied, "My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lion's mouth, that they have not hurt me." Dan. vi. 16-22.

Three friends of Daniel were cast alive into a burning, fiery furnace, because they persisted in serving God. Then the reward of their service appeared, in that the flames, which were so fierce that the strong men who came only near enough to the furnace to throw the captives in, were instantly destroyed, only burned off the bands of the servants of God, leaving them free. That indicates the freedom that God gives to His servants.

"Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning, fiery furnace, and spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came forth out of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed." Dan. iii. 19-27.

DOMINION OVER SIN

So great power as this has God to deliver His servants from sin; for the power of those men's deliverance from the fire was simply the measure of the power by which they had been kept from idolatry. Do you wish to be delivered from sins? Then give yourselves into the hands of the Lord, and remember that He is the same now that He always has been. His salvation is near, and we have but to believe the truth that He is a present, personal help, to realise it.

And do you fear that the God who has such power to deliver His servants, will allow them to starve in His service? Surely the God who can keep one from death by fire, even in the burning furnace, can keep one from death by hunger even when there is no food." Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive and famine." Ps. xxxviii. 18, 19. To those who refuse to serve Him, He says:-

"Because when I called, ye did not answer; and I spake, ye did not hear;

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but did evil before Mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not; therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, My servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, My servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; behold, My servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed." Isa. lxv. 12, 13.

"O fear the Lord, ye His saints; for there is no want to them that fear Him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Who Has Ascended to Heaven?" The Present Truth 17, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

"On page 675 of PRESENT TRUTH (October 24), you speak of the translation of Enoch. How do you understand his translation, in connection with Christ's words in John iii. 13; also the words of the apostle Peter in Acts ii. 34? I shall be pleased to have some light on this."

Let us first have all the texts before us, so that we can take them in at one glance, and then we can study their agreement. John iii. 13, together with the two preceding verses, reads thus:-

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believed not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, and even the Son of man which is in heaven."

Acts ii. 34 is as follows:-

"For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand."

And here is what the Bible has to say of the translation of Enoch:-

"And Enoch walked with God: and he was not, for God took him." Gen. v. 24.

"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." Heb. xi. 5.

Now let us not forget that nobody who doubts can understand God's Word. It is by faith that we understand. The only way we can hope to arrive at a knowledge of the Bible, and of a solution of its difficulties, and its seeming contradictions is by steadfastly maintaining our confidence in it and in its Author. We must know absolutely, first, last, and all the time, that the Bible is God's Word, and that, as God cannot lie, it cannot possibly contradict itself in any particular. The Scriptures do not require any "harmonising"; they are absolutely in harmony-each verse with every other verse. Our part is simply to recognise this perfect concord. If we attempt to harmonise two portions of Scripture, we make a sad muddle; because the very attempt shows are unbelief that they do agree. In plain words, every such attempt is a vain endeavour to make truth out of what one really believes to be incongruity.

The truth in this case is that Enoch was translated to heaven without seen death, a thing that has happened to but one other man of whom we have any record,-Elijah. Most men, no matter how good, die and go into the grave to remain there until the resurrection, as is the case with David, "who is not ascended into the heavens, but he is both dead and buried," and his sepulchre remains until this day. Acts ii. 29. When the Lord comes, all the dead in Christ will be raised to immortality, and the living will be translated, as Enoch was, changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and caught up to "ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 15-17; 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.

The question, then, resolves itself into this: How are Christ's words recorded in John iii. 13 to be understood, in view of the record that Enoch was taken to be with God, whose throne is in heaven? The question answers itself, if we consider the words that Christ spoke in connection with those recorded in the thirteenth verse of the third chapter of John. He was talking to Nicodemus about the new birth, that is, about sonship. His first words to the Jewish ruler were: "Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Verse 3, margin. Jesus Christ was born from above when He came into the world; but other men have to be born again, since their first birth is of the earth. And when they are born again, from above, as Jesus was, then their citizenship is in heaven, and they dwell and walk with God. Such can ascend to heaven, and as Enoch and Elijah did, and as all the saints will when the Lord comes at the last day.

Note the words of Christ: "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, the Son of man, which is in heaven." Jesus was in heaven even while on the earth. Even so it must have been with Enoch; for he "walked with God." He had been born from above, and when he talked with the men of his generation about heavenly things, he spoke that which he knew, and testified that which he had seen, just as Jesus Christ did.

So it may be and should be to-day. By His Holy Spirit,-the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father,-we are made to know "the deep things of God." 1 Cor. ii. 10. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His secret." Ps. xxv. 14. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." So the Christian may talk of solemn and joyous realities which he has seen with his Father, and to those who listen he may seem to be raving. He has been in communion with God in the heavens, and he speaks what he knows, and testifies what he is seen. "What he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth, and no man receiveth his testimony, and no man receiveth his testimony." Only the Spirit of God can enable a man to discern heavenly things when they are spoken.

If all this seems too much to be true of man, remember that Christ's spoke of Himself in this connection, as He always did as the Son of man. He identified Himself with men in order that men might for ever be identified with Him. By Him we have access to God, being made partakers of the Divine nature. We have "boldness to

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enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Heb. x. 19), because in Christ we come down from heaven. By Him, and Him only we enter Heaven. Since we become sons of God by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, it is true that there is only "one new Man," namely Christ Jesus, so that even when all the saints shall have been taken to heaven, it will still be true that no man hath ascended to heaven but the Son of man. And since all this is true of us, we can see that the redemption of our body for which we wait is a natural consequence of our birth from above, and we know that we shall soon be taken bodily to be ever with the Lord.

"There shall we see His lovely face,
And ever be in His embrace."

"Little Folks. The King's House. The Cleansing of the Tabernacle" The Present Truth 17, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

THE CLEANSING OF THE TABERNACLE

We have spoken of the daily service at the priests in the tabernacle-the offering of the incense and the lamb morning and evening. But besides these daily sacrifices there was the yearly service on what was called "The Day of Atonement."

This was the time when the tabernacle was cleansed; the time for the remission-the sending away-of sins. So the people spent that day in seeking the Lord, and confessing their sins, so that He might take them away, and blot them out.

All through the year the people had offered sacrifices, showing in a figure their faith in the Lamb of God whose blood alone could wash away their sins. And in closing the yearly round of service the Lord showed them in a figure how all the sin that had been confessed and put away, was to be blotted out.

The High Priest took two goats, and cast lots upon them, one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for Azazel, or the scapegoat. Azazel was a Hebrew poetical name for Satan. So these two goats were meant to represent Christ and Satan.

Do you think it strange that Christ, the Lamb of God, should then be typified by a goat? Perhaps you remember the Parable of Jesus in which He shows how God will divide between His own people, His sheep, and the wicked, the goats, and will put the sheep on His right hand and the goats on the left. Those at His right hand will be saved, and those on His left will perish. But do you remember that the Bible says of Jesus that when the Lord laid upon Him the iniquity of as all, "He was numbered with the transgressor"? Though "He knew no sin, He was made to be sin for us," that we might be made pure.

So the goat upon whom the Lord's lot fell, became the type of Jesus Christ. This goat was slain, and its blood was taken into the tabernacle to make an atonement for the people. It was sprinkled upon the articles of furniture in the holy place, and was then taken into the Most Holy place, and sprinkled before the Ark, and upon the Mercy-seat.

This was the only day in the year that anyone was allowed to enter this most holy place. None but the High Priest ever set foot within that sacred inner apartment where the cloud of God's glory hovered over the Mercy-seat.

And when on this one in the year he went in to make an atonement for the people, he carried with him much incense, so that the smoke rising from it might shelter him from the glorious brightness, and keep him from being destroyed.

All the while the High Priest was within the tabernacle, the people waited without in solemn silence. He had little bells on the hem of his garment, and as he moved from place to place, the people could tell by the tinkling of the bells where he was and what he was doing.

When the High Priest came out, he raised his hands and blessed the people, and they knew that God had accepted the offering, and cleansed them from their sins.

Then the priest laid his hands upon the head of the scape-goat, and in a figure, all the sins of Israel, for which the Lord's goat had been slain, were laid upon him. For this goat was a type of Satan, the cause at all their sins.

The blood of the goat that was slain cleansed the tabernacle in a figure and took all the sin away from the people and put it upon the head of the scape-goat. Then this goat was taken away into the wilderness, to wander alone, and it never came back to the camp of Israel.

We have in all our talks about the tabernacle found that it is to teach us of the work of God in our own bodies, to take

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away our sins, and to make no His own dwelling-place.

His promise is that "as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us." This He has done through the death of Jesus upon the cross, for He took all our sins upon Himself. He came to "make an end of sin," to blot it out for ever from His universe, and to cleanse every part of it.

All through the year the people were taught that Jesus had taken their place, and died instead of them because of their sins. But on this day they were taught what His death would do for them and in them.

As the blood of the goat, in a figure, cleansed the tabernacle from sin; so, in reality, the blood of Jesus cleanses our hearts, and blots out all sin from us. His life in us will make an end of sin in us, and make up pure and holy, so that we shall not go on sinning.

Do you remember that the last work of Jesus before His death, was to cleanse the temple, driving out all those things that were defiling it? So His last work before His coming, which in now very near, is the cleansing away of sin from us who are His living temples.

Before He comes, His people must be perfect, "without spot, or wrinkle; or any such thing." All their sins must be blotted out. So we are living in the great Day of Atonement-the time for the remission and blotting out of sins.

This is a very solemn time, when we should seek the Lord, and confess our sins. God said that if anyone should be careless, and take no notice of the Day of Atonement, "that soul shall be cut off from among his people." Then is it not very important that we should come to Jesus now, seek Him while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near, that all our sins may be blotted out when He comes?

"The sprinkled blood is speaking
Forgiveness full and free;
Its wondrous power is breaking
Each bond of guilt for me."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

The German Emperor is reported to have given an order for a commission of experts to be appointed with a view to the most radical and exhaustive investigation of cancer that can possibly be made.

In sentencing two foreigner Jews to imprisonment for burglary, at the Clerkenwell sessions, the Recorder remarked that recently foreign criminals had landed in London in hundreds, and upon arrival formed themselves into gangs and carried on a systematic series of burglaries. Everywhere crime seems to be on the increase.

The United States Commission has drafted an act against treason and sedition in the Philippine Islands. It provides the death penalty for persons guilty of treason, including those giving aid and comfort to the "insurgents." Persons who utter seditious words or speeches, or write libels against the United States Government or the Philippine Administration will be liable to a fine of 2,000 dollars (?400) and two years' imprisonment.

It is announced that a Belgian Engineer, Toblansky by name, has invented an apparatus for producing light from smoke. The origin of the smoke is a matter of indifference; it is simply forced into a receiver, where it is saturated with hydrocarburet, and can then be burned, giving a brilliant illumination. If his invention is really a success, he could certainly make a fortune in London, and at the same time make it the most brilliantly lighted city in the world. We should be glad to see him put it into operation here.

The colonies sometimes set an example that could well be followed by the mother country, as, for instance, the following:-

In pursuance of the recent order of Sir John Woodburn, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, prohibiting the employment of European barmaids in Calcutta, the Board of Revenue has ruled that the following condition shall be inserted in every license in Bengal, whether held by European or native:-

"That in the place for which this licence is granted no female shall be employed in connection with imported wines or spiritous or fermented liquors in any capacity whatsoever."

The Saviour mentioned abounding iniquity as one of the signs of the last days; the following item from Germany is a slight indication of how the sign is been fulfilled:-

At a conference of German associations for combating immorality, held in Leipzig, the speakers all seemed unanimous in believing that Germany is rapidly growing more immoral. Doctor Stocker, the well-known ex-Court chaplain, especially drew attention to some startling statistics. During the last eight years he said, crimes against morality have doubled, rising from 7,400 to 14,700. During the same period offences against girls under fourteen years have trebled, and rape also increases at an alarming rate. He stated that in Cologne and Aschen forty-three persons have been lately imprisoned for crimes against girls under fourteen. Summing up, he declared that such a state of affairs existed that there must be something rotten among the people.

A writer in The Echo states that on the 12th of last month he and a friend watched a public-house for an hour and a half, and saw during that time 876 persons enter-290 men, 380 women, eighty-three youths and girls, and 128 very young children and babies in arms. Seven perambulators were taken in. On the same evening, during an hour and a half, the watchers counted 591 persons enter another house-240 men, 267 women, sixteen youths and girls, and sixty-eight children and babies!

By means of an invention devised by M. Mensdier, principal of the Polytechnic School at Paris, twelve telegraph operators sent messages simultaneously on a single wire between Paris and Bordeaux; and at the same time, and without the operators being aware of it, private telegrams and service messages were sent by the ordinary continuous currents on that same wire. These experiments have shown that at one and the same time on a single wire as many as twenty-five electric movements may cross one another without confusion. This is truly an age of wonders.

Speaking at the Diocesan Conference a few days ago, the Bishop of Liverpool said that he believed that a spirit of materialism lay at the bottom of the present difficulties of the church. He said that in many cases their churches were run on the same lines as those upon which men run their business. Money is raised by the inevitable bazaar, at which methods are used which will not bear investigation. The promoters, he said, seem to adopt as their motto the well-known words: "Make money if you can by right means; if not, in any way you can, only make money." It is not always as bad as that; yet the "business" Spirit coming into the church has always been the death of spirituality, and always will be.

It is estimated that the annual earnings of the working classes in this country amount to ?550,000,000. Out of this sum not less than ?110,000,000-one-fifth is spent on drink. That is, a workman whose weekly wages is ?1, spends 4s. at the public house. The average amount spent by each household is ?17; and since there are many temperate families, it will be seen that some families must spend not less than half their earnings for drink, and some even more. And yet in the face of this, people will persist in laying upon capitalists all the blame for the poverty in the country. The publican is the poverty breeder; but he could not sell liquor if the people did not want to buy.

The Chinese Prime Minister, Li Hung Chang, who ranked as one of the shrewdest statesmen in the world, died on the 7th.

Wireless telegraphy has been introduced in the German Navy, and all officers are being instructed in the use of the apparatus.

The rapid growth of the morphine habit in France, which is largely due to the unrestricted use of the narcotic in hospitals, is beginning to cause uneasiness among those who study the signs of the times. One fashionable chemist says that the amount of morphine taken in professional and society circles is very considerable, and that women are his best customers. The habit is destructive to both soul and body, and the medical profession is largely responsible for it.

Europe has once more been face to face with the Eastern Question, and has been greatly perturbed. A French firm had some claims on the Turkish Government, which were not settled, and a French fleet was dispatched to Turkish waters, and the island of Mytylene was seized. Then the Sultan agreed to the French demands, and the case was declared ended; but for a few days there was much speculation as to whether or not France was about to upset the "balance of power" in the Mediterranean. A very light breeze in that quarter can raise a great commotion.

An agitation is beginning in Russia in favor of greater freedom from religious charity. At a recent missionary conference of members of the Orthodox Church, the marshal of the nobility of the province in which the meeting was held moved that the Government be petitioned to mitigate the severe penal enactments against persons giving offense to the National Church. The motion was not adopted, but the press has taken it up, and one of the leading papers declares that the condition of the Russian clergy, their education, and their moral standard, leaves much to be desired, and that some change is necessary. It is true that nothing has been done, and it is not at all likely that the priests will loosen their grip because of anything that may be said; but the fact that such freedom of speech is tolerated is quite significant.

In commenting on the sermons preached on "Citizen Sunday" (Oct. 27) The Daily Chronicle says:-

"The definite enlistment of many religious leaders on the side of the municipal reformer is a welcome sign of the abiding vitality of the Christian faith among us. There seems no reason why in future years all creeds should not unite, for one Sunday at least, in proclaiming what the Bishop of Stepney calls the Royal Law of loving one's neighbour as oneself."

If it were not that the Chronicle credits the Bishop of Stepney with being the author of the title "Royal Law" for the precept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (See James ii. 8), we should think that it was ironical in its suggestion that it be proclaimed at least once a year in the Christian churches. That "royal law" is the sum of all law, and Gospel as well (Gal. v. 14), and the Christian Church exists for no other purpose but to proclaim it constantly.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

If a man can now "come boldly unto the throne of grace," he will not be afraid of the presence of the Lord at the Day of Judgment. The day of the Lord will have no terrors to the one to whom He comes not as a stranger. Therefore "little children abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming."

When are we upbraided, and charged with wrong-doing, we should ask ourselves: Is this accusation just, or not? Have I done well, or ill, in this matter? If we see that we have done wrong, no matter how unconsciously, we should be grateful to the one who has called our attention to the error, and thus given us a chance to correct our way, even though the charge was made through envy, and not in a Christian spirit. And if we find on careful examination that we are not guilty, then we should "rejoice and be exceeding glad;"-so glad that we have no room for any feeling of bitterness toward our accuser; and we should moreover take the accusation as a needed warning, that we do not fall into the sin with which we are charged.

"The Birds and the Weather" The Present Truth 17, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

The Birds and the Weather .-Have you taken an early walk these foggy mornings? And if so, did you notice how cheerily the birds sang? What a happy concert of morning praise they hold in the trees, even in the streets of damp, foggy London. One would think by the sound that it was April instead of November, and that spring, instead of a dreary winter, is upon us.

Is there is lesson in this for us? Shall we not consider the birds? They are out of doors all the night, yet the fog does not "get in their throats" so that they cannot sing. Their voices are as clear as in mid-summer. Nor do they suffer from catarrh or rheumatism, and influenza is unknown among them. Yet they are far more exposed to the weather than human beings are. Would it not be worth while to enquire into their secret? Is it not possible, nay, certain, that something besides the weather is responsible for the increase of illness among the human population at this season of the year? If we were as simple in our habits of diet, and as active as they, we should be able to bid defiance to inclement weather.

Perhaps this will recall to the minds of some "The Bird's Lecture" which appeared in our columns in the spring, containing the following excellent advice:-

"Do open your windows and let in the air-
I know you'll feel better and look far more fair;
Now, just look at me, why, I never take cold,
And in excellent health I expect to grow old."
And then he went on; "I have known in my day
A great many birds all reared the same way;
Their cradles were rock to and fro by the breese,
And the roofs of their houses were leaves of the trees.

"But I never have known a birdling to droop,
Nor, old as I am, seen a case of the croup;
Nor heard a bird say that so sore was his throat
That he, for his life, could not raise the eighth note.

"And one with dyspepsia, too gloomy to sin,
That we should consider a terrible thing;
Consumption has never unmated a pair"-

Here the bird commenced warbling an ode to fresh air.

"Unprofitable Servants Made Sons" The Present Truth 17, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

On another page of this paper the reader will note an article on Servants of God, which shows that "servant" is the highest title that can be bestowed upon any man. The highest place any being, whether man or angel, can occupy is that of servant of the Most High God. Yet God calls us sons. "When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God." Or, "an heir of God through Christ." Gal. iv. 4-7.

Recall the parable of the prodigal son which was given to show us how God receives repentant sinners. The son when his father met him, began to repeat the words that he had before decided to say: "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants." Luke. xv. 18, 19. But the father did not give him time to finish. As soon as he acknowledged himself unworthy, and before he had time to beg to be taken as a servant, the father gave orders for the best robe and a feast, saying, "This my son was dead, and is alive again."

Thus God in His great love receives us. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!" It is marvellous; and yet, if God is to receive men at all, that is the only ground on which He could receive them. We must either be sons or nothing. Why? Because we should be utterly unprofitable as hired servants. What could we do that would be worth paying for? What wages could God set, that we could earn? When we ourselves are "less then nothing, and vanity," what could our best work be? Who would dare mention wages in connection with anything he could do for the Lord? "Who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things; to whom be glory for ever." Rom. xi. 35, 36.

"Behold what manner of love?" We are not worthy to be servants, and therefore the Lord makes us sons! The servant must have wages, and we are not capable of earning wages; but the son gets no wages; he receives everything that the father has, as his by birthright; and such is our relation to God. Marvellous love! Unspeakable gift! Unspeakable gift! Boundless grace! Our worthlessness recommends us to His highest favour! He buys us as servants; but we are not worth anything in that capacity; so the purchase price-the life of Christ-is transferred to us, and, lo, His worthiness becomes ours, and makes us sons.

"Let not sin reign in your moral body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." This implies that we have power over sin, which is true in Christ. "Sin shall not have dominion over you," is the assurance. Sin croucheth at the door, and its desire is to us; but we are given power to rule over it. Such freedom has the Lord given to us, that there is no power that can control us without our consent, and no untoward circumstance can fetter us.

November 21, 1901

"Called of God. Ex. iii. 1-12" The Present Truth 17, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

(Ex. iii. 1-12.)³²1

The miraculous deliverance of Moses in his infancy, the king's edict for his destruction being the means by which he was given a home in the royal palace, indicated that be was intended for no ordinary work. In the few years that he was with his mother he learned the history of his people, and God's promises to them, becoming imbued with her faith; and in later years the word of the Lord came to him in the palace, just as it afterwards came to John in the wilderness, asking his mission known to him. So "by faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." Heb. xi. 24-26.

But his faith and zeal were not fully instructed, and he did not know the way of the Lord. He thought himself competent for the task to which he was sure that God had appointed him, and he proceeded to deliver his brethren according to his own way, the way that would naturally command itself to the whole world; for in all ages men have been taught that whoever would be free must himself strike the blow.

This is what is being taught to-day to men who are in some respects in similar circumstances to those Israelites. They were slaves, suffering under a most grinding monopoly. No other labourers have ever been so cruelly oppressed as they were. In our day labourers, in far more favourable circumstances are being encouraged by professed Christians to combine, and strike together for freedom, to resist monopoly even with weapons. This was the plan that Moses tried, and it failed, as it will now, because it is not God's way.

For forty years in the wilderness tending sheep Moses had an opportunity to unlearn some of the lessons that he had learned at court, and to learn some new ones. In the sheepfolds the Great Shepherd "made known His ways unto Moses," and at last when his preliminary training was complete, God met him and gave him a very definite call. In the burning bush God appeared to him, and said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large. . . . . come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt."

But Moses was not nearly so anxious to go, now that he was really prepared for the work, as he was forty years before. He demurred, and excused himself, pleading that he was not eloquent and could not speak well. His lack of confidence in himself was admirable; but he should have taken note of the fact that God had said He Himself had come down to deliver His people; Moses was to be only an instrument in God's hands; and though he himself could do nothing, God could do everything either with him or without him. "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."

The way in which God appeared to Moses was an object lesson. "He looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." A dry bush is a very inflammable thing, and "our God is a consumming fire;" yet His presence in that combustible object preserved it. What an incentive to confidence in Him!

"TO EVERY MAN HIS WORK"

The same God lives to-day, and the same work remains to be done; for in that day the people "could not enter in because of unbelief." Therefore, the Lord has "set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people" (Isa. xi. 11), and He calls, "Whom shall I sand, and who will go for us?" Everyone who hears is commissioned to say, "Come!" for the Lord has given "to every man his work." So hath the Lord commanded us, saying, "It is a light thing that thou shouldst be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the world." Isa. xlix. 6.

"But no man taketh this honour to himself, but he that is called of God." God appointed John the Baptist, Jeremiah, and others who were specially prominent, for a definite work, even before they were born; but there came a time in their lives when He was ready for them to engage in it. If they had gone before the Word of the

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Lord came definitely to them, their work would have been a failure. David was anointed king over Israel when he was a lad tending sheep; but it was years before God called him to the throne. So although God has given to every man his work, it is our privilege to know so definitely as did those men when it is the Lord's time for us to enter upon our special part of it. No one can tell how the call will come; but each one who has an ear to hear will recognise it when it does come. If it is a grave mistake for any man to neglect the call of God to the work, it is no less serious a matter for anyone to assume responsibilities to which God has not definitely called him, or to run ahead of the Lord.

THE ABILITY TO SPEAK

"And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant.

"And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." Ex. iv. 10-12.

It is the Lord that has put into us the word of reconciliation, and we are to speak only with His words. God's Word is the good seed that, though it be wrapped in never so many coverings, will surely at the appointed time burst through all its fetters and make itself known. When the time comes for it to be spoken, the children will proclaim it, if their elders are not ready; and if the children should hold their peace "the stones would cry out."

None, therefore, who have received the Word of the Lord, and who know definitely as Moses did in the wilderness that God has appeared to them and called them to proclaim His message, it may be in a very humble capacity, and a limited sphere, need fear that utterance will not be given them, The Lord's promise is, "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be My witnesses;" and how this can be fulfilled was shown on the day of Pentecost, when the company of believers,-a people few and despised by the world,-began to speak "as the Spirit gave them utterance."

There was a time when the prophet Daniel saw a vision from God, and the sight of the heavenly visitant took away all his strength, made him dumb, and deprived him of breath, so that there was no breath left in him. Then the mighty one of God touched his mouth, and he began to speak, even while destitute of strength and breath. See Daniel x. 8-10. In this there is a lesson for us all, even though it be not our lot to proclaim God's message by word of mouth. Our part is simply to "do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word," and allow Him to work in us both to will and to do, and to speak, if necessary, according to His good pleasure.

"Health and Strength for All" The Present Truth 17, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

Those who have read the leading article in last week's PRESENT TRUTH will know that when the Spirit of God sends a message "to the twelve tribes scattered abroad," He sends it to all who acknowledge and serve the Lord Jesus Christ,-who have "the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory." To all such, therefore, the salvation of the Spirit becomes a personal matter, and will certainly, if it is appreciated, become to them a part of "the comfort of the Holy Ghost."

Who would not esteem it an honour to receive a greeting from the king? But how much more regard should we not pay to the greeting of the King of kings, which we find so many times in the Scriptures, but especially, for our present study, in James i. 1. It is well worth a few moments' careful study, and a whole lifetime of attention.

The word "greeting," in this verse is from a common Greek word meaning to rejoice, to be glad. It will be noticed that in harmony with this the Revised Version has "wisheth joy" in the margin. The Lord, through His apostle, wishes joy to His people. This is certainly good news.

Further, the Greek word is one that was used on the meeting of friends, so "hail," or "welcome," corresponding to the Latin Salve. One form in the conjugation of this verb is salutem, which all will recognise as the basis of the word "salutation." Everybody is familiar with this word, for the sending of salutations and greetings is a common thing; but it is very seldom that we understand fully what is really contained in the words we use.

We are all familiar with the word "salutary;" a salutary lesson is one that tends to our welfare and safety. If we remember that the letters "u" and "v" were originally the same, and are really one letter, we shall see that our word "salvation" is also in this salutation. But salvation is applicable to everything that is in danger of perishing,-to the body as well as to the soul. So our Divine greeting is the wish that we may prosper and be in health, even as our soul prospers.

Indeed this word rendered "greeting" has, in its common use, primary reference to one's health. God's greeting always means health and safety, and joy because of healing salvation.

But we must not forget that God's words are not empty sounds. Every word of His is a thing-the thing which it names. His greeting, therefore, is not merely a wish that we may be well, but it is a healing portion. When the prophet Daniel "retained no strength," and had no breath left in him, and the heavenly messenger hearing God's word said, "Be strong, yea, be strong," immediately he was strengthened. He says: "When he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me." Daniel x. 16-19. So when God says to us, "Greeting," that is, "Be in health, be full of joy in the strength of salvation." He conveys to us all that His words express. He is the health of our countenance. Ps. xliii. 5.

Of course we are to receive His word, and hide it within us, or else we shall not share its fulness. If we are filled with it, then it inevitably follows that all its fulness of salvation and health and joy will be ours. But just as we are to "seek righteousness," although God speaks it to us,-that is, we are to look diligently for every way in which God's righteousness is revealed, so that we may yield to it understandingly,-so we are to regard the life that as manifested, that we may become acquainted with all its manifestations, and know what to yield our bodies to in order that they may enjoy His saving health.

"He that seeketh findeth:" so there is no doubt about our receiving the blessing of health for body and soul if we earnestly desire it. O, what joy, that God meets us everywhere we turn, and always has a loving greeting for us; He does not upbraid, but greets us with tender words and looks of love and health. "The king shall joy in Thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! . . . For Thou comest to meet him with the blessings of goodness; Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked life of Thee and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in Thy salvation; honour and majesty hast Thou laid upon him. For Thou hast made him most blessed for ever; Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance." Ps. xxi. 1-6.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Foundation Principles" The Present Truth 17, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

"Do you regard the following fundamental principles as the right principles for our guidance through life? namely, on the spiritual side, faith and good works; and on the temporal, health, judgment, employment, self-dependence, self-defence, contentment, freedom."

The question indicates a little confusion of thought, inasmuch as some of the things named are not principles at all, but results. For instance, health is not a principle to be followed, but a result to be gained by following right principles; and the same is true of some of the other items. But we may nevertheless profitably spend a few moments considering this list.

FAITH THE FOUNDATION

In the first place we have faith and good works. Now faith is not only a foundation principIe, but it is the real foundation; for there is no true faith except "the faith of Jesus," which is His life. To exercise faith is to build upon a solid foundation. When we read that "Abraham believed God," we may read, without doing violence to the text, "Abraham built upon God." And this idea is suggested in lsa. xxvii. 16: "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste." He that believeth, that is, builds upon the sure foundation, will stand fast when "the overflowing scourge" passes through. We can build upon faith, because it is substantial; it is "the substance of things hoped for."

He who has a foundation of faith, and who does not swerve from it, will build upon it a superstructure of good works. Good works are not the foundation principles, but the building that is erected them. They are not the root, but the fruit.

FAITH THAT WORKS

It is very commonly supposed that faith and works are coordinate terms, as though they were two branches of a tree. Indeed, we often hear faith and works likened to the two oars of a boat. But this is altogether a mistake. We are not saved by faith and works, but by the faith that works. "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." Gal. v. 6. "For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. ii. 8, 9. He who builds upon his good works will find that he has built upon quicksand.

JUSTIFIED BY WORKS

Right here the question comes up: "Does not the Apostle James say that 'a man is justified by works, and not by faith only'?" Yes; he does; and some, including Martin Luther, have supposed that James wrote in opposition to Paul. Indeed, it has been stated by some that James wrote to correct Paul's strong statements concerning faith. But all such ideas are most unwarranted. There is not the slightest contradiction between Paul and James; but, as we shall presently see, James emphasises the truths set forth by Paul. The second chapter of James is good to study, to learn the true relation of faith and works. Read verses 14-26.

WORKS THE PROOF OF LIVING FAITH

"What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?" Or, as in the Revision, "Can that faith save him?" What faith?-Why, the faith that he says he has. No; the faith that he says he has will not save him, because the truth is that he hasn't any. "Faith, if it hath not works, is dead by itself." The apostle challenges the man who says that he has faith, but has not works. "Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works." The man who has no works has no means of showing that he has faith, while the man who has works can exhibit them as the fruit of faith. Good works cannot come except from faith; and faith, if it exists, must work.

A man may say, "I have wealth," but he cannot exhibit a penny; can that wealth support him? There we have a parallel to the question in James ii. 14. What profit is there in wealth which a man says he has, when he cannot give security for a penny?-None whatever. That does not prove that wealth has no purchasing power; far from it. It simply shows that wealth which a man only says he has, will not buy him a meal. A very little money that a man has, and says nothing about, is worth millions of pounds that a man boasts of, but which he doesn't possess.

"Wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?"

THE WORKING OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH

To emphasise this statement, and to put the case in the strongest possible way, the question is asked, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered lsaac his son upon the altar?"

But before anybody has a chance to exclaim, "There I told you so," the apostle continues: "Boast thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?" It was faith that wrought that work. The faith existed before the work, else the work could never have been born." By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up lsaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son." Heb. xi. 17.

Now note the conclusion of the matter about Abraham. James has admitted that he was justified by works, but shows that faith was at the bottom, performing the works; and then comes this: "And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness; and he was called the Friend of God."

So we see that the offering of Isaac on the altar-the works by which Abraham was justified,-was the fulfilment of the statement that Abraham's faith was counted to him for righteousness. That was justification by faith. The works are absolutely essential, but they cannot exist without faith; and their appearance is the proof of faith.

THE SPIRIT'S POWER OVER THE FLESH

We have now considered the spiritual side of the case, and passing to the physical side, we find that it also is settled. "The just shall live by faith," and that covers the question of health. For the term "life" is not qualified. The just have to live their lives on this earth in the flesh, and that life is the life which they live by faith. The physical life of the just person is by faith. "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ livelh 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." Gal. ii. 20. The life of Jesus is to be "made manifest in our mortal flesh." 2 Cor. v. 11. The health, the readiness to every good work, so that His work was never interfered with by any physical ailment, as well as the goodness that was in the life of Christ, is to be manifest in our mortal flesh. When the secret of Christ's life is known to us, and the life is perfectly manifested in us, we shall know by experience that God forgives all our iniquities and heals all, our diseases.

JUDGMENT

"Behold, My servant shall deal prudently," says the Lord. Isa. lii. 13. So the Apostle Paul prays for those in whom God has began a good work, confident that God will make it perfect (note that it is not we who build on good works, but God who works in us), and asks that their "love may abound yet more and more in all knowledge and in all judgment," that we may "approve things that are excellent," or, be able to try the things that differ. Phil. i. 6-9.

Christ is the one who sets judgment in the earth. Isa. xlii. 4. The wisdom of this world is foolishness. "If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." 1 Cor. viii. 2. We have nothing except that which comes from God; and the Holy Spirit is given to us, "that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" 1 Cor. ii. 12); therefore it follows that without the Holy Spirit we cannot really know anything.

In Christ "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. ii. 3), and He is made unto us wisdom, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 1 Cor. i. 30. Again, since nothing that is not true, one who does not know the truth does not really know anything; and Christ is the truth. Apart from Him, therefore, there is only speculation, theory. There may be a knowledge of certain facts, but no perfect knowledge of the truth concerning the origin and relation of the phenomena observed. Men without Christ are therefore, even at their best, aptly described as "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Good judgment, therefore, is not a fundamental principle, but the result of receiving Christ fully into the life. "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job xxviii. 28. "For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He Iayeth up sound wisdom for the righteous; He is a buckler to them that walk uprighily. He keepeth the path of judgment, and preserveth the way of His saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path." Prov. ii. 6-9.

SELF-DEPENDENCE

What has been said about judgment will apply equally here. "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." Prov. xxviii. 26. There is, indeed, a Christian independence which passes among men for self-reliance; but it is only trust in God. The man who distrusts himself, and depends wholly on God, can be the boldest, and the most unmoved by the opinions of others; but the worst folly any man can commit in this world is to depend on himself.

What folly for a man who did not bring himself into the world, and who cannot create a single thing necessary to sustain his existence for a moment, and who has no power over his own breath, to talk about depending an himself! Depend on himself! What for? "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Isa. ii. 22.

Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His Servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.

"Behold, all ye that kindIe a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks; walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of Mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow." Isa. l. 10, 11.

SELF-DEFENCE

In a man is nothing (and the Lord says that all men together are less than nothing) how can he depend upon, or support, himself? And when a man has no power to support himself, how can he defend himself? The thing is impossible. Self-defence is self-destruction. Hear the words of the Lord:

"Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like Him? Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath; and behold every one that is proud, and abase him. Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret. Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee." Job xl. 9-14.

Self-defence has no place whatever in the kingdom of God. "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Wherefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Rom. xii. 19-21.

Jesus said, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matt. v. 38, 39. He carried out His own instruction; for "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth." Isa. liii. 7. When He was reviled, He "reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed His cause to Him that judgeth righteously." 1 Peter ii. 23. And He declared that all they that take the sword, even though it were in defence of Him, should perish with the sword.

Therefore, "trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." "The name of the God of Jacob defend thee." "Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him."

"Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name; and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for Thy name's sake," This leaves us no room to doubt that God will deliver us, and cleanses us from sin, since it shows us that He Himself is personally interested in the matter. He does it, not for our sakes, but to clear His own name. with what boldness, then, we may come to the throne of grace for mercy and help.

"Our Little Ones. The Twelve Spies" The Present Truth 17, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to Canaan was very much longer than it need have been if they had trusted in God. They might have been only a few days on the way, but because of unbelief and sin and discontent they were much longer in the wilderness.

When at last they reached the borders of Canaan, God told them to go up and take possession of it, because He had given it to them. Then they came to Moses, and asked him to send some men before them to spy the land, and see what sort of country it was, whether the people were strong, or weak.

Now God had already told them that He went before them to prepare a way for them, and that the land to which He was leading them was "a goodly land" "flowing with milk and honey." So when they sent men before them to "spy the land," they showed that they did not believe God's Word.

Besides this, God had told them not to be afraid of the people of the land, for He had given all their enemies into their hands. They had seen what God did to the Egyptians, swallowing them up in the Red Sea; and so they ought to have trusted in Him to overthrow all their enemies.

But they sent spies to see if the people were stronger or weaker than themselves. In this also they showed unbelief, and opened the way for all the trouble that followed.

Twelve men were chosen, one from each tribe, and they found a most beautiful and fruitful land, as God had promised. They gathered some of the fine fruit, to show the Israelites, and it took two men to carry one bunch of grapes!

How glad the people must have been to see what a lovely, fruitful land God had given them, you think. Ah, but there was one great drawback-there were giants in the land.

But what of that, when God had given them all into their hand? They might have gone against them in the name of the Lord, as David afterwards went against Goliath, and gained an easy victory over them all.

When the spies came back to the camp of Israel, they brought "an evil report." They said that it was a good plan, and they showed the luscious fruit they had brought. But then they spoke much about the strong cities, which they said were "pulled up to heaven," and the giants they had seen, so great that they themselves had seemed like grass-hoppers beside them.

Then the people were afraid, and they cried and rent their clothes. They said that they would make themselves a captain, and go back again to Egypt. They did not think of the great God who was on their side, before whom all the inhabitants of earth are as grasshoppers.

Yet there were two men who remembered Him-two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua. They brought a good report of the land, and tried to encourage the people to go up and take it, because God had given it to them, and He was with them.

But the people were so angry with Caleb and Joshua for giving them this good advice that they wanted to stone them. Just as they were going to this, "the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle." And the frightened people dropped the stones, and waited to hear the message of God.

The Lord said that because they had not believed Him, and obeyed Him by going up to take the land, now they could not go in, but they must wander in the wilderness for forty years. The spies had been forty days searching the land, and they were to spend a year in the wilderness for every one of those days.

God said that all the people who were over twenty years of age, except Caleb and Joshua, should die in the wilderness, and not see the good land that He had given them.

Do you think that was a very hard sentence? It was not the will of God that they should wander about in the wilderness. He wanted them to go right into the goodly land. But "we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." It was only by believing God's promise that they could go up and take the land,

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and so, as they did not believe, they could not go in.

How this must have grieved the Lord, all that He had done for them to bring them to Canaan.

While seeking to escape from the giants in Canaan, the children of Israel fell into the clutches of a much worse giant than any of those of whom they were so afraid. This was Giant Despair. We read about him in "The Pilgrim's Progress," and how be shut up all his prisoners in Doubting Castle. And in the castle yard were the skulls of the prisoners that the Giant had made an end of.

This was the Giant that got hold of these poor pilgrims just as they were about to enter the promised land. He got them into Doubting Castle, and they did not use the only key that could get them out, the key of Promise. So they could not enter the land of promise, and "their carcasses fell in the wilderness."

God has promised to give to all those who believe Him and let Him lead them, a goodly land, a heavenly country, far better than any that there is now on this earth. But there are giants in the way that would try to keep us out of that happy land, and make an end of us-Giant Pride, Giant Anger, Giant Selfishness, and many others.

But we need not fear any of these, for in the strength of the Lord we can overcome them, every one, and go in and possess the land. For

"Many giants great and tall
Stalking through the land,-
Headlong to the earth they fall
When met by Daniel's hand,"-

the band of those who fear and trust the Lord only.

"A Flowery Land" The Present Truth 17, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

"A land flowing with milk and honey." This was what God said about the land to which He was leading the children of Israel.

Where does honey come from?

"The bees make it," a little boy told me the other day. But the bees do not make honey. All that they can do is to

"gather honey all the day
From every opening flower."

God makes the honey; He uses the plant through which to make it, and He stores it in the beautiful scented cups that we call flowers.

Then what sort of a land must it be that flows with honey?-A beautiful land, bright and fragrant with flowers, musical with the hum of busy bees, and gay with butterflies and other insects that the flowers attract.

The bees are attracted to the flowers by their bright colours and their odour. As they flit from flower to flower, they carry the pollen or fertilising dust from one to another, which brings the seeds to perfection. So while the bright flowers feed the bees, and cause them to increase, the bees also help the bright flowers and cause them to increase to produce more honey.

All who visit Palestine at the present day are struck with the variety and brilliancy of its flowers. One traveller called it, "the Garden of Eden run wild."

And the land was to flow with milk as well as honey. This means, of course, that it would be covered with rich pastures and grazing herds of cattle. But it could not be so unless it were well-watered.

Moses described the Promised Land as "a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills." And the result of this abundant watering was that it was "a land of wheat and barley, of vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it."

Such was the beautiful land that God spied out for His people, and led them out of the hard and cruel bondage of Egypt that they might go in and possess it.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 17, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The new Constitution of the State of Alabama, which eliminates ninety-five per cent. of the negro vote from a share in the politics of the State, has been ratified by a majority of over 20,000.

There have been severe earthquakes in Turkey, beginning Friday, November 8, and continuing several days. Erzeroum has been partly destroyed, and thousands of people are homeless and starving. But these are only the beginning of sorrows.

Fogs and gales have wrought great havoc about the British Isles this month. The list of fatalities from the recent storm makes a total of nearly 200, and the fog is said to have been responsible for an increase in the London death rate of three per 1,000.

The income of the principal Trade Unions of Great Britain in 1900, comprising 61 per cent. of trade unionism, was ?1,975,000, and their accumulated funds amounted to ?3,767,900. It must not be forgotten that this is just as truly a heaping together of treasure for the last days as are the greater combinations of capitalists, and the monopoly is really worse, since to limit the product of labour is much worse for the labourers themselves than to be underpaid.

The Apostle Peter speaks of the last days as a time of heaping treasure together. When we read that a great railway trust with a capital of upwards of eighty million pounds, has been formed in the United States, we cannot fail to see in it a striking illustration of the words of Scripture. The trust will control some of the principal railway lines, the combine mileage of which is about 47,000. It is quite likely that this combination will result in increased efficiency of service, but that makes it none the less a sign of the times.

A copy of a first edition of "Pilgrim's Progress," published in 1678 at 1s. 6d., has been sold for ?1,475. The man who paid the last sum, however, will doubtless receive far less from the volume than the one who paid the eighteen pence. Here, by the way, is a good illustration of the truth that the cost and the value of the things are by no means the same: for the real value of a book depends on its contents; and the lapse of two centuries has not made the slightest change in that respect.

It has recently been declared by Professor Roswell Park, a New York Physician, that the present indications are that in ten years "there will be more deaths from cancer alone than from consumption, smallpox, and typhoid fever combined." Of course this is but one man's estimate, and may not be mathematically exact; but the truth is that the worst diseases are rapidly increasing in frequency and virulence. And yet people in general are as apathetic as the most fatalistic Mohammedan, seeming to think that if they are to have a disease they will have it; when the fact is that everybody has it in his own power to be preserved from these plagues.

"The Command to Watch" The Present Truth 17, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The Command to Watch .-"The Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore; for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh." Mark xiii. 34, 35.

What shall we watch? the heavens? or the earth? or both? Not these, but ourselves. "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged and surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." Luke xxi. 34-36.

Jesus says: "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments." We have no need to watch the heavens, nor anxiously to watch for those things that shall come on the earth; nor have we any right to watch our neighbours and friends, or any other person. If we watch ourselves, at the same time "looking unto Jesus," we shall stand and not fall.

"Power Through Weakness" The Present Truth 17, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

Power Through Weakness .-"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger."

Truly our God is a great God. He is so great in power that He can laugh at the combined forces of all His enemies (Ps. ii. 2-4); and when He proceeds to put them to confusion He employs means that make their shame complete. He proceeded against them with all the pomp and majesty of His infinite power, they might say, "We did well to make any stand at all against such odds; certainly our defeat is no disgrace." But when He puts them to flight by the power that He can exert through a babe, their mouths are for ever stopped. And here is the comfort of this for the struggling, trembling Christian: Since God can silence all His enemies by babes and sucklings, what an abundant deliverance must be ours when He bows the heavens and comes down, riding upon the heavens for our help, and in His excellency on the sky.

Compare Ps. viii. 2 with Matt. xxi. 16. The one is, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast ordained strength," and the other, which is Christ's rendering of it is, "Thou hast perfected praise." Praise and strength are the same; and we see that the perfection of strength is found in babes. How can this be?-Because God's strength is made perfect in weakness. Jesus Christ, a babe in the manger, was "the power of God." "He was crucified through weakness" (2 Cor. xiii. 4), yet the aroma is the power of God; and "He Iiveth by the power of God."

Would you know how it is that the babe is the manifestation of the perfection of strength? It is because it is the perfection of trust. It is helpless, but its helplessness is the very thing that ensures it the most tender care. In its helplessness it is far better protected than in after life, when the man has grown so strong and self-confident that he depends on himself. So the one who like a babe rests confidingly in the everlasting arms, knowing that his weakness is a constant appeal to the loving sympathy of God, is strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory.

"God's Surrounding Goodness" The Present Truth 17, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The reader will notice that in quoting from Ps. xxi. 8, in the article, "The Heavenly Greeting," we have rendered it, "Thou comest to meet him," instead of, "Thou preventest him," which is archaic, and conveys no meaning to the ordinary reader. The literal meaning of "prevent" is to go before, and this is the sense in which it was formerly used; but it has now lost that meaning in our language, and means to hinder, to stop, since one who would stop another goes before him to shut off his way. God's Word, however, has not changed, but means the same that it always did, and so should be translated by words that convey the original sense. God is before us, and He comes to meet us, bringing the blessings of His goodness.

That is what we are told in the twenty-first psalm; but in the familiar twenty-third psalm we read that "goodness and mercy shall follow [literally, "run after"] us" all the days of our life. So we cannot turn round without encountering the goodness of the Lord. He comes to meet us with His goodness; and if we in our stubbornness turn round to avoid Him, lo, we meet His goodness running after us. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness!"

Who is there that does not know that some, at least, of his friends esteem him more highly than he deserves? Everyone has certainly had credit at some times and in some quarters for possessing abilities that he is conscious of lacking, or of having had a greater part in the accomplishment of same good end than he really had. Yet we do not try to correct all these mistaken ideas; we know that it would be impossible to have everybody estimate us exactly at our true value. We are content that out friends should think very well of us, even though we may not be seeking vain glory.

Why, then, should we complain when we receive less credit than is our due? Why, when we are under-estimated, and we are charged with mistakes or errors of which we are not guilty, or another is given praise for a good thing which we did, should we be so anxious for "justice" to be done? Why should we in this case be so desirous that everybody should know exactly how things really stand? Why not take the undeserved blame as a necessary offset to that undeserved credit? Thus the balance to preserved. "What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"

So true is it that God is "not far from every one at us" "for in Him we live, and move, and have our being," that it is exceeding strange that more people do not "feel after Him" and find Him. It was a heathen poet that gave expression to the Christian truth, "We are also His offspring," and another one of the same class recently said that "what is cohesive power in a block of marble is intelligence in man." This also is Gospel truth, for the cohesive power in marble is the Spirit of God; yet men who assent to it will refuse to be as passive in relation to it as is the marble, which is the only way that they can be as perfect as men as the marble is as marble.

November 28, 1901

"The Slave Who Became Master" The Present Truth 17, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

The pages of the wildest romance do not contain any picture of so striking a change in the fortunes of a human being, as that presented in the simple, unpretentious Biblical story of Moses. This is but an illustration that the real far transcends the imaginary. "Eye have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10. The human mind cannot imagine anything to be compared with the real, every day occurrences with God. This is why a proper study of the Bible gives one a distaste for fictitious reading. The fanciful pales into insignificance beside the real.

Moses was born of slave parents. An entire people had been reduced to servitude, and the spirits of most had been crushed. They were as a matter of course despised, and the very name by which they were known was an expression of contempt; the word "Hebrew" meaning foreigner, alien, immigrant. The Egyptians, on the other hand, were a haughty people, and their kings were designated merely by "The Ruler," the word Pharaoh meaning, prince, or king. The Israelites, therefore, were despised servants of rulers. See Isa. xlix. 7.

At the time of greatest oppression Moses was born, and by a strange combination of circumstances was adopted into the royal family. For nearly forty years he enjoyed the luxury of the court, and then he cast in his lot with the despised slaves, and was compelled to flee for his life, and for forty years more he herded sheep in the wilderness. Then he saw God, and heard the Divine call, and went back to Egypt to face the proud Pharaoh on his throne, and to dictate terms to him.

So Moses went before the king, and said to him, "Thus saith Jehovah God of Israel, Let My people go."

What a bold thing to do it! Doubtless all the courtiers expected to hear the king order the audacious intruder to be taken out and executed; but he contented himself with the insolent reply, "Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice, to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go." Ex. v. 1, 2.

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Why did not Pharaoh, autocrat that he was, at once put an end to Moses? Here is the secret: "And the Lord said to Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh." Ex. vii. 1. Moses was clothed with the power of God, and the proud Pharaoh recognised him as Master, in spite of himself. "Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people." Ex. xi. 3.

How did Moses become so great? Here is the answer: "Whoso exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Luke xiv. 11. "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." Num. xii. 3. That is why he became greater than the proud Pharaoh. The experience of the One whom the Lord raised up, like unto Moses, is found in Phil. ii. 5-11. God declares that His servant "shall be exalted, and extolled, and be very high." Isa. lii. 13. Moses was a greater man than Pharaoh; for God was with him. He was in reality the king of Egypt, or, rather, Lord of the king of Egypt.

Well, why was this history of Moses and Pharaoh placed on record? It was for our sakes, "for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Rom. xv. 4. In delivering His people Israel, to which God has now set His hand the second time, the Lord has promised to clothe all His messengers with the same power. Jesus Christ says: "He that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; . . . even as I received of My Father." Rev. ii. 26, 27.

Now read the words of the Lord, "the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhoreth, to a servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose thee. Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves." Isa. xlix. 7-9. This is a prophecy to be fulfilled in our days; in us if we will; and the assurance of it is that which took place thirty-five hundred years ago in Egypt.

See further how God exalts His people: Moses said to Pharaoh: "All these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow themselves and to me" (Ex. xi. 8); And that was actually done. So to those who know Jehovah, and who are content to be only His servants, He says: "The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabaeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine; they shall come over after thee, in chains shall they come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee saying, Surely, God is in thee; and there is none else." Isa. xlv. 14. This is in the time when God's captive people are to be set free, but "not for price nor reward;" and the meek of the earth will be the rulers. God exalts His servants. "He raiseth up to poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory." 1 Sam. ii. 8.

This miracle, this wondrous transformation of a beggar and a slave into a king with power over all the earth, is being performed even now among men. "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and He that ruleth His spirit than he that taketh a city." Prov. xvi. 32. God's throne is in heaven, and "His kingdom ruleth over all" (Ps. ciii. 19), yet "the kingdom of God is within you." Luke xvii. 21. Therefore whoever has control over himself, over his own rash spirit and fierce passions, has the very same power that rules the universe. The case of Moses is placed on record as an assurance, a positive proof, that a slave by birth may become lord over all. For every slave of sin there is the possibility of dominion over the whole earth. This exaltation is a privilege of whomsoever will accept it, and special reference is made to the poor and the despised. Who is a candidate for royal power and authority?

"The Joy of Tribulation" The Present Truth 17, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." James i. 2.

Count, that is, consider, believe, that all sorts of temptations are joy; and don't doubt it for a moment.

Count it joy when you "fall into" them as into a trap. The encounter will without doubt reveal some things in your character and disposition that you never knew before; but do not be discouraged; the Lord is not discouraged at the prospect, and He sees much more than you do.

Count it all joy; not merely that all of the trial is joy, but that the trial is the fulness of joy. All the joy of the world to come is gained only through trial. It is through much tribulation that we enter into the kingdom of heaven. It was for "the joy that was set before Him" that Christ "endured the cross, despising the shame." Heb. xii. 2.

Now it is quite contrary to our usual custom to rejoice in tribulation; much less is the one who wishes to be a Christian inclined to rejoice at the prospect or the reality of all sorts of temptations; therefore it is well to study the case closely, to find out why we are to count temptations joy, and how we can do it.

The Apostle Paul had a good deal of experience in this line. A messenger was sent direct from Satan to plague him, and he requested the Lord to remove the trial; but the Lord replied, "My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore Paul exclaimed: "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches [injuries], in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." 1 Cor. xii. 9, 10.

The secret of joy in temptation is the knowledge that one is sharing it with Christ. Read the words of Peter: "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." 1 Peter iv. 12, 13.

Still more strongly is it put in 1 Peter i. 5-8, where, speaking of "the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time," the apostle adds: "Wherein ye greatly rejoice,

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though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations; that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

It should be understood that in the Lord's presence there is fullness of joy, and that there is no suffering without Him. His very presence is joy; therefore suffering, trial, fierce temptations, are a cause for great rejoicing, since they ensure His presence. He has said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee," and He is not a fair-weather friend.

People get the idea that there is no suffering with Christ unless one is persecuted for righteousness' sake. They do not think that temptations to sin, and suffering which one brings on himself by a wrong-doing, is suffering with Christ; yet so it is. Was He not tempted in all points like as we are? and did He not suffer, being tempted? Thus we must know that not a temptation comes to us that does not first touch Him. Indeed, it comes through Him to us; for "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; . . . . that the blessing of Abraham might come us." Gal. iii. 13, 14. If we do not recognise Him in the temptation, it is not the same to us as if He were not present, and we get only the wounds and bruises and the heaviness; but if we remember that nothing can come to us apart from Him; that it is in the Cross that we touch Him, and are made partakers of His life; every sharp thrust will only cause us joy, and not sorrow; least the of all will it are aroused feelings of bitterness.

What a different world this would be, even now with all the curse, the trials, the injustice, the oppression, if people could but know the value of Christ's presence, and that in all their affliction He is afflicted; that He Himself bears the sins, the sickness, and the sorrow of the world. Songs and rejoicing would be heard, and sorrow and sighing would indeed flee away. The knowledge of His presence bearing all things has caused martyrs to sing for very joy in the midst of the flames.

But we are told that "every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed;" shall we count that joy? Most certainly; for the Lord is with us then as well as at any other time. Mind, that to be tempted, even when drawn of our own lusts, and enticed, is not in itself sin. We need not consent when sinners entice us, even though the enticer be our own sinful flesh; for Christ has power over all flesh; and the joy of the temptation comes in seeing and experiencing Christ's mastery over sin in the flesh. Ah, what exquisite joy there is in victory! and the fiercer and stronger the foe the keener the joy; and that joy may be ours continually, for Christ has gained the victory for all mankind, and He is with us to the end.

"Shining Light" The Present Truth 17, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

"God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts." What for?-"To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." To whom is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, that is in the face of Jesus Christ, to be given?-To everybody around us, of course; for the command is: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven;" "For it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Then let us pray, "Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth," and yield your bodies to be His dwelling place, that the prayer may be answered.

"A Weak Heart Strengthened" The Present Truth 17, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

Would you rather have a weak heart, or a strong one?

There is no doubt as to the answer; there are too many deaths reported from "heart failure," for people to desire a weak heart. Anything that will strengthen is considered a boon. A weak heart, whether literally or figuratively, is a great hindrance to any person. The man who has a weak heart physically cannot exert himself very much: and he who is faint-hearted, nerveless, purposeless, can never accomplish anything. Yes; there can be no question but that a strong heart is greatly to be desired.

Yet people are never weary of charging God with injustice for giving Pharaoh, king of Egypt, just that blessing. The reason is that in the expression "hardened" they do not see the word "strengthened;" but it is there. In every case where we read that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, the Hebrew word is "strengthened." Look in the margin of the Revised Version at Ex. vii. 13; viii. 15, 19, 32; ix. 12, 35; x. 27, and you can see that this is so.

Let us now examine a few other passages word out of the many where the same occurs, to see how it is used.

When Joshua was charged with the task of conducting the children of Israel into Canaan, God said to him: "Be strong and of a good courage; for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous." "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage." Joshua i. 6, 7, 9.

When Daniel fainted at the sight of a messenger from heaven, the words came to him, "O man greatly beloved, fear not; peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong;" and Daniel's testimony is that he was strengthened. Daniel x. 18, 19.

To Jehoshaphat the king, the prophet of the Lord came, and said, "Deal courageously [

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literally, Be strong and do], and the Lord shall be with a good." 2 Chron. xix. 11.

Giving instruction for His people for the time just preceding Christ's coming, God says: "Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not." Isa. xxxv. 3, 4.

In these passages the Italicised words are from the very same Hebrew word that is rendered "hardened," in the history of Pharaoh. Thus, in the one last quoted, we see that in the last days God hardens [strengthens] the hearts of the timid, in order that they may stand the perils of persecutions.

Now was it a good thing, or a bad thing for Pharaoh, that his heart was hardened, or strengthened? Was it not only good? Is it ever a good thing to have a weak heart? The answer is obvious.

But, you say, Pharaoh was stubborn, and resisted. True; but he did not have to resist. His heart was no stronger than that of Moses, and Moses yielded. God requires strong hearts in His service; and what a power for good Pharaoh would have been if he had been willing to be classed as the servant of God, instead of exalting himself as king in opposition to God.

Pliable, who at once yielded to the solicitation of Christian, to go on pilgrimage, and turned back at the first difficulty, was no better man than Obstinate, who would not listen to a word. Both turned back to the City of Destruction; but if Obstinate could only have been convinced, what a brave companion he would have made for Christian, clear through to the Celestial City.

Not every stout-hearted man acts as Pharaoh did. Saul of Tarsus was every whit as stubborn, and kicked against the pricks like an unruly beast; but when he once submitted to the yoke he pulled faithfully to the end of his life. Just such a faithful servant would God have made of Pharaoh, and such can He still make of the most obstinate men; for when Christ ascended on high, and received gifts for men, He received them "for the rebellious also;" and all the day long He holds out His hands to a rebellious people.

Then, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. "Set your face is like a flint;" wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. "Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart all ye that hope in the Lord."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Women in the Church" The Present Truth 17, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

"Will you please explain what is meant by the following: 'Let your women keep silence in the churches; . . . for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.' 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35."

If you read the whole of the Epistle to the Corinthians you will find that the church was in a disorderly condition, given to much unseemly conduct, and even cherishing open sin. Corinth was a populous, luxurious, and licentious city, and the Christian church there had some in it who had been the very worst characters (See 1 Cor. vi. 9-11), and all of them had been heathen; and it appears that many of their loose heathen customs still clung to them. As a consequence they were making the most solemn Christian ordinances take the form of heathen orgies. See 1 Cor. xi. 20-22.

Now it is well known that among the heathen lewdness was elevated to the level of religious virtue, and prostitutes occupied a high rank in their ceremonies; therefore when we take into consideration the condition of the Corinthian church, it is not difficult to gather something, at least, of what the apostle meant to guard against by his injunction and statement.

Suppose we compare the Scripture referred to with 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12: "Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence."

We must keep to the plan of allowing Scripture to explain itself, and therefore the words in 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35 must be read in harmony with this. The woman is not to usurp authority over the man. This is the Divine order, and it is as valid to-day as ever.

But, still allowing the apostle to be his own interpreter, we may be sure that in no place does he mean that a woman's voice is never, under any circumstances, to be heard in the church. Thus in 1 Cor. xi. 5, we read: "Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head." Now if he meant that a woman ought never to pray or prophesy, he would have said at once that every woman who prays or prophesies disgraces herself and dishonours God; but he does not. If a woman were never to take any part whatever in church service, it would be folly to say that if she does so with her head uncovered she dishonours her head. Whether her head were covered are not, would make no difference.

Women followed Christ, together with His other disciples, and ministered unto Him. Luke viii. 1-3. These women remained with the twelve after the resurrection of Jesus, before Pentecost, and joined with them in prayer and supplication. Acts i. 13, 14. When Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, he "entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him. And the same man had seven daughters, virgins, which did prophesy." Acts xxi. 8, 9. And finally, writing to the church at Philippi, the Apostle Paul addressed one of the members in particular, thus: "I intreat thee, also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life." Phil. iv. 3.

There has been a great deal of irreverent and almost blasphemous comment upon the words of Paul to the Corinthians in Timothy concerning women; and some have taken the occasion to discredit his writings as being far behind the times. With such conduct a Christian can have no sympathy. Nor should we presume to interpret the Scripture by the customs of to-day.

We must not by any means take it for granted that the Apostle Paul's teaching in this matter is obsolete. There is certainly something in it for us; and it certainly means the same, and has as much application

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now as when it was written. A woman has no more right to usurp authority over a man now than nineteen hundred years ago, or to do anything that is a shame. But when the Spirit of God opens a woman's mouth, and speaks through her, and she is subject to the Spirit, we may be sure that there will be nothing unseemly, but that everything will be done "decently and in order."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Baptized for the Dead" The Present Truth 17, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

"There are people going about teaching that a living person may be baptized for the dead, even though they (the dead) be unbelievers; and they quote 1 Cor. xv. 29 as their authority. For the benefit of a few readers who are troubled, I shall be glad if you will explain this verse in the Corner as soon as you can."

You doubtless mean that the dead for whom some are baptized are unbelievers; for dead people can be neither believers nor unbelievers, since "the dead know not anything." But this is only incidental to our subject.

The teaching to which you refer is no new thing; there are many who have supposed that they could be baptized for dead friends who had died in unbelief, and that their baptism would be counted by the Lord the same as though the dead friends had been baptized. Some have therefore been baptized many times, according to the number of friends they wish to save by proxy. It is easy to see that if this notion were correct there need not be a soul lost, no matter how little belief there might be in the world, if there were only a few willing to undergo baptism an indefinite number of times. It will also be perceived that this teaching is simply the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory under another form. The teaching in question is wholly fanciful, having no shadow of a warrant in Scripture, will also be apparent to anybody who gives it any real thought.

Our only course is to study the text in its connection. The fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians is wholly devoted to the resurrection. The Apostle is combating the idea, advanced by some, that there is no resurrection, and he shows that there is, by the fact that Christ is risen from the dead, and "become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming." Verses 20-23.

Then he proceeds to tell that Christ must reign until all his enemies are put under His feet, when all things will be subject to God the Father; and then comes the question, "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" verse 29.

A short study of baptism will make this perfectly plain. One or two texts will be sufficient. Read Rom. vi. 3-5; "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection."

Baptism has reference solely to Christ in the person baptized. Only those who believe are to be baptized, and nobody can believe for another. It is evident from the text just quoted that "the dead" for whom we are baptized is Jesus Christ; and the virtue of being baptized in His name, and even into Him, is that He is not dead, but risen from the dead. And here we have the identical argument set forth in 1 Cor. xv. 28. We are "baptized for the dead,"-Christ,-because "He ever liveth," and "if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

If Christ were not risen, baptism would be a farce, and Christianity a sham, and there would be no salvation from sin; but His life is proof against sin, and victorious over the grave, and therefore it is sure salvation from sin and death to all who are hidden in it. When one has once died with Christ, and has risen with Him from the dead, he need no longer fear death; he is "immune;" and having passed through death, and been saved from it, he is also free from sin, its cause.

It will readily be seen that the whole virtue of baptism lies in the self-existent power of Christ,-that He could lay down His life, and take it up again. No person who did not possess this power could impart the slightest virtue to any who might be baptized in his name; therefore could any other man, living or dead, by being baptized; since no one has any life to spare. Indeed no man possesses any life of his own, but all that he has is only lent to him. But Christ has enough life to supply the universe, and still have as much left; therefore "whosoever will" may be buried in His life, and find eternity of life in righteousness.

"For Little Ones. Healing the Serpent's Bite" The Present Truth 17, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

If the Israelites had believed God, they would soon have been happy in Canaan. But last week we learned how they shut themselves out of that beautiful country, by their unbelief.

Then because they had to stay in the wilderness, and the way was hard and rough, they spoke against Moses and against God. They forgot that they were keeping Moses out of the Promised Land, and that they had grieved the Lord by their failure, after all that He had done for them. They spoke as though Moses had been the cause of all the troubles that they had brought upon themselves and him.

God had not forsaken the people because of their sin. When they would not go into Canaan, He stilled cared for them and protected them. He fed them with manna from heaven, and gave them water from the rock to drink.

The land where they were was full of serpents, but God had kept them from biting His people. But when they murmured against Him and against Moses, He withdrew His protecting hand for a moment, that the people might be brought to see how much they owed to His care.

Then the fiery serpents "bit the people, and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

"And Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and sat it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

"And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."

This was another beautiful Object Lesson before the children of Israel, through which God was teaching them the Gospel.

Jesus explained it when He said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

So the uplifted serpent was a type of Jesus Christ, who was lifted up on the Cross, that we might look and live.

It was a serpent, the thing which had bitten the people, that was lifted up. You know that the serpent is used in the Bible to represent Satan. It was through the serpent that he first tempted man, and brought sin into the world. And he is spoken of as "that old serpent called the devil and Satan." Are you wondering how then this could be a type of Christ?

It is because "He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us." He took all sin upon Himself, that He might destroy and make an end of it. As we look to the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see the death of sin, the destruction of Satan. We see His power to "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

And as death comes only through sin, when sin is destroyed and made an end of, death also will be no more. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." So through looking to the Cross of Jesus, we see that we may be wholly delivered from sin, and freed from the power of death, "that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies may serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives."

It was believing and obeying the Word of God that saved the people. There was no healing power in that serpent of brass, yet all who obeyed God and looked to it were saved. The poison of the serpent lost its power over their bodies. Those who doubted, and would not look because they could not understand how it could do them any good, died.

Not looking at their grievous wounds, and mourning over their sad condition, but looking away from themselves to the uplifted serpent, saved the people.

We have all been bitten by the deadly serpent, and the poison of sin is working in us to bring everlasting death. But God has made a way of escape for every one of us. The Son of man has been lifted up, "that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Then we must not waste time looking at ourselves and mourning over our sins. We must look away from ourselves to our uplifted Saviour, and sin will lose its power over us, and the new life of Jesus will fill us with His own perfect righteousness.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

The Sargeant-Surgeon to the king, Sir Frederick Treves, in submitting the toast of "The King," at the half-yearly dinner of the Aberdeen University Club, said it was very pleasant in the face of so many foolish and indeed wicked reports, to know that His Majesty had never enjoyed such excellent health as at the present time.

The industrial depression in Germany is said to be assuming very serious proportions. It is claimed that there are 50,000 more unemployed persons in Berlin than at this season last year. The Government has to face a deficit of between eighty and one hundred million marks, and the Socialists are increasing the agitation against the corn tax. Altogether, the outlook is not by any means brilliant. Happy are the people upon whom these troubles do not come unexpectedly.

The newest thing in new dishes is kangaroo-tail soup, and large such shipments of kangaroo tails having recently arrived at Smithfield from Australia. It is said kangaroo-tail soup has become very popular in Paris, and the dealers have received large orders for the supply of kangaroo tails to some of the principal West-end and City restaurants. Of course nobody thinks of how many innocent creatures must be sacrificed for this culinary fad, and perhaps the people would not give the matter a second thought if their attention were called to it. But one cannot help wondering what the riotous eaters of flesh will do when they have exterminated all the animals, as they are in a fair way to do.

A letter from a Belgian missionary at Santacho, China, Bishop Berenyn, says that "the position does not improve. The defeat of the Chinese troops has only exasperated the hatred of the lower classes against us." He says further: "The Grand Mongolian Mandarin, Amorjigal, our sworn enemy, announced publicly that he is coming here in a few days. All of our lands are occupied and sown by our enemies. Our people to a man are condemned to die this winter, unless the Allies send us were it 800 soldiers." Strange this professed emissary of the Prince of Peace has not yet learned by this sad experience that peace gained through war is but a delusion. The allied army, sent to avenge the death of missionaries, has been the worst enemy the cause of missions could have.

The race for national supremacy has degenerated into a vulgar money-grabbing contest, that country being counted the most "progressive," which can boast that the biggest purse, a thing which among individuals marks the snob. The inevitable result of this is a lowering of the standard in everything that constitutes true greatness. The Daily Chronicle's Berlin correspondent writes: "The uninterrupted prosperity of the last ten years has worked much moral and religious havoc in Germany. Pride, vainglory, ostentation, luxurious living in some of their ugliest manifestations have been the inevitable consequence of the rapid flow of wealth into a land hitherto impoverished, and inhabited by a simple and unsophisticated population." And what is true of Germany is true of every other country just to the extent that it succeeds in the scramble for the "leading position." "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."

According to experiments carried out at Chelsea, during the recent heavy fog, by Sir William Thiselton-Dyer, the director of Kew Gardens, six tons of solid matter, consisting of soot and a variety of hydro-carbons, were in one week deposited on a square mile. It is no wonder that a fog has a somewhat depressing effect; yet one must not draw too hasty conclusions as to its deleterious effects. There was a dense fog in Paris at the same time that London was enveloped, and it was stated that on account of a lack of the antiseptic and preservative soot in the air, the effect on the lungs was much more severe in the former city than here.

There have been serious riots among the theological students at Athens, their rage been directed against two newspapers, the Asty and the Akropolis, the offices of which have had to be guarded by troops, to protect them from demolition. It seems that the offence of these journals is that they advocated the translation of the Gospels into modern Greek, which the theological students look upon as sacrilege. The Greek "Holy Synod," in order to allay the agitation, has published a decision prohibiting the proposed translation. Yet the Greek Church is supposed to be a "branch" of the Christian Church; and those theological students are the men in whose hands is the religious (should rather be irreligious?) future of the country.

A warning note to Germany has been uttered by Dr. Isenbiel, for many years the chief Crown Prosecutor in Berlin. He draws attention to an ominous increase in juvenile criminality, which has risen nearly sixty per cent. since 1882, the year in which these statistics were first compiled, and which shows an alarming tendency to rise still higher. Dr. Isenbiel says: "It is not that mankind is growing worse, but that so many parents in Germany either neglect to bring up their children, or bring them up badly. The proper fulfilment of the relations of parents to child is no longer regarded among large classes in Germany as one of the most sacred duties of the citizen." But it is just this that makes mankind worse, and which shows that it is growing worse. Disobedience to parents is one of the causes of the "perilous times" which characterise "the last days" (2 Tim. iii. 1, 2); and wherever there is general disobedience to parents, one may be sure that the root of the trouble is in the parents themselves.

"How We Live. Open-Air Treatment of Tuberculosis" The Present Truth 17, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

The revolution which has been brought about in the treatment of consumption by the adoption of the "open-air" method can hardly be fully realised except by a visit to some institution worked on this system. At the North London Consumption Hospital at Hampstead, not only do the patients sleep in ward's plentifully supplied with windows which are always wide open, but in open balconies, free to all the winds of heaven. These balconies are, of course, roofed in, but are entirely open, without windows or shutters on one side and at either end; in fact, the patients are, and to all intents and purposes, in the open-air both night and day, summer and winter, even when snow is on the ground. For indeed, the medical officer remarked, in answer to an inquiry from a Daily Chronicle representative, that really the patients in the balconies improved more rapidly in winter than in summer, when the south-west aspects sometimes rendered the temperature too mild.

With regard to the cases admitted, preference is given where possible to those in the early stages of the disease. Receiving as they do far more applications for admission than they can possibly grant, the hospital authorities naturally feel that most good would be worked by selecting those who have a real chance of being great improved, or even permanently cured by the treatment. Patients remain from three weeks up to three months in the hospital, but even the latter period is insufficient to effect a complete cure, except in very favourable istances. When a sufficient sum is subscribed it is hoped to extend the accommodation of the hospital.

During the past year 382 cases of phthisis have been treated in all stages of the disease, and 70.2 per cent. showed marked improvement, while in the early cases only were considered, the percentage showing great improvement was 94.4. The patients are drawn from all parts of England. After careful inquiry it was found the great majority of patients had caught the disease from others. It always appeared that within a reasonable time they had been in close contact with some other victim of phthisis, either at home or in the workshop, whose ignorance or carelessness about the danger of expectoration had worked the mischief.

To an inquiry whether open-air sanatoria were likely to be less costly than the ordinary hospital, the medical officer regretfully observed that he feared the contrary would be the case. Though the expenditure on drugs was less, the cost of food was considerably increased, as good food and plenty of it was absolutely essential to the success of the treatment. Then a very large number of consumptive patients suffered from laryngeal tuberculosis, and this meant very careful nursing and watching. Were it possible to isolate every case of consumption, the disease might perhaps be stamped out, but this was impracticable.-Daily Chronicle.

But the question of expense need not hinder anybody from receiving the benefits of the open-air cure, since nothing else in the world is "as free as air." Everybody may practice the treatment at home, by throwing open the windows, and living always in that most invigorating and healthful, yet most dreaded of all things-a draught of fresh air. And since prevention is better than cure, it would be the part of wisdom for everybody to adopt this plan, together with reasonable attention to diet and exercise, and thus ward off tuberculosis; for the terrible disease can make no progress whatever against abundance of fresh air, clear sunlight, vigorous exercise, and a simple but generous diet. All these, with the exception of the law, may be had for nothing; and since we must eat anyhow, health may be had practically free.

It is poor economy to read by a dim, unsteady light. Have a good light with a shade, and sit with your back toward the light. Eyesight is too precious to trifle with.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

"When I said, My foot slippeth; Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up." How good to know that "The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down."

Sodom is known as a city so wicked that it was a blot even upon this sin-polluted earth, and it was blotted out of existence. Its very name suggests sin the cannot be name; and yet the iniquity of Sodom is thus summed up: "Pride, and fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness." Eze. xvi. 49. This should serve as a warning to the people of to-day; for pride is almost universal, while abundance of food with idleness is looked upon by the majority as the most desirable condition.

The promise is that "the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; but the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity." Psalm cxxv. 3. A rod or sceptre is the emblem of authority and power; it is the badge of the king. The promise is therefore the same as that of Rom. vi. 14: "Sin shall not have dominion over you." The sceptre of Christ's kingdom is righteousness; therefore if we yield to His authority righteousness will rule us, and sin will have no control over us.

There are many people who complain that they cannot keep from sinning,-sin has dominion over them, and they cannot help themselves. Indeed everybody has had that experience. All men know, and are forced to confess, that there is power that can control them. But sin is from the devil, of righteousness is from God; and God is infinitely stronger than the devil. Therefore everybody who knows the power of sin ought to know that if he yields himself as freely to be the servant of righteousness as he has to serve sin, he will find the power for good immeasurably stronger than that for evil. So even our experience in sin may be made to serve a purpose in making us understand the possibilities in the Christian life.

"In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." That answers the question as to how we can live a right life. The Lord has taken the responsibility wholly on Himself; He has become answerable for our conduct, provided only that we will recognise and acknowledge Him in everything. Just think! if we constantly remember that our breath comes from God,-that He is breathing it into our nostrils,-and that we cannot move except by His power, there would be an end of sin. For no one can be thinking evil while meditating on the power and love of God. It is only the people who forget God, that will be lost.

"A Word to the Unsaved" The Present Truth 17, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

A young man writes to us, and incidentally mentions that he is "unsaved." The statement raises some questions, which we present for the benefit of others who may be in the same situation.

You say that you are unsaved; that shows that you recognise that you are in danger, nay, in actual distress; for one needs saving only from that which is injurious or destructive.

If you know that you are unsaved, you know that you need salvation; then why are you not saved? how can you rest content in an unsafe condition, as though it were to be accepted as a matter of course? Knowing your own condition, how can you help at least crying out: "What must I do to be saved?"

Is your apathy the indifference of despair? Have you concluded that there is no salvation for you? Then be quickly undeceived; "for the Son of man is come to seek to save that which was lost." Luke xix. 10. "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John iii. 17. "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thess. v. 9. His desire is that all men should be saved, and therefore He "is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." So He cries: "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." Isa. xlv. 22.

It is God, the Creator and upholder of all things, who says this, and He is abundantly able to do all that He offers. You admit that you are unsaved, that is, lost; then why not accept salvation that is so freely offered?

You ask how you shall accept it; and God tells you: "Look unto Me, and be ye saved." "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John iii. 14, 15. Now when fiery serpent's plagued the children of Israel, the Lord said the Moses: "Make thee a fiery serpent; and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." Num. xxi. 8. So

"There's life in a look at the Crucified One;" but the look must not be momentary. We must keep on looking, and by beholding we become changed. You do not know where to look? Look up; look everywhere; for Jesus has ascended that He might fill all things. When you can see Him everywhere, you will know that you are always in His presence; and no one can sin while consciously standing in the presence of the Lord.

"Praise and Understanding" The Present Truth 17, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

Praise and Understanding .-A wonderfully striking lesson as to the relation of reason and thanksgiving to God is taught in the fourth chapter of Daniel. It may be summarised in a few words. Nebuchadnezzar was proud and self-sufficient, taking to himself all honour for the glory and greatness of his kingdom, and not acknowledging God, from whom he had received everything. As a consequence he lost his reason, and became like a beast of the field for seven years. Now read the conclusion in his own words:-

"At the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes and the heaven, and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praise and honour him that liveth for ever and ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. . . . . . At the same time my reason returned unto me; . . . . Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven."

The person who loses reason is the one who forgets God and is unthankful-whose mind is centred on self. Whoever looks up to heaven, and acknowledges and praises the everlasting King, the Creator, will have a sound mind and good judgment.

"They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever." Ps. cxxv. 1.

December 5, 1901

"The Blood on the Door. Ex. xii. 1-17" The Present Truth 17, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

It was the last night of the state of the children of Israel in the land of Egypt, God had borne along with the haughty stubbornness of Pharaoh and his people; and now he was about to "do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act" (Is. xxviii. 21, 22), the act of destruction, bringing to a climax all the plagues of his wrath.

Ample warning had been given. God had at the very beginning sent this message to Pharaoh: "Israel is my son, even my firstborn; and I say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me; and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even by firstborn." Ex. iv. 22, 23. Pharaoh had repeatedly refused to let Israel go, but God had delayed the threatened reprisals. The Lord is "long-suffering to usward; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance;" and his long-suffering is salvation. 2 Peter iii. 9, 15. Consequently we know that the long delay in bringing this last plague upon Egypt, which from the first had been set forth as the alternative, and which was the only punishment threatened, was because God would save Pharaoh and his people if possible.

But Pharaoh was one of those wicked ones whose wickedness only increases when favours are shown, and who regard the exhibition of mercy as weakness. Consequently there was nothing to be done for him, except to leave him to eat of the fruit of his own way. Yet in the midst of wrath God remembers mercy, and even at this stage none of the Egyptians need have perished, if they had only believed. Directions were given for the last meal which the Israelites were to eat in Egypt; for now God purposed to deliver them without asking Pharaoh to let them go. Indeed, the case was not to be reversed, and Pharaoh was to beg them to go.

A lamb was to be selected for each family, or if the family were too small to eat the whole of it, two families were to unite; for none was to be left. On the evening of the night fixed for their departure they were to slay it and prepare it. It was to be roasted, and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. "And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, and your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hands; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's passover."

Before taking this meal, however, an important act was to be performed. The people were to take of the blood of the lamb, and sprinkle it "on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses" wherein they ate the lamb. "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt and I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt."

All this was written for our learning, for we as well as they are to keep the Passover. "For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ; wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, and neither with leaven of malice, and wickedness, but with the unleavened

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bread of sincerity and truth." 1 Cor. v. 8.

The Jews were required to put all leaven away from their houses, and to this day at the time of the passover they search their houses most carefully, to discover and clear away any possible trace of it. But leaven stands for malice and wickedness. We are exhorted to purge out the old leaven, that is, to put away all evil, that we may keep the passover in sincerity and truth.

How can this be done? The answer is found in Rom. iii. 23-26. "All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified [made righteous] freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, by His blood, to show His righteousness, because of the passing over of the suns done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say, of His righteousness at this present season; that He might Himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus."

Christ is ever slain, and ever liveth; therefore the passover is to be continually kept. His blood cleanses from all sin-purges away all leaven of malice and wickedness. In that He shed His blood for us, and we have redemption, even the forgiveness of our sins, by it, He gives us His life; for the blood is the life.

After the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, this instruction was given them: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes." Deut. vi. 5-8.

This is what was indicated by the sprinkling of the blood of the lamb upon the door post. The lamb signified the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world; and the blood is the life. Putting the blood upon the entrance to the house, meant, therefore, the dwelling in Christ's life, which is the perfection of the law of God. We keep the passover by hiding in Christ, abiding in His love, which is living in His life. He has received the strokes due to sin, for all the plagues have fallen upon Him; yet He lives, and whoever lives in Him is safe from every plague-from sin and all its consequences.

Is the blood upon your door? Is your dwelling consecrated to the Lord, and sanctified by His presence?

"Patience and Perfection" The Present Truth 17, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

"Let patience have its perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire lacking in nothing." James i. 4.

Common as is the word "patience," few people realise its true meaning. That it is wonderfully comprehensive, is seen by this, that the one in whom patience is perfected, will lack nothing. Patience, therefore, contains the sum of all that is needful for any person in this world or the world to come.

The verse before the one just quoted gives us a hint of the meaning of patience. "The trying of your faith worketh patience." This is identical with Rom. v. 31. "Tribulation worketh patience." Keeping these two statements in mind, we are prepared to appreciate the fact that the Greek word rendered "patience" is a compound of two words, meaning, remaining under. Patience is endurance.

Temptation, the trying of faith, works patience, provided one is willing that it should. The test not only determines the quality, but improves it. Gold, even though it be tried in the fire, will nevertheless perish; but the trial of our faith is much more precious than that of gold. The testing of gold by fire merely shows what it is, but adds nothing to it. The trial of faith, on the contrary, develops it, increasing the quantity and improving the quality.

The common way of regarding trials is that the sooner one can get away from them the better; but this is not the teaching of Scripture. The apostle Paul tells us, it is true, that God will in every temptation provide a way of escape; but the way of escape which he presents is different from the usual method. He says: "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Cor. x. 13. We escape the temptation or trial by remaining under it.

How can this be? The question is not difficult answer. The truth is that God has a purpose for every one of us,-a work for us to do,-a place in His kingdom for us to fill; and He is fitting us for it. "It became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Heb. ii. 10. Then as a matter of course suffering is the only method by which we can be made perfect, and brought to glory. If we are to shine, we must be polished. Now if we object to the polishing, becoming irritated under the roughness to which we are subjected, and petulant shake ourselves free from it, there is no other way but that we must again be subjected to the polishing process, unless the Lord should cast us off altogether as useless material. It is also evident that when we have pettishly pushed out from a trial, all that we have already undergone counts for nothing. The whole testing process must be gone over again; the lesson must be studied from the beginning. So the more we reject trials and chastisement, the more of them we bring upon ourselves, so long as God works for our salvation. But if we quietly endure the trial, letting patience-endurance-have its perfect work, we shall be complete as far as the work to be accomplished by that particular trial is concerned, and it will not need to be repeated. Thus by enduring trials, we escape them.

But how is it that patience will bring us all things? for that is really what the text says: When patience has completed its work, we shall lack nothing. This we can always readily see, if we remember and believe two familiar texts of Scripture. One is this: "A man receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven" (John iii. 27); and the other is James i. 17: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

Now if we believe these two statements,

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we shall never proceed rashly to help ourselves to anything that we desire or think we ought to have, but will wait for God to give it to us. All things come from above, and are to be obtained only in Christ. Outside of Him we can really have nothing. If we choose for ourselves, determining that we will have this, or we will not endure that, we can never be sure of anything, for we cannot know that we have chosen what God wishes us to have. And if we have that which He wills that we should not have, it is certain that we cannot keep it, and what we cannot keep we do not indeed have.

Or, suppose that we are sure that God has designed a certain thing for us, but we cannot wait for it, and so we seize upon it at once. That shows unbelief. We either doubt if God did really intend it for us, or we doubt His ability to carry out His purpose, or else we fear that he may change His mind. We have plucked the fruit at an unseasonable time, and so instead of enjoying it, we are injured by it, and loose the fruit besides.

But if we believe God, then we can calmly endure privation and hardship, knowing that all things are ours, and that no power is great enough to keep God's good gifts from us when He sees that they will benefit us. And then when we have waited for the desired thing, and it has come to us direct from the hand of God, we know that it is ours, and we can enjoy it to the full.

"It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth." Lam. iii. 26, 27.

Christ is the head of all principality and power, and we are "complete in Him;" and here is how His perfect fulness as man was obtained, and how we share in it:-

"Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto to death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and given to Him the name, which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. ii. 5-11.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Mercy and Sacrifice" The Present Truth 17, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

"Does not the text, 'But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice,' teach that the love and mercy of God are free gifts-that salvation is by the grace of God alone, without the deeds of the law, and is it not therefore a repudiation of the popular doctrine that God requires a sacrifice before He can forgive sin? The above passage, and many others, seem to me subversive of the teaching which blends righteousness by law with free grace. In the Psalms and the Prophets we learn that God never required or desired sacrifices. I am anxious to know how such passages may be harmonised with the precepts of the Mosaic law concerning sacrifices."

Here as elsewhere we have our difficulty half settled if we hold fast the truth that God cannot lie, and cannot deny Himself, and that therefore there cannot possibly be any contradiction or lack of harmony in the Scriptures which He has given by His Spirit. You are on the right track, and we have only to follow up the thought that you have already suggested. Suppose we first collate a number of passages that speak of sacrifices.

To begin with we will take the original of the text which you quoted: it is Hosea vi. 6: "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than a burnt-offerings."

When Saul thought to atone for direct transgression by making a great sacrifice to God, the prophet Samuel said to him: "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and hearken than the fat of rams." 1 Sam. xv. 22.

In Jer. vii. 22, 23 we read: "I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices; but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people; and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you."

Nothing could be more plain and striking than this: "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for My transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Micah vi. 6-8.

The following text makes the contrast between the form and the reality still more apparent, and shows that sacrifices without righteousness were an abomination to God, while righteousness was always acceptable, even if there were no sacrifice. Addressing those who had gone into idolatry, combining corrupt heathen practices, and God said:-

"I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Yea, though ye offer Me your burnt offerings and meat offerings, I will not except them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment rolled down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream." Amos v. 21-24.

There is only one sacrifice, and that is the one which God has provided-Jesus Christ. God does not require a sacrifice from men, but makes one for him. The idea that man can make a sacrifice that will atone for any sin is the very essence of heathenism. It comes from the assumption that man is capable of saving himself; for if man could make a sacrifice, that would atone for his sin, he would be his own saviour; and if man were capable of saving himself he would be a god himself, owing no allegiance to any other.

The folly of the idea that men can do

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anything whatever to atone for sin is set forth in Micah vi. 6, 7, already quoted. I have sinned; shall I now offer a thousand sheep for my sin? That would do no good, for the sin is in me, and the death of all the sheep in the world cannot remove it. Even if we should go on the supposition that sin can be atoned for by payment I am no better off, for all the sheep that ever lived are not worth as much as one human being.

Shall I then give my firstborn for my transgression-the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? If I did this, I should be ordering something fully as valuable as myself, and which I value more highly than my own life; but still my sin would remain, because it is I who have committed it, and it is my own soul that is defiled. A sacrifice, to be of any service, must be one that will remove my sin, yea, more, remove my sinful life, and put a righteous life in its place. In short, since I have sinned, I myself must die.

But while my death in sin would blot out the sins, it would also blot me out of existence. God knows this, so He gives Himself. "The Word was God," and "in Him was life, and the life was the light of men,"-the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." This Light is unquenchable,-the Life is eternal. It is the life of God who fills all things, that is offered in the sinner, and when that sacrifice is accepted the sinner ceases to live his own life, and has the new, resurrection life of Jesus instead. So he gives himself to God, in Christ, and the offering is acceptable because it is sufficient.

It is self-evident that a sacrifice offered by a sinner is only mockery. It is really an insult to God, since it is an assumption that the sinner is independent of God, and able to save himself. Only the sacrifices of righteousness can be acceptable. Thus we read: "Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord." Ps. iv. 5. And again: "Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it; Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion; build of the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness." Ps. l. 16-19.

"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts." Heb. xi. 4. Abel's offering was brought in faith; but that means that it was brought in righteousness, for faith makes men righteous. The moment a man has faith he becomes righteous, and then everything he does, provided he keeps the faith, must be acceptable.

The question then arises, What is the use of offering a sacrifice, if one is already righteous? This is really the question that you ask. Well, it is doubtful if anybody fully grasps the significance of the sacrifices; but one thing we may know, and that is that the offering, if it was a real offering to God, was a token of the man's acceptance of the offering that God had made. It was a confession of faith. There were many things in the ancient Jewish worship, which would never have been given them, but for their unbelief, but we may be sure that no service was ever asked of them with the expectation that it had any virtue in itself.

When Abraham was going up the mountain to offer the sacrifice that God had appointed, Isaac said to him, "Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham replied, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering." Gen. xxii. 7, 8. That is what God has always done. "He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." The earth is His, and the fulness thereof, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. We also are His, for He has made us. Every true sacrifice is a recognition and acknowledgement of this. When we offer to God not only all that we have, but ourselves, we confess that all things come from Him, and that it is only by virtue of His sacrifice that we live. In Him alone we have righteousness and strength; for He is our life and our strength; and though we have nothing, and are nothing, yet, having Him, we have all things, and are meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

"For Our Little Ones. The Death of Moses" The Present Truth 17, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

Some time ago we learned about the way that God gave water to the Children of Israel from the smitten Rock in the wilderness. This object lesson was to teach them of Jesus, the Rock of Ages, who was smitten that He might give life to all. In the New Testament we are told plainly that the Israelites in the desert "drank of that spiritual Rock that went with them, and that Rock was Christ."

A long time after this, the people were again left without water. The supply from the Rock was stopped for a time, because God wanted to teach His people another beautiful lesson.

But after all these years that He had cared for them and fed them, they still "believed not in God, and trusted not in His salvation." They still grieved Him by murmuring and worrying, instead of waiting patiently, knowing that He would be sure to provide for them.

God told Moses to speak to the Rock, and water should flow from it. Once before, you will remember, Moses had been told to strike the Rock. God wanted to show the people that Jesus was smitten, and wounded, and bruised, that He might be for ever able to give the water of life to those who were thirsty.

It was because of this that He could cry to the multitudes, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." And He told the woman at the well of Samaria, that if she knew who was speaking to her, she would have asked of Him and He would have given her living water. "Let him that is athirst come," He said, "and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

"I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold I freely give
The living water; thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live.
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him."

The second time, Moses was told only to speak to the Rock. God wanted by this to show that all who come and ask of Him, and Jesus, the Rock once smitten, gives freely of living water.

Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth, and he had borne patiently all the murmurings of the Children of Israel against him, and many times had saved them by pleading with God for them.

But this time even he was so angry with the people that instead of speaking to the Rock as God told him, he struck it twice with his rod. The water came out from the Rock in great abundance, but the people lost a lesson that God wanted to teach them, and God was dishonoured before them by Moses' anger and impatience.

Because of this, Moses did not go with the people into the promised land. God told him that he must die. Moses was very sorry, and asked to be allowed to go into Canaan, but God told him that it could not be. He was obliged to punish Moses, for the sake of all the people before whom he had sinned.

Then Moses prayed that God would not leave His people "as sheep without a shepherd." He knew how foolish they were, and how much they needed someone to lead them. God had led His people like a flock by the hand of Moses. So Moses prayed that if he must be taken away, God would set another man over them.

Then God told him to take Joshua, and put some of his honour upon him, so that the people would know he had been chosen of God, and be obedient to him after the death of Moses.

Joshua was one of the two spies who had tried to encourage the people to go into Canaan when God told them to. He had been a great deal with Moses, and was up in the mountain waiting while God talked with him.

When the time came for Moses to die, he blessed the people, and went up into the mountain. God let him see the land of promise that he was leading his people to. Then Moses died, according to the word of God, and the Lord buried him. And no one knew where his sepulchre was.

But we know that Moses did not stay long in the grave. For when Jesus was transfigured upon the mountain, Moses and Elijah came and talked with Him.

Elijah, we know, was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire, without dying. But Moses died; therefore he must have been raised from the dead. In the book of Jude we are told that Satan strove with Michael (Christ) about the body of Moses. Satan had the power of death, but Jesus has conquered him, and He has the keys of death and the grave. So He can open Satan's prison-house and bring out whoever He will.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

The German Federal Council has adopted the Navy Estimates for 1902, amounting ?10,000,000. Governments continue to throw millions of money literally into the sea with as much unconcern as if such a thing as poverty were unknown.

Within a short period over 72,000 rats have been destroyed in the London docks, the object being to guard against the plague, which these pests are supposed to spread. It may not be a bad idea to reduce the number of such a vermin, but the plagues will come nevertheless.

A new sub-marine boat has just passed a severe test by the United States naval authorities. It was submerged for fifteen hours in Long Island Sound, with several naval officers on board. All declared that they could have remained below the surface as long as their food lasted. Thus another means is gradually being perfected to be used in a great work of exterminating the human race.

The Bishop of the Uganda, writing to a friend, says he is now in the twelfth year of his African experience, and is more than ever convinced of the value-and he had almost said necessity-of Temperance in such a life as must be lived in Central Africa. He tramped 15,000 miles in tropical Africa, and it has all been done on total abstinence principles. There are no conditions of climate, whether hot or cold, that a perfectly temperate man cannot endure without injury.

It would be well if all ministers would read the words of Dr. Parker on the Peace Manifesto issued some time since by certain Free Church ministers, and would act accordingly. Asked if he did not desire peace, inasmuch as he did not sign the Manifesto, he replied: "Most certainly; we all pray for peace; but this is a matter that must be left to statesmen. Clergymen have nothing to do with diplomacy and politics." That is true; and just in proportion as they dabble in such matters do they unfit themselves for their legitimate work.

In the course of a recent address at the London institution on "The Optical Properties of Diamonds and Rubies," Professor Silvanus Thompson said that people have now succeeded in producing rubies by an artificial process, the secret of which is most rigidly kept, and that it is exceedingly difficult to detect the difference between the real and unreal. Yet people of good sense otherwise, will make the greatest sacrifices to obtain one of these real or unreal gems. It is strange how the barbaric desire to "ornament" the body still lingers among what are called "civilised" people. Gems are beautiful, as is everything that God has made; but whoever understands that the human body is the temple of God, and the most precious thing in the world, will know that it cannot be adorned by anything of less worth.

The Ulverston Herald reports a funeral service in Isuleth Church, for a deceased member of the Salvation Army, and says that "after the service of the church had been completed, the Askam officers of the Salvation Army prayed for the soul of their departed and much-lamented brother." The Church Times calls attention to the fact that this is recorded without notice or comment as quite the natural thing, and adds:-

"Clearly the Catholic movement, as an attempt to revive not mere ceremonial but those genuinely Catholic practices and doctrines which Churchmen have suffered to lapse, is leavening the sects. It looks as if the only sticklers for the fatuous negations of old-fashioned Protestantism will be found within the Church among the so-called 'Evangelicals,' who in time will come to be regarded as fossilised survivals."

There is nothing at all strange in this incident, for the Salvation Army, sad to say, a long time ago officially rejected the simple Gospel ordinances as taught in the Scriptures; and just in proportion as churches and people reject or ignore the Bible are they sure to fall into the practices of Roman Catholicism.

The Catholic journal, Le Chretien Francais, publishes several statements from prominent Roman Catholic ecclesiastics on the revolution that is taking place in that Church. The Director of the Seminary of Blois says that the heresy "is a mixture of the rationalist, naturalistic, critical spirit, more or less Protestant." An energetic opponent of the movement writes in the Verit? Francaise:-

"The schism is not yet consummated, the heresy is not yet completely defined, but we are already in the presence of a Catholicism so entirely different from Roman Catholicism-different in all points, dogma, morality, discipline-that we may fairly ask if this new schism still derives from Rome, and how long it is going to last."

As a matter of fact, it is stated, the movement, which among other things, boldly advocates the marriage of priests, is so strong that the Vatican dare not openly challenge it.

The Christian World, noting this, says: "Things are, it is evident, speeding rapidly to a crisis. Protestantism has a magnificent opportunity in France if only it were sufficiently alive. "That may be true of Protestantism, but not of Christianity. Christianity is not built upon a negation. It is not among dissatisfied, discontented, rationalistic men intent on breaking down instead of building up, that Christianity has always found, and still finds, its staunchest adherents. It was Luther, the zealous Catholic, who led the Reformation; and it was the most conscientious performers of the church's precepts and penances, that rallied to the cry, "The just shall live by faith." It was not some discontented, critical said Sadducee, but Saul, the Pharisee, zealous for the building up of the real Jewish religion, who became the chief of the apostles of Christianity. The Lord is building a temple; and the Gospel makes its greatest and most permanent conquests among men who have had a definite purpose, a desire to build up, even though it be wholly in the wrong direction, rather than among those who are intent only to tearing down existing ruins. "They that be of thee shall build the old ways places; they shall raise up the foundations of many generations;" "they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations."

It is stated that as a result of the Anglo-American tobacco war, the already enormous consumption of cigarettes is becoming greater and greater. The reduction in the price of the American-made cigarettes is causing a greatly-increased demand for them, while "at most of the great English manufactories additional cigarette machinery is being put in; and in spite of this, some of the home manufacturers are getting greatly in arrears in the execution of orders." All this, which makes a few men rich, makes the nation poor, not so much in pocket as in physical, mental, and moral strength.

Here are three items which we group together, in order that the contrast may set somebody to thinking. A little girl of twelve was arraigned in the north London Police Court last week for stealing some meat. In the examination it transpired that she took the meat to keep her brothers from starving, as her mother, a respectable widow with four children, one of them a cripple, earned a penny an hour at blouse-making, and out of this pittance the five had to be fed and clothed. The girl, it is hardly necessary to say, was discharged, the city missionary undertaking to look after the case.

At the same time a bird show was in progress, at which was a canary priced at ?150, and several hybrids for which ?100 was asked. It is also stated that "in view of the Coronation there is an unprecedented demand for ermine. The skins are nearly all procured from Siberia, and about 120 of them are required for a peer's coronation cape and collar alone. The price has gone up enormously." No comment is necessary.

The Christian World makes the following complaint about Dr. John Watson's "Life of the Master,"-a complaint that should be a recommendation to everybody bearing the name "Christians":-

"The book would have been better had it shown a franker appreciation of the Christ problem as it appeals to the mind of to-day. As it is, the object of it would seem to be, not to deal with the questions which agitate the modern mind on the subject of Jesus so much as to make the average Englishmen feel-good on Sunday afternoons. . . . He does not suggest that such a thing as a difficulty exists. He skims over the thinnest of ice with an airy grace which would make the bystander believe that all was solid under foot. In these pages the questions of sources and their value, of legend versus history, of miracles, of incarnation and the birth stories, and other puzzles which come first to the modern mind in its study of Jesus, are not touched on as in any sense open to discussion."

The "modern mind" that is "agitated" by the accounts of Christ's birth and miracles, and finds difficulties in them, regarding them as open to discussion, instead of fixed truths for reverent belief, certainly needs to be made a great deal newer than it now is. An entirely new mind-the mind of God-is called for in such a case.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

The Lord teaches us to pray: "Remember not against us the iniquities of our forefathers" (Ps. lxxxix. 8, R.V.), and therefore we know that He will not punish us for what our ancestors have done. "But," you exclaimed, "doesn't He say that He visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation?" Yes; He does; but it is only upon them that hate Him; that is, upon them who are committing the same sins that their forefathers committed. The infidel thinks that he has a case against God, when he says that it is not fair to punish one man for what another does; but God will never do anything of the kind. "The Lord is righteous in all His ways;" and some day everybody will say so. Why not begin now?

It is sometimes said that God condemned man to work. "Absurd!" declares Monsieur LegouvÈ, the oldest of the French "Immortals." "God condemned man to live, and gave him work as a mitigating circumstance." At ninety-four LegouvÈ works still, scorning the idea of an "age limit."

That is very good, with the exception of the implied statement that to live is punishment. To live without work would indeed be torture; but the fact is that there is no real life without work. We are given life in order that we may work; indeed to live is to work, and active work is the proof, and the only proof of life. This is shown by the statement of Christ, "who is our life," concerning Himself "and the living Father," who has life in himself: "My father worketh hitherto, and I work." By the works of God, we know that He is "the living God," and we learn the nature of His life.

It will surely do any Christian worker good to read such a passages as this, taken from Dr. John Watson's book, "The Life of the Master:"

"Never has there been. . . less of Jesus' method. When one turns from the religious world of to-day, with its platforms, committees, the papers, meetings, where everyone is speaking at the pitch of his voice, and no one seems to be saying anything in particular, and joins the Master as he moves to and fro establishing the Kingdom of God in individual lives, it is as when one escaped from a country fair with its drums and shows, its gaudy wears and deafening noise, and finds himself in a country lane where the wild roses brush him from the hedge and a bird sang overhead. . . . His was not the manner of this bustling and feverish world; it was the grand manner of the Kingdom of God, beautiful in its simplicity.

"A Sandy Foundation" The Present Truth 17, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

One thing that needs to be learned and remembered by all people is that questions of right and wrong can never be determined by either the beliefs or practices of even good men. "Great men are not always wise;" and even good men often make mistakes. Moreover, there is but one good; that is, God. A failure to recognise this often leads people astray. For instance, a priest, addressing a meeting of the United Irish League, advised the use of the boycott, saying:-

"I do not see anything un-Christian or immoral in it. I think it is a weapon that is used all over the civilised world, and it is a weapon that is used in every grade of society. Take the Pope; take the hierarchy of the country; or take the clergy of the country, and is there not boycott among them to a certain extent?"

In like manner Dr. Newman Hall, himself a non-smoker, said in a recent interview:-

"I don't find smoking incompatible with godliness; and so, though I recommend people not to smoke, I don't count it as a sin. Why, some of the best men I ever knew loved a pipe! There's Henry Reynolds, (pointing to a portrait of the late Principal of Cheshunt); he was truly a saint: but he did love a smoke."

With equal propriety he might pronounce the Mass and Monasticism harmless, because Bernard, who, as his hymns show, knew what true Christianity is, was a Roman Catholic Bishop and the head of a monastery. No amount of devotion can sanctify a bad habit; and however good a man may be who cherishes an error or an evil he would certainly be better without it. The Word of God alone furnishes a rock foundation. "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm."

"The Strength of the Law" The Present Truth 17, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

"The strength of sin is the law." Have you felt the strength of sin? Do you know something of the cruel power with which it enslaves men? Have you in vain struggled again and again to be free from its dominion? If so, then you know something of the strength of the law; for only "by the law is the knowledge of sin." "Sin is the transgression of the law." If law were weak, and of little consequence, its violation would be a small matter, and, moreover, it would also be a light matter to keep it; but because the law is so great, so awful, and so tremendous in its importance, it is not a trifling thing to transgress it, nor is it an easy matter to keep it. In fact, the carnal mind "is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."

Death, which is the sting of sin, also reveals the power of the law. "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." 1 Cor. xv. 56. Oh, the cruel, unrelenting power of death and the grave! "What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?" Ps. lxxxix. 48. The grave is one of the things that never says, "it is enough." Men may speak lightly of God's laws; but no one can defy death, for that monster is too strong for them; it lays armies and whole nations low; yet its strength is due only to be unchangeable firmness of the law of God. Only they who have not felt themselves in the death grip of sin, can speak slightingly of the law. No argument is needed to prove to the convicted sinner the power and perpetuity of God's holy law.

But there is a power stronger than both sin and death, which is able to make as triumph over them both. "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Christ "condemned sin in the flesh" by living a life of spotless righteousness; and He has the keys of death and the grave. He went into the grave solely to demonstrate His power over it. But this power of His against sin and over death was due to the fact that the law of God was in His heart. It was His life, and He is our life. So while on the one hand sin and death show the power of the law, on the other hand the righteous life of Jesus reveals its power in still greater measure. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from law of sin and death." We are sure that sin shall have no dominion over us, which means that the strength of the law is given to us. We are set free to serve, not to sin.

December 12, 1901

"'The God of Battles'" The Present Truth 17, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

Many times do we see this expression in accounts of fierce battles among men, and always it is misapplied. It is true, indeed, that "the Lord is a Man of war," and one of his most frequent titles is "The Lord of Hosts," or armies; but He does not fight with weapons invented by man. Neither does He design that His people shall ever fight with such weapons. When Peter struck out in His Lord's defence, the Master said, "Put up thy sword into his place; for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." Matt. xxvi. 52. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." 2 Cor. x. 3-5.

In the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, God showed how necessary it is for people, and His people above all, to fight. He showed also that it was not His purpose that Israel should do any fighting and killing on the way to the promised land, nor in the conquest of it. Think of how they came out of Egypt. Not a blow did they strike. Human arms would have been of no avail; and even if they could have been able to fight their way out, it would have been with the loss of many lives; but not a soul was left to die in Egypt when God undertook their deliverance. At every step God worked in such a way as to demonstrate that the man had no hand in the matter; and at the last the whole Egyptian army, with the king, was destroyed without the striking of a single blow. Now read how it might have been all through the subsequent history of Israel:-

"The Lord your God which goeth before you, according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes." Deut. i. 30. God said to them: "I will send My fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive about the Hivites, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before thee." Ex. xxiii. 27, 28. Whatever instruments of warfare men may invent, their enemies can make their equal, and so meet them on even terms; but nobody

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can invent weapons that will be of any value against an army of hornets. The simple weapons that God calls into use are far more effective than all the ponderous machinery that men can devise.

How much better, then, to allow God to do our fighting for us. Yet professed Christians will declare that if we did not defend ourselves we should doubtless lose all our possessions and even our lives. Have they forgotten the story of God's power in Egypt and at the Red Sea? or do they not believe it?

"A Marvellous Deliverance. Ex. xiv. 13-27" The Present Truth 17, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

(Ex. xiv. 13-27.)³³1

Why is it that most people seem to think that the Old Testament narratives, such as that of Joseph and his brethren, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan, and others, are merely stories for children? The reason is that these things are looked upon as mythical, or at best, even if historically true, as events too far in the past to be of any practical importance at the present time. They forget that God does not tell stories to amuse His children, and that "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."

Among the faithful and true records of the past there is none more full of practical instruction and encouragement than that of the crossing of the Red Sea. The reason why it is of such importance for us to know this history, and to have all the details well fixed in our mind, is that God has set His hand the second time to gather the remnant of His people, and He has told us that when He does this, "there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." Isa. xi. 11, 16.

If we truly believe God, our journey to the promised land will be just as full of marvellous deliverances as was that of God's people in the days of Moses; yes, and far more so: for God says "that the days will come that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, the Lord liveth, which brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land." Jer. xxiii. 7, 8. The deliverances which God will work for His people in these days will be so much greater than that of the children of Israel form Egypt, and that that event will be lost sight of.

We do not need to repeat the narrative; but every one, no matter how familiar with it, should read it again and again; for it is the best possible tonic for whoever reads it in faith. Let us set ourselves at once to study some of the lessons that it has for our comfort.

In the first place we may learn that when we get into a tight place, surrounded by the enemy, it is no sign that God has forsaken us. The children of Israel thought that it was. They even declared that God had not had anything to do with them leaving Egypt, but that it was all a scheme of Moses to bring about their destruction.

How quick people are to judge by appearances. When there is a prosperous outlook, and everything goes on swimmingly, they rub their hands with satisfaction, sing hymns, and exclaim, "How good the Lord is to us!" But let a reverse come, let their way be suddenly blocked, and they at once conclude that they were mistaken, and that God was not leading them. Such human reasoning is very childish. If we always had God's word in mind, we should not be guilty of it.

It was the Lord Himself who led Israel into the narrow place between the sea and the mountain where it was so easy for the Egyptians to shut them in. It seemed a veritable trap, and so it was; but it was a trap for the enemies of God and His people. God knew that Pharaoh would say, "They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in," and would pursue them into the trap. As the whole army of Egypt, with all the chariots and horsemen that the country contained, came exultingly after the Israelites who were huddled together like a flock of sheep, their language was: "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them." Ah,

"A brutish man knoweth not;
Neither doth a fool understand this:
When the wicked spring as the grass,
And when all the workers of iniquity do flourish,
It is that they shall be destroyed for ever;
But Thou, O Lord, art on high for evermore.
For, lo, Thine enemies, O Lord,
For, lo, Thine enemies, shall perish;
All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered."

Then let us lay to heart this lesson: that whenever it seems as though we were about to be overwhelmed, it is certain that we are about to have a most wonderful deliverance and a glorious victory. Then instead of murmuring in time of trial, that will be when we shall shout for joy. Read Ps. xxvii. 1-6. God led the Israelites into a trap, and their enemies rushed in after them; then God delivered His people from the trap, and left the enemies there. Thus the pursuers were really self-destroyed.

LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS

Another lesson is set for us in the fiery, cloudy pillar. Our text reads: "And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the aloud went from before their face, and stood behind them; and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these." Ex. iv. 19, 20. But if you look in your Bibles you will see that the words "to them" and "to these" are in Italics; they have been inserted by the translators. Without any additions, the Hebrew text reads: "And the cloud was darkness, but it gave light the whole night."

How much more striking this is! It reveals the presence of the same power that in the beginning "commanded the light to shine out of darkness." "If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee." Ps. cxxxix. 11, 12. Who can fight against a Being who hides Himself in the light, and to whom the darkness in which His enemies would hide, shines like noonday? and what is impossible to such a God? "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all," neither is there any darkness to Him. Now it is possible for us to see light in His light (Ps. xxxvi. 9); and when we do this we shall find that all the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth."

THE BREATH OF THE LORD

By what means was it that God delivered Israel from the Egyptians? It was by the very same means by which He made the heavens in the beginning. "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." Ps. xxxiii. 6. It

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was by His breath. Read the following verses of Scripture, and let them tell the story:-

"And the Lord caused the sea to go by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground; and the waters were a wall to them on the right hand, and on their left.

"And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. . . . And the sea returned strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea." Ex. xiv. 21-27.

"Thou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters." Ex. xv. 10.

"In the greatness of Thine excellency Thou hast overthrown them that rose up against Thee; Thou sentest forth Thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. And with the blast of Thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood, upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea." Ex. xv. 7, 8.

The wind, whether it be the gentle zephyr or the mighty blast of the hurricane, is the breath of the Almighty, life-giving or death- dealing, according as it is directed. With a breath God created the heavens, and gave life to man; with a breath He delivered Israel from their enemies; with the breath of His lips shall He stay the wicked;" and with that same breath God is able and anxious today to free us from all the enemies that beset our souls for as He breathes upon us moment by moment, He says, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost."

"Wisdom the Principal Thing" The Present Truth 17, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding." Prov. iv. 7.

Thus wrote Solomon, who was well qualified to speak in the matter; for he was wiser than all other men, and his possessions were such as to make the wealthiest wonder. God said to him: "I have given thee a wise and understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour; so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all the days" (2 Kings iii. 13, 13); and it was all given according to the promise. Solomon had riches and honour, but he had that which was of more value than all things else, namely, wisdom.

This truth is made even more emphatic by the Apostle James; for he gives us to understand that whoever has wisdom has everything. All are familiar with the promise, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James i. 5); but most people read it as an independent statement, not recognising that it has any close connection with what precedes it. Let us now read the fourth and fifth verses together, using the Revised Version, and the connection will be apparent:-

"Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God," etc.

Is it not plain that to be "lacking in nothing" is to be in possession of wisdom? If any one lacks anything whatever, he lacks in wisdom; to possess wisdom is to be in possession of all things.

Wisdom is life; for "this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." John xvii. 3.

Wisdom is power; for God "hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom and hath stretched out the heavens by His understanding." Jer. li. 15.

Wisdom is righteousness; for "the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job xviii. 28. Now to "fear God, and keep His commandments" "is the whole duty of man (Eccl. xiii. 13); therefore to be in possession of true wisdom is to have a perfect character; in short, to be "lacking in nothing."

But all this is simply to be a keeper of the commandments of God; for, in harmony with what we have already read, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning [head, chief portion] of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do His commandments." Ps. cxi. 10.

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"The Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding" (Prov. ii. 6); is it true, then, that God is righteousness? Most certainly; it can be had in no other way; for "there is none that doeth good, no, not one;" "therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified [made righteous] freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rom. iii. 12, 20-24.

And this means that God gives obedience to His law; "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." Rom. v. 19. That One is the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose heart is God's law. Ps. xl. 8. The law is His life (Rom. v. 10), and we are saved by His life,-the perfect law of liberty,-"for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from law of sin and death, . . . that the righteousness of the law might be fulfiled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. viii. 1-4.

Now note the kindness of the promise to give wisdom-righteousness, all fulness. If any of you lack wisdom,-if any of you through sin still come short of the glory of God, have failed with respect to any commandment,-let him ask of God, that giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. Note the statement that He "upbraideth not." The Greek word in this place means "to throw a reproach upon one,-to cast in one's teeth," and is the same that occurs in Matt. xxvii. 44, where we read of Christ, that "the thieves also, which were crucified with Him, cast the same in His teeth."

That is something that God never does. He never reproaches us; never casts our failures in our teeth. He is "very pitiful, and of tender mercy." "The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all that be bowed down." Ps. cxlv. 14. When we come making our requests known to Him, He does not say, "What did you do with that which I gave you before?" "Why did you squander the talent I entrusted to you?" "If you had given heed to what I said, you would not be in this plight," but He gives to us just as simply and freely as though we had never asked before, and had never failed Him. What an encouragement this is to us to come and ask often, no matter how much or how often we have failed! We have sinned grievously, but "He ever liveth" and is able, and willing, as well, to save "to the uttermost;" and He gives us His life of obedience to law as freely as He did to Adam in the day that He created him.

"I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplication. Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Shall Children Be Christened?" The Present Truth 17, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

"Will you be kind enough to give me a Scriptural reason why I should have my infant christened?

"I can find nothing in my Bible authorising the ceremony, or even bearing on it; and I cannot see what good it is for the minister to sprinkle the child, and say some words to it, which it is not old enough to understand; therefore my child, which is ten months old, has not been christened. Will you kindly give me your opinion on the matter, and say if you think it necessary?"

It is impossible to give a Scriptural reason for a thing of which the Scripture does not speak; and since the Scripture says nothing whatever about the christening of infants, there is no reason for doing it, and every reason for not doing it. We have no more right to add to God's words than we have to detract from them. To do, in matters specially connected with salvation, what God has not commanded, shows unbelief of the Bible, and disregard for it, just as much as to refuse to do what He has plainly commanded; for in either case God's Word is set aside as inferior to man's tradition or fancy.

Coming to the root of the matter, our question ought really to be, Is it possible to christen an infant? instead of, Shall we do it? This is evident when we think of the meaning of the word, "Christian." The word is simply the original form of "Christian," and means, "to make a Christian." To christen a child means therefore to Christianise it, to make it a Christian. Nothing more or less than this is the meaning of the word; and when we know this, it is easy to see the error of the common ceremony.

It is self-evident that an infant a few days, or weeks, or even months old, knows nothing of what is being done to it in the christening ceremony. Much less can it understand anything of its supposed significance. It has no voice or will in the matter, except that a vigorous protest against being disturbed is not infrequent. The question, then, is this: Is it possible to make any person a Christian without his knowledge or consent? The answer must evidently be, No. If it be said that it is possible to make one a Christian without his knowledge, then Christianity is reduced to a mere empty form or name, and the ceremony by which it is supposed to be done is merely a charm or a bit of magic.

Now it is plain that those who believe in the christening of infants do really believe that it is possible to make Christians of them when they are but a few days old; and it is further evident that those who think so, attribute supernatural power, a magic charm, to the ceremony, (called baptism) by which the change is supposed to be affected.

Some will refer to circumcision as a warrant for the christening of infants. But circumcision did not in any sense corresponded to baptism; and, moreover, if it were true that christening corresponds to circumcision, then the ceremony ought to be restricted to male children.

INFANT BAPTISM AND INFANT COMMUNION

There is another thing to be considered, which is now usually ignored. It is this: It is a fact that baptism is the sign of Christianity. It is the badge of discipleship. It is the outward act by which one shows one's acceptance of Christ. Whoever is really baptized is really Christian,-a member of Christ's body, the church. "For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink in the one Spirit." 1 Cor. xii. 13. Therefore when a child is christened it is to be considered a member of the church. If it is not so considered, then it is admitted that the christening ceremony was a farce. But every member of Christ's body has not merely the right, but the obligation, to

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feed upon His body,-to partake of the Lord's Supper. If infants are to be baptized, then they must not be kept away from the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. If their baptism be valid, then whoever keeps them from the communion is guilty of sin.

This view was taken by some of the early "Fathers," and is still held in the East. But this again makes the Lord's Supper, like baptism, only a fetish, a charm, and not a matter of intelligent faith.

GOD'S GRACE NOT DEPENDENT ON MAN

The common thought concerning the so-called baptism of infants is that stated by Cyprian, in his argument against delaying the ceremony. His words are: "We all rather judge that the mercy and grace of God is not to be refused to any one born of man. For as the Lord says in His Gospel, 'The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them,' as far as we can we must strive that, if possible, no soul be lost."-Epistle 58. Now this in itself is perfectly correct; but when it is produced as a reason for baptizing children, it is all wrong, since it not only attributes magic charm to the ceremony, but it makes the grace and mercy of God wholly dependent upon the zeal or negligence of men. It is a monstrous doctrine, and horrible beyond expression, and a libel on God's goodness, that the salvation of an innocent baby should depend solely on whether or not a formula has been recited over it.

THE EXTENT OF REDEMPTION

But there is no need for fear in respect to children. "The Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works" (Ps. cxlv. 9); and "His mercy endureth for ever." A few texts will show in what relation infants stand to God's salvation; and the evil of so-called christening, or infant baptism, lies in this, that it obscures the simple, fundamental truths of the Gospel. We will allow the Scriptures to tell their own story.

"As by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Rom. v. 18.

"God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." 2 Cor. v. 19.

"He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John ii. 2.

"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away [literally, beareth] the sin of the world." John i. 29.

"The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isa. liii. 6.

The Son, "when He had by Himself purged our sins [R.V., made purification of sins], sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Heb. i. 3.

These texts, and many more to the same intent, show that the death of Jesus has made reconciliation for all the sins of the world. We are reconciled to God by the death of His Son, who tasted death for every man-every being. By His death and life of righteousness the free gift of God's grace comes upon all men.

Do you say that this means universal salvation? It would, most certainly, if nobody rejected the grace of God; but the most of mankind will not accept Christ, nor acknowledge their need of and dependence upon God. The way of salvation is so broad and free that a man must by some means or other refuse to be saved, in order to be lost. Christ said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me." He has been lifted up, and He is drawing; and all but the stubborn will be saved.

Infants have no personal sins of which to repent, and are saved by virtue of the life of God poured out in Christ for all the race. As soon as people come to years of understanding and accountability, they must personally accept the Lord Jesus by faith, and show their faith in Him, not because God has arbitrarily decreed it, but because only so can they be kept from sin. Men can live only by faith; but the tender infant on its mother's breast is the perfect picture of faith and trust. It is the farthest possible from rejecting God's grace. It shows us how we should be related to the living Word. Of this Christ bears witness, through David, when He says to the Father: "Thou didst make me trust when I was upon my mother's breast." Ps. xxii. 9.

One thing more should be noted. The question will rise, Ought not parents to dedicate their children to the Lord? Most certainly they should; but they should do it before the children are born, or before they are even conceived. If this be the case, as with Samuel and John the Baptist, they may be filled with the Spirit from birth; not so that they will never need to be baptized, but so that as they grow in wisdom and stature they will come to the Lord as naturally as the flower turns to the sunlight.

"Little Folks. Crossing the Jordan" The Present Truth 17, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

Before the death of Moses, God had chosen Joshua, and told him that he was to lead the Children of Israel into Canaan. So when Moses was dead Joshua took his place at the of the host.

The Israelites were now about to go over into Promised Land. AlI the years of their pilgrimage God had led them and borne with them, and at last they believed in Him, so that they were ready to follow wherever He should lead the way.

When they first came out of Egypt, God had divided the Red Sea, and made a path for them through the mighty waters. All the nations round about had heard of this wonderful work, and how Pharaoh and his host had been swallowed up in the sea. And they were all afraid, and trembled, they knew that they could do nothing against the God of Israel.

It would have been an easy matter for the Children of Israel to go right into Canaan at that time, for the nations would not have been able to fight against them. After they had crossed the sea, and the Egyptians had all been drowned, Moses sang a song in which were these words:-

"The peoples have heard, they tremble; . . .
Terror and dread falleth upon them;
By the greatness of Thine arm they are as still
as a stone;
Till Thy people pass over, O Lord,
Till the people pass over which Thou hast
purchased."

But the Israelites wandered so long in the wilderness because of their unbelief, that the nations had time to lose the fear they had, and to prepare re to fight against Israel.

But God worked for His people again, as He did when they first left Egypt. They were encamped by the river Jordan, and God told Joshua to make ready to pass over it, for He would divide its waters before them, as He did the Red Sea.

Joshua commanded the priests to go first, bearing the ark of God. As soon as their feet touched the water, it was divided, and there was a clear path before them. The ark was the symbol of God's presence with them, and this showed that it was He who separated the waters and held them apart. For the priests stood still in the middle of the river bed "until all the people were passed passed over."

Then God told Joshua to take one man from each of the twelve tribes, and let each of them take a stone out of the water of Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood. These twelve stones were to be carried to the place where they should lodge that night, and be laid down there.

Joshua told the people that the stones were for a sign. He said: "When your child shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean those stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land."

And when all the nations "heard how that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the Children of Israel, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more."

As soon as the Israelites began to eat the corn of the Promised Land, into which they had now come, the manna ceased. For forty years God had fed them with this corn of heaven, and now they did not need it any more, for they could gather what God had provided for them in the usual way.

And now the wilderness wandering, the weary pilgrimage of the Israelites, was ended. God had brought them into the land that He promised them before they left Egypt. Their unbelief had kept them forty years in the wilderness, but as soon as they believed, they entered in.

We have now followed these pilgrims in all their journeyings in the wilderness, we have seen the tender love and care of God for His people, we have shared with them the object lessons that He gave them to teach them to believe and trust Him. Have we not learned many precious lessons that will help us in our own pilgrimage through the wilderness of this world, to the Promised Land to which God is leading us? May we all by faith enter that heavenly country.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

In his message to the United States Congress, President Roosevelt calls attention to the need of building up the Navy, and says: We desire the peace which comes as of right to the just man armed, not the peace granted on terms of ignominy to a craven and weakling." That is exactly the position of every other country. Each nation considers itself "the just man," and proposes to be so well armed as to demonstrate, on the principles that might makes right, that it has right on its side.

At the fortnightly meeting of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, on Saturday, the 30th ult., it was reported that since the outbreak of small-pox in August, down to the preceding evening, the number of Metropolitan cases notified was 864, and the number of deaths was 135, the chairman of the Hospitals Committee said he thought the time had come when they could form a pretty good idea that there were in for a rather heavy epidemic. There is some compensation with every calamity, and the one with this epidemic will be that many people will be driven to take better care of themselves and their surroundings than they otherwise would.

A fine of ?100, with 10 guineas costs, was recently imposed on a cattle dealer, by the Clerkenwell magistrate, for sending diseased beef to Smithfield for sale. The animals had suffered from tuberculosis and milk fever. When we think of the possible consequences of such a crime, the punishment seems light. Doubtless it will have a wholesome effect on some dealers; but on the other hand it will cause many people to think that they may consume flesh with impunity, where as it is only very bad cases of diseased meat that are detected by the inspector. It is altogether better to eat only such food as each can examine for himself, and be sure of its wholesomeness.

Considerable excitement is said to have been caused in Edinburgh on Saturday, Nov. 30, by the announcement that the Tramway Company would run a full service of cars the next day, Sunday. The announcement was the result of a meeting of the company, which has been losing money, when it was agreed that a profit could be made if the tram-cars could be run on Sundays. It is stated that the public seem to enjoy the innovation, as the Sunday cars were well-patronised. Denunciatory references were made in various pulpits, and indignation meeting of 1,200 men protested on the ground that the cars were run without the sanction of the council and the citizens. No doubt the opposition will assume more active form, for many people, the zealous for the "safeguarding of Sunday," have not yet learned that the day cannot possibly be injured by anything done on it. By the way, it is a great mistake to call such people "Sabbatarians," as is done in the newspapers, since Sunday has no connection whatever with Sabbath.

The manager of the Schiller theatre in Berlin, Herr Lowenfeld, has been indicted at the instance of the Crown Prosecutor in Leipzig for translating into German, and circulating in Saxony, Tolstoy's reply to the Russian "Holy Synod" on his excommunication. The police are proceeding against him for blasphemy, and for insulting the Russian National Church. The Chronicle's correspondent says that "it is widely felt as an insult to modern ideas that police action of this character should even be possible." A prosecution for insult is invariably a confession of weakness, and when done in the name of a professed Christian body it is a libel on Christianity. If Christ had entered suit against every one who insulted Him, He would have had little time for teaching, and what He did would have had no effect.

A Methodist minister in London felt aggrieved because the vicar of the parish did not recognise him as a minister, and wrote to him for an explanation, receiving, as a matter of course, the usual reply, to the effect that he had not been lawfully ordained. The minister exhibited his weakness, and his lack of appreciation of the dignity of his calling, by making any complaint. Fancy Christ complaining because the Jewish priests and elders did not recognise Him as an authorised Teacher! The Church Times, by the way, shows what are the sympathies and affiliations of the Church of England, by saying of the minister in question: "If he came to the Bishop of London with the authority of all the 'Free Churches' combined, he would be rejected as not qualified. If he came with letters or Orders from the Pope, say, or a Greek Metropolitan, or a Bishop of the Catholic diocese in the world, he would at once the accepted. It is a bad sign when any the minister wishes recognition from such a quarter. A man may be "authorised" by all parties mentioned, and still have no authority whatever as a minister of Jesus Christ. "A man can receive nothing, excepted it be given him from heaven."

Perhaps there is no man more talked-about at the present time, and less understood, than the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Chamberlain. Judging by reports from the Continent, he is regarded there as a monster of cruelty-a Negro, a Caligula, a Torquemada combined,-one who spends his time devising plans to massacre innocent women and children. Of course not only those who are acquainted with him, but all who are not blinded by party prejudice and race hatred know that such a view is absurd; but we wonder why it has not occurred to somebody that the unjust and senseless clamour that is being raised against Mr. Chamberlain among people abroad is not an exact parallel to the cry against the Sultan of Turkey in both press and pulpit in England. A common title for the Sultan is the Great Assassin; yet there is no evidence that he ever killed anybody, or that he ever had any more to do with any person's death than any other ruler has. Englishmen wonder why the Germans, for instance, cannot do justice to Mr. Chamberlain; Turks wonder why Englishmen and other people as well, so persistently circulate lies about the Sultan. If this outcry against England, and Mr. Chamberlain in particular, could result in teaching a much-needed lesson as to the senselessness and wickedness of popular clamour, it would not have been an unmixed evil. By the faults of others, wise men learn to correct their own.

In a letter to the Chief Secretary and Premiere for the State of Queensland, calling attention to the laxness of the marriage Laws, and the case with which the forces may be obtained in the Colony, the Bishop of Carpentaria calls attention to a state of things which makes it evident that the earth is rapidly approaching the condition that existed before the Flood, when it was filled with violence, and was corrupt: "For all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." Gen. vi. 11, 12. He says:-

"The note of a real and pressing danger to the State has already been struck in the steadily decreasing birth-rate of Australia, which has fallen from 41 per 1,000 in 1865 to 27 in 1899, and is now lower than that of any European country except France. It is notorious that this decrease is due, in large measure, not to natural but to unnatural causes connected with a low estimate of the responsibilities of married life. In some parts of America we are told (Dictionary of Social Reform, p. 608) 'the physicians are of the opinion that legitimate children would be 50 per cent. more numerous but for criminal deeds,' and there is reason to believe that Australia is fast travelling on the same road."

There has been considerable correspondence in the Church Times of late, concerning the difficulty that poor young men experience in fitting for positions in the Church of England, as contrasted with the readiness with which the Roman Catholic gives assistance to students. Writing in this strain, one cleric says:-

"Had I become a Roman Catholic, I should have been furnished with any number of degrees, if they were considered necessary, to enhance by influence as a teacher and preacher, even though I might not have had money at my command."

There we have the expression of a sentiment that is all too common. Whoever depends on rank or degree or official position to give force to his teaching, thereby shows that he has no confidence in his own works; he does not believe that what he teaches is true in itself: for truth needs no recommendation or support from anything or anybody, and can receive none. And whoever gives more heed to a thing preached or taught, because of the rank or official position of the teacher, shows that he does not know what truth is, and that his mind is in bondage. We should be able to recognise truth, and be as ready to accept it, from the mouth of an obscure peasant, as from the mouth of a prince of the church. The greatest Teacher the world ever saw, whose words have gone to the ends of the earth, was a carpenter, with no rank or official position whatever, and sought none.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

The next number of PRESENT TRUTH will be the last one this year, being a combination of numbers 51 and 52. Inasmuch as there will be one week in which no paper will be issued, we would counsel each reader of the paper to buy two or more copies of the next number, and send one of them away to a friend. It will be the most profitable Christmas card anyone can get, and certainly nothing else equal to it in value you can be obtained for many times its cost.

Last year many orders for the Christmas number of PRESENT TRUTH came in after it was too late to fill them, because the addition was exhausted. The reason was that agents and readers, after seeing it, found it better than their expectation. We hope that the Holiday Number this year will far exceed all expectation: but do not wait to see if it does. Take it for granted that it will, and order early all that you will require.

When Pilate's temporising policy had given the mob complete control over him, so that he could not resist the demand for the crucifixion of Jesus, and "he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just Person." Matt. xxvii. 24. But he was not innocent; for he himself had declared that very day that he had power to release Jesus or to crucify Him. John xix. 10. His declaration of innocence was therefore false, and his washing of hands a meaningless form.

Contrast with this the words of Psalm xxvi. 6: "I will wash my hands in innocency; so will I compass thine altar, O Lord." Pilate washed his hands to indicate that he was already innocent, although he was not; the Psalmist proposes to wash his hands in innocency, in order that they may be cleansed from guilt. Innocence is the only thing that can cleanse from guilt; and this is supplied to us all freely in the life of Christ, who "knew no sin." In His innocence, His righteousness, we may "wash, and the clean," and so come to His altar, and He will be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness.

Here is a promise of God, that ought to make everybody rejoice: "Behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord; but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goeth." Jer. xlv. 5. Doubtless many will ask, "How do I know that it means me?" That you can very easily determine; the first part of the same verse says: "Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not." Whoever is willing to accept this as addressed to him, and will heed it, being content with small things, may know that the promise of life, which follows, will be fulfilled to him also.

"Patience Is Power" The Present Truth 17, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

The converse is equally true; for power is patience. Patience is is endurance, the power to bear; and only he who is strong can bear much. It requires power to be patient; irritability, forgetfulness, impatience, are signs of weakness.

God is Almighty; therefore He is "the God of all patience." He can bear all things, even this world with all its weight of sin and crime and misery; for He is love, and love "beareth all things." The mind is lost in contemplation of God's wonderful patience. Think of the small loads we sometimes carry, which cause us to become impatient, and then remember that God bears all that men endure, and the curse of the earth itself. Sin is as disgusting and as painful to God as the worst plague of boils and foul ulcers on the body could be to us; yet so great is God's love for us that He bears it all uncomplainingly.

And it is this patience that destroys it, and relieves Him of the load. And his power of endurance is His eternal love, that swallows up death, He endures patient because eternity is His. He can wait long in quietness for the maturing of His plans and the accomplishment of His purposes, because the longest that He would need to wait would be but a moment compared with eternity. Moreover, He can endure all things without the slightest tremor of weariness or discontent, because eternity is concentrated energy. Eternity is breadth and depth, as well as length, and every moment contains the whole of it; for the name of "the everlasting God" is I AM. Each moment, therefore, contains the concentrated power of the endless ages.

This means everything to us; for in it is the possibility for us to "walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, and bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to the might of His glory, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy." Col. i. 10, 11. God gives us His life, which swallows up sin and disease and death, in order that, like Him, or in Him, may endure all things. "I can do all things through Him that strengthen with me." Phil. iv. 13. Thus we see that whoever abides in the God of all patience becomes Almighty in Him. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Power is shown much more in quiet endurance than in active resistance. God might have crushed Satan with a single blow-a word; but that would have been a denial of Himself, because it would not have been the exhibition of the highest power. So in Christ he "endured the cross," thus showing that He is indeed God, the Creator of all things, and therefore the Redeemer. In the cross of Christ we find the infinite power of patience.

If we accept the cross, we receive that power-the power of eternity. Thus no untoward event can be great enough, or can, upon us so unexpectedly, as to flurry or worry us. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

"Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing in this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let as be therewith content." 1 Tim. vi. 6-8. Food and raiment are the simple necessities of life, so that the exhortation is equivalent to this: "Having life, let us be therewith content." That is equivalent to Jer. xlv. 5: "Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not; . . . thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest." Do you think that is little? Ah, what value do you place upon life? What can be compared with it? It is the greatest gift that God can bestow, for in it He gives Himself. So then God promises us that if we will seek nothing for ourselves, He will give us everything. Selfishness overreaches itself, and loses what it already has; while self-denial wins the fulness of God.

December 19, 1901

"Good Tidings of Peace" The Present Truth 17, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation!" Isa. iii. 7.

Can there be any doubt as to who is here referred to, whose beautiful feet adorn the montaintops as He comes bringing good tidings of peace, and publishing salvation? Not the slightest; it must be the Saviour, Christ the Lord; "for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved;" "neither is there salvation in any other."

He is "the Prince of Peace," who is "our peace," the One by whom God comes preaching Peace to all, both near and far. Eph. ii. 14, 17; Acts x. 36. It is He whose advent brought "good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people," "on earth peace, good will to men." "He is just, and having salvation." He is "fairer than the children of men," and "altogether lovely."

And His feet are indeed beautiful, brilliant, and sparkling. When John saw Him, "His head and His hairs were white, so white as snow; and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; and His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace." Rev. i. 14, 15. He is the brightness of the glory of God (Heb. i. 3), who is light, and in whom there is no darkness at all (2 John i. 5), and therefore He is the Light of the world. The heaven is His throne, and the earth His footstool; and so the bright beams that gild the mountain-tops are the shining of His feet. Though we may not find in Judea or Galilee any foot-prints of Jesus, in which to place our feet, we may "walk in the light as He is in the light," and know that thus we are really walking in His steps, not nineteen hundred, years after Him, but with Him.

These are the words of truth and soberness, and not of fancy. The Scriptures make it very plain that the light that shines from the heavens preaches the Gospel. Read these sublime words: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line

802

is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." Ps. xix. 1-4. Now recall the words that appear at the beginning of this article, and note how both these texts are used by the Apostle Paul in Rom. x. 13-18:-

"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."

It is the voiceless words of the lights in the firmament of the heaven, that have gone into all the earth, and to the ends of the world, preaching the Gospel. It is their brightness-the reflection of the glory of God-on the mountains, that proclaims peace and salvation to mankind. When we see the effulgence that they shed over the earth, we are looking at the very life of the living God Himself, and not merely at one of His agencies; for "God is light," and Jesus Christ is the light of the world. There is no light in heaven or on earth except the brightness of the Divine presence.

This light is life, for "in Him was life, and the life was the light of men." Christ says, "He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John viii. 12. As the life is the light, so the light is the life. We are "saved by His life" (Rom v. 10), even by His blood; for "the blood is the life." Therefore it is that we have the assurance: "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John i. 7.

This is the same as saying that the life-the light-Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Now let us see how real and tangible the salvation is, and with what positiveness we may know that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanses from all unrighteousness." 1 John i. 9.

This light, which is the life of Christ, and our salvation and cleansing from sin, is our physical life. It is that which quickens life in all living things, whether animals or plants. Without the light, all life on the earth would soon cease. The pestilence "walketh in darkness," while the bright light destroys the germs of disease and death.

It is a token of the great goodness of God, that as disease is multiplying on the earth, and utter extinction of life is threatened, because darkness is covering the earth, and gross darkness the people, He causes "His marvellous light" to shine more and more out of darkness. It is to this that we owe the recent wonderful discoveries in connection with light, by which all who have eyes with which to see may more clearly discern the presence of Him who forgives all iniquities and heals all diseases by His own life.

THE LIGHT CURE

How the light operates to heal disease and destroy the germs of death, we do not know; but we know the fact. The one whose name is best known in the world in connection with light as cures for disease, is Dr. Finsen, of Copenhagen. At his Light Institute in that city he has for some years successfully treated lupus-tuberculosis or consumption of the skin-by the use of the concentrated chemical or ultra-violet rays of light; for it appears that each different kind of rays of light has its own special affect. One can readily see that unless the heat rays were excluded from the great amount of light that is concentrated upon one portion of the human body, the patient would be burned up; but pure light can penetrate the skin without any injury to it; and it is the light that overcomes death, and gives life.

Dr. Finsen is also the discoverer of the beneficial effects of light in the treatment of small-pox. By shutting out the chemical rays from the sick room, which is accomplished by allowing the light to enter only through red glass or red curtains, he has found that suppuration of the vesicles, together with the high fever and the unsightly pitting, may be avoided, and recovery is quicker. In his report on The Use of Concentrated Light Rays in Medicine (Om Anvendelce i Medicinen af Concenterarade Kemiske Lysstraaler) issued in 1896, Dr. Finsen says that in seventy cases of small-pox thus treated there was only one failure.

As to the influence of light upon bacteria, it has been found that exposure from an hour to an hour and a half to direct sunlight in summer is sufficient to destroy them. Still further: if cultures of bacteria are placed in bouillon that has been exposed to the sunlight for three or four hours, they will not grow; but if taken from there, and placed in bouillon that has not had the influence of the sunlight, they develope rapidly. Thus it appears that to be much in the light renders one less susceptible to the influence of disease germs. Yea, "if we walk in the light as He is in the light," we become wholly "immune;" for the life of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin; and He who forgives all our iniquities also heals all our diseases.

And both miracles are wrought by the same life. In the life-giving light, God is trying to cause men to see how near at hand He is, and how ready to forgive all transgression. People often think that they have sinned so greatly for the Lord to forgive and cleanse them. They fancy that even if they turn to Him, He will turn his face away from them, and will not receive them. Such need to learn the lesson taught by the light. Suppose we have brought disease upon ourselves; have shut ourselves up in damp, dark rooms where death lurks, until disease germs have begun their work upon our bodies; when we come out into the light, its cheering, healing rays fall upon us just as freely as though we had never rejected them. The light is constant, even though we refuse to avail ourselves of its blessings; and whenever we turned to the light it begins its gracious ministry for us, without losing any time in upbraiding us. We may have passed days and nights in closed, unventilated rooms, until our lungs have become filled with poisons; yet as soon as we come out into God's free air, it immediately inspires us with new life.

Such is the character of God. "If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself." No more than the light can refuse to destroy vicious terms, and quicken the diseased body into new life, can God refuse to heal the sin-sick soul that turns to Him; for He is light. The readiness of the light to exert its healing influence is only a demonstration of the truth that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanses from all unrighteousness."

"Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun," even the Sun of righteousness, who carries "healing in His wings."

"The Editor's Private Corner. 'Not Under the Law'" The Present Truth 17, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

What you say concerning the Sabbath as a law to be observed by Christians is not scriptural; for we are not under the law, but under grace.

This is but a sample of numerous communications that come to us, or of statements which we frequently hear. So general is the idea that we are not to keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, because the apostles says, "Ye are not under the law, but under grace," that it deserves special attention.

One strange thing is that we never hear that text applied to any other than the fourth commandment. But the fourth commandment is only a part of the law; and if the fact that we are not under the law absolves us from keeping the Sabbath, then it just as surely frees us from obedience the other nine precepts of the law. Suppose therefore we make the application.

The eighth commandment says, "Thou shalt not steal." But when the thief is reproved for his dishonest practices, and is told that he should live by labour, and not by fraud, he may retort, "Your argument is not scriptural, for we are not under the law, but under grace."

The violent man whose hand is against every man, when told that hatred and violence are murder, and that the commandment says, "Thou shalt not kill," has as good a right to use the text to justify himself, as the man who uses it against the Sabbath. "We are not under the law, but under grace," he will say, as he makes an assault upon his neighbour.

Our friend sees a man who is going to the house of the woman whose "steps take hold on hell," and he admonishes him to turn back, quoting to him the commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." But this man has heard our friend say that it is unscriptural to keep the fourth commandment, because we "are not under the law, but under grace," and so he says, "Have you forgotten your text so soon? Don't you know that we are not under the law, but under grace? Instead of reproving me, you had better come along with me, for surely so conscientious a man as you are does not want to be in opposition to Scripture." What can our friend reply?-Nothing whatever that will have any effect upon that man, unless he says, "I was mistaken; I made an unwarranted use of those words." Let us hope that he would do so.

Our friend goes as a missionary to China. He teaches the heathen that the Bible is the Word of God, and to be obeyed, and an honest-minded heathen who has read the Bible for himself begins to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, "according to the commandment." Our friend is shocked, and says, "That is not at all right; you must not keep the Sabbath; we are not under the law, but under grace." The poor Chinaman does not see it clearly; but since it is much more convenient not to keep the Sabbath than to keep it, he allows custom and convenience to make up for the obscurity, and yields to his new teacher.

But the next day our missionary friend is shocked to find his new convert making obeisance to a hideous idol, and burning some strange smelling stuff before it. "What!" he exclaims, "Have you forgotten that the great God who created all things has said, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,' 'Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, . . . thou shall not bow down thyself to them'?" And the simple-minded man will reply, "Me no forget; me 'member your teaching velly well; not under law, under grace." By what arguments will our friend make it plain to him that while the expression, "not under the law, but under grace," takes away the obligation to keep the fourth commandment, it does not in the least

807

diminish our obligation to keep all the others?

We have not drawn a fanciful picture. Many hundred years ago the same argument was used that we have put into the mouth of our friend. Read in Jer. vii. 8-10 the reproof which the Lord gave to Israel of old:-

"Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?"

As a matter of fact the words, "not under the law, but under grace," are not now used, at least not to any great extent, to justify disobedience to any other commandment than the fourth. And why not? There is but one reason, and that is, that in this country it would be unpopular to do so. This would be a severe accusation if it were not for the fact that those who make use of the excuse do not know what they are doing. They may say, and with truth, that they do not wish to steal, and murder, and commit adultery; that such things are abhorrent to them. Quite so; but that only proves that it is not the commandment of God that restrains them, but the impulse given them by their training and by public opinion. If it were popular to do those things, and they had been brought up to do them, they would plead the same excuse for them that they now do for not keeping the Sabbath.

Now let us consider what the Scripture really does say, and thus we shall know what it means. The text is Rom. vi. 12-15, and reads thus:-

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid."

Note these obvious facts:-

1. Those who are not under the law are those over whom sin has no dominion. But "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John iii. 4. Therefore,

2. Those who are not under the law are the ones who are not transgressing the law, but who are keeping it.

3. It is not stated, as a universal fact, that all men are not under the law, but under grace. The words, "Ye are not under law, but under grace," are addressed to those who have been "baptized into Jesus Christ," "in the likeness of His death," and have been made "alive from the dead," "in the likeness of His resurrection." It is therefore not at all true of the transgressors of the law that they are "not under the law, but under grace." Such persons are still under the law.

4. But "the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." Titus ii. 11. Its object is to save men from sin-from the transgression of the law. Those to accept this grace are brought out from under the law, to walk in it without fault before God. For "God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. viii. 3, 4.

Let us take heed not to trust in vain words that do not profit, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose delight it was to do the will of God, whose law was in His heart.

"The Editor's Private Corner. What Is a Martyr? Are There Any Now?" The Present Truth 17, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

"Will you please tell me what a martyr is? Is one making a martyr of himself when he gives up any thing from principle, for the sake of Christ?"

Our word "martyr" is simply the Greek word meaning witness. A martyr therefore is one who bears testimony. Whenever in the New Testament we find the word "witness," as in Acts i. 8, "ye shall be witnesses," and in Rev iii. 14, where Jesus is called "the faithful and true witness," the Greek word is martyr. These two instances are sufficient to show the real meaning of the word "martyr."

Whoever is loyal to truth, both in word and in deed, is a martyr, whether he suffers for the truth's sake or not. A man may be a witness for the Lord without undergoing any physical pain whatever; but since "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. iii. 12), martyrdom, that is, witnessing, has come to be inseparably associated with the idea of suffering persecution, torture, and even death.

But nobody can "make a martyr of himself." Jesus said, "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be My witnesses," or martyrs. It is the Spirit of God that makes men martyrs. That is to say, only the Spirit of God can so transform a man that he will be faithful to God and his truth under all circumstances, even though his faithfulness leads to persecution, loss of possessions and friends, and even to death.

The common expression, "He is making a martyr of himself," or the advice, "Don't make a martyr of yourself," meaning that one is wilfuly denying himself something in order to show his independence, or to gain sympathy, comes from a mistaken idea. Martyrdom is not penance. A real martyr never poses, and never asks for pity or sympathy, because he does not feel that he needs any. He never whines or complains of his lot, but joyfully meets whatever comes. He rejoices to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ, and he finds in that suffering and reproach more than compensation for all he has given up.

Yes; there are martyrs now, but the world knows little of them. The history of the martyrs has never been written, except in heaven. There ought to be, and will be, martyrs as long as God has truth that can thrill the hearts of men. A true martyr is one of the most glorious sights that men or angels can look upon.

It is a too common idea that the way of the Christian ought now to be so easy that it will be impossible for him to undergo any hardship by walking in it. Yet among the greater portion of mankind, as for instance, the inhabitants of India and China, for a man to become a Christian means the loss of property and position, separation from his friends, bitter persecution, and exposure to the possibility of death. And people in Europe, who think that they ought to be expected to suffer the slightest inconvenience for Christ sake, will actually give money to help make Christians in those countries. Why should a higher type of Christianity be expected in Asia than in Europe?

The truth is that the world is just as much opposed to the truth of Christ as it was in the days of Pontius Pilate. It has never been converted, and never will be. Whoever, therefore, truly accepts Christ, must expect to suffer with Him; and whoever does not esteem it a privilege and a joy to give up everything, including life itself, for His sake, is not worthy of life either here or hereafter.

"Little Folks. Transformed Snowflakes" The Present Truth 17, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

Have you ever heard the legend of the snowdrop? The story is that an angel who was sent to comfort Eve when she was greatly distressed by the first fall of snow, took some of the beautiful snow-crystals in his hand, and at his touch they were transformed into sweet blossoms. These pure white snowdrops he gave to Eve as a pledge that sun and summer should return and cover the earth again with the fair flowers for which she mourned.

Of course this is only a legend, but we might call it a parable, for there is in it a lesson of truth for us. The little snowdrop, as well as many other things that we see in nature, is indeed a transformed snow-flake, for "the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud."

The white "lilies of the sky" do not long keep the beautiful shapes into which they are crystallised by the frost. They melt and sink into the earth, or swell the streams that flow through the land to water it.

And as they make the earth "bring forth and bud," the melted snowflakes again take beautiful form in the flowers of earth. For the plants suck them up by their roots, and change them in the flowers, grain, and fruit, to "give seed to the sower and bread to the eater."

The "sky lilies" are God's little messengers. They come to us in the cold, bleak weather, when the earth is bare, as a pledge of the lillies of the field that through their instrumentality he will make it to bloom again in the glad spring-time.

Here are some lines in which some one tells how the earth comforted a little snowflake that hesitated to fall from the sky, thinking that would be the end of it:-

"O no," said the Earth, "thou shall not lie
Neglected and lone, on my lap to die,
Thou pure and delicate child of the sky;
For thou wilt be safe in my keeping;
But, then, I must give thee a lovelier form,
Thou'll not be a part of the wintry storm.
But revive when the sunbeams are yellowed and
warm,
And the flowers from my bosom are keeping.

"And then thou shalt have the choice to be
Restored in the lilies that decks the lea,
In the jasmine bloom, the anemone,
Or aught of thy spotless whiteness;
To melt and be cast in a glittering bead,
With pearls that the night scatters over the
mead,
In the cup where the bee and the firefly feed,
Regaining thy dazzling brightness."

But this particular little flake did not choose any of these things. It did not want to be born again in the dew or the flowers, but to return to its native home in the skies, that it might form a part of the beautiful rainbow that God paints on the clouds, to remind us of His promise.

This is another of the snowflakes transformations. Many of them, when they have become soiled by the mire of earth, are melted and carried out by the air into the blue heavens again, where, purified, they float in billowy clouds over our heads.

"I stood beside my window one stormy
winter day,
And watched the light, white snow-
flakes flutter past;
And I saw, though each one wandered
its silent separate way,
They all sank down upon the ground
at last.
'So we must lie down too,' I said,
'When life is past.'

"From out the self-same window,
when soft spring days were come,
I watched the fair white clouds that
sailed the blue.
Could those bright pearly wonders,
far up in heaven's high dome,
Be the old wintry snow-banks that I
knew?
'So we shall one day rise again,' I
whispered, 'too.'

And these are not all of the snowflakes transformations. The bird may drink them up and change them into a sweet song. The bee and the butterfly sip the honey from the flowers which the snow has caused to grow, and change it into life and energy for their swift flight. The grains and fruit into which the snowflakes have been transformed, are changed into the rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes of little children, and strike the body and mind in men and women.

God tells us of how He sends the rain and snow to water the earth and make it bring forth and bud, to teach us of the working of His word in our own hearts. He says, "So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth."

As the snow changes the earth and makes it beautiful, and fruitful so the Word of God will change the heart that receives it, and make it blossom and bud, and bring forth the flowers of His grace, and the fruits of His Spirit.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 17, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

Here is a poor little bird that has no food to eat. He looks as if he had come to this dish in the hope that he would find some. But the soft, white snow that fell in the night, hid it all. What will poor Birdie do?

You see what he is doing? He has nothing to eat, yet he sings his happy song without a fear. He seems to know that there is One who will not forget him. He is asking God for his breakfast. It is God who gives us all our daily bread. He gives to the beast his food. He hears the cry of the birds, and takes care of them all. They do not have a store-house or barn, where they can keep a lot of food. God gives it to them day by day.

Jesus never forgets one of the little birds that He has made. He will be sure to send something for this poor little one. Perhaps He will put it into the heart of a kindly little child, like the one in our picture, to give him some crumbs. Or Birdie may find some bright berries left on a tree.

Let us be kind to the birds, and help God to feed them in the cold weather.

"The Christmas Sheaf" The Present Truth 17, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

The scene presented in our picture is a common one in Norway. In that northland the winters are very long and severe, and for months the snow lies deep on the ground. The country is mountainous, like Switzerland, but much more rugged, for the mountains are rocky, and and but a very small portion of the land is suitable for cultivation. Nevertheless the Norwegian farmers remember their friends and neighbours, the birds, and in harvest provide a Christmas dinner for them. The harvest may be scanty, but a generous sheaf of grain, or a bundle of grass well filled with seeds, is laid aside; at Christmas time it is fastened to a pole set up on the barn or some other building, and the few birds that have not flown to a warmer climate gather to it and enjoy a feast. Even in midsummer one can see the remnants of this winter feast, for the bundle of straw, thoroughly picked, remains until it is replaced by a new one, at the following Christmas season.

It is a beautiful custom, and shows us what care God has for the small creatures which to most people seem so insignificant and so worthless.

"But," some one will say, "it is the kind-hearted Norwegian, and not God, who thus provides a winter meal for the hungry birds."

Ah, do you not know that there is not a kindly thought in the heart of any soul on earth, that is not placed there by the great Father of all? Do you not know that every gentle deed is but a manifestation of the life of Him who is love itself?" Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

If it were not for God who gives the seed, and waters it, the Norwegian farmers would have nothing to divide with the birds; and if it were not for the love which led Him to give Himself for us, they would not feel any desire to share their small store with their feathered neighbours.

There is no necessity for this Norwegian custom in our country, where the fields are always green, and the birds can find plenty of seeds and berries in the entire winter; but there are creatures of more value than many sparrows, to whom we can give a portion of that which God has bestowed on us. He gave Himself for us, in order that, and having Him, we might have something to give to others.

Is it not wonderful that the great God of the universe is willing to take us, as it were, into partnership with Himself, making us His representatives, and the agents of His lovingkindness? Since this is His purpose for us, let us not reject His glorious offer, by thinking only upon ourselves. Let us now, if we have not already done so, begin to learn the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 17, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

A French conscript at Belfort is to be tried by a court-martial for insubordination, his "offence," for which he has already undergone a sentence of eight days solitary confinement, being that, as a matter of conscience, and he refuses to handle a rifle. In punishing the man for obeying God, the Government puts itself above God. The question as to who is God is becoming more and more a live one in so-called "Christian countries."

The following story which is told of the venerable, yet hale and hearty and hard-working Archbishop of Canterbury, contains a bit of true, Christian philosophy that all would do well to learn. A friend on day said that his doctor had told him that if he undertook a certain piece of work he would not live more than two years. To this the Archbishop replied, "What does it matter what happens in two years, if you do your duty now?" This is but another version of the Saviour's words, "Be not therefore anxious for the morrow; for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

The Globe says that considerable interest is being aroused in military circles by the invention of a new form of machine gun, which is said to be capable of firing bullets at the same rate as the Maxim, but with a range of 6,000 yards. This gun, if it will do all that is claimed for it, will, it is said, render the ordinary field gun nearly useless, and revolutionise the whole science of artillery, in this connection it may also be noted that the new battleship London, which is to be the flagship of the Channel Fleet, is to have, besides many other guns of long-range and large caliber, four guns capable of throwing an 250 lb. shot as far as from Dover to Calais.

A London physician calls attention to the fact that suicide among women is increasing, and that is apparently keeping pace with the greater prevalence of drunkenness among the female sex. He says that while the curse of men drunkards admitted to inebriate homes attain an average as high as 75 per cent., not more than 10 per cent., and, according to some authorities, not more than 5 per cent. of women drunkards are cured even by a twelvemonth's stay in such retreats. This is another indication that we are in the last days: for the human race is most certainly degenerating very rapidly. Already the birth-rate is rapidly diminishing; and disease and vice and war are making terrible inroads upon the population. Even if the Lord were not to come, the world would necessarily soon come; but the Messiah will surely come soon, and restore all things.

A lad in Yorkshire has just been sentenced to five years' penal servitude for wilful destruction of animals. Last April after killing a horse and a sheep, he was found in a field, creeping on his hands and knees by a hedge-side towards a second horse, holding between his teeth the knife with which he had killed the other beast. For the slaughter of innocent animals he was sentenced to a short-term of imprisonment; but within a few weeks of his release he made his way to a field where a horse was grazing, severed its jugular vein, and then ripped it up. For this he received the five-year sentence.

This is the story just as it appeared in the newspaper report, and in the same paper was the following item:-

"One of the rarest birds on the east coast of England is the Bohemian waxwing. Five of them have recently been shot near Scarborough, as well as several specimens of little auk."

There is no evidence that the one who slaughtered these innocent creatures was sentenced to any term of imprisonment. We have also read that in the north people creep along in just the same way that the boy did, in order to get a chance to kill an innocent deer. Yet they are never imprisoned for it. Can anybody tell why not? Why this inequality in the ministration of justice? If people may with impunity slaughter innocent deer and birds, even to extermination, why should a boy be punished so severely for killing a sheep or a horse?

In some reminiscence of Mr. Gladstone's later life, published in the Nineteenth Century and After, occurs this statement by Mr. Gladstone: "It has been my lot to dispose of some fifty preferments in the church-higher preferments, I mean, such as bishoprics and deaneries. Not one of the men I have appointed has ever asked me for anything." Mr. Gladstone very justly regarded this as greatly to their credit; and it may be added that it would have been greatly to the discredit of the men, and of their profession, if they had asked for preferment. In politics men seek for place and power; but Christ said to His followers: "It shall not be so among you." This was said with direct reference to two who had asked for places for themselves. For a man to ask for preferment as a minister of the Gospel, is to confess that he does not yet know the fundamental principles of the message which he assumes to proclaim. No greater error exists than the idea that it is the church's business to provide men with places, or with opportunities to work. The lost world provides the opportunity to work; and no man whom God has called will have any difficulty in finding his place. To such ones true Christians will always render hearty spiritual and temporal aid. The church of Christ as a whole is just what each member is-a servant, and not an employer of labour. Whoever seeks place preferment from men, shows that he is intent only on serving and pleasing men, one who looks to God for employment will know the joy of pleasing Him.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 17, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

This issue of the paper is the last one this year, taking the place of two numbers. Regular readers will therefore understand why the agent does not call upon them next week. The next PRESENT TRUTH will be the first number of Volume xviii., bearing date of January 2, 1902.

The insignificance of human works when viewed by God is forcibly indicated in the familiar story of the tower of Babel. The people said, "Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven." "And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded." They thought to reach heaven; but so far short of if did they come, that God is represented as having to come down even to see it. Very often when we fancy that we are doing a great thing, and think that everybody must surely be looking on, we have not accomplished enough to attract any notice at all.

It is quite common to hear people echo the poet's wish that we might see ourselves as others see us. We may be glad, however, that we do not. We should have more foolish notions, and commit mere blunders, than we now do. Some of our friends think so highly of us, at times, at least, that nobody would be able to live with us. If we saw ourselves as they see us; and others hold us in such low esteem that if we saw ourselves with their eyes we should not want to live.

Neither is it any better for us to see ourselves as God sees us, as many well-meaning souls often wish they could. The fact is, self-consciousness is the worst thing in the world for people. We do not need to see ourselves at all, and the Lord does not wish us to. He says "Look unto Me." It is only while we are "looking unto Jesus," that we are able to "run with patience the race that is set before us." We have the "eternal weight of glory" "while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." "Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord" we are "changed into the same image." We become like what we look at. If we look at ourselves, we only increase our faults; if we look at the Lord Jesus we do not see ourselves at all, but the glory of God, and thus we become transformed into His Divine image.

"The Healing Light" The Present Truth 17, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

Since writing the article "Light, Life, and Salvation," several items that have appeared in the papers, concerning the use of light in the cure of disease, showing that God is not leaving Himself without witness in the midst of earth's curse.

The Rontgen rays, so-called from the one who first observed their peculiar properties, or the X-rays, as they're often called, to indicate that they are unknown, have proved of much value in enabling surgeons to ascertain the position of foreign substances in the human body, or abnormal growths upon the bones. "That which doth make manifest is light," and there is no creature that is not manifest in the sight of God; for "all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." As these rays make hitherto opaque substances transparent, they enable us to understand how easily God can see even through the solid earth. More than this, they show us how His light actually penetrates to the interior of the body, even to the joints and marrow, carrying healing virtue.

The use of the X-rays is of course not new, but that they truly carry healing virtue to the interior of the body is a comparatively new discovery. A dispatch from New York November 27, stated that a council of physicians at Atlanta had confirmed the cure of cancer by means of the Rontgen rays. "A man who was in the last stages of the disease was put under this treatment in March last, and is now well." It was also stated that "the X-ray treatment is to be adopted in all sanatoriums."

This called out from the Surgeon to the Rontgen-ray Department of the London Skin Hospital the statement that this treatment of cancer has for some time been in successful use by English surgeons. Referring to the Atlanta case, he writes:-

"The cancer of the fact referred to was evidently either epithelioma or rodent ulcer, forms which differ slightly from cancer of the breast, of which latter we are now treating a case with definite improvement.

"The cancers of the face which have been cured by the X-rays have rapidly improved from the commencement of treatment, and my experience of their progress is similar to that of Dr. Hutchins.

"In the application of the X-rays, I firmly believe, after twelve months' usage in a variety of cases, that we have the most powerful therapeutic agent in the cure of cancer."

Chicago physicians, who claim to have seen a number of cures, and say that "the X-ray treatment is only in its primitive form at present, but it presents boundless possibilities."

These rays have always existed in the light, and have always had this healing power; but now that the most fatal diseases are increasing with the greatest rapidity, God is allowing men to see more of the remedy. So although these diseases come as a result of sin, God shows His loving compassion, and His readiness to deliver man from the evils that they have brought upon themselves.

"Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light."

¹ International Sunday-school Lesson for Jan. 13.

² International Sunday-school Lesson for Jan. 20.

³ International Sunday-school Lesson for Jan. 27.

⁴ International Sunday-school Lesson for Feb. 3.

⁵ International Sunday-school Lesson for Feb. 10.

⁶ International Sunday-school Lesson for Feb. 17.

⁷ International Sunday-school Lesson for Feb. 21.

⁸ International Sunday-school Lesson for March 17.

⁹ International Sunday-school Lesson for April 21.

¹⁰ International Sunday-school Lesson for May 5.

¹¹ International Sunday-school Lesson for May 12.

¹² International Sunday-school Lesson for May 19. The article, "How to Understand the Scriptures" is also based on this lesson.

¹³ International Sunday-school Lesson for May 26.

¹⁴ International Sunday-school Lesson for June 23.

¹⁵ International Sunday-school Lesson for July 7.

¹⁶ International Sunday-school Lesson for July 14.

¹⁷ International Sunday-school Lesson for Aug. 4.

¹⁸ International Sunday-school Lesson for Aug. 18.

¹⁹ International Sunday-school Lesson for Aug. 25.

²⁰ International Sunday-school Lesson for Sept. 1.

²¹ International Sunday-school Lesson for Sept. 8. See also the two following articles.

²² International Sunday-school Lesson for Sept. 15.

²³ International Sunday-school Lesson for Sept. 15.

²⁴ International Sunday-school Lesson for Sept. 22.

²⁵ International Sunday-school Lesson for Oct. 6.

²⁶ International Sunday-school Lesson for Oct. 13.

²⁷ International Sunday-school Lesson for Oct. 20.

²⁸ International Sunday-school Lesson Oct. 27.

²⁹ International Sunday-school Lesson for Nov.

³⁰ International Sunday-school Lesson for Nov. 10.

³¹ International Sunday-school Lesson for Nov. 17.

³² International Sunday-school Lesson for Dec. 1.

³³ International Sunday-School lesson for Dec. 22.