The Present Truth, Vol. 18 (1902)

January 2, 1902

"The Old and the New" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

From every side sounds the wish which we from the heart utter for all our readers, "A Happy New Year!" From many a church spire, bells "ring out the old," and "ring in the new;" but the hearts that have so merrily responded will in most cases as has so often happened in the past, soon forget the new, joyous impulses that the new year aroused, and the life will settle into its accustomed groove, no better for the awakening, but a little less responsive than before, because of good resolutions made and disregarded. Now just because our wish is sincere, we add to our greeting a few words that may, if heeded, enable each one to keep the newness and freshness all through the year.

God is the God of eternity. He is unchanged from everlasting to everlasting, and "in Him we live, and move, and have our being." But eternity means constant newness, as is shown by the fact that God is unchangeable. We see "change and decay" in all around; but God remains absolute perfection. Therefore all who by faith abide in Him, dwelling with Him in eternity, must be continually renewed. Continual renewing means unchanged newness.

It is no fancy or hyperbole, to speak of dwelling with God in eternity; "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. If He who inhabits eternity dwells with us, we must certainly dwell with Him in eternity.

"He that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new." This will be said before very long of the heavens and the earth; but even now God is performing this work for all who by faith consciously abide in Him. So we are enabled to says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life form 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. 2-5.

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Happiness is always subjective, not objective. That is, it always depends upon the individual himself, and not on something external. If a person is to have a happy new year, he must himself be happy; and he will be happy if he remains ever new. This is not only possible, but it is God's design for us all; for "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." 2 Cor. v. 17, 18. The life of Christ is given us, to be "made manifest in our mortal flesh," so that even "though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." 2 Cor. iv. 11-16.

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning." Lam. iii. 22, 23. So since He crowns us with His loving-kindness and tender mercies, it is evident that if we receive them as from Him, and recognise the purpose for which He gives them, we shall be new every morning. Thus will each new day be in reality to us the beginning of a happy new year.

This is the true ringing out of the old, and the ringing in of the new. It is the putting off of "the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts," being "renewed in the spirit of your mind," and putting on "the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." This "old man" that is to be put off, and the "old things" that pass away in Christ, are only comparatively old: they are old, not because of priority of existence, but because of decay; the "new man" and the things which of God become new to us, were "from the beginning." The "new commandment," that we love one another, is "the old commandment which ye heard from the beginning." 1 John ii. 7; iii. 11. Only "that which was from the beinning,"-Christ, the Word of life,-is everlasting and always new; for He is "the Beginning," and He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever."

Therefore, Abide in Him! "Trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength;" and "they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength."

"The Promise of Power Fulfilled. Acts ii. 1-21" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesus said to His disciples: "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you;" "and when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight." And then came the promise that he would return as He went away. Wherever we find it, the promise of power is in connection with the promise of Christ's second coming. The power to be received is the power of His coming, and is the preparation for it.

The Spirit is Christ's Representative, His personal, invisible presence. Thus when Christ foretold the coming of the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, He said, "I will not leave you comfortless [or orphans]; I will come to you." John xiv. 16-18. So just as He was taking leave of His disciples, He said, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth;" and, "lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Matt. xxviii. 18-20.

From this we see that Christ's presence by the indwelling Spirit brings all power in heaven and in earth. Thus it is not possible for there to be any greater power than that which the Spirit has to impart, and which is the free gift to all who believe. It is the sum of all the power in the universe. It is therefore evident that the second coming of Christ "in power and great glory" is the manifestation of the same power that the Spirit bestows upon and works out in the life of every true believer.

So when Peter on the day of Pentecost explained to the wondering multitude the miracle of the gift of speaking with tongues, he quoted the prophecy of the last days and the Lord's coming. "It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and on My Servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy; and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke; the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come; and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Acts ii. 16-21.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Now it is evident that it at the coming of Christ any greater power were exhibited than has acconmpanied the revelation of the Gospel to men for their salvation, there would be opportunity in the Judgment for some soul to bring a charge against God, saying, "If the Gospel had come to me with such power as this, I would have believed," or, "If there had been the revelation of such mighty power as is now manifested against Satan, to destroy him, I could have successfully resisted him." And it is further evident that if any soul could make it appear that God had not done for his salvation all that He is able to do, God could not judge the world. But no tongue will be able to utter one word against God in the Judgment, and therefore we know that the Gospel is the revelation of God's infinite power, as well as His infinite love. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ God has given us Himself without any reservation whatever.

So we know that all the wondrous power to be exhibited at the coming of Christ to Judgment is ours now for salvation. Think of the removal of the mountains into the midst of the sea, and the fleeing away of the islands; in short, of the turning of the earth upside down, and the shaking of the powers of the heavens; and then know that all the power that it will take to accomplish that is even now present with every soul of mankind, for its salvation. In that day Satan and his host of evil angels will be destroyed, and sin will be rooted out of the earth; "for yet a little while and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and he shall not be." Ps. xxxvii. 10. "For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it." Prov. ii. 21, 22.

God has no hatred for sinners, and no desire that any should perish. "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); and He has fully manifested His great love for sinners, even while they were dead in sins, in that "He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but

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have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. Therefore we know that the power which at the last will destroy Satan and sin is the power which now is ours, with which to resist Satan and overcome sin.

That power has been working in the earth since the creation; for, when "the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep," the Spirit of God brooded over the face of the abyss, and brought order out of chaos. That which was done on Pentecost was therefore only the full, visible manifestation of "that which was from the beginning." The fulness of the power is in the world now, and it is for all who will use it, or, rather, for all who will allow it to work through them.

For the power does even now work in every human being, whether it be recognised or not. "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job xxxiii. 4. The same Spirit, with undiminished power, keeps us alive, supplying us with power, keeps us alive, supplying us with breath. So we have not to ask God to give us the power of the Spirit, but only to humble ourselves to accept that which has been given once for all, never to be withdrawn.

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

"The Gift of Speech" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

On the day of Pentecost the disciples, not less than one hundred and twenty in number, were all together in one place, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind, which filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like fire; and it sat on 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. 4.

Here was an evident miracle; and, like all the miracles of God, it was done to teach us of God's working, and not merely for us to wonder at as a unique thing. Thus, the miracle of turning water into wine teaches us that it is God who makes all pure wine, the transformation of water into wine being ordinarily effected in the branches of the vine; but the miracle differs in no essential thing from that done instantly by Christ, the true Vine.

Likewise when Jesus fed the five thousand with five loaves, as well as when the Israelites were fed with manna in the wilderness, He showed that He is the bread of life; that all bread that we eat comes from heaven, and that we live only from and by Him.

So the miracle wrought on Pentecost was not alone for the sake of the disciples then present, nor for the sake of the multitude, but that we might learn from the record that the ability to speak in any language whatever is the direct gift of God, and that it is the Holy Spirit alone that gives utterance. Whether a person is in a moment given the power to speak a foreign language, or whether the child learns in the course of months to speak the language of its parents, in both cases it is the Spirit of God alone that gives utterance. Speech is the gift of the Spirit of God.

That this is not a mere opinion, may be seen by reading the story of the call of Moses. God told him to go to Egypt with a message to Pharaoh and his people, and to all Israel. But Moses had been living the lonely life of a shepherd for forty years, and he said, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant; but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." Then the Lord answered his objection by saying, "Who hath made man's mouth? . . . have not I the Lord?" Ex. iv. 10, 11. He who made the mouth is the One who provides the proper words for it; as the psalmist says: "O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise." Ps. li. 15.

Take some other words of Scripture. Paul wrote by inspiration to the Corinthians: "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge." 1 Cor. i. 4, 5.

Also 2 Cor. vii. 7: "Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, . . . see that ye abound in this grace also."

Again, he exhorts the brethren to pray earnestly for all saints, and adds, "And for me, that utterance may be given me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the Gospel." Eph. vi. 19. The apostle was not here asking specially that he might be able to talk with other tongues, but that he might on all occasions speak the Gospel in the proper manner.

The Spirit was given that He might abide with us for ever; not intermittently, but continuously. This is because we continually need the gifts that he bestows. The Spirit is given for our own profit, and not merely for use in a large assembly. We need the Spirit just as much when we are alone, or with one or two others, as when we have to speak to a multitude; just as much to be able to speak properly to a friend or a passing stranger, in our native tongue, as to a church, in another language. "If any man speak," no matter when or where, "let him speak as the oracles of God." 1 Peter iv. 11.

The word "utterance" in 1 Cor. i. 5; 2 Cor. vii. 7, and Eph. vi. 19 is significant. It is from the Greek word meaning "word," so that we might read, "In everything ye are enriched by Him, in all word, and in all knowledge;" or, Pray for me, "that word may be given me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to speak the mystery of the Gospel." It is the very same word also that is translated "oracles" in 1 Peter iv. 11, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles [words] of God." Also Acts vii. 38, where we read that Moses "received the lively oracles [literally, "living words"] to give unto us."

Now with this new thought in mind, read Isa. li. 14: "I have put my words in thy mouth;" and Isa. lix. 21: "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 henceforth and for ever." Read also 2 Cor. v. 19, that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself; . . . and hath put in us the word of reconciliation." Thus the Greek text reads, as indicated in the margin.

We are ambassadors for Christ, to proclaim God's message of reconciliation in Christ's stead. God's words were in Christ's mouth, (Deut. xviii. 18), and He spoke no other words; for He was God's messenger every moment of His life. He was as much the messenger of God's salvation when He was working at the carpenter's bench in Nazareth as when He was healing the multitudes in Capernaum, or teaching them by the sea of Galilee. Even so we are to be His ambassadors every

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moment of our lives, and not merely on public occasions. We cannot divest ourselves of this office, and assume it again at will. "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." Col. iii. 17.

But we must remember that it is "the word,"-the gift of speech, reason, and not a mass of words, that God put into us. This is seen in the case of Adam. When God had made Adam, He brought to him all the creatures previously made, to see what he would call them; "and whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof." God did not give Adam a list of names with which to label the animals; but He filled him with the Spirit, and the right words came forth. When we consider the perfect beginning of all things, we cannot fail to see that language, the power to utter correct words; is the gift of God; that is, it is a gift that comes from the Spirit that is given to dwell in us.

Now let us go a step further. We have seen that God puts His word into us, so that we may carry on Christ's work in the earth, and that we exist for no other purpose but to do that. We have also learned that "utterance," in the texts cited, is from the Greek word meaning "word." This is logos, the same that occurs in John i. 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Christ is the living Word, the expression of God's complete and perfect thought. So it is from the study, not of words, but of the Word, that we learn proper language. It is from the living Word in the heart, that perfect speech comes.

Language is not a mechanical putting of words together, but is a growth, depending on experience. It is the unfolding of a seed, or a growth from a root. Every student knows that many words expressing widely different meanings, often come from a single root. Now Christ is the Root whence all true words come. When Christ dwells in His fulness within, we can think logically and utter thoughts properly; for logos is both reason and the expression of it. So we have the exhortation: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." Col. iii. 16.

The fact that all words come from a single, original root,-the Word,-teaches us "how forcible are right words." God can express the whole range of Divine thought in a single word. How simple, therefore, and yet how infinite is our range of study! Hence the force of the statement and exhortation, "God is in heaven, and thou upon the earth; therefore let thy words be few." Eccl. v. 2. When the Word of Christ dwells in the heart in all wisdom, we shall speak fewer words, and they will have infinitely more effect than the multitudes that we now utter. "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin" (Prov. x. 19), and "a fool's voice is known by multitude of words." Eccl. v. 3. "He that refraineth his lips is wise."

IDLE WORDS

God's word is constructive; it creates. "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." Ps. xxxiii. 6, 9. Here again we see that right language is not the mere naming of things, but the utterance-the bringing forth-of that which is within. A real word is a thing, as indicated by the Hebrew, which has but one term for both words. The real word has substance, for Christ upholds all things "by the word of His power." Heb. i. 3. The Word of God works in all who receive it (1 Thess. ii. 13), and it works to build up. Acts xx. 32.

This, taken with the truth that God has given as His word (for "the word if nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart"), make plain to us the justice of this statement: "I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account therefore in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified; and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Matt. xii. 36, 37.

The word "idle" in this passage is the same as that in Matt. xx. 6, addressed to the labourers standing in the market place, "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" They were not doing anything. So for every word that we speak, which does not do something, we shall be called to account in the Judgment.

The Word of God is the capital that is entrusted to us. If allowed free course it will accomplish much; but if we pervert it,-if we hinder it in its appointed mission, or use it to express our own empty ideas,-we are justly chargeable with misappropriating funds.

Can we not from this brief study see what a responsibility rests upon us in being able to talk? What a terrible thing to abuse the precious gift? Our part is to "study to be quiet," for that is an art, and to speak only as the Spirit within gives utterance. "Turn you at My reproof," says the Lord; "behold, I will pour out My Spirit unto you, I will make known My words unto you." Prov. i. 23. Thus only can we be true witnesses for Christ (Acts i. 8); for "He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God; for God giveth not the Spirit by measure." John iii. 34.

"Christian Work" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

Someone has said, "Let Christ be in you, your all in all, and it will surprise you how much you can do for Him." Yes; but it will not all be in the line of preaching and singing, or by holding Gospel conversations. These are good and necessary; but they do not by any means constitute the sum of work for Christ. The term "Christian work" is almost wholly restricted to these things, but it is a great mistake. All the work that Christ did was most certainly Christian work in the highest sense, and for eighteen years He worked as a carpenter. He spent six times as long in Christian work at the carpenter's bench as in public teaching; and it is by that part of His life that we are saved, as much as by the latter part. Whoever does his daily tasks faithfully, no matter what it may be, giving diligence to become master of it, and to do it as well as it can possibly be done, is doing work for Christ; and whoever slights his work, no matter how small it may be, is not serving the Master. "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Sunday the First Day of the Week" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

"Can you kindly inform me what Bible authority we have for calling Sunday the first day of the week?"

The terms of your question should be inverted; for it is not Sunday that is called the first day of the week, but the first day of the week that is called Sunday. The number was before the name. Then when the question is inverted, and it is asked what Bible authority we have for calling the first day of the week Sunday, the reply must be that we have none; for the names of all the days of the week are of heathen origin.

It must be known to every reader of the Bible that from the beginning the days of the week were known only by number, as first, second, third, etc. Only one was named, and that was the seventh. Its name was Sabbath, and of course it is so still. See the first chapter of Genesis, and Ex. xx. 8-11. Yet, in reality "Sabbath" is not the name, but only the description of the seventh day. The word "Sabbath" simply tells what the day is-a rest; for Sabbath is the Hebrew word for rest.

As might be expected, there is in the entire Bible no change in the titles of the days from those given in the beginning. They are always, with the exception of the seventh day as already noted, known only by number; and these titles they still retain. No matter what other names men may call them, no act of man can change what God is done. Whatever God has called a thing, that is the name of it.

The question, then, which is really to be settled is this: Have the days of the week come to us with the name designation that they had from the beginning, without change? In other words, Are the days now known as the first and the seventh the same ones that God so designated at the creation?

It is easy to show that the answer to these questions must be, Yes. God Himself keeps the record, and He can make no mistake. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt took place about twenty-five hundred years after the creation; and at that time God made it very plain which day was the seventh, so that there could not possibly be any mistake, even supposing that the people had previously lost the reckoning. For forty years God was their time-keeper, marking the seventh day each week by wonderful miracles. Of course when they knew the seventh day, there was no trouble about the others.

And God continued to be the time-keeper when the children of Israel came to Canaan. When they forgot Him, and began to break the Sabbath, becoming like the heathen, He reproved them again and again by His prophets; and at last they were carried into captivity, solely because they had not kept the Sabbath. See Jer. xvii. and 2 Chron. xxxvi. From the time of the Babylonian captivity, the Jews never again went into idolatry, but, as far as outward acts were concerned, were most zealous worshippers of Jehovah, and very punctilious concerning the Sabbath.

Then Christ came, and testified both by word and deed that the day which the Jews were keeping was the true Sabbath of the Lord. Soon after His ascension, the Jews were scattered over all the earth, yet there has never arisen any doubt as to which day is the Sabbath. If a company of Jews from every nation were to meet in London, they would all be keeping the same day of the week-the seventh day.

Having the seventh day so firmly established, it is easy enough to determine all the other days in the week. One has only to be able to count seven, either forward or backwards. There are but seven days a week, and when the seventh is reached, the count begins with the first again, the next day. The day that follows immediately after the Bible Sabbath is the first day of the week (See Matt. xxviii. 1) and is now known as Sunday.

Or, to state it another way. The resurrection of Jesus took place on the first in a week, "when the Sabbath was passed." Mark xvi. 1, 2. The day was by the heathen dedicated to the sun, and was known among the Romans as dies solis,-day of the sun, or, the sun's day, from which comes our word Sunday. So we see that there cannot possibly be any question that the day called Sunday is the first day of the week. This is established by indisputable Bible testimony, which at the same time shows that it is not, and cannot be, the Sabbath day.

"The Editor's Private Corner. 'When Was the Sabbath Changed'" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

The following questions, "When did they change the Sabbath from the seventh day of the week to the first day? Why did they do so?" were sent to the New York Tribune, by a reader of that journal. The brief answer which follows was given in that journal, and is very clear and explicit. We reprint it in hope that it may help others who have similar queries, and stimulate them to further investigation. The only question that remains to be answered is, How can men who know these things pacify their consciousness in observing the human institution instead of the Divine?

1. The first observance of Sunday that history records was in the fourth century, when Constantine issued an edict (not requiring its religious observance, but simply abstinence from work) reading, "Let all the judges and people of the town rest and all the various trades be suspended on the venerable day of the sun." At the time of the issue of this edict, Constantine was a sun-worshipper; he refused to unite with the church until on his death-bed (337). At the church council in 538 the religious observance of Sunday was recommended, but very little attention was paid to it. In 780 Aleuin, an English prelate, became the spiritual adviser of Charlemagne, when for the first time it was formally declared that the fourth commandment covered the first day of the week; but this declaration was observed by comparatively few, and for eight centuries thereafter Sunday was observed far more as a day of sport and festivity than as a religious one. The English parliament sat on Sundays, and English courts were held on that day, down to the reign of Elizabeth. In 1593 Dr. Nicholas Bound, of Suffolk County, England, published a work called "The True Doctrine

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of the Sabbath," in which he maintained, not that Sunday was divinely appointed as a Sabbath, but that the obligation to observe a Sabbath was divine. It was as late as at the opening of the seventeenth century when the Puritans in England began the practice of calling Sunday the Sabbath.

2. There never were, and are not now, any satisfactory reasons given for the calling and observing of Sunday as the Sabbath day. Bishop Potter says: "Their [the Puritans] warrant for what they did [with reference to Sunday as a Sabbath], whether we look for it in the pages of the New Testament of in the traditions of Catholic Christendom, was neither substantial nor sufficient."

"The Bondage of Fashion" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

The majority of women are so accustomed to bow their heads in the temple of Fashion, even though in their hearts they may not worship the fickle goddess, that it does not occur to them as strange that they should be entangled with this yoke of bondage. A writer in the Scottish Review called attention to the helpless, almost abject tone taken by women in this matter, quoting the following as instances:-

"It goes without saying that close-fitting dresses and clinging costumes are still the correct thing, and many women who not so long ago shunned making themselves, as they considered, noticeable by adopting this style, will, if they persist in not following it, render themselves not merely noticeable, but conspicuous, and even eccentric."

"I grieve," says another, "to record the fact that skirts are longer than ever; in fact, they are worn dangerously long in front."

Or take this paragraph from a fashionable contemporary. "It is extraordinary to what serpent-like proportions the skirt has dwindled. One man can hardly attempt to sit down in it, must less to walk-that is to say, what we generally understand by walking. We must now just move and glide, sweeping the carpets and streets as we do so."

"I should like," writes another, "to enter my protest against the abominable fashion of clinging and trailing skirts. We have had fashions grotesque, fashions inconvenient, and fashions unbecoming in the extreme, but have we not of late years laid the flattering unction to our souls that Englishwomen, at any rate, were beginning to shake off the trammels of French conventionality of attire? . . . Why, then, in the name of all that is sensible and sane, are we to be condemned to a fashion which is not only idiotic, and renders anything like free and graceful movement an impossibility, but which is also uncleanly in the extreme?"

The point that all these quotations emphasise is the coercing force of Fashion's decrees upon multitudes of women, to buy and wear whatever is being worn, whether it be pretty or ugly, whether they like it or not. Apparently the only course which suggests itself as a remedy for the discontented, is to protest, in the hope of changing the prevailing fashion, in order not to be compelled to wear that which reason condemns as ridiculous, unclean, or injurious to health. The idea of individual independence, originality, or nonconformity in the matter of dress, does not, in the minds of most women, come within the range of possibilities.

This is a matter which all Christian women need carefully and prayerfully to consider. For the Word of God, which tells us to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God, which is our reasonable service, continues: "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."

From this it is evident that the transformation and renewing of the mind, results in nonconformity to the world, because its practices are out of harmony with the will of God. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

That the fashions of this world are not of God is shown by their deforming effect upon the Creator's masterpiece; by the wanton destruction of free, joyous bird and animal life which they necessitate; by their frequent change, which takes the time, thought, and means of those who follow them, filling the mind with things that are but for a moment, and crowding out eternal realities.

"Little Folks. A Happy New Year" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

Do you want to know how you may have a happy new year, not for one day only, but for a whole year? We do not mean that you may have a happy year only, but that from Jan. 2st to Dec. 31st, it may be a new year also.

Your parents love to make you happy. They are always thinking of you and planning for you, and doing things to make you happy. But your Heavenly Father loves you much more than the earthly parents to whose care He has entrusted you. Before He brought any of His human family into the world, He provided everything that they could possibly need to make them happy.

He knew that their greatest happiness could come only through knowing Him, so He made for them a wonderful and beautiful book in which they might learn of Him. We call it the Book of Nature. He taught His children to read in this book, so that they might learn to know and love Him. But His Word, which is written there, is infinite, like Himself, and so if one should read there for millions of years, he would not come to the end of it, for there is none.

A great philosopher who had read more in this book than most men, said at the close of his life that he felt like a child on the beach picking up a few shining shells and pebbles cast up by the tide, while the great ocean of truth lay beyond, waiting to be explored.

There are many things that people learn from books written by men, which they must leave behind when Jesus comes, for they will not be of any use to them in the world to come. But it is not so with anything that we learn in God's Book. The lessons form it that we learn here will prepare our minds to continue the study of the wonderful works of God in the new earth throughout eternity. So if we now neglect this Book that our Father has written for us, it will be an eternal loss to us, while all that we learn in it now will be our eternal gain.

The pages of God's Book have been marred by sin, and the minds of men are blinded, so that they cannot safely study the works of God, without the Bible which He has given us for our guide. Here Jesus tells us to consider the lilies, to behold the birds, to ask the beasts, the fishes, and the fowls of the air, and they shall all teach us of God. Job tells us to "stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God."

It is for this purpose that God has given us the Sabbath; that we may cease from all our work, and think of Him who in the beginning made the new earth. The Sabbath is to teach us constantly, every day, to consider the wondrous works of God, and this will remind us always of the beginning-of God who in the beginning made all things new.

This will teach us of His power to create in us clean hearts, to make us day by day new creatures in Christ Jesus. "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."

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

Now do you not you not see how you may have a happy new year all through the year? It is by being yourself made new every morning by that power which in the beginning made the new heavens and the new earth, and the new man, and which will soon restore and again "make all things new." And all the works of God, which He tells you to consider, will teach you and remind you every day of His power to do this. And this will make a happy new year for you all the time, as the poet Cowper says:-

"Happy who walks with Him; who what He finds
Of flavour or of scent in fruit or flower,

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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 remembrances of a present God."

Here is the whole secret of happiness: the presence of God; for "in His presence is fulness of joy." It is this that makes heaven, and that is the joy of the angels. So everything that reminds us of His constant presence is to make us happy; and this is why He has surrounded us with all the wonderful and beautiful works of His hands.

Then will you not every day read in the Book of God's works some lesson of His wisdom, love and power? From week to week we will try to help you with some suggestions. Let all the things you see remind you of Him who made them, and who made you, and is with you, giving you life and breath and all things. Thus will His abiding presence with you through all the days give you indeed a happy New Year.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

Many of the little birds fly away from us before the winter comes. They cannot live here when it is so cold. The flowers are all dead. The insects that feed on their honey have died too, or gone to sleep where the birds cannot find them. The worms are fast asleep in their holes under the ground. The earth is frozen hard, so the birds cannot get at them. There is no fruit on the trees, nor even any leaves. What would the birds find to eat if they should stay?

So they spread their little wings, and away they fly over the wide sea. They go to a warm land, where the sun shines, and the flowers bloom all the winter.

How do they know the way to go? Many of them are young birds that have not been before. There is no path over the sea, and nothing to show them the way.

Yes, there is something. It is the Spirit of God in each little bird that tells it the time has come to fly away. The birds know the voice of God, and they obey His call. He leads them over the pathless sea, he takes them to the place where He has plenty of food for them to eat. How happy they will be in the bright sunshine! But some birds, like our dear Robin Redbreast, stay with us all the cold, dark winter. This is why we love him so.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

Within less than a week after the death of the public executioner, three hundred applications for the vacant position were received at the Home Office. This morbid anxiety to take human life is undoubtedly to a large extent due to the prevalence of the war spirit.

Only a few years ago Africa was an unknown continent, and now there is railway communication to the very heart of it, the Uganda railway having reached the shores of Lake Victoria Nyanza. The Chronicle notes that the railway cannot be expected to pay its way for at least another decade, and says: "Its real raison d'?tre, as also of our occupation of Uganda, is to secure our hold on Egypt and the headwaters of the Nile?

Wonders are the common talk of the day. The same paper which announced that Marconi had succeeded in sending and receiving signals across the Atlantic Ocean by wireless telegraphy, also reported, on the authority of the Independence Belge, that Dr. Sylvester, an American physician who is a naturalized Frenchman, has invented a spectrograph which enables a person using a telephone to see the individual to whom he is speaking and even the room in which the message is being received.

The Naval Attache to the American Embassy in London has been telling the correspondent of a Washington newspaper that England's naval strength is greater than that of any two of the most powerful Continental Powers, with another Power added, but that the policy of the Navy League and the Press is to prepreciate England's strength in the mind of the public, in order that large appropriations may the more readily be secured for expenditure on the Navy. Thus the made race is kept up and millions are spent in a moment.

A man who was recently before the Southwark magistrate on a charge of having been drunk and disorderly, made the following plea: "I pay the taxes, and I buy the drink which the State puts in my way, and then they punish me for taking it. Why should they do that?" The Daily Mail calls that a "curious defence" and a "far-fetched theory," and the magistrate remanded the prisoner for seven days in order that the prisoner for seven days in order that the prison doctor's attention could be called to the state of his mind. What there was curious or far-fetched about the defence we cannot see, for it is clearly an act of injustice for the State to license the sale of liquor, and then punish men for taking it. It was not long since that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in presenting his estimates to the House of Commons, mentioned the increased consumption of alcoholic liquor as an encouraging feature, in that it meant increased revenue.

The Daily Chronicle has been publishing a mass of correspondence on the reason for the falling off in church attendance; and one correspondent puts the case thus, which we are bound to say is a very forcible presentation:-

"What self-respecting man or woman cares to listen to the scientific religion taught or acquiesced in by the heads of the Church. The fact is the simple Christian faith of our fathers and forefathers is becoming as extinct as the dodo.

"When one learned divine teaches that Adam and Eve were anthropoid apes-another that the miracles are merely interesting fables, and a third that our Lord is purely mythical, it is obvious that the Church has got into very bad company; and I submit that until it rids itself of such unwelcome teachers there will be no great increase in the attendance of persons at church."

In his Chesterfield speech, which was a wonderfully clear and comprehensive view of the present situation, Lord Roseberry thus described the danger that now threatens Great Britain, and in consequence, the world: "You know that we are engaged in anything but peace, and that we have incurred the ill-will of every nation, or almost every nation, on the face of the globe. Now that in itself is a very dangerous state of affairs. I do not say that I am quite sure that the Governments of all countries are anxious to remain on good terms with Great Britain, and a great, smouldering, and even sometimes a flaming, ill-will, such as prevails all over Europe against us, is an element in the political situation full of contingent peril, if not of immediate danger."

The Scientific American of December 14 is entirely given up to illustrations and descriptions of the United States Navy, and apologises for it thus: "We are building up a power navy for the express purpose of preserving the peace, and ever battleship and cruiser that hoists her flag in commission is a pledge that the peace will be kept." "As a journal devoted to the peaceful arts, we present this delineation and description of our growth as a naval power, in the firm belief that the first and last duty of our navy, the fundamental object of its existence, is to place the nation in a position of defence so secure and unassailable that we may pursue the arts of peace without fear of molestation, or even the shadow of affront."

That is what all other nations say. Indeed, the Scientific American concedes this point, when is says: "In an earlier age, to possess the implements of war was to make haste to use them; to-day the nations that maintain the greatest armaments appears to be the most reluctant to use them. It is certain that so long as our naval strength is adequate to our necessities, war will never be thrust upon us." But the fact that each nation is intent on building up its navy ("for the express purpose of preserving the peace," of course), shows that some of them have any confidence in the peaceful professions of any other: and it also shows that each one's own profession of peaceful intentions are but a sham, since every ship of war is intended to be used whenever "necessity" seems to demand it. The nations of the world are but as wild beasts, peaceful enough when gorged and unmolested, but fierce and combative if they are provoked or feel that they want something which belongs to a weaker beast.

In the column of religious news, in one of the daily journals we find the following item: "Quite recently in Cardiff there was a case where some members, who objected to the use of fermented wine, were struck off the communicants' roll." Nearer and nearer are we coming to the time when the only thing in the world, that will be regarded as heresy by the Church will be the exact following of the precepts and example of Christ. Everybody can see by reading the Bible that there is nowhere any mention of wine in connection with communion, but only "the fruit of the vine," which certainly is not fermented liquor of any kind. But worse is yet to come, for Jesus said to His true disciples: "They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." John xvi. 2, 3.

The Vorwurtz says that a pastor in one of the suburbs of Berlin declined to speak at the grave of one of his parishioners on the ground that the dead man had been a Social Democrat. He told the daughter of the Socialist that "a servant of God cannot take part in the burial of a Social Democrat; that it is just the same as in the case of a suicide." He held by this decision, and the Socialist was buried without Christian rites.

There we have a relic, which is all too common, of the pagan idea that the dead can be affected for good or ill by the rites that are performed over them. Nothing that may be said or done, or left undone, can in any way affect the dead; so far as they are concerned, there is no necessity for any ceremony whatever. The service is wholly for the benefit of the living, and a faithful minister of the Gospel will improve every opportunity to do them good, even at the grave of the worst man that ever lived.

Our readers will remember that a few weeks ago we mentioned the case of a young French conscript who, on conscientious grounds, refused to handle a rifle when called to service. The Army and Navy Gazette mentions his case, as that of "A 'conscientious' conscript," putting the word "conscientious" in inverted commas, as though it were absurd to suppose that a conscript can have a conscience, and states that he "has ideas of his own." He actually refused to learn war even "when it was pointed out to him that he was the only individual who entertained such notions." The Gazette says: "One of our military contemporaries thinks it worth while to devote an article to the argument of the young artilleryman, but it appears to us to be rather beating the wind to argue seriously such a case." Such is the blighting, withering effect of devotion to militarism that it tends to make a man wholly a machine, and one who has a mind of his own, and a conscience, is regarded as an anomaly.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

It was immediately after receiving the most blessed and comprehensive promise that God ever made, that "an horror of great darkness" fell upon Abraham. Such an experience is not uncommon, and we should not be disheartened by it. Instead of regarding the enshrouding darkness as evidence that we have forfeited the favour of God, we should consider that the promise and the communion which preceded it were for the purpose of strengthening us for the trial. Remember also that God was in the darkness with Abraham, and in the midst of it the promise was repeated. The darkness hides not from Him; but the night shines even as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to Him.

Nowhere in the Bible do we find any intimation that God wishes people to "wear themselves out in His service." This does not mean that he would have them look out for themselves, and consider their own selfish ease. Far from it; on the contrary, He would have all do with their might what their hands find to do. But it does mean that whole-hearted, intelligent devotion to God's cause brings fresh life. The truth of this is seen in the case of Moses, who at the age of one hundred and twenty was as young as at forty; yet he did enough work each day for seventy men. God is "the living God," Christ is "the Prince of life," and He gives eternal life to as many as believe in Him.

Not long since we heard a preacher say, "God does not need the company of man, and can easily dispense with it." Don't believe it; "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." He gave Himself for us, because He wanted us. His soul yearns for human companionship so much that He cannot live without it. he saves us, not for our sakes, but for His own sake, He tells us more than once. what confidence this gives us in approaching Him. we do not come cowering, as culprits who hardly dare believe the words of pardon spoken by the Judge, but with boldness, as friends to a Friend who has been at infinite pains to secure our company.

Speaking of the end of the world, Jesus said: "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils, and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart form Me, ye that work iniquity." Matt. vii. 22, 23.

It is not what we have done, but what Christ the Lord has done, that is of value. "By grace are ye saved through faith; . . . not of works lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before prepared, that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 8-10.

"Not what these hands have done
Can save this guilty soul;
Not what this willing flesh has borne
Can make my spirit whole.

"Thy work alone, O Christ,
Can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
Can give me peace within."

"What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Mark xi. 24. But the Lord does not wish us to believe what is not so; He does not tell us to believe that we have a thing, when we do not have it; for that would be to believe a lie. Therefore He means that when we pray we receive the things that we ask for, while we are asking. "He that asketh, receiveth." But of course we must ask in faith, that is, according to God's will and Word. The man who does not ask in faith, need not expect to receive anything; but whoever asks for the things that God has promised to give us, should know that he gets them in the asking.

"'Sunday and the Sabbath'" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

The Church Times of December 20 has a favourable review of a book by the Rev. H. R. Gamble, M. A., entitled "Sunday and the Sabbath," which contains some statements and admissions that all who hold to Sunday observance ought to understand. As can be seen by the title, a distinction is recognised between Sunday and the Sabbath, the reviewer plainly stating that "Sunday is not the Christian Sabbath," and declaring that there is no connection between the Sabbath and the Sunday.

This is perfectly true; but if all knew it, there are many more who would keep the Sabbath, according to the Bible, rather than cling to the Sunday, according to Papal tradition. The Church Times says that "It is quite true that Sunday was and is observed solely on 'the authority of the church.'" This is true; but the fact that this is done in the face of the fourth commandment, in which God by His own voice enjoined the observance of the seventh day of the week, shows that "the church" on whose authority Sunday is kept is the Papacy, which exalts itself above God.

This is further evident from the statement of the Church Times, that "a Sunday without Mass is no Sunday at all." That is to say, the Sunday has no sacredness except that which is derived from the Mass; which means that it is really heathen. The reviewer says that "the church has, without recorded formal enactment, secured one day in seven as its day of special worship;" but this was a work of supererogation, since God, by specially recorded formal enactment, had long before secured the seventh day for rest and worship. People who hold that Sunday is sacred may set themselves to answering Mr. Gamble and the Church Times. The task is specially recommended to professed Protestants.

"Groping in the Dark" The Present Truth 18, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

Groping in the Dark. -One who signs himself "Christian" writes thus to the Daily Chronicle, on what is called "Higher Spiritualism":-

"A friend of mine has lately been investigating the subject with a view to ascertaining if Spiritualism is a reality or a fraud, and, if the former, if it is good or evil; he has been some months at this work, attending numerous sÈances, etc., but has not yet been able to arrive at any definite conclusion."

No; and he will never be able to arrive at any definite conclusion in that way, except that he is in danger of becoming wholly blind through groping in the dark. Spiritualism is a thing of darkness, its sÈances being conducted in the dark, and the only proper way to investigate it is to turn on it the search-light of God's Word. A man can learn more of the interior of a cave by standing outside and flashing a light inside for a minute, than he can by groping about in it for a week.

January 9, 1902

"A Church Built by the Lord. Acts ii. 37-47" The Present Truth 18, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

A little company of men, and women too, spoke "the wonderful works of God," and as the result three thousand souls were baptized, and added to the church. "And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they did take their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added together day by day those that were being saved." Revised Version, with margin.

In reading the account of that notable Pentecost, people usually think only of Peter's "sermon," and attribute the multitude of conversions solely to that. But let us look closely at the facts as stated in the record. The number of those who were gathered together was one hundred and twenty (Acts i. 15), including women (Acts i. 13, 14); and these "were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Now when people "praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men;" when they speak of the glory of His kingdom, and talk of His power, "to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom," the result will always be that "many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord;" for it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance.

The great number of conversions on the day of Pentecost must therefore be attributed to the recounting of the wonderful works of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This does not by any means minimise Peter's share in the work, for He also was filled with the Spirit, and spoke with the rest. Thus his "sermon" as men like to call it, was not anything like what people nowadays call a sermon. It was simply a little explanatory talk, followed by an exhortation. The whole affair, so far as the people that took part in it were concerned, was very simple; the results were the effect of the working of God's Word, and the story of His wonderful acts.

The most wonderful work of God that was told that day was that "God hath made that same Jesus whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ." The humble Carpenter of Nazareth, the poor Man who had no place that He could call His own, in which to sleep,-"Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior." When the people heard this story told with such assurance and power that it carried conviction with it, they cried out, "Brethren, what shall we do?" Then came the answer, "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him." This exhortation was heeded, with the result already stated.

WHAT IS THE PROMISE OF GOD?

What is this promise that is so extensive, of which Peter spoke? Was it the promise that they should receive the Spirit? This is the idea often obtained from a too hasty reading of the Scriptures, and from the prevalent, though unspoken, thought that the possession of the Spirit, with the distinction which His power gives, is the end of the promise of God. But the possession of the Spirit is but a means to an end,-a step in the fulfilment of God's promise to mankind. For the promise of God we must go back to Eden, and to the record of Abraham's life. It is the promise of the complete redemption of man and the earth from the curse of sin, and the "restoration of all things." The Holy Spirit is the earnest, the assurance, of this inheritance, "until the redemption of man and the earth from the curse of sin, and the "restitution of all things." The Holy Spirit is the earnest, the assurance, of this inheritance, "until the redemption of the purchased possession." Eph. i. 13, 14.

The promise is to as many as the Lord our God shall call to Him. How many does He call to Him? Listen: "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." Isa. xlv. 22. "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. xi. 28. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. xxii. 17. The promise of the inheritance is to all mankind; for when God made the earth He made man (not one merely, but mankind) ruler over it; and the Holy Spirit is given in order that this promise may be fulfilled. The possession promised is the new earth,-a spiritual inheritance,-and the possession of the Spirit is the assurance that this inheritance is ours. Therefore every one to whom the promise is made may receive the Holy Spirit, it he is willing to accept the righteousness which the Spirit brings.

The first verses of the second chapter of Hebrew may well be read in this connection. The "great salvation" "at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will. for unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak."

This makes it plain that the preaching of the Gospel is committed to men, instead of to angels, because "the world to come," which is the new earth, was from the beginning put in subjection to man, and not to angels. Since it was given to man, and God never withdraws a gift, it naturally falls to man as its lord to restore it; and in order that this word may be accomplished, God gives the Holy Spirit, the first-fruits of the inheritance. It is by "the powers of the world to come" that we gain that world. The pouring out of the Spirit on Pentecost was God's witness to the truth that He had given the people the world to come, for the Spirit's power is the power of that world.

BREAKING BREAD

"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and the prayers." Acts ii. 42. Read also verses 46, 47, already quoted. We see that this breaking of bread was both in the temple and at home, and, moreover, it was to the disciples a token of fellowship. The question arises, With whom was the fellowship? Some will say at once that it was fellowship with the apostles; but a little study will show that it was fellowship with God that the disciples enjoyed.

"This then is the message which we have heard from Him, and announce unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; but 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. 5-7. Here it is made very plain that "our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." Without this, all human fellowship is nothing.

Again: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion [fellowship]

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of the blood of Christ? The bread, which we break, is it not the communion [fellowship] of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one Bread." 1 Cor. x. 16, 17.

Do not misunderstand the statement that they continued "in the apostles' teaching and fellowship." The thought is the same as in 1 John i. 3: "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." It is evident that "fellowship with us" means here the same fellowship that the apostles had, namely, with the Father and the Son. We are "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets;" not on the apostles and prophets, but on the foundation on which they built and were built-the foundation of Christ Jesus, laid in Zion by God.

Now that we see clearly that the new converts had fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, let us note the fact that the breaking of bread had a close connection with this fellowship. Indeed, as stated in 1 Cor. x. 16, 17, the breaking of bread is the indication of that fellowship. Christ is the bread of life (John vi. 48), and we, by feeding upon Him, become one bread with Him.

It is said of the disciples that "breaking bread at home, they did eat their food with gladness and singleness of heart." Note that the breaking of bread at home was as much a religious matter with them, and contributed as much to their gladness, as breaking bread in the synagogue or the temple. Why? Because they had learned from the Lord Jesus that the food which He gives us to eat contains His life; and that, as we live by eating, if we eat in faith discerning His body, we shall live by faith, being partakers of His righteousness.

"ALL THINGS COMMON"

This breaking of bread is mentioned in connection with the fact that they had all things common. those who have perfect fellowship, communion, with the Lord, can do this; for they know that they have nothing of their own, and that He who from His own life supplies their wants, belongs equally to others. They have no table of their own, but eat continually from the Lord's table. He prepares a table for us, and we are fed daily by His hand. Consequently, when we give to our needy brother, we are simply doing what we might do it we were both dining at a rich man's table,-we might pass the food to some one with an empty plate. If we look at the matter in this light, it will affect us in two ways: it will cure us of selfishness,-the tendency to seize food from the table and go into a corner and eat it by ourselves,-and it will cure us of the false pride which makes us feel ashamed if it is necessary for us to receive assistance through a fellow-man.

Another thing: When we continually recognise the fact that we are fed only from the Lord's table, our table will no longer be a snare to us, because when we eat and drink we shall do it to the glory of God; and this means health to us, since our welfare if God's glory. he satisfieth our mouth with good things, so that our youth is renewed like the eagle's. We shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of God's house, and nothing that does not tend to build up, nothing that is poisonous or that contains elements of decay,-will be eaten by us, simply because we like the taste of it.

"That which is not good, is not delicious
To a well-governed and wise appetite."

"THE FEAR OF GOD"

"And fear came upon every soul." Not the slavish fear that hath torment, but the fear of God, which is true wisdom. "For 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. Yet the Spirit of the Lord, "the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord" is given us in Christ, to make us "of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord." Isa. xi. 2, 3. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Prov. viii. 13), and "By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." Prov. xvi. 6.

Thus was the early church built up, and only thus can the true church of Christ ever be built. The house that is "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit," is "not made with hands." Christ calls men out from the world to Himself, and adds them together. The whole body, knit together by joints and hands, and having nourishment ministered from the Head, "increaseth with the increase of God." Col. ii. 19.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Baptism and Regeneration" The Present Truth 18, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

In order that the readers of PRESENT TRUTH may get the full benefit of the "Editor's Private Corner" it is necessary that they know what enquirers say, as well as what the editor replies; therefore although we have two rather lengthy communications this week we publish them, since both are upon the same subject, and in both the thoughts of many others may be expressed. Here is the first:

"I am a reader of your beloved PRESENT TRUTH for some years now, and am always interested in its pages. I have just been reading in No. 50 about the christening of infants. I think some passages of Scripture are very hard to understand. Our blessed Saviour said, 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' Again He says, 'Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.' Surely those two passages are as significant as any other part of the Bible; and yet I would not like to say that infants who are apt to die before they are baptized are lost. And suppose a man leading a reckless life turns to Christ at the last without baptism or sacrament it is hard to say whether he is saved or not; and if an infant or grown-up person can be received into God's kingdom without these two sacraments, why were they ordained? I do not wish to argue on the subject, as I am not a learned man. I know Christ says, 'Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out;' and yet we cannot go to Him but by the means He has provided, namely, baptism and the Lord's Supper. I have been taught that I am born in sin, and that Christ cleanses that sin through baptism; and that seems to make out that a child cannot go to heaven without baptism, since sin cannot enter there. I am only stating just what I have read in the Bible. I should like a little more light on the subject. The words of Christ in this matter must be of the greatest importance: 'Ye must be born again.' The thief on the cross was promised company with Christ in Paradise, and I don't think he ever was baptized; and that makes the Bible harder to understand."

I can see that you are in real perplexity, earnestly seeking for light, and it is a pleasure to talk with you, especially since the Word of God sheds such clear light on the question. First, however, let me say that the one for whose special benefit the article on the christening of infants was written, was abundantly satisfied, and has expressed his hearty appreciation of the help afforded. Now to the subject.

It is true that there some passages of Scripture that are hard to understand; but we are far on the way to a solution of all difficulties when we have once and forever settled it in our own minds, beyond the possibility of a shadow of doubt, that the Bible is perfectly consistent throughout, containing nothing like contradiction. Then when we find an obscure passage, we shall know that it is not in the slightest degree contrary to some other that is perfectly clear.

Further: we must be careful to distinguish between what we "have been taught" and what the Bible actually says; for often the two things are widely different. Take, for example, your statement: "I have been taught that I am born in sin, and that Christ cleanses that sin through baptism; and that seems to make out that a child cannot go to heaven without baptism." Here we have a blending of Divine and human teaching, without distinction between the two. It is true that all are born in sin; but the Scripture does not teach that sin is cleansed by the act of baptism, nor that it is impossible to come to Christ except by baptism and the Lord's Supper. In fact, these are but the emblems by which we show that we have already come to Him.

WHAT IS BAPTISM?

This is the question first to be settled. So to begin with, we may say that it is not the putting of a few drops of water upon a person, or even the pouring of a basinful upon him. No infant is ever baptized, at least not in this country. The word "baptize" is a pure Greek word and its meaning is to dip, plunge, or immerse. The word has not lost its original meaning by being adopted into our language; for a Greek word has the same meaning whether pronounced by a Greek or an Englishman. To talk about baptizing a baby or a man by sprinkling a few drops of water upon him is as absurd as to say that a man is dead and buried when he is walking about with handful of earth on his head. This is a simple matter of the right use of words. If people insist on sprinkling infants or adults, they must seek some other authority for it than Christ's commandment concerning baptism.

When we understand what baptism really means, there can be no further thought of the baptism of infants, or of calling sprinkling baptism. So let us read some statements from the Bible.

"What shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 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; 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." Rom. vi. 1-6.

Can you not see that this applies to those who have been living a life of sin, and who consciously come to Christ for salvation from sin, that they may not live any longer therein: and that therefore it can by no means apply to infants? The same apostle who wrote this, said of the Jewish ceremonies that they could never make the comers thereunto perfect, and that if they could do so, they would not be offered year by year, "because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin." Heb. x. 1, 2. Now an infant has no conscience of sin, neither is it living in sin. It needs no exhortation not to continue in sin, nor to "live any longer therein," for it is as completely dead to sin as it is possible for anybody to be. Indeed, it has never yet been alive to sin. Therefore baptism would be for it wholly a work of supererogation.

BAPTISM THAT SAVES

Speaking of how Noah and his family were brought safely through water by the ark, the Apostle Peter says: "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth 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." 1 Peter iii. 21.

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Here it is said that true baptism saves us; yet we know that we are not saved by any human act or agency whatever, but solely by the blood of Christ. "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. This is perfectly consistent, because we are baptized into Christ's death, thus putting on Christ; and "by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." 1 Cor. xii. 13.

Bear in mind that we are to be baptized "into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," that is into Christ Himself. A person is technically baptized whenever he is plunged into water; but a man may be buried in water every day of his life without ever having been baptized into Christ. Baptism is not a magic charm, but "the answer of a good conscience," and this, by the way, no infant can have, since it has no conscience at all. But the point before us is that it is baptism into Christ, that saves, and this can be done only by the Spirit. The visible act of burial in the water is simply the public profession of faith in the efficacy of Christ's life to save from sin, and the sign that we accept it.

In the prophets we read of a fountain opened "for sin and for uncleanness." Zech. xii. 1. This fountain is the pierced side of Christ, whence flowed out, and are still flowing, blood and water. John xix. 34. "There are three who bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three agree in one." 1 John v. 8. All are expressions of the one Spirit; for each one is life, and "the Spirit is life." There is water that is invisible, as Jesus indicated to the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well (John iv. 10, 13, 14); and this "living water" is the Holy Spirit. John vii. 37-39. Water that we can see can cleanse the outside of the body; but only the "pure river of water of life" can cleanse the heart and conscience.

Let us read another text or two. "When the kindness of God our Saviour, and His love toward man appeared, not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour." Titus iii. 4-6. Again: "Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it; that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the Word." Eph. v. 25, 26. Here the living Word is presented as the water that cleanses (as in John xv. 3). "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you"), and the text in Ephesians is correctly rendered in the Norwegian, as "a water bath in the Word." Baptism, immersion in water that we see, is but the sign that we accept Christ, and are baptized into Him, completely swallowed up in His life, to live and walk in the Spirit.

Now can you not see that salvation does not in any way whatever depend on any human act, either that we do for ourselves, or that others do for us; but that it depends wholly on the perfect life and work of Christ? God, for His own sake, and without our aid, creates us, and re-creates us. Our part is but to consent, to yield, to cease resistance; but the tender infant, that has never resisted the grace and goodness of God, has nothing to yield. It is already passive and submissive. It is reconciled to God by the death of Christ, who, by the shedding of His blood, "made purification of sins," even the sins of the whole world. Whether the child will acknowledge God when it comes to an age when it can understand, is another matter; but he must do so for himself, for no person can accept Christ for another, any more than one can eat and breathe for another.

So we need be in no doubt about the thief on the cross, or about infants who die unbaptized, or about repentant sinners who die without an opportunity for a public confession of their faith. Neither need we be puzzled over the words of Scripture, that one must be born of water and the Spirit. There are in the Gospel no "sacraments," in the sense that any act or ceremony can sanctify anybody; that term is ecclesiastical, and not from the Bible. This does not by any means depreciate the importance of baptism or the Lord's Supper; they have their place, but it is not to usurp that of the finished life and work of Christ. And to hold that some act of man is necessary in order to convey to any soul the fulness of the blessings of that life, is idolatry, and not Christianity.

DEDICATING CHILDREN TO THE LORD

Another friend comes to us in quite a different strain. There is not space for the whole letter, but the following extract from it contains the substance of the whole:-

"I disagree with the whole of your article on infant baptism. You say that infants should be dedicated; why should they be dedicated? or what benefit do they receive by being dedicated? If they receive no benefit by being dedicated, the whole ceremony is vain, and pure mockery in the sight of God. And if they do receive benefit, they must be regenerated by the Spirit, because there are no half-measures with God. The child has either been regenerated, or the whole service has not been accepted by God, and therefore is vain."

We have already considered the question sufficiently for the present. So we have only to say that our friend is labouring under the mistaken idea that the article in question advocated a ceremony of dedication. A more careful reading would show the impossibility of this, since we said that the child ought to be dedicated to God before it is born. That means that the prospective parents should themselves be so wholly dedicated to God that they will wish nothing else for their offspring than that it shall be a child of God, and will so conduct themselves both before and after its birth that this may be the case. The prospective parents simply recognise that children are the gift of God, and belong to Him, and therefore they covenant with God to bring their child up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." This is the whole of the matter, and so nothing further need be said about the impossibility of regeneration being effected by any outward form or ceremony.

CHRIST'S DEATH NOT FORCED, BUT VOLUNTARY

Jesus said: "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father." John x. 17, 18.

It was as impossible that anybody should forcibly take Christ's life as it was for the grave to hold Him. His was a willing sacrifice. Likewise when we are crucified with Him, not to remain dead, but to live with Him, it must be wholly voluntary. In being baptized into Christ, we are crucified with Him, being baptized into His death, that we may have His life; and baptism in water is the sign of this. Therefore baptism must be wholly a voluntary act, or else it misrepresents the offering of Christ.

Apply this now to the case of an infant. It is very evident that it is impossible really to baptize an infant, that is, to bury it completely in water, without strangling it, and the act might cause its death. The babe does not know enough to close its mouth and hold its breath. Consequently if it were to be baptized, the one who performed the ceremony would have to put

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his hand over both its nose and its mouth, and hold them shut. That is, he would have to go through the form of choking it to death before burying it; and this without the consent of the child, and in spite its vigorous protest. What a caricature of the death of Christ! This serves to show again how utterly contrary to the Gospel it is to assume to baptize infants.

In the baptism of true believers, in which case alone there can be true baptism, there is the perfect likeness of voluntary death. The candidate voluntarily suspends the action of breathing, and with closed eyes and mouth commits himself absolutely into the hands of the administrator. Like a dead man, he does not breathe, and like a dead man he makes no effort to assist in his own burial. The most timid woman feels no fear of the water, and makes no struggle; because perfect faith works by love, and perfect love casts out fear. She knows that the life that is to sustain her through her whole life, and even over death, is amply able to keep her safely in this experience so new to her. No more beautiful, solemn, or joyful sight can be witnessed than the burial of an intelligent believer into Christ by baptism; and the beholders, as well as the candidates, must involuntarily recall the words of Scripture, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

The birds do not seem glad when they fly away in the Autumn. They do not sing, but they are quiet and sad.

But by and by the cold Winter is past. The flowers are seen on the earth again. All things wake up from their long sleep. Then the time of the singing of birds is come again.

Just as the tiny leaf-buds burst out all over the trees, the happy birds flock home. Their joyful songs show how glad they are to be back again.

How busy they are now! Each one has to choose a mate to live with all the Summer. So they are very loving and kind; they sing sweet songs to the ones they love.

Each pair hunts about for a nice, cosy place to build a nest. They look for a spot that will be hidden from their foes, and out of the reach of thoughtless little boys who would like to steal their eggs.

God who brought the birds safe home across the great sea, shows each little pair how to build their pretty nest. They gather bits of straw, string, wool, or moss, as you see in the picture. They weave this together with wonderful skill.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

It is said that Parisian gourmets consumed nearly 800 tons of snails last year. Snails are slow creatures; but it is the consumption of such food that makes people swift to evil.

The Paris correspondent of the Daily Chronicle says that attention is being called to "the increase of lawlessness among mere lads and girls." He says that "it is a known fact that in public thoroughfares, especially in certain districts, gangs of beardless youths, with their female confederates, carry revolvers and knives. The germs of the criminal classes are spreading in Paris, and every scheme of philanthropy seems ineffective."

The sum of ?200,000 has been placed at the disposal of the King, to be used for charitable or utilitarian purposes. This money, by the King's direction, is to be devoted to the erection of a sanatorium for tuberculous patients in England. The sanatorium is intended to accommodate 100 patients-fifty male and fifty female, and of the total number of beds eighty-eight will be reserved for people who can pay only a very small amount towards the cost of treatment. The sanitary arrangements of the sanatorium will be in accordance with the teachings of the most advanced hygiene, and it is expected that its efficiency will not be limited to the patients actually within its walls.

The Church Times calls on the Christian World to "tell us how much or how little of the canonical Scripture it understands at the present moment by the 'Bible." For while the modern Dissenteres, when in a political mood, demand that the State shall set up 'the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible,' as an idol before which all citizens are to be compelled idolatrously to bow, and of which Dissenting ministers are the priests, what are these very same men doing when they pass out of their political mood into their critical-theological moods? Is there not evidence enough in the pages of our contemporary? Are they not busily engaged in tearing their own idol to shreds, in order to discover what portions of it are or are not, genuine?"

The gibe is undoubtedly deserved, since many professed teachers of the Gospel spend more time discussing the Bible than in teaching it; but what can be thought of a leading Church organ that does not scruple to call the Bible an idol, and reverence for it idolatry? What a pitiable condition are those in who look to it for their religious instruction. The worst form of infidelity is that which imagines itself to be Christian.

All must surely agree with Dr. Parker, who says, in his Christmas greeting: "Beyond all doubt the world is getting farther and farther away from the spiritual, and deeper and deeper into the revel, the hot feast, and the wild merriment." But he is certainly dreaming a wild dream when he says that "there is really no need to be unduly troubled about this decadence. It will all right itself." That is just what it will not do. Evil never tends to good, and the broad road does not become the narrow way. "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse." "Sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death;" "but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

The following item needs no comment to show that it notes a movement of the most startling significance; yet its publication has not caused a perceptible ripple:-

"In reply to representations made by the Incorporated Association of Headmasters, Lord Roberts has issued a circular letter to general officers commandment districts. The generals are to assist the schoolmasters in encouraging elementary drill in boys over twelve years of age, and to make regular reports to the Commander-in-Chief. To schools which possess suitable ranges, six carbines, fitted with Morris tubes, will be issued for ?13 14s. 2nd., and ammunition will be supplied at cost price."

Who can imagine the terrible results that will follow when every youth is a trained soldier, and the nations become angry?

There are people, and their number is increasing, who think that the theatre and the church have the same mission, and that morals may be learned from the stage. Many more are indignant if a word is breathed against threatres and acting; but here is a bit from "a well-known theatrical chief in London" to a Daily Mail representative, which certainly cannot be set down to prejudice. Speaking of the pantomimes, he said: "If I had a child of my own I would starve before I let it go behind the scenes. One has often to use language there that it is not desirable children should hear. If you do not swear at your actresses they will not heed you. Talk to them reasonably and gently and they do not think you mean anything. Indulge in the strongest language and they fear you and obey. It is not well that children should be by to hear all this."

It is evident that good cannot come fro such a source as that; and the clergymen who compare the stage and the pulpit cannot have a very high view of their own calling.

In almost every journal one picks up, religious as well as secular, the progress of any country is rated according to the amount of its commerce; buying and selling seems to be regarded as the great end of human existence. But Mr. Horsley, who rightly considers intemperance as the most prolific source of crime, says that "revivals of trade and growth of commercial prosperity have the effect, among the lower working classes, or encouraging intemperance. More prosperity, mere money; more money, more drink, more drink, more crime-is my experience." So the much boasted prosperity is really disaster.

The prophet, speaking of the people in the last days says: "Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots." Isa. ii. 7. When we read that from the opening of the Boer war to the end of June, 1901, the grant total cost of the horses used in the war, including transportation, amounted to ?12,772,000, it seems evident that the prophecy is fulfilled. Yet one is not conscious of any diminution in the number remaining at home. This token of "prosperity," however, instead of being given as a reason of boasting and rejoicing, is set forth as one reason why the judgments of God will come upon the earth. The truth is, that man's estimate of prosperity is vastly different from God's.

It is reported that the Board of Guardians of the Childrens' Home at Terre Haute, Indiana (U.S.A.), a sort of reformatory where several hundred poor children are trained, have employed a hypnotist from Chicago "to assist in the work of reform by hypnotising certain of the children and suggesting a train of good thoughts in their minds, thus improving their natures." It is a pitiful thing, that the training of children should be entrusted to people who give such evidence of ignorance of the first principles of morality. Hypnotism is one of the surest means of putting a person wholly within the power of the devil. God is the only Being who should be allowed to control any mind; for His control of the mind means absolute freedom for it. For one mind to be subjected to another human mind, means the enslaving and weakening of it; and when the mind of a person has once been made subject to another, even though that other have the best intentions, it is ever after an easy prey to the suggestions of the evil-disposed.

Some interesting things are told in the Church Family Newspaper of January 3, by the Rev. J. W. Horsley, who was for a long time prison chaplain. He gives intemperance as the chief cause of crime, a thing which is now quite well known.

He also says that "premature marriages are a frightful cause of crime among the poorer classes," although he does not regard poverty itself as a cause of crime; for he declares that "there are no criminal classes as such. Criminals are found in all classes of society-among the rich as among the poor, in the professions no less than in other walks of life." But the following is perhaps the most striking summary of the situation, and one which should cause some searching of heart:-

"A bishop once asked me what I considered the greatest hindrances to religion. I gave them in what I conceived to be the order of their priority:-1. Drinking. 2. The British parent. 3. The British employer. 4. The respectability of the Church. I have never seen reason to modify my answer."

"Barbarous 'Fashions in Food'" The Present Truth 18, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

The following we find credited to the Sporting and Dramatic News:-

"Fashions in food change with the times; but it is difficult to explain why the lark should have supplanted the thrush as a bonne bouche. In the days of the C?sars the epicures of Rome paid the equivalent of six shillings apiece for thrushes fattened on ripe figs and wheat meal. Horace tells us that 'there is nothing better, in the shape of food, than a fat thrush, and yet not one man in a thousand, at the present time, has ever eaten one of these birds."

We are glad to read this last statement, and we hope it is true, but the pleasure is destroyed by the knowledge that thrushes are not eaten simply because it is the fashion to eat larks. One would scarcely care to have for a companion a person with so little sensibility that he could deliberately eat those heavenly musicians. Surely such mental and moral obtuseness indicates a condition which in different circumstances, would speedily develop into cannibalism. "Fashions" are always debasing to the one who follows them; and of all fashions, fashions in food are the most degrading.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

"Righteousness exalteth a nation." Prov. xiv. 34. The nation that knows the sound of God's voice shall walk in the light of His countenance, and be exalted in His righteousness. Ps. lxxxix. 15, 16.

But righteousness means humility, submission to God. "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." Hab. ii. 4. Only in absolute dependence on God, in acknowledging Him to be everything and ourselves nothing, can we be righteous.

Therefore it follows, paradoxical as it may seem, that exaltation comes only through humility. And this is just the secret of the Gospel. Christ "made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and. . . humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name." Phil. ii. 7, 8. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall life you up." James iv. 10.

"Weeping may come in to lodge at even, but joy cometh in the morning." Pain is more difficult to endure in the night than in the daytime; and troubles always seem greatest at night. Who has not often had this experience, that a case which seemed almost hopeless at night has presented a much brighter aspect in the morning? We should learn a practical lesson from this, namely, never to decide any difficult question at night. Do not even consider it then, but wait till morning, when you are fresh, and God's new light will enable you to see the thing just as it is. Always remember that no trouble is really as great as it seems to be at night.

"The Breaking of Bread" The Present Truth 18, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

A friend sends the following request, the consideration of which comes in aptly with the study of the Sunday-school lesson on another page:-

"Perhaps you would put in your paper your thought concerning the breaking of bread on the first day of the week." 1 Cor. xvi."

Our thought about that is that the sixteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians contains no reference whatever to the breaking of bread on the first day of the week or any other day. Everyone can easily verify this for himself.

There is, however, one, just one, place in the Bible where the breaking of bread on the first day of the week is mentioned, and that is Acts xx. 7. This verse, together with the one following it, reads thus: "Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together."

Now we wish it to be understood that our emphasis on the fact that this is the only reference to the first day of the week in connection with the breaking of bread is not because we think that it makes any difference whether the Bible contains one or one hundred references to such an incident; for we know that, with probably an occasional exception, not only the disciples, but also the rest of the Jews, broke bread every first day of the week, and also every other day of the week. Read Acts ii. 46: "And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they did take their food with gladness and singleness of heart." R.V.

The term "breaking bread" indicates the taking of an ordinary meal. Take, in addition to the foregoing, the narrative in the twenty-fourth chapter of Luke, as evidence of this. The two disciples with whom Jesus walked to Emmaus, and who took Him for a stranger in Jerusalem, pressed Him, saying, "Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." And He went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him. And they immediately returned to Jerusalem and told the other disciples how Jesus "was known of them in breaking bread."

Now let us return to the narrative in the twentieth of Acts. We see that the close of Paul's seven days' stay at Troas, on his way to Jerusalem. It was not a meeting in the daytime in a place of worship, but a gathering at night in an upper chamber. Moreover since it was on the first day of the week, and also at night, it is plain that it was on what we commonly term Saturday nigh; for the Scripture reckoning of days is from sunset to sunset, and Saturday night after sunset is the only dark part of the first day of the week that there is. After the sunset on Sunday, we have the second day of the week.

The story in Acts xx. may therefore be summed up thus: Paul had been taking advantage of the ship's detention in port to visit with the few brethren at Troas. On Saturday night, the beginning of the first day of the week, the hip sailed, carrying Paul's companions, but he remained behind, knowing that he could overtake it the next day at Assos. In the evening as the disciples came together for supper, Paul took occasion to speak parting words to them, and then early the next morning, in the light part of the first day of the week, he started on foot across the promontory round which the ship was sailing.

Thus we see that the breaking of bread has no special significance as regards any particular day, and no more connection with one day than another. neither it nor any other act makes any day sacred. Shall we say then that the breaking of bread is in no sense a religious act? Far from it. it is one of the most sacred acts of daily life; for when we know that we have no real life except that which we get by feeding upon Christ, and that His everlasting power and Divinity are in the things that He has made, we see the body-the life of Christ in the food that He provides us, the cross of Calvary is stamped on every loaf, and stamped on every water-spring, and every meal becomes a sacrament in the truest sense of the word.

Lest some should misapprehend these statements, it may be well to add that they do not in any way discountenance or depreciate the Lord's Supper as a special gathering of the church. There must be times,-the day or the hour of the day being immaterial,-when all the members of the church in any locality come together to show their common union in Christ. The truth that we have emphasised is that the promise of God is especially to "the families" of the earth, and that each Christian family is the perfect type of "the whole family" of God-the church.

January 16, 1902

"'Beware of Them!'" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

The following bit of correspondence to the Daily Chronicle, on the subject of "Higher Spiritualism," as it is called, comes very close to a true view of the case:-

"The question here is not whether the spirits of the departed can and do communicate-under certain conditions-with those who are still in the flesh, but whether the spirits with whom these people are in communication are spirits of the dead, or whether they may be evil spirits personating the dead. I have no doubt in my own mind as to the true answer. The fact that when we get into the inner rings we find the spirits all working towards one object-the discrediting of Christianity-is more than sufficient to make us hesitate to go further. We are told by the Holy Apostles that in the last days perilous times should come; men should depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, and from what I know of spiritualism-or let us call it by its right name, necromancy-and spirit mongers, I warn people to beware of them."

Here is the true test: "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 was never yet a spiritualist who did not contradict the Bible, which shows that spiritualism is wholly darkness. And one of the primary things in which spiritualism contradicts the Bible is in the assertion that the spirits from which communications are received are the spirits of the dead, when the Bible declares that "the dead know not anything." The very fact, therefore, that a communicating spirit claims to be the spirit of some dead person is in itself evidence that that spirit is one of Satan's host of evil angels. People do well to heed the warning-"Beware of them."

"Walking by Faith. Acts iii. 1-16" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

It was three o'clock in the afternoon, and the people of Jerusalem were gathering at the temple for evening worship. Every land had its representative among the crowd of worshippers, and "there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven." The courts of the temple were spacious, capable of holding many thousands of people; and but to see it with its glittering pinnacles, and the multitudes in their diverse garbs flocking to one common centre, all with at least the air of devotion, was well worth a long journey.

Unnoticed in the vast throng, the apostles Peter and John walked to the place of prayer. There was no pomp or display, for ecclesiasticism was then unknown among Christians, and the greatest apostles regarded themselves as but ordinary men. The true disciple does not assume to be greater than his Lord. These men had been filled with the Spirit of

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power, had preached to strangers from many lands in many languages, and had done "many wonders and signs;" yet-nay, for this very reason,-they were as unassuming as the humblest Galilean present in his peasant dress. Their power was not for display, but for use; and they were "read to every good work."

"And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee; In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up; and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

"And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince [Author] of life, 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."

It is a sad fact that men get so accustomed to hearing God's Word, and to seeing His works, that they become indifferent to them. God has the same cause to be grieved with this generation as with Israel in the wilderness, who saw His works forty years, and yet did not learn His ways. The daily manna from heaven, and the water constantly flowing from the rock, seemed to them as "natural phenomena" that had always been, and conveyed to them no spiritual lesson. So men to-day receive the rain from heaven, which brings food and gladness, and take all as a matter of course, as though it happened of itself, and for that sole purpose that they might have a limited existence.

Thus also it is with the reading of God's Word. No miracle is more familiar to Bible readers than the one we have before us for our lesson, yet to most of us it is only an interesting incident. Let us now see if we cannot have our eyes opened, so that we may see why the story was left on record for us.

The truth that is most obviously illustrated by this miracle is that "in Him we live, and move, and have our being." There is no power but the power of God, and only by that power can we move a muscle. "The way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Jer. x. 23. "A man's goings are established of the Lord." Ps. xxvii. 23, R.V. The power of the name of Jesus of Nazareth is needed just as much to strengthen the legs of the infant, so that it may walk, and to keep it able to walk, as it was needed for the restoration of the cripple by the Beautiful Gate.

While it is utterly impossible to make a single motion except by the power of the Spirit of God, most people do not recognise the truth, and therefore they fail to get the full benefit of it. With the man whose case we are studying it was different. The transformation from helplessness to activity was so marked, in response to his newly-awakened faith in the Name and Person of Jesus of Nazareth, that there could be no question as to the source of strength; and because he walked only by faith in Christ, he was made perfectly whole,-given "perfect soundness." He was completely filled with new life, and there was no weakness in any part.

That man walked because he recognised the Lord. Now let us see what more this teaches us: "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. If we live in constant recognition of God's presence and power, and of the truth that "in Him we live, and move," we shall not make any movement,-not take a single step,-contrary to His will. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Prov. iii. 6.

Still further: The man who was healed praised God as he walked. So we read God's words: "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me, and prepareth a way that I may show him the salvation of God." Ps. l. 23. This is the literal rendering of the Hebrew, and is indicated in the margin of the Revised Version. So if we recognise the fact that it is God who uses our bones and muscles, and that it is He alone who has the right to use them, and if we continually praise Him for His wonderful goodness in giving us "life and breath, and all things," we shall continually know the power of His salvation.

See how exactly the case of the lame man corresponds to our natural condition. He never had walked. So it was "when we were without strength" that Christ died for us. He was impotent-powerless-in his feet. He could not walk. So "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Gal. v. 17. "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Rom. viii. 8. He could do nothing; we can do nothing.

How often we think to excuse ourselves for our failure to do right by saying, "I was born with this disposition, and I cannot help it." Sometimes those words are used in despondency, indicating that there is no hope for us. But the lame man was helpless from his birth, and Peter knew it when he commanded him to "rise up and walk." He might have said, "I cannot walk;" and that would have been true; but that made no difference; he was not commanded to walk by himself, but "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth." So we tell the truth when we say that we cannot do the things that are commanded; and the Lord knows it; but He does not tell us to walk alone, but in Him; and, helpless as we are, we can nevertheless say, "I can do all things in Him that strengthened me." Phil. iv. 13, R.V.

This miracle was recorded in order that we may know that God's power reaches the worst and most hopeless cases. The man had never walked; his feet and ankle bones were as weak as when he was born, yet he had grown to man's size, so that there was a much greater weight to be borne than if he had begun to walk in childhood. Each year that he lived had diminished the probability that he would ever walk; yet in the name of Jesus it was the easiest thing in the world to do. He did not only walk; but he had such a surplus of energy that he could leap. That is the way God heals.

Our besetting sins and weaknesses have increased their hold on us as the years have gone by. We have been powerless so long that we have fancied it impossible for us ever to be delivered. But "all things are possible to him that believeth." The Name of Jesus has lost none of its power. "He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength;" and to us each He says, "Rise up and walk." The "perfect soundness" will be ours through faith in Him.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The New Jerusalem, the Earth, and Our Salvation" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

"I wish you would explain about the New Jerusalem. A friend says that there is no Bible authority to show that the Holy City will rest upon the earth, and that the texts concerning it are spiritual, and not literal. While he admits that the Holy City will come down, he says that we are not told that it will rest on the earth."

What difference does it make what the Bible says, if it does not mean what it says? If the texts concerning the relation of the New Jerusalem are not to be taken literally, what evidence have we that the texts which mention the city as existing at all, are to be so taken? If the Bible does not mean what it says, that the New Jerusalem will be on this earth, how can we know that there is or is to be any New Jerusalem whatever?

Further: if some or all of the statements in the Bible are to be taken in a "spiritual sense," whatever that may mean, and are not to be considered as literal, who is to decide what they mean? If the Bible does not mean what it says, then everybody is free to attach whatever meaning to it he pleases, and one person has a good a right to his opinions as any other person has. But in that case the Bible might as well not exist; for what each man believes is, not the words of the Book, but his own notions; the Bible then serves merely as a peg on which to hang human opinions, and any other book would do as well. Or, if it be admitted that there should be some definite standard for agreement, then the only resort is a Pope whose utterances shall be regarded as infallible and final. In either case the Bible becomes of secondary importance.

It is strange how many who repudiate the Papacy will nevertheless follow it in every essential particular. They differ from the most zealous Roman Catholic only in this, that they follow another pope, or several of them, instead of the one who lives in the Vatican. The Bible may speak in the plainest terms; but if some friend speaks otherwise, they either ignore the Bible completely, or else are thrown into confusion, and say, "Well, we don't know what to believe."

In this the people have no intention of setting the Bible aside. They think that they believe the Bible. If told that they have no confidence in it, they would be surprised and shocked; yet that is the case. Is this not self-evident? If I have a friend who daily tells me various things, but as soon as anybody casts a doubt upon his word, or tells me something contradictory, I am thrown into confusion, and do not know what to believe, would not my friend be justified in saying that I have no confidence in him? and would it not be a proof of great love and patience if he still continued my friend? If I do really have confidence in my friend, I shall believe his word, no matter what anybody else says; for I know that he is truthful, and that he does not tell a thing that he does not know.

Why can we not deal as fairly with God's Word as with the words of our friends? Do you not see that when we doubt whether the Bible means what it says, we are either casting reflections upon God, or else we are indicating doubt that the Bible is His Word. If we assert that it is His Word, but still insist that it does not mean just what it says, then we virtually say that God has trifled with us, or else that He is not able to express Himself in terms adapted to human understanding, and that He is dependent on some man or men to help Him. but in this case we not only belittle God, but we elevate man above Him; for the person or persons who must interpret God's meaning to us, if there were any such, must necessarily be able to understand God's thought better than He does Himself. In short, if the Bible does not mean what it says, then there is an end of everything, and every man is thrown upon his own strength and wisdom for salvation. Which shall it be-God's Word or man's word?

GOD'S WORD ALL SPIRITUAL

Now before we come to the main question, a few words concerning the terms "spiritual" and "literal." We must accept the Bible as being literally true, as meaning just what it says, or else throw it away entirely; that is, we must either believe it or not believe it. but, at the same time, if we really believe it to be God's Word we must accept it as being wholly spiritual. Every expression in it is spiritual, because God is Spirit. "We know that the law is spiritual." Rom. vii. 14. Christ said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life." John vi. 63. So there is nothing in the Bible, not a single statement, that is not spiritual.

But this does not mean that there is any such thing as a "spiritual sense" in which the Scriptures are to be understood. That is to make nonsense of the Word. The language of the Bible is to be understood as a straightforward, simple, honest expression of truth. When God uses human language the words mean just the same that they mean when men use them. This is self-evident from the fact that the Bible came through men, who wrote just what they had experienced or seen and heard. The Bible is both literal and spiritual. It means just what it says; but it is spiritual in that it makes the believer spiritual, delivering him from the bondage of the flesh.

We can go still further, and say that the Holy City itself will be spiritual. Every inhabitant of the earth will also be spiritual. But they will all be very real. This is evident from the fact that people who truly believe are spiritual now. There are people whom we meet day by day who are spiritual, yet no one would claim that they are not literal beings. "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. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things." 1 Cor. ii. 14, 15.

JERUSALEM, THE JOY OF THE EARTH

Let us now read a few texts about the city itself. The patriarchs "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth," because "they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore

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God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He hath prepared for them a city;" and this prepared city is one "which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." See Heb. vi. 10-17.

In Zech. xiv. 4-6 we read that in the Day of the Lord, when judgment is executed, the Lord shall go forth, "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 thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley;" "and it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the forward sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea; in summer and winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day there shall be one Lord, and His name One."

What those "living waters" are may be learned from Rev. xvii. 1. They are the river of life which flows from the throne of God. This, together with the fact that God is in the midst of the city, the King of the earth, shows conclusively that the city will be on this earth. It is the New Jerusalem, because it will occupy the site of old Jerusalem.

Again: after the city comes down, with all the saints of God in it, the second resurrection, the resurrection of the wicked will take place, when Satan will go out among them with his final deception, to make them believe that they can capture it, and thus possess the earth. John, seeing future things in vision, describes is thus:-

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 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 is as the sand of the sea. 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." Rev. xx. 7-9.

If the city were not on the earth, the wicked could not go up on the breadth of the earth and compass it about. That will be the "day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men," to which the earth is reserved, when the righteous in the city will dwell safely in "the devouring fire" and "everlasting burnings." See Isa. xxxiii. 14, 15.

Still further: when the New Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven, it will be said: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them." Rev. xxi. 4-8. God will then "indeed dwell with men on the earth." So the apostle continues his prophetic description:-

"I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it." Rev. xxi. 22-24.

Then will it be said: "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge." Ps. xlviii. 1-3.

The verses following those bring to view the same event that is described in Rev. xx. 7-9.

What of all this? Why is it worth while to take so much space merely to show that the city of God is actually to be located on this earth? What difference does it make to us whether it will be or not? You may be sure that if it were of no present, practical benefit to us the Bible would not say anything about it; and the benefit is just this: It shows us God's power to save. The walls of the city will be called Salvation, and its gates Praise. Isa. lv. 18. When it comes down on the place where the mount of Olives stands, then shall "this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." Isa. xxvi. 1.

We often quote for our present encouragement "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength" (Isa. xxvi. 3, 4); but few stop to think that this applies especially to the people in the New Jerusalem when the host of the ungodly, with Satan at their head, encompass the beloved city, to take it. They will greatly outnumber those in the city; but "God is known in her palaces for a refuge," and the righteous will not fear. Yet their safety in that awful time will be no more than that of everyone now who trust in God for salvation from the assaults of Satan. Or, to put it in another way, our present assurance of deliverance from the attacks of the devil is the fact that God will preserve all the righteous from his assaults on the beloved city.

Are you not glad that God tells us those things in His book? and is it not comforting to know that they are all literally true?

"Little Folks" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

Not long ago a man living near London bought a parcel of old books at an auction room for a few shillings. Among them was a Bible. One Sunday evening his wife was looking through the Bible, when she discovered that two of the leaves were pasted together. She began at once to separate them, and found a pleasant surprise awaiting her. For between the leaves six ?5 Bank of England notes were hidden, and on the back of one was written,

"I have had to work very hard for this, and having none as natural heirs, I leave thee, dear reader, whosoever shall own this holy Book, my lawful heir. July 17th 1840."

Here was a hidden treasure that had been lying for many years not sought for, because no one knew it was there. But do you know that you have in your Bible hidden treasure far, far greater than that which this woman found? Perhaps you have not yet begun to seek for it, because you did not know it was there.

Do you see what the man in our picture is doing? He has found a place where treasure is hidden, and see how eager he is in his search for it.

In ancient times men used to bury their treasure in the earth, because they thought that was a safe hiding-place. But sometimes they would forget where they had buried it, or the owner might die without telling anyone about it.

So when Jesus told the people the Parable of the Hid Treasure, He was talking about something that often happened in those days. Do you remember the story?

"The Kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field."

No doubt his friends would think him very foolish, and even made, to part with his goods for the sake of buying a barren field. But the man himself is joyful, for he knows that he is getting far more than he gives up.

The treasure hidden in the Bible is the precious truth. Jesus said, "I am the Truth;" and in Christ, the Truth, are hid "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

Now hear what God tells us about this wisdom that can be found only in Jesus Christ, who gives it to us in His Word:

"The depth saith, It is not in me:
And the sea saith, It is not with me.
It cannot be gotten for gold,
Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir
With the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
The gold and the crystal cannot equal it;
And the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls.
For the price of wisdom is above rubies."

This is the treasure that is hidden in the Bible. And if we would find it, we must be willing to dig in this precious mine of truth.

Do you think that the man who found the treasure in the field would think it a hard task to dig for it? No! he would not rest until he had gone carefully over the whole field; and each piece of gold or silver, each precious gem that he found, would give him fresh zeal to go on with the work.

Yet "the earth itself is not so interlaced with golden veins and filled with precious things as is the Word of God." And for anyone who will dig in any part of it, there can be no disappointment, for the promise is, "Seek, and ye shall find."

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

When the birds get home in the spring the buds are just bursting out on the trees. When the nests are ready, the trees are covered with leaves. And by the time the sweet blossoms come out on the trees there is something in the nest.

Day after day the mother bird sits on the nest. She never leaves it except for a very little while each day. Then she takes a short flight to keep up her health. Her mate brings her all her food.

What can it be that keeps this Queen of the air so still on her nest? Let us take a peep as she is gone. Ah! Now we know her secret. But we will not tell, for we should not like anyone to steal her tiny treasures. We will wait, as she does, until we find out what she is waiting for.

Love is the cord that binds this happy little mother bird so close to her nest. It is love for what she knows will soon be there. She does not think it is hard that she cannot fly about and amuse herself all day, any more than your mother thinks it hard that she has to stay at home to take care of you.

God puts this love into your mother's heart. And He puts the same love into the heart of the mother bird. All love comes from God, for "God is Love."

"In the Name of Sport" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

The wise man has said: "It is as sport to a fool to do mischief;" and since that was written by inspiration, we know what title belongs to those who find sport in perpetrating such crimes as the one so graphically described below by that friend of animals, Ernest Seton Thompson. As he says in his book, "Wild Animals I Have Known," what right has man to practise such cruelty upon a fellow creature, simply because it does not speak his language? When a Red Indian or an African savage remorselessly and exultingly tortures a white man to death, we call it savage barbarism; but those untutored savages are certainly deserving of more charitable consideration than are their "cultured" brothers who chase and waylay and kill creatures far more helpless, and therefore with far more claim to human sympathy.

"He Loved Animals" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

Charles Kingsley's love for everything that had life was remarkable. He spoke of all living creatures as his friends, and saw in them the handiwork of God. On his lawn lived a family of natter-jacks (running toads) that dwelt from year to year in the same hole in a green bank which a scythe was never allowed to approach.

He had two little friends in a pair of sand-wasps that made their home in a crack of the window-frame in his dressing-room. One of these he had saved from drowning in a hand-basin, taking it tenderly out into the sunshine to dry. Every Spring he would look eagerly for this pair of wasps or their children, watching for them to come out from, or return to, the same crack.

The little fly-catcher that built its nest every year under his bedroom window was a constant joy to him. He had also a favourite slowworm in the churchyard, which his parishioners were warned not to kill under the mistaken idea that slowworms were poisonous.

The same love for God's creatures was encouraged in his children. He taught them to admire and to handle gently every living thing. Toads, frogs, beetles and worms were to them not repulsive things, to be killed as soon as seen, but wonders from the hand of God.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

The War Office published on the 4th inst. The monthly summary of the losses ("casualties" is the word) in South Africa, which shows that from the beginning of the war until the close of last year the number of deaths from all causes, in the South African Field Force, was 19,420.

In Lincolnshire huge quantities of lilies of the valley are being planted, in view of the demand for these blooms as the Coronation flower. One dealer has already received an order for 14,000,000 of them. This is one of the pleasant outgrowths of the Coronation; for the more flowers there are, the better. But a sad feature is that men are now engaged in catching and killing tens of thousands of beautiful creatures, that their fur and feathers may be worn by lords and ladies. It is sad that man's rule means destruction.

The Daily Chronicle's Rome correspondent says that a Cardinal with whom he talked about the Pope's Commission to ascertain to what extent the Bible is inspired, thinks that its work will extend over several years. Meanwhile thousands of humble, unlettered souls will, in the solitude of their lives, have had all that may be known of the question solved for them by the Commission which God has appointed, namely, the Holy Spirit Himself; and they will know more of the Bible than the Pope and the whole college of Cardinals.

The Tablet announces that "the Pope appointed a special Commission for the consideration of all questions connected with Biblical studies. Catholic scholars all over the world will have the fullest opportunity of stating their views and difficulties, and of bringing them to the direct notice" of the Vatican, where, of course, they will be told what they must believe, and what they must reject. It is stated that "the Commission will have a most arduous task in determining the degree of inspiration of the different books of the Bible." Indeed it will. The difficulty will be just that of measuring the size of the Spirit of God; but even such a task as this is not beyond the presumption of the Papacy. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision;" and well He may, as He witnesses the attempts of puny men with high-sounding, self-assumed titles to sit in judgment on Him, and to measure His capacity. The three friends of Job did not understand the character of God, and their testimony in general is not to be relied on; but they did have some idea of His greatness; and Zophar stated it well in the following words: "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea."

As a result of the recent local agitation against translations of the Bible into modern Greek, the Greek Government instituted a search on board the cruiser Misoulis. The authorities seized and confiscated about twenty-five copies of a modern Greek Testament presented some time ago to the sailors by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Of course it is said that this is purely a political matter, and that it does not indicate any hostility to the Sacred Scriptures; but it is also a fact that the same is said of the persecutions by the Papacy, and the efforts made by it to extirpate the Bible. If such a thing were done in Turkey, there would be an outcry all around the world, and cruses loud and deep would be heaped on the head of the Sultan; but as it takes place in a "Christian land" it passes as an incidental news item.

An American missionary has thrown light upon the long delay in effecting the release of Miss Stone, who was captured months ago by Bulgarian brigands, and held for a ransom. He says "the affair has been and was doubtless intended to be one of international importance, and involving international complications," and that he has read documents showing the strongly hostile attitude to the American interest in the case, taken by the official representative of Russia at Sofia.

"The Russians Consul General at Sofia, said to the American Consul General, Mr. Dickinson: 'What you have to do is to find and pay over the 25,000 lbs. and let those fools, the American missionaries, see that they are not wanted in Bulgaria.' The writer adds that Russia is bent on the elimination of American missionary influence wherever she is seeking dominance-as now, in the Balkan States.

This corroborates the assertion made at the AEcumenical Conference in New York two years ago, "Russia is our greatest enemy in the East." And yet Russia is a "Christian nation."

The Christian World, speaking of the Pope's commission to investigate the Bible, which is simply the Papal method of adopting the "Higher Criticism," says that "the whole movement shows that popes, councils, and dogmas of inspiration are alike powerless to resist the development of the universal consciousness which henceforth in religion, as in science, will be accepted as man's surest guide." Quite true; but that, instead of showing that the movement is Divine, shows that it is from Satan; for since "the whole world lieth in wickedness," and darkness covers the earth, and "gross darkness the people," the "universal consciousness" always leads away from God. "The world by wisdom knew not God," and never will. Only "the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." The more men "investigate" the Bible, the less they will know about it. When they believe it with the simple faith of little children, its treasures will be unfolded to them.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." Yet "He ever liveth." He "through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God," and thus His sacrifice is continual. This is to show us how we may offer our bodies "a living sacrifice," and to make it possible. Our bodies are to be continually offered, and He will continually renew their life, in order that the sacrifice may be continued. Thus our service to God means a supply of life from Him. This is the only real life insurance there is.

"Self-denial" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

Self-denial. -From our youth up we have heard that "Self-preservation is the first law of nature." This is true; but nature must give way to grace, if we would be saved; and self-denial is the first law of grace; for when Christ was in the form of God, He "counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself" (Phil. ii. 6, 7); and He says: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." Matt. xvi. 24.

But self-denial does not mean self-torture, nor the doing of penance, nor the depriving of one's self of any real good. We are told that "the Lord shall give that which is good" (Ps. lxxxv. 12); "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. "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." Ps. lxxxiv. 11. He says: "Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness" (Ps. lv. 2); and of Him it is said that He "satisfieth thy mouth with good things." Ps. ciii. 5.

What then is self-denial?-It is just what the term indicates-the denial of self. But the denial of self means the acknowledgment and appropriation of God. It means the cross, it is true, because only in the cross do we find God, who is the sum of all good. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Gal. vi. 14. The only thing that the cross takes from us is the world, which, since it is not of God, passes away with its lusts. That is to say, the cross cuts off from us dead things, excrescences, which if not taken away would cause our death. Self-denial, therefore, is nothing more nor less than the rigid separating from ourselves all those things which are injurious.

This necessarily involves some degree of pain and suffering; yet it is pain that brings lasting pleasure-suffering that contains everlasting joy. An abnormal growth on the body cannot be cut off without pain, but it is momentary pain that gives length of quiet days. It was for "the joy that was set before Him" that Christ endured the cross; and this joy is found in the cross itself. "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,"-not merely at some future time, but,-"while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen."

Life comes to us through death-the death of Christ, which we must share with Him. We die, self dies, that we may live a new life in Christ. So denying self and taking the cross means simply the cutting off of bad habits and injurious practises, which are ours by nature, and in that very act the finding of the joy of the Lord-the strength of the Divine nature. It does not mean moaning and groaning over hardship endured, but songs of joy for victories gained.

"Learning to Walk" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

Learning to Walk. -The following text may well be read in connection with the article, "Walking by faith," on another page: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt." "I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by the arms; but they knew not that I healed them." Hosea xi. 1, 3. Moses said to Israel just before they went into Canaan: "Thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came to this place." Deut. i. 31. The record of the dealings of God with Israel, and of the healing of the lame man, is designed to teach us that we are but little children in God's sight, and that if we willingly yield ourselves to His power and wisdom, He will increase our strength even as He does that of the little child, and will teach us how to walk uprightly both physically and spiritually. "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go;" He says. "He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings."

"The Reign of Righteousness" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

The Reign of Righteousness. -"The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice." He reigns in righteousness, and that is why we are to rejoice. The fact that God's reign of righteousness is a cause of rejoicing, is in itself proof that it does not mean that He sits in stern righteousness to judge and condemn. Righteousness means peace; for, being made righteous by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. "The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace." We are to submit ourselves to the righteousness of God, that He may work it in us; and this is what His reign in righteousness means. He is able to produce perfect righteousness in every one that trusts in Him; "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."

"'Thou God Seest Me'" The Present Truth 18, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou God Seest Me."- Have you ever trembled at this thought? or have you ever repeated these words to children, for the purpose of frightening them into being good? If so, do not do it any more. God does not wish that anybody should be afraid of Him. Do you not know that the words, "Thou God seest me" were spoken by Hagar in the wilderness, when God spoke words to comfort her in her affliction? Then she learned that "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect [whole, sincere] toward Him." There is strength and healing in the look of the Lord; therefore we may be glad that the darkness does not hide us from Him, but that the night shines even as the day. "Blessed is the people at know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day; and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted."

January 23, 1902

"A Never-failing Guide" The Present Truth 18, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

"This God is our God for ever and ever; He will lead us over death." This is the exact rendering of the verse as found in one of the best modern versions-the Norwegian. It is not, as in our common version, "He will be our guide even unto death." How unsatisfactory and incomplete! Will He conduct us safely past all dangers, until we come to the last enemy, and then forsake us? Will He conduct us to the prison door, and then leave us? Ah, no. He says, "I am He that liveth, and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of death and the grave." Rev. i. 18.

Therefore, "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." He will guide us not merely to death, but over it, so that we, in Him, may shout, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

This rendering makes the text consistent with itself, for it declares that God is our God for ever and ever. Read the two preceding verses: "Walk about Zion, and go round about her; tell [count] the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following." But how can we tell it to the generation following? Because, "this God is our God for ever and ever; He will lead us over death;" and thus we may make know His powerful love even to thousands of generations. He will never leave us nor forsake us.

It may be interesting to note some other renderings of this verse. The margin of the Revised Version gives us an alternative reading, "for ever more," instead of "unto death." Thus it is in the Swedish Bible.

The Danish has it: "He will conduct us to eternal ages."

Luther rendered it: "He conducts us in the youth," which tallies with Ps. cii. 4, 5: "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." God's guidance keeps us young.

The Vulgate reads thus: "He conducts us in eternity;" and the Septuagint has it, "He will shepherd us to eternity." All convey the one truth, that God's care is never-failing.

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 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? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things are we more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, not powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

"The Irrepressible Witness. Acts iv. 1-22" The Present Truth 18, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

When Jesus was about to leave this earth, He said to His disciples, "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be My witnesses." This promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost to all the believers, and therefore we know that it applies to all believers in every age, even to the end of the world. This is also made plain by the prophecy by Joel, which was quoted by Peter on Pentecost.

On that day there was an instance of witnessing by the power of the Spirit, when all the disciples spoke in other languages than their own, "as the Spirit gave them utterance." So powerful was the testimony that was given on that occasion, that scoffers were silenced, and three thousand souls were convinced and converted.

POWER WITNESSING IN SILENCE

But just as the Spirit whom Jesus promised to send in His name was to abide with the believers for ever, so the power which He would bring was to be continuous, and not intermittent. Accordingly, we know that the true disciples had as much power in the days that followed

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Pentecost, as they did on that day. They had no less power for witnessing when they spoke in their native language than when they spoke in a foreign tongue; and the Spirit's power was as great in them when they were walking quietly along the streets o Jerusalem, as when they were preaching to the multitudes.

Thus it was that when the lame man accosted Peter and John as they were about to go into the temple, they could bear the testimony which they did in the presence of all the people. The healing of the impotent man was only another manifestation of the very same power by which the disciples spoke on Pentecost. "For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will." 1 Cor. xii. 8-11. And sometimes several or all of these different workings are manifested in the same person; notably so in the case of the Apostle Paul.

The Holy Spirit can never be idle, and all His working is miraculous. The Power by which a man is kept holy while performing his everyday duties,-eating, talking, walking, working, etc.,-is the very same as that by which miracles of healing are wrought through him. In other words, it requires the same power to keep a man "ready to every good work" that it does to perform the good works at the proper times. The miracle of healing the lame man was therefore a manifestation of the power by which the apostles spoke on Pentecost, and by which they lived in the days that followed.

This appears in what was said when Jesus cast an unclean spirit out of a man in the synagogue one Sabbath day. The people were amazed, and exclaimed, "What is this? A new teaching! with authority He commandeth even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him." Mark i. 27. The miracle was a part of the teaching of Jesus. It was a "new doctrine" to the Jews, even as His words were, in the sermon on the mount. The word by which He healed was the same word by which He instructed the multitudes; and that was the very same word that was His life. "The Word of God is living and active." It "abideth for ever; and this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." The word that created the heavens and the earth is the word that regenerates and cleanses, and by which Gospel truth is expressed, and men are healed.

So it is no wonder that as the result of the healing of the lame man the same thing occurred as when the disciples preached on Pentecost-thousands were converted. This testimony could not be gainsaid. The chief priests and rulers and elders and scribes felt that their prestige was wanting, for they had no such power or authority; and they therefore, instead of stepping into the current and being carried along by it, and filled with the same power, sought to stop it. So they arrested Peter and John, and brought them before the council to answer for the good deed done to the impotent man; and the result was that they were obliged to confess to themselves: "That indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it."

Ah, it is grand to be able to give testimony so unimpeachable as that which the apostles bore; but it is a terrible thing to seek to restrain it and crush it out; yet this is exactly what is done by every one who does not yield to it. The Spirit of power-the Spirit for witnessing-has been poured out upon all flesh; and whoever has not the power in his life is denying an undeniable truth. He is contradicting and seeking to make void the witness of the Spirit. Thousands are to-day doing the very thing that the Jewish Sanhedrim did.

"Christ's Name is Christ Himself" The Present Truth 18, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

Christ's Name is Christ Himself. -In answer to the question of the Jewish rulers, as to the power by which the lame man was healed, "Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders, if we this day are examined concerning a good deed done to an impotent man, by what means this man 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."

The lame man had been raised to his feet, and made to walk, "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth." Acts iii. 6. It was in the same name that he stood before the council the next day; and that name of Jesus was Jesus Himself. Notice: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth . . . even in Him, doth this man stand here before you." As he had received Christ Jesus the Lord, so he continued to walk in Him. The name "Jesus" means Saviour, and that is just what Jesus is. His name is Himself. Being baptized into the name of Jesus, the Son, is being baptized into Christ, and putting on Christ. It is taking His name.

Salvation and Healing. -After telling by what means the lame man had been made whole, namely, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, Peter continued: "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby [wherein] we must be saved. There is no contrast here between healing and salvation. Peter did not say that salvation also is obtained in the same name that heals, but simply made the assertion that there was no salvation in any other name than that which had saved the lame man. The emphasis is on the word "other," and not "salvation;" showing that the salvation is considered the same as healing.

The words "made whole," in Acts iv. 9, are from the same Greek word as the word "salvation" in verse 12. The impotent man was saved in the name of Jesus, and every man who is saved must be saved in the same way. Hence we see that the power by which any person is healed of any disease whatever, is the same power by which we stand and walk; for when the impotent man was healed he walked just the same as other people do; and he stood and walked in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore whoever denies that there is salvation in Jesus Christ, really denies his own existence; for "in Him we live, and move, and have our being." It is certain that at least every person who can walk will have no excuse to offer in the Judgment, for not being saved. Every person who has ever experienced healing in his body, to any extent whatever, ought to be saved; and it is certain that for every saved person there is "perfect soundness" if he but sees it and lays hold of it.

"'Clergy' and 'Laity'" The Present Truth 18, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

"Clergy" and "Laity." -These are very common terms in the church, relics of the Papacy, which was built up on the assumption that God is a respecter of persons, and that in His church there class distinctions, the same as in the world.

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The Scriptures show that there is no such distinction. Christ abolished all titles among His followers, saying, "All ye are brethren" (Matt. xxiii. 8), and declared that whoever did the most service, and was the lowest of all, was the greatest. This was a truth entirely unknown among the Jews at that time; for the Jewish Church in the days of Christ and the apostles corresponded exactly to the Roman Catholic Church to-day; therefore when the rulers saw the boldness of Peter and John, and knew that they were unlettered laymen, they marveled. This is the exact force of Acts iv. 13. The apostles were of "the laity" in the Jewish Church, and such they remained all their lives. Jesus Himself had been the cause of the same wonder; for He was a "lay member" of the congregation, and had never been to the schools of the Rabbis. The disciple is not above his Lord; and so we know that Jesus never intended that in His church there should be such distinctions as "clergy" and "laity." The word "laity" is from the Greek word laos, meaning people; therefore all are "the laity." The Spirit is given to all for witnessing; and all are to witness according to the working of the Spirit in them. No two persons have exactly the same gifts, and consequently there cannot be any classification of witnesses according to rank.

Testimony That Cannot Be Repressed. -The apostles, men in humble station in life, were threatened with severe punishments if they continued teaching in the name of Jesus, and healing people; but they replied: "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye; for we cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard." Thus it appears that there is no ground for the complaint sometimes made, that men are "kept back," and not allowed to exercise their gift in the ministry. If anybody has the gift of the Spirit, it cannot be kept back. Notice that the complaint is not that a testimony to what God has done is kept back, but that they are kept back. The apostles preached, not themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord (2 Cor. iv. 5), and "He could not be hid." When God puts a testimony into a man's mouth, all the officials in the church or nation cannot repress it; he would utter it, even if he were dumb, and therefore much more easily if he were simply gagged by men. Jeremiah said: "There is in mine heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain." Jer. xx. 9, R.V. It made him so weary to keep still, that he found rest in testifying. Even so Jesus said: "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." When men have the Word in them in that way, it will come forth; and if they have not, there is nothing for them to do. So all we have to concern ourselves about is to have the Word-the works-of God in us; He will provide the opportunity for their manifestation, and we may be glad during the work to be covered in the shadow of His hand.

"The Editor's Private Corner. How to Think" The Present Truth 18, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

"Will you please take the third of the following lines by Henry Van dyke as the subject of your editorial at an early date, and write not only upon the value of clear thought, but, if possible, give us some rules that, patiently followed, will enable those who, like me, have had no early training, to think clearer and better than we do?

"Four things a man must learn to do,
If he would make his record true:
To think without confusion, clearly."

The value of correct thinking is so obvious that no argument is needed to prove it; but how to think correctly and to good purpose is what many do not know; and none can know it too well. Therefore this phase of the subject will claim all our attention at present.

"The Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." Prov. ii. 6. "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity," this is, emptiness (Ps. xciv. 11); and this includes even the thoughts of "the wise" (1 Cor. iii. 20), for "the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God." Therefore while it might seem that we think naturally, that no thought need to be taken about it, but that we, so to speak, can "think without thinking," the truth is that all men have to learn to think. The text just quoted shows us that much that is called thought is really not thought at all. Often have I heard people proceed to tell what they "thought" about some portion of the Bible, when their words demonstrated that they had no though about it whatever. They had only dreamed and conjectured.

Where shall we go to learn how to think? Evidently to the One who knows most about it; to the One who is the Author of thought. He says to us:-

"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 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." Isa. lv. 6-9.

Our thoughts are so inferior to God's thoughts, so utterly empty, that the only thing to be done with them is to cast them aside, and take His instead. God's thoughts are the only ones that are of any value. Note the contrast in the following two statements: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. cxlvi. 3, 4. "The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations." Ps. xxxiii. 11. It is not simply that man ceases to think when he dies. That is true, but the text says more than that: all that he has thought comes to an end; there is no enduring substance to it; but the Lord's thoughts, on the other hand, are of such a nature that they endure for ever.

From this it appears that a real, true thought is a thing-something substantial.

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We can see this from a moment's study of words. In the Greek the same word indicates both "word" and "reason;" and the word in Hebrew which means "word," means also "thing." To "think illogically" is really not to think at all; while to think logically, according to reason, is to think according to the Word, which is God; and that means the formation of a thing that has substance to it, and which will never perish.

It must now be quite apparent that much that is called thought is not thought, but only fancy. It is, just as the Lord says, emptiness, imagination. Now there is no profit in building castles in the air. Life is too precious to be wasted in conjuring up something that will soon vanish out of sight, leaving nothing to mark the place where it seemed to be. So good sense would teach us to go to the Master of thought, and learn of Him. He invites us, and will teach us free of charge.

What is the first step in learning how to think thoughts that will endure for ever? The verses already quoted from Isaiah lv. tell us: It is to seek the Lord, and find the forgiveness of sins. It is utterly to abandon our ways and our vain thoughts, casting ourselves upon God, submitting to His righteousness, and being lost in Him; to let Him be our personality. Turning from sin is the first step in right thinking. "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job xxviii. 28. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." Prov. viii. 13. "A good understanding have all they that do His commandments." Ps. cxi. 10. 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. cxix. 99, 100. An instance of this is seen in the case of Daniel and his three companions, who, through the fear of God, became, "in all matters of wisdom and understanding," "ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers" in Babylon; that is, they were ten times wiser than their teachers.

This last reference shows that we are not talking mere theory, but that this advice is practical. From the beginning I have expected that someone would point to men who have "added greatly to the world's thought," who are "intellectual giants," but who were not Christians; but this objection can find no place when we see that however wise worldly men may be, the one who fears the Lord can, through that fear of God, obtain wisdom which worldly men themselves will admit to be "ten times better" than that of those wise men. Gain is not godliness; but godliness is great gain, in that it comprehends all that is worth having in this life, and the whole of the life to come.

Take another text, which shows that righteousness is practical wisdom. Moses said to Israel: "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. And again, "I hate vain thoughts; but Thy law do I love." Ps. cxix. 113.

We see, then, that to have the law of God in the heart, controlling the life, is to possess real, substantial, enduring thoughts-thoughts that are wholly unlike the vain, empty thoughts of the ungodly. It was through meditation on the law that the psalmist got more understanding than his teachers; and of him who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, but who meditates in the law of God day and night, it is said that "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Ps. i. 1-3.

There is no teacher like God, no book that equals His Word. To know God, and to be familiar with His Word, is "a liberal education." This means first of all submission to God, to do His will, and then constant application. Take a portion of Scripture, no matter where, anything that first specially attracts you, and study it. That is, give diligence to find out just what it says; for when you have God's Word you have His thought; you can think clearly, because His Word is (logos) logic. Note the different subjects in a chapter, if there are several, and group the details under those heads, to enable you to take in the whole at one view. Question the text, to find out the purpose of every word and sentence, and its relation to every other. Hold your mind to the exact statement, to just what the text says, and do not allow it to wander for a moment into speculation. Soon you will become so well acquainted with the portion of the Scripture that you are studying that you can "think through it" without the Bible open before you. Then you can "meditate" upon it. You can think-not about it, but-the text itself, when you are sitting in the house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you rise up, and when you lie down. "When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee." Prov. vi. 22.

By this means right thoughts will in time be natural to you. Every case that comes under your notice will as a matter of course be decided by the principles of truth which are your life. You will be astonished ever day to see how comprehensive God's Word is, as the Spirit of God brings to your mind the thoughts-God's Word-that make every obscure thing plan. And this reference to the Spirit of God brings us to the conclusion of the whole matter-that we are properly but agents of the Holy Spirit. There is no perfect thought except when God thinks in us. Our brain is simply the instrument through which God will think His thoughts; and when the Word, which is Spirit and life, permeates us, and we exist only for Him to reveal Himself in us, that will be the case.

Take the growing plant as an example. Watch the seed as it unfolds. See how the stem goes upward, and the rootlet downward, even though the positions be reversed as they come forth. Let some peas sprout on a thin cloth stretched over a glass of water. A single little stem comes forth, which forms both stalk and root. In some cases the peas will lie so that the root end of the stem points upward, and the stem end downwards, so that it is forced to push its way down though the cloth, toward the water beneath, while the root starts upward. But they will not continue in those directions very long. As soon as they are long enough, they will turn; the root will go down, and the stem will make its way back through the cloth, to grow upwards.

Why is this? Some people, called wise, tell us that "gravitation" draws the root downwards; but their wisdom does not tell us why it does not draw the stem down also, especially when it has been forced to start that way. Can you tell what causes it? Let us consider the plant a little further, and then we will give the answer.

Here is a plant in a dry place several yards away from a spring of water. Dig down and examine the roots. You will find that they point to the spring. The plant needs water, and the roots must get it. They lose no time searching for it in the wrong place, but go straight to the place where water is to be found. If the

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plant grows on the side of a wall that encloses water, then its roots will grow horizontally, instead of downwards, in spite of gravitation. Why do not the roots sometimes make a mistake, and grow away in the opposite direction in search of water?

We can answer without hesitation. It is because God is the life of the plant, and He thinks in it and acts in it. His law is its life, and the plant is submissive to it, not setting up any will of its own in opposition to it. Now remember that the man who meditates in the law of God day and night will be "like a tree planted by the rivers of water." He, like the tree, will "think without confusion, clearly," always correctly, and always to the point. God's perfect thought will be his, and he will know every right way. Study God's word, not to find distinction and honour for yourself, but for the glory of God, and He will glorify Himself in you, leading you always in the way everlasting.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

God made all the birds by His Word. He said, "Let the waters bring forth fowl that may fly above the earth." "And it was so." Then He blessed all the birds that He had made, and told them to mul-ti-ply.

This is why the birds make their nests in the Spring, and lay their pretty little eggs. For out of them come the baby birds. So God still makes the birds by His Word. His blessing is upon them all. This is what makes them mul-ti-ply.

The father and mother birds are very busy. They have so many mouths to fill with food. God sends the birds their food. He shows the old ones where to find it. They carry it to the little ones in the nest.

Your father and mother bring you your food, but it is God who sends it. He gives your parents the power to get it for you. The birds do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns; "yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"

Soon the little birds' feathers will grow. Then the old ones will teach them to fly and sing, and to gather food for themselves. Their little wings will grow stronger every day. When the Autumn comes they will be ready for their long journey over the seas. The young birds will go first, and the old ones will follow.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

Irish agricultural returns show that in Ireland last year the cultivation of potatoes decreased by 18,258 acres, and the cultivation of wheat by 10,887 acres.

Already the approaching coronation is affecting rents in the West-end. A few days ago a house that ordinarily fetches ?500, was let for 800 guineas up to September 1.

The steamers Lucania and Kaiser Wilhelm, on their last trip to New York, kept up communication at sea throughout sixty-six hours, exchanging over 100 messages by the wireless telegraphy.

In the course of an inquest on the body of a young man who committed suicide in the "Rube" a few days ago, it was stated that "during the last twelve months forty millions of passengers have been projected to and fro through the 'Tube,' and not a single one has been hurt." That is certainly a remarkable record.

A sheep, after being buried in the snow in Westmoreland for twenty-two days, walked home, a distance of a mile and a half, on being thawed out. It had but a short time before been buried in the snow for ten days. The length of time that life will continue under the most adverse circumstances should teach us something of the possibilities when the conditions are the most favourable.

As might naturally be expected, there is a strong movement in the Roman Catholic Church in favour of the Higher Criticism, and attempts to secure its condemnation by the Pope have not been successful. A French Dominican named Lagrange, residing at Jerusalem, has maintained in the Dominican Review that the story of Paradise and the fall of Adam and Eve should not be regarded as historical, but simply as a symbol or a legend; and the Pope would not condemn it when appealed to. Why should he? The Higher Criticism is doing for the Bible, in a refined way, what the Pope's predecessors did in such a brutal manner in the Middle Ages. The Pope is wise in his generation.

The Daily Chronicle notes the promised introduction of a Bill into the House of Keys, Isle of Man, intended to prevent boys under eighteen from smoking tobacco, and says that unless the measure includes girls also, it will be decidedly defective. The Chronicle declares that "quite recently the practice has spread to the immature of the weaker sex," and that "it is not an uncommon sight now to see a little girl sharing the delights of a single 'fag' with a little boy." People talk about the "coming generation;" but they may be assured that no generation will ever succeed the one that is now sapping its life by all the vices that accompany cigarette smoking.

The adulteration of the milk supplied in Paris has reached such terrifying proportions that in many cases the medical faculty has entirely ceased to recommend it, declaring that, instead of building up a patient, it may lead to anemia. Patients forced to adopt a milk dietary sink visibly after a two months' trial. It is also prepared to prove, after searching investigations, that the mortality of infants has been quadrupled in one year in Paris, on account of the vile liquid given to them as milk. Infectious diarrhea in adults, and infantile cholera, are the chief results of its use. From all these evils, those who do not attempt to rob the calves of their legitimate food are happily free.

In an article on the Old Testament, in the Nineteenth Century and After, Canon Cheyne asks for a hospitable reception to be given to the "advanced" German view that David, Saul, Jonathan, and Solomon are mythical characters-impersonations of solar powers. This was to be expected, and it is not the end. It will not be long till the whole of the Old Testament will be declared to be a fable,-a "highly instructive" one, of course, but a fable nevertheless. And hundreds of ministers will stumble over one another in their eagerness to place themselves in line with "the scholarship of the day." And while the Word of truth is being declared a fable, men will more and more be turning to fables indeed. It would be bad enough if they ruined only their own souls; but the sad part is that many others are led astray by this false teaching. "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness."

If the so-called "labour leaders" would stop inviting working-men to agitate for idleness with increased pay, and would give them such sound advice as Mr. John Burns did in a recent address at a meeting of working-men in Bunhill-row, they would better deserve the title. According to the report, "he reminded them that it needed something more than grumbling to get rid of poverty, and the working-men had the matter in their own hands. Not always the sty, but often the pig, was to blame. Many houses were vile and verminous, because the workers' wages went to the publican, the pawnbroker, and the curse of modern society, the bookmaker." "The pitiful sight was witnessed of the tenpence-an-hour man looking down on the sixpence-an-hour man. Working people were more snobbish than lords, who had some reason for being so." "Mr. Burns startled his audience by asserting that three out of five in that room would, before they died, land in the workhouse, the infirmary, or some kindred institution," and this largely because of the increase in the drinking habit. There is no discounting the inspired declaration that the righteous is not forsaken nor his seed driven to beg for bread.

"How to Avoid Colds" The Present Truth 18, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

This is always a timely subject, and especially at this season of the year; and although winter is half over, a little advice may save many from severe colds, and help others to get rid of that which is now troubling them.

We may as well begin with a piece of advice that recently appeared in one of the newspapers. It was this, that the system must be fortified against cold, by taking large quantities of fat. This is but the repetition of a very ancient and very common notion, which has some reason in it, but which is responsible for far more colds than have ever been prevented by following it.

It is a fact that a poorly-nourished body feels the cold much more acutely than one that is well sustained; but properly nourished does not mean stuffed. Many more colds are caused by overeating than by eating too little, and we shall presently see why. Reference has been made to the fact that Nansen and his party were perfectly free from colds during their sojourn in the Arctic regions, and that fat meat was a prominent item in their bill of fare. This is true; but it must be remembered that they were out of doors practically all the time, living an active life, and that they were subjected to scarcely any change of temperature; and under those conditions few people will take cold, even though their diet be not the best. But there is another side to the story, and that is that as soon as Nansen and his crew returned to the temperate zone they all suffered from severe colds.

A parallel to this is seen every year, when many who have gone through the winter free from colds, severely as soon as warm weather comes in the spring. Why is this? It is largely due to the fact that during the winter they have consumed so much fat that their systems have become clogged; the warm weather is not so conducive to the burning up of the waste matter in the system, and the accumulated poisons make their presence known in the shape of a cold.

As a matter of fact, one's winter diet need not vary much from that of the summer. At all times of the year the system should be properly nourished; and this means taking all the food elements necessary to the support of the body, and in the right proportions. A certain amount of fat (which can always be obtained best from the vegetable world) is needed at all times; and since cold weather stimulates the appetite, a much larger quantity of fat will naturally be taken in winter than in summer, but only as the entire amount of food consumed is greater. If an excess of fat be taken, its presence will surely be manifest in a cold, or else in what is called "biliousness."

While it is true that one feels the cold more when insufficient food is taken, than when the body is well supplied with nourishment, it is also true that a starving person does not take cold. The reason is this: As long as there is life the excretory organs are at work carrying away broken-down and waste matter, all, in fact that they can get hold of. A cold is most frequently the result of overworking these organs, by taking more food into the system than is needed; so that in addition to carrying off the ordinary broken-down tissue and the waste part of the food digested, the excretory organs have a vast quantity of food to remove, which was never needed, and which can not be used at all. All the food that is swallowed, more than what is actually needed to repair waste, is poison to the system. The eliminating organs do the best they can, but poison accumulates faster than they can remove it. Whoever remembers his sensations after eating a too hearty meal, especially if meat formed the principal part of it, will know that it produced many of the symptoms of a cold.

Now if, on the other hand, there is not enough food taken to supply the body, the excretory organs, not having sufficient legitimate work, begin on the healthy tissues of the body. Instead of there being a clogging of the system, there is a too rapid discharge of matter; nothing can stay in one place long enough to dam up the stream of life, and consequently there is no cold.

From this it will be seen that a diet that will supply just the nourishment that the body needs, and no more, is the best means of avoiding either a cold or suffering from cold weather. Light feeding, providing the necessary food elements be obtained, is the best preventive of colds. With a diet consisting very largely of fruits, properly combined with products containing starch, and special fat in the shape of nuts, one can defy almost any weather.

Of course diet is not the only factor, although it is the chief one in taking or avoiding or curing a cold. There must be enough active exercise to induce perspiration and a good, free circulation of blood. The skin must also be inured to cold by frequent cold bathing, or, at the least, by vigorous rubbing in cold air. Whether the cold water bath, or only the cold air bath be taken, the body must be kept warm at the same time by friction. The exertion put forth in rubbing the body also accelerates the circulation. An excellent thing also is to wet the neck thoroughly, especially the back of it, with cold water, every time one washes the face. By this means one can so accustom himself to cold that he can sit in a draught of cold air without feeling it, and without experiencing any ill effects. On the contrary, nothing will be more refreshing. It need hardly be said that the rooms in which one works, and especially the sleeping room, should be thoroughly ventilated. Consumption is cured by constant living in the open air; therefore it stands to reason that the same thing will tend to prevent it. If consumptive patients can live out of doors in the day time, and have their sleeping room windows constantly open, without taking cold, surely a well person can. Fresh air is what keeps the lungs in good condition.

Follow these simple principles, and you can either wholly avoid colds, or if they come you can make their stay very short.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

"Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counselor? Or who hath first given to Him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things; to whom be glory for ever." We receive gifts from God to be used in His service. Christ led captivity captive, when He ascended on high, and He "received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." Ps. lxviii. 18. Whoever receives God's gifts is under obligation to serve Him. That is a simple, plain proposition that no one can deny. Do you say that you have not received any gifts from Him? Ah, "blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation." "He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." Have you ever made any recognition of these gifts? Have you ever expressed any thankfulness for them? If not, are you not ashamed to take good things from the hands of God all your life, and never say a word to Him in response? Think of this matter, and deal with God as fairly as you would with a man.

"'The Right Way'" The Present Truth 18, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Right Way." -We are told in the one hundred and seventh psalm of the troubles and the deliverance of the children of Israel. "They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." The Lord Himself went in the way before them, to search out the place for them to pitch their tents in, and He accompanied them; and all the ways of the Lord are right ways.

Not an Easy Way. -But the way was not smooth, and it was beset with difficulties. The very first march brought them into a narrow place between the mountains and the sea, where there was no escape from a pursuing enemy. "The right way" in which the Lord led them was "a solitary way," a desert place, where there was no water, and where they seemed likely to die of thirst. Because they found difficulties, they at once jumped to the conclusion that God was not leading them, and they murmured against Moses, charging him with intending to kill them. But Moses was only following the Lord's leading.

Judging by Appearances. -How often we find Christians to-day acting just as ancient Israel did. They start some enterprise, and if everything is favourable they conclude that the Lord is opening the way for them, and leading them; but as soon as difficulties or reverses come, they are thrown into confusion, and think that they have been mistaken, and that God was not leading them, or else that He has forsaken them. The consequence of this sort of judging is that they are never certain of their course. They are always more or less in doubt, and fluctuating in their emotions,-sanguine and rejoicing when things go smoothly, and despondent and faint-hearted when the way is difficult. Such judgment is most faulty, as Christ says: "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." John vii. 24.

The Way of the Cross. -The truth is that the only right way is the way of the cross. Christ is the way, and we cannot know Him at all, except as Christ crucified. When He was on this earth, the only way back to heaven was by the cross. Indeed, it was the cross that brought Him from heaven to earth. By the cross He was lifted up to a seat at the right hand of God; and by that same cross He will come again "in power and great glory." He did not become discouraged and turn back when He saw the cross; and the exhortation to us is: "Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." Heb. xii. 3. "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." 1 Peter iv. 12, 13.

Trying to "See the Way Clear." -How often we hear people say that they "can't see their way clear," or that they are waiting until they can see the way clear ahead of them. How foolish! It is utterly impossible for anybody to tell what will take place one minute in the future. We cannot hope to see our way ahead, except as we see Christ, who is the way. God knows the end from the beginning; and the way that He leads us is the right way, even though it is dark as night. The sea, which shut off the progress of the Israelites, was itself the way for them to go. God had chosen it, and therefore it was the way of safety. Then as we commit the keeping of our souls to Him, let us not murmur when His way leads through the deep waters or the trackless desert, but follow on, every singing:-

"Thy way, not mine, O Lord,
However dark it be!
Lead me by Thine own hand,
And choose the path for me.
I dare not choose my lot;
I would not if I might;
Choose Thou for me, my God,
So shall I walk aright.

"The kingdom that I seek
Is Thine; so let the way
That leads to it be Thine,
Else I must surely stray.
Take Thou my cup, and it
With joy or sorrow fill,
As best to Thee may seem;
Choose Thou my good and ill."

"Success to the Man Who Believes" The Present Truth 18, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

It is impossible for people to do the things which they think they cannot do. The commander of a squadron once came back from an expedition and reported failure.

"Do you know why you did not succeed?" asked the admiral.

"Because the enemy's position was too strong," was the reply.

"No," said the admiral. "It was because you thought you could not do it."

It is not true that a man can do anything he thinks he can; but it is true that it is impossible for a man to do a thing that he thinks he cannot do. in the case referred to the admiral knew that the position could be taken; and his confidence would have given him success. So in life one must know the Lord and His will, and must be assured that the Lord's will can be done. Then it will never occur to him to think that a thing in harmony with God's will cannot be done, and he will carry to success everything that he undertakes. Even the will of God cannot be accomplished in the one who doubts; but faith cometh by hearing the Word of God; and "all things are possible to him that believeth."

January 30, 1902

"How the Early Church Was Kept Pure. Acts iv. 31-37; v. 1-11" The Present Truth 18, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Miracles were common occurrences in the church in the days of the apostles. This, to most people in these days, would seem to be a contradiction of terms, since a miracle is usually supposed to be something out of the ordinary course; but it is the exact truth; for the ascended Lord was recognised as constantly present among them; and miracles are the Lord's ordinary work. So when the apostles had been tried for performing a miracle, and had, on their discharge, told the brethren of their experience, they laid the case before the Lord, and prayed: "Now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto Thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak Thy Word, by stretching forth Thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of Thy Holy Child Jesus." Acts iv. 29, 30.

"When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul."

It was by the Holy Spirit in them that miracles were wrought; for we are told that the Word which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, "Was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will." Heb. ii. 3, 4.

It was the Holy Spirit that united "the multitude of them that believed" into "one heart and soul;" for we read that "the unity of the Spirit" is to be kept in the bond of peace. It is only by possessing one common Spirit that a multitude of people can be of one heart and soul; and the Holy Spirit of God is the only universal, all-pervading Spirit. Ps. cxxxix. 7-12.

It is this same Spirit that purifies the heart. When the apostles were all assembled at a later date, together with the elders of the church, Peter, describing the conversion of the Gentiles, said, "God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and put not difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." Acts xv. 8, 9. All who believe receive the Holy Ghost (John vii. 38, 39),-the "living water" which, a pure river, clear as crystal, gushes forth from the throne of God. Rev. xxii. 1. This "pure river of water of life, clear as crystal" purifies all who receive it in faith, allowing it "free course" through them.

It was this same Spirit that kept the church pure. Discordant elements came in, which, if allowed to multiply, would soon have made the church totally corrupt. Attracted by the generosity of the believers, who sold their possessions and laid down the proceeds at the feet of the apostles, to be distributed "unto every man according as he had need." Ananias and his wife Sapphira joined the company. They likewise "sold a possession," but they brought only part of the price to the apostles, keeping the remainder for themselves while drawing their share out of the common stock equally with the rest.

"But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost; and great

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fear came on all them that heard these things."

Sometimes the foolish question is asked, "Was Peter justified in causing the death of Ananias?" A careful reading of the narrative will show the carelessness of such a question. Peter had nothing to do with it. The Holy Spirit convicted Ananias of sin, and since he was impenitent, executed the penalty at once. The power by which sinners will be destroyed out of the earth in the last day, namely, "the Spirit of judgment" and "the Spirit of burning" (Isa. iv. 4), is the same means by which sin is now purged out of the individual sinner who believes. It is true, as has been said, that it is the water of life that cleanses from sin; but God, who is "the fountain of living waters" (Jer. ii. 13), is also "a consuming fire." Heb. xii. 29.

The same thing that happened to Ananias also befell Sapphira a few hours later. "And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them; but the people magnified them. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)" Acts v. 11-14. It was God Himself working in His own church, to keep it pure; and the method was effective.

It is plain that there can be no question as to whether such a method should be adopted now, since it was not "adopted" by the church then. The apostles had nothing to do with heresy trials and turning out unworthy members. Their sole business was to minister the Word and the Spirit, leaving God to do the purifying by His own agencies. We may be sure that if the church, whether it be composed of few members or of a multitude, is filled with the Holy Ghost, it must necessarily be a pure church; no human action is needed for its purification. And if the Holy Spirit does not fill the church, then it is equally certain that no act of man can purify it, since no act of man can bring in the fulness of the Spirit, the only Purifier.

All the efforts of men through centuries to keep the church pure, have been only substitutes for the Spirit. Rules and regulations have been laid down, defining just what the church might do and might not do, and announcing the penalties for violation of those rules; but all to no purpose; a mechanical church is not the building which "growth unto an holy temple to the Lord." The Papacy flourishes under the most elaborate system of rules ever devised by man.

Some one will ask, "If the church has not the fulness of the Spirit, is some action by men necessary in order to keep it pure? Is it not better to root out the most flagrant cases of sin, and thus save the church from open disgrace?" That is to say, If we cannot have true piety in the church, should we not at least keep up the appearance of respectability? But what is the use of a substitute that doesn't accomplish that which the real thing effects? Is not a church that is consciously corrupt, and that knows that nothing but thorough cleansing by the Spirit can be of any profit, in much better ease than the church that is lulled into apathy and vain-confidence by the appearance of respectability? Is it a good thing to be "pretty good"? Hear what the Lord says:-

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth." Rev. iii. 15, 16.

The methods commonly employed to keep the church pure, are essentially papal, because they affect only the outside appearance. They correspond to the efforts of zealous individuals to purify themselves by their own "good works." They only heal the hurt slightly; it is closed to all appearance, but within corruption is still festering. Nothing can give perfect soundness but "the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." This means is available, the Spirit having already been poured out on all flesh, and so there is no need of resorting to substitutes.

"Behold, 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. But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' 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. 1-3.

For this awful yet glorious day let every lover of the Lord pray.

"Come as the fire, and purge our hearts
Like sacrificial flame;
Let our whole soul an offering be
To our Redeemer's name."

"A Lesson for the Last Days" The Present Truth 18, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

It begins in the fifth chapter of Genesis which contains the history of the patriarchs who lived before the flood. The history of one is the history of all; the record is the same in each case. This is a sample: Adam lived, and begat sons and daughters, and he died. That is the way the Lord writes the history of men; for with few exceptions it sums up the whole story. The history of individuals and nations is the same,-they flourished a while, and then died. There is certainly nothing of which to boast when there is no glory that death does not quickly blight.

But there is a break in the record: "All the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years; and Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him." Gen. v. 23, 24. How came it to pass that Enoch was translated, and the others died? Here is the continuation of the story: "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God 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.

"God is no respecter of person," and His ways are equal; why then were not the other patriarchs translated? There is but one reason that can be given, and that is found in the words just quoted: "By faith Enoch was translated."

But did not the other patriarchs have faith? Surely they did; for they were good men. The record is very clear as regards Noah. He was "a just man, and perfect in his generations: and Noah walked with God," "a preacher of righteousness." They had faith which justified them before God; but Enoch evidently had a faith that they did not have; for if they had had exactly the same faith that he had, they must also have been translated.

In saying this, we must remember that there is but "one faith," but that there are different degrees of it, and different objects of it. Therefore while all the patriarchs had the same faith that Enoch had, he had a degree of faith which they did not possess, or else his faith laid hold of a thing which theirs did not, or both. Now what was the truth with which the name of Enoch is specially connected? We find it in the other place in which Enoch is mentioned in the New Testament, Jude 14, 15:-

"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh

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with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

The coming of the Lord was that which Enoch's faith grasped so firmly that it was to him already an accomplished fact, and by the power of that coming he walked with God. He believed for translation, and lived according to his belief, and he was not disappointed.

We say that this contains a lesson for the last days, because Enoch is a type, a forerunner, of a class. "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." 1 Cor. xv. 51. 52. There will be many who at the coming of Christ will be translated to heaven without seeing death. But this will not be an accident. They will not be translated simply because they happen to be alive at that time. They will be translated just as Enoch was, and he was translated by faith, and not by accident. So those who now intelligently believe for translation, will be taken to heaven at Christ's coming, without having died; for we are now very near His coming.

Of course an exception must be made in the case of those who, like the Apostle Paul, are made to know that they must be offered up as witnesses to the faith. He believed for translation, but the Lord let him know that he was to be martyred and await His coming in the grave. So it will be with many other faithful souls before the coming of Christ.

It is because Christ will have a multitude of perfect witnesses to the power of His endless life,-witnesses who will demonstrate that death may be conquered in mortal flesh, that He is at this time giving the world special opportunities to see and lay hold of His life. The discoveries in light and electricity are revealing power at hand for healing, that has not before been dreamed of by the mass of mankind; and light on how to live so as to resist disease is being manifested to an extent never before known. Even with our present limited knowledge, millions of people would have their lives greatly prolonged and made much more enjoyable, if they only loved life well enough to resist natural appetite and inclination, and do what they know is best. And when light is followed, more light always comes.

It must be remembered, in studying this lesson, that the fact that a man dies is not any proof that he is not a good man and accepted by God. Many good men have died in the past, and many good men will yet die before the Lord comes; and therefore we may not charge any with sin, who do not live according to the most perfect laws of hygiene. Indeed, nobody has any business to charge anybody else with sin; for God has not sent us into the world to condemn the world, but that the world by us might be saved. The Day of Judgment has not yet come. The most that can be said of good men who have a message of truth from the Lord, and who through lack of knowledge of some law of health fall into the grave by the way, is that they are deprived of a great privilege that may be enjoyed on this earth.

"Boasting is excluded." No one can say that he will not see death, but will be translated; but whosoever will may declare himself a candidate for translation, and then begin the fight against death in every form. Are you living for life eternal, to be laid hold of now and held without intermission?

"The Editor's Private Corner. When Was the Sabbath Changed?" The Present Truth 18, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Someone has sent me a little pamphlet containing some statements concerning this question; and inasmuch as the subject is one of general interest, and the PRESENT TRUTH and editor are specially referred to, we may have a little chat about it in this private corner. The writer says that if there has ever been any change, "of course the date when it took place must be easily ascertained;" and then he proceeds to name several different dates, which he claims have been set forth by Sabbath-keepers as the time when the change occurred. He says that one writer says it was done by Constantine in A.D. 321; that another claims that it was done in A.D. 360, at the Council of Laodicea; that still another fixes upon A.D. 537 as the exact time; and that the editor of PRESENT TRUTH sometimes gives one and sometimes another of these dates, and "sometimes mixes two of the above-mentioned historical events together, as if they were contemporaneous."

Now it is of very little importance to ascertain what anybody teaches about anything; all that it is necessary for us to know is, What is the truth? regardless of what anybody thinks about it. But we will take occasion to say this; that if any reader of PRESENT TRUTH will point out the place where the editor has mentioned any date whatever as the exact time when the Sabbath was changed, the editor will at once make public apology for his error. The editor's opinions are of no consequence whatever; but in a pamphlet published at this office, entitled, "Origin of Sunday Observance," he has given the facts about the case, in the words of observers of the first day of the week; and a perusal of this little volume will repay any seeker after truth.

Let us now enter upon a systematic, though necessarily brief, consideration of the question on its merits.

1. In the first place, it is so well-known and so universally admitted that the first day of the week was not the original Sabbath, that almost every one who speaks or writes in favour of Sunday observance mentions the fact of the "change." Some attempt to give a reason for the change, and others say that the fact that the change has been made is sufficient evidence that it ought to have been done.

2. This therefore opens up the questions, What day was originally the Sabbath? Who instituted it? and, Who authorized any change?

These questions are easily answered. The fourth commandment tells us that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," and that in it we are not

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to do our own 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." That this day, set apart by God Himself, is not the day now generally observed, is demonstrated in every land by the presence of the Jews. To them "were committed the oracles of God," and when Jesus came He recognised the day which they were observing as the Sabbath, calling Himself its Lord; they observe the same day still, and it is the day known as Saturday, and not the one commonly called Sunday.

Two of the three questions are here answered; the third remains. Who authorised any change?

3. This brings home forcibly to us that the essential thing is not, "When was the Sabbath changed?" nor "Who changed it?" but, Is there any authority or command for a change? And it must be borne in mind that a change in any law must be by the same authority that instituted it, or by some one having equal authority; and, moreover the change must be as definitely stated, and as widely published as the original law.

4. But there is no other power equal to God, and His Word will be searched in vain for any statement that He ever changed His law of rest. He spoke His law from the mountain-top, in tones that shook the whole earth; and the event was one of such importance that all the angels attended Him. To that awful day there will be no parallel until the same voice shakes not only the earth but also heaven, at the second coming of Christ. There is therefore no possibility of any change ever having been made in the day of the Sabbath by Divine authority; and this being the case, it is of no consequence whatever who presumed to make a change, or when it was done. Christ declared: "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Luke xvi. 17.

5. As a matter of fact, no change has ever been made in the Sabbath, for that is impossible. The text last quoted shows this. "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever." The Sabbath is the same as it was "from the beginning;" but men's customs have changed. The question therefore resolves itself into this, When did men begin to depart from the Lord, and to ignore His commandments? That can be paralleled by the following: When did men begin to make and worship images? When did Christians begin to offer prayers for the dead? When was "infant baptism" first practised? etc.

Shall we say that if any change has been made we must of course be able to name the exact date when it occurred? The absurdity of that is apparent. We know that there was a time when all the inhabitants of the earth "knew God," and that they did not glorify Him as God, neither were thankful, and that their foolish heart was darkened, until they "changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." Rom. i. 21-23. But nobody supposes that there was a certain day or month, or even a certain year, in which the people unitedly and formally resolved to turn from God, and worship idols. No Baptist can name any date as the exact time when sprinkling was substituted for baptism; yet every churchman knows that immersion was the original practise. No one can tell when prayers for the dead began to be offered in Christian churches. The greater portion of those who now call themselves Christians, believe and teach that a priest has power to convert a piece of bread into the very being of God; all Protestants repudiate this as a gross departure from the truth as taught by Christ and the apostles; yet no man can point to the exact date when the change took place.

THE BEGINNING OF APOSTASY

Apostasy does not come that way. No man drops in one day from perfect faith to gross error; much less do multitudes of people apostatise all at the same time. Error is insidious in its working, and the people who fall away are rarely conscious that any change is taking place in them. Indeed, the apostate church most vigorously claims to have the true, original faith, and stamps all others as heretics.

So it was with regard to the Sabbath. It is readily admitted that Sunday was by many observed instead of the Sabbath before Constantine was born. But even if it could be shown by unimpeachable testimony that it was observed as early as the time of the Apostle Paul, that would not make it right. The question concerning even "the church" is not, What did it do? but, What ought it to have done? Were its acts in harmony with the Word of God.

The "mystery of iniquity" was working in Paul's day (2 Thess. ii. 7), but that does not justify the existence of the Papacy. Here is something to think of: The Papacy does exist to-day, and has existed for hundreds of years; but the teaching of Christ and the apostles was as far from popery as light is from darkness; yet no man can tell when the Papacy began in the church. Its beginning was when the spirit of self-exaltation crept into the church; but this naturally was at first only among scattered individuals, and so did not attract general notice. In 3 John 9, 10, we read of a manifestation of it in a church to which the apostle wrote; but it was not till some years later that that spirit became general in the church. Because we cannot tell just when there were more people in the church who ignored the Word than there were who lived by its teachings, has there never been any apostasy?

Here is a thing that anybody may verify for himself if he will: No matter how early you find historical reference to Sunday keeping, you can find mention of image worship and prayers for the dead still earlier.

Did the Papacy, then, institute the change that has taken place with respect to Sabbath observance? It certainly did. When?-This question can be answered when it is found out when the Papacy began to exist. For let it be understood that the Papacy is nothing else but the setting aside of the precepts of the Bible for the opinions and practices of men; therefore the gradual change with regard to Sabbath-keeping, baptism, etc., was the growth of the Papacy; and the full development of the Papacy was the triumph of apostasy in the church.

If it be asked, What difference does it make whether one observes the seventh day or the first day? We must for the present be content with the brief answer, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." That is sufficient. When God has spoken, man has no business to ask, What difference does it make? But whoever will hear and obey will speedily experience, to his inexpressible joy, that it does make a difference.

Peace is not a feeling, but a condition. Let it be settled for ever that God has naught against the sinner. He is for every soul. But man is in rebellion against God. And "there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." But when the wicked man comes to Christ, gives up his own way, and will, and surrenders all, then there is peace. The poor soul, in darkness for years, may not realise this, yet it is true. Peace has its feeling, and that is blessed rest. He who takes hold of God's strength, and makes peace with Him, will find the rest which Christ alone can give.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

This is a picture of the King of birds. Do you know his name? It is the Eagle. He is called the King of Birds because he can fly higher than any other bird. See what long, broad, strong wings he has. He makes his nest up very high, on the rocks and the tops of the mountains.

The baby Eagles are called Eaglets. The parents take great care of their little ones. The are very fierce to anyone who hurts their young.

When the Eaglets are old enough to fly, their mother stirs up the nest. This is to make it so hard that they will want to leave it.

If they will not start to fly when the mother calls them, she throws them off the rocks into the air. Then they have to use their little wings. But she stays close beside them. When they are tired, and begin to fall, she flies under them, and catches them on her own strong wings. She carries them until they are able to fly again.

God says that this shows how He cares for His children. He leads them, and carries them, and watches over them, and keeps them from falling.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

The United States has at last succeeded in securing from Denmark her possessions in the West Indies, consisting of the three islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and Santa Cruz.

Lord Heberoun has made an appeal to the ladies of Australia to "curtail the length of their skirts even though it be by only a little, and to leave the cleansing of the streets to the municipal authorities," inasmuch as long skirts spread the germs of consumption.

Among the good things to be credited last year to London's Police Force which numbers 15,847 officers and men, are noted the finding of 18,429 missing persons, and restoring them to their friends, and the prevention of 507 attempted suicides. The area of the district which is under their care if 686 square miles.

The report of the Massachusetts State Sanatorium, where the open-air treatment is used for consumption, shows that it was efficacious in 67 per cent. of the cases treated in 1901. There was only one death among 399 patients in the year. The average of the patients was twenty-eight.

We hope that no one will despondently say: "That doesn't do my any good; for I am not able to go to an open-air sanatorium;" for the lesson to be learned from the results of the treatment at these places is that everyone can treat himself successfully at home, if he will. fresh air is free for all, and as the abundant, proper use of it is the best preventive of consumption, so it is the great remedy for it, which all may use.

It is said that "poppy cultivation is driving out wheat growing round Foochoo, in China. Opium producing pays better." This is another instance of this shortsightedness of men. Because an acre of land devoted to opium will yield more money than if devoted to wheat, they think that it is more profitable. But wheat strengthen and builds up the human body, while opium weakens it, and produces imbeciles. Weaklings are not wealth-producers; and therefore even from a money point of view, the substitution of poppies for wheat is bad business. The next generation, if there were another, would demonstrate this. But the truth will be demonstrated even sooner; for the insane desire for fleshly gratification, which makes pandering to vice the most profitable business in the world, will effectually cut short the human race. Thus the abounding iniquity and love of pleasure is a sign that the coming of the Lord is near.

In introducing a resolution at a meeting of the London County Council last week, calling for periodical inspection of the kitchens of restaurants and eating-houses, Mr. Foster read letters from cooks, which showed that the cooking in many restaurants is carried on under the most filthy conditions. Further than this, one of the largest dealers in horseflesh had told Mr. Foster that more horseflesh went into restaurants than was sold for cats' meat. From all qualms over such revelations as these, the man who dines hygienically is free. The simple food which God designed that man should eat is most easily prepared, and makes him practically independent of cooks.

The Protestant Alliance has instituted proceedings against three Jesuit priests who have recently come from France, asking them to show cause thy they should not be expelled from this country. They are being proceeded against under Section 4 of the Roman Catholic Relief Act, 1829, which has never been repealed, and according to which any Jesuit entering the country, or any person who enters the Jesuit order within the kingdom, is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to banishment for life. Doubtless the Protestants who are conducting this prosecution feel that they will have done a noble work if they succeed; but the Papacy would not be in the least diminished in England if they should. If their energy were expended in teaching the people the true principles of the Gospel, they would do real good; for if people are armed with "the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God," Jesuits may swarm all around them without doing them any harm; and if the have not the principles of the Bible in their hearts, the expulsion of every Jesuit would not save them from the errors of the Papacy.

"Amid disorder, protest, and angry cries the election of the Rev. Dr. Gore, late Canon of Westminster, as Bishop of Worcester, was confirmed in a crowded room at the Church House, Westminster, yesterday morning."

Such was the report in the papers of the 23rd inst. The Vicar-General had previously examined the written objections that had been handed in, and had ruled them all out, but several "protestants" insisted on being heard, and were with difficulty persuaded to take their seats. The report continues:-

"Next came something which caused even the Bishop-elect to laugh. This was in the wording of the legal declaring that the confirmation could be proceeded with 'no objectors appearing.' Here there were shouts of 'They do appear,' and great laughter, in which Dr. Gore joined heartily. After this, with a few more interruptions, the confirmation was duly completed."

Contrast with this the following report which was published several centuries ago:-

"Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; . . . as they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away."

Does it not seem as though the church had drifted a long way from her anchorage? and is not the picture last presented far nmore attractive than the first? In this connection "Major Whittle's Ordination," in the Home Department will be read with profit.

A report has just been published by a commission from the Medical Faculty of France, showing that 70 per cent., and sometimes 80 per cent. of tinned meats contain living germs, and that many articles sold become putrid shortly after being packed.

In a memorandum prepared for Lord Curson, entitled, "India's needs: The Duties Both of Government and People," Dr. Murdoch says that the result of "Education" has been to produce "an undue craving for positions under the Government."

"The country is being filled with imperfectly educated young men, who think it beneath their dignity to engage in industrial employments. Unless a change takes place, men of this class will become an intolerable burden upon their relatives, while they lead miserable lives themselves."

This is not education. The man who is willing to work, nay, determined to work, and who helps to lift the world's load, is better educated, even though he has never been to school, than the man who has all that the schools can give him, and who feels that hard work if "beneath him."

The man who draw the largest salary of any man in the world, Mr. Charles M. Schwab, was receiving four shillings a day twenty-two years ago, in the steel works where he is still employed. Now, however, his salary is ?1,000 a week, and his employer considers him worth it. It has come about very naturally, for he devoted himself to his work, early and late. He says:-

"I made up my mind to make myself indispensable, instead of continually looking at the clock. Employers appreciate men who may be trusted to do their work as if they were working for themselves. I made up my mind that there should be nothing in the manufacture of steel that I should not know.

"As soon as I had a home of my own I rigged up a laboratory and studied chemistry. My laboratory work was not in the line of my duty; but it gave me greater knowledge. And employe should do something else besides his mere duty-something that attracts the attention of his employer to him."

We do not publish this with the desire to stimulate lads and men with an ambition to get a big salary, but to show the value of zeal and energy. If Mr. Schwab's mind had been on his salary, he would not now be drawing ?1,000 a week. The man who commands such wages must be so intent on his work that his salary never comes into his mind. We commend the lesson of this man's life to all who regard themselves as engaged in the Lord's work.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Bound volumes of PRESENT TRUTH for 1901 are now read, and can be obtained at the office of publication for 5s. each. If you wish to give a friend a valuable book, you could not do better than to order this volume; and there are doubtless many who have read, and not preserved, the papers, who would like to have them in this form for permanent reference. Such should order soon, for the supply is limited.

"God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."

The Word was in the beginning with God, "and the Word was God;" and this "Word of life" is the light of men.

Christ is this Word, and therefore He 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. He is the shining forth of the glory of God.

This light is real, not figurative. It is such light as is pleasant in the eyes-the light that beams forth from the sun. when Christ saw a man blind from his birth, He repeated the words, "I am the Light of the world," and then demonstrated them by causing the man to see.

True it is that "the heavens declare the glory of God." He has placed His glory upon the heavens. The sun, moon, and stars are simply light-bearers,-agents that transmit to us the light that God places upon them. The moon is said to shine with "borrowed light;" but the light of the sun is not its own; it all comes from God.

The Scriptures do not say that "light was created on the first day," but tell us that God "commanded the light to shine out of darkness." 2 Cor. iv. 6. He said, "Let there be light;" and light was. He sent forth His Word of light into the darkness, and light appeared. The light that appeared was the light that had existed from eternity.

With God there is no such thing as darkness, for to Him "the darkness and the light are both alike." Ps. cxxxix. 12. "The night shineth as the day." The darkness with which He surrounds Himself, and in which He hides from man, is but His bright glory, which so dazzles the eyes that it appears to be darkness.

Even so He grants that it may be with His people. Those who receive Him in His fulness "are not of the night, nor of darkness," for to them "the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth." "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." "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," when "they shall see His face," "for there shall be no night there."

What depth of comfort there is in this for all who fear the Lord, and obey the voice of His Servant, and yet walk in darkness, and have no light. Instead of being depressed by the surrounding gloom that seems to shut God away from them, they should remember that the promise, "Then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday," is for this present time. By the good word of God, which makes "the power of the world to come" a present realty, they may "walk in the light as He is in the light" in perfect fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

What portion of your body can you dispense with, and not mind its loss? Do you need your little finger? Could you not get along just as well without, at least, the last joint of your little toe? Your reply is that you have not a member to spear; besides the pain of amputation, you would greatly miss the portion removed, even though you do not always think of its value. More than this, even though you had a sore that made is necessary for you to part with a portion of flesh, the pain would be as great as though the flesh were healthy; nor would it be any the less if you knew that the loss would be made good by a new growth.

Even so it is with God and the children of men. "We are His offspring." "We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." Just as you would wait till the last possible minute before allowing a diseased member to be cut off, hoping to save it, so God is "long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance;" and when at last it is necessary to cut the wicked off, He will suffer all the agony of the Cross. To be free from the load of sin that the existence of the wicked casts upon Him, will be a relief; but it is only at a fearful cost to God that sinners will be destroyed out of the earth. The suffering which God undergoes in the death of the ungodly would save them if they would but believe.

"Obedience Better than Sacrifice" The Present Truth 18, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Obedience Better than Sacrifice. -An instance of the advantage of using the Revised Version of the Bible may be found in Mark vii. 11, 12, which is quoted in an article on another page of this number. Many people have read, "Ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother," and have been puzzled by the inverted construction. But when we read the Revisions, all is clear:-

"Ye say, if a man shall say to his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is Corban, that is to say, Given to God; ye no longer suffer him to do aught for his father or his mother."

Now the meaning is clear. "Corban" is a Hebrew word meaning an offering, an oblation; and the Rabbis taught that if a ma took the money that should have been used for the support of his parents, and devoted it to the temple service, it was a pious act, and he was free from any responsibility for them.

But Christ did not so regard it. The commandment says, "Honour thy father and thy mother," and through His prophet the Lord has said, "To obey is better than sacrifice." 1 Sam. xv. 22. Sacrifice in unrighteousness is an abomination; and no amount of "work for the Lord" is a substitute for doing the simple duties of life.

February 6, 1902

"The Truth Triumphant. Acts v. 25-42" The Present Truth 18, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

All through the ages every attempt to crush out the truth of the Gospel, either by burning the Word of truth, or by persecuting its adherents to death, has resulted only in demonstrating the words of the Apostle Paul: "We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." 2 Cor. xiii. 8.

Satan's effort to thwart God's plan, by bringing sin into the world, and causing man to lose his first dominion, has resulted in a still more marvellous exhibition of the love and power of the Creator; since in Christ man is not only restored by that which was given him in the beginning, but is made to share the glory that the only begotten Son had with the Father before the world was.

"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound;" and every lie against the truth makes the truth of God to abound still more (Rom. iii. 7), and causes the glory of the infinite One to stand out in more vivid contrast against the darkness.

When the Bishop of London thought to prevent the circulation of the New Testament in England by buying up all the sheets of Tyndale's translation, he was simply furnishing the Reformer means with which to issue a better and larger edition, and to flood the country with the Sacred Word.

Thus it was in a marked degree in the days of the apostles. Peter and John were put into prison for healing a lame man, and preaching Jesus, in whose name the deed was done; but five thousand men were left at liberty to spread the story, as the result of the worlds that Peter spoke; and when the disciples heard of the threatenings of the rulers they only prayed for more boldness and for more of the same working that had stirred up the wrath of those in authority. They recognised how impossible it is for man to stay God's chariot, saying:-

"Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. For a truth against Thy Holy Child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done." Acts iv. 24-28. What folly to rise up against the One who makes the wrath of man to praise Him, and who takes the fiercest rage and binds it about Himself as a garment of glory! Whatever men do to frustrate His purpose only helps to accomplish it.

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More and mightier miracles were wrought through the apostles in answer to the threats of the rulers, who at last rose up in their indignation, and seized all the apostles, and put them in the common prison. Foolish men! to think that prison doors could hold men filled with the Spirit of Him whom the gates of the grave could not confine. "The angels of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life."

This they did, and when the council met in the morning, and sent the officers to the prison for the prisoners, they found everything in order, the doors locked, and the keepers guarding them with all diligence, but nobody inside. They were watching an empty cage, while the prisoners were preaching the word of life to the people. No wonder that "when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow." Acts v. 24.

And what did these spiritually blind men then do? We pass by for the moment the bold words of truth spoken by the apostles, and note the wise counsel of Gamaliel. He cited two instances of great movements among the people, which soon came to nothing, and said:-

"Not I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found to fight against God."

To this they agreed, yet not wholly; they could not refrain from venting their spite; so they beat the apostles, and commanded them that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

Did this stop the spread of the truth? Far from it. The apostles "departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ," with the result that "the number of the disciples was multiplied."

Has this any instruction for us personally, more than to show us the folly of trying to hinder the spread of the Gospel when God has set His hand to it? Yes; it shows us the power of the truth, which is a shield and defence to all who accept it. Let the truth find lodgment in your heart, and it will root out every evil. That truth which persecution cannot crush out will be your protection in time of persecution. God has from the beginning chosen us to salvation "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth;" and the power of the truth to resist the destructive rage of rulers and kings is the manifestation of its power to save us. With the Lord, the God of truth, there is plenteous redemption.

"His Blood Be on Us." -When the Apostles, having been delivered from prison, came from the temple into the council chamber, the high priest said:-

"Did we not strictly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man's blood upon us."

And why should they not. They themselves had demanded it. When the mob, instigated by these same priests, had clamoured for the blood of Jesus, Pilate, seeing that he was helpless in their hands, "took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just Person; see ye to it," and the response had come: "His blood be on us, and on our children." Matt. xxvii. 23-25.

They did not know what they were saying. They did not know that His blood was life, even the life of the world, and that the shedding of it would put thousands of living teachers in the place of the One. The corn of wheat fell into the ground and died, and thenceforth it could no longer abide alone. The rulers in their rage against Jesus did only what God had before determined should be done; and the teaching and the miracles done by the apostles were the fruit of that which the chief priests who were now complaining had been instrumental in bringing about. They had no reason to complain.

About forty years later the blood of Christ came on them in a still more startling manner. The Romans, into whose hands they had delivered Jesus, came against Jerusalem, and the blood of its inhabitants flowed down the temple courts like water. They did not know the time of their visitation, and so they perished. If they had accepted Him, the truth which is in Him would have saved them from all their enemies; but, according to their wish, they suffered that which they had done to Him.

And yet it is a most blessed thing to suffer with Him. To know "the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death," ensures the resurrection and the life eternal with Him. The trouble with the rulers of the Jews was that when He came to His own "they that were His own received Him not," and so they had to undergo His sufferings alone. The guilt of His blood, but not the life of it, was upon them.

We may have His blood-His life blood-upon us, abiding for ever. The Spirit whom He sends forth into all the world is the water of life (John vii. 38, 39); and the Spirit and the water, and the blood agree in one. God saves us "by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour." His blood on us secures our redemption; therefore, with a far different spirit from that of the Jews of old, we may use their words: "His blood be on us."

"We Ought to Obey God Rather than Men." -Of course we ought, every one will echo, and yet when the test comes, the law of man usually takes precedence of the law of God. In all ages the rulers of the church and the nations have made void the law of God by their traditions and laws, and the people have blindly followed. How many have been heard to say, "I know that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and I should like to keep it if other people would. Of course I cannot keep it when everybody else keeps another day; but I wish there were a law requiring all men to keep the true Sabbath." Often has the writer heard serious proposals to petition Parliament to enact such a law!

To what profit? What would be the use of serving God if He could not defend His own subjects, but was obliged to depend on earthly kings to enforce His laws, and to make it possible for the people to obey Him? The glory of God's truth is that it has power to support its adherents against the opposition of the whole world backed by Satan and his hosts.

We ought to obey God rather than men, because "it is He that hath made us, and His we are; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture." Man has no might. "They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him." But the Lord can save; the power of His salvation is plainly revealed in the whole earth. Therefore He and He only ought to be obeyed by all men.

No man is complete in himself; no man can exist independently of God. Dust of

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the earth is nothing to boast of: it is trodden under feet; yet dust of the earth and the Spirit of God combined make man. It is only the Spirit of God that makes man of any more value than the dust that flies in at the window, and therefore we ought not to make counsel even of our own flesh and blood, but allow the inspiration of the Almighty to be all our understanding. The perfect man,-the man who fulfills the object of his creation,-is the man who is but the agent of God's mind; whose actions are but the working out of God's will.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Spirit that Witnesses" The Present Truth 18, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

"One of my PRESENT TRUTH customers pointed out to me that verse 7, in 1 John, chapter five, does not appear at all in the Revised Version. He wants to know if you can account for this, and if the omission of this verse makes any difference in the reading of the Scriptures.

"For your guidance, my friend's theory is this, that in the first place the verse was put in by a monk, who was translating the Scriptures, and that, not being found in the Greek, it was left out of our English Revised Version. Whether this is right or not I cannot say.

"He also says that with the verse in, the Scriptures do not harmonise; for the Holy Ghost is on earth, and so cannot be bearing witness in heaven."

In order that all may see at a glance what is involved, we will print the text as it is in both versions. Beginning with the last part of verse 6, we have: "It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three who beareth witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one."

Knowing that the words "record" and "witness," that appear in the text in our common version, are from the same Greek word, we see that what is left out in the Revision is the portion beginning with "in heaven," in verse 7, and ending with "in earth," in verse 8.

This portion is not found in the oldest Greek manuscripts, and there is probably no room for doubt that it was added by somebody other than the apostle John; but who did it, or when it was done, nobody can tell. Therefore, in reading and quoting 1 John v. 6-8, we do well to quote it as it is in the Revised Version.

What difference does it make?-Practically none, so far as the general truths of Scripture are concerned; but we want to be accurate, and not add to the Word, or presume to find a truth stated where it is not. In reality the text as it is in the so-called authorised version does not say anything that is not stated elsewhere in different words; but the words in question have given rise to an endless amount of controversy; and the text is much more simple and easily understood as it stands in the Revision; and since the controverted words are not in the original text, of course they ought to be omitted. The Apostle John had a definite thing in mind when he wrote the passage in question; and the insertion of the words into the text cannot fail to obscure the sense. Bear in mind that they are not omitted because they are difficult to understand, or are controverted, for there are many other texts that are "hard to be understood," and which men dispute about; but they are omitted because they have no right in the text.

Now a word about your friend's statement, that "the Holy Ghost is on earth, and so cannot be bearing witness in heaven." It seems impossible that such a statement could ever have been made by a believer in God, and all that is necessary, in order to show the fallacy of it, is to quote a few texts of Scripture.

"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.

"Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? 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, 24.

"Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall life flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou it there; if I make my bed in hell [the interior of the earth], behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, Thy right hand shall hold me." Ps. cxxxix. 7-10.

You ask what we teach about the Trinity. Inasmuch as we find no such expression in the Scriptures, we do not teach anything about it. But as to the Being of God,-the Godhead,-Divinity as revealed in the Father, the Word (the Son), and the Holy Spirit, we believe and teach just what the Bible says, and nothing else. No man can by searching find out God. No creature can understand the Almighty to perfection. The finite mind cannot comprehend infinity. Therefore, in discussions about the Trinity, about the nature of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, are manifestations of gross presumption.

The Jews were reminded that they had no pattern by which to make an image of God, if they were so inclined, because "the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; he heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice." "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourself; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire; lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a great image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male and female," etc. Deut. iv. 12, 15, 16.

"God is in heaven," but He is also on the earth; for He fills all things. He is a Person indeed, but not confined to one certain place. His personality is everywhere. That is what the Scriptures tell us. If men had really believed in the personality of God and His Spirit, as set forth in the Bible, they could never have presumed to make any image of Him. We cannot understand how God can be "from everlasting to everlasting," but we accept

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the statement, and let it instruct our reason and enlarge our mind.

The Spirit witnesses both in heaven and in earth-in the very substance of the heavens and the earth, and in men and angels. He witnesses in the rain, the sunshine, and all the "operations of nature." How the Spirit can witness in both places at once is a mystery, but it is no more incomprehensible than how He can witness in us at all.

Every man who receives the Spirit, and who yields to His working in him, must be a marvel to himself.

"I know not how the Spirit works,
Convicting men of sin;
Revealing Jesus through the Word;
Creating peace within;"

"But know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day;" and that is sufficient.

So do not ever attempt to teach any theory of the Godhead, or to tell what the Holy Spirit is. He is the Spirit, and that is sufficient. God has not set forth the theory of His existence, and we should not make any. We know that God is; and we may know by experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, and that is sufficient. We know His protecting presence always and everywhere; but as to how it is, we must always say: "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain unto it."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Living in Sin" The Present Truth 18, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

"If I am honest before God, I must confess that I am a Sabbath-breaker, and only Christ can save me-not Sabbath-keeping. John xv. 12 includes all."

Your idea is that when you have confessed a sin, that is the end of it, and that thereafter you may go on committing the same sin without blame. Or, what amounts to the same thing, you think that acknowledging that a sin is a sin takes away its sinfulness; so that all a man who is transgressing the law needs to do is to say, "I am a sinner, and I know it; I know that the course I am pursuing is wrong;" and that declaration would make him all right!

That is very mixed reasoning. Let us try it on something besides Sabbath-breaking. Here is a man who is a professional burglar. He makes it his business to break into houses, and rob people. And when he is confronted with the commandment which says, "Thou shalt not steal," he says, "That commandment is just; I am obliged to acknowledge before God that I am a sinner; but Christ alone can save me-not commandment-keeping; so henceforth whenever I steal I shall trust in Christ for salvation from the sinfulness of the act."

What would you say to him? I think you would quote the Scripture: "Whoso covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy." Prov. xxviii. 13.

Confession of sin implies the forsaking of it. If one says that he has sinned, and still continues in the same practice, he in reality declares either one or the other of two things: he says, "I know I am a sinner, and I intend to continue in sin;" or else he by his action denies what his lips uttered. He certainly does the latter, if he professes to trust in Christ; for "in Him is no sin;" and so to profess trust in Christ while continuing to commit an acknowledged sin, is to deny the confession, and say that the thing confessed is not sin.

The Apostle Paul asks: "What shall we say then? shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? 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, 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." Rom. vi. 1-6.

This is very plain. Christ is not the minister sin. "He shall save His people from their sins." Matt. i. 21. It is true that Sabbath-keeping will not save us, nor will anything else that we do or refrain from doing. "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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained [prepared] that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 8-10.

Our good works cannot save us, for we are not able to do any good thing. But the good works which God has wrought in Christ can save us; and "this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 29. "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and have the faith of Jesus." Rev. xiv. 12. Note that it is "the faith of Jesus" that we are to keep. Christ declared that He lived by faith in the Father. Thus the works of God were manifest in Him. Now we are to have and to keep the same faith-the faith of Jesus; and this we can do only by having Christ to live in us, exercising His own faith in us, as the Apostle says: "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." Gal. ii. 20.

It was to enable us to keep the commandments that Christ came. Although the law was "ordained to life" (Rom. vii. 13), it cannot save us, because our flesh is too weak to do it. So "what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, 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. Christ did not come to change the law (Matt. v. 17); He came to work a change in the flesh. Christ's life of faith in us is that which keeps us from committing sin. But do not make the sad mistake of supposing that Christ can transform evil into good. A woe is pronounced upon them that call evil good.

John xv. 12 does indeed include all. It says: "This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." It is true that "love is the fulfilling of law" (Rom. xiii. 10); but you must take notice that love is not a substitute for the law, but it is the law itself. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3. Love cannot take the place of any commandments; but the keeping of each one of the commandments is an expression of the love of God.

"He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, He it is that loveth Me; and He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love Him, and will manifest Myself unto him." John xiv. 21.

"Little Folks. The Ostrich" The Present Truth 18, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

When God was telling Job about some of His wonderful works, He spoke about the ostrich. Let us see what we can learn of it from what He who made it said about it.

"Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers; her labour is in vain without fear; because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding. What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider."

You have all seen the beautiful soft feathers which are so much used for trimming hats and bonnets for ladies and little girls, and the helmets of some soldiers. These are the tail feathers of the ostrich, and are thought so highly of that people pay a large price for them.

The bird is much hunted to get these valuable feathers to be used for useless ornaments, and it is kept in irksome captivity through the pride and cruelty of those whom God meant to be its protectors. For in the beginning God gave into man's care and keeping all living creatures on the earth. If you think of this whenever you see these beautiful plumes, which have usually been torn from the living ostrich, I am sure you will not take any pleasure in seeing them used as an ornament by others, nor ever want to wear them yourself.

There is one thing in which the ostriche is just the opposite of the eagle. We read last week of the tender care of the eagle for her young ones. But the ostrich "leaveth her eggs on the earth," and "is hardened against her young ones."

God has not given to her the same wisdom and understanding to hatch her eggs, and to care for her young ones, that He has given to the eagle, for in the case of the ostrich it is not necessary. She lives in the hot desert regions of Africa, and lays her eggs in the warm sand, where they are hatched without her help by the heat of the sun. When they are hatched she has no special care for the young ones.

The prophet Jeremiah speaks in his Lamentations about some people who were so forgetful of their little ones that "the tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst; the young children ask bread and no man breaketh it unto them." Of such people he says that they have "become cruel like the ostriches in the wilderness."

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

The Eagle is the King of birds, but it is not the largest bird. You know which is the largest bird? It is the Ostrich, which lives in the desert in hot lands.

This great bird, when it is full grown, is sometimes eight feet high. This is taller than a very tall man.

But the Ostrich does not have large, strong wings, like the eagle. Its wings are very small. They could not hold up its big body in the air. So the Ostrich cannot fly.

But it has long legs and it can run very fast. When it runs, it spreads out its small wings like sails. This helps it to run fast, for the wind helps it along, as it blows a ship along when its sails are spread out.

The Ostrich is not a good mother. She lays her eggs in the sand and forgets that "the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them." And when the young birds are hatched, she does not take care of them, like the eagle. "She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers."

But God takes care of these poor little forsaken birds, and feeds them. They grow up in the desert into great birds like their parents. "When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." He sees when even a sparrow falls; and He will much more care for us His children.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Light moives at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, so it would take about eight minutes and a half to pass from the sun to the earth, but it requires seventeen years to reach us from a star of the first magnitude.

According to the last census London has twenty-four inhabitants above one hundred years of age. "Greater London," which comprises an area of 443,419 acres in the counties of Surrey, Kent, and Hertford has with Middlesex, a population of 6,581,372 persons, an increase of 947,000 since the previous census.

Rapid progress is being made by M. Santos Dumont toward the perfecting of his air-ship. On the 27th ult. he went through a series of evolutions with it at Monaco, with marvellous dexterity and precision. The report says that "he simply did what he liked with the balloon, which was kept twenty yards above the surface of the water," for he took his sail over the bay, steering the ship in all directions at will. It begins to look as though something practical may yet come of it.

The growth of the cigarette habit may be inferred from a statement by the Daily Chronicle, that "there are still people-usually living out of London-who refuse to recognise the change in social habits by which 'nice women' now smoke their soothing cigarette." Quite recently there was a wedding in the very highest circle of Society, at which representatives of royalty were present, and a silver cigarette case was among the presents given to the bride, and the donor was one of the most respected members of the nobility. And yet people talk about prohibiting smoking among youth.

The Rev. Canon Henson deplores the divisions that there are in Christendom, and has set himself vigorously to the laudable work of bringing about unity. Unfortunately he proposes to work backwards, from the top of the tree, instead of beginning at the root; from without, instead of within. "Intercommunion" is his watchword. His idea is that if the different sects and denominations would agree to mingle together at the celebration of the Lord's Supper, the victory would be one. But the truth is, that if they were really united, no effort would be needed to bring about intercommunion. If people are united, the union will show itself; and if they are not, no outward forms can affect it. In speaking before the Methodist ministers' meeting recently, the Canon said:-

"In the first place, intercommunion implies the abandonment of the futile and exasperating policy of 'individual conversions.' It necessitates having relations with the organised religious communities themselves, and with individuals only as members of the same."

If that is the end sought for, its attainment would be worse than the present divisions. It would simply be another Papacy with greater power to crush out individual recognition of God than the old Papacy ever had. God does not deal with organisations, but with individuals. His church is simply a "congregation," a collection of persons. The Lord has given "to every man his work," and He is coming to give "to every man according as his work shall be." No particular "church," in the ordinary use of the term, as an organised society, is recognised by the Lord; but in every church, as in every nation, the individual that feareth God, and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him.

Last week the will of a man who for years had lived as a recluse in Leeds, came before the Probate Division for settlement. By its terms ?900,000 are given to missions-?100,000 to the London Missionary Society, and ?500,000 to the Baptist Missionary Society. Definite directions were given as to how the money is to be expended. Stations are to be provided in Central Africa for the purpose of spreading the Gospel in places not yet reached by missionaries, and the New Testament is to be translated into the languages of the Central African natives, and distributed among them.

Quite a stir is now being made over a new "cure" for consumption. It consists of the injection of a certain poisonous substance into the veins for the purpose of destroying the tubercle bacilli. Several "cures" are already reported; but it may safely be set down that within less than a twelvemonth the new "cure" will be a thing of the past, for the simple reason that the introduction of death into the body cannot conquer death already there. It should be remembered that while tubercle bacilli will cause tuberculosis if they obtain lodgment in the body, consumption was before the existence of the germs. The tubercle germs are the product of deneration; and even though the germs be destroyed, the degenerate tissue which afforded them a breeding ground is not thereby restore. Consumption can be cured, but it can be effected only by importing life, not death.

A book entitled, "China As It Is," has just been published by Mrs. Archibald Little, who is thoroughly acquainted with China, and who has been active in a crusade against the binding of the feet of women. One of the most remarkable statements in the book is that the recent terrible campaign in China has done much to put down footbinding, since the people have learned by sad experience that women with bound feet could not get away from lustful European soldiers. She says:-

"We cannot doubt but that at great cost the armaments of Europe have-all unwittingly-been carrying forward the work our society was attempting with much attention to economy. For what chance have bound feet women had of escaping infuriate Boxers, or unrestrained Russian and French soldiers? Too many must all helplessly have perished not to have afforded a terrible lesson to their surviving men relations.

What a comment on "Christian Civilisation"!

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

When Jesus came back from the wilderness of temptation, where He had defeated the devil, He went about the country healing all that were possessed with devils. The casting out of devils was one of the most prominent features of His work on earth. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John iii. 8), and the devil Himself. Heb. ii. 14.

The Word of Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, was confirmed by those that heard Him. Christ said to His disciples, "As My Father hath sent Me even so send I you." John xx. 21. Accordingly when He sent them forth to preach He "gave them power and authority over all devils." Luke ix. 1. Without the casting out of devils, their work would have been a failure. If they could not have cast out devils, they could not have done the work of the Lord.

This power necessarily goes with the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the end of the world. Preaching which does not result in the casting out of devils, is not the preaching of the one true Gospel. This will be evident to every one who remembers that sin is of the devil. "He that committeth sin is of the devil." The devil is the ruler of this present evil world, "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Eph. ii. 2. Therefore the freeing of a soul from sin means the casting out of the devil. Paul was sent to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." Acts xxvi. 18. Until person has Satan cast out of him, he is a child of sin; he ceases to sin only when Satan is driven forth.

All this is made plain in the account of Christ's contest with Satan in the wilderness. He there showed His over the devil, the same authority that He had ever after; for when He said, "Get thee hence Satan," the devil could stay no longer. But this power was the same power by which He resisted all the devil's temptations to sin. Power, therefore, which Christ gives His followers, even to this day, over all the devils, must show itself in lives unsullied by transgression of the law.

A writer says: "Apart from the keeping power of God, we are never safe till we reach heaven." True enough; but it ought to be known that the safety of the saints in heaven will be due only to the keeping power of God. That is why God has revealed to us something of the glories of heaven: it is that we may know what power we have to depend on now. The saved in heaven and never be any safer than are the souls here and now on this earth, who trust implicitly and always in the everlasting God.

"The Beginning" The Present Truth 18, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

The Beginning .-The Apostle Paul wrote of Christ as the one "who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead." Col. i. 18.

Creation's Beginning .-The context shows that this is absolutely true in the widest sense. He is "the firstborn of all creation; for in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible; . . . and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." Col. i. 15-17. He is "the beginning of the creation of God." Rev. iii. 14.

The Beginning and the End .-Christ is not only the beginning, but He is also the end. He says, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." Rev. i. 8. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." Rev. xxii. 6. As without Him nothing has been made, so apart from Him nothing can come to perfection.

The Beginning always Present .-Note that Christ not only was the beginning, but He is the beginning. He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." So we must not only assent to the truth that in Him were all things created, but we must recognise truth that "in Him all things consist." We must understand that everything that still is, has its beginning in Christ.

The End is the Beginning .-This is evident from the statement that Christ is both the beginning and the end. But He is "perfect in all His ways," so that the end of everything that is begun in Him is perfection. The Lord has not made anything to be destroyed; the end of His creation is eternity. So the end of the world is simply the bringing in of the perfect state that was in the beginning-"the restoration of all things." We look for new heavens and a new earth as the end of all things, because such were created in the beginning. If therefore we would attain the true end of our existence, we must become one with Him "who is the beginning."

"Rest by the Way" The Present Truth 18, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Rest By the Way .-Moses had a difficult task before him. His work was to lead the undisciplined, childish, murmuring host of Israel through the wilderness to the promised land. The care of hundreds of thousands of souls rested upon him day and night. Not for a single moment could he throw off the burden. He felt that the load was too great for him, and then the Lord comforted him with this promise: "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." When was Moses to have rest? all the time he was on the way; for God's presence was to be with him all the way, and His presence gives rest. So all the time Moses had the heavy weight of responsibility on him, he could be resting. What a blessed assurance! How different from the idea, even among Christians, too many of whom "resting by the way" means an occasional stopping and throwing off the load, to rest by the wayside, and afterwards to pick up the burden and go on the weary journey, singing "Resting by and by." Moses "endured as seeing Him who is invisible," and, knowing God's presence with him, he rested all the way. That is why he did not wear out under his excessive labours, but at the age of one hundred years had the fire and freshness of youth.

This was "written for our learning." The same Lord 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. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Also, "Lo, I am with you alway." Therefore to the extent that we appropriate the mercy of God, and the grace which He gives in time of need "we faint not" (2 Cor. iv. 1), or, literally, "do not grow weary." "For they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;" "they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

February 13, 1902

"Changing the Customs. Acts vi. 1-15" The Present Truth 18, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

When the men of the various synagogues in Jerusalem were not able to resist the Spirit by which Stephen spoke, nor to overthrow his teaching, they arrested him and brought him before the judges, and and hired false witnesses to say:-

"This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place [the temple] and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us."

This charge was false in that it declared that Stephen had spoken blasphemous words, and that he had depreciated Moses and his work. It was false in spirit; but the specific things charged against Stephen were true, as his own discourse shows. That is, it was true that he had said such things, and the things themselves were true.

When Stephen taught the people that the temple should be destroyed, he was only repeating the teaching of Christ; for when "His disciples came to Him for to show Him the buildings of the temple," He said unto them, "See ye not all these things? verily I say and to you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." Matt. xxiv. 1, 2.

"And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Luke xix. 41-44.

If the Jews had grasped the meaning of something that Jesus said about the temple, near the beginning of His ministry, they would have seen how natural it was that that building should be destroyed. When they asked Him for a sign is proof of His authority to drive traders out of the temple courts, He said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

"Then said to the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt Thou rear it up in three days?

"But He spake of the temple of His body."

Jesus stood in the temple, "greater than the temple." He Himself was the veritable temple of God, and that building erected by Herod was not. It was the house of prayer to God, and as such was to be regarded as sacred; but it was not the real temple of God, and never had been. So self-evident was the truth that Jesus Himself, and not that structure, was the temple, that, standing in the house, He did not consider it necessary to make any explanation when He spoke about "this temple." He had a right to take it for granted that the people would know that he meant His body, and not the house in which they were standing, when He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." In the presence of Jesus of Nazareth, no building ever erected by man could have any claim to be called the temple of God. But the body of Jesus was not different from the bodies of other men. God told Moses (Deut. xviii. 18) that He would raise up to the people a Prophet "from among their brethren;" and Paul wrote: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same," and added that He was of the nature of Abraham. Heb. ii. 14, 16. He also wrote that He was "born of the seed of David according to the flesh." Rom. i. 3, R. V. He was "born of a woman, born under the law." Gal. iv. 4. "Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren." Heb. ii. 17.

What do we learn from this?-That since Christ's body was the true temple, the same thing is true of ours. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that

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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.

"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?" 1 Cor. vi. 19.

"What the agreement have the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; for God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them." 2 Cor. vi. 16.

David recognised the truth that the human body is the true dwelling-place of God, when "he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob: Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to my eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." Ps. cxxxii. 2-5.

Did David meant that he would not go to his house, nor go to sleep, until he had built the temple for the Lord? Was he so foolish as to suppose that he could build the temple in one day? Surely not. It took him a long time to collect money and materials for Solomon to work with, and then, with thousands of men employed, seven years were required for the task. David was not so wild to suppose that he could build the temple for God before nightfall. What then did he mean?

Note that David, in the psalm quoted, did not say anything about building a temple for the Lord. He vowed that he would not go to sleep until he had found out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. The same vow can be made and performed by anybody, and ought to be made and kept by every reader of this article. He meant that he would not sleep until he had God dwelling in him; for he was consecrating to the Lord's use the temple which God Himself had built without hands; for "the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands."

Solomon, who built the first and most glorious Jewish temple, knew that it was not capable of accommodating the Lord. In his prayer at the dedication of the temple, he said: "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. v. 18. See also ii. 6.

No; a house built by man, however grand it may be, cannot be the Lord's real dwelling-place; but the man himself, not made with hands, can be The High and Lofty One, whose name is holy, "inhabiteth eternity," and dwells at the same time "with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." Isa. lvii. 15. Thus it is that He has put eternity into the hearts of men. Eccl. iii. 11, R. V., margin.

Now we may read why Moses build the tabernacle, which was a movable temple. God instructed Moses to tell the people to bring offerings of gold, silver, brass, linen, skins, etc., and said: "And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." Ex. xxv. 8. God calls His people out from connection with the heathen, in order that He may dwell in them (2 Cor. vi. 16, 17); and this He had done for the children of Israel. But they were not willing to be God's temple. They would not submit themselves to God, that He might dwell in them, His living temple. But God was long-suffering and patient with them, and was not willing to give them up; so when they would not allow Him to live in them, He had a tabernacle built, that His glory might be manifested among them. This was a "tabernacle of witness," both to the power and glory and holiness of the Lord, and His desire to dwell in them, and to the unbelief of the people, which prevented it. How evident it is that a temple of dead material cannot serve for "the living God." Only a living temple can be His real habitation.

God tells us that "the customs of the heathen are vain" (Jer. x. 3), and proceeds to illustrate the same by describing the making of an idol. It has to be fastened with nails, "that it move not;" and it must needs be borne, because it cannot go. Why did the heathen follow such vain customs?-Because they want a god they can see, and their eyesight is very dim; they have no spiritual vision, and can discern only the outward form of the most palpable substances. They do not perceive hidden realities.

The same characteristic in the Jewish people made it necessary for the tabernacle to be built. They knew not this truth uttered by Christ, that the place to worship God was neither in Jerusalem nor any other particular spot, but "the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." John iv. 23. The same disposition that made it necessary that they should have a building of stone for temple, afterward led them to desire a king in place of the unseen God, that they might be like the heathen. They trusted only in the things that are seen, which are temporal, and had no hold upon the unseen things, which are eternal.

The work of the Gospel is to change these customs, and establish true worship, setting up the true temple. It does not bring in any new custom, it builds up the old ways places, the foundations of many generations; and he who follows its teachings is called, "The repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in." Isa. lviii. 12.

Therefore it is said: "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 all the building fitly frame together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded it together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Eph. ii. 19-22.

Thus through this Jesus of Nazareth the time of "restoration of all things" will at last come, when it will be said, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them." Rev. xxi. 3. Then Solomon's question at the dedication of his temple will be answered; for God will be the dwelling-place of His people, and He will dwell in them. And that glorious custom, of which Moses was the first to write, will never be changed throughout eternity.

"Qualifications of a Business Man" The Present Truth 18, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

The church at Jerusalem in the days of the apostles was no small affair. Starting with one hundred and twenty, it was increased in one day by three thousand. Thus the Lord added saved persons daily to the number, and one day five thousand more were gathered in as a result of a single discourse. Later on we read that "believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." Acts v. 14. Still the work of preaching and teaching went on, and so when we read further that "the number of the disciples was multiplied," we may know that the company of the believers in Jerusalem must have been numbered by tens of thousands.

The administration of the affairs of a modern church composed of a few hundred,

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or at most four or five thousand persons, involves considerable labour and business capacity; but the church in Jerusalem presented some problems that are not known in these days. Those who had the oversight of it, had to deal not merely with what are now understood by the term "church funds," but with the affairs of each individual member. "For as many as were possessed of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." Acts iv. 34, 35. They had not only to supply the needs of the poor, but to administer the estates of the wealthy; and so the business of the church in those days equalled that of a benevolent society in a court of chancery and a probate court combined.

In those days "there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration." National prejudice, that most widely-spread and most senseless of all prejudices, found place even among those disciples, and was likely to cause serious division, as it did later on, and does to this day. Now it would not do for there to be any ground for even a shadow of a charge of maladministration of funds by the apostles, which would tend to the prejudice of their teaching. As they said, "It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God, and serve tables;" so they counselled the selection of seven business men, who could manage the distribution, leaving the apostles free to give themselves wholly "to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word."

What were to be the qualifications of these business men? Acts vi. 3 tell us: "Brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business." The advice was acceptable; "and they chose Stephen, a man full faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch: whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them."

From what we have already learned, we know that the business which these men had to do was just as practical and perplexing business as demands the attention of any "business man" to-day. Therefore we may know that the qualifications necessary to their successful handling of the business committed to them are equally necessary for any man now, who would have real permanent success in business. To be full of the Holy Spirit is as necessary for a business man as for the man who devotes his whole life to the preaching of the Word. "The Lord giveth wisdom," and His Spirit is "the Spirit of wisdom." When a business man possesses the Spirit, and conducts his affairs by faith, there will be nothing to hinder his becoming a mighty worker for God, as was the case with Stephen. Indeed, every such Spirit-filled man will be a mighty worker for God, whatever his business; but he may, like Stephen, be drawn into devoting his entire time to teaching.

It is not alone in business that a man needs the Spirit of God; the artisan has the same need. God does nothing unnecessarily; and this is how He fitted men to build a house:-

"The Lord spake and the Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowlege, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting 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." Ex. xxxi. 1-6.

Here almost every art and trade is introduced, indeed "all manner of workmanship," and we find that skill in each comes from the Spirit of God. Whatever skill one has in any trade or business comes from God, even though the man may not recognise God; what wondrous skill, then, must be possible for the man who voluntarily and continuously places himself under the control and instruction of God's Spirit.

Here is a truth, stated by certain preacher, which everybody would do well to consider: "Whatever you know how to do well, God knows how to do it better." Then the most efficient "master workman" in any trade may learn much more from the Lord; and the blessed thing is that the instruction that he gets in his special line is available for his soul's salvation.

We have not space to go further into details at this time, and only refer to Moses, David, Solomon, and Daniel, as men who had the affairs of the nation on their hands, and who were mighty in the Word of God. People in far inferior position, and with incomparably less responsibility, often say that they cannot find time to get acquainted with God's Word; but those men were successful in their vast and complicated business, because they studied the Word, and meditated in it, and talked with God. Why should we continue to reverse the proper order?

"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 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 Editor's Private Corner. The Freedom of the Will" The Present Truth 18, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

"It is always said that God gave man a free will, and yet one of His principal acts was to forbid man to eat of a certain tree. How could men have a free will in this case, inasmuch as God said that he would fall?"

A single text of Scripture is the key to the solution of this difficulty, which is so common among men-the idea that obedience to law is incompatible with freedom. The text is Ps. cxix. 45: "I will walk in liberty; for I seek Thy precepts." The free man is the man who obeys righteous laws; the slave is the one who falls into transgression.

The words of Christ to the Jews tell us this truth: "If ye abide in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John viii. 31-36.

THE KING MUST BE FREE

When God made man, the crowning work of His creation, He crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of His hands, putting "all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him." Heb. ii. 7, 8. God gave man dominion over "all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beast of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Ps. viii. 7, 8. Man was made ruler over the very earth itself, "and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Gen. i. 28.

Man-not only the first being that God created, but mankind, male and female-was made king. He was given dominion over the works of God's hands; and since the heavens are the works of God's hands (Ps. xix. 1; Heb. i. 10), it follows that man's rightful dominion extends beyond this planet on which we live. A most magnificent kingdom was given to him. Now it needs no argument to show that one cannot be a king and a slave at the same time. "Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is He brought in bondage," (2 Peter ii. 19), and when a man is in bondage he is evidently not ruling.

From time immemorial, the root idea of royalty, derived from God Himself, has been that the king's person is sacred. If he be a king indeed, it will be so regarded, not only by his fellow-men, but by the beasts of the earth, as has many times been demonstrated. The truth may be stated either way: Every real king is a free man, and every absolutely free man is a king. Christ said that He makes His followers free, and the Scriptures also told us that all whom He frees from sin are made kings and priests. Rev. i. 5, 6.

GOD'S ABSOLUTE FREEDOM

God is King of kings, and there can be no question but that He is absolutely free. "The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all." Ps. ciii. 19. "Our God is in the heavens; He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased." Ps. cxv. 8. He "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." Eph. i. 11. The greatest ruler that ever exercised dominion on this earth, and who had demonstrated the futility of trying to resist God, said, when light and reason from heaven dawned upon him, that "His kingdom is from generation to generation; and all the inhabitants of the world are reputed as nothing; and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" Daniel iv. 34, 35. God, being absolute ruler, is absolutely free. His mind and will are free.

GOD'S WILL ON EARTH

We are taught to pray to God, our Father: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." This was the condition in the beginning, and it is that which is to be restored through the Gospel. But can you not see that such a state must necessarily be one of absolute freedom on earth? It follows from the fact that God is free, and that His will is absolutely unfettered. He is free, and He gives freedom by giving Himself. Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, and one with Him, has secured our everlasting freedom by giving Himself to us. Being made partakers of the Divine nature,-being made one with Christ as He is one with the Father,-we must necessarily be as free as He is.

Let me repeat, in order that this truth may be very plain. God's will is absolutely free, and therefore whenever and wherever His will is done there can be only freedom. The man in whom God's will is done,-that one in whom God's will has free course,-whose only will is God's will, can, like God, do whatsoever He will. Nothing will be impossible to him. There can be no talk of bondage in connection with such a man.

WHAT CONSTITUTES A PERFECT MAN

This we may know by reference to the formation of the man whom God pronounced "very good." The simple story is told in Gen. ii. 7. "God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man

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became a living soul,"-a perfect man. So again we read: "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 of the Almighty giveth them understanding." Job xxxii. 8.

Do you see what it is that constitutes the perfect man? that is, the man who is complete as man. It is just this: A body of dust with the Spirit of God. The clay we have; but just to the extent that we lack the Spirit, the mind, the "perfect will of God," do we come short of being perfect men. Bear in mind that in using the word "perfect," I do not mean simply "good," but complete, just as one would say of an animal that has no blemish that it is a perfect animal, or of a machine that is complete in all its parts that it is a perfect machine. So the Spirit of God is an essential part of man. The man who lacks the Spirit of God, who is guided and controlled by any other Spirit, is an incomplete man.

The Spirit of God must of course always speak and act according to the will of God. Rom. viii. 27. So the perfect, the complete man, is free because his body is yielded to God, that "that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God" may be done in it, even as it is in the person of God itself. The man is free because he is dependent upon God, and because he acknowledges and acquiesces in that fact. Freedom of the creature is therefore always found in dependence, in obedience, and never in independence. When this truth is learned, God can send us out into His wide universe, to range as freely as He Himself.

GOD'S WILL NOT ARBITARY

From all that has been said it must be evident that God's will is not arbitrary. That is, God does not, like human and rulers, think of laws for the government of His subjects. He does not try experiments. He does not impose rules, or make prohibitions, simply because He wishes things to go in a certain way. His laws are all like Himself,-they are. He cannot be other than He is, and so His law-His will-cannot be other than it is. If this great truth be recognised, then it will make obedience very easy. Then we shall know that "this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3.

Knowing this we may see that it was not anything like in man would be caprice, or the arbitrary exercise of authority, that made God forbid man to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree was not, we may be sure, placed in the garden merely as a test. It was there because it was necessary for it to be there. Just why it was necessary we shall doubtless know better when we get into the garden; but we may be confident that God does not act capriciously.

It also necessarily follows that the fruit of the tree was forbidden, because it was not good for man, at least not at that time. Sometimes a merchant will purposely leave money in the way of a new office boy, to see if people take it; but we must settle it for ever in our minds that God does not deal thus with His children. "God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man." James i. 13. He never trifles with His creatures. Our knowledge of the fact that the very best fruit is not always, at all seasons, suitable to be eaten, may help us to understand that an explanation of why the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil had such a "mortal taste" to Adam and Eve may sometime be forthcoming. Till then we may rest content in the knowledge of God's goodness and absolute justice.

The essential part of your question is not answered. Man is a king, and free, only when he is simply the agent of the King of kings, whose will is perfect and unfettered. When man has no will but God's will, no mind but God's mind, because he has no spirit but God's Spirit, then he is free indeed; for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Cor. iii. 17. Only so is he a man indeed.

GOD'S FOREKNOWLEDGE AND MAN'S FREEWILL

But how could it be that man was free to act as he chose, when God knew beforehand just what he would do? This is an old question, and many have put it forward as proof that man is not free, while others use it as evidence that God does not know all things. Now it should be remembered that questions and objections are not proofs; and the fact that we do not understand a thing does not prove that it does not exist. The facts are clear, both that man is free except when he voluntarily goes into bondage, and that God knows all things, and knows them just as well before they occur as afterwards.

God is the one who is, and who was, and who is to come. He is the beginning and the end. He inhabits eternity. But eternity is future as well as past. You may say that you cannot understand how God can dwell in the future; neither can I; but I can understand it just as well as I can understand how He has existed from all eternity, without any beginning. Can not you? We cannot understand the Being of God and all; but, accepting the truth that He is, we must also, and just as easily, accept the truth that He is the one who will be. That is, He is now in the days to come.

When you tell me something that I have done, and I tell you that I have already heard of it, you do not think of my knowledge of what has taken place in the least interfered with the freedom of your will. It does not curtail your liberty for me to look back upon your choice. Even so it does not interfere with your freedom for God, from His habitation, the eternity yet to come, to look back as it were, upon what we are now doing.

Remember that eternity has neither beginning nor end. Then it is a circle. If I draw a circle upon a piece of paper and make two figures upon two different sections of it. Conceive them to be traced around the circle in the same direction, and then say which one is ahead. Any one of them may be said to be ahead of the other. But even this is a feeble illustration, for God is not at one point of the circle, but at every point of it at the same time.

Now I know that this does not explain God's existence or His foreknowledge, but this illustration of the Scripture statement enables us to realise that God is indeed great, and that nothing is hard for Him, and that just because He knows all things even before they happen, we are free agents. He knows the future, not because He looks ahead, but because He is.

The practical benefit of this truth is the confidence it begets in His power to work. He can thwart every design of the enemy against us, making all things work together for our good. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

"O blessed life! the heart at rest,
When all without tumultuous seems;
That trusts a higher Will, and deems
That higher will, not mine, the best."

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Here is a tiny nest not much larger than a big thimble. Take a peek inside. There you will see some tiny eggs no bigger than a pee. These will turn into a wee bird about the size of the blue-bottle fly.

What very small bird can have built so tiny a nest? Here she comes. But she is so small and darts so quickly through the air, that we should hardly see her, if it were not for her bright feathers.

She looks like a flying jewel. She glows with all the colours of the rainbow. This is the little Humming-bird, the smallest of all the birds. She is not much bigger than a Bumble-bee.

This little mother does not fly right to her nest. She wants to keep it secret. She rises high in the air. Then she darts like a flash of lightning down among the branches. She feeds her babies with honey and the insects she has brought for them, from the flowers.

God made the glowing feathers, and the tiny wings of this beautiful little bird. All beauty comes from Him, and shows us a little of His own glory. He teaches her now to make her nest and feed her young.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

A new train has just been put on for the English service between Calais and Paris, the average speed of which is to be sixty-two miles an hour.

During the past two or three years there has been an increase in the area of land under poppy cultivation in India,-nearly 100,000 acres in three years. It appears that this is the result of a deliberate policy on the part of the Indian Government, which desires to make up the lessened profit due to Chinese competition.

At a recent meeting of the Society of Arts, presided over by Cardinal Vaughan, the Rev. Herbert Thurston, S.J., read a paper on "The History of the Rosary in all Countries," in which he showed that it had its origin in Mohammedan and Buddhist countries. The similarity between Catholicism and Buddhism is so marked as to indicate that they have a common origin.

Although the injustice of compelling the Welsh Nonconformists, who outnumber Welsh Churchmen three to one, to support the Church of England in Wales, was clearly stated in the House of Commons, the Welsh Disestablishment Bill was defeated. The result is nevertheless, as the Daily Chronicle says, distinctly encouraging, as it showed a decided increase in the number supporting the measure.

The Chicago Tribune, which claims to keep an accurate record, says that in 1901 there were 118 legal executions in the United States,-and 135 lynchings,-twenty more than the preceding years. Of the 135 persons who suffered death at the hands of the mob executioners, 1-7 were coloured. Nineteen were lynched for alleged criminal assault, and thirty-nine on the suspicion of murder. It appears that lynchings are on the increase in the United States, and that they take place on slighter provocation than formerly. If such a record came fro Turkey whole columns would be written on the "unspeakable Turk," and the Sultan's unfitness to rule.

Someone writing of the tenth chapter of Genesis, the chapter which tells of the division of the nations and the peopling of the earth, says: "It is of marvellous interest, and the most marvellous thing about it is that all modern investigation and discovery are only tending to confirm more absolutely its literal accuracy." This is the least marvellous thing about it; for it is no wonder at all that God knew what took place and was able to record it accurately. The marvellous thing is that professed Christians should wait on "investigation and discovery" to establish the truth of God's Word. Here is where the simple believer has the advantage: he can know things a long while before the "investigator" can, and he begins his study where the other leaves off.

Speaking of the terrible storms that prevailed not only about our coasts, but of the Continent and in America, the Daily Chronicle says: "The experience of the Ostend mail boat Marie Henrietta teaches us how little the mechanical improvements which last century could make its special boast, are able to prevail against the elemental forces of nature." It would be well if men would lay these lessons more to heart. The proudest works of which man boasts so much will be laid low in a moment when the Lord a riseth "to shake terribly the earth."

A difficulty regarding precedence at the coronation is said to have arisen in the case of the Australian States, the Premiers of which object to being placed in a position inferior to that of the Premiers of New Zealand and other self-governing colonies. It is painfully amusing to see men of the world strive for position. The dignity that is injured by one's being placed a few yards behind somebody else certainly has not much to support it. Yet these matters are just as real to those concerned as the toys and games of little children are to them.

The Bishop of Southampton has been uttering some truths about congregational singing, which we wish might be generally regarded. He wisely objects to requiring a congregation to sing words that express only the peculiar feelings of one man at some particular time. He objects to such words as "'Tis weary waiting here," because "most people ought not to feel them;" he might have said "all;" for Christians are bidden to "rejoice evermore." As a general thing it may be said that hymns for congregational singing ought to be be said that hymns for congregational singing ought to be expressions of prayer and praise, and recognitions of the Divine attributes, rather than a recital of personal complaints or feelings.

It is reported from New York that Dr. Dawbarn, one of the surgeons of the New York City hospital, and has been awarded a prize of two hundred guineas by the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery for the most notable medical achievement of the year. The operation for which the prize was given is for cancerous growths in the head, where they cannot be reached with the knife, to be cut out, and consists in tying the external carotid arteries on both sides of the head, thus cutting off the larger part of the supply of blood to the head. This deprivation of nutriment causes a gradual but steady lessening of the cancerous growth, and it is stated that "several patients have been cured by this daring operation."

Many will read this without perceiving that it indicates the means by which every person can at least ensure himself against cancer, if not cure a growth that is already started. It is only to regulate his diet so as to make it impossible for cancerous growths to form or enlarge. This does not mean semi-starvation, except perhaps for a time in a case that has made considerable headway; but it does for a time in a case that has made considerable headway; but it does mean the regulation of the diet, both as to quantity and quality, so that there will be no excess of nutritive material in the body, nothing that the system does not need and cannot at once use up. With a class of food that is light, and easily digested and assimilated, and which, instead of clogging the organs, tends to stimulate them to healthy activity, one may rest free from fear of cancer. Such a diet would omit flesh meat, and would consist largely of fruit. This is much better than to undergo a terrible operation.

The Catholic Times is hopeful as regards the return of England to the Catholic Church, and not without some reason. On the anniversary of the late Queen Victoria's death, requiem masses were offered in many Anglican churches. The Catholic Times says:-

"Assuredly it is strange to read of a Requiem Mass having been offered in a Protestant church for the soul of Queen Victoria. But there are, it appears, a very large number of Anglicans to whom such a service is no novelty. A convert from the Church of England has sent us a little book entitled, 'Before the Altar,' from which it is evident that to-day in some of the Anglican churches all the doctrines of our church, except Papal Supremacy are freely taught. . . . The book, church, except Papal Supremacy are freely taught. . . . The book, which is published by Messrs. Mowbray & Co., is in its thirteenth edition. Our correspondent thus interprets the change: The Church of England is gradually returning to Rome, having strayed long enough. She sees the arms of the Mother Church open and stretched forth to welcome her, as they have ever been, and instantly she comes back, giving way now on one point, and again on another."

All this makes it more imperative that we should "give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard," and to "preach the Word."

One of the greatest living authorities on China and Chinese, Dr. A. H. Smith, for twenty-nine years a missionary of the American Board, and therefore certainly not prejudiced against missions and missionaries, declares that "the attitude of the Christian Church is not only a bar to the spread of the Gospel, but also a potent cause of the hostility of the Chinese to foreigners generally." The trouble lies in the striving after political influence and authority on the part of missionaries. In this the Roman Catholics are naturally the worst offenders, as they have had the most experience; but the Protestants are by no means guiltless. More and more are professed Protestants imbibing the idea that political influence is very advantageous to the church; and in proportion as they adopt this view do they become virtually Catholic; for Christianity coquetting and yoking up with civil power is what made the Papacy. Dr. Smith says that the vandalism and inexcusable cruelties of the foreign soldiers towards the non-combatant population, in the late Boxer troubles, have left seeds of undying hatred in the hearts of the people. Thus the advance of "civilisation" in China is a hindrance to the spread of the true Gospel. Yet a "remnant" will certainly be saved.

"Milk as Food for Man" The Present Truth 18, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Have you not often read that tuberculosis germs in milk are destroyed by boiling? and if so, have you heeded the oft-repeated exhortation to boil all the milk you use, and thus free yourself from all danger of the dread disease? If now, what explanation can you give for such indifference to the health of your family?

Perhaps you have already taken this precaution, and think that now you run no risk. But are you willing to think about the case a little further? If you are, let us devote a quiet half-hour to it. You have killed the tubercle bacilli, rightly enough, but have you made the milk sound and wholesome thereby? Far from it. Although the milk cannot now directly convey to you the specific disease, consumption, it must be plain to everybody who stops to think, that, since boiling adds nothing to the milk, the article that comes from a diseased, debilitated cow cannot by that process be made equal to that which comes from a healthy animal.

What is the condition of a person or an animal that has consumption? It is one of weakness and degeneration. The entire body is far below the normal state; every tissue is diseased. Any physician will say that a tuberculous mother ought not to suckle her infant, even if she has the strength to do so; not merely because of the danger of introducing the germs into its system, but because the milk will not contain sufficient nourishment for the child. Even so with the milk furnished by a tuberculous animal. You may boil it as much as you please, but at the very best you get only diseased milk. Is it pleasant to think about? This is not a matter of sentiment; it is intensely practical. When we use milk from a tuberculous cow, we are taking food which, even though its disease germs be destroyed, tends indirectly to consumption, because it is an inferior product. Now when we remember that the great majority of cows are diseased, it is plain that by far the safest plan is to let milk entirely alone.

But possibly you will think that the milk that you get is not diseased, however much other milk may be affected, and that you can safely use it. Very well, suppose that it is so, although you cannot know that it is; even then we have not done with the subject. Did you read the article in the PRESENT TRUTH of January 16 on "The Sources and Prevalence of Impurity in Milk"? If not, do so; it is not exaggerated in the least. Suppose the cow be healthy; it still remains a fact that milk is one of the most unclean articles of diet in common use. Notice the black sediment in the bottom of the jug or cup when you pour out the milk. That is nothing but manure from the sides of the cow. You think that it is not nice to talk about such things. No; it is not; but what about eating them?

We will not talk about this unpleasant subject any more. We will talk for a few minutes about milk taken from healthy cows, and kept as clean and sweet as it possibly can be. That is surely good food, is it not? Yes; it is good food for calves.

"But isn't milk that natural food of mankind?" Yes; human milk is; but will a man admit that cows' milk is his natural food? Hardly. Cows' milk is for calves and human milk is for human babies, not for men. Milk is the natural food of the infant, when it has no teeth; but when the teeth come, that is a sign that the system needs stronger food; and then the supply of milk naturally ceases. So it is evident that the use of cows' milk by men and women is a most unnatural habit. As a last resort, when nothing better is at hand, it may be given to infants and invalids, but even for them it is unnatural.

But if milk is an unnatural food, what shall we take in its place? If you would like clean, wholesome food instead of that which at the best is unnatural, then you have a wide range from which to select. If you would have milk, then learn from Eve as

"from sweet kernels pressed
She tempers dulcet creams."

From nuts you can prepare rich, delicious milk, which is both wholesome and nourishing.

It is not necessary here to mention the vast number of foods that the Creator has caused to grow for us; but we will take that which is supposed to rank lowest in the scale, namely, fruit. Here we have food which takes the place of milk, as to fluidity. Now as to nourishment, compared with milk that is ordinarily delivered at your door, oranges have the same food value. Lemon juice has a trifle more nourishment. Grapes have between two and three times as much nourishment as milk, pound for pound. Cherries are something more than twice as nourishing.

This list might be greatly extended, but it is not necessary. All we wish is to show you that there is no fruit that is not quite as nourishing as milk, and that most fruit is much more so. Moreover fruit affords the most delicate flavours in great variety, can always be obtained absolutely clean, and is in general easily digested by the weakest stomachs. What more can we ask? You think that fruit is "too expensive;" but as a food, it is cheaper than milk; and even it if were not, you will surely not claim that we ought to eat that which is unclean because it is cheap. Let us eat that which is best, not as a "substitute for milk," but as the natural food, for which cows' milk has been unnaturally substituted.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Earnest appeals and stirring "revival efforts" are not to be despised nor neglected. They have their place, but they can never take the place of earnest, diligent study of the Word of God. A solid Christian experience can never be built upon emotion, excitement, or the best resolutions. It is the "exceeding great and precious promises" of God, fixed in the mind, and appropriated by faith, that make us partakers of the Divine nature. "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." Ps. cxix. 11. "Concerning the works of men, by the Word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyers." Ps. xxii. 4.

"A Soft, Strong Voice" The Present Truth 18, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

A Soft, Strong Voice. -"A soft answer turneth for away wrath." This is true in the most literal sense. It is impossible to quarrel with one who replies in a soft voice,-not a weak, and whining voice, but a firm, yet soft and low voice,-a voice which in its very tone shows that its softness is the softness of strength; that the speaker uses a low tone because he has the power to restrain himself. A high, strident tone, the tone in which people quarrel, is on the contrary a sign of weakness. We should study to cultivate low tones in speaking, especially for use with those who are excitable; and the best way to cultivate them is to let the peace of God rule in heart; for the peace of God is strength.

"Knowing and Telling the Truth" The Present Truth 18, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Knowing and Telling the Truth .-In order to tell the truth one must first know the truth. This is self-evident; nobody can tell the truth if he does not know the truth. What is truth? It is the Word of God-the Word of life. Christ said to the Father: "Thy Word is Truth" (John xvii. 17); and as He is the Divine Word He also said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." John xiv. 6.

How may we know the truth? "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, 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." John viii. 31, 32.

He who truly knows Christ knows the truth, and so can tell the truth. But the truth is the life; therefore, in order to tell the truth we must recognise Christ wherever there is life. He who does not know the life does not perceive the truth; and this does not mean simply that he cannot tell the truth about Jesus, but he cannot know or tell the truth about any created thing; because everything that exists is the visible manifestation of the working of life. This explains much of people's failure to report things correctly, and their unintentional misrepresentation of others. People who do not know the truth cannot be expected to tell the truth about what they see and hear; they cannot be expected to repeat or describe them accurately, since they do not see or hear correctly. They have defective sight and hearing. They do not wilfully deceive, but they are themselves deceived.

"About the International Sunday-School Lesson" The Present Truth 18, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

About the International Sunday-School Lesson. -Just a word concerning the article that appears each week with a footnote indicating that it deals with the International Sunday-school lesson. We know that many Sunday-school teachers make use of these articles in preparing their lessons; but they are not written solely for the benefit of the comparatively few Sunday-School teachers among the thousands of PRESENT TRUTH readers. If the articles were of value only to those few, we should hardly feel justified in devoting so much space to them; but the case is this, that the articles are as general in their nature, and as much designed for the general reader and Bible student as for teachers. Those who have no connection with any Sunday-school can read them with as much profit as those who do. We simply take advantage of the fact that some are especially interested in a certain portion of Scripture at a certain time, to provide matter of value to all. The footnotes are appended, noting that the articles in question are on the International lessons, because we seldom used the titles given on the lesson sheets.

"The Place of Communion with God" The Present Truth 18, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

The Place of Communion with God. -When God told Moses to let the people build the sanctuary, that He might dwell among them, He gave directions concerning the construction of the ark to contain His law, the cover to which was called the mercy-seat, and said: "And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with the from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony." Ex. xxv. 22.

That was only because the people did not know the simple truth that "the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands." But what are the facts? "The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy." Ps. cxix. 64. This mercy has intimate connection with God's law, as indicated by the ark in the sanctuary; for the verse continues, "teach me Thy statutes." God's presence is in heaven and earth (Jer. xxiii. 24), even in the very interior of the earth itself. Ps. cxxxix. 8. Therefore wherever we turn, wherever we are, we find the mercy-seat-the place of communion with God. Although God is everywhere, He is hidden from the eyes of those who are not spiritual; He dwells in secret; and whoever knows and recognises God's presence ever, and who holds communion with Him, at all times and everywhere, dwells in the secret place of the Most High, abiding under the shadow of the Almighty.

"The Genesis of Persecution" The Present Truth 18, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

The Genesis of Persecution. -"And Stephen, full of faith in power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose certain of the synagogue which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia, and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council." Acts vi. 8-12.

It has a short family history. First somebody believes more truth than the leaders in the church do,-more than they have been teaching, and more than they have decided is "orthodox." Then these "leading men," who lead only backward, and not forward, begin to dispute with the reformer. Mind this, the new doctrine does not stir them up to renewed zeal and energy in teaching the people the truth, but only to combat it. It is much easier to raise objections to something that another is teaching than to teach. Then when they find that they cannot answer the reformer, they proceed at once to punish him as a criminal. If the Jews could have silenced Stephen by argument from the Bible, they would never have stoned him.

February 20, 1902

"Departing and Being with Christ. Acts vii. 52-viii. 2" The Present Truth 18, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

(Acts vii. 52-viii. 2.)¹1

The man "full faith and of the Holy Ghost" had done his life work. Like the one who was the chief instrument in his death, and who afterward took up his work and carried it on, he had fought a good fight, he had finished his course, and it kept the faith. And now he was about to be offered, and the crown of life to be his at the coming of the Lord Jesus was not only laid up for him, but was revealed to his sight.

Stephen had not pleaded for his life, although he was charged with a crime that by the Jewish law was punishable with death, and both judges and witnesses were determined that he should suffer the penalty. He did not defend his case except by preaching the truth. Filled with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, he open the Scriptures to the Council. The disputers in the synagogues had not been able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake, and his judges were made conscious of it; for "all that sat in the Council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." Yet against all the evidence of Stephen's shining face and burning words they steeled their hearts, and when they saw where his convincing words of truth were unmistakably leading them, they refused to listen further.

THE ACCUSERS ACCUSED

The Spirit-filled man could readily discern when it was useless for him to continue his Gospel instruction. He knew that the Word was falling upon hearts as hard as the flinty rock, and so he abruptly broke off with this most thrilling and arraignment of his judges:-

"Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now betrayers and murderers."

Just in proportion as Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit did his accusers and judges resist him. Utterly unrestrained by any blessed influence, for they had rejected the Spirit that strives with man, they rushed upon Stephen in mad fury, "and gnashed on him with their teeth." Those brave and reverend doctors of the law were transformed into a pack of snarling wolves or hungry tigers. It is impossible to describe, or for the human mind to conceive, the terrible lengths to which the mildest and most cultured and refined man may go when he cuts loose from the restraining influence of God's Holy Spirit. The perfect, the complete, man is a body which God fills; but that same body, with God driven out, becomes a demon.

THE CULMINATION OF STEPHEN'S DISCOURSE

What was it that Stephen was coming to in his discourse, the perception of which moved his hearers to madness? Glance through the record and you will easily see. He was charged with saying that the temple should be destroyed. Last week we saw what God's plan is, and that such a temple as men had built was utterly useless when they denied and rejected God's presence in them. Stephen had traced the history of God's people, and His dealing with them, from Abraham down to David and Solomon. He had spoken of "

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the tabernacle of witness," and of David's desire to build a permanent house for God, and had said, "But Solomon built Him an house. Howbeit the Most High dwellest 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? Hath not My hand made all these things?" Acts vii. 47-50. Is it difficult to tell what must have been his next words if he had been allowed to continue? Not to the Bible student. Read the verses last quoted, and then, having previously opened the Bible at Heb. viii. 1, 2, continue reading without any intermission:-

"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man."

The judges could see that this was the inevitable conclusion of Stephen's address, and they would not listen to it.

But it was all reality to Stephen. He was not talking theory, but was telling truths which he saw; for his angelic face was a reflection of the glory shining from the Sanctuary of the Most High. "While his enemies were furiously gnashing on him, and he was calm and unmoved, and he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God."

Then the mob dragged him out and stoned him, and with a prayer for his murderers, and the heavenly vision still before his eyes, "he fell asleep."

JESUS SITTING AND STANDING

What connection has all this with the title at the head of this article? We shall see. The position of Jesus in heaven is stated in the Scriptures to be that of being seated at the right hand of God. See Heb. i. 3; viii. 1; Col. iii. 1. The Man whose name is the Branch "shall build the temple of the Lord; even He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory; and He shall sit and rule upon His throne, and He shall be a priest upon His throne; and the counsel peace shall be between them both." Zech. vi. 12, 13.

But by and by a complete division will have been made among men. One part will have accepted the counsel of peace and allowed the peace of God-Christ who is our Peace-to rule in their hearts, and to abide there for ever. The other class will have rejected all the counsel of God, and chosen cursing instead a blessing. Then perilous times will come. 2 Tim. iii. 1-5. Then the work of the Gospel will have reached its consummation, and "at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of Thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time Thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. Daniel xii. 1.

It was thus that Stephen saw the Son of man-standing, as though His work for sinful men were finished, and He was about to receive them. It was a foretaste of the last day; for there was a saint of God, full of the Holy Spirit, and there was a devil-filled mob thirsting for his blood; and when that condition of things is universal,-when there are but those two classes on earth,-Christ will rise up from the throne of the Father, where He now sits, and, on His own throne, in His own kingdom, to save His waiting people. Stephen saw Christ just as all the saints of God will see Him when the heaven shall depart as a scroll, and the great day of His wrath for the wicked, and eternal salvation for the righteous shall come.

SLEEPING IN THE GRAVE

Where has Stephen been all these centuries? Has he been in heaven? Nay; "he fell asleep," and those who sleep in Jesus will be brought with Him from the dead when He comes. See 1 Thess. iv. 13-18. Their awakening and change will be "at the last trump" (1 Cor. xv. 51-56), and Stephen, like Daniel, will stand in his lot with the rest. The saints do not sleep in heaven, but in the grave.

"If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of My appointed time shall 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." Job xiv. 14, 15. And "if I wait, the grave is my house." Job xvii. 13. See also John v. 28, 29.

Someone asks, "Is it not cruel so to deceive or disappoint holy men like Stephen, and others who in the moment of death have seen their Lord coming to meet them?" It would be cruel if there were any deception or disappointment; but there is none. No false hopes are roused. Although nearly nineteenth hundred years have passed since Stephen saw that glorious vision, and he has not yet entered heaven, he is not disappointed, for he has all that time been sleeping the sleep of death, and "the dead know not anything." Those hundreds of years are to him as though they were not; for to him they have not been. So when Stephen opens his eyes at the voice of Christ at the resurrection, and sees his Lord coming to receive him, he will not know a moment has elapsed since that day so long ago.

Since death is a state of absolute and complete unconsciousness, the Apostle Paul could say by the Spirit: "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." 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52. All, the sleeping, as well as the living, "will be changed in the twinkling of an eye." A wonderful mystery this is, indeed, which we cannot understand, but which we may know.

Thus it will be: The opening heavens will reveal the dazzling glory of the Father, the Son and all the holy angels. The sight will instantly destroy the wicked (2 Thess. ii. 8), and will cause even the righteous involuntarily to close their eyes. But it will only be the involuntary blink which every one gives at any sudden motion, or flashing of lightning, and as quickly their eyes will open again, and in that twinkling of the eye the change will have taken place from mortality to immortality. The glory of the Lord will have done it, and now they can evermore gaze on it with unveiled faces.

And what about those who have been asleep? Just the same. They close their eyes;-centuries pass though they were not; the glory of the Lord shines upon their faces, and warms them into life, and as they open their eyes mortality drops off, and they are clothed with immortality. It has been to them but "the twinkling of an eye." They shut their eyes and death, and in what is to them the next instant, so short that it could not be measured, they open them again. In that twinkling of an eye centuries have passed, but it is nevertheless but the twinkling of an eye, and mortality is swallowed up of life.

What a blessed, glorious hope! And what a wonderful God, "who inhabiteth eternity," and so can compress an age into the twinkling of an eye. Shall we not yield our bodies to Him, for His dwelling place, that so eternity-the power of His endless life-may dwell in us, and we may dwell with Him in eternity?

"The Call of Abraham. Are the British People the Heirs of the World" The Present Truth 18, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

"I find in looking over the promises given to Abraham that they [his seed] were to spread abroad west, east, north, and south, and they were to become a company of nations. I see no nation at present occupying this position except the British Empire, which has very recently become so. At the last census I find from statistics that the area covers 11,778,256 square miles: the population is 391,844,878; English speaking people estimated at over 116,000,000. These figures are enough to show that the British people, or Anglo-Saxon, occupy the role of Israel. These figures show that this empire is the greatest that has ever been, and it bids fair to become the heir of the world. Rom. iv. 13."

That which convinces you that the British people, or the Anglo-Saxon race, are the heirs of the world, is sufficient of itself, if there were nothing else, to convince me that they are not, and that no nation on earth does occupy that "role." Let us note a few points.

The people who are to inherit the earth must be the seed of Abraham; for it was to Abraham that the promise was made that he and his seed should be the heir of the world. Rom. iv. 13. Therefore if your idea were correct, the inhabitants of the British Empire must be the seed of Abraham.

Passing by the fact that the people embraced in the British Empire are not by any means the same as the Anglo-Saxon race, since the Anglo-Saxon people are largely in the minority, and there are millions of the Anglo-Saxon race not subject to Great Britain, I note the one point of the census. The census shows that there are 391,844,878 people in the British Empire. This is indeed a vast population; but the mere fact that a census of the British Empire can be taken, shows that it is not the heir of the promise to Abraham. Read the following:-

"And the Lord said Abraham, . . . . I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." Gen. xiii. 14-16.

Do you see that Britain's four hundred millions of people fall far short of Abraham's posterity? Suppose we take all the nations on this earth; a fairly accurate census has been taken, and they are found to number about fifteen hundred millions. A vast number, truly, but nevertheless they can be numbered, and fall far short of equalling in number the dust of the earth or the sand of the sea-shore.

Now let us read the text referred to, Rom. iv. 13: "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."

Abraham is "the father of all them that believe." Rom. iv. 11. Therefore the promised inheritance "is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before Him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be." Rom. iv. 16-18.

Could anything be plainer? Is it not evident that no race or nation, as such, on this earth is to possess it, but that it is to be possessed by a people who have the righteousness of faith-the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Further: The promise was to Abraham and to his seed; to both together, not to either Abraham or his seed separately. Every time God spoke the promise to Abraham he was very explicit that to him the land should be given. Nevertheless Abraham lived as a stranger, a pilgrim and a sojourner, all his life, and died without any inheritance, "no, not so much as to set his foot on." Acts vii. 5. Yet he "died in faith, not having received the promise;" he was not disappointed, because God had told him that he should die before he received the inheritance. But God cannot lie, and Abraham knew it, and therefore he knew also that the inheritance of the world was to be his through the resurrection. He believed in the God "who quickeneth the dead." It was his faith in the resurrection by Jesus Christ that made him sure of the promise.

But the promise is to Abraham and to his seed at the same time. The heir cannot inherit property before the father does, through whom he receives it. This is self-evident. Therefore it is only by the general resurrection of the just, which will take place at the end of this world, when Christ comes, that the seed of Abraham will come into their inheritance.

Those who are raised to life at the coming of Christ are raised incorruptible, immortal. 1 Cor. xv. 51-53. Therefore when they come into their inheritance it will be to hold it for ever. That was indicated in the promise, for the land was to be theirs for "an everlasting possession." But only that which is perfect is everlasting; therefore as the sin which has cursed this earth is removed, the curse itself will be removed. Therefore "we, according to His promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter. 13.

"Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. v. 5. When will they inherit it? Read Ps. xxxvii. 9-11: "Evil-doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they 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."

This brings us to the same point of time as before: the end of "this present evil world," and the destruction of the wicked, when the Lord will make wars to cease unto the ends of the earth. Now nobody will have the hardihood to assert that the British Empire has been enlarged

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to its present proportions by peaceful means, or that meekness helps to enlarge one's earthly possessions. The British Empire, like every other government on earth, has won its possessions by the sword, and holds them by the sword. But the inheritance to Abraham's seed is the gift of God by grace to "the poor of this world, rich in faith."

As is the Giver, so is the gift. A mean man may give mean gifts; but a king would deem it a disgrace to give in any other way than royally. And how much more must the King of kings give only "every good gift and every perfect gift." If a king with unlimited wealth at his disposal, should promise something as a mark of special favor to one whom he called his personal friend, and should repeat the promise many times, confirming it with the most solemn oath, and cause it to be proclaimed throughout his dominions, would you not expect the givt to be something in proportion to his wealth and power? And if after all the promises and proclamations he should give this bosom friend an old house with second-hand furniture, would you not think it a disgrace? It would be mockery to his friend, and would show the king to be lacking in a sense of the dignity due his own position.

Well, that is just how many people expect God to fulfil His promises to His friend. They think that after making a special promise, confirming it by an oath, and calling the attention of the universe to the graciousness of the gift, that He will at last bestow upon them an earth that has grown old like a garment, and is almost worn out. No, no; when God gives, He gives the best. When the meek, the faithful, righteous ones receive the reward of the inheritance, "the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose," and "they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God." Once more God will see everything that He has made, and behold, it will be "very good," as good as the eternal Creator can make it.

One word more about the census of the heirs of God's promise. When "Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel," the act was iniquity on the part of David, who thus "sinned greatly" and did "very foolishly," and became "a cause of trespass to Israel." David's pride over the number of Israel caused him to forget God's word concerning them, that they should be innumerable. God alone can write up the number of His faithful ones, and when that is done there will be "a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues."

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Freedom of the Sabbath" The Present Truth 18, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

The following letter is signed by several persons, who are evidently in earnest; and as their case is so practical we publish it, long as it is, in order that many others may benefit by it.

"We, among others, are workers in the iron, steel, and tin works of---. We think it very wrong of your agent coming around here selling the PRESENT TRUTH on Sunday, as there are six days in the week to do this kind of work instead of doing it on Sunday, and it is breaking the Sabbath.

"We told your agent this; but he says Sunday is not the Sabbath; and, as it happened, we were working on the Sunday too; and he asked us what right we had to be working there on the Sunday, and at the same time condemning him for selling the papers on Sunday.

"In answer to that, we told him our work was a work of necessity, and his was not; that we were obliged and compelled to do it, and that if we refused to do it on Sunday we should lose our job, and that would mean losing our bread and butter.

"Your agent then told us there was not one law for us and another for him, but that 'sin is the transgression of law' just as much for us men working in the works on Sunday as for him or any other man, and that God did not compel us to work here, and that we were not free men, much less Christian men, but slaves, and that if we let our masters force us to do wrong. He said it was our duty and privilege as Christians to obey God in every particular, and to trust Him for food and everything else, and that if we did not do this we were walking by sight, and not by faith.

"You seem to answer all sorts of questions in your paper, and we should be grateful to you if you would take up this subject in all its different bearings, especially that relating to Sunday not being the seventh day, and this being a work of necessity, and what your agent said about there not being one law for us and another for him."

This is the sort of letters and questions that we like to receive. It gives us pleasure to answer straightforward, honest questions, from men who have a good conscience, and who wish to have it instructed. As usual, in our "Private Corner," our talk will be personal and confidential.

You say that there are six days in which to do such work as selling PRESENT TRUTH, instead of on Sunday. There is where you are mistaken; there are not six days, beside Sunday, in which to sell this paper, "because the seventh day is the Sabbath," and in it the agents must rest from all their work; not because we say so, but because they feel constrained to obey God's law. It would be inconsistent, would it not, for men to sell papers on the very day which those papers teach is the Sabbath of the Lord our God? But of course you do not yet see that Sunday is not the seventh day, and so not "the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Perhaps that should be the first thing for us to consider.

IS SUNDAY THE SEVENTH DAY?

Your letter intimates that you recognise the truth that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord." You know that the seventh day ought to be kept, by some, at least; but you are labouring under the impression that Sunday is the seventh day. This is an erroneous impression, as you will admit when the truth is presented to you.

Ask the first clergyman you meet, or any minister of any denomination, why people keep Sunday. Ask the same question of every Sunday-keeper you meet. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred you will be told that it is in honour of Christ's resurrection, because He rose from the dead on that day. But the Scriptures tell us that Jesus rose from the dead on "the first day of the week." Read the following portion, describing what took place after Joseph laid the body of Jesus, and took it down from the cross and laid it in his own sepulcher:-

"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. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre,

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bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away fro the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus." Luke xxiii. 54-56; xxiv. 1-3.

THE SABBATH DAY ACCORDING TO THE COMMANDMENT

Here three days are brought to view in connection. The first was "the preparation," the day before the Sabbath. That was the day of the crucifixion. The second was the Sabbath, which was drawing on when Jesus was laid in the tomb; for the Sabbath begins Friday evening at sunset. By the way, it might be mentioned that in the keeping of "Good Friday," for which of course there is not the slightest authority, both Churchmen and Nonconformists show their recognition of the fact that Jesus was crucified on Friday. The next day, as the Scripture tells us, was "the Sabbath day according to the commandment;" and the third day was "the first day of the week," on which Jesus rose from the dead, according to His word, that he should "rise again the third day." So we see that "the Sabbath according to the commandment," immediately follows Friday, and comes between it and the first day of the week. Thus it is evident that the day commonly called Saturday is the seventh day of the week, and so is the Sabbath of the Lord.

This is an important point, for it contains the whole case for anybody who holds to the Fourth Commandment. Therefore we are justified in fixing it a little more certainly still.

It is a known fact that the majority of professed Christians hold to Sunday, while the body of the Jews, and many Christians, keep the day before. Now we do not intend to draw any argument from the practice of men, but only to show how impossible it is that the original Sabbath could ever have been lost, and how sure we may be as to which day is the seventh day in regular succession from the one which God blessed and sanctified at creation. See Gen. ii. 1-3.

Passing by the centuries between creation and the giving of the law on Sinai, we find there the same reason given for the Sabbath that is stated in Gen. ii. 1-3. Compare the Fourth Commandment, Ex. xx. 8-11, doubtless you can repeat it from memory. It is certain that the day then commanded was identical with the one sanctified at creation. Moreover, by a series of daily miracles, with a special one at the close of the week, continuing for forty years, God made it impossible for anybody to mistake the day of the Sabbath, or to keep any other day in comfort, and the one which He commanded.

We glance down the centuries, and we find that the Jews were frequently reproved for Sabbath-breaking, and were finally carried captive to Babylon, because they would not keep God's holy day. See Jer. xvii. 19-27 and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14-21. Consequently we know that the Jews well knew which day was the Sabbath.

A few hundred years later "we see Jesus," the Word made flesh, dwelling in Judea and Galilee, associating with the Jews every day, and worshipping with them in their synagogues on the Sabbath day. He recognised the day which they outwardly kept as the Sabbath, and declared Himself to be its Lord. He came from God, and therefore He knew the truth. He was the Truth. Therefore we know that the day which the Jews kept, formally, in the days of Jesus, was the Sabbath according to the commandment-the seventh day.

Now for the last step in the proof. Even in the days of Christ there were Jews living in every country under heaven, and they came to Jerusalem to worship at least once a year. If any Jew had lost his reckoning the mistake would instantly have been apparent when he met with his brethren. But from whatever quarter of the world the multitudes came, all were keeping the same day. This shows again that the day was not lost; for it would be impossible for millions of people in different parts of the world all to make the same mistake in the reckoning of days and at the same time.

Furthermore, only a few years after the crucifixion of Christ, Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was laid in ruins, never again to be rebuilt, and the Jews were permanently scattered to every land. Yet to this day, in every part of the world we find Jews, and they are everywhere, they are all keeping the same day. There is never any question among them wherever they meet, as to which day is the Sabbath, or who has it, for all are in perfect harmony. From this we know that the Jews still keep the same day that their forefathers did in the days of Jesus of Nazareth, and which He recognised has the Sabbath day. Therefore also we know beyond the possibility of the shadow of a doubt that the day which the Jews now profess to keep is the seventh day in regular succession from the one which God rested upon and blessed and sanctified at the close of the creation week. And here is the unchangeable law:-

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and to 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 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.

WHAT EXCUSE

We have God's law, not one jot or tittle of which can fail, telling us to keep the seventh day, and giving the reason why; and we know which day is the seventh day, "the Sabbath according to the commandment." It only remains for each one to ask himself, "Why am I not obeying this law? What excuse can I render for not keeping it? And will excuses avail in the Judgment? Shall I feel like offering them then? and if not, How dare I solace myself with them now?"

SIN IS TRANSGRESSION OF LAW

It is indeed true that "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John iii. 4. Therefore it is a sin not to keep God's Sabbath day. It is also true that "where no law is there is no transgression." Rom. iv. 15. Nowhere in the Bible can there be found even the remotest hint of a law commanding rest on the first of the week-Sunday. Therefore it is not a sin for anybody to do any kind of legitimate work on Sunday. Of course every Christian will be as courteous and as mindful of the feelings of others on Sunday as on any other day of the week, and will not do anything needlessly to annoy or disturb them. But anything that it is right to do on any day in the week it is perfectly right to do on Sunday. It is no sin to sell papers on Sunday, nor is of a sin to work in a factory on that day. Why not? Because that day is not the Sabbath day.

ONLY ONE LAW

I know of no other law. I do not find any modification of the commandment making an exception of those who labour in foundries, factories, etc. And there is no reason why there should be; for God is the God of the poor, and His Gospel is

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preached especially to the poor. The Sabbath is the friend of the poor man above all others; for the one who needs the most is always the one who receives most from God; and the Sabbath reveals God as Creator and Provider,-as the One with power to give us life not only for a few days or years, but for eternity; the One who supplies all our needs, because He creates all things. "In Him we live and move, and have our being." The Sabbath means to us, and is, absolute rest in God. It gives knowledge of the truth that the man without a farthing, who has implicit, unshakable trust in God, is richer than the millionaire who disregards His law. We cannot live a moment without God; every breath comes from Him; it is He that gives us power to get wealth even to the slightest extent; therefore it is most reasonable to believe that we have a better hope of life in His service than out of it.

GOD'S SERVICE IS FREEDOM

And God's service is freedom. "He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's free man." 1 Cor. vii. 22. Jesus said to those who believe on Him: "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." John viii. 31, 32. He who knows the Lord as his Master can never be brought into bondage to any man. For "no man can serve two masters; for either you will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." Matt. vi. 24. If you are the servants of God, then you are not the servants of man, and your daily work will be done, not to please either your employers or yourself, but God. Read Col. iii. 22-24.

The work of the Gospel is to turn men from darkness to light, "and from the power of Satan unto God" (Acts xxvi. 18); to deliver them from fear of death (Heb. ii. 14, 15), and to make them free from sin's dominion. Rom. vi. 14. This is the condition of a follower of Christ-the Christian. Now does it seem reasonable that a man who has this freedom should be compelled by some other man to do something against his will and conscience? Is it possible for one who knows the freedom that Christ gives to be so bound. What do you think?

LOSING LIFE FOR THE TRUTH'S SAKE

"Well, shall I run the risk of losing my job, and so my bread and butter, in order to keep the Sabbath." I do not know. You might lose your job through keeping the Sabbath, and you might not. Jesus says, "What is that to thee? follow thou Me." Our sole business is to seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; it is God's business to look after our life and our living. Even if we should die through adherence to the truth, what of that? We think that it is a noble thing to die for the truth-when we sit by the cosy fire and read about the martyrs of other days; but has God no need of martyrs now; why should it be thought so much more terrible to die for the truth than to die for one's country, as so many thousands do?

Do you know what the Scriptures call a man who procures food for himself at the expense of the truth? They do not call him a Christian. Listen: "Follow. . . holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord; looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; . . . lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright." Heb. xii. 14-16. Jesus says: "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Matt. xvi. 25, 26. Don't you think, then, that the wisest and safest plan is to leave your life, your body and your soul, in the Lord's keeping?

WORKS OF NECESSITY

But you say that there are certain "works of necessity," which it must certainly be lawful to perform, even on the Lord's Sabbath day. Yes; there are; but those works do not embrace anything whatever that is "necessary" only because man's desire for gain makes it so. The example of Christ is our guide here as elsewhere. He did works on the Sabbath day, not because He was compelled to, in order to satisfy somebody else's desire for gain, or to "earn His living," but because His love for suffering humanity drew Him to them. He did them, not because He was compelled, but because He was free. The "works of necessity," which are lawful on the Sabbath day are those which the love of God-not love of self-constrains us to do, namely, to relieve the suffering and the afflicted. Christ's example shows us that a work of necessity is something which one does for another, without hope of reward, and without thought of self; and He says: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." Will you do it?

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

The Peacock in this picture is a fine bird. But it is not so beautiful as the bird on the opposite page. Is he not a lovely bird? To all those-light, graceful feathers grow out of his small body? Yes; they grow in a bunch just under the shoulder on each side. They are about two feet long.

He has rich green and yellow feathers on his head and neck. But these long plumes are a golden orange.

Do you see what his name is? He is called the "Bird of Paradise." This is because he is so beautiful.

Paradise is the Garden of Eden. This was the first home of all kinds of birds. Then they were all much more beautiful than they are now. Their songs were more sweet, and strong, and clear.

By and by God will make the earth new. No sin will ever come into it any more. Then Paradise will be on the earth again, as it was when God first made it. Those who love God and trust in Him will live there for ever.

Then we shall see what the birds were like when God first made them. They will all be as beautiful and perfect as they were then. The earth will be full of living creatures that will all be kind and gentle. Will not that be a happy time?

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

The wonderful fruitfulness of the Russian people, as compared with other nations, it is evident from the fact that they are increasing more rapidly than any other people, while the death-rate is enormously high, being no less than 51 per 1,000.

The head of a snuff-manufacturing firm that has been in existence two centuries is authority for the statement that "there can no longer be any doubt that the old fashion of snuff-taking is coming back into favour." It is said that the disgusting habit "is growing particularly fast among young men." The virtues of past generations are rapidly disappearing, but their vices are retained, or refined, and new ones are invented.

The Indian Medical Gazette, Calcutta, reports that Dr. Rost, of the Indian Medical Service, "has successfully cultivated the cancer organism on a solid medium at the Rangoon Hospital, the injection of the culture contain the fatal disease to a guinea-pig." We can report that a great many people have "successfully" cultivated the cancer organism without any effort, or any intention of doing so; what they most earnestly desire is that somebody shall succeed in destroying it.

The town of Paterson, New Jersey, U.S.A., noted as a manufacturing centre, and as a refuge and nursery for the anarchists of the world, was ravaged by fire on the 9th inst. The loss is estimated at about ?1,500,000; but the noteworthy thing about the affair is that all the manufacturing plants were left practically untouched by the fire, the anarchist haunts were wiped out. The man to kill the late King of Italy was from Paterson, and the attempts on other rulers have largely been planned there.

Few, if any, men have had a more perfect knowledge of the world than Lord Dufferin, who died last week at the age of seventy-six. With all the advantages of birth and education, he enjoyed the confidence of the Government, and had been entrusted with the highest and most responsible positions in various parts of the world. As ambassador at St. Petersburg, Rome, Constantinople, and Paris,-a diplomat of whom it is said that "he never knew failure,"-and Governor-General of Canada, Viceroy of India, he certainly was qualified to give an opinion when he said that "the conviction which had been borne in upon him by long contact with the outside world was that in spite of Christianity and civilisation, force and not right was still the dominant factor in human affairs," and that "no nations independence or possessions were safe for a moment unless she could guard them with her own right hand." This is not to the discredit of Christianity, but of the nations themselves, which are all essentially heathen, and are represented in the Scriptures as furious, wild beasts. The Lord's people are to be taken "out of" the nations of earth, while the nations themselves, trusting "their own right hand," are all destined to perish.

The disturbance that has been caused in the American Federation of Labour over the charges made by Mr. Ben Tillitt for services rendered on his recent visit to that country, gives opportunity for people to understand something of the spirit of modern "labour leaders." For ten minutes spent in organising the New York dockers, a bill for forty dollars (eight guineas) was the price demanded for a three-minute address. The American working-men object to these exorbitant charges; but they do not seem even yet to have got their eyes open to the fact that while they are banded together against monopolies by millionaires, they are by those very Federations the victim of a monopoly by "labour" leaders whose object is to live well without labouring.

On the 30th of January, a defensive treaty of Alliance between Great Britain and Japan was signed, by which each nation binds itself to remain neutral in any war which the other may have with another Power, and to use its efforts to prevent other Powers from joining in hostilities against its ally. If, however, either one of the contracting nations should be attacked by two Powers, the other must come to its assistance, and "conduct the war in common, and make peace in mutual agreement with it." Each nation is to notify the other whenever, in its opinion, the interests of that other are in jeopardy. This treaty is declared by the Daily Chronicle to be "one of the most important diplomatic documents of recent times-a document which profoundly affects the position and responsibilities of this country, and which in some ways marks an epoch in world history."

God's life is everywhere revealed in what men call "the forces of nature," and new possibilities are continually being discovered, as in wireless telegraphy, the X-rays, etc.; yet men in general think nothing of these things except as they can be made "practical" in commerce or war. There is, however, a far more practical use of these wonders although it may not be peculiarly profitable, and that is in helping us to get into closer acquaintance with the Lord, and more perfectly to appreciate "the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge." The X-rays help us to realise how "all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do," and wireless telegraphy should serve to bring home vividly to our minds the invisible means of communication established between God and all His creatures.

"'To Every Man His Work'" The Present Truth 18, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

"To Every Man His Work." -When the Lord Jesus went to the Father, "to receive for Himself a kingdom and to return," He "gave authority to His servants, and to every man his work." Mark xiii. 34.This of course does not mean man as distinct from woman, but every individual. The word "man" includes woman, since God made man male and female; but in this case there is no word indicating "man" in the Greek text; the word that is used is accurately rendered in the Revision, "each one." To each one, whether male or female, old or young, the Lord has given a work.

A Specific Work for Each. -The work which the Lord has given to each one is for that one alone, and for no other. To each one is given all that he can do well, or all that the Lord wishes him to do. Therefore if anybody neglects his share of the work, an extra burden is thrown upon somebody else. If each one did his own work, it would be impossible for anybody to be overburdened. Each one receives his work from God, and must look to Him for instruction as to how to do it. Furthermore, since each one has his own specific work, it follows that if anyone copies another's manner of working he will be sure to do his work wrong, although that other one does his work well; and the more closely he follows that other one's way, the more sure he is to mar his own work. The One who make us know what our work is, will also make us know how to do it.

How May We Know Our Work? -It does not follow from the foregoing that we are never to listen to counsel from fellow-workers. We are enjoined to be "subject one to another," "swift to hear, slow to speak." God often uses men as agents to make known, as well as to His will. But it must be God speaking through the person. Through whomsoever the information comes, the voice of God must be known and recognised so clearly that the human element will be entirely lost sight of.

God has various ways of communicating with His servants. We cannot here enumerate them, and even if we should attempt to, we should not succeed; for if we should name all that are known to man, He would surprise us by speaking to us in some new way, for He is not limited in His resources. But in the absence of any direct revelation or sign, we may always be sure of this; that our work is that which lies next to us. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."

If we go out of our way to find our task, we cannot be sure that it is the right one for us, and so cannot feel the confidence that we ought; but when we go right on doing what comes to us, even though it be apparently insignificant, we may be sure that God has given it to us to do, and that He will direct and sustain us in it. God knows what we can do, and He gives to each "according to his several ability;" therefore if our duties are small we must be content with His estimate of our ability. To do a little thing well is much more workmanlike and praiseworthy than to do a great work in a bungling manner.

"The Bible the Book of Science" The Present Truth 18, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

The Bible the Book of Science .-It is well known that by the majority of men who are known as "scientists," the Bible is given no standing whatever. Even a large and increasing number of professed Christian teachers do not hesitate to pronounce it fallible and entirely out of date with regard to everything scientific; while many others, who will not go so far as that, apologise for what they regard as a lack in the Bible, by saying that it is not designed as a scientific book, but that wherever it touches on any scientific subject it is accurate in its statements.

Now all this confusion would be avoided if the meaning of the term "science" were always kept in mind. It simply means "knowledge." It is from the Latin verb scio, to know; and the Latin word scientia means a knowing, knowledge. To say, therefore, that the Bible is not a book of science, is to say that it does not teach knowledge, which is to deny the Word. It is given by inspiration of God, and in Him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Col. ii. 3. There is no knowledge that does not come from Him; and where should we look for it, if not in His Word? "He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not He know?" Ps. xciv. 10.

Apart from the Bible there can be no real science. The "science" held in taught by all who ignore the Word of God is "falsely so-called." "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom." "For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." Prov. ii. 6. The Proverbs of Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, and whose knowledge embraced every branch of learning, are "to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion." And this is only one portion of the Bible.

Take a single instance to show the truth of what has been stated, that real knowledge-science-comes from God's Word alone. Hold up a piece of metal, or any other solid substance, and ask a "scientist" what holds its particles together. He will at once reply, "The force of cohesion," and will feel satisfied that he has given a "scientific" explanation of the phenomenon, and that nothing more can be said. But let us venture to analyse his answer. We enquire the meaning of the word "cohesion," and find that it is a compound of the Latin co (con), together, and haero, to stick, and that it therefore means sticking or holding together. To say that a thing coheres is only another way of saying that it holds together. So when we are informed that bodies hold together by the force of cohesion, we are told nothing more or less than that they hold together by holding together! The man of "science" has simply substituted a Latin term for its equivalent Anglo-Saxon, and has not added a particle to our knowledge. Any child can see that the substance holds together; the question is, What holds it together? and the answer, given without blushing or stammering, is, "Holding together holds it together." If he were not a "scientific" man we should think he was making sport of them; but as it is, we know that he has told was all he knows and all that anybody can know without going to the Bible-that is, simply nothing.

What does the Bible tells us about the matter? Very simply and plainly it tells us that in Christ the Redeemer are all things created, and that "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Col. i. 16, 17, R.V. margin. Now we know; we have been told something. Now we know that the force that holds matter together, and that is manifest in various ways, is the life and Spirit of Christ, and when we know that, we find that true science is salvation; because God is able to do "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us."

February 27, 1902

"The Truth Spread by Its Enemies. Acts viii. 3-17" The Present Truth 18, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

"We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." This is as true of the haters of the truth as it is of those who love it. God makes the wrath of man to praise Him, taking the utmost extremity of man's fury in binding it about Him. It cannot injure Him. Nothing thwarts His purpose, nothing interferes in the slightest degree with His plans. He works "all things after the counsel of His own will." Eph. i. 11. By the power by which He can bring the dead to life, He can take even the curses of men and cause them to praise Him as effectually as do the songs of the seraphim. Men open their mouth in blasphemies against God, and He can transform the fearful sounds into strains of the sweetest music.

This does not lessen the guilt of those who thus rage against Him. They are credited with just what they have purposed. Those who crucified Christ were guilty of murder, yet they fulfilled God's purpose from eternal ages. The thing that they did was diabolical wickedness; the thing that resulted was salvation for all mankind. But their purpose was destruction, and it is only through God's marvellous power and grace that salvation results; therefore what God is glorified by man's opposition, the opposers themselves are snared in the works of their own hands.

This is illustrated by what occurred after the death of Stephen. "At that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." Acts viii. 1. How the persecutors would triumph over that dispersion, congratulating one another that they had "broken up the nest." "As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison." What a victory the Pharisees were gaining. They had charged the apostles not to preach any more in the name of Jesus, they had threatened and beaten them, and now they were taking hold in earnest to crush out the heresy. And what was the result?

"Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word." Acts viii. 4.

The haters of truth thought that they were crushing it to the ground, when they were simply spreading it. Thus did the wrath of man praise God.

It was never God's plan that His people should colonise, and shut themselves up by themselves, away from the world. Nothing is further from being a house of God than a monastery. God is dishonoured, and denied, when men and women go into monasteries and convents, in order that they may live a "religious" life. He sends His people into the world, that by contact with it they may have a purifying effect on it.

When God called Abraham of Ur of the Chaldees, saying, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee" (Gen. xii. 1), He was indicating His will for all who should receive His Word, and be faithful to it; "for here have we no continuing city; but we seek one to come." Heb. xiii. 14. All the seed of Abraham,-"the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus,"-must confess that they are "strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Wherever Abraham went he built an altar, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah; and that is the one use that God has for His people on this earth.

When God brought Israel of Egypt, and established them in the land of Canaan, it was not in order that they might become a nation with definite bounds to their kingdom, like other nations, but that, from that land as a centre, they should spread eastward, westward, northward, and southward, carrying the Gospel of the kingdom in all the world as a witness to all nations. To this end God promised them such power that no enemy would be able to oppose their progress. If enemies would stop them, one should chase a thousand, and two could put ten thousand to flight. So His design was that they should go out two and two, as Jesus afterward sent out His disciples. With a safe place for their families and flocks, and their safety assured wherever they might go, and the promise that every place that the sole of their foot should tread upon should be theirs (Joshua i. 3), it would not have been long, if they had been faithful, until "the haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him; but their time should have endured for ever." Ps. lxxxi. 15.

We do not need to trace the history of Israel. We know that they would not hearken to God's voice, nor walk in His counsel, but desired a king, that they might be like the nations round about them. Because they refused to allow the light

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that God had given them to shine into the darkness of heathenism, they lost it, and became not only like the heathen, but even worse. Then came captivity, and God's name was made known to all the world through them, yet in spite of them; but they did not learn the lesson, and after their return they became more clannish than ever.

The legacy of narrowness and exclusiveness, which had been handed down through the generations, was so fixed in the minds even of the apostles, that a special revelation was needed to teach them that God's purpose in all the ages had been for the Gospel to be preached to every creature. So it is not to be wondered at that the disciples remained in Jerusalem. But it was not God's plan that thousands and tens of thousands of His people should ever be huddled together, simply talking together for mutual edification. They were chosen to be "the light of the world," "the salt of the earth;" but salt, no matter how much savour it has, is of no use all shut up in a box; and light is needed only in darkness. Then Satan came in and his hate was used as a means of accomplishing God's purpose. The disciples were driven from home, and thus the light was spread abroad. Even those were put to death, as was Stephen, were witnesses for the Him. "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."

Two lessons we may learn from this narrative. The first is obvious, although almost universally overlooked. It is that God does not desire His people to settle down contentedly in congregations to be preached to. A people who are constantly receiving, and not giving forth that which they have received, will soon cease to grow. Their numbers may increase, but their spirituality will diminish. Life means action.

The other thing for us to learn is, not to be troubled over assaults upon the truth, no matter by whom made, or for what purpose. The faith needs no defender, but God's truth is so powerful that it will protect all who cleave to it. How often has Satan fooled God's people, and succeeded in his purpose of diverting them from the straightforward proclamation of the truth, by inducing them to reply to some attack. While they have been engaged in controversy, which never advances God's truth, souls have been longing for the light. When we know in our own experience, even in our own lives, the power of truth, and that it is settled for ever in heaven, where nothing that is done by even the kings and rulers of this earth can shake it, we can be perfectly unmoved when men lift up themselves against it, and leaving them to exhaust their strength in impotent rage, we can continue to preach the Word.

"Keep Thyself Pure. The First Commandment. The Lust of the Flesh" The Present Truth 18, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

THE LUST OF THE FLESH

"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." Ex. xx. 2, 3.

We have seen that, for anyone to have this world, or anything that is of this world, is to have another god before the Lord. And this other God is "the god of this world," the "spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience," which is Satan.

But Christ came to "bring us to God." And this is the whole work of the preaching of the Gospel; for it is written: "Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." Acts xxvi. 17, 18.

Now "the world" is divided into three parts-"the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." And under one or all of these three heads is idolatry manifested. We shall study them one by one as they are written.

First: "the lust of the flesh"-appetite or intemperance. This is specifically defined as a god; for it is written: "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." Phil. iii. 18, 19.

Temperance is self-control,-not merely the control of one particular part of the man, self-control is one particular thing,-it is the control itself, the very being, the whole man. But this can never be done by the man himself; for the man himself is already subject to the control of "the god of this world," the evil one. This control was gained by the evil one, in the garden, and through appetite, this very "lust of the flesh." Since man is thus the subject of "the god of this world," a slave, "sold under sin," it is impossible for him of himself to clear himself of that power to which he surrendered himself.

But this is deliverance by the power of God, the true God, the living God, the rightful God of man. God can set free every man, from all the power of "the god of this world;" and it is only thus that any man can ever gain control of himself. It is only thus that any man can attain to true self-control, to true temperance.

The heart of man is the place of the seat of God in things pertaining to the man for "the kingdom of God is within you." The kingdom of the heart and life of man belongs to God: is alone His dominion. Through the deception of man this kingdom has been usurped by "the god of this world." This was done at the choice of man. At the choice of man, God, the true God, will return to His kingdom, and will take His place upon His throne in the kingdom, and will there rule and reign in righteousness, "even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ and to all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference." Rom. iii. 22.

Therefore the whole question of having other gods, or the true God alone, turns simply upon the one question: Who has the heart? Therefore it is written: "Keep thy heart above all keeping: for out of it are the issues of life." Prov. iv. 23, margin.

Since, then, it is only by the power of God that any man can ever truly have control of himself, and can be truly master of himself, it follows, inevitably, that the use of any thing which has a tendency to take control of the man, to deprive the man of the control of himself; anything the use of which creates a habit which must be satisfied, and demands that it shall be served-that is the having another god. The man who has surrendered himself and is thus controlled, is of those who the scripture describes, "whose god is their belly."

This principle is expressed in the scripture: "All things are lawful unto to me. . . . but I will not be brought under the control of any." 1 Cor. vi. 12. Anything therefore, which has a tendency to bring man under its power is the indulgence of idolatry: it is to have another god before the Lord.

Now not only the tendency, but the positive effect of all stimulants and narcotics, is to take control of the man who uses them. The only effective any of these things is to create an appetite for itself, an appetite that must be served at whatever cost, and thus to rob the individual of all control themselves. Also it makes him not only a slave to that particular habit, but so weakens him that in other things he cannot control himself. And "from tea to hasheesh we have, through of hops, alcohol, tobacco, and opium, a sort of a graduated scale of intoxicants, which stimulate in small doses, and narcotise in larger. The physiological action of all these agents gradually shades into some other: all producing, or being capable of producing, consecutive paralysis of the various parts of the nervous system."-Encyclop?dia Britannica, Art., "Drunkenness."

Thus the First Commandment is the basis of all true temperance; and the keeping of that commandment and the faith of Jesus, is the only way to true temperance.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Power of Christ's Coming and Kingdom" The Present Truth 18, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

"Kindly explain Mark ix. 1: "And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not tasted death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.'"

The context supplies the answer to this question. Jesus had been speaking about His coming "in the glory of His Father," when He uttered the words quoted, and the next thing related is the Transfiguration, which is thus described:-

"And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. And His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear Him. And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves."

We are not left to conjecture that this was what Jesus meant when He said that some of those standing by should see the kingdom of God come with power; for Peter, who saw the transfiguration, states the matter very plainly. He says:-

"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount." 2 Peter i. 16-18.

The transfiguration of Jesus, then, was a representation of His Kingdom, "with power and great glory," even "the glory of the Father." There were with Him also Moses and Elias, "who appeared in glory" (Luke ix. 31) as representatives of the two classes of the saints who will be transfigured with Jesus at His coming, namely, those who have fallen asleep, and those who are alive and remain until His coming.

The question is often ask how Moses and Elijah could be at the mount with Jesus, if the dead know not anything, this question does not take two things into account. First, that Elijah never died, but was translated to heaven as Enoch was. See 2 Kings ii. There is therefore no room for any difficulty in this case. Moses, however, "died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-Peor; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." Deut. xxxiv. 5, 6. How then could Moses be on the mount with Jesus, unless the dead go to heaven and are conscious? This brings us to the second thing that is usually overlooked, which is brought to view in Jude 9:-

"Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee."

Michael is "the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people," who in the time of trouble at the last day stands up for their deliverance. There can be no question but that Christ is the one referred to. It was He who disputed with the devil about the body of Moses. It is by "the voice of the Archangel" that the sleeping saints will be called to life at the coming of the Lord; and as their could be no dispute between Him and the devil about the body of Moses, except as to who had a right to it, we know that in the case of Moses the resurrection day was anticipated.

The devil is the one that "had the power of death" (Heb. ii. 14), who "opened not the house of his prisoners" (Isa. xiv. 17) voluntarily. But Christ entered into his prison-house, the grave, voluntarily, and disarmed the devil, and He has the keys of death and the grave (Rev. i. 18), so that He can release whosoever He will. Christ was "slain from the foundation of the world," and therefore before His crucifixion on Calvary He had the same power to open the grave of His people, and to call them forth to life, that He has now; and this power He often exercised.

The case, then, is very plain: Christ was on the mount in the dazzling glory in which He will appear at the last day, and Moses and Elijah appeared in glory with Him as representatives of the saints who have slept and those who have remained alive, who will be "changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" from mortality to immortality. 1 Cor. xv. 51-54. When Christ comes from heaven 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.

If we should stop here, we should have only the bare outline of facts, and should perhaps not learn the lesson designed to be conveyed by the recital. Let us therefore note very briefly and plainly a few things, some of them by way of review, and some for the purpose of getting additional light.

1. In the mount of transfiguration Christ appeared in His kingdom; the power of His kingdom was seen by those who were present.

2. He Himself was transfigured. The glory in which He was clothed was the glory that came from within Him. "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John i. 14.

3. This is exactly what will take place with all the saints at the harvest "in the end of this world," when they are gathered home. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their

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Father." Matt. xiii. 43. The light with which they will then be clothed will be a light that is already within them, for they will shine forth.

4. This therefore is a manifestation of the truth that "the kingdom of God is within you." There is no trifling, no play upon words, when Jesus told His disciples that some of them should see the kingdom of God come with power. The kingdom of God was there in the person of Jesus, and on the mount of transfiguration the disciples saw the power of it in Him, as well as in Moses and Elijah. God is "glorious in holiness," and so is His kingdom in His people.

The grand lesson that we are to learn from this representation is "the power that worketh in us" to enable us to do the will of God on earth even as it is done in heaven. All the power indicated by the glory of God,-the power by which Jesus was raised from the dead, and by which the bodies of all the righteous will be changed at His coming, and fashioned like unto His glorious body,-is the power of the kingdom of God within us, by which when believe we overcome sin, and are now changed into the same image from glory to glory. 2 Cor. iii. 18. "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.

With these truths before us knowing that the Lord is in His holy temple, dwelling between the cherubim, and that our bodies are the temple of God, we may pray with the Spirit and the understanding as never before, "Thou Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth."

"Contending for Their Faith" The Present Truth 18, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

The "faith that was once delivered to the saints" is the faith of Jesus; and the way that we are to contend earnestly for it is to submit to ourselves to God. But the "faith" of many people consists in forms of words, so their contentions are with one another concerning forms and ceremonies. This is aptly illustrated by the following story told by the Chicago Chronicle. A certain bishop had a four-year-old daughter of considerable force of character, who was a most staunch and aggressive Churchwoman:-

The other day the family entertained some friends from Denver. In the visiting family there was a little girl of the same age as the bishop's child. Her parents were Presbyterians. It was proposed that the two little girls share the same bed, and bedtime coming, they knelt down to say their prayers together.

When the little Episcopalian was saying, "Forgive us our trespasses," she heard her companion pray, "Forgive us our debts," and she said, sharply:-

"It's trespasses!"

"No, it isn't," said the Calvinist. "It's debts.'"

"Trespasses!"

"Debts!"

"Trespasses!"

"Debts!"

Out flew a chubby Episcopalian fist and struck a Presbyterian eye. There was a mix-up immediately.

"Now its 'trespasses,' isn't it?"

"No," said the other, stoutly. "It's debts." But peace was restored, and the two consented to go on with the prayer.

When they came to the end the little Presbyterian said "Amen," giving the flat "a" of the dissenters, while the little Episcopalian intoned "Ah-men," with the broad sound to the first vowel.

"Amen," repeated the Presbyterian.

"Ah-men," said the Episcopalian, with conviction.

They were only saved from another encounter by being bundled into bed. When the door was closed upon them each was still maintaining her idea of pronunciation.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." This is what Jesus has told us all to do. "Consider" means "think" on with care. So Jesus means that we are to think of the flowers, and learn how they grow.

This is a picture of a Lily of Palestine, the land where Jesus lived. He said that "even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Yet "they toil not, neither do they spin." Lilies cannot make themselves grow. They cannot spin their own clothes. It is God who clothes the grass of the field.

Their robe of glory grows upon them as they grow. What is it that makes the lilies grow?-It is life. They grow because they are alive. So we must find out about their life. We must learn where it comes from, and how it unfolds, and clothes them with glory in beauty better than that of the richest king of earth.

All this, Jesus says, is to teach us how we are to live and grow. "For if God so clothe the grass of the field, shall He not much more clothe you?"

God who makes the flowers, and gives them such beauty, longs far more to clothe our souls with the beauty of the life of Jesus.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

The United States has just appropriated ?21,000,000 for its Navy, and the estimate for the British Navy for next year is ?31,000,000. Thus this work of "keeping the peace" goes on.

In replying to an address by the Committee which is organising the f?tes in connection with his Jubilee, the Pope said: "I am happy to announce to you that almost every country in the world is sending me Jubilee missions. I am particularly happy that among them is Protestant England." In this we see the fulfilment of the prophetic statement concerning the Papacy, that "the kings of the earth have committed fornication" with her. Rev. xvii. 3.

It is but a few years comparatively, since telegraphy was invented, the inventor having a difficult task to induce "practical" business men to become interested in his seemingly wild idea of sending messages by wire. Now a regular school has been opened at Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, for the purpose of training men not only to serve as operators, but to equip and work stations anywhere. This is at present the only school of the kind in this world; but it will probably not be long before a knowledge of wireless telegraphy will be essential for every man who wishes to become a telegraph operator.

On the 22nd of February simultaneous peace meetings were held all over Europe, when the following resolution was passed:-

"The Friends of Peace, assembled on the 22nd of February, note with deep regret the recrudescence of militarism in some of the most enlightened States of the civilised world, and look upon the policy of incitement to hatred of a neighbour, whether it is practised by Governments or by peoples, as pernicious, and as a standing menace to the peace of the world.

"Fully aware as they are that the partisans of war are redoubling their efforts to maintain their rule, the Friends of Peace are by no means discouraged or daunted, and unhesitatingly respond to their action by quadrupling their own efforts to deliver humanity from the barbarous system of settling disputes by force."

It is a noble sentiment, but it will never be realised in this world of commerce. As long as the commercial spirit dominates the world; as long as men are actuated by the one desire to "buy and sell and get gain;" as long as trade rivalry exist:-so long will bourse continued. It cannot be otherwise. The world is a vast market; governments are merely gigantic commercial firms; and the disposition to get all the advantages for self, which characterises the individual trader, inevitably leads to war when the aggrieved party is a "sovereign Power." Nothing but the beginning of the time when each man will inherit the whole earth, and each one will acknowledge every other one's right to everything, and there is no more buying and selling, will put an end to wars.

A new religious sect is said to have been "discovered" in Greece. Its adherents advocate the abolition of the Orthodox Greek Church and the destruction of images. Their leader is a nephew of the ex-Metropolitan Procopios, who was dismissed recently for permitting the translation of the Bible into modern Greek. It can confidently be predicted, however, that they will accomplish no good; for Christianity is not destruction, but construction. The breaking of idols does not diminish idolatry. But "reformers" are apt to be in so great a hurry to see results, that they cannot afford time to stop and dig deep and lay the foundation, by patiently the teaching God's Word to the people, and so they often simply substitute one set of forms for another. The kingdom of God is like seed cast into the ground. True reforms are not made, but grow.

The Church Family Newspaper publishes an interview with a clergymen who has spent a quarter of a century labouring in the East End. Speaking of the Act which has just gone into force, forbidding the serving of children under fourteen years of age at public-houses, he said: "Hitherto there has been a long procession of children fetching their parents' beer, and waiting for the public-house doors to open at one o'clock. In a public-house in the Old Kent-road which we watched, over 600 children were seen to go in on a certain Sunday. This was of course before the Act referred to went into effect. He also said: "The increase in the number of women drunkards is awful." "I could show you a public-house not far from here which has lately been reconstructed, and the alterations include a wide place for perambulators." This means the physical and moral ruin and of the "rising generation." Under such circumstances they cannot be expected to rise at all.

The strike in Barcelona, Spain, and surrounding towns, has been the event of greatest interest in the last ten days. Starting with dissatisfaction among the few metal workers over some trifling occurrence, it has spread till more than 80,000 persons are engaged in a mad effort to destroy as much property, and to make life as difficult for other people as possible. The fury of the mob scenes particularly directed against any attempt to supply the inhabitants with food: bakeries and provision shops have been wrecked, and people found carrying food have been mobbed. There have of course been collisions with the militia, and many have been killed. We have no apology to make for the oppression of the poor by employers, and we know that many rich men are running up a heavy account with God, to be settled at the last day; but no amount of injustice can justify acts of violence in retaliation, such as reported from the strike. The actions of the strikers show that they are under the control of Apollyon (the destroyer), and that if conditions were reversed they would have far less consideration for others than any capitalists now have. These outbreaks only serve to show that "perilous times" are coming and all the smoldering discontent among the masses who know not God springs into activity all over the world. The French Revolution cannot be mentioned in comparison.

The Baptist Times truly the remarks that "amusement is the one things for which money is never lacking." It says of "the London season" at its height:-

"To understand what that means let anyone walk on a Saturday afternoon from the deserted City to the West End. As he passes through the district about Piccadilly-circus, and notices how every theatre and music-hall has its queue of visitors standing marshalled by policemen far down the street, waiting for the opening of the door; as he passes them again an hour later, and sees from the placards that stalls and boxes, pit and gallery, are all full; and especially if he happens to be there when the play is over, and the converging torrents of humanity meet in the Circus, and crowd into the restaurants for afternoon tea, he will think that the city is wholly given over to pleasure. Where do all the people come from? How can they afford the time, and, above all, the money, for this ceaseless ground of gaieties? Is it true that we have an army of a quarter of a million men away there in South Africa? Can we be pouring out money at the rate of a million and a half a week in the prosecution of the war? Are times really hard?"

Yes; times are indeed hard; and it is this insatiable love of pleasure that makes them hard; and will make them still worse. The earth brings forth more than enough to supply the needs of its inhabitants; but selfishness and greed make it of no avail to many hundreds of thousands.

Some of the possibilities involved in the recent British alliance with Japan are thus set forth by one writer for the press:-

"It means that if Japan becomes involved in war any time within the next five years with Russia over Corea-a territority which both those Powers covet and desire to annex-and France goes to the aid of her ally, we are pledged to go to war with France all over the world-a very serious undertaking. It means that if Germany or France attempts to extend its possessions in China, Japan and we will go to war with Germany or France. It means, to judge from an answer given last week in the House of Lords, that if Russia maintains her hold on Manchuria-which she will do as certainly as we will maintain our hold on the Transvaal and the Orange Free State-that Japan and we are pledged to go to war with Russia. If Russia, Germany and France replied by an alliance to maintain 'the integrity and independence' of the Transvaal, we should have Armageddon at once-the whole civilised world plunged into war."

What a slight turn of affairs would suffice to precipitate the great day of wrath. That day will soon come, but not until all the servants of God are sealed; for when the nations are angry, then comes the wrath of God, and "the time of the dead, that they should be judged," and of reward to those who fear the name of the Lord, and of destruction to them that destroy the earth. Rev. xi. 18.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

One can scarcely better express the condition of things for the past few weeks than to say that the elements have been "on strike." The severe storms that have raged around our coast, and the blizzards that succeeded in almost entirely stopping business in some of the chief American cities, have been eclipsed by the earthquake in the Caucasus, the most terrible one of recent times. The village of Schemacha was almost totally swallowed up without warning on a market day, when people were gathered in from the surrounding country. Worse still, the shocks have continued, and several volcanoes have broken out. Over one hundred villages have been wrecked, and the loss of life runs into thousands. Thirty thousand people are homeless. It is said that "a good deal of insanity, brought on by sheer terror, has broken out among the survivors of the earthquake." Thus we have warnings of the approach of the time, foretold by Christ, when there shall be "upon the earth distress of patience, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows; men fainting [literally, expiring] for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world." Luke xxi. 25, 26.

"The Blessing of Abraham" The Present Truth 18, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

The Blessing of Abraham. -"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of law, been made a curse for us, . . . 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. "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Verse 29. Therefore every word that God spoke to Abraham applies to us who believe, just as much as it did to him.

Now note the very first statement of the promise to Abraham: "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 the shall all families of the earth be blessed." Gen. xii. 2, 3. Abraham was blessed, that he might be a blessing; and, in like manner, God makes every believer in Him a blessing to somebody wherever he may be. Every particle of matter in the universe has some influence over every other particle; even so it is with people; and every one who receives and appreciates the blessing from God must, although almost always unconsciously to himself, be a blessing to others. What a comforting thought this is, and what an incentive to be always in touch with the Lord, from whom all blessings flow.

"'Where Will You Spend Eternity'?" The Present Truth 18, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

"Where Will You Spend Eternity?" -This common question is a very easy one to answer. If anybody spends eternity anywhere, it will most certainly be with God; for He "inhabiteth eternity." Isa. lvii. 15. The righteous will dwell with God in eternity, while there will be no eternity for the wicked. In Ps. xxxvii. 37, 38 we read: "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off." The word "into" in this passage is from the Hebrew word meaning "future time" or "after time." Therefore the text, literally rendered, would read, that the after time or future time of the upright is peace; "but the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future time of the wicked shall be cut off." The wicked will have no future at all, much less an eternity; they will cease to be; they will "be as though they have not been." Obadiah 14. Thus we see that there is really no place for the question at the beginning of this paragraph. Its form should be, Will you have an eternity? Each one can answer this readily, by determining whether or not he will accept the life of God. What is your answer to it?

"The Most Beautiful Sanctuary" The Present Truth 18, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

The Most Beautiful Sanctuary. -The death of Dr. Newman Hall has recalled an interview he had with John Ruskin, whose advice he asked when he was about to build Christ Church, Westminster-bridge road. He asked how to erect a church which should not only be commodious and beautiful, but inspire happy thoughts and holy emotions. To this Ruskin replied that "we should not build up stones, but gather together a few people who would not steal or tell lies."

There was and is a perception of truth that is not seen by all Christians. "When Israel when out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from the people of strange language; Judah was His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion." Ps. cxiv. 1, 2. Not until they lost their faith and zeal did they have to build a house of dead material. The same truth is indicated in the events related in our articles in this number, entitled "God's Purpose for His People," and, "The Truth Spread by Its Enemies." God did not wish His people to be crowded together in one place with someone to preach to them; so He allowed persecution to come, that they might go everywhere preaching the Word. God's people are indeed exhorted not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, and they must therefore meet in some place (although the Word of God grew and multiplied most rapidly when the meeting-place was a cave, the protecting shade of the dense forest, or the private house of some friend); but it is living temples, more than dead ones, that God's cause wants now. Who will supply them?

"Heaven on Earth" The Present Truth 18, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

Heaven on Earth. -When Peter and James and John were on the mount of transfiguration with Jesus, "a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matt. xvii. 5. Peter describing this occurrence, says: "There came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we work with Him in the holy mount." 2 Peter i. 17, 18. The three disciples with Jesus were in the very cloud whence the voice came; for we read that "they feared as they entered into the cloud" (Luke ix. 34); yet the voice came from heaven. Heaven was at that time, at least, on earth.

And so it is always to those who live near to God, and who walk with Him. Jacob found that the lonely spot in the wilderness was none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven, because God was in that place. Christ, who "is in the bosom of the Father," could speak of Himself, when talking with Nicodemus, as "the Son of man, which is in heaven." If we have been raised up with Christ, we have been made to "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Eph. ii. 6. Thus God has given us heaven in which to go to heaven, in order that when we get there at last we shall be at home.

March 6, 1902

"The Story of the Cross. As Told by Philip to the Eunuch. Acts viii. 26-40" The Present Truth 18, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

(Acts viii. 26-40.)²1

One of the most interesting narratives in the New Testament is that of the meeting of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch, and the baptism of the latter which is recorded in the portion of Scripture indicated above. Philip was preaching in Samaria, and having a wonderful success for "the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake." Multitudes were healed, and when those who had been bewitched with sorceries "believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women."

But in the height of this interest "the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert."

There is much in this for our instruction. The natural inclination would be to question such an order, and to doubt if it came from the Lord. "Surely it is a mistake to leave such an interest as this," some would say, and the people would feel that they could not possibly spare the man who had been the means of bringing them such light and blessing. "We must keep him with us to guide us in the way into which he has led us," we can hear them say; "what shall we do if Philip leaves us?" But God would teach us that the church is not to be dependent upon any man; and also that when a minister of the Gospel has brought people into the truth, and established them, they are not to expect him to stand and hold the light for them to see by, but are themselves to be lightbearers to others.

So Philip "arose and went," just as content and willing to go out into the desert, not knowing whom he should see or whether he should meet a single soul, as to remain and labour in the crowded city.

"And, behold, a man of Ethiopia, a

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eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet."

See how mysteriously the Lord works, and how He times all circumstances to fit another exactly. The eunuch had been to Jerusalem to worship, but although all the apostles were there he had not received the light of the Gospel of Christ. He was devout, but uninstructed. Not in Jerusalem, "the centre of the work," with all its teachers, but in the lonely desert, he found the Lord.

And then that "accidental" meeting. How strangely it "happen" that just as the eunuch was reading aloud to himself a passage of Scripture that was dark to him, a man should come along and, overhearing him, should question him as to his knowledge, and be able and willing to enlighten him! Ah, but we know that everything had been planned beforehand. The angel of the Lord sent Philip just in time to meet the man at that spot. If Philip had stopped to question the Lord's order, he would have been too late. His prompt, unquestioning obedience,-his willingness to leave a cityful of people, to go into the desert,-made him the means of giving the Gospel to one who would carry it to an entire nation. Philip left Samaria and went into the desert, to preach to all Ethiopia; but he did not know it when he started.

From this event, behind which we are permitted to see, we may know that God is working to bring about many "accidental meetings" behind which we cannot see, and the outcome of which we never learn. The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and if all were fully submitted to Him, fully acquainted with His voice, and prompt to move at every breathing of His Spirit, His will would be done on earth even as it is done in heaven.

Most important of all, however, is the lesson to be learned from the scripture that the Ethiopian was reading. We are doubtless all a little better informed than he was, in that we know that the prophet was not speaking of himself, but of some other Man, even Jesus Christ; but how do we know, even yet, of the depth of meaning in that "sure Word." Let us study it with Philip, and see if it does not contain more for us than we have hitherto thought.

"The place of the Scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb down before His shearer, so opened He not His mouth; in His humiliation His judgment [not His good sense, but His right to a fair trial] was taken away; and who shall declare His generation? for His life is taken from the earth."

It was the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah that the Ethiopian official was reading, and when he asked of whom the prophet was speaking, "Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus."

PREACHING JESUS

Philip "preached unto him Jesus," not merely about Jesus. But from the text we know that he must have told the story of Christ's sufferings and death, for that is the one theme of the chapter. Thus we have it vividly set before us that to preach Jesus is to preach His death; we cannot know Jesus except as crucified. "Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" is the only thing necessary for anybody to know; and whoever should know it to perfection would know everything in the universe; for in Him "we have our redemption, the forgiveness of sins; who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for 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;" and we who were once enemies, "hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death." Col. i. 14-22, R.V.

As they rode along, and Philip continued preaching Jesus,-Christ and Him crucified,-"they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And he commanded chariot to stand still; and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him."

THE MEANING OF BAPTISM

From this we learn that the preaching of Jesus leads the one who accepts it to wish to be baptized.

The narrative also makes it plain that baptism is connected with the death of Christ, since Jesus cannot be preached except as crucified. The chapter from which Philip preached is devoted wholly to the suffering and death of Christ, and it was this that made the eunuch wish to be baptized.

Let us now read a few texts which state the matter plainly, showing for what reason we are baptized, and what is gained by it when it is done in spirit and in truth.

Gal. iii. 27: "As many of you as had been baptized into Jesus Christ have put on Christ." Baptism is the door into Christ. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free." 1 Cor. xii. 13.

Rom. vi. 3, 4: "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."

We get into Christ by baptism; but inasmuch as Christ cannot be known except as crucified, to be baptized in Him is to share His death-the cross.

LIFE THROUGH DEATH

But Christ has life in Himself, and He lays down His life only to take it again; therefore we are baptized into His death-sharers of His cross-only for the purpose of receiving new life in Him. "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also Jesus might be made manifest in our body." 2 Cor. iv. 10. "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature [there is a new creation]; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. v 17.

No wonder the eunuch went on his way rejoicing. It was for the joy that was set before Him that Jesus "endured the cross, despising the shame." And the joy that was set before Him was the joy of seeing all things created new. "He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand."

This new life in Christ means righteousness; "for he that is dead is freed from sin;" and "how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?" Rom. vi. 7, 2. But it means more than theoretical righteousness, and more than mere passive goodness; it means active life,-fulness and freshness of energy,-the freshness of eternal renewed youth. It means physical wholeness as well as wholeness of soul. There is no limit to the gift of God in Christ. John tells us of the word of life,-the eternal life which was from the beginning,

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and was manifested unto us, that we might have fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ,-and says: "These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." 1 John i. 1-4. Let us study further into the life that we get by Christ's death, that we, like the eunuch, may go on our way rejoicing.

Jesus cannot be known except as crucified. No one in this world has ever had, or ever can have, any other view of Him than crucified; because He is "the Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of the earth." Rev. xiii. 8, R.V. But "in Him were all things created;" therefore the earth was created in the beginning in Christ crucified. If we wish to know the nature and reality of the new creation that there is to anyone who is in Christ, we have but to look to the beginning, when "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Gen. i. 31. Or, we may look forward to the end, when the Gospel has finished its work of restoring that which was lost, and seek "a new heaven and a new earth" when "the former things are passed away," and all things are become new. Rev. xxi. 1-5. Compare 2 Cor. v. 17. The Scriptures of truth end where they begin-with a new creation; the beginning and the end are one.

Take another view. When Christ hung on the cross, between heaven and earth, an object-lesson for the universe, to show God's eternal love, and He cried, "It is finished," and then "gave up the Ghost," expired; literally, "breathed out." But for what purpose did He breathe out His life?-That we might breathe it in. So the very breath that we breath comes from the cross, from Christ crucified. It was by the power of the cross that the breath of life was breathed into man in the beginning, so that He became a living soul, and a "very good" one, too; and it has been only through the cross that any person has had life to-day, or that anybody has life to-day. "For even the productions of the earth, the bounty is provided for man's sustenance, we are indebted to the offering of Christ upon the cross of Calvary. God teaches us that all we receive from Him and is the gift of redeeming love."

PROCLAIMED BY ALL CREATION

What of it? Oh, everything! Every breeze that blows is a whisper of pardon from God. Every refreshing breath is an assurance to us that life and salvation are free, and that the fountain of redeeming love is overflowing to us. With every inspiration we may, if we will, receive anew the message of forgiveness. The winds are laden with the call, which they bear from Calvary to the ends of the earth, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved;" "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sin; return to Me, for I have redeemed thee."

It means that our very existence depends on Christ crucified, and that there is therefore salvation for every living soul of that will fully accept and constantly acknowledge the life thus coming to Him. And it means healing the body, as well as cleansing from sin; for Jesus was "a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with sickness." "Surely He carried our sickness, and burden Himself with our sorrows." (Benisch) "By His stripes we are healed," or, "Through His bruises was healing granted to us." Shall we not accept the gift as fully and as freely as it is bestowed? We believe that "if we confess our sins, and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanses from all of righteousness;" why not have as much confidence in the words: "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed." James v. 6. He who forgives all our iniquities also heals all our diseases. Ps. ciii. 3.

One thing more: This is no new Gospel, but "the Word which ye have heard from the beginning." It was as present, practical, vital truth in the days of Isaiah as it is now. Note the form of the words. The prophet did not say, He will bear our sickness, He will be wounded for our transgressions, and with His stripes men in a future age may be healed; but "He was despised;" "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 stripes we are healed." It was done from the beginning. What matters it if many good men have not seen all the glorious possibilities for us now when we believe; shall we therefore refuse to allow the prayer of the apostle to be effectual for us? See Eph. i. 15-20. The perfect, death-destroying life of Jesus must be fully manifested in the mortal flesh of some people before the Lord returns to this earth again; why not in ours? "As many of you as had been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ," having been "baptized into His death," in order to live with Him; and "if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Should Christians Drink Stimulating or Intoxicating Liquors?" The Present Truth 18, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

"We have on record that Christ made water into wine at the marriage feast. Is that sufficient testimony that Christians may indulge in a glass of beer? When a man is converted, does he wonder from the true path of Christ by taking an occasional glass of beer as a stimulant?"

We have often talked in these columns about the wine which Christ made at Cana; but this question brings up a phase of the subject that we have not before considered in this connection, and therefore we shall find it profitable to take it up again from the beginning. We shall try to do it so simply that there can be no confusion.

The miracle was recorded in John ii. 1-11. The wine had been used up, and there were six empty water pots standing by. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And He said unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bear it." And when the governor of the feast tasted it, he perceived that it was better wine than that which they had at the beginning.

THE WINE GOD MAKES

This was "natural wine," such as God makes every year. The miracle was to show was God's agency in the products of the earth, especially in "the fruit of the vine," and incidentally to teach us the kind of wine men ought to drink.

It should be understood that the element of time is not a factor in any miracle. That is to say, the miraculous nature of an action does not depend upon its having been done quickly. The miracle consists in the doing of it, whether long or short time be taken. For example, in the case before us, the miracle does not consist in the fact that water was turned into wine in the space of a few minutes, but in the fact that it was done. If the miracle takes a year to accomplish it, the miracle is none the less. If anybody thinks otherwise, let him try it. Let him take a year, or ten years, and at the end of that time he will be no nearer producing wine from water than at the beginning. But God can and does do it. He is constantly doing it in vines all over the earth. Usually He occupies several months in the process; but at the wedding feast He did it in a few minutes in the True Vine. Christ is "the Beginning," even the Source or "Beginning of the creation of God."

In Him everything is created, and in Him all things consist. Col. i. 16, 17. That which is in Him is life. John i. 3, 4. His blood, His life, is pure and perfect, and everything that comes from Him is perfect. In the stream of life that flows from the slain Lamb in the midst of the throne (compare Rev. v. 4 and xxii. 1), there is no element of decay. It is the "pure river of water of life, clear as crystal." Thus the wine that the Lord makes is not poisonous, but pure and life-giving. The word "intoxicating" means poisoning, and poisoning means death; therefore it is clear that the wine which the Lord makes-"the fruit of the vine"-is not intoxicating.

We can demonstrate this for ourselves.The wine which God yearly produces from water is hermetically sealed in small flasks grouped in clusters. One may take of it even to repletion, but it will not produce intoxication any more than fresh apples will.

ALCOHOL NOT A PRODUCT OF NATURE

Alcohol is not a "product of nature," not a "creature of God." God never made alcohol, nor any fermented or malt liquors of any kind. If grapes or grain were allowed to remain as God makes them, they would never have stimulating or intoxicating effects.It is only by artificial processes, or when the fruits and

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grains have been crushed so soaked and allowed to decompose, that alcohol, which stimulates and intoxicates, is formed.

Now what God never does in all creation, we may be sure He did not do that day in Cana; therefore there is no connection whatever between the wine that Jesus made and the beer that men make. To say that because Jesus made wine from water therefore I may drink beer or any other intoxicating liquor, has no more reason in it than to say that because He was righteous I may sin. We have no warrant to pronounce sentence upon anybody, and we do not need to; for each one can answer for himself whether or not the making and drinking of beer is following in the steps of Jesus.

It does not seem that there can be any question as to whether or not Christians, or anybody else, for that matter, should take that which intoxicates. To put the case vividly, What which you think of one who should stand by the river of life, a few hundred yards below where it issues from the throne, and mix poison with it before drinking it, saying that he liked it better so? You would think it a sacrilegious act, and would say that he was despising God's good gift. Now that is really what men do when they take intoxicating liquor. They show lack of appreciation for God's pure life stream; they slight the good and perfect gift, and choose that which is perverted and degenerate.

WHAT IS A STIMULANT?

But what about stimulation? Ah, that is so much milder a term than intoxication that many people are deceived by it; but the difference is really only one of degree; for the first effect of all intoxicants is to stimulate. If we examine the matter closely, we shall see that the use of stimulants of any kind whatever is directly opposed to the principles of Christianity.

Take the simple meaning of the word. Stimulus is a pure Latin word, meaning "a pointed, pricking instrument; a goad for driving cattle, slaves, etc." "Stimulant," and "stimulation" are from the Latin verb stimulo, which means "to prick with a goad; to prick or goad on; to goad, torment, vex, trouble, disturb."

Do you think that this is the way God treats His children? Does He goad them on like cattle or slaves? Does he vex or trouble them? Far from it. He gives rest and peace. Those who hearken to Him have peace like a river,-the river of life,-calmly flowing, and are not goaded and harassed and worried. Instead of being spurred on to exert and exhaust their strength, they are continually renewing their strength, so as to keep the freshness of youth.

A stimulant is a whip, a goad. When does one take his "occasional stimulant," provided of course that he is "moderate" and takes it only occasionally? It is when he is tired and worn out, is it not? When his nerves are unstrung, and his muscles are relaxed. What is the result? He feels new energy for the moment, and can think clearly and work with vigour. But he has received no strength whenever. He has simply forced himself to do what he really was unfit to do. That is cruelty. If you put a horse in the place of the man you will see that is so. Your horse is exhausted: he has worked all day, and ought to be in the stable resting, with a good feed. He comes to a hill and, although he is willing enough, he stops. Then you ply the whip, and force him on, and you prove that he can do more work yet. But you know that the whip added no strength to him; it clearly took strength out of him, making him less fit for future service.

Time is lost not gained, by working either horses or men when they are tired; and when they are not tired, but in possession of health, they need no beating to incite them to work.

THE USE OF STIMULANTS IS SLAVERY

Now to show that stimulation is absolutely contrary to the principles of Christ: God made man to have dominion, to be ruler over all things, and hence absolutely free. Christ says: "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." God redeems the life of His children from destruction, so that their youth is renewed like the eagles'; He renews their strength, which is far different from giving them the appearance of strength for a time, while actually diminishing their vitality.

Is it not self-evident that the person who is goaded to his work by a stimulant is not free? The master does not have to be driven to do his own works; he does it because it is his work, and he loves it; he finds pleasure in working. Indeed he finds more rest and comfort in activity than he could find in idleness. As soon as he has to be driven to the work, he ceases to be master, and becomes a slave. But the very essence of Christianity is liberty.

SLAVERY IS OPPOSED TO THE GOSPEL

The service of God is love, and love is not and cannot be forced. It must come spontaneously. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." To do even that which is right, because we are forced to do it, is not righteousness. There are no people on earth that conform more closely to the laws and regulations laid down for them, than the convicts in prison; but there is no virtue in their deed.

The sum of the matter is that no man ought ever to be driven or to drive himself to do anything whatever. The Gospel is the good news of salvation,-wholeness,-grace to help in every time of need, from God who is "our Refuge and Strength; a very present help in trouble." The help and strength placed at our disposal is infinite, and it is the Christian's business to become so thoroughly in touch with it, and so familiar with the means by which it may be appropriated, that it will be his delight to do the will of the Lord, even as a strong man rejoiceth to run a race. When one is "strong in the Lord and in the power of His might," he will have no need of stimulants to goad him to any legitimate task.

The Gospel is intensely practical. It concerns itself with the whole spirit, soul, and body; and therefore the strength of the Lord, and "the power of His might" pertains to the body as well as the mind. Our God is the Healer; and He has promised to take disease away from those who keep His commandments. When Jesus returned from His baptism, He "went about all Galilee, . . . healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease;" and "the Gospel of the kingdom," which He preached, is the same that He commissions His servants to preach to-day, and until the end. Therefore in Him we may always be "ready to every good work," and take keen delight in doing it.

Our work should be a pleasure, not a drag upon us. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; . . . they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Isa. xi. 31. Jesus calls us to come and learn of Him, and to take His yoke upon us, and find rest; because His yoke is easy, and His burden light. "Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not." Literally, "we do not get tired." 2 Cor. iv. 1. It is no rash assertion, that this joyful rest in service is possible for every Christian who has faith and zeal enough to study and submit to the working of the Life by which all good work is done.

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If you are tired, the proper thing to do is to rest. This will not always be by going to bed. Sometimes, indeed, very often, the weariness is due to poison in the system, on account of a too "liberal" diet and lack of exercise or fresh air. Regulate the diet, cleanse the system, take regular and abundant exercise in fresh air, keep the stream of life in constant flow, and then you will do all the work you ought to do, from pure love of it; and when you do not feel fresh for any task, that will be a signal that you should wait and gather new strength. Whoever does not feel this freshness for his daily duties, should make it his first business to search diligently for the cause of his weariness and languor, and, having found it, to remove it in the strength of the Lord. Thus, trusting and living in the Lord, you will "go from strength to strength," and even in this present world will have a vivid foretaste of the time when "ye shall go forth, and gambol as calves of the stall."

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

Do you know what is the first thing that you must do if you want flowers to grow in your garden?-You must sow some seeds. The little seeds that we sow in the ground are the tiny eggs of the plants.

The birds lay their eggs in the nest that they make, and out of them come wee birds that grow just like the parents. The bees, butterflies, and, fishes, frogs and many other creatures lay eggs to bring forth new beings like themselves.

There is a very old saying, "All life comes from the egg; it is the world's cradle." The seed is the plant's egg; it is the cradle in which the baby plant is sleeping.

Where did these seeds come from?-From last year's plants, and these plants also came from the seed of plants that were before them. To get back to the real beginning and find out where the seeds come from, we must go to the very first of each kind of plant that ever grew in this world. What made it grow?-The Word of God. For God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed," "and it was so."

So the Word of God is the real seed that plants and all other living things have come from. This is what gives life to the plants, and makes them yield their seed at the right season, so that we may have food, and flowers to carpet the earth in coming years.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

The number of houses destroyed by the earthquake at Schemacha was 4,500.

According to the latest statistics, St. Petersburg has 1,264,940 inhabitants, of whom 470,000 are absolutely illiterate, being unable either to read or write. Such a population affords a rich soil for anarchists and fomenters of discord to work in.

It is reported that Vesuvius just now is sending out clouds of vapour charged with hydrochloric acid. The rain passing through this vapour is impregnated with the acid, and falling on the growing crops destroys the young shoots. Villagers whose lands lie in the neighbourhood of the volcano have already suffered extensive loss in this way.

It is reckoned that the net loss to the town of Barcelona through the strike will be ?480,000. Although the strike is nominally suppressed, there is still much agitation, the resumption of work having been attended by fights, in which people were killed and wounded. The workmen who will not work threaten to reproduce a general strike unless the prisoners in the hands of the authorities are released.

Commenting on the Naval Estimates for the year, the Daily Chronicle says editorially:-

"The total sum demanded is large; it would have been thought preposterous less than ten years ago; but the net increase on last year was comparatively small, and as we remarked last week, it seems as if the nation must now make up its mind to expend a minimum of ?60,000,000 on defence even in times of peace, the amount being about equally divided between the Navy and the Army. It is, of course, an enormous increase in our expenditure."

Just think of it! Thirty shillings for every man, woman, and child in the kingdom, in time of peace, in order to "keep the peace!" And it is thought a commonplace affair. Yet many will have this belief that peace principles are prevailing. Anyone who has the Spirit of peace in his heart can keep the peace without one penny of expense, no matter how much others may rage. But standing armies are standing witness to the fact that there is no peace among the nations of the world.

The Italian Government made use of a very shrewd device to prevent a threatened general strike of railway employÈs last week. It simply issued a decree calling them to arms, as if on military service. All the railway employÈs in the kingdom had to present themselves before the military authorities on the morning of the 26th, and so the strike was averted. That is a plan, however, which may not always work. The readers of history will remember that at one time the Government of States was in the hands of the soldiers, who raised up and put down emperors at their pleasure.

It is reported that the Romanist clergy of Sicily have started an active agitation against celibacy. A committee of priests has been formed, and tracts and other literature attacking celibacy on Scriptural and moral grounds, had been sent to nearly all the priests in Italy; but it is significant that this work must be done under cover of secrecy, and the ecclesiastical authorities cannot find out the names of the propagandists, although they are making every effort to do so.

Not content with aerial and submarine navigation, men are turning their attention to devising means for walking on the water. An Austrian, Captain Grossman, has invented water-walking shoes, in which he has made several successful trips, having just completed the journey from Lints down the Danube to Vienna, a distance of about one hundred miles. The invention has already proved to be of practical value, for Captain Grossman saved twenty-one persons from drowning.

An accredited agent of the Federation of Spanish Trade Unions is now in this country, commissioned to seek practical aid from the workers of this country, and, notwithstanding the recent murderous riots in Barcelona, it is stated that the chief "labour leaders" have given him "assurances that the claim of the Spanish workers to support will be sympathetically placed before the trade organisations." While many are calling attention to the danger from trusts and monopolies of capital, few seem to be alive to the menace that the confederacies of working men offer to the peace of the world. In the reign of terror that is surely coming, they will play no small part.

The figures for the week ending February 22, show sixty-four deaths in London from small-pox, and 107 from influenza. More than this, the deaths from influenza that week were double the number for the preceding week, and for that week they were twice as many as the next week but one previous. The total number of deaths in London for the week ending February 1st was 1,652, and for the week ending February 22nd the number was 2,509, the increase being largely due to influenza and diseases of the respiratory organs, akin to influenza. Yet while people are flocking to be vaccinated, as a protection against small-pox, nearly all seem to think that influenza must be submitted to as a matter of course whenever it is "in the air." When will people begin to learn that disease is not stalking about to "attack" people, but it is a result of certain easily ascertained causes, which, for the most part, it is entirely within the power of the individual to control?

Here is another little contribution to the preparations for "universal peace":-

"Austria is perfecting a new type of siege cannon. Italy's new field gun has a range of 7,000 yards. The whole Russian artillery is now being armed with a quickfiring weapons."

The Church Times, commenting on the failure of the proposal in Parliament to make vaccination universally compulsory says: "If there is anything in vaccination statistics, or if it is believed to be a safeguard against the disease of small-pox, it is absurd to allow the conscientious objector to roam at large. He is as great a danger to the community as a mad dog." Without expressing any opinion as to the value of vaccination, it seems evident that such language as this breathes the very spirit of the Roman Catholic Inquisition. If it is considered absurd to allow the conscientious objector to the opinions of the majority on this subject to roam at large, the next step would be to cage the conscientious dissenter from the Established Church. And a question arises here: If vaccination be indeed a safeguard against small-pox, how can a conscientious objector be as dangerous as a mad dog? What harm could he do in a community of vaccinated persons?

The Church papers, and the religious intelligence columns of the secular papers, reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury, preaching recently on the duties of Churchmen at Lent, said that Lent was "a time when all things that pampered the body should be given up altogether." That is very good, but why only in Lent? The Apostle Paul found it necessary to keep his body under all the time, literally fighting with it, in order that he might not be a cast away. "The lust of the flesh" "is not of the Father, but it is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." We have no right ever to pamper the body, for fleshly lusts war against the soul. And here we see the evil in the Church "seasons," in that, by laying special stress on abstinence and devotion on certain occasions, they tend directly to reaction and excess during the larger portion of the year.

After having been some months in the hands of brigands, the American missionary, Miss Stone, and her companion, together with the infant born in captivity, have been released, as the ransom has been paid. The brigands were Bulgarians, and it is now quite certainly known that the whole affair was caught up by the Macedonian Revolutionary Committee, in order to procure funds to carry on their agitation against Turkish rule. Notwithstanding this fact, the Turks, knowing that the money would be used against them, assisted in seeing that it was safely delivered to the brigands, so that the captives might be released. The Americans, it is reported, "speak in grateful terms of the attitude of the Turkish authorities, ever ready to help them, and never failing to comply with any of their demands." This testimony appears in the Daily Chronicle, a paper that seems to regard it as a Christian duty to curse the Turk, and is therefore not the language of partiality; but it is exactly in accordance with what one who knows the Turkish people would naturally expect. But just judgment cannot be pronounced on that nation, as compared with others, until The Great Day of the Lord.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

Every Bible student, and that ought to mean every professed Christian, would do well to heed this advice by Luther:-

"Pause at every verse and every word of Scripture, and shake every bough of the tree of life, so that is precious fruit may fall into your lap."

Among the various comments on the Alliance between Great Britain and Japan is the following by a religious journal:-

"How far should Christian England go in making common cause with an admittedly un-Christian Power? With the object-lesson of Israel before us, and the Divine prohibitions in regard to alliance with heathen nations, it is not easy to view hopefully the present step from a Christian point of view."

But there is no manner of parallel between the two cases. Israel was God's church, and not a nation at all, in the common use of the term, until they apostatised. The alliance that was forbidden then was just such an alliance as has already existed for hundreds of years in England between the Church and the Government. It is the same as when Christian missionaries ask civil Governments for protection. But Christian people need give themselves no uneasiness over the Alliance between Great Britain and Japan; for it is just as legitimate as one would be with Russia, Germany, or the United States.

"God Our Defender" The Present Truth 18, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

God Our Defender. -The promise to Abraham and to us is, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee." If we believe this promise, we shall never attempt to defend ourselves, nor waste time in replying to those who bring false charges against us. God takes all the responsibility of that upon Himself, leaving us free to do the work He has given us. If we are provoked to reply to attacks upon us, it shows that we do not believe, or else have forgotten, the promise of God. So long as we are trusting in God, whoever curses-speak slightly of-us, thereby brings a curse upon his own head. How useless, then, for us to do anything to him! "His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate." God says to us, "I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." Let us therefore learn from our Elder Brother in the family of Abraham, Jesus Christ, "who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously."

"When Shall We Follow Jesus?" The Present Truth 18, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

"The three great characteristics of the observance of Lent are: first, self-examination; secondly, fighting with our besetting sin; and, thirdly, prayers; frequent prayer to God to help us in our preparation to come nearer than before to His great and wonderful love. And, in order to help us, the Church calls upon us to use such self-discipline as shall make it possible that all this shall be really effective. The Church calls upon us to practise self-restraint; calls upon us to restrain ourselves from anything which makes our self-examination, or our battle, or our prayers less effective than they would otherwise be. This is the season when Christians desire to resemble our Lord in His life, and to follow step by step in His footmarks."

These are the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in an address to men on the first Sunday in Lent, at the Church of Saint John-the-Divine, Kennington, reported in the Church Times of February 21st. It is a good object that "the Church" set before men; but why only at this season? Why should "Christians desire to resemble our Lord in His life, and follow step by step in His footmarks" only during the forty days of Lent? Does not this indicate that "the Church" herself needs someone to call her back to the old paths? Jesus said: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow Me;" and He did not limit this daily self-denial to one-ninth of the year.

"Having the Mastery" The Present Truth 18, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

Having the Mastery. -It is a true principle that is set forth in another column, that no man ought to be driven or to drive himself to do anything, since he who is driven is a slave, and Christ's service is not slavery, but freedom. But this is farthest from meaning that one is to be lax or negligent in one's habits. It means that one is to have such mastery over himself and his circumstances that he will always be "ready to every good work." Not even the elements are to make him ill or irritable or dumpish; because in the beginning God gave man dominion over the works of His hands, and He has never withdrawn the gift. Man did indeed lose the dominion through sin; but "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse."

There is a joy in the possession of power, which cannot be equalled. The love of power is innate in all living, thinking creatures; and the purest, most exquisite delight is to be found in exercising authority over one's self. Within the bounds of God's law, one may exercise the most despotic dominion over oneself. Those who have never tried it cannot imagine the keen pleasure one has in saying to himself, concerning even a lawful thing, "You can't have that now; I shall not be driven, and you might as well cease your clamouring." He who can deal with his appetite in that way, can eat and drink to the glory of God.

"'Keeping the Citadel'" The Present Truth 18, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

"Keep the Citadel." -"The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe." "His truth shall be thy shield and buckler." The regular editorial correspondent of the Church Times, a clergyman who uses the nom de plume "Peter Lombard," says in that paper of February 21 that he once heard Mr. Huxley say at a party where a number of clergymen were present:-

"You know, you parsons, that we scientific men don't mean to pin our faith to your sleeve; we shall go on with our investigations and draw our conclusions in spite of all that Church Councils may say; but it is your duty to hold the citadel. One of these days we may find ourselves in difficulties, and come back to you for help in teaching about God, and we trust you not to betray the gates."

That is a statement worth remembering. One of the acknowledged leaders of science has declared that he and his associates are off on a prospecting tour, they know not where, without guide or compass, leaving the citadel of truth in the hands of men appointed to preach the Word. No wonder their theories are incoherent. But, alas! the keepers of the gates have not been faithful to their trust, but have run off after the so-called scientists in their wanderings. What a pity! Surely there is need of men who know the Way because the Word of Truth dwells in them richly in all wisdom, who can lead searchers for life and light into the old paths "which was from the beginning."

We take this our only means of the acknowledging with thanks the anonymous donation receive from Wimbledon to be used "in the way most needed for the Lord's work."

March 13, 1902

"A Lenten Sermon for the Whole Year. Eph. v. 17-19" The Present Truth 18, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

"Be 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; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."

What a wealth of instruction and suggestion there is in these verses! In the first place, we find that instead of there being a question whether or not it is our privilege to know the will of the Lord, it is our duty to know it; for we are commanded to understand what the will of the Lord is.

Of course somebody will straightway ask, "How can I know the Lord's will?" The most obvious answer is, Get acquainted with the Lord. When you know the Lord, you will as a matter of course know His will; for His way is His will. You get acquainted with the Lord by giving yourself to Him to serve Him. Jesus said: "If a man love Me, He will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with Him." John xiv. 23. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant." Ps. xxv. 14.

What is the things that will most hinder one's knowledge of the will of God? The answer is found in the next injunction: "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess: but be filled with the Spirit."

Two spirits are here placed in contrast. One is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of life, that as a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeds out of the throne of God. The other spirit is the counterfeit, the spirit of death, which, in order to deceive people, has assumed the name eau de vie, the water of life, but which comes, not from the throne of God, but from the pit of corruption.

The Spirit of God is "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" (Eph. i. 17); "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. God gives us His Spirit, in order that we may "know the things that are freely given to us of God." 1 Cor. ii. 12. But the spirit of wine is directly opposed to the Spirit of God in every particular; just to the extent that it is present, the Spirit of God must be absent; therefore if we are drunk with wine it is absolutely impossible that we should know what the will of the Lord is.

What is there wrong in wine?-There is "excess" in it. This word is rendered "riot" in Titus i. 6 and 1 Peter iv. 4. The Greek word means literally, not saving. It is defined, wastefulness, prodigality, luxury. All this is the spirit of wine.

People often speak about "drinking to excess;" and all will admit that "too much wine" is not good. But according to this the smallest quantity is too much. The text does not speak of excess of wine, but says that there is excess in wine. In how much wine is their excess?-It matters not how much or how little; excess, riot, is in wine itself, even though there be but a drop. One drop of wine is as truly wine as a barrel is, since a barrel is only a vast number of crops. Whoever therefore has a single drop has "a drop too much;" for there is excess in it.

"Surely a single drop of wine cannot hurt anybody," it will be said. This is not the way to put the case, my friend. We should never ask, with regard to anything, "Will it hurt me?" But, "Will it do me any good?" "Will it build me up?" If it will not, then it is to be avoided. When we take a thing because somebody urges, "It won't hurt you," or we apologise to ourselves by saying the same thing, it is evident that our only reason for taking it is that it gratifies our appetite; it tickles our palette. This is pandering to the lust of the flesh, which is opposed to the Spirit of God. It is idolatry. The very expression, "It will hurt you," or the question, "Will it hurt me?" carries with it the evidence that we are not thinking about building up our bodies as temples fit for God's habitation, but are intent only on pleasing ourselves; we only want to make sure that we shall not have to suffer too severely for our selfish indulgence, thus showing still further that our sole concern is our own feelings.

Our bodies are not our own, but we belong to God. Our bodies are His temple. Therefore everything put into them should be of a nature to build them up, to strengthen them,-to save them. Now there is no sin in wine itself, nor in the act of drinking; neither would there be any sin in drinking wine, if it were not injurious to the body; if it tended to build up, instead of merely to excite and afterwards pull down. We speak, of course, of fermented wine,-the wine wherein is excess. The sin lies in the harm done to our bodies-God's temples.

This being the case, it follows that there is the same wrong in taking anything else into our bodies, whether in the form of a solid or liquid, that does not build up, that does not tend to salvation, that there is in taking intoxicating drinks. Thus we see that temperance has to do with eating just as much as with drinking. When we are reproved, as we often are, for saying so much about health, and habits of eating and drinking, we reply that we are simply talking of temperance, and temperance is one of the fruits of the Spirit. It is against the Spirit of God, the warring against the soul, when be put into our bodies anything whatever that has not a direct effect in building us up. We are forbidden to take anything in which there is excess, literally, lack of saving power.

Pampering the body, pleasing the appetite is evidently not serving God, and so is opposed to the command to understand what the will of God is; for it is only the one who wills to do His will, who knows of the teaching, if it be of God. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that he 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."

"The Editor's Private Corner. 'Everlasting Punishment' and 'Eternal Life'" The Present Truth 18, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

"Will you kindly explain the last verse of the 25th chapter of Matthew? Are the words 'everlasting' and 'eternal' synonymous terms?"

They are not synonymous, but identical. The first reads thus: "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." The two words, "everlasting" and "eternal" are from one and the same Greek word, so that the verse is correctly rendered in the Revised Version: "And the shall go away into eternal punishment; but the righteous into the eternal life." There is absolutely no difference in the meaning of the two words, "everlasting" and "eternal;" and it is very evident that there cannot be in this instance, since, as just stated, the very same Greek word is used in each clause of the verse.

Does not this then prove that the punishment of the wicked will last as long as the reward of the righteous?-Most assuredly it does; the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the righteous are alike eternal.

Then the wicked will be, after the Judgment, tormented to all eternity, will they?-Not by any means. The verse affords no warrant for such a conclusion. Note well that it contains no hint of torment, and we have no right to substitute "torment" for "punishment."

The text before us says that the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment; but let us now read another text, which tells what this punishment will be. 2 Thess. i. 7-9 says that "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." The punishment into which the wicked will go at Christ's second coming, will be destruction, and it will be everlasting, eternal. The wicked will be destroyed for as long a time as the righteous will live.

Let us have a few parallel texts. Rom. vi. 23 tells us: "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Death then is the punishment of the wicked; and it will be eternal death, since the punishment is to be eternal. To say that the wicked will be conscious through all eternity, is to make nonsense of the Word; for they could not be conscious without being alive; and if they were alive to all eternity, no matter how deplorable their condition, they would have eternal life as surely as the righteous, and there would be no contrast. It would be folly to say that the wages of sin is eternal life; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord; yet that is just what the text would really say, if "death" meant eternal life in misery or in any condition whatever. There is a sharp and decided contrast between death and life. The two terms have nothing in common. The punishment of the wicked will in every respect be the exact opposite of the reward of the righteous, but just as lasting.

Again: 2 Thess. i. 9 says that the wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power. The destruction comes from the presence of God. Now read Ps. cxii. 3: "A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about." Also Ps. lxviii. 3: "As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God." These text most clearly show what the punishment of the wicked will be.

It is true that the Scriptures say that the wicked shall be tormented, and shall suffer. It could not expected that they could be destroyed by fire without pain and suffering; and this torment will be proportionate to the guilt of each individual. But there will it last come an end, no matter how extended the period of torment may be; for we read: "The Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined in the midst of all the land." "For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and Mine anger in their destruction." Isa. x. 23, 25. And again:-

"The day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen; as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy reward shall return upon thine 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.

All this is in the text first quoted; for the Greek word there rendered "punishment" means to cut off; to prune, as a branch from a vine. See John xv. 1-6, where we read Christ's statement that the branch that does not bear fruit is cut off, "and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." So we read that "evildoers shall be cut off." Ps. xxxvii. 9. "The seed of the wicked shall be cut off." Verse 28. "The end of the wicked shall be cut off." Verse 38. But in contrast to this, God saints "are preserved for ever."

This is not told for the purpose of frightening us into being good, much less that we should gloat over the threatened fate of the wicked. The keeping of the commandments is love, not fright. No person ever could be frightened into goodness; if he could be, he would be a cringing slave, and not a free child of God.

But the sure destiny of the wicked is foretold for our comfort. What comfort can there possibly be in it? you ask. Just this, that it shows how completely God destroys sin. Sinners will be destroyed only because they are inseparably joined to sin, and sin must be rooted out

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of God's universe. So as sinners will be destroyed by the glory of the Lord's presence, against which they have rebelled, that same glory will also destroy our sins, if we delight in God's presence; and it will destroy them to all eternity, so that they will have no more existence, and will never rise up to plague us. Is not that a blessed revelation.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Unpardonable Sin" The Present Truth 18, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST

"A friend of mine wants to know what is the sin against the Holy Ghost, and would like to have some Scripture references on the subject, for his own benefit."

Certainly I will give your friend some Scripture references, for I could not answer the question otherwise. The Word of God is our only guide, and nobody is authorised to speak anything but that Word.

In order to get a clearer idea of the sin against the Holy Ghost, which is the one unpardonable sin, you should read Matt. xii. 24-32. I will quote a part of it. "Then was brought unto Him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the Son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils but by Beelzebub the prince of devils."

Jesus knowing their thoughts, told them that a house or a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, and showed them that His work could not possibly be of the devil; and then He added:-

"He that is not with Me is against Me; and He that gathereth not with Me, scattereth abroad. Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."

We see a marked contrast between "all the people" and the Pharisees. The people accepted Jesus as the Anointed Son of David; but the Pharisees rejected Him. Whether Jesus meant to indicate that the Pharisees had already sinned against the Holy Ghost, or whether He spoke to warn them of their danger, we have no means of knowing; and it is not important that we should know. The important thing is to know that the unpardonable sin is the conscious, wilful rejection of Christ "who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God." This is plainly indicated in the text, and others corroborate it.

The same thing is stated in Heb. vi. 4-6:-

"It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God; and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame."

This text is very simple, and no one need have any trouble over it. It does not say that no backslider can be reclaimed; but it does say those who reject Christ cannot be renewed unto repentance; and this is so because "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.

Note that those spoken of in this verse have been almost the same as in heaven. They have had the richest Christian experience, knowing the Word of God, and tasting the powers of the world to come. They have been fully enlightened; they have experienced all the God has for them; yet they have turned their backs upon it all. It is impossible to reduce such to repentance. Why? Because "they crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame."

Do not fail to notice that the text goes back of forgiveness. It doesn't say that these cannot be forgiven, but that they cannot repent. That is the worst possible case. Of course they cannot be forgiven if they cannot repent. And they cannot repent, because they continued deliberately to reject Christ, whom God hath "exalted with His own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour; for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sin." Acts v. 31.

Lastly we have Heb. x. 26-29:-

"If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done desperate to the Spirit of grace?"

Here there is wilful rejection of Christ, and treading Him under foot. So "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins" for them. The reason of this is plain. It is because Christ is the only sacrifice; whoever rejects Him has nothing to hope in or for.

But with this text we must not fail to place John vi. 37: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." There is sacrifice and atonement for the sins of every one who comes to the Lord Jesus, and abides in Him. There remaineth no sacrifice for sin, only when the One provided by the Eternal Spirit is despised and trampled under foot. And, mind, this trampling under foot must be done wilfully, with full knowledge of who He is. "The princes of this world," who sued the Lord of glory, did not know what they were doing (1 Cor. ii. 8; Luke xxiii. 34), and therefore there was forgiveness for them. Judas basely and wilfully betrayed innocent blood, and even his prayer became sin. Ps. cix. 6-18.

How much more than what has here been set forth may be involved in the sin against the Holy Ghost, I do not know; but one thing is sure, and that is, that no one who is mourning over his sins, and is fearful that he has committed the unpardonable sin, has been guilty of it. The one who has committed that sin is not penitent. Nobody has a right to say of another, that he has committed the unpardonable sin; and nobody who has committed it ever accuses himself of it.

"'The Foundation of God Standeth Sure'" The Present Truth 18, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Foundation of God Standeth Sure." -Here is a good thing from the Church Times. In an article on preaching the writer urges the younger clergy to study the Bible, that they may speak and teach with authority, and, referring to the objections of critics, says, "Don't have any fears; but take courage, so long as you know that you have a Divine Teacher always ready to help you. Thus difficulties will not frighten you, though you may be unable to answer them. That mathematical problem that you try to solve the Jews; but you knew there was a good answer to it all the same. When you get specially perplexed, read the great Passover Discourse in the Upper Room, and the light will come." That is good advice for everybody.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Asleep in their little seed cradles the baby plants need to things to wake them up to life-heat and water. We bury them in the ground, the rain waters them, and the sun warms them. Then the life within stirs them, and they awake. The outer case of the seed breaks, like the egg-shell, and they are set free.

A tiny white point comes forth, and begins to burrow in the earth like a mole. This is the beginning of the root. Its purpose is to find food in the ground for the new plant.

Then a little bent neck appears, and pushes its way out. It does not go the way of the root, but up out of the ground into the air and sunlight. This is the chute. Its work is to drink in the air and store up light.

In our picture you can see both the root and the shoot. No matter which way they start to grow, the root finds its way down into the ground, and the shoot gets up into the light. How is it that each knows the way to go, the work it has to do, and how to do it?

God, who by His Spirit teaches the birds their way through the air, and how to make their nests, also teaches a little plant. He lives in everything that He has made, to guide each one in the right way.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Two hundred and sixty members of Parliament have notified their approval of the compulsory adoption of the metric system of weights and measures in this country.

Terrible floods are reported from America, which have caused the loss of many lives and millions of dollars' worth of property. A few hours' warring of the elements will suffice to destroy many years' labour of man.

On the last trip of the steamer Philadelphia wireless telegraphic messages were receivedrom Cornwall up to a distance of 1,500 miles out at sea, by the captain and the chief officer, who signed each one as it was received. Ticks were recorded up to 2,000 miles out.

Writing to the Daily Chronicle, in defence of chasing a deer with hounds, horses, and guns, and denying certain specific charges of cruelty that have been made, one of those concerned in the affair says: "The deer are wild, and are very plentiful. It may be worthwhile saying the deer are so plentiful that they are very destructive; and it is because such is the case that they are hunted and killed." He would have us, doubtless, regarded the hunters as benefactors to the country, who save it from a terrible scourge. Just imagine England overrun and ravaged by herds of wild deer! How easy it is for a man to persuade himself that whatever he is set on doing is right.

After a series of calculations covering almost ten years, Prof. Charles Wilson has announced to the Royal Association a new determination of the temperature of the sun, which he places at 11,192 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a degree of heat inconceivable to us. But whether it is corrector not, of course nobody can be absolutely certain but one thing we do know, and that is the possibility of the sun's scorching (literally, burning) men with fire, so that they will be "scorched with great heat." Rev. xvi. 8, 9. At that time the fire will also devour the pastures of the wilderness, and burn all the trees of the field. Joel i. 19, 20. "There is nothing hid from the heat" of the sun; and powerful as it will be as an instrument of destruction in the time of the plagues, it will be equally powerful as a promoter of life in the new earth.

Few, if any, people appreciate the strength of the Roman Catholic element in the Church of England, and how steadily the current is flowing in that direction. The Catholic Times publishes a note from a lady convert to Romanism, and endorses her recommendation of a "Manual for Holy Communion," which the correspondent herself had used for some years, when she was in the Church of England. She suggests a slight change, which "would make it a very good Catholic prayer book," and says, "I trust it may lead many more in the same direction it led me." When we learn that it has already reached its 353rd thousand, we can well believe that her confidence is not without foundation.

At a recent meeting of the House of Lords' Select Committee on Betting, Sir A. de Rutzen said that he had been a magistrate in London for twenty-five years, and that his opinion was that more mischief had been done by betting than by anything else. Mr. Horace Smith, another London magistrate, stated that, judging by the cases that came before him, crime, fraud, and embezzlement are on the increase, and that in the case of embezzlement or fraud he almost invariably found that betting had been at the bottom of it. There you have the characteristic of "the last days." Perilous times come, because men are "lovers of their own selves," "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God."

The Daily Mail of February 25 contained a picture and description of an American boy not yet fourteen years old, who is named as the coming billiard champion of the world. He has already been an expert player for seven years, and it is said that he is "a brilliant enthusiast, and on an average spends ten hours a day practising difficult shots." We are not at all interested in his projected trip to this country, but we refer to him for the sake of the lesson his case affords. We cannot help thinking, What a pity for a lad to have no other object in life than to learn to play a game. But surely we may learn a lesson from his diligence. If he can spend ten hours a day perfecting himself in a game which he intends to make his life business, why should not Christians spend hours a day in the study of the Word which is their life? We have heard young preachers, of all persons in the world, say that they had "no time to study the Bible." The young billiard-player thinks that he has no time for anything else than to study his "profession." The children of the world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. How can any Christian, and least of all any preacher, rest content as long as there is any portion of God's Word with which he is not perfectly familiar? Then only can he really obey the injunction, "Preach the Word; be instant in season out, of season."

The following very suggestive sentence occurs in a recently-published book on the inhabitants of Papua. The book is the report of a scientific expedition, and the statement is that it is "by long attention to minute details, coupled with familiarity with their surroundings, that they become able to recognise things in a manner that at first sight seems quite wonderful." That is the secret of a great many wonderful things." Long attention to minute details, coupled with a familiarity with the surroundings "enables one to see in God's written Word, as well as the Word revealed in nature, many things which are hidden from those who do not take heed to it. And as in the case cited, it is often the simple-minded person who sees the most. A childlike mind will see things in the Bible, which to the worldly-wise man are absurd.

Here is an editorial item from the Daily Chronicle, which needs no comment for people who think:-

"Competition among the steamship lines that ply up and down the Great Lakes of North America has become so severe that some extraordinarily mean tricks are recorded to, to damage opposition boats. Perhaps the meanest of these is the habit of turning the searchlight directly on to the pilot house of a rival vessel. The pilot, of course, is temporarily blinded, and his place has to be taken by one of the crew. This practice has become so common that the United States Treasury Department has just issued an order making it an offence punishable by the suspension or revocation of license. Over forty cases of the kind had been brought to the notice of American officials within the last six months-a curious commentary on the familiar saying that the wars of the future are to be wars of trade.

What a terrible tyrant fashion is! So firm a hold has it upon "civilised" mankind, that most people do not recognise the possibility of acting contrary to its decrees. This appears in the following item. The Daily Mail states that "the slaughter of the 10,000 sea-gulls for the purpose of decorating hats, so much deplored by the Queen, cannot be laid to the charge of the women in society." It says that the managers of the best-known milliner's shops in the West End say that there is now little demand for birds' feathers, and that in consequence of the crusade against cruelty the demand is growing less. The Mail proceeds to say, with the most touching simplicity:-

"The worst offenders, not so much through fault as from necessity, were the women who purchased cheap ready-trimmed hats. One large dealer in this class of could said that they were absolutely obliged to make use of feathers such as those of the sea-gull because they were the cheapest thing that could be got for producing a showy hat, and competition compelled them to supply hats that were at once cheap and stylish.

The poor souls are really to be pitied. With little money, and less taste, they know one law, and that is that a hat must be "showy," no matter whether it is becoming or not, and to this law they bow.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Obedience to a bad law is transgression of a good law. No matter how many and righteous laws there are, God's everlasting law of righteousness is always present; therefore it is entirely unnecessary and improper to say, as some have said, that the best thing to do with a bad law is to obey it until it is repealed. The best thing to do with a bad law, a law of sin, is to ignore it, for by the righteous law of God it is repealed and void from its very beginning. Whoever keeps God's perfect law will never fail in any duty to any soul on earth.

"Value of the Lord's Look" The Present Truth 18, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Value of the Lord's Look. -We read in Gen. iv. 4, 5 that "the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering; but unto Cain and his offering He had not respect." The Hebrew word here rendered "respect" means to look at, to regard, and that is the primary meaning of the English word itself. God looked at Abel and his offering, but did not look at Cain and his offering. He says: "To this man will I look, even to Him that is pour and of a contrite spirit and that trembleth at My word." Isa. lxvi. 2. There is strength and blessing in the Lord's look; for "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect [whole] towards Him." 2 Chron. xvi. 9.

"'Biblical Times'" The Present Truth 18, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

"Biblical Times." -Sometimes when we speak of mighty works done through men by the power of God, we are met by the words, "Yes, but that was in Biblical times," implying that such things cannot be expected now. True enough, they were done in the times of which the Bible speaks; that is self-evident; but why does the Bible tell them? Simply in order that we may know what ought to be in all times. The Bible was not written at the time the events occurred of which it speaks; and the fact that it relates them has no effect upon the time in which they took place. The men who did those things did not break the model. Christ is the Model, and He is the Man for all times. There are more Bibles in the world now than there have ever been before, since the world began; therefore these times ought pre-eminently to be "Biblical Times," and so they would be if every one who has it and read it received it as it is indeed, the Living Word of the Living God.

"'Ambassadors for Christ'" The Present Truth 18, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

"Ambassadors for Christ." -"We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ." Who are ambassadors for Christ? Is it the apostles only? Is it only those specifically known as "ministers of the Gospel"? The preceding verses answer the question: "If any man [any person] is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. But all things are of God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having placed in us the word of reconciliation. We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ." 2 Cor. v. 17-20, R.V., with marginal reading.

Who then are Christ ambassadors? They are those who have had the ministry of reconciliation given unto them, and the word of reconciliation placed in them; and these are all they who have been reconciled to God through Christ. There are various gifts and callings in the church of Christ, but there is no ministerial rank or class. All, high and low, rich and poor, male and female, young and old, who are new creatures in Christ, are ambassadors-ministers of the new covenant, of the Spirit that giveth life. This means, of course, that they have life to give; and the life which they give to others is the Life by which they live. The stream by which they water others is that by which they themselves are watered.

"Disgrace, Grace, and Glory" The Present Truth 18, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Disgrace, Grace, and Glory. -Among the Romans the cross was the symbol of shame, and to suffer death by the cross was so ignominious that no Roman citizen, whatever his crime, was subjected to it. Yet Christ, having been nailed to it, has imparted a glory to it that will shine through eternity. It is the sign, as it gives the reality, of the eternal glory, and will be the science and the song of the redeemed in eternal ages.

"Yes; I know that," every professed Christian will say. Do you? Then why did I hear you disconsolately bewailing your low estate. Your insignificance, your meagre opportunities, and your general uselessness? Or is it only theoretically that you know it, and not practically? The glorified cross means that "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 that are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are." 1 Cor. i. 27, 28.

But that does not mean that they are to remain foolish and weak and base. Far from it. "He raiseth up the 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. "Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." Ps. lxviii. 12. God's grace added to disgrace gives glory.

"Brain Work and Lung Work" The Present Truth 18, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Brain Work and Lung Work. -Who ever heard of one's lungs becoming tired and worn out because they had so much fresh air to breathe? Such a thing is impossible. The lungs were made to receive air, and the more they get the better for them. Even so the brain was made for the purpose of thinking; yet people often talk about the brain wearing out and breaking down by excessive thought. True, the brain does often give way, but it is because of abuse, and not because of proper use. Properly used, the brain cannot have too much exercise, and will grow stronger by it.

What is the proper use of the brain? It is to be the organ of God's thought. When man employs it in speculation, imaginings, theorisings, and attempts to "create thought," it becomes wearied and worn; but when it is directed to God's Word, that the divine thought need be impressed on it as the picture is on the sensitised plate, it thrives and becomes strong. God does not grow old and wear out; and the whole-hearted servant of the Lord is joined to Him in one body, partaking of the same life. The Lord does not blunt the edge and wear out the instruments that He uses; on the contrary they become sharper and stronger by use, because they grow up in Him. The only thoughts worth thinking are God's thoughts, and God Himself must think them. Do not be afraid that He will wear out your brain by thinking with it, if you yield it to Him.

March 20, 1902

"'They Knew Not the Scripture.' John xx. 1-18" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

(John xx. 1-18.)³1

It was a devoted band of followers that Jesus had gathered round Himself. They were human, and therefore we are not surprised when occasionally traces of selfishness appeared, and they strove to see who should have the best place in the Master's kingdom; but no one can say that with the exception of Judas, they had attached themselves to Him on the mere hope of personal gain. They were attached to Jesus on His own personal goodness and loveliness. They loved Him for what He was. He satisfied all the longings of their souls, so much so that when, grieved on the departure of many who had seemed dedicated to Him, He asked the twelve, "Will ye also go away?" they replied, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."

On the night of the trial of Jesus, and "they all forsook Him and fled," but this was because things had suddenly happened contrary to what they were expecting, and they were panic-stricken. One by one they returned, and all followed Him to Calvary, and assisted in taking Him down from the cross, and laying Him in the tomb. Thus, having done all that could be done for the dead before Friday's sun set, they returned to their dwelling, "and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke xxiii. 56.

But they could not long remain away from the place where they had left the loved One. Their hopes had perished, but there love remained unchanged. They supposed that He had been mistaken as to His mission; but they knew He was good. So as soon as possible after the Sabbath was passed some of the women started for the sepulchre.

"The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead."

"They knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead." This shall be the basis of our study this week, and it will serve as an introduction to our Easter article next week.

Why did they not know the Scripture that foretold the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? Because they did not believe when they read. For this explanation we have the authority of Christ's own words to the two disciples with whom He walked to Emmaus the day of His resurrection. After they had told their mournful story, Jesus said to them: "O fools, and so hard to believe all that the

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prophets have spoken." Luke xxiv. 25; and then, "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures things concerning himself."

There was no lack of Scripture evidence concerning the resurrection of Jesus. The Apostle Paul declared that in all his preaching he had said "none other things than the prophets and Moses did say should come, that He should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should give light to the Gentiles," etc. Acts xxvi. 22, 23.

Christ, speaking to the disciples who still doubted after they had seen the sepulchre, and had heard the testimony of those who had seen Him, 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 Me their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day." Luke xxiv. 44-46.

Moses had written of the Seed of the woman, who should bruise the serpent's head. He had also recorded the promises to Abraham,-promises which could not possibly be fulfilled to Him except by the resurrection of the dead; and every Jew was familiar with the words to which God affixed His oath: "Thy Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies." Gen. xxii. 17.

David had written, not of himself, but prophetically of Christ, and in His name: "My flesh also shall rest in hope. For if Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell [the grave], nor suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show Me the path of life." Ps. xvi. 9-11.

Time and space would fail us to recount all that is written in the Psalms and the prophets concerning Christ; but in order that no shred of evidence might be lacking, God had placed on record the story of Isaac's birth, which was life from the dead; also the sacrifice which Abraham made in the calm confidence of the resurrection; and, more than all, many cases of resurrection from the dead showed Christ actually risen as well as slain from the foundation of the world. Everything spoke of Him whom the disciples had seen demonstrated to be "the resurrection and the life;" yet "they knew not." How strange!

No, it was not strange; for the same story is being repeated to-day by thousands of Christians. Those disciples were certainly Christian; for they followed Christ, and loved Him. But they believed not, and therefore they knew not. The Lord loved them; but although they were "accepted in the Beloved," they were not fitted to be teachers, as long as there was a vestige of unbelief left in their hearts; for how can one teach another what one does not know? and belief,-simple, complete, and faltering faith which is sure that God's Word is true from the beginning, and that every one of His righteous judgments endureth for ever,-is the only key to knowledge. "By faith we understand."

Why did they not believe, and thus know? It was not because they were wilful, or obstinately set on having their own way. They thought that they believed, and if anybody except the One who spoke with authority had accused them of infidelity they would no doubt have resented it, just as many Christians will now; but they did not believe and know, simply because they had their own ideas of what was fitting and harmonious, and they read the Scriptures in the light (or darkness, rather) of their own opinions. They read the Bible to find backing for their theories, instead of coming to it with an empty mind to be filled with God's thoughts.

So few people know how to read the Bible! When one is found who believes just like a little child, it is a pleasure to teach him. Indeed, such ones need very little teaching. Their own reading is sufficient to give them knowledge; for they believe. The teacher's sole task with them is to assist them in storing their minds with the Word. They are not continually asking him to "harmonise" this and that passage; for their minds are so filled with the wonder of each new truth that dawns upon them that they have no room for questions.

The majority, however, even of professed Christians, are continually seeing in the Bible discrepancies, and failures to harmonise exactly. Not that they disbelieve; oh, no; they would not think of doubting God's word-after they have so adjusted its various parts that they "harmonise." Presumptuous mortals! truly the God who is so enduring that He suffers their manners, is well called "the God of patience."

What would they think of a young art student, or of one who had never yet put brush to canvas, who should presume to criticise the work of a master, saying that his colours did not harmonise? His conceit would rightly be set down to his ignorance; but no language could be true that would rightly describe the audacity that would lead him to seize the brush from the master's hands, and daub a finished picture in an attempt to make "harmonious;" yet this would be nothing in comparison with the one who tinkers God's word, taking off a little from the meaning here, and adding a little there, in order that it may agree with his ideas of harmony.

How should we do? We should do just as the art student does in the master's studio. He will study; and study from his case means that he will look long and attentively at the master's work. He will fill his mind with the Master's thoughts, that he can see the finished work even when away from it. He will gaze until his crude taste is cultivated to appreciate real harmony; and then many things which at first seemed to him incongruous, will be seen to be absolutely necessary and perfect harmony.

If this be so with man's work, how much more should be done with God's? The course that we have just indicated is not only one that can properly be termed study, when the Bible is the subject. Read it again and again until its teachings are impressed on your mind; and then keep looking at those different and seemingly discordant features until they blend, as they surely will, into one picture which reveals the perfect beauty of the Lord, and then you will know for yourself with an assurance that nothing can shake, that "Christ is risen, and is become the firstfruits of them that slept."

"'The Crown of Life'" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Crown of Life." -Blessed is the man that that endureth temptation; for which he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. James i. 12.

Take notice that this does not say that at the last life will be given as a reward, but that the crown of life will be given. The life is given us now, with which to endure temptation, and to overcome; the crown, or perfection, of life will mark perfection of victory.

This may be illustrated thus: we, are living stones, coming to Christ the Living Foundation Stone, are built up a spiritual house (1 Peter ii. 5), growing unto "a holy temple in the Lord." Eph. ii. 21. The promise, "Him that overcome will I make a pillar in the temple of My

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God, and he shall go no more out." Rev. iii. 2. Now a pillar or column in a temple is not composed of one piece, but it grows by the placing of one piece upon another, until at last it is finished by receiving the crown, or capital. So the crown of life will be the perfection, the fulness, of the life that now builds us up. The crown of life is the ripened fruit upon the tree at the time of ingathering.

"The Editor's Private Corner. 'The Fulness of the Gentiles'" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

"Will you please explain the expression, 'Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles come in'? What is the meaning of 'the fulness of the Gentiles'?"

The expression occurs in Rom. xi. 25, and in that chapter we shall find the answer, which some other texts of Scripture will corroborate. I must ask you to read the entire chapter from your Bible, as it is too long to be quoted here. Supposing that you have your Bible open before you, I will briefly note the contents of this chapter.

The apostle asks, "Hath God cast away His people?" and immediately answers in the negative. By "His people," he refers to Israel, and he is much concerned in the matter, for he speaks as "an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." No; God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. As in the days of Elijah, when the prophet declared that he was the only worshipper of the true God, it was told him that there were seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to Baal, "even so at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace."

Note this last statement, Rom. xi. 5. The apostle is not speaking of the natural descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when he says that "God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew;" for the remnant reserved is "according to the election of Israel." The natural descendants of the patriarchs, according to the flesh, are never, either in the Old Testament or the New, reckoned as the seed of Abraham-the people of God. That is to say, no people are God's people by virtue of their nationality. It is only by receiving Christ that men have the right and the power to become sons of God. John i. 12.

We have only to go back to chapters in the Epistle to the Romans, to learn of whom the apostle speaks as the people of God. "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but, In Isaac shall Thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." Rom. ix. 6-8.

With this in mind, let us proceed with our reading of the eleventh chapter. The election is by grace, and not by works. Grace brings salvation; therefore when we are told that God's people, Israel, are such "according to the election of grace," we know that the real Israel is composed of such as are "being saved." Acts ii. 47.

"What then? Israel hath not obtain that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." Rom. xi. 7. Again we see that Israel is composed of the elect alone, and that blindness has come upon "the rest," that is, upon those who have the name of Israel, but who have not the faith that makes them actually Israel.

Being blinded by unbelief, "the rest" have fallen. "I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid; but rather through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness?" Verses 11, 12. The question is, Shall the number of God's people "which He foreknew" be diminished? Shall there be only "a remnant," while all "the rest" fall away and are lost? And the answer is, Not by any means. Many, yea, the majority, of those called Israel, are such only in name; but their places will be filled by those who were "in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh made by hands who, at that time aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and far off from them," "are made nigh by the blood of Christ" and so "are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." Eph. ii. 11-19.

Then follows the illustration by the olive trees. Contrary to nature, for by grace, the branches of the wild olive tree are grafted into the good olive tree, in place of its severed branches, and bear its fruit according to the root of the fatness of the good tree. Those that have been cut off "because of unbelief" are as real Gentiles as those who never knew God, for "if thou be a breaker of law, your circumcision is made uncircumcision." Rom. ii. 25. "For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly." Verses 28, 29.

But "They also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." Rom. xi. 23-27.

There you have the whole story. The coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles, the filling up of the number of Israel, the conversion of both Jews and Gentiles. Note well the statement that, "so all Israel shall be saved." How shall all Israel be saved?-By the coming in of the Gentiles. Then will Israel be full, and the blindness will have passed away. Christ, the Deliverer, turns away ungodliness from Jacob, by saving Gentile sinners as well as sinners of the Jews.

The same truth is very clearly expressed in the fifteenth of Acts. At the great meeting in Jerusalem, Peter told how he had been chosen by the Lord to preach the Gospel to the heathen, and they had believed; and God, which knoweth the

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hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." Verses 7-9.

Then James stood up and 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, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up; that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things." verses 14-17.

Here it is plainly stated that the house of David is restored and built up by taking from among the Gentiles a people for God's name. All Israel shall be saved, without the loss of one; but the number will be made full by the bringing in of every humble, contrite Gentile in the world.

And this will be no new departure from God's original plan. "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." It will be the carrying out of the very plan with which He started, when He called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham was a Gentile, but he believed God, and his faith was counted to him for righteousness while he was yet 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. 10, 11. All Israel, from first to last, is composed of people called out from among the Gentiles.

This is our hope. That which God did for Abraham, He will also do for us. And so, no matter what our nationality or condition, we may "have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city,"-although there is not a gate that has not on it the name of one of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. Rev. xxi. 12.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

We have seen the baby plant come out of its cradle, and now we must consider how it grows. Plants are like children; they cannot live and grow unless they have something to eat. They need food to build them up, just as we do.

But they are like little babies-they cannot take solid food. All their food has to be sucked up by the little rootlets, or drawn in through the leaves. So it must all be melted in water or in the air. They send out their roots to find water, and if there is any near, they are sure to go the shortest way to it.

The animals cannot all live on the same kind of food. God teaches each living thing what is best for it, and where to find its food. The plants also do not all need the same food. Each plant takes from the ground just kind the kind that it needs.

Reeds and water-lilies growing in the same water, will take up quite different food from it. Plants growing close together on the same land will not suck up the same food. Each one will take just what is best for it.

Where do the plants get such wonderful wisdom? How did the little roots know where to go for water, and what to take up from it, and what to leave? They are all taught by the Spirit of God. He lives in each plant, and thinks and acts for it.

"Why the Sheep was Lost" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

In his book, "Lives of the hunted," Mr. Ernest Seton-Thompson tells the story of "Krag," a famous Rocky Mountain wild ram, and, in his simple but most vivid and picturesque style, he gives the reader a view of the habits and characteristics of the whole family of wild sheep. The following little extract suggests a most valuable lesson:-

"There was a young ewe that had a lazy habit of feeding on her front 'knees.' The others did not copy her methods: they vaguely felt that they were not good. The effect of this original way of feeding was to bring a great callous pad on each knee (in reality, wrist). Then those growing pads, and the improper use of her front legs began to rob Miss Kneepads of her suppleness. She could not spring quickly aside and back as the others did. Ordinarily this does not matter much, but there are times when it is very needful. All animals that must save themselves by flight have developed this trick of zigzag bounding."

After describing the sudden surprise of the flock by a mountain lion, and their rush one by one along a narrow pass leading to safety, Mr. Thompson continues:-

"At each of these in turn the lion sprang, but each offset his pounce by a succession of zigzag jumps, till, last of all, poor kneepads made past for the rocks, and when the lion leaped she failed to play the only baulk. The power that would have saved her she had long ago resigned; and now she fell."

This well illustrates the danger of forming a bad habit, and of falling, through love of ease, to keep one's powers at the very best. We have no use for the saying "In time of peace prepare for war," because we do not believe in fighting; but we may well take as our motto, "In time of safety prepare for danger." This is but another form of the Scripture injunction to "Watch!" and "to be ready to every good work.

God has not given us one faculty too many, and we cannot afford to trifle with one of them, or to allow it to fall into disuse. There is not a useless muscle in the body, and therefore every one ought always to be kept in training. Whoever allows himself to fall into lax habits because there is no immediate pressure upon him, will find, when the urgent demand for action comes, that he is "wanting." For every one God has some special work; and if it should be that the work for which we came into the world could be accomplished in one hour, it would require the training of a life time to prepare for that hour. "If the Goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up." The coming of the thief is but one brief space of time; but the watching in order to be ready for him must continue through the whole night.

This principle seems to be better understood by people of the world than by professed Christians. "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." A professional cricket or football player, or a pianist, will keep practising continually, in private, in order to be prepared for the appearance before the public. Ellen Terry, the actress, in relating her first experience with Sir Henry Irving, says:-

"From the first I noted that Mr. Irving worked more concentratedly than all the other actors put together; and the most important lesson of my life I learned from him, that to do one's work well one must work continually, live a life of constant self-denial for that purpose, and, in short, keep one's nose on the grindstone."

It is this life of constant self-denial and training that makes Mr. Irving the leading actor in the world. Natural talents count, of course; but they would amount to nothing without the steady strenuous effort. The millionaire who controls many lines of business, and who is envied for the "ease" in which he is able to live, has the power to live at ease simply by refusing to take his ease. With ability to purchase every luxury, he lives a life of abstemiousness, indulging himself far less than does than average labourer who complains of his hard lot.

"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." 1 Cor. ix. 24-27.

Note the words of Mr. Thompson concerning the sheep that perished in taking her ease while eating: "The power that would have saved her, she had long ago resigned; and now she fell." That is it; people "resign" their power and their right to rule, and then when calamity comes they mourn over the "decrees of Providence." Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, and thousands of young men and women are doing the same thing. They do not see the need of keeping themselves always reined up to activity. Even when as a general thing they live healthfully and temperately, they think that on a holiday they can relax their diligence and indulge their appetites, "just this once;" and "just this once" repeats itself until the supreme moment of their lives comes, when they fail. For present enjoyment they pawn future power, and when the crisis comes they are bankrupt.

"Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment."

"The Catholic Church and the Bible" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Much has been said as to the position which the Roman Catholic Church occupies in relation to the Bible, the opinion now becoming more common being that that church has been maligned. It is well, therefore, to know the truth of the matter, and this is stated in a German Catholic paper, the Markirche Kirchenblatt. After deprecating the idea that the Catholic Church desires to keep the Bible from falling into the hands of its members, it says:-

"It is true that the reading of the Scriptures in the vernacular has not been allowed to the laity unconditionally, but only under certain fixed limitations. This order is the outcome of the experience of centuries, which has gradually resulted in a certain discipline in the matter. Therefore, in accordance with the constitution of Leo XIII. of January 25, 1897, under a penalty to be determined by the bishop, and as a great sin, it is forbidden to the average Catholic to read or to have in his possession any edition or copy of the Scriptures in a translation, even if this translation has been done by members of the Catholic Church, unless this work has had the express approval of the Holy See, or has also certain comments of a proper kind, and unless the bishop has given consent to its being printed. Hence only such Bibles in modern languages are allowed as have the approval of the Vatican, in cases of editions without comments; and in case notes or explanations are added, these must have the authority of the bishop. In the same way are forbidden all editions and translations made by non-Catholics, especially those of the so-called Bible societies, whose publications are denied to the faithful under the severest penalties.

"In general, it is the duty of a good Catholic, before he begins upon the general reading of the Scriptures, to consult with his spiritual father and in conjunction with him make selections for reading. If the priest fears that the promiscuous reading of the Scriptures will harm his members, he has the right to curtail this privilege or even to deny it altogether. The views of the Protestants are entirely different on this subject, for they consider that right of reading the Bible something that may not be denied them, and that every Christian has a right to search the Scriptures. But this is a mistake. The Holy Bible, as the Word of God, is too important to permit its abuse."

This last statement is most true; but the greatest possible abuse of the Bible is its disuse. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable." "Every word of God is pure," and therefore no one needs to have somebody else make selections for his reading. Next to the abuse of not using the Bible at all, is the abuse of putting an interpretation upon it, before the people are allowed to read it, and telling them beforehand how much of it they may believe, and how they are to understand it.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Another severe earthquake has occurred, this time in Asia Minor. Ktangel, a town of 3,000 houses, has been completely destroyed.

It is reported that cholera is rife at Mecca and Medina, the sacred cities of the Mohammedans, and that both pilgrims and natives are affected by it.

The trouble in the Caucasus is not yet ended. There have been heavy storms at Schamaucha, and additional earthquake shocks, and there is much disease of a violent type among the people.

Of a total of 4,486 small-pox cases in London between August and March 10, 2,075 were discharged cured, and 720 died. There were about 1,600 cases under treatment in hospitals at the latter date.

During the present season between 200 and 300 tons of flowers have been sent from the Sicily Isles to the mainland. One day this month forty-eight tons were landed, the greatest weight ever sent in one day.

For overfeeding one of his master's horses a Yorkshire waggoner has been fined ?2 and 11s. 6d. costs. What an enormous amount of money would come in to the public treasury if every one who overfeeds a human being were fined proportionately, taking the relative value of a horse and a human being into consideration!

Over thirty-one tons of fish were condemned at Billingsgate Market last month as unfit for human food. Of course nobody knows how many tons were consumed, that were not quite bad enough to merit official condemnation. And then think of the places where there is no inspection, and were all that comes to the nets is considered food; can one wonder that infectious diseases find fruitful soil?

It was recently pointed out that the microbes of small-pox given is from the skin of those suffering from the disease, are liable to be borne by the air, and so infect people at a distance from the patients. The Medical Officer for Essex has shown that the district near the hospital ships has suffered from the disease more than any other; and the significant fact is that the infection has been found to bear a distinct relation to the prevailing wind. The districts to the windward of the ships have suffered more than those on the other side. But it has been noticed that the tubercles do not seem to have been carried as far as four miles. "The influence of the air," it is said, "deteriorates their infective powers, and probably in a short time kills them." Here, therefore, is a practical hint to the wise, namely, that abundance of fresh air will greatly diminish one's liability to take the dread disease.

It is said that English is more and more taking the place of French as the language of Russian Court circles. The Czartina speaks English constantly, and the Czar, too, likes to express himself in the same tongue.

According to the latest criminal statistics, fifty per cent. of the habitual drunkards are women. That means much more than the figures indicate; for although a drunken father means poverty and suffering in the home, the home may still remain; but a drunken mother means the utter ruin of the home and family.

At the recent annual meeting of the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, which show that highly satisfactory results have been obtained from the open-air treatment of consumptive patients. Of the 349 cases so treated during the year, 304 gained appreciably in weight. This is a cure that can be practiced by everybody at his own home, for air is the freest thing in the world; yet thousands are dying from simple lack of it. We may be sure that He who sends us the air in such abundance does not will that anybody should die of consumption.

Of eighty deaths from small-pox in London the week before last, forty-eight were those of vaccinated people, and twenty-eight of the unvaccinated people, the remaining four being unaccounted for. The Asylums Board authorities explain the fact that "there are generally more deaths in recent numbers among the vaccinated patients" than among vaccinated, by saying that the vaccinated "outnumber the unvaccinated patients by four or five to one." The percentage of deaths is greater among unvaccinated patients than among vaccinated; but then since vaccination is for the purpose of protecting people against taking the disease, it would seem that there ought not to be four or five times as many vaccinated small-pox patients as unvaccinated.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

"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 hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy." Ps. cvii. 1, 2. The redeemed owe thanks to the Lord as long as His goodness and mercy endure. Are you keeping this commandment?

"'My Father's Business'" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

"My Father's Business." -When Joseph and Mary, after three days of searching, found Jesus in the temple, "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions," and reproved Him for not being with them, He replied, "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" Luke ii. 46-49. What was He doing? He was not teaching, not disputing, for to attempt either would have been most unseemly in a child of twelve; but He was simply listening to the teaching of the doctors of the law, and asking them questions in order to get a more perfect understanding. He was, in short, endeavouring to increase in the knowledge of God; and this was the doing of His Father's business. The one thing required of God's children is to know Him. The real business of life is to learn to know God. It is for this that God has placed us here. Are we attending strictly to business, or are we idling away our time in other things that we make ourselves think are more important?

"England at the Pope's Feet" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

England at the Pope's Feet. -On the 8th inst. the English Mission under the Earl of Denbigh, sent by King Edward VII. to congratulate the Pope on the jubilee of his Pontificate, was received at the Vatican by Leo XIII. The Daily Mail Roman correspondent reports as follows:-

The Earl of Denbigh at once knelt before the Pope and made a movement to kiss his slipper, but Leo XIII. bade him to rise and gave him the ring on his finger to kiss, as is customary in such cases.

Kneeling on the steps of the throne, the Earl of Denbigh presented the other Members of the Mission, who each in turn made as though to kiss the slipper of his Holiness, but were in each case offered the ring to kiss. Directly afterwards the Earl presented an autograph letter from King Edward VII., written in the most sympathetic terms, and referring to the intelligence and judgment with which Leo XIII. directed his people.

The Pope expressed himself as highly gratified over the homage paid him, and the English people ought to feel correspondingly humiliated; for that mission represented the king, and in its members the Pope saw the British nation and its king at his feet. Who can wonder that the Pope claims to be the ruler of the kings of the earth?

"A Wise and Safe Proviso" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

A Wise and Safe Proviso. -Passing along the street a few evenings ago, we heard a patent medicine man lauding his wares to a company of people. "I am asked," he said, with a grand flourish, "if my medicine will cure,"-and here he named a long list of diseases. "My answer is, Yes," and then he added, with a very impressive look and gesture, "provided you stop the cause of the disease."

Wise man! we thought; and foolish people, who hastened to secure "the few remaining lots" of the wonderful medicine before it was too late, not stopping to think that if they stopped the cause of the disease it would come to an end without any drug whatever, and that, by his own showing, the medicine man's stuff could not possibly do any good in any case. When will people learn that their health and happiness are in their own hands, to secure or to ruin, just as they please to act?

"'The Times of the Gentiles'" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Since the article in the "Private Corner," on "The Fulness of the Gentiles" was written, the question has been asked, "What is the meaning of 'the times of the Gentiles'?" The question naturally accompanies the other, and we answer it here in the same paper, so that it will not be necessary to repeat what has already been written. Read that article first, and let this be considered the close of it.

The Saviour was answering the question of the disciples, as to the time of His coming and of the end of the world, beginning with the destruction of Jerusalem; and He said: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Luke xxi. 24. Knowing that God's promises to Israel are fulfilled by the bringing in of the Gentiles through the preaching of the Gospel, and that when "this Gospel of the kingdom" shall have been "preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations," "then shall the end come," it is obvious that "the times of the Gentiles" are the times devoted to the preaching of the Gospel to them. Those times will be fulfilled when all the world has heard the message concerning Christ's coming in His kingdom, and all who are willing that He should reign over them have been taken out of "every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation." Those who already believe are given for "a light to the Gentiles," to be God's salvation unto the end of the earth; and "behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

"A Misuse of Terms" The Present Truth 18, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

A good deal has been said the past month about the measures which the German Emperor proposes to take "against faith healing and other like practices which have lately been carried on in some parts of the country." It is evident that there is a general misunderstanding of terms. It is reported that in an interview with the police president, the Emperor was anxious to know "whether the teachers and leaders of Christian scientists and faith-healers could not be proceeded against as swindlers." But if they were really "faith healers," how could they be swindlers? Surely it is not swindling a man to heal him; and we can hardly think that the German Emperor would wish anybody to be prosecuted for doing good to another, and actually healing disease. But the trouble is, the people termed "faith-healers" are not healers at all, since their patients are not healed. It should be understood that real healing by faith has no connection whatever with what is known as Christian science. Healing by faith is all right, for whatever is healed through faith is healed indeed; but much of the so-called faith-healing is a fraud, and the professed faith-healers are indeed swindlers, inasmuch as there is neither faith nor healing.

If people knew that in real faith-healing there is never any uncertainty, but that the healing is sure to the one who has real faith; and moreover, that those through whom God works to heal never advertise, and that there cannot possibly be such a thing as a "professional faith-healer," they would be safe from those who under the name of Christianity would prey upon them while they profess to pray for them.

March 27, 1902

"The Message of the Spring" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Why do we never doubt, no matter how backward the season, nor how long and tedious the delay, the ultimate springing forth and unfolding of the hidden life in nature? It is because we know that life is there, in power that no adverse conditions can ultimately control. We know that the apparent death of winter is not death indeed; it has been hallowed into sleep by the power of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life of all things.

"Not dead, but sleeping," He proclaims over the seemingly lifeless earth; and "if thou wilt believe, thou shalt see the glory of God" in the restoration of all things. The curse which blights the earth; withering the flowers, stripping the trees, and casting all nature into this death-like sleep, shall not for ever hold it in bondage. Its cruel chains have been burst asunder by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Every spring season is a parable telling that the sealed stone of His earthly prison has been rolled away, and the Tree of Life has sprung forth a new, to blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit. In "the Gospel according to the Winter," we read of death and darkness-the story of the frost. But "the Gospel according to the Spring" follows with the renewal of light and life-the story of the Resurrection; the triumphant assurance that "death is swallowed up in victory!" It is the Gospel of hope. By it we are "begotten again unto a lively hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

Why then should we despair or grieve, though the marks of the curse may be never so apparent in our bodies; though he who has the power of death holds us with the cords of our sins, or with the death-like grip of disease? Christ has the keys of death and the grave, that are able to set us free, and He says: "O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction." The decree has gone forth; death's doom is writ; and we believe we shall see the glory of God in our emancipation. The power of His life is even now, though unseen, working deliverance for us, and seeming delay will but emphasise the transformation.

"His going forth as the morning." He will swallow up death in victory, and

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wipe the tears from off all faces. This is the message of the brave snowdrop, hopeful crocus, and joyous daffodil, and of the buds now everywhere swelling and bursting with the life that they cannot contain.

The spring is also a promise of the final complete restoration of the whole earth through the all-conquering life of the Creator. When He thus makes all things new, her wilderness will be like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."

"Come, for creation groans,
Impatient of Thy stay,
Worn-out by these long years of ill,
These ages of delay.

"Come, spoil the strong man's house,
Bind him and cast him thence:
Show Thyself stronger than the strong,
Thyself Omnipotence.

"Come, Lord, and take away
The curse, the sin, the stain;
And make this blighted world of ours
Thine own fair world again."

"The Origin of Easter Sunday" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

The question is asked how it is that, while Christmas, the supposed birthday of Christ, is celebrated every year on a certain day of a certain month, without regard to the day of the week, Easter, which is also celebrated annually as the day of Christ's resurrection, always falls on Sunday, and not on a fixed day of a certain month.

It is a perfectly natural question, and the wonder is that it is not more frequently raised; the fact that it is not shows how readily people accept that which is customary, without troubling themselves to find out whether or not it has any solid foundation.

In general answer to the question, it may be said that it is because the Papal Church has taken upon itself to turn everything upside down,-to ignore and denounce everything that is commanded or that is definite, and so make obligatory that which is not commanded, or of which nothing definite is known, in order to establish its own supremacy. Thus, nobody knows the day or the month when Christ was born; therefore the Papacy has decreed that His birthday should be celebrated on the 25th day of December; but we do know the day of the month (in the Jewish year) on which Christ arose from the tomb, and the Papacy has taken it upon itself to decree that the resurrection shall be celebrated on a certain day of the week, without regard to either the month or the day of the month.

The word "Easter" does not occur in the Bible, although by some strange perversity the translators of the King James's Version inserted it in Acts xii. 4, where the Revision very correctly has "Passover." The word is from "Eostre," the Old Saxon goddess of the dawn or spring, and the adoption of it instead of the Bible word "Passover" shows how "the Church" inclined to heathenism rather than to the religion of the Bible.

That Easter is a perversion of the ancient Passover is evident from the substitution of the word "Easter" for the latter word in Acts xii. 4, and also from the name pask, pasque (a corruption of the Greek pascha, Passover), by which the festival is often known.

After the ascension of Christ the disciples continued the celebration of at least some of the ancient festivals of the Jews, the Passover among the rest. This they observed according to the Scriptures (Ex. xii. 1-6) on the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month. But soon changes took place, and only the Christians of Asia Minor continued the celebration on the original date. There were various modifications, but the most, following the leader of Rome, adopted the custom now in vogue. There was a great deal of controversy over the matter; the Bishop of Rome (Victor, in the latter part of the second century) presuming to command the Quartodecimans (as those were called who adhered to the fourteenth day of the month) to conform to his custom. They did not, however, acknowledge his authority in the matter.

Of the controversy that a rose, Socrates (Ecclesiastical History, Book v. chapter XXII.) wrote:-

"The Quartodeciman's affirm that the observance of the fourteenth day was delivered to them by the Apostle John; while the Romans and those in the Western parts assure that their usage originated with the Apostles Peter and Paul. Neither of these parties, however, can produce any written testimony in confirmation of what they assert."

The absence of written testimony, however, did not make any more difference with the people then than it does now, and both parties continued in their own way until Constantine took it upon himself to legislate for the church, and he had such a summary way of dealing with those who ignored his decrees that he very soon brought all to his views.

One of the objects for which the Council of Nice was called (325 A.D.) was to bring about uniformity in the matter of the celebration of Easter. Of the decision, and of the reason for it, Constantine himself wrote a letter to the churches, of which the following is an extract:-

"At this meeting the question concerning the most holy day of Easter was discussed, and it was resolved by the united judgment of all present, that this feast ought to be kept by all and in every place on one and the same day. For what can be more becoming or honourable to us than that this feast, from which we date our hopes of immortality, should be observed unfailingly by all alike, according to one ascertained order an arrangement? And first of all, it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have implicitly defiled their hands with enormous sins, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul. For we have it in our power, if we abandon their custom, to prolong the observance of this ordinance to the future ages. . . . Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd."-Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, Book III. Chapter 18.

It is true that Constantine declared that the order which, in compliance with his will, the Council decreed had been preserved from the very day of the passion until his times; but he could not produce written authority any more than the others could; and we of course know that his statement was untrue, since the day of the week cut no figure whatever in the original festival. But the emperor did not trouble himself much about the Scriptures, and the following additional extract from the same circular letter gives us an insight into how church "holy days" were made:-

"Since, therefore, it was needful that this matter should be rectified, so that we might have nothing in common with that nation of parricides who slew their Lord; and since that arrangement is consistent with propriety which is observed by all the Churches of the Western, Southern, and Northern parts of the world, and by some of the Eastern also: For these reasons all are unanimous on this present occasion in thinking it worthy of adoption. And I myself have undertaken that this decision should meet with the approval of your Sagacities, in the hope that your wisdoms will gladly admit that practice which is observed in the city of Rome, and in Africa; throughout Italy and in Egypt, in Spain, the Gauls, Britain, Libya, and the whole of Greece; in the Dioceses of Asia and Pontus, and in Cilicia, with entire unity of judgment. And you will consider not only that the number of churches is far greater in the regions that I have enumerated than in any other, but also that it is most fitting that all should unite in desire in that which sound reason appears to demand, and in avoiding all participation in the perjured conduct of the Jews. In fine, that I may express my meaning in as few words as possible, it has been determined by the common judgment of all, that the most holy feast of Easter should be kept on one and the same day. For on the one hand a discrepancy of opinion on so sacred a question is unbecoming, and on the other it is surely best to act on the decision which is free from strange folly and error."-Ib. Chapter 19.

Now we see how it came to pass that we have Easter at all, and how it is that a yearly festival, is always on the same

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day of the week. It was because Constantine would not have controversies in the church, because they disturbed the peace of his empire, and were likely to produce revolution; and because of Rome, which even at that time was aiming at, and even claiming, supreme power, was determined to exalt the heathen Sunday festival in place of the Sabbath of the Lord.

"Christ's Resurrection the Sign of His Coming" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

"And when He was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with outward show; neither shall they say, Lo, hear! or, lo, there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Luke xvii. 20, 21.

Again when He was asked for a sign from heaven, He said: "When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather; for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day; for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas." Matt. xvi. 1-4.

What "the sign of the prophet Jonas" is, we are told in the following words: "An evil and adulteress generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall be 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.

A period of three days and three nights covered Christ's betrayal, mock trial and humiliation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to heaven to receive from the Father and the heavenly host the acceptance of His sacrifice and the acclamation of King of glory; for from John xx. 17 we know that He did ascend to heaven and return again, before He allowed the disciples to approach Him.

Christ was "crucified through weakness, but He liveth by the power of God." 2 Cor. xiii. 4. He said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. This He said signifying what death He should die." John xii. 32, 33. His being "lifted up from the earth" was His crucifixion. Now put the statements of the two texts together. It is when He is lifted up-crucified-that He draws all to Him; and He was crucified through weakness. Never could man be more absolutely helpless than when hanging on a cross. So we see that Christ's power to draw all to Him comes through His weakness. In His weakest condition He draws all to Him.

"He liveth by the power of God." That is why He can draw all to Him in His weakness; for the strength of God is made perfect in weakness. 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. The resurrection from the dead did not make Him the Son of God, but demonstrated that He was the Son of God. He was "quickened by the Spirit," the "Spirit of holiness" by which He lived. Thus the resurrection was only a manifestation of the power by which He had lived a holy life during the thirty-three years that He lived among men. He was raised from the dead, because "in Him was life." He Himself was, as He is now, "the resurrection and the life."

The proof of this is seen in the fact that by His words, which were Spirit and life, He brought people from the dead. The life that was in Him, made others live. So the wonder of the resurrection from the dead was continually manifested before the eyes of those with whom Jesus lived and worked, and they did not recognise it. He Himself was the sign, the proof, that the kingdom of God had come to them.

Christ was no weaker on the cross of Calvary than in the manger in Bethlehem; and as His weakness is His bearing of the cross for man He was Christ crucified even while lying in the manger. In fact, we cannot know Christ at all, except as crucified. He has never been revealed to mankind except as the crucified One. And as He is always Christ crucified, so He is always Christ risen from the dead. The power that raised Him from the dead worked in Him through all His life. Lazarus was raised from the grave of corruption by the power of the holy life that was in Christ. It was the Spirit of holiness in Christ, that raised the dead, and that raised Him from the dead. It took no less power than that which raised Lazarus, and brought Jesus from the dead, to keep Him day by day the perfect, sinless Man that He was.

Thus we see that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a thing of a day, but of a lifetime; and therefore it cannot be celebrated by the observance of a day, but only by a whole lifetime. And here is where we come to the joy of the truth that Jesus has for ever identified Himself with humanity. As proof that He is not ashamed to acknowledge His relationship to us, and to call us brethren, He says: "Behold I and the children whom Thou hast given Me." Heb. ii. 11-13. But this is but a portion of Isa. viii. 18, where we read, "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given Me are for signs and for wonders in Israel, for the Lord of hosts which dwelleth in Zion." Christ was a sign to the generation in which He lived,-the sign of the prophet Jonas; He was the resurrection and the life manifested among them through the weakness of human flesh; and "as He is so are we in this world." He associates us with Himself as signs and wonders also. Is there not life in the very thought?

Not only can the resurrection not be celebrated by their observance of a set day, but the very setting apart of a day for that purpose tends to obscure the reality of the resurrection. It fixes the mind upon an historical event, instead of calling attention to the all-pervading life which we are to allow free course within us. The resurrection of the dead is not a thing that took place one day nearly nineteen hundred years ago, but it is the vital force by which the universe is kept in existence. The air is full of it, the heavens declare it, and the tiniest flower reveals it. Christ was "raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father" (Rom. vi. 4), and "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps. xix. 1); yea, "the whole earth is full of His glory." Isa. vi. 3. Therefore everywhere in all creation we have a continual celebration of the resurrection of Jesus; and even so it may and should be in our bodies.

For "ye are a chosen generation, . . . that ye should show forth the praises of

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Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light" (1 Peter ii. 9); and God says: "This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise." Isa. xliii. 21. This we do when the Lord is risen upon us, and His glory is seen upon us (Isa. lx. 2); and He rises and is seen upon every one who fears His name and receives Him.

When God raised Jesus from the dead, He set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, as Lord and ruler over all; and the power by which He did this we experience whenever we truly believe. Eph. i. 18-22. This, the power of Christ's resurrection, is also the power of His coming again in His kingdom; and thus the sign of Christ's second coming is the development of the kingdom of God in His followers. They, with Him are for signs and wonders from the Lord of hosts that dwelleth in Zion.

Let every professed follower of Christ, then, get a larger, a true view of His resurrection. Let the eyes be taken from a certain day, and fixed upon the one event of the eternal ages, the motive force of the universe. Look not backward to Joseph's tomb in the garden; but look up and all round, and see in every opening bud it in the gardens and fields now, the evidence that "now is Christ risen;" and then know that the same power waits to manifest itself in you in all its glory. For just "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. lxi. 11); for those who believe "shall blossom, and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit." And thus by the ever-present resurrection of Christ in those who believe will God's kingdom come, and His will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Whom Shall We Follow?" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

"Some of my friends say, If it is important to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, why have not Wesley, Spurgeon, M¸ller, General Booth, and other good Christian men seen it and kept it?"

The best way to find out would be to ask them, instead of me; for I cannot answer for them. No man can know the working of another man's mind and conscience; but every man can read the Bible; therefore, we may easily know that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and that its observance is most important; but we cannot tell why certain good men have not kept it.

The three men first mentioned are dead, and cannot be questioned; but Mr. Booth is still alive, and your friends might, if they wish to, asking the following questions: If baptism and the Lord's Supper are important, why has the Salvation Army, under its leadership, not merely ignored them, but formally voted not to allow them? If those ordinances of the Lord's appointment are important, why is any officer instantly dismissed if he begins to preach repentance and baptism? If the coming of the Lord is important, why does General Booth call it a secondary matter, and advise his people to let it alone, and never say anything about it? When he has answered these questions, perhaps he will tell you why he does not keep the Sabbath.

Whom are your friends following-Wesley, Spurgeon, and Booth? or are they following Christ? What is their guide-the practice of those men? or the precepts of God's Word? If asked in the Judgment why they did not keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, would they say to the Lord: "I know you told me to keep it, but Wesley, Spurgeon, and Booth did not keep it, and so I thought it was not necessary for me to." The Judge asks, "You professed to believe; why then were you not baptized?" and your friends would doubtless reply, "General Booth did not believe in baptism, and so I thought it was of no importance." They no doubt often sing,

"On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;"

but here, instead of building on Christ's Word, they are building on emptiness. Thus: God's Word gives positive commandments: but instead of building on them, they are resting their hope of salvation on somebody's neglect of them. Is not that building on a "sinking sand"? Is a man's failure to obey God's Word of more authority than the Word itself?

There is not a commandment that has not been broken by some good man; shall we therefore say that none of the commandments are of any importance? No one can deny that there have been good Christians in the Roman Catholic Church, not only in the centuries before the Reformation, but since; shall we therefore say that the second commandment, which forbids the bowing down to images, is unimportant?

No man was ever yet good enough to be saved by his own good works: yet there are many people who think that they can be saved by even the failures of good men. Is it not strange that a man who will acknowledge that his own good works will not save him, will trust for salvation in the absence of some good work in another man? The mistakes and errors of good men form a very shaky foundation on which to build Christian experience and character.

It is a very narrow mind which supposes that the preaching of any truth is the condemnation of everybody who has not seen it. Christ was the truth, and He preached the truth, yet He said that He came not into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. The divine command is, "He that hath My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully;" but that does not mean that we are to pronounce sentence of

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condemnation on those who do not see it; nor, on the other hand, are we to ignore God's Word, because some good man does not see it all. If every man had always waited until every other good man saw and accepted all the truth, before he took a step in advance, there would never have been any Christian growth in the world.

The case may be summed up in the words of Christ to Peter. The Lord had told Peter something about his future life, and Peter, looking around, and seeing John walking near them, asked, "What shall this man do?" Jesus replied "What is that to thee? follow thou Me." So in the case of these good men and the Sabbath. You read God's commandment, telling you to keep His Sabbath, and you understand it; but you look around, and see some of His servants who are not keeping it; and you say, "What about these men? If I ought to keep the Sabbath, why do not they do it?" And God replies, "What is that to thee? follow thou Me." Each one stands or falls to his own master; and each man shall give account of himself to God; and we shall have enough to do to give account of ourselves, without troubling about other men.

Christ and His Word is the one foundation. He alone is perfect, and He alone, of all the men who ever trod this earth may be taken as an example. If we follow Him in everything, we can never make a mistake; but if we take as our model any other man that ever lived, even though it be Moses or Paul, we shall be sure to go wrong. Whom will you follow?

"The Butcher Bird" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Did you ever hear of the "Butcher Bird"? And do you know how he got his strange name? It is because he keeps a larder in which he hangs up the bodies of his victims, and keeps them until he is ready to feed on them. Perhaps you are wondering how he fastens them up. He makes his nest on a tree having sharp thorns,-often a hawthorn-and he sticks his prey on the thorns.

If in your ramble through the woods you should come upon the horrid sight of bees and beetles, birds and mice or other small animals stuck upon the thorns of such a tree, you will know that you are near the nest of a butcher bird, and are looking at his larder.

I lately saw the picture of one which contained some bumble-bees and large beetles; the body of a fledgling larks that the wicked bird had stolen from its mother's nest; while the Butcher bird's wife was just hanging up the body of a dear little harvest mouse,-smallest and prettiest of British quadrupeds.

It was truly a gruesome picture; but the worst of it was that these poor creatures have all been hung up alive! For the Butcher bird likes his meat fresh, and he knows that if he kills his victims their bodies will decay. So they are left to suffer the agonies of a slow death by crucifixion upon the thorn tree.

It is terrible to think of the sufferings of these poor little creatures; but we cannot blame the bird. Though God in the beginning made all things "very good," the instincts of many have been so changed by the curse of sin that has come into the world, that they do not know of any better way of getting their food than in this barbarous fashion.

Although God has provided an abundance of good, wholesome food that can be had without the practice of the cruelty, or the taking of life, yet human beings, like the Butcher bird, kill and eat their fellow-creatures, thinking it to be necessary for their own life. And often a great deal of needless suffering is inflicted on the helpless victims. Fish and eels are skinned alive, lobsters cast all live in the boiling water, to give them a good colour, live worms fastened to fish-hooks as bait for fish that they also may be hooked to live.

And besides those animals that are used for food, many more are treated with horrible cruelty for the sake of clothing or ornament. Fur-bearing animals, and birds of beautiful plumage, are captured or shot, and the tortoise robbed of its protecting shell, which is torn from the back of the living creature. And worse than all, there are those that are hunted only for "sport"-not in order to give men a chance to try their skill.

You think all this is very sad and cruel; and it is. But grown-up people are not the only ones to do these things. Have you not seen a thoughtless little boy try his skill in throwing stones at the birds, or shooting at them with his catapult? And even little girls join in the chase after butterflies, which if caught are sometimes fastened up alive! in much the same way that the Butcher bird fastens up his victims, but without the same excuse for the action. For the butterflies are wanted only that there beautiful colours and the stripes and markings of their wings may be shown to admiring friends.

Our picture will give you a little idea of what it would be like if the tables were turned-if you should be caught in a great net instead of the butterfly. Suppose some such giant creature should stick a sharp instrument through your quivering body, and hold you down through the lingering agonies of a slow death, that he might be able to show your blue eyes, rosy cheeks, pearly teeth, pencilled eyebrows, shell-like ears, and sunny curls to his neighbours and friends,-how do you think you would like it?

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

The Spirit of Jesus Christ is the life of all things. He teaches each one the way of life that He has planned for it.

As the plant and flowers grow it puts forth buds and blossoms, that crown it with beauty and show the glory of the life that is in it. We see in the lovely flowers a little of the beauty of the Lord who made them.

Remember what Jesus said about the lilies of the field-that Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of them. The glory of Solomon was all dead show, put on from outside.

But the flower's beautiful robe shows the glory of the life within. This living beauty is a part of the plant, and not something that can be put on and off, like the clothes we wear.

In the sweet gifts our heavenly Father tells us of His love for us. He lets us know that He wants to make us happy. But the flowers are for use, as well as beauty. In the flowers the little seeds that hold the baby plants are formed and made ripe, so that each plant may bring forth more plants. In this they fulfil the Word of God, "Let the earth bring forth the herb yielding seed after his kind.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

It is reported that another volcano has sprung into existence seven miles east of Schemacha; it ejects steam and fire, and from its crater there extends a crack in the earth a mile long and fourteen feet deep.

The Roman Catholic papers are not slow to note that for a season this year Westminster Abbey will revert to the care of a Catholic. From soon after Easter until after the Coronation the Duke of Norfolk will, as Earl Marshal, have sole control of the building.

While a priest was in the act of blessing a new bridge across the River Maranon, in Peru, the structure divided, and many persons fell into the water, of whom over one hundred were drowned. The time of the accident was most significant. The blessing of the Lord would have been much better than that of the priest. History shows that Papal blessings have usually resulted disastrously to the recipients.

What is described as "a reign of terror" has set in at Constantinople. It is said that as many as 160 officers have been arrested and charged with high treason. As in Russia, nobody knows when suspicion may fasten itself upon him; but, as the Chronicle says: "Perhaps, after all, the man most to be pitied is the Sultan himself. In his case the reign of terror never ends. Great and despotic are his powers over his subjects; but the power behind the throne is that of constant terror."

At the last meeting of the Select Committee of the House of Lords to enquire into the betting evil, Mr. Robert Knight, late secretary of the Boilermakers' and Iron and Steel Shipbuilders' Association, declare that so enormous was the craze for gambling in the north of England that it had become almost a form of insanity, especially among children of both sexes. He stated that the greatest ambition of youth of the working classes was to become a bookmaker's clerk. What a deplorable prospect that affords for the future of the country.

Great prominence was given last week on the hoardings and in the newspapers to the robbery of jewels valued at ?80,000 from an Englishman in a railway carriage in Austria. There is where poor people have a decided advantage; they are insured against any such loss, by the fact that they do not have it to lose. But no matter how much any man has, he can easily ensure himself against its loss, if he will follow the Saviour's directions: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth or rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal."

One hundred and fifty years ago there were so few Romanists in Berlin that they had not a single church or chapel. Now they form more than one-tenth of the population; and while the Protestants have one place of worship for every 26,500 souls, the Romanists have three.

From studies and soundings recently made by the Llege Geological Society it would appear that an important coal basin exists in the north of Belgium. It is estimated that the mines in question are capable of yielding upwards of 13,000,000,000 tons of coal, representing a total value of 200,000,000,000f.

An Envoy, carrying President Roosevelt's felicitations to the Pope on his recent anniversary, and empowered to sign the agreement concluded between the Papal authorities and the Washington Government relative to the Philippines, has been sent to the Vatican. It can easily be believed that this visit will give peculiar satisfaction, since it is the first time that the United States Government has been in direct relations with the Vatican. The Pope, surely feels that the old times are returning with increase; for never before in the history of the world has a ruler in the Vatican been the recipient of so much homage.

Depressed by the thought that he would fail in his final school examination, a German school-boy recently committed suicide by shooting himself with a revolver. This is the second case that has come to notice, and it is a sad and striking comment on the modern system of education, if that is worthy to be called education, which consists in cramming a child's mind with facts and theories in order that he may be able to pass a certain fictitious "standard." With a proper system of education, a child would take in knowledge as naturally as it takes food and breathes, and its growth in wisdom would be a pleasure, taxing him no more than his growth in stature. Such would be the case if God's Word, both written and spread out in nature, were the text book.

In an editorial on the Free Church Congress recently held at Bradford, the Daily Chronicle thus criticised the strong resolution which that body passed against gambling:-

"The gambling evil is so widespread and so pernicious that it would be not only astonishing but deplorable if a great religious institution should bring itself to ignore it. Nor do we wonder at the sharp criticism which was passed on the Duke of Devonshire's strangely obstructive attitude to any attempts to cope with it. At the same time, the sporting instinct is so inherent in English character-and there is not the slightest reason why we should regret the fact-that the Free Churches are likely to cripple themselves in their endeavour to abolish the evils of gambling if they persist in an uncompromising position which will give to the average Englishman the impression that they are enemies the sport. The misery and crime produced by the gambling mania are only second in intensity to the misery and crime which spring from the kindred mania of drink. But whether it is the current question or the gambling question with which we have to deal, we must remember that extreme views and extreme measures will always win for our cause more enemies than friends, and will consequently defeat our own aims."

It is a sad state of things when a church is obliged to pass resolutions, in order to define its relation to the gambling evil, or any other evil; and no less sad is it when, through fear of being called extremists, and driving people away, Christians are led to take a "mean position" with regard to any question of right and wrong.

It is stated that "a Christian daily newspaper has been started in Japan." If that is so, Japan takes the leading place; for there is no other country in the world that has such a thing as a Christian daily paper. The term "Christian" is so loosely used, that it does not always convey a very definite idea. It would be interesting to know in what sense it is used in this case.

The exodus from the Church of Rome is reaching such proportions in Austria that the bishops are considering how it can be checked. Among the measures which find most favour are these: The total prohibition of the circulation of the Scriptures, not only among Catholics, but among the Protestant population as well. Secondly, the bishops will recommend that no religious meetings either in public buildings or in private houses should be held without the consent of the police and the ecclesiastical authorities, and that meetings convened by Protestants are only to be attended by Protestants. If Catholics leave the Church, they are to be fined a sum equal to ten times the Church tax usually paid by them. One cannot help thinking that the bishops must feel that the Roman Church is not a pleasant fold, since such efforts have to be made to force people to stay in it.

The PRESENT TRUTH has never been backward in calling attention to the evils of Papal assumption; but it must not be supposed that church alliance with the world, and interference in political affairs is any less dangerous because the Church calls itself Protestant, instead of Roman Catholic. The name amounts to nothing; it is the fact that constitutes the essential Papacy. In the Free Church Federation the growing Roman power in England will soon have a powerful rival, which may be equally dangerous. At the recent Free Church Congress at Bradford, one of the leading ministers said that "They were present as the guardians of political life. It was theirs to see that the high places did not become the perquisites of the merely rich or clever, and they pre-eminently looked for a pure river of life to flow from the English throne."

Union of Christ's followers is good and necessary; in fact, it is inevitable if they are true followers; but it must be remembered that He took no part in the "burning political questions of His day, and that both He and the apostles depended solely on the preaching of the Word the accomplishment of all reforms. Therefore when professed Christians mingle in political affairs, they are not following Christ, and he that is not with Christ is against Him. Church interference with State affairs always means calamity.

"Health Hints. Treatment for Cold Feet" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

"Can you give me a recipe for cold feet? My occupation is sedentary, and I have been troubled very much with cold feet for several years."

One of the best recipes for cold feet that I know of, is to put them to the fire. That will ensure your having cold feet regularly. The practice of toasting defeated the fire is in itself responsible for great deal of the suffering which people undergo with their feet. Keep up the habit of warming your feet by the fire, and you will be sure to have cold feet, whether your occupation be sedentary or otherwise.

But you already have cold feet, and wish for a remedy, instead of a recipe. Well, then, in the first place, make a rule, and adhere to it rigidly, never under any circumstances to hold your feet to the fire to warm them. This is absolutely essential.

But that is negative treatment; now for the positive. Your feet are now cold and clammy, and you want them to get warm as soon as possible; what should you do? There are several different ways of warming them, any one of which will not only give you an immediate comfort, greater than you could get at the fire, but will also tend to break up the cold-feed habit.

One way is the following: Have two pails or foot baths, one with cold water, and the other with water as hot as can be borne. Dip the feet into hot water, holding them there for a minute, if it is not too hot, and then plunge them into the cold water for a few seconds. If the hot water is so very hot that you cannot endure it for a minute, then, instead of cooling it too much, dip the feet in hastily, and as hastily draw them out, and plunge them into the cold water, and thus alternate. You will find that when you place your feet in hot water, after having had them in the cold, you will not at first feel the heat; then if the water is very hot it will presently drive you to withdraw your feet and put them in the cold again. But each time you will be able to endure the heat longer; and you should have a little additional boiling water at hand to add to the first lot, so as to keep the heat as great all the time is you can endure it.

This treatment should not be long continued. A dozen changes from hot to cold and from cold to hot, which will not take more than ten minutes, will be quite sufficient. At the last, dip your feet in the cold water, and then dry them at once, and put on your shoes and stockings, which should, of course, be dry. You can then set down to your work with a delightful sense of comfort.

Do not, however, on any account, neglect to wet your head and face well with cold water before you put your feet into the hot water. This is necessary, in order to prevent congestion.

As must be evident to everybody, the effect of this treatment is to induce rapid, general circulation of the blood. The quick, alternate application of extreme heat and cold to the feet draws the blood to them; and when the blood is actively circulating in the feet they must be warm, and the whole body must be benefited at the same time.

The same result can, however, be obtained in other ways, which, except for very feeble people, are in general preferable to that just given. A brisk walk is by all means the best means of warming the feet; for the whole body derives so much benefit from the exercise; and whether the feet be habitually warm or cold depends on the condition of the whole body, and the general circulation. In fact, a perfect circulation of the blood is the one preventive of cold feet, and the inducing of the good general circulation is the sole remedy. Walking is one of the best possible means of inducing the circulation; but it makes a vast difference how one walks. Of this something shall be said later on.

Another way of warming the feet, which, so far as the feet alone are concerned, has about the same effect as walking, is to beat the soles with a stick or a poker. It is supposed, of course, that you will have your shoes or boots on when you subject yourself to the bastinado. This treatment can be taken by one who for any reason cannot go out for a walk. Give each foot a sharp beating for three or four minutes, and you will soon feel the blood rushing down there to find out what is the matter. Wherever the blood rushes along, you may be sure there will be heat.

Another excellent method is the following, which more nearly approaches walking, and helps to make walking easier, yet which can be employed by feeble people who are not able to take active exercise. Stand erect, in proper standing position, with the weight upon the balls of the feet, and rise up on the toes as high as possible; then come down, almost to the former position, but taking care that the heels do not quite touch the floor. Thus the muscles of the calves and the feet are kept in tension. Then rise as before, and come down again, keeping the heels still clear of the floor, and continue alternately rising on the toes and settling down, for several minutes. On the first trial you will find that the muscles of legs soon get very tired; but each exercise will increase their power, until your regular number of alternatives will be at least two hundred. You can continue the exercise as long as you please, without fear, and you will at the close, if not before, experience a sensation of intense heat in the legs and feet, which will not immediately pass away. If you take this exercise regularly every day, as whenever your feet feel cold, you will soon find that your feet will be habitually warm; and you will also find, your other habits being good, that walking is a pleasure.

These directions are based on scientific principles, and must commend themselves to everybody's reason. The body can be effectively warmed only from within, and it is for the purpose of keeping up the supply of heat that we eat. In this connection please read the short extract from Grant Allen, in the article entitled "Heat in Growing Things," on another page. It is a mistake to suppose that the object of clothing is to give us warmth. Our warmth comes from our food; and if we eat and breathe and exercise properly, we shall have all the heat we need for our whole body. The object of clothing, aside from propriety, is to keep the heat in, by preventing too rapid evaporation. You will recognise the truth of this when you remember that one blanket closely tucked around you at night in bed is of more service than two blankets loosely covering you, and leaving a large air space for your body to warm up.

Experience has in the case of the writer, as well as many others, demonstrated the efficiency of the treatment here indicated. One of our most vivid childhood recollections is the nightly injunction, especially in winter, "Now warm your feet, and go to bed;" and the last scene in the sitting room was a row of stockinged or naked feet at the fire. The consequence was immediate comfort, but cold feet as a regular thing for many years. Now, after having adopted natural methods, such a sensation as cold feet is rarely experiencee, although the occupation is wholly sedentary.

The feet should indeed be warmed before retiring, if they are inclined to be cold, but never by the fire, no matter how attractive it glows. One should never go to bed, or sit down to a meal, when the feet are cold.

But space will not allow more at this time, and we must defer our remarks about walking till next week. EDITOR.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

The Source of Strength and Peace. -A pathetic scene was witnessed at the burial of the wife of Pestalozzi, which, however, gives one an insight into the secrets of the success of the great educator. "At Yverdum, Pestalozzi lost, in 1815, the noble wife, who had stood faithfully by his side through the labours and trials of nearly fifty years. At the burial, Pestalozzi turning to the coffin, said with great tenderness: 'We were shunned and despised by all; sickness and poverty bowed us down, and we ate dry bread with tears. What was it that in those days of severe trauma gave you and me strength to persevere and not lose hope?' Then laying a Bible on the breast of the departed, he continued: 'From this source you and I drew strengthen peace.'"

"A False Idea of Lordship" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

A False Idea of Lordship. -In a recent number of a religious journal a noted evangelist, in noting the offices and characteristics of Christ, said that He is Lord of the Sabbath day, and therefore He could substitute the first day for it.

That is a very common idea; but it shows an utter failure to understand what it means to be lord. Jesus is our Lord, not that He may destroy us, but that He may save us. Man was created to be lord of the earth, in order that he might keep it in the blessed condition in which God delivered it to him. Man lost the dominion, and the earth has suffered in consequence. Since he is no longer lord of creation, he works to destroy it.

In like manner the man is declared to be the lord of the woman. "The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church." Sarah "obeyed Abraham, calling him lord," and is honoured for it. But who would dare say that because the husband is lord of the wife, therefore he has the right and power to put her way, and to substitute another in her place? Yet it is true that the man as lord of the woman has the same right to change one for another that Christ as Lord of the Sabbath day has to substitute the first for the seventh day. The man is lord of the woman, in order that he may cherish and protect her; and even so it is with Christ and the Sabbath. He protected the Sabbath with His own life, and He died in order that it might be kept inviolate by all mankind.

"Avoid the Beginning" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Avoid the Beginning. -In the investigation by the House of Lords committee on the gambling evil, it has transpired that parents have actually sent sums of money to their sons at public school, for the express purpose of being used in betting on horse races! It is difficult to conceive of such gross blindness on the part of parents who are certainly in a position to have had some knowledge of the responsibility resting on them as the guardians of their children's future.

Scarcely less culpable are those parents who play cards at home with their children, even though they do not, as is often the case, play for small stakes. They think that it is harmless, because it is "a quiet little game at home." But they are sowing the seeds of possible ruin and disgrace. How many young men are drawn into evil associations and at last to commit crime, through card-playing. How often we hear of some person who has been "fleeced" by means of a game of cards with a friendly stranger. From all this they could be saved, if when asked to join in a game of cards they could say that they do not know how to play. The person who has never learned to play cards has lost nothing that tends to make an educated man, and is safe from many temptations.

"Misdirected Zeal" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

In a letter asking clergymen and ministers to preach sermons on "Sabbath Observance" on Sunday, April 6, the Committee of the Working Men's Lord's Day Rest Association say:-

"From every part of the United Kingdom reports in fact show that a great change is rapidly coming over our country, that the observance of the Sabbath day, as a day for rest and worship, is being set aside, and that Sunday amusements, Sunday excursions, Sunday sports, Sunday labour, and Sunday trading are doing much to injure the quiet, religious, restful character of our hitherto peaceful day of holy rest."

What a pity that the effort that is to be put forth in so many churches will not be in favour of Sabbath observance at all, but of the counterfeit that has usurped place of the Lord's holy day of rest, the seventh day. Someone says, "Oh, why do you stick to that seventh day? What virtue can there be in one certain day of the week more than in another?" And yet those same ones work zealously for Sunday observance. If God had not spoken it would indeed make no difference, but when He has given us a day of His own, and His own rest, to reject it and substitute another is an act of the highest in dignity to the Giver.

"The Beauty of Truth" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

The Beauty of Truth. -In connection with the article entitled, "Teaching Lies," on another page of this paper, the following from Maeterlinck, in his "Life of the Bee" is to the point:-

"I myself have now for a long time ceased to look for anything more beautiful in this world, or more interesting, than the truth."-p. 4.

And again:-

"There comes a period of life when we have more joy in saying the thing that is true than in saying the thing that merely is wonderful. Here as in every case the principle holds, that should the naked truth appear at the moment less interesting, last great and noble than the imaginary embellishment it lies in our power to bestow, the fault must rest with ourselves who are still unable to perceive the astonishing relation in which this truth must always stand to our being and to universal law; and in that case it is not the truth, but our intellect, that needs embellishment and adornment."-p. 133.

It is a great mistake to suppose that life would be dull and tame, and devoid of all grace, and that the mind would be cramped and dwarfed, without imagination. The truth is so vast and so wonderful that the highest flights of human imagination are tame and lifeless in comparison with its revelations.

April 3, 1902

"'Preach the Word'" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

"Preach the Word." -It is not an enemy that gives this account of the ordinary preacher's methods, in the Methodist Times, but one of their number, who is stating his own experience:-

When a preacher is young-I illustrate from the life of a preacher because it is the life best known to me-he will take his text and then go hunting through all the commentaries he has and through all the sermons; after that he will look up his note books and his poetry, every little writer that has ever written on any subject remotely connected with his text he will feel compelled to consult, and so he will overload his own thought and stifle his own imagination. I remember that period well.

Sad to say, he does not deprecate the plan of going everywhere except to the Bible for the message, but only the use of so many books instead of the preacher's own imagination. But to every preacher and teacher who reads PRESENT TRUTH, and there are many, we would say, "Preach the Word," and that only, rightly and conscientiously avoiding man's opinions, and your own imagination. The Scriptures are an inexhaustible mine, a never-failing well, and the variety of subjects and wonders of truth far transcend the highest flights of human imagination.

"Men as Signs. Acts ix. 32-43" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

(Acts ix. 32-43.)⁴1

"And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a certain man named ?neas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, ?neas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord."

One of the first things to do in reading this portion of our lesson is to take a little lesson in etymology, by comparing the two Versions. In the old Version, as we have just read, it says, "Jesus Christ maketh thee whole." In the Revision we have it "Jesus Christ healeth thee." This suggests the truth that to heal is to make whole. The words "heal," "whole," and "holy," have one common root, and are in reality the same word. The prophet exclaimed, "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed." Jer. xvii. 14. When Jesus healed a deaf and dumb man, the multitude exclaimed, "He hath done all things well; He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." Mark vii. 37. God never slights a job. He is in very deed "a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed." He never does any half-way work; but whatever He does is well and thoroughly done. Therefore whenever He heals a man He makes him whole. As Peter said of another notable case of a man being made to walk through his instrumentality: "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." Acts iii. 16.

Some one will say, "This surely is not always the case; for there are thousands of people who recover from some specific disease, who are nevertheless never perfectly well. Some other ailment will

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come, or the very disease from which they deliver may leave another as its sequel."

Nevertheless it is strictly and absolutely sure that when God heals He does perfect work, and that the man whom He heals is in perfect soundness; and whoever believes and grasps this truth will experience it. And it is also true that there is no healing in this world except by the Lord. He is the only Healer. How is this apparent contradiction explained?

Very simply. Note carefully the words of Peter to the palsied man: "?neas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole." These words were spoken while the man still lay hopeless on his bed, but even then he was made whole. Peter was simply the Lord's messenger to him, to let him know the truth.

Take another instance. Jesus was teaching in a synagogue one Sabbath day, and there was a woman present who was present together so that she could by no means raise herself up; and she had been in that condition for eighteen years. Jesus said to her, "Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity;" and "immediately she was made straight." Luke xiii. 10-12. The words, "Thou art loosed," were spoken to her while she was still bowed together, and unable to lift up her head. She was as firmly bound as she had ever been; yet the words of Jesus were absolutely true: she was loose, and had really been so all the time.

The explanation lies in the words of the prophet Isaiah, which Christ quoted in the synagogue at Nazareth: "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 brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Isa. lxi. 1. The prison doors are open for all the captives of Satan; every band is already loosed, and each slave of sin and Satan might say, if he only knew the word, "Thou hast loosed my bonds." So Christ was sent to declare this to the people; to let every bondservant of sin know that his chains are already loose, and that all he has to do is to a rise and cast them off. The prison doors are open, and all that the prisoners have to do is to go forth. Whoever remains in bondage is so either through ignorance of the truth, or else through love of slavery.

Death and disease came by sin; and as Christ has by Himself "made purification for sins," it follows that He has brought healing to every diseased person. He took part of the same flesh and blood as His brethren, "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. 14, 15. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself" (2 Cor. v. 19), and this reconciliation is so actual a fact that "when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." Rom. v. 10. "By His stripes we are healed." Isa. liii. 6.

God has "commanded the blessing, even life for evermore," for all mankind; for "by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Rom. v. 18. So if a man is not perfectly whole both in soul and body it is only because he does not know the gift of God. The business of Christians, who have learned of the Lord, is to proclaim this good news to the world. God has done the work, and finished it from the foundation of the world; our part is "to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom;" to say to all, "O taste, and see that the Lord is good."

The next thing we are to learn from the portion of Scripture first quoted is the effect of the miracle. Read it again, and then read the words of Christ to His disciples, including us: "Ye shall receive power after that [literally, when] the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts i. 8.

Then with these two texts, read the following words of Christ: "Behold, I and the children whom Thou hast given Me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Zion." Isa. viii. 18.

Most people on reading these passages think of the power that they are to receive to perform miracles; they think of themselves as signs and wonders through the performance of prodigies, somewhat as Simon the sorcerer gave out "that himself with some great one." But this is a mistake. Read the verses of our lesson again. "All that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord." Saw whom? Peter, who performed this wonderful miracle of raising the palsied man?-Oh, no; they saw the man who was healed, and then they turned to the Lord. ?neas was a sign and a wonder to the people, not because he had done a wonderful work, but because he had had a wonderful work done for him and in him.

The psalmist wrote, "I am as a wonder and to many" (Ps. lxxi. 7); and of the men whose sins were forgiven God said, "They are men wondered at." Zech. iii. 8. When Jesus came to Bethany, just before the crucifixion, the people flocked to that place as they always did wherever He went; but "they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom He had raised from the dead." And the chief priests, who were plotting the destruction of Jesus, planned to put Lazarus to death also, "because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus." John xii. 9-11.

When Jesus healed the demoniac in the tombs, He Himself immediately went away from that country; but when the healed man wished to accompany Him, "Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis of great things Jesus had done for him; and all men did marvel." Mark v. 18-20.

So it is not the power to act for the Lord, but the willingness to be acted upon by Him, that makes men a sign of the coming of the Lord. It is not power that we exert, but power working in us, that is to make Christian men wondered at in the world. "I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. And He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set by feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God; many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord."

"The Lord hath done great things for us!" Do you know it? and are you glad? "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children men!" He has done such things as human language cannot express, and human thought cannot grasp, but only the Spirit of the Lord can make us understand; yet for the most part we are unconscious of them, and therefore do not take them. This is the sole cause of the dearth of conversions in the world. Let Christians but be wise, and consider and observe, and "understand the lovingkindness of the Lord," and then it will be said even among the heathen, "The Lord hath done great things for them."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Can the Soul of Man Die?" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

"On reading the article regarding the eternal punishment of the wicked, it struck me that as the soul of man is undying, how is it that death will be the punishment of the wicked, since although dead, the soul was yet alive and conscious? Please explain in your next issue, as it seems perplexing."

Truly it does seem perplexing; but the difficulty will speedily disappear if we go about it in the right way. There is no difficulty whatever in the Scriptures; the difficulty comes in the attempt to reconcile the truth of the Bible with an impossible theory of human invention.

This question affords us an excellent opportunity to contrast the right and the wrong way of dealing with the Bible. The wrong way is to assume a certain thing, and then to become perplexed because the Bible does not agree with our assumption. Thus, the disciples had settled it in their minds that Christ would immediately overthrow the Roman dominion, and establish His own everlasting kingdom on this earth, and therefore when He spoke about His resurrection from the dead, they wondered what that expression could mean. They were perplexed, and were overwhelmed by the event; but they would have had no difficulty, and would not have been taken by surprise, if they had said: "He says that He is to die, and rise again the third day; therefore it is evident that we have not understood the Scriptures, and are mistaken in our ideas."

So in the question before us, the Bible says that "the wages of sin is death," and that the wicked "shall be punished with everlasting destruction." But you say, "How can this be, since the soul of man cannot die?" That is the wrong way. The right way would be to say: "Since the punishment of the wicked is death, and is to be eternal, even 'everlasting destruction,' it is evident that I have been mistaken in supposing that man is an undying creature, and that there is really no such thing as death."

You say that "the soul of man is undying." God says: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. xviii. 18. "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 answer comes: "They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches: none of them can by any means redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him; for the redemption of their soul is precious [costly], and it ceaseth [must be let alone] for ever." "But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for He shall receive me." Ps. xlix. 6-8, 15.

Here we have your question completely answered. The difficulty is solved, and the perplexity ought now to cease. The only trouble was, that you assumed something that is contrary to the truth.

How is it possible for anybody to say that there is no death? Surely one's own observation ought to convince him, even without the testimony of the Scriptures. That man is mortal, that death has come into the world by sin, is declared throughout the Bible; and we see it everywhere on earth.

To say that there is no death, is to deny the necessity for Christ's sacrifice; for we are told that He partook of man's nature, "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. 14, 15. He tasted death for every man (verse 9); and "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 1 Cor. xv. 26. He says, "The Bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." John vi. 33. And again: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John x. 10. To the unbelieving Jews He uttered this sorrowful reproach: "Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have the eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of Me; and ye will not come to Me that ye might have life." John v. 39, 40.

Christ did not come into this world for nothing. It was terrible need that called for so wondrous a sacrifice. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Without Christ, all men would perish. The fact that He came for the sole purpose of giving life, shows that without Him there is nothing but death for man.

Death is not the same thing as life. To say that the dead are alive and conscious is as absurd as to say that the blind see, that the dumb speak, or that the deaf hear. It is even worse than absurd; it is wicked; for it is not only a direct contradiction of the Bible, but it virtually teaches that there is no such thing as death, and that what is called sin is really righteousness. For it is declared that sin brought death. Rom. v. 12. Being sinners we were dead (Eph. ii. 1), since death had passed upon all men: but if it were true that death is the same thing as life, it would be evident that what the Bible calls sin is really the same as righteousness. Thus we see that it is not a light thing to say that there is no death, since it really denies the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

"These shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. xxv. 46. The punishment we have already seen to be death-everlasting destruction. Now see how the statement that there is no death makes nonsense of the Scriptures: it would have Christ say that the wicked shall go away into everlasting life; but the righteous into everlasting life. It would make Rom. vi. 23 say that the wages of sin is life, but the gift of God is eternal life. Of course professed Christians never think of the consequences of the false ideas that they have imbibed concerning death; for they could have no respect for the Scriptures, if they really thought that they contain such absurdities.

What does the Bible say about death, and the condition of the dead? Let us read a few statements.

"The living know that they shall die; but the dead no not anything." Eccl. ix. 5. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no

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work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave wither thou goeth." Verse 10.

"Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. cxlvi. 3, 4.

"In death there is no remembrance of Thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks." Ps. vi. 5.

"Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back. For the grave cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known Thy truth." Isa. xxxviii. 17-19.

The case is very simple. Christ is "our life." Col. iii. 4. In God "we live, and move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 28. Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life." John xiv. 6. "In Him all things consist." Col. i. 17. In the beginning "God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Gen. ii. 7. So we read, "The Spirit of God hath made me; and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job xxxiii. 4.

In Christ we live; without Him there is no existence. All mankind live by the same means by which the first man lived-by the breath of God. God is constantly doing for each one of us what He did for Adam in the beginning-breathing into our nostrils the breath of life; thus only is it that we are living souls.

In the things that God has made, and which are for our use, the everlasting power and Divinity of God are clearly seen (Rom. i. 20); and "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue." 2 Peter i. 3. God gives Himself to us in His gifts. "God hath 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.

Now all men have the Son, the Word life, whether they know Him and accept Him, or not; for the free gift has come upon all men unto justification of life (Rom. v. 18), and the Word of life is in the mouth and heart of all men, in order that they may do it. Deut. xxx. 11-14; Rom. x. 6-9. Thus all are without excuse; for they have not to go in search of eternal life, but only to lay hold of and keep that which has been committed to them.

But not all will accept Christ, and yield to His control, even when they know Him. They say, "We will not have this Man to rule over us." Nevertheless He is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, and therefore He does not immediately take them at their word, and leave them to themselves. Patiently and long He suffers their manners, drawing them to Himself by the cords of His everlasting love. Still many are obdurate, and will resist the Holy Ghost unto the end. Then at the last, when all God's ways have been made plain to all mankind, and it still appears that men choose their own ways, instead of His, God gives them over wholly to their own choice. They choose to live apart from the Lord; but Christ "ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things" (Eph. iv. 10); and when that is accomplished there will be no place in the universe for those who have fully and finally rejected Him. They will not have God to dwell in them, nor are they willing to abide in Him; therefore they will be left to themselves, and the result will be that they will cease to be, and will "be as though they had not been." The breath that, joined to the body, made man a living soul, will depart, and then the soul will no longer live.

Can you not see that the Scriptural view shows the supremacy of God, while the idea that even the wicked who reject Him can have life independently of Him, makes them gods, self-existent beings the same as He is? But there is but one God,-the living God,-He alone is our dwelling place in all generations. We must either live in Him, or else not live at all. Just as apart from Christ we can do nothing, even so apart from Christ we cannot live. Righteousness is life, and both come from God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

"Music of a Higher Sphere" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Professor Huxley and a friend once travelled among the alps. The friend heard only the tramp of the mules' hoofs on the hard mountain road, Huxley only the hum of insects which filled the summer air with its mellow melody. There are ears that catch only the dull sounds of the lower ranges of life; others that lose these coarser sounds in the music of a higher sphere. "Speak not in the ears of a fool," says the wise man, "for he will despise the wisdom of thy words."

"The Wrong Way and the Right Way" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

In a popular journal not long since a father related the following incident for the benefit of other parents:-

"'What was the 'ginning of the world?' asked by six-year hopeful at breakfast. 'That's a long story that we will talk about after supper,' I replied-for my children usually have a story read or told them all together before bedtime. So that evening, in simple language that the youngest could comprehend, and that therefore was interesting to the older children, the various theories of the world's formation were briefly described. The Bible story, the teachings of geology, the ether rings as the origin of atoms,-all this was set forth in simple language without bias, concluding (as we had begun) with the remark that after all but little was actually known, though many theories were entertained.

"The way in which the story was received, from the youngest up, their questions, comprehension and various opinions, were a revelation that charmed and benefited their father even more than the talk had helped them. Children never forget such talks, and their attitude of mind on these occasions is treasure in the father's heart more and more as his sons and daughters become older and too soon to grow away from him."

"Pity 'tis, 'tis true," that "children never forget such talks," and consequently loose habits of thought are implanted in them. They are taught human opinions and speculations instead of the truth, and so do not acquire the habit of distinguishing sharply between truth and error. In this case the children were no wiser when the father had finished his talk than when he began; and what was still worse, the impression was conveyed that the Bible narrative is on a level with the conjectures of men, and so they were deprived of any standard by which to judge. Equally bad was the fact that they were left with the idea that they really knew a great deal, because they have heard a lot of words, and had learned to express their "opinions," which were based upon nothing.

Contrast with this the account, given by Mr. Edgerton R. Young, missionary to the Cree Indians, of the way in which those simple children of the forest received the truth in its purity. After telling of the lesson he had given them in reading, he proceeds:-

"Then we opened our bundle of Bibles, and, passing them around as far as they would go, I had them all turn to the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis. After some explanation of a few additional signs which they there saw upon the printed page, and which give some variation to the sound of the syllabic character to which they are attached, we began the study of the verse. Of course our progress at first was slow. It could not be otherwise under such circumstances. But we patiently persevered, and it was not very long ere they were able to read in their own language: 'Mawache Nistum Kaesamaneto Keoosetou Kesik Mena Askee, (In the beginning God created the heaven and earth.').

"When they have acquired the ability to read this verse for themselves, and had grasped a little of its meaning, there was another burst of delight. That first verse of Genesis is very suggestive and full of meaning to anyone, no matter how learned, who strives to investigate it. It is in itself the first chapter of God's revelation of Himself to man, and has long occupied the attention and study of the most godly and profound. Here, for the first time, it was being read by a company of poor Indians just emerging from paganism. But they were sharp and keen, and able to grasp a new truth, and so when the first verse opened before them with a wondrous meaning, great was their delight in amazement.

"'Now we know all about it!' some of them shouted. 'The Kaesa-Maneto (the great God) made all these things, the heaven and the earth.'

"Others said: 'Our fathers talked about it in their wigwams, and wondered how all these things came as they are; but they had to confess that they were in darkness, and knew nothing. But now we know it! We know it!"

"Over and over again they read the verse until they had thoroughly committed it to memory. And in after days, at many a campfire and in many a hunting lodge, it was repeated to those who had not heard it, but who, on hearing it, were also filled with gratification and delight at the answer which it gave to what had long been a subject of perplexity and awe."

Who cannot see that the Indians had by far the advantage of the white children? They knew the exact truth, and moreover did not have their minds cumbered with a lot of rubbish. "We know it! We know it!" they exclaimed in their simple joy; and they did indeed know it. The reception of real truth from the mouth of the Lord gives a joy that can never be known by those who are filled with the pride of their own opinions. And it gives equal joy to the unlettered barbarian and the cultured philosopher. The Bible Society Reporter tells how a learned Brahman, who became a Christian minister, had his first lesson in Christianity.

While waiting to see a gentleman at whose house he had called, he took up the book lying on the table, and opened at the first page. There he read: "In the beginning God created the heaven and earth." "Being familiar with the Hindu Cosmogony, so prolonged, abstruse, and wearisome, the brevity, dignity, and self-evident truth of this assertion so impressed

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him that he at once procured a Bible and read it carefully, with the ultimate result that he became a whole-hearted and avowed believer both in the written and the living Word."

Some parents are afraid of prejudicing the minds of their children, and so refrain from giving them positive knowledge. This is a sin. Truth should have the first place. No Christian parent should allow a child to grow to the age of six years without knowing the beginning of all things. But do not make the mistake of trying to "simplify the words of Scripture." That is like trying to make some light clear. Do not give the Bible narrative in your own language. Read them from the Bible, and when you have read a story once, the children will want to hear it again; and you can read the stories one after another again and again, until the truths are indelibly impressed on the young minds in the very words which the Spirit teaches. Thus even the babes may become possessed of wisdom that is hidden from the wise and prudent, and which will be an effectual safeguard against all forms of infidelity; for the vagaries of human conjecture will always be insipid to one who has acquired a taste for simple, solid truth.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Look into the golden heart of a rose, or notice the golden sceptre or star that the queenly lily bears. In almost every flower you will see something like this. When the flower is full blown, just before its petals fall, its tiny yellow grains fall in a golden shower.

Did you know that this gold dust you have seen upon the flowers is of far more value than the gold dust that is dug from the mine? For without this flower dust, that is called pollen, the seeds would be of no use at all.

A little grain of pollen must find its way into the heart of each little seed that is being formed in the pod, or else it will never come to anything. It is the pollen that makes the seeds fruitful-that is, able to bring forth new plants.

So even these tiny grains of pollen that we can scarcely see, have their place in God's plan.

The best and strongest plants come from seeds that have been made fruitful by the pollen from another flower. So in many plants it is not possible for the flower dust to fall upon its own seed. How then does the pollen get from one flower to another, to make the seeds perfect? This wonderful story will next be told.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Very striking is a remark by Mr. J. Compton Rickett, M.P., in an article on "Parliament at Work," in the Christian World, of March 13. Speaking of the criticism of the Army Estimates by one of the members he says: "The subject is serious in truth. It is nothing less than the military defence of Great Britain and her Empire against a world in arms."

A widow who kept a small shop in Paris was found dead the other day, with a letter in her hand, announcing that she had won ?5,000 in a lottery. Her death was caused by the violent emotion produced by the sudden news of her fortune, which certainly was to her anything but "good fortune." What a comment on the inability of earthly riches to give life and happiness! The good news of the gift of "the unsearchable riches of Christ" was never known to have any ill effect upon anybody. On the contrary, it always gives life and peace.

According to Dr. Wutzdorf, of the German Imperial Board of Health, the spread of cancer is generally on the increase in that country, much in excess of the growth of the population. The younger classes of the population are suffering from cancer to a much greater extent than formerly.

Regardless of their estimate of the character of Mr. Rhodes, whose death was announced last week, all would do well to heed the following axiom, which reveals the secret of the strength of that remarkable man: "If you have an idea, and it is a good idea, if you will only stick to it, you will come out all right." For "idea" substitute "principle of truth," and follow the advice given; the result will be the most perfect success in the end, even though it leads one through fire and water and the mire of contempt and abuse.

A new feature in wireless telegraphy was reported by the steamship Campania on its arrival in New York last week. In mid-ocean the Campania tried to communicate by wireless telegraphy with the Lucania, which was passing towards England. The signals failed to reach the Lucania, however, being caught by the steamship Philadelphia, which passed them on, thus acting as intermediary between the two Cunarders. Thus it is demonstrated that no scheme of wireless telegraphy has yet been invented, which will ensure the privacy of the messages sent; and this lack renders it impracticable either for war or business. Business men are likely to be very cautious about committing the details of their affairs to the winds.

The Catholic Times quotes approvingly the following from the American Ecclesiastical Review concerning the Papal Commission on the Holy Scriptures:-

"Catholic scholars, therefore, have now a permanent information bureau where they may find out whether they have swerved from the path of truth in their views as to the identity of the Bible, or its authority, or again its exegesis."

But this "information bureau" is composed of men who are like other men, no more learned than the scholars who are expected to appeal to them as final authority, and just as liable to err. Who will ensure that they do not wander from the truth? How much better to accept God's own Interpreter, the Holy Spirit, who is given freely to all, to make us know the things that are freely given us of God, and to lead us into all truth.

The Marquis of Allesbury has given notice of a question which he proposes to ask the Under Secretary for India, namely, whether the attention of the Viceroy of India has been drawn to the public statement that part of the equipment of the New Imperial Cadet Corps is to consist of a saddle cloth made from the skin of the snow leopard. He says that the snow leopard is not only rare, but practically harmless, and therefore asks that instruction be given to prevent its extermination. But the Chronicle says that "his harmlessness is not above question," for "travellers assert that he hunts in couples, and kills, mainly ibex, for the sake of killing." If that is a reason why he should be exterminated what shall be said of men, who rise from a hearty meal, and slaughter pheasants and pigeons, as well as other game, by the hundred, merely for the sake of killing?

"How We Live. Some Hints on Walking" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Last week we made some suggestions about how to warm the feet, and how to treat them so as to prevent that habitual coldness from which so many suffer. It will be remembered that walking was recommended as altogether the best thing for cold feet; but it was stated that it makes a vast difference how one walks.

When walking, whether in the discharge of one's duties, or purely as an exercise, one should get the most possible good from it. Even though we take a walk for the purpose of warming our feet, the good effects should not be confined to our feet. Indeed, the feet will profit by the exercise in proportion as the entire system is benefited.

It will be taken for granted that the feet are clothed in the most comfortable manner possible. When we say this, it must be understood as meaning the most comfortable manner consistent with the barbarous fashion that civilisation imposes on us. Until we get courage to defy custom sufficiently to wear sandals, and so adjusted as to leave the foot room to move and breathe, they will necessarily suffer to some extent. But let us have them as comfortable as the shoemaker can make them.

One of the first requisites to depriving benefit from walking is that it be done briskly and not in a listless, loafing manner. A rapid walk of half a mile gives one more exercise than twice as far at a slow pace.

Then, too, one should walk in such a way as not to become exhausted. To come in from a walk fagged out, is to loose all the benefit of it. It is a fact that when one has really learned how to walk, a rapid pace is far less tiresome than a slow one. This is on the principle that it is more tiresome to stand still than to move about. When one's legs begin to feel tired from a long walk, relief will often be experienced by breaking into a run.

In walking, the body should be erect, head up, chest thrown forward, and hips back. This is the only way to secure an erect position. Pay attention to the shoulders. The directions so often given to children, "Throw your shoulders back," is calculated to produce deformity, rather than otherwise. The shoulders must necessarily fall into line if the chest and hips take the right position. One will then be able to balance easily on the balls of the feet.

Then it should be understood that the feet and legs are for walking with, and that the rest of the body is to be carried. If the muscles of the legs are regularly exercised in the manner suggested last week, it will not be difficult to walk with the legs alone, instead of with the entire body, as so many do. It is to the ignorance of how to make proper use of legs, that so much of the fatigue of climbing stairs is due. Either walking or stair-climbing, if properly done, will ever have the tendency to injure the internal organs of any woman, or to cause the back to ache.

The feet and legs are composed of a series of levers and springs, all calculated for one purpose. The soul of the foot is arched, so that one may spring, and thus walk lightly; for it should be understood that the more lightly one walks the more is one benefited. Many people come down on their feet with all their weight, as though their legs were jointless, wooden pegs, and their feet clubs. Their tread across the floor is elephantine. This is most ungraceful, and at the same time injurious to the body, if one does much of it; for all the organs are jolted and shaken up.

If in walking one steps as nearly as possible on the ball of the foot, leaving it on the ground just long enough to get purchase for a quick spring ahead, the motion will be a gliding one, instead of a series of forward falls from which one is saved by throwing out the leg. By this means one can run across the floor or upstairs with far less disturbance to the inmates than by walking slowly by the falling, stiff-legged method. And the benefit derived from the exercise is incalculably greater. One gets exercise of the muscles, and accelerated circulation of the blood, without fatigue. In climbing stairs, instead of coming down heavily on the steps, one should set the foot down lightly, and let the muscles of legs lift the body up with a spring.

At another time we shall have something more to say about exercises for strength and warmth, that can be taken at any time, and and by the feeblest persons. EDITOR.

"Priesthood and Confession" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Priesthood and Confession. -There has been much comment over the "Round Table Conference" at Lambeth, presided over by the Bishop of London, concerning confession and priesthood in the church. Seemingly no conclusion was arrived at, which is not strange; for the fact that a body of learned theologians should be necessary to hold a conference over so simple a matter, makes it very certain that they will not come to an understanding of it thereby. The reason is, that they ignore the only real instruction on the subject, which is so plain that a child cannot mistaken. Two texts of Scripture are sufficient. The first treats of

THE PRIESTHOOD: "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light." 1 Peter ii. 9. This is to all who have come to Christ, the Living Stone, and thus "as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Verses 4, 5.

Then we have this rule concerning

CONFESSION: "Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working." James v. 16.

With these two texts as a basis, one need never be at a loss to know the truth. The difficulty arises only when a determined attempt is made to limit the priesthood to special class, whose business it shall be to hear the confessions of all the others.

"God's Mercy in Judgment" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

God's Mercy in Judgment. -In the midst of the plagues upon Egypt, which increased in severity only as Pharaoh's stubborn resistance increased, God said to him: "In very deed for this cause have I raised thee up [made thee to stand], for to show in thee My power; and that My name may be declared throughout the earth." Ex. ix. 16. Turn to Ex. xxxiv. 5-7, and we there learn that God's name is "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, and that will by no means clear the guilty." So it is evident that God wished to show His mercy to Pharaoh, and to forgive his sins; for His name is mercy and forgiveness. And, indeed, the Lord did again and again show mercy to Pharaoh. The king had only to say, "It is enough; entreat the Lord for me," and the plague ceased. This is always the case. "Though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies." Lam. iii. 32. In wrath He remembers mercy.

"Our Way and God's Way" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Our Way and God's Way. -"The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works." Ps. cxiv. 17. "As for God, His way is perfect." Ps xviii. 30.

That is the character of God's way; what about our way? Here is God's answer: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways." Isa. lv. 9.

Since God's way is right, and our way is infinitely below it, it is plain that our way is all wrong, no matter how perfect it seems to us. "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. xvi. 25.

It is clear enough, therefore, that the worst thing that can happen to us is to have our own way. If we do, we are sure to go wrong. "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Jer. x. 23. If we attempt to regulate anything, and try to direct the affairs, so as to have them according to our ideas, the result will surely be failure. Therefore we need to pray:-

"Show me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths." Ps. xxv. 4.

Then comes the promise:-

"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with Mine eye." Ps. xxxii. 8.

And the result is this: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in all law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways." Ps. cxix. 103.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

At a meeting of the English Church Union a few days ago, reported in the Church Times March 21, the question of Sunday observance occupied the whole of the time. There was very much discussion, but the gist of the matter is summed up in the following extract from the published report. The Rev. Canon Brooke said:-

"He did not think we could base our claim for the duty and privilege of Sunday observance on the fourth commandment alone. (Hear, hear.) The fourth commandment commemorated a certain event on a certain day; whereas the Christian Church commemorates another event on another day. (Hear, hear.)"

Thus it is evident that it is a case of the Church against the commandment. But this is not all. The Church Times in its report says:-

"What constitutes an ideal observance of Sunday is admittedly a debatable point with numbers of pious Christians, and it would be difficult to find any considerable body of persons whose ideals exactly coincide."

But those who follow the Bible are not left to the uncertainty of human ideals; for the same Lord who tells us that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and who declares Himself to be its Lord, has given us in His own life and example of how it should be kept. "He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil." As "God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it," He taught that it was to be a blessing not simply to those who observed it, but, through them, to all with whom they might come in contact. The life of Christ affords a perfect example of Sabbath keeping, both as regards the day itself, and the manner of its observance. And that is perfectly in harmony with the fourth commandment; for the law was in His heart and He said, "I have kept My Father's commandments."

April 10, 1902

"The Way of the Lord" The Present Truth 18, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

The great men of the Bible are the ones who have asked great things of the Lord. They had great faith, and faith is the basis of everything. He who has faith, that is, he who exercises it, has all things at his command; for "all things are possible to him that believeth." Faith in God is simply firm assurance that He has unlimited resources, and that He lives to give, and lives by giving.

Accordingly we find Abraham boldly asking the Lord to spare Sodom, and waxing bolder and bolder as His requests were granted. Jeremiah came with the utmost boldness to the throne of grace, and said to the Lord, "Do not abhor us for Thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of Thy glory; remember, break not Thy covenant with us." Jer. xiv. 21. Moses preferred a wonderful request, when he prayed, "Show me Thy glory;" but no one ever asked anything greater than this, which the psalmist more than once repeated: "Show Me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths."

God is great, and does wondrous things. "Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" "The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry." Nahum i. 3, 4. "The waters saw Thee, O God, the waters saw Thee; they were afraid; the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water; the skies sent out a sound; thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of Thy thunder was in the heavens; lightnings lightened the world; the earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known." Ps. lxxvii. 16-19.

This mighty God who dwells "in the high and holy place," inhabiteth eternity, who fills heaven and earth, who has His way in the whirlwind and the storm and the sea, is One to whom we are taught to pray, "Show Me Thy way; teach me Thy paths." What a daring request!

Strange as it may seem, it is just because God is so great that He fills heaven and earth, that we may confidently expect to have our prayers answered, that we may

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know His ways. Although He is a God that hides Himself, He is too great to be concealed. Turn whichever way we will, we cannot help seeing Him, if we have our eyes open.

Wherever God is (and He is everywhere), He is always at work; and it is by His works that we learn His ways. Of the unbelieving children of Israel, He said that although they saw His works forty years they had not known His ways (Heb. iii. 9, 10); and this was wholly inexcusable, because "He made known His ways unto Moses, and His acts unto the children of Israel." Ps. ciii. 7. "He led them forth by the right way;" for "as for God, His way is perfect."

It is in Christ that all God's works are wrought, and He is "the Way." First of all, then, and last of all, as well, we must study the life and works of Christ, if we would know the ways of God. Whoever has seen Christ, has seen God, the Father of all. Knowing this, we can understand that "good and upright is the Lord; therefore will He teach sinners in the way. The meek will He guide in judgment; and the meek will He teach His way. All the paths of the Lord [even though they be in the whirlwind, the storm, and the sea] are mercy and truth." This was demonstrated at the Red Sea and on the stormy sea of Galilee, when to relieve the fears of the terrified disciples, Christ said to the winds and waves, "Peace, be still!"

But our feebleness cannot endure the whirlwind and the raging of the sea; the sun dazzles our eyes; and the starry firmament, which shows God's handiwork, overwhelms our puny minds with its immensity. Therefore we turn our eyes to the earth beneath, where He works in silence, and there we learn His ways. In the growth of the tender plants which His Word brings forth; in the unfolding of bud and leaf and flower, we see the glory, the beauty, and the tender mercy of our God, whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us.

"Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary; who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doest wonders: Thou hast declared Thy strength among the people." To some it may seem a long way from the humble plant to the sanctuary of God; but it is not; for He fills all things. Planted in the house of the Lord, the righteous flourish like the palm tree and the cedar of Lebanon in the courts of our God. His people are His sanctuary; and by studying His way in the plants of the field, we may learn His way in the hearts and lives of men in whom He dwells; and thus we shall know how and to what we are to submit ourselves. "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown into it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations."

"Who hath despised the day of small things?" Whoever has, does not know the mighty power of God. Men are accustomed to associate the idea of power with noise and pomp, such as the earthquake, or the awfully majestic storm-cloud that devastates the earth. It is true that God has His way there: but no earthquake or storm ever known on earth could be compared, as an exhibition of power, with that which God puts forth every spring day in such absolute quietness that few people ever think of it.

Look at that tiny crack in the ground. What causes it? Only a little plant, perhaps a blade of grass, peering out into the sunlight. It made no noise, yet it has moved a portion of the earth. Now remember that there are innumerable myriads of plants and grass blades doing the same thing, and you will readily see that if there were an earthquake that shook and rent the earth as greatly as they do in silence, every work of man would be thrown down and swallowed up. But God reveals His greatest power in weakness. Therefore "trust ye in the Lord for ever," and "in quietness and confidence shall be your strength;" for God's way will be revealed in your life.

"'What God Hath Cleansed.' Acts x. 34-48" The Present Truth 18, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

(Acts x. 34-48.)⁵1

While there are some wonderful truths stated in the verses assigned for this lesson, the great truth intended to be conveyed by the whole narrative, of which this is but a small fragment, can be learned only by taking it all into consideration.

"The Gospel of the circumcision" was committed to Peter; that is, his mission was specially to the Jews, as Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles; yet Paul's first message in every place was to the Jews, and Peter was the one of the apostles whom God made choice of first to break through the partition walls of prejudice, and preach the Gospel to the Gentiles.

There was significance in this. God would teach that "there is no difference, "because He "hath made of one blood all nations of men." The Jews were but a people called from among the nations. Abraham, the father of the race, was by birth a Gentile, a heathen, and a child of God by faith. In keeping with the choice of Abraham, and the promise that in him should all the nations of the earth be blessed, from time to time all through the history of the Jewish people, sincere souls from among the heathen nations were incorporated with them. To mention only one instance, we have the harlot Rahab, a Canaanite, who became an Israelites, and was one of the ancestors of David, and so of Jesus. So God sent Peter, the Apostle to the Jews, first to the Gentiles, in order that he might there learn the truth concerning God's people Israel.

All are acquainted with the vision by which Peter's prejudices were removed. In a trance he saw a vessel descending to him, "as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth; wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven." Acts x. 11-16.

We are not left for a moment in doubt as to the meaning of this vision. There is no room for conjecture. It was scarcely past, when three men from the Roman Centurion Cornelius came and called for Peter, and God said to him "Get thee down, and go with them, nothing doubting, for I have sent them."

The next day they reached the house of Cornelius, and found a company of his kinsmen and friends assembled, waiting to hear Peter speak the Word of God. To them Peter said: "Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing [according to Jewish custom, but not according to God's ordinance] for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but

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God hath showed me that I should not to call any man, and or unclean. Therefore I came unto you without gainsaying." Acts x. 28-29.

Now put the two things together. When Peter in vision saw the vessel full of all kinds of beasts and creeping things, and spoke of them as common and unclean, God said, "what God hath cleansed, that call not thou, common;" and the next day Peter, referring to the vision, said "God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean." The case stands thus:

a. Peter was told not to call anything common that God had cleansed.

b. Peter declared that God had showed him that he was not to call any man, or unclean.

c. Therefore the inevitable conclusion is that there is not any man that God has not cleansed.

"What! some reader exclaims in astonishment," do you believe in universal salvation? "I believe that God has provided salvation for all men, but not that all men will be saved. The fact that all have been cleansed, does not show that all will be saved; for to many it has happened according to the true proverb: "The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." 2 Peter ii. 22.

"The grace of God hath appeared bring salvation to all men." Titus ii. 11. The first words of Peter's address are in acknowledgment of a truth, new to him, but as old as mankind: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of Him." And then he proceeded to remind them of the word that they knew, "which God said unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ." Acts x. 36.

But it was not to one class merely, that God preached peace by Jesus Christ. Hundreds of years before Peter spoke, he said through Isaiah: "I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him." Isa. lvii. 19. Peace is proclaimed to all; and this Peter recognised by saying, "He is Lord of all." "There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him." Rom. x. 12.

It was "when He had made purification of sins" that Christ "sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Heb. i. 3. When Jesus hung on the cross, He cried, "It is finished." He in whom are all things, in whom all things consist, sanctified Himself, and poured out His life. He tasted death for every man. "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." 2 Cor. v. 19. To all mankind God calls, "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins; return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee." There is not a soul that lives on earth except by virtue of the cross of Christ, and by the blood that He shed. Therefore our very existence is an assurance to us of Divine pardon; and if we will accept it as such our calling, and election, and cleansing will be sure.

God commissions us to proclaim that all men are reconciled by the death of His Son. He has taken the sins of the world upon Himself, imputing no man's iniquity to him. Christ "gave Himself for our sins," and He claims them as His own; He demands them as His by right. Trembling, despondent sinner, would you dispute the purchase, or presume to haggle with Him about the price? Why not rather let Him have that which He gave His life to purchase, and which, if you cling to it, will cost you yours? Yield all to Him, and you will approve the measure of His love and power. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"

"The Editor's Private Corner. Between Death and the Resurrection" The Present Truth 18, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

A correspondent writes:-

"The condition of the soul between death and the resurrection is a thing which I have never been able to solve satisfactorily. I sometimes think we are not intended to solve the mystery."

If it were left to our wisdom to "solve," it would remain a mystery for ever; but "those things which are revealed belong unto us and our children;" and the state of the dead is one concerning which God has taken pains to give us special information. In 1 Thess. iv. 13 we read: "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." Since God, who inspired the words of Paul, does not wish us to be ignorant on the subject, it is evident that we may understand it by simply giving heed to His Word. So we read further:-

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For 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 prevent 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." 1 Thess. iv. 14-17.

Notice that "the dead in Christ" are said to be "asleep." When Stephen was stoned by the priestly mob, "he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." Acts vii. 60. That leaves us in no doubt as to the condition of the dead. We well know that sound sleep is a condition of utter unconsciousness. The one who is asleep takes no note of the passing time. One may awake after half-an-hour's sleep, and think that he has slept hours; and on the other hand a night's sleep may seem but as a moment. The sleeper is totally unconscious of everything that is going on around him; and so asleep, in which there is breath left in the body, is used as a perfect representation of death, in which the breath has departed.

What more need be said? It is evident that those who are asleep are not singing praises. They are not with the Lord; for it is not till the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, and the trump of God, that they are raised, and, with those who have remained alive until the Lord's coming, are taken to be with the Lord. "So shall we ever be with the Lord." How? By the resurrection of the sleeping saints, and the translation of the living, at the second coming of Christ.

As a matter of fact there is no "mystery" whatever about the state of the dead. We are unfortunately too familiar with death not to have had ocular demonstration of the fact that the condition of the dead is in every respect the exact opposite of that of the living. But there is a mystery connected with them nevertheless, and that is the giving of life to them again. This is set forth in the following words, which further emphasise the fact that the dead are not now with the Lord, but are in the dust of the earth:-

"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. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Cor. xv. 51, 54.

It may be asked, What difference does it make what the condition of the dead is, or what we believe about it? How can our belief about this matter affect our lives as Christians?

Whether we know what difference it makes, or not, it is evident that it is important for us to know the truth, else Inspiration would not express such solicitude that we should not remain ignorant. Only those things are unimportant, of which the Scripture says nothing; everything revealed in the Bible is of the utmost importance.

The reason given for telling us about those that are asleep, is that we should not sorrow as those who have no hope. "The righteous hath hope in his death," and this hope is the resurrection at the coming of Christ. Note that all depends upon the coming of the Lord. If He were not coming, there would be no hope for those who have fallen asleep, nor for the living either, for that matter. "If the dead rise not, . . . then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." 1 Cor. xv. 16, 18.

There is one reason why we should know the truth, and that is, in order that we may not be led astray by lying spirits. The spirits personate dead men, and come with messages to their friends. There is the most abundant and conclusive evidence that these Spiritualist manifestations are of a supernatural character; and those who believe that their dead friends are in heaven, or who are in doubt as to their condition, can easily be made to believe that the communications purporting to come from them are messages direct from heaven. It has often been the case that men have been led to abandon their faith in Christ, through giving heed to these "seducing spirits;" for when men are in doubt on one item of revelation, it is easy to lead them to doubt others. But one who is instructed in the Holy Scriptures, that these Spiritualist manifestations are of a supernatural character; and those who believe that their dead friends are in heaven, or who are in doubt as to their condition, can easily be made to believe that the communications purporting to come from them are messages direct from heaven. But one who is instructed in the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make us "wise unto salvation," and who holds to them, cannot be deceived by any pretended communications from the dead, no matter what "tests" the spirits may give. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable and necessary.

One more item is worthy of special note in the comfort which the Apostle Paul gives to the sorrowing ones. They are not to sorrow as those that have no hope, because God will bring the sleeping ones

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from the grave. But when he comes to the grand climax, after stating that when the Lord descends the dead shall rise first, and then we shall be "caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air," it is not said, "and so shall we ever be together;" but, "so shall we ever be with the Lord." That is the "blessed hope" above all others. It is the being with Him that makes it possible for friends to be united; for apart from Him there is nothing. There is no real friendship or relationship even in this world, except in Christ; there can be no perfect union except in Him. In Him all fulness dwells; in Him all relationship is summed up.

This is what makes the loss of all things, and even of friends, endurable; for He is the same, and His years do not fail. Though we lose everything, yet in Him we have everything; and so, when in the world to come we rejoice at the meeting with friends, it will be known and recognised that the love of each is but a branch from the mighty stream flowing from the heart of Christ.

"The Editor's Burden" The Present Truth 18, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

The task of editing a paper is by no means an easy one under any circumstances; but in countries where the Government is paternal and autocratic it becomes a burden indeed. The following paragraph is said to be the announcement of a Chinese editor after he had been harassed by the authorities beyond the limits of his endurance, because of his efforts to publish a progressive and independent journal:-

In future nothing which may be described as new will appear in these columns, and thereby prevent people's understandings from being enlightened. None but bigoted members of the conceited literati will ever be called to assist upon the editorial staff. We shall confine ourselves to the affairs of the last dynasty, carefully avoiding all reference to the family that now rules China.

We shall give our special attention to fortune-telling, witchcraft and kindred subjects of truth, of which no one has any doubt. A place of supreme importance will be given to geomancy and its reverend teachings, and we shall show that a man's good luck or misfortune is controlled by the stars.

We shall respectfully beg his majesty to observe the old customs, and that the mandarins follow their excellent and time-honoured methods of transacting business. We shall resist with all our strength every attempt to introduce reforms, and lest we should be tempted to record any current events, we resolve from this time forward to dispense with the services of all reporters as a useless waste of money.

We hope in this way to earn the goodwill and support of all our readers, firmly believing that if we do according to this honest and admirable advice the benefit will be manifested to all.

Doubtless this is sarcasm, if it ever was written; but it exactly illustrates the position one must take if he would not offend anybody; and it is indeed doubtful if that would succeed. The editor's rightful office is that of a teacher of truth, and his duty is to publish it regardless of personal considerations. "Preach the Word," is the commandment for the writer as well as for the speaker; and while always "speaking of the truth in love," he should never make the slightest compromise with error. Not what people desire, but what they need, ought to be the guide of the editor in the office, as well as the preacher and the pulpit. This course will not bring the largest patronage or pecuniary profit; but he who considers those things will never please God; and that is the sole business of men.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

The busy bee, if she could talk, might be able to tell you how of the flower dust is carried from one flower to another to make good seed. For she is a little gardener that God uses to help in this work.

Have you ever seen a velvet Bumble-bee with legs and head powdered with gold? This golden powder came from the last flower that she went to for honey. Now see which she does with it.

Down goes for head into the scented cup of another flower, and she comes up laden with honey, she leaves gold dust in the heart of the flower, to pay for what she has carried off.

Now do you see one reason why God has filled the flowers with honey? It is to draw the bees to work among them. Their colours and scent tell the bees were the honey is to be found.

In giving its honey to the bee, the flower is working for its own good. It gets a blessing in return. And in helping the flowers to bear good seed, the bee is working for the good of its race. It is helping to provide flowers that will give the bees a fresh store of honey. How wonderful is the work of God, and how much there is to learn in each little flower that He has told us to consider.

"Easter" The Present Truth 18, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

The Daily Chronicle of March 29, the day before Easter Sunday, had the following as a leading editorial note:-

"Easter is one more instance of the way in which the early missionaries converted an existing heathen ceremony into a Christian feast. There was an old Saxon god named Eostre, who presided over the festival of spring; and as the "Sunday of Joy," or the "Bright Day," as Easter Day used to be called, was timed to fall on the first Sunday after the full moon that was nearest to March 21, the ceremony connected with this god was a convenient one to adopt. Consequently a certain amount of the heathen ritual has been absorbed in the Christian, such as, for instance, the prominence given to fire, which still survives in the burning of candles and tapers during the services, and in the lighting of bonfires, which is a custom that prevails at Eastertime in several European countries.

"Another Easter custom that carries us back to heathen times is the giving of Easter eggs. The egg was held sacred in the oldest religions of the world, notably in those of the Egyptians and Persians, by whom it was looked upon as a symbol of new life. For this reason it was, of course, specially adapted for use in the Christian observance of the Resurrection; and in England the Easter eggs used to be blessed by the Church and kept all the year as a charm against illness. It is doubtful, however, whether most of the Christians who by their Easter eggs stuffed with chocolates and other frivolities, know that they are linking their religion with that of the ancient world, or indeed, are aware that they are observing a religious rite at all."

God said that His people should be "the head, and not the tail;" yet His professed people take no shame to themselves that they have borrowed their chief religious festivals from the heathen. Since "the customs of the peoples are vain," what can be said of the worship in which they are adopted, except the words of Christ recorded in Matt. xv. 9.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

A glance at the list of services published in the daily papers on Saturday, March 29, is sufficient to justify the statement that "Nonconformity is now coming more generally into line with the Establishment in the religious observance of Good Friday."

Old age is a matter of feeling, and not of years. This is shown by the exploit of an Italian named Pietro Gigioni, aged ninety-seven, who, in order to collect a debt of ?2, has just walked all the way from Rome to Florence, a distance of 192 miles, in four' days, arriving at his journeys' end in good condition.

In a sermon on St. Francis of Assisi, in the Church Times of March 27, the Rev. James Adderley speaks of the Church of England as "our self-complacent, statistic-loving, sublimely contented Church." That would be thought harsh language spoken by a Nonconformist, but confession is not calumny.

It seems that the Mohammedans in London are sufficiently numerous to be given serious consideration. For example, an East-end baker, finding that hot cross buns were objected to by his Mohammedan customers, made up a portion of his stock with the crescent in place of the cross, when they were promptly disposed of.

Strikingly suggestive and pathetic were the words which are given as among the last of Mr. Rhodes's utterances: "So little done, so much to do." Mr. Rhodes was a very active man, yet what a trifling amount can be accomplished in fifty or even a hundred years, compared with the vast amount there is to be done. Happy is he whose work on this earth is of such a nature that he can confidently look forward to eternity in which to carry it forward.

The Church Times notes "with the deepest regret and action of the Bishop of Durham." The action against which it so sorrowful a protest, is indicated in the following statement: "We do not recall any other instance of a Bishop definitely improving, by his own practice, the innovation of Evening Communion. Here is a novelty in support of which there cannot be alleged even the occasional usage of three hundred years." It says that communion in the evening "is justified on the ground of the hour of the Institution," it being well-known that Christ celebrated the first communion at night, but feelingly asks, "If this can justify a departure from the uniform practice of the Church, what will remain binding?" The implied confession that if Christ's example were to be followed, no custom of the Church would stand, is very suggestive. Where would "the Church" be if all should begin to follow the example of Christ?

The deaths from plague in the Punjab now average 70,000 a month.

Official returns show that the total revenue for the United Kingdom during the year ending last month amounted to ?152,600,006 and ?73-an increase of ?12,683,013.

Those who congratulate themselves on their "moderation" in the use of intoxicating liquors, and to count themselves "temperate," because they never get drunk, should give heed to the warning uttered by Dr. Newsholme, who says that alcohol is "one of the chief causes of premature old age." As an officer of Health of long experience, the following words of his, quoted in the Christian of March 27, are worthy of serious attention:-

"It is not sufficiently recognised that these evil causes are very commonly produced by the systematic indulgence in an amount of alcoholic drinks that would by most be regarded as moderate, and that those who, while never becoming intoxicated, daily take a considerable amount of spirits (especially if taken apart from meals) are much more likely to suffer in health and prematurely break down than the labourer who may get drunk once a fortnight, and be a teetotaler in the intervals."

Some time ago, Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson, F. R. S., consultant surgeon to the London Hospital, undertook a journey to South Africa for the purpose of studying the local diffusion of leprosy, with special reference to the causes of its prevalence in that country. The Times of March 26th, contains a summary of his conclusions, which we give herewith.

As a result of his investigations, Mr. Hutchinson concludes that "the primary cause of the disease is the use of food of badly-cured salt fish. Such fishes is prepared at Cape Town and various places on the South and West coasts, and is sent inland in large quantities for consumption by the agricultural population, and at the industrial centres. Whilst believing that this has been by far the chief agent in its diffusions, Mr. Hutchinson thinks that he has obtained conclusive evidence that the malady may, in exceptional circumstances, be communicated from person to person. He does not believe that it is either infectious or contagious, but that it may be communicated by eating food contaminated by a leper's hands."

Mr. Hutchinson suggests, as a preventive of the disease, legislative control of the fish-curing establishments. That would undoubtedly help; but a far better preventive is personal control of one's diet to the extent of wholly abstaining from either sold or fresh fish. This report suggests a most important lesson in dietetic, which we shall before long give in our health department.

"God's Wise and Tender Guidance" The Present Truth 18, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

God's Wise and Tender Guidance. -We are told that when the children of Israel went out of Egypt, "God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt; but God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea." Ex. xiii. 17, 18. Here is a lesson for us to remember when we do not get the "expected end" as quickly as we think we ought to. God is leading us by the safest way, and instead of murmuring at the delay we ought always to thank Him for preserving us from even the sight of danger.

When the children of Israel had safely crossed the Red Sea, Moses and all the people sang a song containing these words: "The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation; He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation." Ex. xv. 2. Thus it is the old version; but the revision has, "He is my God, and I will praise Him," instead of "I will prepare Him an habitation." Without discussing the similarity of the Hebrew words, we may accept both versions as correct, each expressing the same thing in different manner; for since God inhabits the praises of Israel (Ps. xxii. 3), it is evident that whoever praises Him prepares a habitation for Him.

"Bearing the Yoke" The Present Truth 18, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Bearing the Yoke. -"It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth," wrote the prophet of old. Lam. iii. 27. This truth is illustrated in a very simple, homely manner, in the story of the bees in our "Children's Corner" this week. Everyone who has had the experience will corroborate that prophet's testimony; for one will rarely if ever hear a man regretting hardships that he has met and conquered. In his book "Up from Slavery," Mr. Booker T. Washington after telling of the difficulties that he encountered in the early days of the Industrial Institute that now has world-wide fame, says:-"As I look back now over that part of the struggle, I am glad that we had it, I am glad that we endured all those discomforts and inconveniences. I am glad that our students had to dig out the place for their kitchen and dining-room. I am glad that our first boarding-place was in that dismal, ill-lighted, and damp basement. . . It means a great deal, I think, to start off on a foundation which one has made for one's self."

"Ruinous Rule" The Present Truth 18, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Ruinous Rule .-There are some people who have such a deep-seated desire to rule, that if not allowed to have their will and regulate everything according to their ideas, they will do all in their power to injure the cause that they desire to lead. They will either rule or ruin. Thus they show their inability to do that for which they think themselves so eminently qualified; for he who will either rule or ruin, would ruin if he ruled. We can learn to govern only by learning to submit and obey, even as Jesus is highly exalted and entrusted with the governorship of the universe because He humbled Himself and took upon Him the form of a servant. He who has the most complete self-control is he who has entirely surrendered himself to the will of God.

"Accepted in the Beloved" The Present Truth 18, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Accepted in the Beloved. -"Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink the wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works." Eccl. ix. 7.

This language is addressed to all,-to each one of us in particular. God hath "made us accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. i. 6) and therein has accepted our works also.

How can our works be accepted, since we are not saved by works, and we are at the best "unprofitable servants?"-It is just because we are accepted in the Beloved. It is "not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves," but by the works wrought in God; for "it is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect." Ps. xviii. 32.

In Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, "and in Him ye are made full." Col. ii. 9, 10, R.V. When we know this, it is easy to see how God now accepteth our works.

What blessed comfort there is in this. We know that we are feeble and ignorant, and that our best work is very faulty. We ourselves are conscious of it, and if we were not, friends kind and unkind would not fail to remind us of it. Yet we need not lose heart in the least, for if our work was done in faith and love God accepted it and made it perfect. We need never, therefore, be disheartened or downcast.

And, on the other hand, this knowledge will keep us from being conceited, or elated by praise or flattery. For when one has the assurance that he pleases God, the approbation of men will be tame, and one cannot depend on it for encouragement; while the recollection that God accepts our work only because He has made it perfect, will keep us from self-satisfaction over His approval. We shall only "joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

"My Lord,-For nineteen years I have led an abstemious life in the hope of this day."

This remarkable answer of Lord Roberts to Lord Lansdowne's request that he would go to South Africa to take supreme command in December, 1899, has just been published for the first time in the "Life of Lord Roberts." What a lesson for everyone who has his mind upon the incorruptible crown! "Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperant in all things." Here is a man holding himself in hand, not merely while actively engaged in some great work, but for nineteen years in expectation of it, that he might be ready for the call when it came. It is the example that we have inspired authority for following. "Now they do it, to obtain a corruptible crown." How much more, then, ought week to do it. If we do not thus live continually on the alert, what hope can we have even of running the race, to say nothing of winning it.

There has been some correspondence in the Daily Chronicle about the lack of proper attention to poor out-patients on the part of hospital doctors; but "a medical student" shows that while there might be failures on one side, those who receive most are often most exacting, and least appreciative, and then he tells this truth:-

"At least half of the patients at a hospital have no one to blame for their diseases but themselves. Ignorance, vice, and alcohol, account for fifty per cent. of the patients the students experiment upon. As a medical student I owe a great debt of gratitude to the brewers."

So we must have brewers in order that doctors may get experience. But why do they need experience? In order to be able to treat disease caused by the brewers' business. Then if we had no brewers, we should have fewer physicians, and the world would be better off for the loss of both.

April 17, 1902

"The Badge of Honour" The Present Truth 18, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

The apostles had been cast into prison, and miraculously delivered, then brought before the council and threatened and shamefully beaten with rods. Made to lie down upon their faces on the floor, upon their backs they had received thirty-strokes, and one is enough to draw blood. But of pain we may not speak; little does a man care for that. The sting of the stroke soon ceases, but not so the shame of having been beaten like a dog. Even when there has been no physical pain, how the thought of the indignity of the lash will rankle in a man's heart, begetting burning hate for the perpetrators of the deed, and a thirst for revenge.

Thus is it with the natural man, but not so with the disciples of Jesus the Christ. "They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name." Acts v. 41. Shame for His name's sake was their badge of honour. It stamped them as not only loyal servants, but companions, of Him who hid not His face from shame and spitting, who as King of Glory was crowned with thorns, and whose throne of power was the cross. "In His humiliation His judgment was taken away, and who shall declare His generation?" Aye, what tongue can declare it? On the cross of shame "lifted up from the earth," God hath "highly exalted Him" "far above all heavens," a Prince and a Saviour, King of kings and Lord of Lords. None can declare His generation, except the Most High, who proclaims: "Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee."

He has dignified disgrace, and made shame glorious. Suffering and pain are honour and pleasure with and for Him. And thou, O My soul, in what hast thou rested content, and even made thy boast?-In this, that thou hast fared so well, and hast found favour with the people. Alas! blessed of God undoubtedly, yet not counted worthy of the highest honour. Not yet worthy to suffer! Thou hast pined for appreciation, and hast been pleased with words of human approbation and gratitude; but thou hast not suffered shame. Unworthy! Perhaps thou hast shrunk from reproach, and hast even indignantly repelled false accusation; ah, thrice unworthy!

"Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to Him whom man despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhorreth, 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." Then welcome the shame, the spitting, and the cross. "He said unto Me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Therefore now henceforth will I "take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong."

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Yet when all has been done and endured, what does it amount to, compared with Him whose visage and form were "so marred more than any man"? What are all "the sufferings of this present time" when compared with those of Him who "hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows"?

Who can look upon the cross of Christ and say that he has ever done or suffered anything. "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." "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." He gave Himself for us, that He might exhibit us, "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing."

How shall we in the world to come talk about shame and suffering, with no marks to bear witness to what we say? What evidence of our worthiness can we present? We cannot; He who in His great love for us "emptied Himself," and "poured out His soul unto death," has taken one advantage of us, and reserved for Himself one sign of superiority, which will distinguish Him throughout eternity: His head, His hands, His feet, His side, will bear the scars of the thorns, the nails, and the spear-the marks of His suffering and shame. These will be His glory and "the hiding of His power." And thus will boasting for ever be excluded from the universe, and all will with one voice you unite in saying, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."

"'The Same God Over All.' Acts xi. 1-18" The Present Truth 18, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

(Acts xi. 1-18.)⁶1

When Peter return to Jerusalem, after his visit to the Roman centurion Cornelius and his friends to whom he preached, and who were converted, he was greeted with the words: "Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them." The men who said this were professed Christians, from among the Jews; but they had not yet learned that God loves all men alike. "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. The measure of his love for the world, is the gift of Christ, and since Christ "died for all," it follows that God's love for every man on earth is equal to his love for Christ. Christ's prayer to the Father was "that the world may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast love them, as thou hast loved me." John xvii. 23.

Neither had those Jewish Christians yet learned the Scriptures. They did not even know the history of Abraham, from whom they boasted their descent. They had a false idea that God would save only circumcised people; whereas Abraham "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. Abraham was taken from among the heathen, and it was as a Gentile that his faith was counted unto him for righteousness, and he received the Gospel promise that in him should all the families of the earth be blessed.

Those men of Jerusalem have men as successors to-day. There are many who do not yet know the Scriptures, that Israel is to be composed of people from every nation on earth, and that the Jews indeed are only those who through the faith of Jesus keep the law of God. Rom. ii. 25-27. But there are still other followers of those narrow-minded men-men whose conscience is of the same stamp as that of the little boy who "thought God was a Presbyterian." They seem not to have heard that God has already poured out His Spirit on all flesh, and that "Whosoever shall believe on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

One good thing is told of those men at Jerusalem. When they heard Peter's statement how God had broken down his prejudice, and sent him to the heathen, and had given them the Holy Ghost, "they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." Yes; that has God done for all mankind. The free gift has come upon all men unto justification of life. Rom. v. 18. God has "commanded the blessing, [even] life for evermore," to all men; the only question is whether or not they are willing to keep his commandment. We ought to "know that his commandment is life everlasting." John xii. 50.

God never built up any wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles, or between any other nations on earth. He "made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth." He never made it unlawful for a Jew to eat with a Gentile. The law forbidding that was made by the self-righteous Jews; but Jesus ignored it thus bringing on himself the accusation of the Pharisees: "This man receiveth

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sinners and eateth with them." Luke xv. 2. Whoever learns that all men receive food from the same Hand, will not be troubled over questions of caste, or society distinctions. All do eat at the same table, whatever their pretensions and precautions.

Elijah thought in his day that he was the only worshipper of God in all Israel; but God informed him that he had seven thousand that had not bowed the knee to Baal. We are all in danger of thinking that the salvation of the world depends on us alone, and that none can be saved except those who come under our instruction. The Judgment Day will reveal the fact that thousands from the dark portions of the earth, who have never known what preaching is, and have never seen a Bible, and could not read it if they had, have nevertheless yielded to the working of the law written in their hearts, and are saved equally with us.

The thing we each need to learn, and it will tend to increase our humility, and so our usefulness as "labourers together with God," is that God benefits us to work in His cause for our own benefit, rather than for any good we can do. We need experience, and God kindly allows us to get it, and He patiently makes complete the work that we mar in acquiring it. Our work is none the less important because thousands will be saved who have never heard of it nor of us. The wisest one in the world knows so little compared with what there is to be known, that the most ignorant one in the world is not far behind him. so each one who has received light must walk in the whole of it, not rejecting a single ray, and must let it all shine out brightly for others, not stopping to urge that we don't need it all, since other good men have not seen it. If God has given us more light than some others have had, who are undoubtedly saved, it is not because we are better than they, but because we needed more in order to be saved.

Let us then thank God that He not only forgives sins, but that He also gives the contrition and repentance which lead to forgiveness. All is of His free grace. "The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works." 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."

"The Editor's Private Corner. A Personal Devil" The Present Truth 18, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

"A friend and myself were talking about Satan a few days ago. He holds the opinion that there is no such spiritual being has Satan, but that man's mind being evil, that is what keeps him to send, and that there is no other tempter. He quotes the temptation of our first parents as the foundation of his argument, as no spiritual being known as Satan is mentioned in that connection. As there is such a diversity of opinion, I should esteem it a favour if you would take up this important question at an early date."

This is indeed an important question, and intensely practical,-one that personally concerns every one. Ignorance of the reality of the tempter, and of his methods, and consequently of how to resist him, has been the rule of many; but it is not necessary for us to be "ignorant of his devices." The Bible gives us full information concerning him, plainly teaching that there is an evil spirit, a real personality, called Satan.

SATAN THE SERPENT IN EDEN

Let us begin with the basis of your friend's argument, the temptation of our first parents. True, the record in Genesis, being very brief, does not describe the person of the tempter; but it does clearly teach us that a real, visible creature, having the form of a serpent, addressed Eve, and beguiled her with lies. Read all whole of the third chapter of Genesis.

Now with that read Rev. xii. 7-9: "And there was war in heaven; Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was there place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels with him."

Here we find that the one who tempted Eve was Satan in the form of a serpent. This shows not only that he is a real being, but that to use your expression, he is "a spiritual being,"-that is, he is a spirit, the same as the heavenly angels, of whom he once was one. Being a spirit, he can assume various forms, making himself visible or invisible at will. As the Spirit of God manifested Himself in the form of a dove, so this evil spirit revealed himself as a serpent. But Satan, the deceiver, does that which the Spirit of Truth will not do-he often assumes the forms of other intelligent beings, not only of angels of light (2 Cor. xi. 14), but of men, making people believe that they see and communicate with their dead friends.

THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN

Reading farther in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, we find that Satan is the accuser of the brethren, "which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony;" and great trouble is brought to the earth, because the devil is come to its inhabitants "having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

LIKE A ROARING LION

This agrees with 1 Peter v. 8, which is a warning against a real tempter: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." This cannot apply to the evil disposition of any man.

MEETING WITH THE SONS OF GOD

With the last two texts quoted,-the one which speaks of Satan as the accuser of the brethren, and this which says that he walks about as a roaring lion, seeking to devour whomsoever he can, read the story of Job in the first and second chapters of that book. "There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going

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to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." Then when God called Satan's attention to Job, he began to accuse him, saying that he served God only for gain. "And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord."

SEEKING TO KILL JOB

Again we read that after coming to another assembly of the sons of God, and accusing Job, "Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore work boils." Here we have something besides man's evil disposition. We see that Satan is as real a being as the sons of God. In keeping with his character he accused Job before God, and tried to kill him. From this we should learn that our only safety lies in God's protecting care. If we take ourselves out of His hand, our lives are not for a moment secure against the attack of Satan. Thus we see how significant is that just before the Apostle Peter warns us that our adversary, the devil, goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, he tells us to cast all our care upon God, saying, "He careth for you."

TEMPTING CHRIST

Take the case of the temptation of Christ. He had no evil disposition, but He was tempted by the devil. It is impossible to deny that Satan is a real being, without denying the reality of the temptation of Jesus. We read that after trying to get Jesus to make bread of stones, "the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on a high pinnacle of the temple." Matt. iv. 5. Again, "the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto Him, all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then said Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth Him" (Matt. iv. 8-11), but only "for a season." Luke iv. 13. Many times Satan sought to seduce and destroy the Saviour, but was unsuccessful.

No one who believes this account of the temptation of Jesus can avoid believing that Satan is a real being, with wonderful power. As before stated, Jesus had no evil disposition; but even if He had, an evil disposition could not carry Him from the wilderness to the top of the temple in Jerusalem, or to the top of a high mountain, and show Him the kingdoms of the earth, and beg to be worshipped.

BOUND AND DESTROYED

One more out of the multitude of references to Satan must suffice for the present. In the twentieth chapter of Revelation we read these words of John in prophetic vision:-

"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 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." "And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 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 is as the sand of the sea. 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. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone."

Here we have the account of the final disposition of Satan; but from first to last we see that he is described as a person-an evil spirit, as real as are any of the angels who are sent forth to do service for those who shall inherit salvation; only his purpose is to destroy instead of to save.

THE TEMPTED ONE ENTICED THROUGH HIS OWN LUST

But your friend is impatient to ask what is meant by the statement that "every man

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is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." James i. 14. He wishes to ask how this can be reconciled with the idea of a personal tempter. Well, even if I were obliged to say that I do not know, that would not invalidate the Scriptures that we have already read; nor would it show that this text is out of harmony with them. It would merely show my lack of knowledge. However, I am glad to be able to help you in this case also, for I find no difficulty in it.

You must bear in mind that Jesus "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Heb. iv. 15. "He knew no sin." Therefore we know that to be tempted is not a sin. But the possession of an evil mind is sin; therefore it is effectually settled that Jesus was not tempted by an evil disposition.

DIVERS LUSTS AND PLEASURES

We must first learn that the word "lust" does not necessarily always mean sin. The word simply means "desire," or pleasure and the desire may be for that which is good, as well as for that which is evil. We have the word direct from the Scandinavian and German languages, in which it is still in common use in a good sense. For example: The first psalm, in both German and Danish reads that the man is blessed who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful but he has lust to the law of the Lord." That sort of lust is certainly lawful. It is only when one lusts after evil things, and is ruled and corrupted by his lust, that sin comes in.

This is made plain in James i. 15, where we read that "when lust hath conceived it bringeth fourth sin." There is in this such a wonderful lesson, so strengthening an elevating, that we must study it together for a few minutes, and then think of it for a long time.

Let us first consider this word "lust" a little further: the Greek word from which it is translated is found in Luke xxii. 15, where it is rendered desire. Thus, Jesus sat down in the upper room with His twelve apostles, "and He said unto them, with desire I have desire to eat this Passover with you." Also in Phil. i. 23, where Paul says that he has "a desire [lust] to depart, and to be with Christ." The verb from which the noun is derived occurs also in 1 Peter i. 12, where we read that the angels desire (have lust) to look into the things which are preached to us in the Gospel. So we see that a person may have lust to that which is good, and that such lust is not sin.

TEMPTED BUT SINLESS

And now we come back to the wonderful lesson taught by the temptation of Jesus. It presents to us the possibility of a life of holiness that is most glorious to contemplate.

Christ was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. "Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed;" and not till lust has conceived does it bring forth sin. But you say that we often desire evil things. That is true; but such desire is sin itself, and not merely temptation to sin. "The thought of foolishness is sin." "The law is spiritual," and is "exceeding broad," covering not merely the outward act of transgression, but the secret purpose, or even the desire to transgress. Such desire Jesus never had, for He did know sin, and knew no sin, yet He was tempted.

Now I hear your friend exclaim, "Surely, Jesus was not enticed by His own lusts?"

Well, I am glad to hear your friend say even this; for it shows at least that he has given up the idea that the tempter is one's evil disposition. But if you will consider the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, you will see that He was indeed enticed by His own lawful desires, or lusts. That is to say, the devil tempted Him through them. Therein lay the strength of the temptation, and Jesus could have been tempted in no other way; for He had no evil desires. According to the strength of the temptation resisted, is the power of Jesus to deliver us when we are tempted.

LAWFUL DESIRES NOT GRATIFIED

Three distinct temptations are recorded, and they are typical, covering every possible phase of temptation. Jesus had fasted forty days, and was hungry. Then the devil tempted Him on the side of appetite. "Command that the stones be made bread." Jesus had a desire for bread, and that desire was perfectly lawful. He also had the power to produce bread even from stones. But He would not use His power for the gratification of even His own lawful desires. Afterward, when a multitude of hungry people were in the desert, He used His power to produce bread for them; but He would not gratify His own desires. He waited for His hunger to be satisfied, till the devil had left Him, and the angels of God came and ministered unto Him. The same angels are sent to serve us, if we will allow them, instead of trying to help ourselves.

Taking our cue from Christ's trust in God to provide Him food, Satan attempted to induce Him to presume upon God's care. It was right for Jesus to trust the Father, and it was lawful for Him to desire to be out of Satan's power; but Jesus would not make any effort to take Himself out of the place where the Spirit of God had led Him.

The third and most audacious temptation was the most cunningly devised of all; for Jesus had come to this earth for the express purpose of gaining dominion over it. Satan took advantage of Christ's lawful desire, to tempt Him to do a thing that was plainly sinful. How subtle and how great the temptation was, we can never know; but Jesus withstood it. God had said that He Himself would give Him the kingdom, and Jesus would not consider any other way of getting it. Thus, He worshipped and served God only.

"CHRIST PLEASED NOT HIMSELF"

What do these temptations illustrate? Just this, that "even Christ pleased not Himself." Rom. xv. 3. He thought not of Himself, even when He was in heaven, in the form of God, but "emptied Himself." Phil. ii. 4. He "gave Himself for us." That is the law of heaven-the law that sustains the universe-the giving up of self to please others.Jesus pleased not Himself, but said, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work" (John iv. 34), and "I do always those things that please Him." John viii. 29.

We have not wandered from the subject, but are learning a practical lesson of great importance from it. Satan fell because he cherished an unlawful desire; and his purpose is to induce everybody to think only of himself. Christ, on the other hand, resisted the desire to please Himself, even in the gratification of lawful desires, thus showing how much greater is His power than Satan's. This is the power He offers us, and the possession of it marks one as "every inch a king." Instead "of serving divers lusts and pleasures," thus being the slave of his desires, he is the ruler of them. He makes pleasure wait upon him, instead of waiting on pleasure. He who can deny himself even a lawful pleasure, patiently waiting till he receives it at God's hands, no matter how long the time of waiting, is safe from all evil. The greater includes the less; the man who can say to his body when it clamours for lawful food and drink, "You must wait my time, for I am master, and I am not to be driven," will have no difficulty in abstaining from evil things.

PLEASURE AND PRIVATION

But you ask, "Is life, then, to be one continual penance? Does Christianity mean the repression and extinction of every joyful emotion or enjoyment of pleasure?" far from it; it means the finding and the constant enjoyment of the highest keenest pleasure-it means "Joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ;" but this highest pleasure is found only in not pleasing ourselves. Divine and blessed paradox!

God is the "exceeding great reward" of His faithful ones. Gen. xv. 1. When we learn that only in His presence is "fulness of joy," and that our joy can be full only as Christ's life of self-denial is in us (John xv. 4-11; 2 John i. 2-4), we can say, "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup; Thou maintainest thy law. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage." Ps. xvi. 5-6. "Whom have I in heaven? And when I have Thee, I have no desire [lust] for anything on the earth." Ps. lxxiii. 25, Norwegian version.

He who can with his whole heart say this, is safe from the seductions of Satan; and Satan but brings sure destruction of himself in seeking to devour such a one. "Because Thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee, Thus will I bless Thee while I live; I will lift up my hands in Thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips; and I remember Thee in the night watches. Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after Thee; Thy right hand upholdeth me. But those that seek my soul to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth." Ps. lxiii. 3-9.

Here is joy for the sorrowing; rest for the weary; food and drink for the hungry and thirsty; health for the afflicted; deliverance for the tempted; and life of the dead.

"Free and Dependent" The Present Truth 18, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

The most independent person in the world is the little child that is absolutely and confidently dependent upon his father for everything. It has no care, and knows no fear, and is under no obligation to anybody. It has everything it wants, and has it as its own by right. Even so it is with the man who knows and implicitly trusts his heavenly Father. The man most completely independent of this world and all in it, is the man who is consciously the most helplessly dependent on God.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

Just as soon as the honey is gathered, and the flower droops and its petals fall. But the seed pod grows bigger and bigger into the perfect ripe fruit. Did you know that the juicy, rosy, sweet apple is the seed pod of the apple tree?

God has many ways of spreading the seeds of the earth. Some are gathered by man and planted in the ground. Some have little wings or light down, and they float in the air, and are carried by the wind far away from the mother plant, to a new home in the earth. Some are carried long distances by the birds that feed on their bright berries.

Some pods burst open with force that shoots the seed out. Others have left bristles, by which they cling to the sides of animals, who brush them off, and the seeds take root in the ground.

Some birds-the nut crackers-and some animals, like the squirrel, bury a store of seeds for use in the winter. If these are not taken out again they grow up when the spring comes.

Each creature, helps in some way, like the bee, to increase the plants from which it feeds. All this is a part of the loving plan of the great Creator, who provides food for all living things.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

The oldest reigning monarch in Europe is King Christian IX. of Denmark, who celebrated his eighty-fourth birthday on the eighth, and who is still hale and active.

By a solemn treaty, approved by all the powers, Russia has now agreed to evacuate Manchuria within eighteen months. This step, which by the way, has not yet been accomplished, is set down as to the Anglo-Japanese agreement, which is considered as a decided check to Russian progress in the far East.

Reports of disturbance in church, in some cases even attaining the proportions of fight, in the anti-ritualistic crusade, are not infrequent. Ritualism is in itself nothing but paganism; but strife and war are equally far from Christianity. "The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God;" contention only adds to the evil.

The Vali of Adrianople Telegraph said a band of four Bulgarians killed and afterwards mutilated three Mussulman peasants and a boy on the high road two hours distant from the frontier near Kirk Killisch. They then took refuge in Bulgaria. It is stated that the motive of the outrage was purely to provoke reprisals.

This passes as a mere news item, without comment; but when the Turks have been provoked to retaliate, the papers will undoubtedly be loaded with accounts of Turkish atrocities.

Speaking of the accident at the football match in Glasgow, by which twenty-four persons were killed, and more than two hundred injured, the question is asked, What brings 70,000 people together to look at a game of football? and it is answered by the statement that "everybody bets, down to the little boy in the street, upon the results of various the championships throughout the country," and if there were no gambling the spectators at a football match would probably be only one-tithe of what they are at present. The desire to get something for nothing, of course at somebody else's expense, is one of the greatest curses in the world; and yet there are many professed Christians so morally blinded as to defend betting.

It is not only astonishing, but horrifying, to learn that no less than 11 per cent. of the total number of children in Public Elementary Schools are infants under five years of age. To put a child of that age in a school of any kind whatever is a crime. The education that a child gets up to its tenth year should be for physical development, and its mutual development should be simply a matter of absorption from its surroundings. Still, the evil is one that cannot be remedied by merely withholding the children from school; for in most cases where such young children are sent to school home is the very worst place for them, and they are sent only to be out of the way. Poor children! how sad that there are so many in the way.

The German central committee for combating tuberculosis as a national disease, have printed 150,000 copies of a leaflet written in simple language that children can understand, for distribution throughout the Empire. This describes the precautions to be taken to avoid the disease, and to limit the spread of it. This is a step in the right direction. People are destroyed for lack of knowledge. If information is given, and they neglect it, then the responsibility rests with them.

Wireless telegraphy, or at least confidence in its future, has now developed to the extent that the Canadian Government has entered into an agreement with the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, promising to give the company $80,000 (?16,000) for the erection of the Trans-Atlantic station in Nova Scotia. The company agrees, if its operations prove successful (a wise provision) to transmit general messages at 60 per cent. less than the rates now charged for cablegrams, and government express messages at 50 per cent. reductions on that, which would be 5 cents (2?d.) a word.

It is stated that in 1621 Sir Edward Sandys, in the House of Commons, bemoaned the fact that there went out of this Kingdom as good as ?100,000 for tobacco every year. In contrast with this, the Daily Chronicle says that "London gutters now annually receive in cigar-butts and cigarette-ends tobacco to the value of ?200,000, for at the lowest estimate the metropolis dissipates ?15,000 into smoke every day." This is an enormous sum, enough to support all the poor in the metropolis; yet the loss to the city would not be nearly so great if the money were thrown directly into the Thames, and no tobacco were purchased and used.

A vicar in the north defends Sunday golf, football, cricket, etc., on the ground that it is better to play healthy games on that day than to "loaf about smoking cigarettes." Of course playing of healthy games, or the doing of any honest work, is as lawful on Sunday as on any other day of the week, since that day is the one of "the six working days;" but the style of argument is what we wish to call attention to, for it is all too common among men. "This is not so bad as he is, anyhow," is a frequent expression; and the speaker, satisfied with the comparison of himself with somebody that is, or seems to be, worse, considers himself good. It seems as though, in departing from God's Word, the only rule of right, men are taking the worst and lowest as the standard of virtue, and are content as long as there is a worse level to which they might fall, but which they have not yet reached.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

On her arrival in New York, Miss Allen Stone said she believed she owed her life to the birth of Mme. Tsilka's baby. Before the baby was born the brigands were so insulting and cruel that life was almost unbearable, but the appearance of the baby changed all that, because "the brigands believe that a curse will settle on them if they harm a baby or its mother." It is not the first time that peoples' lives have been saved by a little child.

After the small-pox epidemic has been running its course for months, and has claimed many hundred victims, one doctor has at last suggested that Dr. Finsen's treatment of the disease by light, with the chemical rays excluded, is worthy of consideration. In view of the fact that statistics were long ago published, showing that by that treatment there was only one failure in seventy cases, and that no unsightly scars are left after the disease, it has seemed a strange thing that it was not months ago not only considered, but put into active use. The treatment has been not only applied in Denmark but in Germany and France. Light is life, and the only sure way to combat disease is to bring life, and abundance of it, to the patient. Doctors still go on dealing out death, with the idea that it takes a poison to kill a poison.

"Spiritualistic Materialism" The Present Truth 18, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

Spiritualistic Materialism. -There has been much discussion of the subject of Spiritualism in the Church Times of late, and in the issue of April 4, "A Country Priest" writes thus:-

"I have been most interested in reading the correspondence upon Spiritualism. To all objectors I would say that the intra-communion between friends and relations from the Spirit-world is not only a joy to myself and many others, but it is a cause of thankfulness that in this age of free thought, Materialists are being convinced of the life beyond the grave when they see the spirit forms of the departed can and do return, and thus it is a means of hastening God's kingdom."

This is a common argument, but those who employ it fail to see that dependence upon such supposed "evidence" is the grossest kind of materialism. It is not in the least a manifestation of faith, for the person will believe nothing but his own senses, ignoring God's Word. Upon such, "strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" is sure to come; and the idea of communication with the dead is the lie that inevitably follows the ignoring of the Bible teaching concerning the state of the dead. It is sadly amusing to hear people declaim against "materialism," when they base all their hopes of immortality upon the materialisation of certain spirits.

"God's Greatness in Little Things" The Present Truth 18, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

God's Greatness in Little Things. -In many respects the so-called greatness of man does not emphasise his littleness and his limitation. It makes him inaccessible to the common people, and often difficult approach even to his friends. Not so with God. His greatness brings Him nearer to the most insignificant of His creature; "nigh unto them for all that they call upon Him for." He is so great that He is "not far from every one of us," and we have only to "feel after Him and find Him."

"A Confidential Word with a Penitent Soul" The Present Truth 18, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

A Confidential Word with a Penitent Soul. -You say that you cannot overcome your besetting sin; that you have tried, and failed; that the temptation comes so unexpectedly and so strong that you cannot resisted. Let me tell you what that sort of talk really means, and perhaps you will change your tone. You are virtually saying that Satan is more powerful than Christ; "for the battle is not yours, but God's." The controversy is between Christ and Satan over your soul. You belong to the Lord; but Satan claims you, and you have been serving him, and he has no mind to give you up. Christ will not arbitrarily claim even His own; He has all power in heaven and in earth, but He will not control you without your consent. All He asks of you, and that which He earnestly longs for, is that you unreservedly give yourself into His hand, acknowledging Him as your sole Master and Lord. When you do that, and as long as you continue it, He holds Himself responsible for your salvation.

Now you say that you long for freedom from sin, and that you accept the Lord is your Saviour. Now if that is really so, can you not see that when you say that you cannot overcome you are really saying that the devil has more power than Christ? But that is not so. Christ has "all power." It is, however, a fact, if we are overcome by sin, that Satan has more power in us, than Christ has, for Satan is the one that works in the children of disobedience. "Whosoever committeth sin is of the devil;" but the Son of God was manifested for the sole purpose "that He might destroy the works of the devil," and, thanks be to God, He is abundantly able to do it. God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is the victory that He has already won. We wrestle "with principalities and powers," but Christ has "spoiled" them, disarmed them. Col. ii. 15. Therefore "this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith." 1 John v. 4, R.V. Now to whom do you intend henceforth to give the credit for having supreme power-to Christ, or to Satan? That is the question for you to answer. Decide definitely and finally who is the most mighty monarch, and then serve that one. Which shall it be?

"Happiness in Self-Forgetfulness" The Present Truth 18, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

Happiness in Self-Forgetfulness. -Part of the lesson drawn from the temptation of Christ, in the "Editor's Private Corner" this week, is thus stated by Booker T. Washington, in his story of his life work, in "Up from Slavery":-

"In order to be successful in any kind of undertaking, I think the main thing is for one to grow to the point where he completely forgets himself; that is, to lose himself in a great cause. In proportion as one loses himself in this way, in the same degree does he get the highest happiness out of his work."

Everybody who has observed at all, can bear witness that the most unhappy people in the world are those who are continually thinking of themselves. There is nothing else equal to the great love and work of God, for absorbing the mind and employing all the energy; and therefore nothing else can give perfect happiness.

"A Day of Prayer" The Present Truth 18, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

We are requested to announce that, in view of the present condition of the world, and the need of the church, a special day of prayer will be held at Earlham Hall , Earlham Grove, Forest Gate, E., near Forest Park Station (Midland R'y.), on Sunday, April 20. Service will be held at 11 A.M., and 3 and 6:30 P.M. Christians of whatever name are cordially invited to attend throughout the day, or as much of it as possible.

April 24, 1902

"'The Blood of His Cross'" The Present Truth 18, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

In that marvellous description of Christ and His work, in the first chapter of Colossians, we find that "it pleased [the Father] that in Him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him reconciled all things unto Himself." Two things are here spoken of as being the good pleasure of God: first, that in Christ all fulness could dwell; and second, that in Christ all things, both on earth and in heaven, should be reconciled to Himself; and one thing is spoken of as having been done, namely, the making of peace through the blood of His cross. No expression is more familiar to the Christian, or to anyone who is accustomed to Gospel preaching, than "the blood of Christ." Never is there a revival sermon about an invitation to sinners to come to the cross for cleansing in the blood of Christ, and the assurance that they may cleanse themselves from every defilement in His powerful, precious blood. And yet, for all this, it is a fact that to most people the blood of Christ is mythical and unreal. Many professed Christians, even ministers, now object to all reference to "the blood," as being gross and repulsive, so that we hear much less about it than formerly. A minister in a sermon on "Christ in Creation and Redemption" feels it necessary to apologise for using the objectionable term, by saying, "I cling to that figurative word, despite its painful suggestions, because there is no other word that stands with me for all which that word covers."

It is a "figurative word?" Is it so that there is no real blood of Christ, in which we can be actually cleansed? Sin is a terribly real thing; we all know its power in our bodies; and we know that whatever cleanses it away must be real. We want no "figurative" cleansing; but if the term "blood" in the Bible were only a "figurative word," then our cleansing would be only figurative, and we should be yet in our sins.

Thank God, the Bible still says just as much about the blood as it used to, and makes no apology for it, and we can cling to it without apology. The blood is the life; and "the life was manifested, and we have seen it." This life is the light of men; and "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. 2, 7. There is real cleansing in real blood.

Silver and gold are counted real things by the inhabitants of this earth; yet they are nothing in comparison with the blood of Christ; for we read: "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Silver and gold are corruptible, and, as they cannot purchase any real blessing, they are unreal; but the blood of Christ is incorruptible; it is eternal substance, and eternal blessing. By it, and in it, the Lord has "commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."

How may we know the reality of this priceless blood? Simply by opening our eyes; for "the life was manifested." The entrance of God's word gives light and understanding; it is a lamp, enabling us to see realities that to our unassisted vision seem only shadows. So we read this

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testimony concerning Christ as He hung on the cross:-

"One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe." John xix. 34, 35.

There is no question but that the blood that came from Christ's smitten side was real. It could not be seen. But it was visibly manifest in that time only to help us to recognise its reality when it is invisible; for the most real and enduring things are usually invisible to mortal eyes. But is not consider another instance where the evidence is clear and conclusive that Christ's real blood was present, although it was invisible.

Jesus was on His way to the house of Jairus, in answer to a call for help, and "as He went the people thronged Him. And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, came behind Him, and touched the border of His garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with Him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched me? And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched Me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me." Luke xiii. 42-46.

Here was a case of real need. The woman's disease was real, and she was really healed. Moreover, she received healing from the person of the real Christ. His fulness supplied her lack. What was her lack? She lacked blood. Then what did she get from Jesus? She got a fresh supply of blood; for not only did she cease to lose blood as soon as she touched Him, but she was "made whole," and "she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague." Matt. ix. 22; Mark v. 29. The fresh blood filled her whole body with the warm glow of life.

That which the woman received came from Christ's. She felt a supply power come into her, and He felt power go from Him. Therefore, although nothing could be seen, we know that from the body of Christ there went real blood to the body of the woman. The invisible blood that passed from the side of Jesus for the healing of that poor woman was as real as the visible blood that flowed from His side on the cross.

Now we may go a step further. Jesus said, "My blood is drink indeed," or as rendered in the German, "My blood is the true drink." Therefore He said, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." John vi. 53-55. On the night of His the trial, He took the cup filled with "the fruit of the vine," and said, "This is My blood;" "drink ye all of it." He is the true vine, the life of everything that grows, and so in the blood of the grape we get His life blood.

DRINKING FROM THE ROCK

Now we read further, that the children of Israel in the wilderness "did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ." 1 Cor. x. 4. This brings us to the rock in Horeb, upon which the Lord stood, and which, when Moses smote it at His command, sent forth living water for the people. Ex. xvii. 7. They had "tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us are not?" and the stream of water gushing from the rock showed that He was among them.

There can be no question but that the water which the people drank that day, and for many days and months thereafter, came from Christ. It was life to them, and it was the life of Christ; for the Spirit and the water and the blood agree in one (1 John v. 8) as seen at Calvary. Moreover, "the pure river of water of life, clear as crystal," proceeds out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb (Rev. xxii. 1), and in the midst of that throne is the slain Lamb. Rev. v. 6. The water of life, therefore comes from the side of the slain Lamb, and is His precious blood. So the water of life which quenched the thirst of the children of Israel, and brought new life to them, was the blood of Christ; and it is by that same blood that all men get whatever life they possess. It is our life, for His blood literally flows in our veins.

Does this seem too strong a statement? Any reader can see the reality of it for himself, and know that the miracle performed for the poor woman in Capernaum, and for the multitudes in the wilderness, was to teach us that we get life only as the blood of Christ flows from Him to us.

Why do you eat and drink?-It is to get life. You know that you get life by that means. If you are weak and pale, you eat the best food you can get in order that you may have good fresh blood, and thereby strength. You know that your blood comes from what you eat and drink. You do not create life; you do not make life, you simply take it in from without. There is not an element in your body except that which comes in your food and drink. He simply transfers the elements of life into your own system. Thus your blood, along with the other tissues of your body is continually wasting away, is replenished.

Can you not see that there is a continual stream of blood flowing into and through you from without? We are each one but side channels for the river of life which flows from the throne of God. The account of the water flowing from the Rock in Horeb was written for our learning that we might see the water of life, the blood of Christ, flowing from every fountain. It is that we may see the cross of Christ reflected in every water spring, and know that "through all created things thrills one pulse of life from the great heart of God."

Our cut represents a beautiful scene from the Sierra Nevada mountains of northern California. The moss-covered rocks is as it were pierced in dozens of places, and from each opening leaps forth a jet of sparkling water. It is the exact counterpart of the scene in the desert of Sinai. The flowing water from the rock, as well as from other places on earth where it bursts forth, is to make us see and know that the Lord is among us. All fulness dwells in Him, therefore the fulness of the earth comes from Him. The water, which represents the fulness, the fertility of the earth, comes from the smitten Rock, that is even with us, and that Rock is Christ.

There is more of Christ than the eyes of man can see, or the mind of man can comprehend. Only "parts of His ways" are revealed in His works that we see. Christ comes that we may have life, and that we may have it more abundantly; and that abundant life bursting forth from the earth, shining in the light, and breathing in them, is intended to make real to us, and to enable us to appropriate the more abundant life that even the heaven of heavens cannot contain.

Water is the universal solvent. It cleanses everything that it comes in contact with. In its visible form it cleanses our bodies: but there are impurities so deeply seated and so firmly fixed that it cannot reach them. But the knowledge of the cleansing, reviving effect of the water that we see, enables us to grasp the reality of the cleansing life-giving power of the water that we cannot see which is able to permeate even the inner chambers of the body and the secret

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places of the soul, thus cleansing us from sin.

We have redemption through His blood. God has "made peace through the blood of His cross." We are "saved by His life." Thus, all creation is God's power to speak peace to us. All the power comes from His hand, all the water flows to refresh and cheer us gives of His love, the assurance of washing all our sins. "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord." "No the Lord of Peace Himself give you peace always by all means."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Tormented for Ever and Ever" The Present Truth 18, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

In the issue of March 13 there was a short article in this department, in answer to a question on Everlasting Punishment and Eternal Life. It consisted mainly of Scripture statements to the effect that the punishment of the wicked is eternal, as lasting as the life of the righteous, but that it is destruction, death. Since then we have received a number of letters referring to, and asking for further explanation, especially of certain texts which speak of torment for ever and ever. One letter will suffice as a sample of all.

"A constant reader of your valuable paper, and a firm believer in the second death, has a great desire to be enlightened on Rev. xiv. 9-11, and also Rev. xx. 10. Hoping to see your comments according to the Word, I remain, yours in His is service."

The texts referred to read as follows:-

"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." Rev. xiv. 9-11.

The next (Rev. xx. 9, 10) speaks of "the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth," "the number of whom is as the sand of the sea," who are gathered by Satan after the second resurrection to do battle against the Lord, and says:-

"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. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

In the first place let it be understood that the Scripture cannot contradict itself. In the article referred to there were no opinions or conclusions stated, but only plain texts of Scripture. Let us briefly recall a few of them.

Rom. vi. 23: "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Death and life are opposites. As long as a man has existence, he is not dead; when one is dead, he has no life. Death does not mean a state of misery; for however greatly one may be suffering, he is not dead as long as the suffering continues. There are thousands of people in this world who are dragging out a miserable existence, but they are nevertheless alive. Many have no joy in life, and long for death to put an end to their misery; but no one would think of calling them dead. The terms "life" and "death" are so distinct, and so well understood, that it is past all comprehension how people can use them as though they meant virtually the same thing.

2 Thess. i. 7-9: "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."

The reward of the wicked, according to the Scripture, will be in every respect the opposite of the reward of the righteous. The righteous will have eternal life; the wicked will have eternal death. "The day cometh, that shall burn as an oven, and the proud, yea, and all that to wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. iv. 1. "The wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." Ps. xxxvii. 20. "They shall be as though they had not been." Obadiah 16.

Nevertheless the statements concerning the torment for ever and ever still remain, and must be given attention. If this is done, it will be noticed that in Rev. xx. 10, the only place where the expression "tormented day and night for ever and ever" occurs, it is not used with reference to the great body of the wicked. We read that "fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them," and then that the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire, to be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Still if there were but one to suffer eternity of torment, the fact would remain. If we study a few parallel texts we shall get some light on these terms.

SOME USES OF THE TERM FOR EVER

In Exodus xxi. 1-6 we learn that a Hebrew slave was to be set free at the end of seven years; but that if he had a wife who must remain in servitude, and should refuse to leave her and his master, "then his master shall bring him to the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever."

Jonah was in the whale's belly three days and three nights; but in his song of thanksgiving he said: "The earth with her bars was about me for ever; yet Thou hast brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God." Jonah ii. 6.

Jeremiah said: "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" (Lam. iv. 4); yet we read that Sodom and Gomorrha "are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of the eternal fire." Jude 7. They are not now, however.

Now we know full well that no devoted Hebrew servant has been living and serving his master from the days of Moses until now. It is evident, therefore, that the term "for ever and ever" may in some cases have a limit. The Hebrew servant who had his ear bored was to serve his master for ever, that is, as long as he should live. He certainly cannot serve him longer than during his natural life.

In like manner we see that the term "

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for ever" has a very narrow range in the case of Jonah, been limited to three days. With these cases in mind, and remembering also that the Scriptures repeatedly states that the wicked are to be totally destroyed, as completely as though they had never been, and we have no difficulty with the statement that they, or some of them, are to be tormented day and night, for ever and ever. That may mean many days, or it may, as we have seen, not cover more than three days. But whether it be long or short, the period of torment will certainly have an end; for of those who drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured into the cup of His indignation, we read: "For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and Mine anger in their destruction." Isa. x. 25.

Take another pertinent example. In Isaiah xxxiv. we have a description of God's Judgment on the earth. "It is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion," when "the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon their armies." It is the time when "the great day of His wrath is come," and "all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host shall fall down as a leaf falleth from off the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree." Compare Rev. vi. 13-17.

In that day it is said that the land shall be soaked with blood, "and the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever and ever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; and none shall pass through it for ever and ever." Isa. xxxiv. 9, 10.

Still further description of desolation follows, and the subject is continued to the next chapter, which says that "the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose." "The parched ground [or "blowing sand"] shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water." So we see that the earth, which is to lie desolate "for ever and ever" is afterwards to blossom as the rose; for "we, according to His promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth; wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter iii. 13.

This settles the whole question. The wicked are to be recompensed in this earth which itself is to become a "lake of fire;" yet afterwards the whole earth is to be like Eden. It is very evident, therefore, that in the case of the torment of the wicked, as in that of the Hebrew servant, and others, the term "for ever and ever" is limited by the nature of thing to which it is applied. They will be tormented as long as they remain alive, but they will not have receive their punishment until they shall be dead, destroyed, reduced to smoke and ashes, as though they had not been. And their torment is only the preliminary part of their punishment, which is to be completed by death.

Some one will ask, "Since the term 'for ever' may be limited, how do we know but that the death of the wicked may be only a short duration, and that they may after a while be restored to life in the favour of God?" We know that they will remain dead, with no possibility of a resurrection, because they will have deliberately and finally rejected the Lord Jesus, through whom alone there can be a resurrection. When they become "as though they had not been," they will never be again; for we read that the end-the future time-of the wicked shall be cut off. Ps. xxxvii. 38.

THE ASSURANCE OF VICTORY OVER SIN

But we must not leave the question here, as though it were only a matter of exegesis. If it were only a theoretical question, we might well leave its exposition alone, and wait until the end itself demonstrates the facts in the case; but it is not so. The right understanding of this matter has a decided bearing on our hope and courage in the contest against sin and Satan. This is why it is dealt with in the Bible; for nothing is there revealed for the mere purpose of satisfying curiosity.

It is simply a question of whether or not the Lord can conquer and root out sin. There was a time when there was no sin in the universe. There was once a time when there was no sin in this earth. Sin is distasteful to God, and utterly foreign to His nature. He "is upright, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." Sin is rebellion against Him and His kingdom. On His ability to put down all rebellion, and utterly to destroy every trace of transgression against His authority, depends the stability of His government. If there were a huge, seething mass of sin that He could not extirpate, even though He had it shut up within certain limits, it would show that Satan had been successful, and that God's kingdom of righteousness had received an irreparable blow. To say that God could destroy sin, if He wished, but that He will not, is to charge Him with harbouring and cherishing it.

Moreover, upon God's ability to root sin out of the universe, and the assurance that He will certainly do it, depends our confidence that He can utterly destroy sin in us. "The Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." 1 John iii. 8. If a host of blaspheming sinners were to occupy some corner of God's dominions to all eternity, continually adding sin to sin, then the object of Christ's manifestations to the world would have failed, and He would have died in vain. In that case there would be no hope of our complete deliverance from sin. To put the case sharply and clearly, we may say:

1. If wilful and unrepentant sinners be not finally blotted out of existence, then sin will not be destroyed.

2. If sin-the works of the devil-be not destroyed, then Christ will have failed of accomplishing the object for which He was manifested.

3. If it were that Christ had failed of accomplishing the object for which He came to this earth, then not only we, but also all the inhabitants of the earth, could never be freed from sin; there would be no salvation for anybody.

But Christ has not failed. He has already triumphed gloriously. He has conquered the old serpent, and will soon crush his head. He is able to blot out from us the last trace of sin, so that we may be as pure in His sight as though we never had sin; and He will do the same for the universe, so that "there shall be no more curse;" "and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write, for these things are true and faithful." Rev. xxi. 4-5. This is our confidence and our rejoicing for present salvation, which we may hold steadfast unto the end.

"We Have an Advocate" The Present Truth 18, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

Shall we look at our sins, and begin to mourn, and say, I have done wrong, and I cannot come to God with any degree of confidence? Does not the Bible say, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"? It is a proper thing for us to have a realisation of the terrible character of sin. It was sin that caused Christ to suffer an ignominious death on Calvary. But while we should understand that sin is a terrible thing, we should not listen to the voice of our adversary, who says, "You have sinned, and you have no right to claim the promises of God." You should say to the adversary, It is written, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

"For Little Ones. The Firmament" The Present Truth 18, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

"And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day." Gen. i. 6-8.

"He stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in." Isa. xl. 22.

"Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge?" Job xxxvii. 16.

He maketh "a weight for the winds; and weigheth the waters by measure." Job xxviii. 25.

"Who maketh the clouds His chariot, who walketh on the wings of the wind." Ps. civ. 3.

"Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it. Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God which is full of water." Ps. lxv. 9.

The word firmament means an expanse or space. God said, Let there be a space between the waters. The waters above the firmament we call the clouds, and that which comes between, and divides the waters above from the waters below is the air. When you look into the blue sky where there are no clouds, you are only looking into the depths of the air. So the firmament that God called heaven is the atmosphere or air that He has spread out all round the earth.

There can be nothing but what comes from God Himself. The light which He made to shine over the world on the first day, was a gleam from the shining of His glory. In the air-the firmament-which He made on the second day, is His own life-giving breath, which He breathed between the waters to divide them, and to make a place for us to live in.

Without the air we could not live. So God has with His own breath, spread out the firmament as a tent for us to dwell in. Truly "in Him we live, and move, and have our being."

Away up in the air, far above our heads, are hanging in floating the waters that are above the firmament. Oceans of water held up in the air! What keeps it there? It is the Word of His power who said, Let there be a firmament, and let it divide the waters.

We cannot tell how it is done; for no man knows the balancing of the clouds, it is "the wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge." When He by wisdom made the heavens, He weighed the air, and measured the waters. And He made the water to ascend in vapour that is lighter than air, so that it would rise and float in the sky, as a cork floats in the water because it is lighter than the water.

God said of the firmament that He made, "Let it divide the waters." It is by means of the air itself that the waters are separated, and some are carried up into the heavens.

You have sometimes seen the pavement very wet after a heavy shower of rain, but in a little while it has become quite dry. And you have seen a wet garment hung out in the air, quickly become dry. Where did the water go to? We say it has evaporated, which means that it has been taken up and carried off by the air in the form of vapour. When there is a strong wind, that is, when the air is moving quickly, things become dry much sooner. This is because there is more air passing over the wet objects, and all the air carries off some of the moisture.

Now you see what takes place when the air passes over the face of the waters, the rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans. Some of the water is constantly rising in the air, and being carried out in the clouds. So to-day you can see with your own eyes the working of God's Word; for by that living Word the waters are still being divided and held up in the sky.

The clouds are God's water-carriers, by which the water is carried on "the wings of the wind," to just places He wants to be poured out again upon the earth. The water, like the light and air, comes from God Himself; for He is "the fountain of living waters." He says that the clouds that carry the rain are "His chariots," so you see that His own Spirit comes in the rain, to make the earth beautiful and fruitful. Then will you not be glad and thank Him when you see the rain?

God also, "walketh upon the wings of the wind," or the air, for the wind is the air moving. So the air also is full of His

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life-giving Spirit, which comes into us with every breath we draw.

All through the Bible God's wondrous work of making and sending the rain, is spoken of as the proof that He is the only true God, with all power in heaven and earth. So wonderful and important is the work of the second day.

The Holy Spirit of God which "breathes in the air," and is poured out in the rain to make the earth blossom and bud and bring forth fruit, will, if you will open your heart to His sweet influence, make the flowers of grace and fruits of righteousness to grow in your heart and to be seen in your life.

"Waters hanging in the air,
Heaven of heavens His praise declare;
His deserved praise record,
His who made you by His word."

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

The seed which makes the flowers grow is the Word of God, so as we "consider the lilies, how they grow," we can learn how this Word can make us grow in purity and beauty of character.

The flowers do not grow by trying to. It is God's power, and not their own, that makes them grow. Like the lilies we cannot make ourselves pure, and good, and beautiful. But if we look to Jesus, He will do everything for us.

The flowers must have sunshine and rain to make them grow, and so must we. Jesus is the light of the world. And his light shines on those who turn to Him. And He has promised to pour His Holy Spirit upon those who ask Him, like floods upon the dry ground. The sunshine of His love, and the rain of His Holy Spirit, will make the good seed of the word grow in our hearts.

The earth could not clothe itself with beautiful flowers. But when God spoke to it and said, "Let the earth bring forth grass," His Word covered it with its lovely, flowery robe.

Neither can we do any good thing of ourselves. But God speaks to us in His Word, and if we let it into our hearts, it will put His own good works into our lives. Then the flowers of love will grow up in our hearts, and clothe us with the beautiful robe of the righteousness of Jesus.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

The Russian correspondent of the Arbeiter Zeitung reports that certain students imprisoned in connection with the recent rioting have inaugurated a strike against food. They reject nourishment of all kinds, as a protest against the gross insults offered to the female students in the same prison. The officials are at their wits' end to know how to deal with this unprecedented strike.

The members of the Zionist Executive Committee for England have addressed a letter to the Daily Chronicle, in which they state that the 250,000 Jews of Roumania are standing face to face with nothing short of virtual expulsion from their homes in the Balkan Kingdom. Dr. Herze, the Zionst leader, has advised the summoning of all the Jewish alliances and associations to discuss the situation. If it were only in Turkey, instead of Roumania, that the danger threatened there would be a fine opportunity for bold headlines and fierce denunciations; but as it is a "Christian nation" that is doing the injustice, it passes as an item of news.

In the debate on the Budget in the House of Commons, one member "said he thought that in these days of gigantic tobacco trust something should have been done in the way of reducing the duty on tobacco, which in a country like Ireland was a necessity to the majority of the working population." Why is tobacco a necessity "in a country like Ireland"? Its working population are mostly poor and therefore on the ground of the economy alone, they should more than others abstain from the use of the poisonous weed, which saps the strength, and yields absolutely no benefit. Tobacco has but one effect, and that is to destroy life.

Once in a while incidents come to our notice, which must demonstrate to all whose minds have been turned in that direction, that it is not in God's plan that the increase of years should bring decrepitude to a man, and that it does not necessarily do so. For instance at a walking race at Stamford Hill last week, in which no man under fifty was allowed to compete, the first prize was won by a man sixty-two years of age, who walked six miles in 52 min. 36 3ï5 sec. Among the contestants were a man aged seventy-seven, and another aged eighty-four. Caleb, who at the age of forty was sent to spy out the land of Canaan, said forty-five years later: "I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me; as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in." And Moses at the age of one hundred and twenty, had the strength of youth. "His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated." Some may think that these were exceptional cases; but we must know that power is not exceptional in God's plan. God's design for man is that he shall be in all things a king; and weakness and debility are blots; they are really the exceptions, since by far the great majority of His subjects "excel in strength." So whenever we see what we are inclined to call "an extraordinary man," we may know that he more nearly approaches the normal standard than his fellows. One cannot get too high an idea of God's purposes for man, or believe too much in Him, or expect too much from Him.

We hear much boasting about "this enlightened age," yet we find that superstition is just as dense and rampant as in the Dark Ages. The Pope has given the Chapter of the Cathedral of the old German city of Aschen permission to exhibit certain relics that are enshrined there. This dispensation is granted only once every seven years. The relics which will attract thousands to that city for a fortnight in July next, are stated by a German Catholic paper to be "a petticoat belonging to the Virgin Mary, the cloth in which the infant Jesus was wrapped, the cloth which girded Christ's loins, and the linen cloth on which John the Baptist was be headed." One cannot help wondering if the cultured Leo XIII. believes in the genuineness of these relics. And even supposing these things were what they are pretended to be, think of people travelling long distances to do homage to a few pieces of gold cloth! Is it Christianity or Paganism!

The Church Family Newspaper notes approvingly the Declaration of the Archbishops and Bishops at the session of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, concerning the use of the word "Catholic." They strongly object to the restriction of the term to Romanists, saying: "If we now surrender our title of membership in the Catholic Church, and concede to those only who accept the authority of a particular bishop, we give up an important point in that faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." And they further add that "to be a 'non-Catholic' is to be outside the body of Christ; and to be described as 'not a Catholic' is equivalent to being described as 'not a Christian.'" But this is altogether a mistake; for the word Catholic is not a Scriptural designation; and the use of it in connection with the word "church" involves an absurdity. "Catholic" means universal, and "church" means "called out." Now that which is "called out" cannot possibly embrace the whole. As a matter of fact, it is a mistake to prefix any qualifying term to the word "church," since there is really only one body that is "called out," namely, those who have come to Christ. Whatever is really Catholic is not Christian. But this must not be taken as meaning that none who are called Catholics are Christians. Names do not by any means always indicate what a person is.

An American journal devoted to the tobacco trade says: "A large portion of the consumers of snuff in this country are women and girls. For many years the practice of snuff-dipping has been common in the South, and comparatively few persons realise the enormous extent to which snuff dipping prevails among the factory operatives in the north and east. In the big cotton manufacturing towns of New England the use of snuff is almost universal among the mill girls. "While the smoker makes himself a nuisance to others who are not devoted to the poisonous weed, there is no way of using tobacco that is so filthy as snuff-taking, unless it be the chewer, who is happily not a common object in this country.

In the case of the Russian Minister of the Interior, who was shot by a student on the 16th, as he was entering the building of the Council of the Empire, we may see how terrible persecutions of innocent people may be perpetrated by a man with no conscience whatever of wrong doing. M. Siplaquin, the murdered Minister of Interior, was also Chief of the Secret Service, and as such strictly followed and carried out the ideas of the notorious M. Pobiedonostzeff, the Procurator of the Holy Synod, whose whole life is relentlessly devoted to the effort to crush the consciences of all citizens of Russia, and to reduce them to machines managed by the hierarchy. For a man to have a semblance of a conscience of his own, and to use it, is in the eyes of the Procurator and his agents the worst possible crime, to be punished without mercy. Yet the last words of the Minister of the Interior were "Why am I murdered? I am not aware of having done any harm." This language of a dying man must be regarded as sincere. It shows, not innocence, but moral obtuseness. Those Russian officials whose lives are devoted to crushing out the manhood of the nation, at the instigation of the priestly class, are not hypocrites, but sincere men who, inasmuch as they cannot appreciate the possession of a conscience in other men, naturally have none of their own.

A dispatch from New York says that the White Mountain Paper Company, with a capital of $25,000,000 has been organised to build the largest pulp plant in the world. It will compete with the International Paper Company, which is known as the "Paper Trust." This is the age of combinations, and all these gigantic business "Trusts" are but the manifestation of the spirit which is now working, as in the days of Nimrod, to bring the whole earth into a single vast empire. Inasmuch as this purpose is entertained only by those nations which rank pre-eminently as "Christian nations," it is natural that they should persuade themselves that in this attempt to bring about a Government Trust which shall dominate the world, they are advancing the kingdom of Christ. Thus it will come to pass that the prophecy will be fulfilled, which says that in the last days men will say, "Peace and safety," and that as there can be no more war, since there is but one central power, they may beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. And when they have been thus deceived by Satan, then, says the Scripture, sudden destruction shall come upon them, and they shall not escape. No one need be deceived, for Christ's kingdom deals with and elevates the individual, and knows nothing of monopolies of any sort.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

It would be well if everybody would learn and remember the statement by Huxley: "Pestilences will only take up their abode among those who have prepared unswept and ungarnished residences for them." But let it be understood that this does not apply solely to the houses that we live in. The unswept and ungarnished residence that the pestilential germ naturally takes its abode in, is the human body that is clogged with waste matter because of wrong habits of eating and lack of proper exercise, fresh air, and pure water inside and outside. Whoever errs not in respect to any of these things, and keeps a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man, may rest free from fear of the noisome pestilence.

"Suffering with Christ" The Present Truth 18, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

Suffering with Christ. -"In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old." Isa. lxiii. 9.

It is a blessed thing to know that there is not a human sorrow that the Lord does not share; not a single ache or pain that He does not feel. He is "touched with the feelings of our infirmities." The knowledge of this fact is enough of itself to lighten the heaviest load, and ease the severest pain. Indeed, it is through the acceptance of this truth, and the realising of it, that we are healed of our diseases of soul and body. Faith makes it a fact that it is not we that live, but that Christ lives in us, and so real is this, that He bears all our ills, while we go free.

"The fellowship of His sufferings." -But we have not by any means learned all that suffering is designed to teach us, when we have learned that Christ suffered for us, to redeem us from sin and suffering. The fellowship of His sufferings means far more than that we may divide the pain with Him, or throw it all upon Him. He suffered not for Himself. "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases." "Surely He hath borne our sicknesses, and carried our sorrows." "By His stripes we are healed." The suffering of Christ is the healing of others. Therefore if we share the fellowship of His suffering, every affliction, of whatever kind, that comes upon us, will be used by us for the lightening of some other person's affliction. We shall study the cause of it, and learn God's way of healing it, in order that we may be prepared to help anybody else out of similar trouble. In that case, the more affliction we have, provided we bear it with Christ, the more of a blessing we shall be, and we shall "glory in tribulations also." Then "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."

"The Stability of Righteousness" The Present Truth 18, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

It is a common saying that "nothing is settled until it is settled right." That is a truth that is stated at length in the following scripture:-

"Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves; therefore 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. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it." Isa. xxviii. 15-18.

Nothing can stand except that which is built upon the foundation of truth and righteousness; every other structure that is built for a refuge will fall down, and will involve in its destruction all have taken refuge in it. The living God, the God of truth, is the only sure refuge, and His truth is a shield and buckler to every one who accepts it and hides in it alone.

This suggests another phase of the same truth, and that is, that whenever a thing is settled right it is absolutely settled. This is stated in the following scripture:-

"Judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places." Isa. xxxii. 16-18.

Righteousness is the sure and everlasting foundation. Whoever is right, and knows that he is right because he is building solely on God's Word, can rest in quiet, no matter how much people may rage against him. He may be misrepresented, and his motives maligned, or even his life threatened but none of these things will move him. He does not need to vindicate the truth, for if it is its own authority; and he doesn't need to defend himself, for the truth is his defence. What a condition of perfect rest in peace this is! "Great peace have they which love Thy law; and nothing shall offend them," or cause them to stumble.

"Keep Going Forward" The Present Truth 18, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

Keep Going Forward. -When the children of Israel stood on the shore of the Red Sea, God said the Moses, "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." This is the secret of power. The question is often asked, why it is that certain Gospel workers who certainly had a very limited view of the truth have had so much power. The answer is that they were making advancement. The mighty power that accompanied the preaching of the Reformers did not consist in the fact that they preached all the truth there was, but that they had accepted truth that was in advance of that held by the people of their time, and which had lifted them above the common level. The secret of reformation does not consist in having all the truth, but in making continual advancement in the way of truth. He who has a small amount of truth that has come to him fresh from the throne of God will have far more power than the one who has a much larger measure of truth that has been handed down by tradition. And this explains why reforms so often cease after a time. The reformers, or those who come after them, are content with the same statement of truth with which they began. But God's mercies are "new every morning." So His truth, in order to quicken our souls and the souls of others, must be continually developing before our eyes and in our hearts. It is not a different truth, but the unfolding of "that which was from the beginning." Thus we can never formulate a creed. In God's service we can never come to a place where we can say, "Now we have the truth, and here we can stop and build a fence around us." We must not sit down before the race is finished; and the race will not be ended till the Lord comes.

May 1, 1902

"A Captive Set at Liberty. Acts xii. 1-19" The Present Truth 18, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

(Acts xii. 1-19.)⁷1

Several times the Jewish rulers had endeavoured to put an end to the progress of the Gospel, by seizing the Apostles and putting them in prison, and had failed. Peter and John had been imprisoned and sent away from the court with a warning and a threat, to which they at once declared that they should pay no attention; and believers were added the more.

Then all the apostles were imprisoned together, and the rulers doubtless congratulated themselves on having accomplished a master stroke. Now they had

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them effectually in hand. But the angel of the Lord opened the prison door and set the apostles preaching again and all the rulers wondered that this thing would grow, they were so blindly presumptuous that they thought that a sound beating would prevent the apostles from any further preaching. But this only made the apostles firm and the more bold, and "daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ" and believers multiplied.

But King Herod took up the case. He did not stop at half-way measures, but seized James, the brother of John, and put him to death with the sword. Just what the Jews would gladly have done, but they had not the power. One apostle was out of the way, and Herod, seeing that his action pleased the Jews, proceeded to take Peter also. Herein he showed that he was not king in reality, but only in name. He was not ruler by divine right, but by accident, and he depended on the strength of his position upon currying favour with the people.

How foolish blind unbelief and rebellion make men? Pharaoh, after all the plagues that had come upon Egypt, in which the impotence of man was sharply contrasted with the power of God, recklessly pursued the Israelites even into the Red Sea, thinking that after all he might successfully fight against God. So Herod learned nothing from the fact that prison doors could not hold those to whom God said, "Go forth." The apostles had once been delivered, but he thought to prevent that from again taking place by putting a guard over Peter. Four times four guards were charged with Peter's safekeeping. Moreover two soldiers were locked in the cell with him, and he was chained up to them by two chains, one on each side. Surely it would be impossible to get Peter out of a prison without arousing his keepers.

Ah, they didn't know Peter's Keeper. It was the night before the day for Peter's execution, and he lay sleeping as sound as though he were going on a preaching trip the next day, instead of to the scaffold. Why should he not sleep, for his real Keeper was awake? "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper." Ps. cxxi. 3-5. With God awake, we can sleep. "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." Ps. iv. 8.

Then came the deliverance. What mattered stone walls, and iron gates, and bolts and bars, to him who could unlock the gates of the grave?" Behold, the angel Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison." The messenger of the King of kings came boldly, and scorned working in the dark. The soldiers were bound with invisible chains, while Peter's chains fell off. Lay them down carefully, lest they awaken the guard with their rattling? No; let them fall to the stone floor with a clang; for God has given the guard the spirit of deep slumber. All their senses are chained. Peter is bidden to "rise up quickly," yet he must not rush out half-clothed. There was time enough to bind on his sandals, and to put on his outer garments. Then following his heavenly guide he walked forth; and the iron gates that were intended to keep him in, as if recognising that they ought to serve God rather than man, opened of their own accord to let them pass.

DELIVERANCE FROM THE BONDAGE OF SIN

Why is this event recorded in the Bible? Is it simply that we may wonder at the marvellous occurrence? By no means. God does not placed Himself on exhibition merely to astonish the gaping crowd. It is simply to show His power "to deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage." It is to show how real is the truth that He is anointed "to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;" to say to the prisoners, "Go forth." Peter's acquaintance with the Deliverer who had risen to "turn away ungodliness from Jacob," was what made him rest so securely in prison that night.

The same Deliverer is alive and working still. His salvation is as real as in the days of the apostles. If it were not the case that He is to so great an extent merely a name, Christians would expect such marvellous manifestations of His power, and not regard them as a strange thing. But first His power must be experienced in one's own body, to deliver from the bondage of sin.

"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." This was evident in Peter's case. They are ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for them who shall inherit salvation. How few think of or realise the presence of these unseen beings who "excel in strength." They are not the spirits of the dead, but "sons of God" who shouted for joy when the earth was created. It is evident that each person has an angel or angels, specially detailed to care for him; for God said of His disciples, "their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven;" and when He was betrayed, He said to Peter; "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?" The Father loves us even as He loved Jesus; and therefore as many would be sent to our help if they were needed. The disciples who were praying for Peter knew about the presence and ministry of angels, and hence their exclamation, "It is His angel," when the maid told them that Peter stood without. What a difference it would make our lives if we constantly remembered that these heavenly messengers are with us. Knowing their strength, we should be saved from fears; and constant, conscious association with such holy, dignified beings could not fail to have an elevating influence on us.

While Peter lay in prison, "prayer was made without ceasing of the church and the God for him;" yet when the prayer was answered; and Peter was delivered, they did not believe it. It seems as though they had not really expected that Peter would be delivered, although they were praying for it. There is much of such praying. Well it is for us that the Lord is better to us than we deserve, and gives us more than our faith lays hold of. Or, it may be that they were expecting the answer in another way; it is often the case that we do not recognise the answer to our prayers, because we have settled it in our minds how it will come.

The question arises, did God deliver Peter because of the prayers of the church, or because He had for the work for him to do? and would He not have saved him even if they had not prayed? Both things are undoubtedly true. God has His own purposes, and He works all things after the counsel of His own will. He does not change His plans, to conform to our desire; but He puts into our hearts the desire for the thing that He proposes to do. Every desire that we have for any good thing, is inspired in us by God. Every impulse to pray for good things is but the response to God's offer of those things to us. Thus real prayer is simply the taking of the good gifts of God; and this is our confidence, that He will give us the desires of our heart.

"The Editor's Private Corner. A Comprehensive Question" The Present Truth 18, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

"I have read with pleasure your answers to correspondence on the soul's condition after death; but as there are so many passages which seem to favour the commonly-received idea that the soul enters either a state of happiness or misery, I should esteem it a favour to have further explanation of such statements of Scripture. Jesus said to the thief, 'To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.' The parable of the rich man and Lazarus seems to imply that the soul enters at once into a state of happiness or misery. You give Paul's statement in Thessalonians (and also the case of Stephen), but Paul says also, to the Philippians, that he was in a strait betwixt two, 'having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.' 'To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' Now it seems to me that if Paul believed that his soul would go to sleep he would have preferred to live for the Master. If Elijah was not taken to heaven, as the Scripture affirms, where did he go to? Evidently he was somewhere in a state of consciousness, as well as Moses; for they both appeared with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. These, with other passages, prevent me from fully adopting your views, though I try to come to the truth with an open mind. I think you will see where I am, and will help to a right understanding of God's Word."

You have asked a comprehensive question, or rather, a series of questions, any one of which really demands an entire article by itself; for a question cannot be answered satisfactorily in a short space as it can be asked. You have been pleased with the answers hitherto given, simply because they were Scripture statements, and not speculations or expressions of personal opinion. To say "Yes," or "No," or even to summarise the Scripture evidence in a short paragraph, is not a real answer to a question concerning anything mentioned in Scripture. A true answer to such questions puts the questioner in possession of the same data that the one question has, so that he can see the truth directly, and not through some other person's eyes; and this requires both time and space. Nevertheless we shall not risk dissipating the interest of your question by dividing it, but shall cover the entire ground as fully as the limits of one issue will allow.

You kindly say that you have read with pleasure the answers that have been given to questions on the soul's condition after death. As already stated, your pleasure in the answers is due solely to the fact that they were not the expressions of personal opinion, but were the very language of Scripture. Now that which is positively and plainly stated in the Scripture cannot be overthrown by anything else, no matter how much opposed it seems. That which is obscure is to be understood by that which is plain; the incidental allusion is to be compared with the direct positive statement; for the entire Scripture is one Word, and cannot contradict itself.

WITH CHRIST IN PARADISE

When Jesus hung on the cross, "He was despised and rejected of men. "They that passed by reviled Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save Thyself. If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, led Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him; for He said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with Him, cast the same in His teeth." Matt. xxvii. 39-44.

It was the darkest hour in the life of Jesus. He had made some very strong, positive statements as to who He was and what He would do; but now it seemed as though they had been but the irresponsible utterances of a dreamer, a fanatic, or a hypocrite. His own loved disciples had turned their backs on Him, and fled. One who had been foremost in confessing that He was the Christ, the Son of God, had denied Him with fierce oaths. No wonder the thoughtless multitude "did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted," when even He Himself was so overwhelmed as to cry out in bitter anguish, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Surely that was not a time when one would expect to hear a message of comfort and salvation from His lips.

But into the thick darkness a ray of light shines and pierces the mind of one of the thieves, so that he ceased reviling; and when "one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying, If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us," he rebuked him, saying, "Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." Luke xxiii. 39-42.

What marvellous faith! A new disciple is gained by that which made all the old disciples doubt! "Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;" and Jesus, who made peace through the blood of His cross, because His death was His victory, spoke the message of peace to this poor believer, saying, "Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise."

Leaving this verse for a moment, let us note a few details which will help us to an understanding of it. The first item is as to Christ's entry into Paradise. On the morning of the third day, when He showed Himself to Mary at the tomb in the garden, and she would have embraced at least His feet for joy, Jesus said to her, "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 Father; and to My God, and your God." John xx. 17. Later on He allowed them all to touch Him, and even asked Thomas to thrust his hand into the wound in His side; therefore we know that after He saw Mary, and before He met with the rest of the disciples, He ascended to the Father to receive from His own lips the assurance that His sacrifice was accepted. But the point is, that He did not ascend to the Father on the day of the crucifixion; for "in the midst of the Paradise of God" is the tree of Life (Rev. ii. 7); and the tree of life is by the side of the river of life, which flows from the throne of God. Rev. xxiii. 1. God's throne is in Paradise; and as Jesus had not ascended to the Father on the morning of the third day after the crucifixion, it is evident that He did not go to Paradise that day, and therefore could not have met

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the thief there that day. The reason why He did not go, was that He died, and went to the grave.

The next point to be noticed is the thief's request: "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." Did Jesus receive His kingdom that day? He Himself had, but a few days before, spoken a parable to the disciples, "because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear," in which He showed them that the case with Him and His kingdom was likened to "a certain nobleman" who "went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return." Luke xix. 11, 12. Christ has not gone to that far country; when He comes again He will have received the kingdom, and will set upon the throne of His glory, and all nations will be gathered before Him. Matt. xxv. 31, 32. It is when the nations are angry, and His wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, the Christ takes to Himself His great power, and reigns. Rev. xi. 17, 18. So the time for the fulfilment of the repentant thief's request has not yet come.

What then? was the thief disappointed?-Not by any means, for He died, and has lain in the grave for hundreds of years, unconscious of the lapse of time. When he opens his eyes at the call of the Lord, and sees Him in His kingdom, it will be as though there had been but the blink of an eye since he saw Him on the cross, and he will be satisfied.

But did Jesus tell an untruth? Nay, verily, that is an impossibility. What is the inevitable conclusion, then?-Just this, that Jesus did not tell the thief that they would meet in Paradise that day, and the thief had no such thought in his mind.

But does not the text say that Jesus promised the thief that he should be with Him in Paradise that day?-No; what He declared was that He said to him that day, even then, as He hung on the cross, seemingly at the end of all His hopes, that he should have his desire, and should yet be with Him in Paradise.

You ask, Does not the punctuation and the construction of the sentence contradict this view?-Certainly not. In the first place, you must remember that punctuation is a comparatively modern thing. When the Bible was written, all the characters were run together without break or mark of the division in the sentences. Moreover, in the Greek, as in many other languages, the personal pronoun as the subject of a sentence is often unexpressed, being indicated by the verb; and so it is here; therefore the verb may be translated "thou shalt," as well as, "shalt thou." So we read the text, in harmony with all the testimony of Scripture, "Verily I say unto thee to-day, thou shall be with Me in Paradise." When will he be with Him?-When He descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall arise, and "so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 16-18.

For a parallel to this style of expression, read Zech. ix. 11, 12: "As for Thee also, by the blood of Thy covenant I have sent forth Thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope; even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee." It is only when we read Luke xxiii. 43 as we have given it, remembering the circumstances under which the words were uttered, that we can see the force and beauty of it. Then the sublime faith of both the thief and Christ shines forth, and we know that nothing is too hard for the Lord, and that no matter how everything may seem to be against us and Him, He is abundantly able to save. Thus we derive the comfort from the scripture that it was designed to give.

PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

Inasmuch as you recognise that this is a parable, we need not spend much time over it. The main thing with respect to a parable is to know what it was designed to teach. Some parables, like those in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, concerning the kingdom of heaven, are so completely explained in every detail, that there is no chance for any misunderstanding. And there need be none in this instance, for it is plainly made known why it was given. Jesus had spoken a parable concerning the use and abuse of money, and had told the people that they could thus serve God and Mammon; "and the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things; and they scoffed at Him." Then He said to them that "that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God," and then He spoke the parable, showing that a man's worldly prosperity or adversity did not indicate his standing with the Lord.

This parable is not meant to teach anything whatever as to the state of the dead, as a little examination will show. True, the Saviour represented dead people as talking, but that did not confuse His hearers, for they all knew the Scripture teaching on the state of the dead. The fact that Christ spoke of them in His parable as active and talking was no more misleading than when Jotham told about the conversation among the trees when they went forth to seek a king (Judges ix. 7-15), or when God said to Cain, "The voice of the thy brother's blood crieth out unto Me from the ground." Gen. iv. 10. When we have it stated in the plainest possible language, that "the dead know not anything," and that "there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave," we know full well that when in a parable the dead are represented as talking, they are simply personified, as are the trees in Jotham's parable.

Now read a few words of the parable. "The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." What! are the dead carried bodily and placed in Abraham's bosom? "Oh," I hear it said, "that is figurative; of course 'Abraham's bosom' is but a figurative term for the place of happiness, and Lazarus was not carried there bodily, but only his soul."

Ah, then, the thing is figurative, is it? Very good; then we can at once let the parable drop, so far as our present subject is concerned.

I think all will agree that this parable may be left out of the consideration of this question. If we learn from it not to trust to money, and not to be cast down by poverty, we shall do well.

IN A STRAIT BETWIXT TWO

Speaking of life and death, the Apostle Paul said, "What I choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better." Phil. i. 22-23.

Read this thoughtfully, and you will see that it plainly teaches that it is not by death that we depart to be with Christ. It is impossible to charge upon the apostle the absurdities of saying that he was in a strait between two, namely, life and death, not knowing which to choose, but he chose to die! No; there were three things open before him: 1. To die; 2. "To abide in the flesh," that is to live; 3. "To depart and to be with Christ." Which of the first two he would choose, if the choice were left to him, he did not know; but he had

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an intense longing for the third, namely, to depart and be with Christ.

Is it not clearly manifest that to depart and be with Christ is something far different from dying? Just what it is we learn from 1 Thess. iv. 13-18, where we are told how people to be with the Lord, and also 1 Cor. xv. 51-54. Not all sleep in the grave, but some live and are changed. Now Paul's only desire was to magnify Christ in his body, and the reason why he did not know which to choose, whether life or death, was that he did not know which would be the greater gain to the cause of Christ: but he could long for translation; for if the Lord should come and take him from this earth, that would show that his work was finished on earth.

So we see that this scripture, instead of teaching that the Apostle Paul expected to be with Christ by dying, teaches just the opposite. His epistle to the Philippians does not contradict the one written to the Thessalonians.

"TO DIE IS GAIN"

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Phil. i. 21.

I cannot think that one who cites this as proving that Paul longed for death, can have read the chapter in which it is found. As we have just noted, the verse that immediately follows states that he did not know which was better, life or death. How can people be so thoughtless, even reckless, in their reading, as to make the apostle contradict his own words in one breath?

Now read the connection closely, and you will see that the apostle had not a single thought of self-interest. From his prison he wrote a courageous letter to cheer the Philippians brethren. He tells them not to be troubled over his afflictions, because all that has happened to him has been for the furtherance of the Gospel. Verse 12. His bonds were the occasion of Christ being made known throughout C?sar's palace. His only desire was, as he says, that "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." Verse 20. Then he adds, "for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

How is it possible for anybody, in the face of the preceding verses, to think that Paul was speaking of personal gain? He had just said that he desired that Christ should be honoured through him, whether by his life or his death, it mattered not to him which. If he died, his life was devoted to the service of Christ, and if he died, the cause of Christ would gain by that. Do you not see how incongruous it is to think that after all that the apostle has said, he should suddenly intimate that it would be a grand thing for him to die, and be out of trouble? Whoever thinks that has mistaken the character of the apostle, and does violence to his statements.

No; Paul's whole being was lost in Christ. It was not he that lived, but Christ that lived in him (Gal. ii. 20); only one desire animated him, and that was to preach the Gospel of Christ, and to see it advanced; and he could laugh at the vain attempts of his persecutors to stop the good work, because even if they put him to death it would only be helping the cause of Christ along. What an unselfish, devoted, heroic soul he was! A grand old man indeed!

THE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH

You ask, "If Elijah was not taken to heaven, where did he go? Why, he was taken to heaven. The Scripture says so. He was taken away bodily in a chariot of fire, without dying, and thus became a representative of those who shall be alive at the coming of Christ, and be changed to immortality, and taken to heaven without ever dying. Do you not see that Elijah's case is something entirely different from what takes place with the mass of people? Of course he went to heaven, for he never died; here his case does not come into a consideration of the condition and state of the dead.

MOSES ON THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION

But Moses died and was buried in the land of Moab, yet he was also on that mount with Elijah and Christ. Yes, he was; and thus he was a representative of the class who have died, and who will be raised to life at the coming of Christ in his kingdom with power and glory. See Matt. xvi. 18; xvii. 1-8; Mark ix. 1-8; 2 Peter i. 14-18.

Moses died, it is true; but we read that Michael the Archangel-the same one whose voice will at the last day call the dead to life (1 Thess. iv. 16)-"when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses." Jude 9. The devil is the one that had the power of death (Heb. ii. 14), and Christ came to overcome and destroy him, and deliver those whom he has shut up in his prison house, the grave. Moses is one whom He has chosen as an example of what at the last He will do for all the faithful who have died, just as Elijah is the representative of the living who have never died.

CONCLUSION

Let no one suppose that I have devoted all this space to the discussion of a merely technical, theological question. The Bible was written to show people the way of salvation, and not to afford them something on which to exercise their argumentative powers. It is not a book of puzzles, or of theoretical problems, the solution of which is a purely academic matter, with no influence whatever upon human life and conduct. Whatever motive our friends may have in asking questions, the PRESENT TRUTH has no other object in answering but to help the people in the way of life and salvation. We have no time or space to spare for controversy or the mere satisfying of curiosity.

Now what bearing does this question of the state of the dead have on our salvation? What difference does it make to us in our Christian life? It has just this bearing, that it makes us know the power of the Lord to save us now from sin. "For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall 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 to subject all things unto Himself." Phil. iii. 20, 21, R.V.

The power by which Christ will raise the dead and change our bodies at His coming, is the power by which He is now able to cast down every high thing in us that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. We are simply studying Christ's power to save. Salvation means life from the dead. The power of Christ's coming is His power to raise the dead; and this is the power by which we are now saved from the bondage of corruption.

Moreover, we are putting the readers of PRESENT TRUTH on their guard against the deceptions of Satan. He is able to transform himself into an angel of light, and it is no marvel if his angels can personate human beings, and from their knowledge of their past, tell many secrets that would seem to identify them as dead friends of some with whom they communicate. Now if people think that the dead are alive, it is

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but an east matter for them to be led into Spiritualism when they receive strong messages from what purport to be their dead friends. And the history of the past demonstrates that when a Christian has been led into Spiritualism his faith in Christ and the atonement ceases.

It is not surprising that a Spiritualist should disbelieve what the Bible says about Christ's sacrifice, and our dependence on it, when he has to disbelieve what the Bible says about the state of the dead, in order to be a Spiritualist at all. It is utterly impossible for one who firmly believes the Scripture truth that we have life only in Christ, and that the dead are unconsciously sleeping, ever to become a Spiritualist; and the event will show that it is impossible for those who do not believe this, not to become Spiritualists. So we have ample reason for devoting so much space to this subject.

We have in hand a question concerning the structure of man, asking for a statement of the distinction between body, and soul, and spirit, and the meaning of these terms, and if God will, we shall take this up next week.

"The Sea and the Dry Land" The Present Truth 18, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

"And God called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas; and God saw that it was good." Gen. i. 8-10.

"Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth." Ps. civ. 5-9.

"He hath placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?" Jer. v. 22.

"All the rivers run into sea." Eccl. i. 7.

"In Him [Jesus" all things hold together." Col. i. 17.

How beautifully the story of the third day of creation is told in the 104th Psalm. When the waters covered the earth, and stood above the tops of the highest mountains, at the command of God they fled and hasted away. What made the waters so quick to obey the Word of God? It was the Spirit of God that moved upon them. This was what sent them rushing to the place that He had founded for them, and it is this that keeps them there to-day.

We have already learned that the Spirit of God is in the depths, and in the uttermost parts of the sea, and this is what rules the mighty waters so that they cannot pass the command of God, and go beyond the bounds that He set for them when He said, "Here shall thy proud waves be stayed." The raging, tossing sea, which can tear the strongest ships to pieces, and destroy all the works of man, cannot prevail against the Word of God. He is mightier than the mighty waves of the sea.

We have the dry land to live and walk upon only because the mighty Spirit of God is holding back the waters so that they shall not overflow the earth, and sweep us away. The living Word of God is still speaking to the waters, and they hear and obey.

This is why the waters of the earth are all rushing towards the sea. They still go up by the mountains and down by the valleys to the place that God has founded for them. "All the rivers run into the sea" in obedience to the Word of God, "Let the waters be gathered together unto one place." And as they go they refresh the thirsty land, and their constant motion keeps them pure and fresh to give drink to man and bird and beast.

We look at the mighty ocean, and think what a great work God is doing to keep it in its place and to control its raging waters. But no less wonderful is His work of making and keeping the dry land under our feet. Have you learned to see His power working there also?

You have seen clouds of dust fly up into the air, but it has soon settled down upon the ground again. And you have thrown things up into the air, but instead of flying off into space, they have always come back to the earth. This is because there is a power in the earth that holds it together, and draws things towards it.

That power is Jesus, who fills all things by His Spirit. This is what holds the earth together, and keeps the solid ground under our feet. So we are all the time held up by the power of God, resting on His Word. Whether we know it or not.

This is the power of God, and "God is love." So it is love that draws all things together, and keeps the earth from being dissolved, and scattered into atoms. The earth is filled with the mercy and love of God.

The Spirit of power which rules the sea, is able to make you as quick as the waters to obey the Word of God; to keep you

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from evil passions; to rule over your temper, and check the angry words that race to your lips, and to give you peace. Will you not give yourselves into His keeping?

The Spirit of love that holds the earth together, fills you also, holding you in form, and giving new life. Will you not be drawn by His loving-kindness to give your heart to Him? If you do, He will fill you with His own attractive power, and make you the means of drawing others to Him.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

Foolish little boy, to be so afraid of a harmless spider! He is like "little Miss Moffat," who ran away from the "great Spider that sat down beside her." Perhaps it is because spiders are so thirsty for the blood of flies and other insects that little children are afraid of them; but to us they are quite harmless.

Watch the busy spider making her fine web. Those thin threads that she spins out of her own body, are each made up of at least four thousand tiny threads, woven together like the strands of a rope.

The little spinning machine at the end of the spider's body has four or six "spinnerets" full of tiny holes, so small that there are sometimes one thousand in a space no bigger than a pin's point. The threads are drawn through these. The spider's thread is strong; yet it is so fine and light that one pound of it would reach round the world.

The spider has a very large appetite, and eats a great deal. This is because she spins out so much to make her web.

If a man should eat as much for his size as a spider does, he would want a whole bullock for breakfast; another bullock and five sheep for dinner; two more sheep for tea; a supper of two bullocks, four or five hogs, and six sheep; and at bedtime five barrels of fish. This would be just about as much as a spider eats for its size. Yet spiders can go for ten months with no food at all.

"Wholesale Confession" The Present Truth 18, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

A traveller in Russia gives the following interesting account of a public "confession" which he attended in "Holy Week." It is a fair sample of wholesale confession which is not by any means confined to Russia, nor to members of a State church. It is so easy for people to admit in an off-hand way that they are "all miserable sinners," and to imagine that if they recognise that they are doing wrong, that is a confession of it. "I know I ought not to do this," some one will apologetically say, while in the very act of doing it, and will comfort himself with the delusion that now he has cleared himself, when he has only condemned himself. Such confessions only harden the conscience, and confirm one in sin, because the persons do not really have any sense of sin, or any intention of forsaking the evil practices; and thus we see that they are really not confessions of sin at all:-

I did not attend all the services during the week, but I was fortunate enough to witness the novel way Batushka (little father, or literally, "Papa") managed to shorten his labours at the confessional. He had announced that every one must come at a certain hour and the church was full. Each peasant was in his sheepskin, word "the leather side out and the furry side in," with the wool hanging in a deep fringe round the bottom, and the scent of these coats was not refreshing. The only other visible articles of attire were immense top top boots, replaced in the case of extra-wretched persons by long rags wound round the legs to a great thickness, while the feet were thrust into bark slippers. The crowd stood (there are no seats) with intent eyes fixed on the priest, and he, standing with his back to the altar, accused them during a good quarter of an hour of such sins as he knew to be most general. They answered in a chorus, every one acknowledging to everything, there being no one so fussy as to want to deny or specify.

"You removed part of the bridge for fuel."

"Yes, yes, Batushka," replied the big voices.

"You drank too much vodka."

"Yes, yes, Batushka."

"You kicked some old and tiresome man."

"Yes, yes, Batushka."

"You gave me short measure in my tithes."

"Yes, yes, Batushka."

"You shifted your neighbour's landmark."

"Yes, yes, Batushka."

"Scorning the claims of others, you ate the whole pan of borsch yourself."

"Yes, yes, Batushka."

"You felled a tree in the forest."

"Yes, yes, Batushka," etc.

"Well, well, that will do. Now you're forgiven. You can go home," and he gabbled a benediction.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

It is stated that English is studied by 95 per cent. of the students attending higher schools in each. The nearer the people of the civilised world become of "one language in one speech," the more will they feel that their power is equal to that of God.

Repeated earthquakes in the Caucasus, the destruction by earthquakes of almost all the towns and villages and plantations in the western part of Guatemala; terrible loss of life by fire in the United States, and the burning of a steamer on the Ohio River, with a loss of 200 lives; a house struck by lightning, and six inmates killed in British Columbia; two fires in London, the one resulting in a loss of ?2,000,000 worth of property, and the other of seven lives, are among the week's reports of calamities; and these are but a few. Truly, perfect peace does not yet fill the earth.

Although the English language is spreading over the globe, the number of people in England, who cannot read or even speak it, is increasing. At the annual meeting of the East London Fund for the Jews, the Bishop of London said that the difference in language is one of the difficulties with which the mission for the evangelisation of the Jews in Stepney has to deal. One clergymen reports that amongst his 2,000 parishioners there are only eight English people. In some streets in the East End, inhabited by Jews, the Bishop said, the shopkeepers display in their windows the notice, "English spoken here," just the same as though London or a foreign town. He said that the Jews are coming in increasing numbers, and that there are now about 100,000 in London. What a pity that they cannot see Christianity here, as well as curing it occasionally through a clergymen.

It was reported last week, in connection with the illness of the Queen of Holland, that "the Queen is incapable of taking any nourishment except beef and tea and other fluids, and these only in small quantities." It is fortunate for her that some "other fluids" are administered, for beef tea not only contains absolutely no nourishment, except the water in its composition, but it is a poison. The best physicians know this; it is stated in text-books on Physiology, and by lectures to medical student; and yet, so slowly to old notions and customs die, beef tea is still the unfailing resort in cases of illness. Everybody ought to know that to feed a person on it is to start him and poison him at the same time. Whoever would live a given time on beef tea would live much longer and in better condition on plain water.

When the patient, honest, sturdy Finns rebel, it may be set down as certain that it is no light pressure that is put upon them. The remorseless manner in which the Czar's Government, which means government by the priestly class, is striving to crush out all individuality in Finland, is meeting with resistance, and the situation, not only at Helsingfore, but throughout Finland, is stated to be alarming. Conflicts between the people and the soldiers have already taken place, the people refusing to submit to the new military law. An imperial rescript address to the Governor-General of Finland contains a threat to abolish the present form of government in Finland if the military law is not obeyed. One cannot wonder that human nature rebels that such gross, high-handed in justice; yet rebellion will accomplish nothing. Resistance is useless and wicked. "The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." Rebellion is always supposed to God's way; if instead of meeting force with force which is far inferior, and must certainly be overcome, the people of Finland, as individuals, each one acting for himself and the fear of God's commandment, should refuse to bear arms, all the might of the Russian empire could not obtain the mastery over them.

The discussion of the Education Bill now before Parliament has led the Daily Chronicle to unearth the following from a writer in the seventeenth century:-

"We are in Pain to make them Scholars, but not Men. To talk, rather than to know, which is true Canting. The first Thing obvious to Children is what is sensible; and that we make no Part of their Rudiments. We press their Memory too soon, and apostle, strain, and load them with Words and Rules; to know Grammar and Rhetorick, and a strange Tongue or two, that it is ten to one may never be useful to them; Leaving their natural Genius to Mchanical and Physical, or natural knowledge, uncultivated and neglected; which would be of exceeding Use and Pleasure to them through the whole Course of their Life."

This language, quite as it is, could be applied without much exaggerations to present-day education, which shows that the twentieth century is not essentially in defense of the seventeenth. Even the pants in arts and inventions is only seeming progress, since everything that is invented is subordinated to militarism or commercialism; and "a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."

The Rev. Dr. Lawes, who for forty years has been labouring in New Guinea and the South Sea Islands, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society, said in a recent sermon in the principal Congregational Church in Sydney, that if Christ and Paul should come to Australia now, they would be refused admission under the Provisions of the Aliens Restriction Act. He said that he could claim to speak with some authority of the coloured races of the Pacific, and that physically they are the equals, if not the superiors, of the White; morally they are certainly superior to the average white; and mentally, they developed a high degree of intelligence under tuition. Nations never will learn, and even the church is still very slow to learn, that God is made of one blood all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth.

The Christian World of April 17, discourses on "Virile Religion," from which we extract the following, and commanded to the consideration of all who have anything to do with the care of churches or chapels, or any places where people are expected to assemble for worship.

Why is it that the modern church, especially the Protestant branch of it, has lost, what Judaism and Paganism possessed, the art of making religious service a popular festival? Think of the Jewish crowd is going up to their temple, not a man missing who could scrape the means of getting there; the march thitherwards a glorious festival procession, exuberant with song and gladness! We have lost this, and it must be retained. The fatal association in the popular mind between religion and dulness must be broken and for ever. How this is to be done is a wide theme, to which we have here contribute only one or two hints.

For one thing the church must get itself rehoused. A general conflagration which would consume at least fifty per cent. of the present structures would be an enormous stride forward. But the fire would be of no use unless it burned out also some of the still existing ideas of church building. Our Gothic and our bastard Gothic must go. They spell the Middle Ages and the Dies Iree. The new church house must spell light, liberty, and quietness. It will be full of sunshine and, above all, of fresh air.

Has anyone attempted to analyse the atmosphere offered usually for our breathing in church? It has and odour as of the ball bearing remains of all the decayed and became theologies. The one certainly the, in some centuries, may reckon on is a headache. The evening service that many of them, when the oxygen of the air has been successfully eliminated by the morning audience, and what is left is carried to a higher term of destructiveness by the fumes of a hundred gas-jets, is truly a wonderful contribution to the physical making of England. There must be a change years with incomplete. We must seize the poisoning of people's bodies in the effort to save their souls. Cast must give way everywhere to the electric light. And there must be windows that will open. That churches henceforth to be branded as heterodox to the sacred loss of life, which takes no care to secure to the people a clean air to breathe.

"The Commandment to Save" The Present Truth 18, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

The Commandment to Save. -When we read of miraculous deliverances, like that of Peter from prison, of Daniel from the lions' den, or the three Hebrew captives from the fiery furnace, each one of us should be able to say with positive assurance, "Thou hast given commandment to save me." Ps. lxxi. 2. God commands deliverance (Ps. xliv. 4); and He delivers us in His righteousness, and causes us to escape every temptation and snare of the devil. How safely and securely we abide in God as our strong Tower! "Thou art my hiding place; Thou shall preserve thee from trouble; Thou shall compass me about with songs of deliverance." Ps. xxxii. 7. "And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me; therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord." Ps. xxvii. 6.

"'Made Sinners'ó'Made Righteous'" The Present Truth 18, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

"Made Sinners"-"Made Righteous." -"As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so through the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." Just as surely as we are made sinners, and not merely reckoned so, through the sin of the first Adam, so surely may we be made-not merely counted-righteous, through the obedience of Christ, the second Adam. We have all felt the motions of sin working in our members and forcing us to do this thing that we would not, testifying to the fact that we were made sinners by birth. In like manner, but in as much greater degree as Christ is stronger than Satan, and righteousness than sin, may we know that we are made partakers of the Divine nature of holiness, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight.

"'All Are Thy Servants'" The Present Truth 18, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

"All Are Thy Servants." -All things serve those who serve the Lord. This is really but another way of saying that "all things work together for good to them that love God." A striking illustration of this is given in the account of Peter's deliverance from prison, which is the basis of the article on page 275. We read that the outer, iron gate "opened to them of his own accord." Not only in every living thing, but even in the unorganised, inanimate creation, God's life is present and manifested in the fact that it holds together. See Rom. i. 20; Col. i. 16, 17. The same God that makes our bodies of the dust move (for in Him we live and move), can make any portion of matter move at His will. Man is a servant, but was made to be ruler over all the rest of God's creation. "The kingdom of God is within," and when a man has a complete mastery over the matter composing his own flesh, and he is lord over all, and all things serve him. "All things are yours," when ye are Christ's.

May 8, 1902

"The Gift of Life. Acts xiii. 43-52" The Present Truth 18, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

(Acts xiii. 43-52.)⁸1

The apostles preached no new things but an "old commandment which ye had from the beginning." 1 John ii. 7. "That which was from the beginning" was "the Word of life" (1 John i. 1), for "His commandment is life everlasting." John xiii. 50. They preached Christ, for He is the Word of life that was in the beginning. John i. 1-4. He is "the life." John xiv. 6. When they had all been cast into prison, the angel who opened the doors and set them at liberty, said to them "Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life." Acts v. 20. "Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word" (Acts viii. 4), and so Paul and Barnabas, as they went on their missionary journey, preached the Word of life.

This will not be questioned by anybody, yet many do not see to remember that their preaching was wholly from the Old Testament, for no other portion of the Bible was then written, and that it was chiefly the history of the Jewish people. Read Acts vii and xiii. Jesus is the Saviour, and "salvation is of the Jews." John iv. 22. God said, "Israel is My Son, even My firstborn" (Ex. iv. 22), and the mighty miracles wrought in the deliverance of that people from bondage is only a revelation of Christ, through which is preached the forgiveness of sins.

TO WHOM SENT

Paul, standing in the synagogue at Antioch, in Pisidia, said: "Brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the Word of this salvation sent forth." Acts xiii. 26. But not to the Jews only has it come. "Unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them." Heb. iv. 2. Even the conservative Jews in Jerusalem were obliged to admit that God had "also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life" (Acts xi. 18); and Paul wrote later: "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." Rom. v. 18.

"The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." John vi. 33. It is as freely bestowed, and is as widely diffused, as the sunlight, for the light is "the life of men." That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John i. 9. Therefore "the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. xxiii. 17. "Lay hold on eternal life," for it is given to every one, without respecter of persons. And, having laid hold of it, "hold fast that thou hast."

SELF-CONDEMNED IN THE JUDGMENT

The Gentiles who had heard the word of life, begged the apostles "that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath," and "the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles."

The gift of life has, as we have seen, been bestowed upon all; therefore the preaching of it is not the bringing of it

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to people, but simply the announcement that "the Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." Deut. xxx. 14. This Word that is within everybody, is Christ Jesus. Rom. x. 6-10. The life that animates our body, affecting all the marvellous changes in it, and renewing our breath day by day, is the life of Christ; the Word is there for righteousness. Whoever yields fully to that life within, allows it to think and act in him in all ways and at all times, is a righteous man.

All have the life, but not all yield to it. Christ loves all men, and His pardoning love is manifested to us in the life that He gives us continually; but "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." Rom. i. 18. Christ is "the truth and the life" (John xiv. 6), and it is Christ in the flesh, and "the power that worketh in us" (Eph. iii. 20), that men are restraining, and not allowing to have His rightful way. Thus they bring about their own destruction.

The judgment at the last day will reveal to all the fact that eternal life has been given to all. Christ has by His death purchased the right to give it to all men, as He has power over all flesh; and since it is in Him we live, eternal life is really the birthright of every person. God has put eternity in the hearts of all (Eccl. iii. 11, R.V., margin), so that whoever loses it must by his own choice and action put it from him. Thus God is clear, and every unrepentant sinners stands self-condemned. God is no respecter of persons; therefore He has judged all men worthy of everlasting life, which in Christ He has bestowed upon all; but very many, by their own disregard and rejection of it, judge themselves unworthy of it.

LIFE, LIGHT, AND SALVATION

When the Jews rejected the Word of life, Paul and Barnabas said, "Lo, we turn to the Gentiles, for so hath God commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles that doubt shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth."

This is quoted from the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. It is evident from the connection there, that Christ is directly referred to, and thus we learn that whatever is said to Him applies equally to us. Christ is for salvation from God, to the ends of the earth; but as He is sent into the world, even so are we; and we are likewise set for salvation to the world. Whoever receives the Word of life, has it not merely for his own salvation, but for the salvation of others. We are saved by the life that is given, and the life is the light; but "none of us liveth to himself," and so whoever is saved will necessarily be a saviour of others.

It was necessary that this Word of salvation by the light of life should first be preached to the Jews, for in the portion of Scripture which Paul quoted it is written: "Thou art My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." Christ is thus addressed as Israel, for He is God's Son, even His firstborn; but He is "the firstborn among many brethren," and therefore all believers are Israel. The lineal descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had by virtue of the faithfulness of their fathers the right to lead out in the ministry of salvation; for God chose Israel, not merely for the purpose of saving them, but that they should be His salvation unto the ends of the earth. Of course in order to carry it to others they must have it themselves; but when they not only refused to carry the light of life to others, but were made angry when others ran to it and accepted it, they put it away from themselves.

From this we learn that no one can be saved alone. Whoever is saved must be a saviour, not by virtue of what he does, but of what he is. He is saved by the life of Christ within him, and that life is light, and the light shines in the darkness and cannot be hid. Whenever anybody, in any nation or at any time, recognises the light, and lays hold of life, he is then "a light of the Gentiles," to be the salvation of God to other men. Do you think that you are too poor and weak and sinful and insignificant to be saved? Then think so no longer. Are you not alive? Do you not breathe? Is not the Spirit of God in your nostrils? Well, know that you breathe only the breath which God "breathes out." There is no life except that which flows from His wounded side. The fact that you live is the assurance that God has already given you salvation. Your part is to believe, not in something that God will do, but in what He has already done; for Christ on the cross said, "It is finished."

But this is not all. God's salvation is so marvellously abundant that it reaches out far and wide. Like Jordan at the time of harvest, the river of life "overfloweth all his banks." God speaks "to him whom man despiseth," no matter what for, nor how justly; no matter how despicable he may be; "to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers," even to the one who is trodden underfoot, and says: "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, 8. How can there be any question whether God can and will save you, when He has chosen you to be salvation to others? Is not this wonderful salvation? "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."

"The Comfort of Approbation" The Present Truth 18, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

The Comfort of Approbation. -Everybody knows what an encouragement it is to have one's work appreciated. We do not refer to the unhealthy love of applause but merely to honest appreciation. It is very hard for a person to labour on month after month, and it may be year after year, finding his work misunderstood, and not become discouraged. Yet this was just what Jesus did. No one, not even His most intimate friends, or His own family, understood Him. He could not talk over His work with any companion, and find kindly sympathy and encouragement. He listened to the woes of others, but had nobody to share His own. Yet He did not fail or become discouraged; and the reason was that He made a confidant of the Father, from whom He always received sympathy. And He was not without the encouragement of appreciation, for God said in the hearing of the multitudes, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

You will say, "surely that was approbation enough; if I could only have that approval, I would not mind the lack of sympathy and appreciation from men." Well, we may have it. Of Enoch it is said that "before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." It was by his faith that Enoch had this testimony, and faith will bring us the same heavenly commendation. What need, then, of complaining because our work is not appreciated? If it is what God has given us to do, and we, like Christ, do always the things that please Him, we should be content and happy, even though all men oppose. "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

"Body, Soul, and Spirit" The Present Truth 18, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

"I have been very much blessed by reading the last two numbers of PRESENT TRUTH, on this whole question, and would like to have you explain what Paul means in 1 Thess. v. 23, where he speaks of the 'whole spirit and soul and body.' Or, in other words, What is the soul? Is the soul distinct from other parts of the man? If you can give us a lesson on this subject, I shall esteem it a great favour."

The text in question reads thus: "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." It may be well in this connection to have the next verse before us, as an assurance that this is no vain prayer: "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it." It is a blessed assurance! What a pity that so few accept it.

In solving any problem we must always have recourse to first principles; and so it is with Scripture questions: everything must be referred to the beginning. We therefore turn to Gen. ii. 7, where we have the account of the making of man, and read:-

"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."

It is evident that we have here the body, soul, and spirit, as in 1 Thess. v. 23. The body was formed of the dust; the spirit was breathed into the nostrils; and the living soul was the result.

That is the making of man; let us now read the description of its dissolution. In the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes we have death set forth by a variety of figurative terms, closing with the words in verse 7: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit return to God who gave it."

But what about the soul? Is it not mentioned in the account of the resolving of man into his original elements. And why not? This question can best be answered by referring again to creation. Where was the soul of man before the breath of God came into the body of dust? Evidently it did not exist. We have the account of the union of the body and the breath of the spirit, but no mention is made of the soul until that union was effected. Then man, according to the literal rendering of the Hebrew, became to a soul of life. It is plain, therefore, that the soul has no separate, independent existence, but is simply the union of the spirit and the body; and when these are separated, the soul ceases to exist. In death the dust returns to the earth, "as it was," the spirit returns to God who gave it, just as it was before He gave it, and the soul is likewise as it was, so to speak; that is, it is not; for it was not before.

This is a simple, Scriptural statement of the case. Of course there are many other texts of Scripture bearing on the subject, but we cannot now know them all, nor is it necessary. It should be stated, however, that the word "soul" is often used in other senses than the primary one here set forth. Thus the entire man is called the soul, and the body alone, even without the breath, is sometimes called the soul; and in whatever accommodated sense the term is used, every other use of it is derived from the one here brought to view.

To illustrate the union by which the soul comes into being, and its cessation of existence when that union ceases, let us take water. It is well known that it is composed of a fixed proportion of the two gases, oxygen and hydrogen-two molecules of hydrogen one of oxygen. It is possible, by various processes, to resolve water into its constituent elements; the hydrogen gas may be collected in a receiver by itself, and likewise the oxygen gas is another by itself. Where is the water then? There is none. Nothing has been destroyed or annihilated, yet the water exists no more. The gases may again be united, and then we shall have water; but as soon as they are separated we look in vain for any trace of it.

Just as we ask, Where is the water with the gases of which it is composed separated? the Scripture asks, Where is man when the breath has departed from his body. "Man dieth and wasteth away [the dust returns to the earth as it was]; yea, man giveth up the ghost [the spirit returns to God who gave it], and where is he?" Job xiv. 10. He is not. The weeping mothers of Bethlehem and vicinity mourned for their children, whom Herod slew, and refused to be comforted, because they were not. Matt. ii. 17, 18. The soul, which is the essential man, is not, as soon as the breath leaves the body.

But although the man dies, he shall live again. The Spirit then returns to God who gave it will again be sent forth to quicken the dust, and it will arise and sing. God says: "Ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put My Spirit in you, and he shall live, and I shall place you in your own land." Eze. xxxvii. 13, 14.

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION

We can now leave this phase of the subject, to consider the more practical part, namely, sanctification. From Gen. ii. 7, compared with Gen. i. 26-31, we find that a perfect man,-one formed fully by God's image,-is a body of dust animated by the life of God. There is no room for the idea that it is unmanly, or that it is slavery, for a man to allow God to control him; for without God there can be no complete man. It takes a union of God and a human body to make a complete, perfect man. Anything less than a full and complete union of the two is less than a man. God has demonstrated this for us by sending Christ, the second Adam, into the world. "The Word was God," and "the Word was made flesh." There was a perfect union of a human body and the Divine Spirit, and the result was a perfect Man, the Pattern for all men.

"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Literally, "The Word became flesh and tabernacled in us." "The Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart." Yea, more, "The Word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, 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.

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there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." The Word of life penetrates to every ultimate fiber and cell of the body, so that all its activity is the result of the personal presence and working of the living God, the Divine Word that is Spirit and life. So intimate is the life connection between God and man.

Why is God so closely identified with man? In order that man may live. "For He is thy life." Deut. xxx. 20. But it is not God's pleasure to furnish life to be used in sin. Sin is the transgression of the law of life; it is opposition to God's life, the action of "the god of this world," "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Eph. iii. 2. This spirit "opposeth and exalteth itself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped."

The lusts of the flesh that are according to it, "war against the soul" (1 Peter ii. 11), producing corruption and death; but the Divine nature of which the knowledge of God (which is life eternal) makes us partakers, it gives us deliverance from these lusts and the attendant corruption; for Christ has "power over all flesh," and He is stronger than the god of this world.

The difference between the sinner and the Christian is this, that the sinner allows the flesh to control, and fulfils its desires, holding down the truth-Christ-in unrighteousness, the Christian yields himself to God, as one alive from the dead, and his members as instruments of righteousness. Just to the extent that one yields to God, is he sanctified. To be sanctified wholly is to have every fiber of the being completely yielded to God, so as to be fully under His control. This takes place when one learns the ways of God through acquaintance with His works, so that one can definitely and intelligently yield to Him. Knowing what pleases God, one will in no particular oppose His working, but will allow Him to work His own will.

"The Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." God is in the flesh, the life of it, in order that the life may be perfect. Every man has the power residing in him, the life of His flesh, by which he may be preserved blameless, if he will but recognise it and yield to it. This is perfect rest. It is true Sabbath-keeping. We may rest, because the Word of God, which is in us, is living and active. We then know no life but that of Christ; His Spirit alone animates and controls the body, so that even though we are still in the flesh we are spiritual, living as though actually in the world to come, with the same power to live free from sin and disease that we shall have when we have spiritual instead of fleshly bodies. Truly our God is a great God!

What a blessed truth! What glorious possibilities it presents to everyone! The flesh itself is sinful and corruptible, but there is in it the power that can save it even from its own sinfulness and corruption; and there need be no question as to our ability to avail ourselves of this power, for it is the life of our bodies. It is by the gift of God's endless life that we live at all and so if we conscientiously and intelligently confess "that Jesus Christ is, in the flesh," we are indeed born of God. "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." The life that gives us existence is sufficient for everything necessary for the world to come.

This is God's pure Spirit producing a sound body and a perfect soul. He says: "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." Prov. iv. 20-22.

We see that whole sanctification means wholeness of body and soul. It means perfect soundness. Who can talk about the hardship of self-denial, with such a pleasant prospect before him? Self-denial means simply the rejection of that which destroys, for the full enjoyment of that which springs up into everlasting life.

"The Home. Revealed by the Light" The Present Truth 18, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

The Apostle Paul writes: "All things that are reproved [discovered] are made manifest by the light; for whatsoever doth make manifest is light." Eph. v. 13. Nothing can be seen except in the light and by the light. That which is in the dark cannot be seen; and this is why Christ says: "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God." John iii. 21, 22.

The darkness, however, does not hide anything from the Lord, but "the night shineth as the day;" the darkness and the light are both alike to Him (Ps. cxxxix. 12); and when the Lord comes He "will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." 1 Cor. iv. 5.

Some items about photography, given by a writer in Tit Bits, helps to give us a more vivid conception of the truth that "the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good."

The first is the case of a diamond theft in Calcutta, in which no evidence against the arrested person could be found. A policeman familiar with the artifices of the native criminals suggested that an X-ray photograph be taken of the man's throat. The test revealed the hidden diamond. By a trick which Hindu jewel thieves learn after severe practice, the fellow had "side-swallowed" the stone.

A little more than a year ago some evidence that smugglers in Buenos Ayres receiving gems through the mails put the authorities on the watch. Postal matter in transit cannot be legally opened, but on suspicion sixty-six registered letters and parcels were examined by the X-ray, and found to contain twenty thousand dollars' worth of precious stones. The dishonest traffic was stopped, and a large sum was saved to the customs revenue.

A person taking long-distance views from one of the upper windows of a tall building in Rochester, New York, caught the picture of a passing market waggon with a man behind in the act of lifting a tub of butter from the load. The thief got away with his booty unnoticed by the driver or any one on the street, but the photograph, when sufficiently enlarged, identified and convicted him.

A marine view taken by a passenger on a foreign steamer in the harbour of Rio de Janeiro included a small yacht. Two men, Grayson and Lineres, had gone out in the yacht that morning. Only Grayson returned alive. He said his companion had fallen from the mast and been killed; but his story was not believed, and he was tried and sentenced as a murderer. The trial had been pretty fully reported in the papers, and one day it occurred to the photographer to apply a powerful glass to his picture, in order to discover the character of a small dark mark on the sail. Under the magnifier the spot on the sail proved to be the figure of a falling man. He reported his discovery, and as soon as it had been officially verified Grayson was released.

A similar timely discovery was made after the village tragedy known as "The Cooper murder," in Lancashire. Cooper, apprentice to McKenna, a blacksmith, was found dead on the floor of the latter's shop, and the coroner's jury brought in a verdict of suicide. An amateur photographer who had been through the village taking "snap shots" on the day of Cooper's death, developed his films, and one of them showed the smithy with a partial view of the interior through the opened door, revealing evidence which caused McKenna's arrest-and his final confession of the murder.

We see that light not only reveals sins, but it also records them. Thus we can grasp the fact that in the great Judgment Day all the secret history of the world will be spread out like a panorama before the eyes of the assembled multitudes. There will be no question as to the correctness of the record in the case of any person, for all will see that the light has taken and preserved a faithful picture.

In the case of the man with a stolen diamond in his throat, it was the fact that God saw it, that enabled the detectives to photograph it by the X-ray. For God is light, and the rays that penetrate the darkness come from Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire.

But there is another side to this, and one that gives us comfort. When a picture has been taken, if it be exposed to the light it will become a blank. So when our secret sins are set in the light of God's countenance, they are consumed, and no record remains. Therefore the Judgment Day has no terrors for anyone who comes to the light.

"Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. In Thy name shall they rejoice all the days; and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted."

"Choice of Ancestors" The Present Truth 18, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

The example set by Jean in the following story, told in the Classmate, is a good one to follow, but we would go farther back than she did in our own search of ancestors. A part of the genealogy of every man now living is recorded in the first chapter of Luke: "Noah, which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God." That

"No legacy of sin annuls
Heredity from God,"

was demonstrated by Jesus Christ, who came "in the likeness of sinful flesh," yet revealed nothing but the Divine image.

"Heredity makes me feel so helpless," said a little girl the other day; "for I can't help what my ancestors have been, and I have to accept the disposition and the qualities handed down to me. It doesn't leave me any choice, as far as I can see, as to what I can do and be."

Her friend, a bright-faced young woman of the same age, looked at her quizzically. "Why, Dorothy, you've lots of choice in the matter. I reasoned that out for myself long ago, and I'll prove it to you. How many ancestors have you in, say six generations back."

"Dear me. What a sum in mental arithmetic!" said Dorothy. "Let me see-two, then four, then eight, then sixteen, then thirty-two, then sixty-four-wait till I add up-why, one hundred and twenty-eight, I suppose. I had no idea how spreading a family tree was."

"That's just it," replied Jean with a twinkle. "Out of one hundred and twenty-eight ancestors, one can get a good range of choice. I used to be discouraged about heredity until I counted them up, and then I felt that there was safety in numbers. They couldn't all be disagreeable, lazy and ill-tempered you see."

"Of course not," said Dorothy, "but-"

"But then," went on Jean, "if they weren't all full of bad qualities, some of them had to be nice, kind, upright, hard-working, useful men and women, don't you see? So I went over the list and picked out the good ones; and then I said to myself every day, I am a descendant from all these good men and women, and I inherit their dispositions and qualities to some extent, and I'm going to develop my inheritance. Sometimes it was a little hard when grandfather's quick temper was boiling up in me, to remember that great-grandmother was the most amiable woman possible, and that I was her descendant as much as his; but I knew it was true, and so I kept my mind fixed upon it. Out of my four great-grandfathers, as far I can find out, two were very industrious, and two were extremely lazy. I don't see why heredity wouldn't make me just as industrious as lazy, and so I choose to remember the two ancestors that worked, and I try to forget the two who shirked. O, there's a choice in ancestors, and one has a perfect right to make it.

Dorothy smiled, "It's a new idea, Jean," she said, "but I must say it is helpful as to the heredity problem. I have been looking at the question the wrong way. Now I'll try your way. I am going home to count up and classify my hundred and twenty-eight forbears, or as many as I can find track of; and then I shall follow your example and make my choice among them."

"You'll find a saint somewhere in the line," said Jean. "There always is one. My trouble about ancestors isn't that they've handed me down so many bad qualities, but they've been so good that I can't live up to my inheritance. Heredity is responsibility, my dear Dorothy, when you come to study it."

"Grass, Herbs, and Trees" The Present Truth 18, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth, and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day." Gen. i. 11-13.

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." Matt. xii. 13.

"The seed is the Word of God." Luke viii. 11.

"I am the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the valleys." Song of Solomon ii. 1.

"I am the True Vine." John xv. 1.

"I am the Bread of Life." John vi. 35.

"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." Mark iv. 26-27.

The fresh green grass, the beautiful flowers, the waving corn, the stately trees with their load of fruit-consider how they all grow, and what it is that makes the earth bring them forth from the year to year.

Perhaps you think it is the seed; for everything that grows produces seed which provides for the growth of its kind in years to come. But if we want to know the truth about these things, to get at the beginning of them and find out what makes them grow, we must go back year by year until we come to the first plant of each kind, springing up on the third day of creation. Then we shall find that "in the beginning was the Word."

Every plant that you see in the earth to-day comes from the seed that God sowed in the earth on that day when He said, Let the earth bring forth grass, and herb, and fruit tree, whose seed is in itself. The seed that He put into the ground, that is unseen seed from which have come all other seeds that we can see and handle, is "the Word of God."

The grass withers, and the flowers fade, but the word of God that brought them forth still lives and works. It is this that is the life of all the seeds that are sown, and that works through them to bring forth again each thing after its kind, to spread a fresh carpet of grass and flowers over the earth, and to produce a harvest of grain and fruit.

So in every springing blade of grass, in every flower of the field, and every tree, we can see the Word of God working. Jesus is that Word by whom all these things were made.

So the beauty of the flowers, the richness of the fruit, the strength of the grain, all come from Him.

It is His life in them that makes the flowers blossom, and the fruit ripen, and the grain grow. And if the flowers of earth are so fair, what must be the beauty of Jesus, the true Rose and Lily, from whom they all came, and whose beauty and glory they only dimly reflect!

When we eat the fruits and grains that the earth brings forth, we are really feeding upon Him, the true Vine, and the Bread of Life, who by the Word of His mouth makes them all grow.

God told the earth to bring forth the grass and the trees. The dust had no power of itself to do this. All the power was in the living Word which went forth into the earth and gave its strength to do the will of God.

All this, Jesus says, is to teach us of His work in our hearts. For "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed in the ground" and "the kingdom of God is within you."

We are but dust, with no power of ourselves to do what God tells us. But if we will receive it, His word comes as precious seed into our hearts. And if we keep the Word in our hearts, as seed is kept in the ground, it will give us power to do whatever God tells us, just as it gives the earth power to bring forth grass.

As we "consider the lilies, how they grow," not by trying to, but by the power of God's Word that is in them, we may learn how we may also grow in grace and beauty and purity, to show forth the praises of Jesus, the holy seed from whom all strength and grace and goodness come.

"'Write Some Flowers'" The Present Truth 18, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

A dear little boy, only three years old, was asked for a message to send home in a letter. He said: "I want to write some flowers to Mollie. I want to write some flowers to everyone at home."

This was a beautiful thought. It showed the love of the baby heart, that wanted to give sweet blossoms to every one. It is a beautiful thing to give flowers to people, and one never does that when angry or sour. The gift of flowers shows love, kindness and good will.

The heart of God our Father is full of love for His children on earth. And these loving thoughts He has expressed to us in the beautiful flowers that are now springing forth from the earth. He is "writing flowers" for us, sweet little messengers, little love-letters telling His thoughts to us. Shall we not thank Him in return, and scatter these little messengers wherever we can?

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

If you could walk along the bottom of the sea, you would find there many wonderful and beautiful things. There are ocean flowers of many colours. One is a living animal. They are fastened to the rocks, and do not move, but they have little mouths that open and take in their food.

There are also the red, white, and pink coral plants, which grow in stiff bushes under the sea. These are built up by the tiny "coral insects." Sparkling little red, blue, green, and silver fish play among the coral blossoms like butterflies or birds among the flowers of earth.

Down in the deep sea it is very dark; but some of the fishes carry "electric lights." The Torch Fish has a little lamp in his head, that lights up the water round about.

Sometimes the waves wash up on the sea-beach some of the beautiful, coloured shells and sea-weed from the ocean depths.

"O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all. The earth is full of Thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beast." The largest and smallest of living things are found in the sea,-creatures so small that they cannot be seen, and great whales that weigh as much as an army of 3,000 men.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

There is poverty enough in the country, but there seems also to be not only money enough, but too much in some quarters, as evidenced by the fact that a single silver spoon at the sale of the Dunn-Gardner collection of old silver, was sold for ?960. A could many families could be fed with one spoon at that price.

A serious disturbances reported as having occurred on a recent Sunday in the Greek Church at Adana, on account of a difference of opinion as to the place to be assigned to foreign consuls at the service. "The congregation fought, and many persons were injured, some mortally." It is characteristic of a religion that consists of forms and ceremonies, that such scenes are not regarded as at all inconsistent with it, or as specially incongruous in a house of worship.

A new system of telephoning without wires was recently tested at Washington (U.S.A.), and proved successful. The messages were transmitted a distance of half a mile by means of a wave light produced by an electric search light, the light in question being by no means strong. The messages came out clearly and distinctly. The inventor claims that the distances which the messages can be sent are limited only by the length of the rays of light.

At the annual Connexional temperance meeting in Wesley's chapel last week, Lady Henry Somerset, referring to a meeting in the same place seven years before, when she stood by the side of Miss Willard, said: "We thought then that there must surely be coming over this nation such a wave of feeling as would awaken England to her true position, but if I were frank I should be obliged to admit-though I am no pessimist-that England is further asleep, that the Christian conscience is deader now than then, and that the Temperance cause has made scarcely any headway."

It is reported that since the Beef Trust raised the price of meat in America, there has been a great falling off in the consumption of flesh food in that country, the demand for meat having been decreased by one-half. Eminent physicians are calling attention to the fact that the American people eat too much meat, and that half their ailments are due to excess of meat-eating. They say that a decreased consumption of meat will greatly benefit the public health, a truth that they ought to have been telling them all the time; but it is better late than never. Thus even a monopoly may be a blessing to the people. The New York correspondent of the Daily Chronicle says that a movement has been started to induce citizens of New York and other cities to sign a new kind of pledge, binding them to abstain from meat "till the trusts have come to their senses." A mass meeting was held at Attleborough, Mass., to advocate the adoption of this plan. By the time the Trusts "come to their senses" many people will no doubt have found that they are better off without meat, and will, from choice, continue the abstinence that they began from necessity.

From India a terrible storm is reported. On the afternoon of April 23 a tornado swept over Dacca and the neighbourhood, destroying everything in its path. The human mortality is reported to be: At Sanachar, 31; near Dacca, 110; at Nagalband, 175; and at Barnighat, 100. A considerable area of crops was ruined, and there is much distress. A native, who escaped by lying in a hole, watched cattle and people flying overhead, and compared the wind to a flame.

A striking instance of how the price of a thing very often bears no relation to its value is furnished by an item from Los Angeles, California, which says that ?40 pounds per square inch has just been paid for a small corner plot of land in that town. That is at the rate of more than 250 million pounds an acre; yet the land is actually worth no more than other land that can be purchased for a very few pounds an acre.

Another instance in the same line comes to hand in the report of a sale of old silver in London last week. The owner of a private collection of old silver and small objects, that has been on exhibition for a long time at South Kensington Museum, decided to sell it. When the articles were bought, they cost about ?3 an ounce; but in the sale they brought an average of ?300 an ounce. They are, however, actually worth no more now than when they were bought; and the market price of the uncoined gold is scarcely more than ?4 an ounce.

Under the heading "Atmosphere," in the first volume of the supplement to the "Encyclop?dia Britannica," which has just appeared, is some very interesting information concerning storms. It is pointed out that thunderstorms are increasing in a striking manner all over civilised Europe. Thus in London, the mean annual number of such storms has grown from twelve a year in the decade ending 1830, to nearly twenty-two in the decade ending 1890. Of course the inevitable German "scientist" is on hand with an "explanation," suggesting that the increase of storms is due to the increased number of factory chimneys and of wires and rails; but whether an "explanation" can be given or not, the fact remains that storms and earthquakes are increasing in number, and the student of prophecy knows that they are but indications of the approaching end, when this present, old earth will fail, because of the transgression that is heavy upon it. Then will come the world where "there shall be no more curse."

"Luxurious Living and Cancer" The Present Truth 18, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

Under the heading, "The Increase of Cancer," Arthur E. F. Long, M.D., in the Daily Chronicle of April 17, writes the following, which should certainly be taken seriously to heart by every reader. It is terrible to think that thousands are every year dying of this fearful disease, wholly through their own fault; yet it is a comfort to know that everyone has it in his power to preserve himself from it.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

We gladly pass on the following words from the Catholic Times, and give them our hearty approval:-

"In truth, war brutalises, and even the best men grow callous to bloodshed. When will people grow accustomed to the idea that the last purpose for which God sent human beings on earth was to be shot to death?"

Now, since no government was ever established on this earth except by war, and no nation can maintain its existence except by this brutalising war, it seems self-evident that the followers of the Prince of Peace should devote themselves wholly to the advancement of His kingdom, leaving earthly politics wholly to those who believe in war. If all professed Christians would do this, it would not be long before the kingdoms of this world would become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ, and He would reign in righteousness over the whole world.

When the Jews of Antioch in Pisidia wished to get rid of the influence of the Christian teaching of the apostles, they "stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts." Acts xiii. 50. It is always the "best" people that are responsible for persecutions, and when their zeal has incited it, the rabble will carry it on; but in no case have really "godless," that is, wholly irreligious, people started persecution against God's people. Marcus Aurelius, who is considered even by many Christians as a model of virtue, persecuted Christians more than any other Roman Emperor. It was just because he was so devoted a worshipper of the gods that he did this. Nero persecuted Christians, it is true, but not because they were Christians. It was only because he was blood-thirsty, and was glad of any pretext to kill anybody. Saul, the conscientious Pharisee, was a relentless persecutor, solely because he was conscientious. But here is an infallible test, and that is that nobody who is himself absolutely right, ever persecutes or has any desire to interfere with other people because of their religious beliefs or unbelief. Whatever be the error of those persecuted, the persecutor no matter how conscientious, is never even theoretically correct, but is wrong both in belief and practice.

"Use Your Wings" The Present Truth 18, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

Some time ago I caught a small insect, a tiny beetle, and guarded it carefully on all sides will preparing to examine it closely. But it suddenly surprised me by unfolding a pair of tiny wings that had been concealed under the wing cases, and mounting up above my head, out of reach and sight in a second.

Many times since, I have thought of this incident, when apparently caught in one of the enemy's trap, and hedged about on all sides, unable to escape in any direction except upward. Then these beautiful words from the pen of Mrs. E. G. White, a writer well known to the readers of PRESENT TRUTH, have come as an inspiration: "The soul may ascend nearer heaven on the wings of praise." A vigorous use of these wings soon carries us out of the enemy's reach, above the mist and fog that veil the glory of the Lord, into the clear sunlight of His presence. How many of the Psalms, beginning in a sorrowful strain, the utterance of one cast down and sorely beset with temptation and trial, break out into praise and thanksgiving to God as the soul ascends, like the sweet notes of the lark rising skyward, and end with a triumphant song of victory, like that of a bird escaped out of the snare of the fowler. Take, for example, the sixty-ninth psalm, beginning,

"Save me, O God;
For the waters are come in unto my soul.
I sink in deep mire where there is no standing:
I am come into deep waters where the floods
overflow me,"

and continuing in this strain till at last the struggling soul finds a way out of the "deep mire" and the "deep waters:"

"I am poor and sorrowful:
Let Thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.
I will praise the name of God with a song.
And magnify Him with thanksgiving.
And it shall please the Lord. . . .
Let heaven and earth praise Him,
The seas, and everything that moveth therein,
For God will save Zion."

Here the spirit of heaviness is exchanged for the garment of praise, and through praise the soul finds the salvation of the Lord that sets him up on high. This is a demonstration of Ps. l. 23, margin:-

"Whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving
glorifieth Me,
And prepareth a way that I may show him
the salvation of God."

Many stances of deliverance wrought through praise when no way of escape seemed possible are given in the Scriptures to teach us how we may break through the snares of Satan, and escape out of the snare of the fowler. Paul and Silas "prayed and sang praises to God" at midnight, and the earthquake resulted, opening their prison doors and bringing their gaoler in terror to their feet.

When Jehoshaphat's army "began to sing and to praise, the Lord set liers in wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten;" and "there were none that escaped."

Let us keep "the wings of praise" in constant exercise, ascending on them into the clear atmosphere of heaven. Then they will be ready for any emergency, and we can "fly away and be at rest" in God, even while walking in the midst of trouble.

When Jesus called Peter and Andrew and James and John from their fishing nets, it was not with the words, "Come to Me, and I will save you," although they were sinners, and they needed the salvation which He had for them, and which He offers to all. But He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." They left all, and followed Him, and were prepared for service; and the preparation for service was the pruning off of their bad habits, the cleansing of them from sin, and the filling of them with the Holy Ghost. The strongest incentive one can have to be cleansed and kept from sin is not the thought that the sin will result in the loss of the soul, but that it will cause the loss of some other soul.

May 15, 1902

"The Voice of the People. Acts xiv. 8-22" The Present Truth 18, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

(Acts xiv. 8-22.)⁹1

The common error of assuming everything is just as it ought to be is responsible for the saying that "the voice of the people is the voice of God." It is true that men ought to speak only "as the oracles of God;" but they do not. Even so, men ought to be holy, but they are not. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God," and the "imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth;" therefore since "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," it is evident that the voice of the people is not, and never has been, the voice of God.

A striking instance of the fickleness of the multitude, and a warning against being elated by the applause of the people, is given in the account of Paul's preaching at Lystra, in Western Asia. As Paul was preaching there sat a man in the company who had never walked, being "impotent in his feet." "The same heard Paul speak; who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.

"The priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people: which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? we also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities and to the living God, which made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein. . . . And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice to them."

Now mark the change. The very next verse continues: "And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city supposing him to have been dead." One hour they were determined to worship him, and the next hour they stoned him, and dragged his body through the streets and out of the city, as though he had been a dog. Surely there was nothing in their homage to be elated over; yet it is for just such empty honour as they were about to bestow on Paul, that many men have bartered their souls.

The very same people who, after the miracle of the loaves and fishes, would have made Jesus king, not long after that were as eager for His death. Even the very same week that He was crucified, as He came into Jerusalem, they raised their voices in shouts of "Hosanna to the Son of David," "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord," and then turned about and shouted "Crucify Him! crucify Him!" The voice of the people was anything but the voice of God.

The world will love its own, that is, all who will serve the world in this way,

306

but will crucify and stone to death those who would save it from its way. And here is the point of greatest danger for the true servants of God. The temptation in the desert, when the people proposed to take Jesus by force and make Him king, was identical with that in the wilderness, when Satan offered Him all the kingdoms of the world, if He would fall down and worship him. Indeed, it may have been more severe and dangerous; for it is not always easy to discern the temptation of the devil through the voice of what seems to be sincere appreciation and gratitude.

The time of greatest danger for any Christian is when he has been used by God for some mighty work, which even the world has been obliged to acknowledge as wonderful. It is not alone that he is in danger of becoming puffed up through the natural pride of life, but still more because of the temptation to compromise for the sake of preserving his hold upon the people. The tendency is to think that now he has a wide open door into a large field where he can do much good. The people are willing to do anything for him, and to elevate him to any position of power and influence. Surely, he will think, this is a providential opening. What if the people, in their ignorance, do mingle idolatry in their appreciation; if I rebuke them, and refuse to be a party to their plans, I shall wholly alienate them, while if I retain my hold upon them, I can soon, through their respect and reverence for me, wean them from these errors, and bring them to the full acknowledgement of the truth.

It was on this rock that the early church foundered, and it is right here that the great test will come in the last days. In spite of the history of the past, corroborating the words of Jesus, that but few find and walk in the narrow way to life, Christians are still inclined to cherish the hope that the world will someday flock into the fold. Each Christian worker, full of zeal for God, thinks how grand it would be to see it; and so, if he is not fully on his guard, when the multitude say, "We will follow you," self will take the place that belongs only to Christ, and both he and they will fall.

As surely as Christ was tempted in the line of ambition, so will His followers be; for His temptations were only for their deliverance from the same snares. Before the end comes, the true people of God,-those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,-will be sought after by the world, and offered positions of influence, where, as it will be said to them, they can use the light and knowledge and power that God has given them, to uplift and enlighten all mankind. Some will be taken in by the specious proposals, and others will stand firm. The faithful ones will remember that this knowledge and power that they have comes from God alone, and is manifest only in humility; and they will instruct people that only by giving up all can they hope to gain all. Then when the multitude see that the servants of God will not serve them in their way, they will trample them under feet in the very same place where they were ready to carry them upon their shoulders.

God has sent us into the world, to be saviours of the world; but let us ever bear in mind this truth, "If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." The only way we can serve our fellow-men to their salvation, is to serve the Lord Christ, and to remember that promotion comes from Him alone. We must not put our trust in flesh, not even our own. There is no way of salvation and honour, except the way that Christ took,-with the cross; and the world is just as much opposed to that way to-day as it was in the days of Pontius Pilate and Caiaphas. "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God;" and to this rule there are no exceptions.

"God's Witness of Himself" The Present Truth 18, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

In his impassioned address to the men who were about to sacrifice to him, Paul said: "We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein; who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless 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. And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them. Acts xiv. 15-18.

The preaching that was good for those people is equally good for us, and it was written for our benefit. God's witness to Himself-to His power to save-is that He does us good, and sends us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, supplying us with food. By these things we not only know that God is, but that He saves. There are not two gods. "The Lord our God is one Lord." He does not send one life and one measure of power to keep us in existence, and then another life and another power to save us; but He is present for all things that we need. "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who hath called us to glory and virtue."

This is why it is so strange that there are any who "find it difficult to believe." There is no one who does not know that he lives; no one who cannot feel the breath of life from God. And yet he cannot believe! What can he not believe? Can he not believe in God's existence?

"Oh, yes; we believe that there is a God."

Well, can you not believe that He is very near? Do you breathe His breath, and yet not believe that He is a God at hand. Could you feel a friend's breath on your cheek, perhaps feel his tears falling on your face, and yet not believe that he was near?

"Y-e-e-s; of course I know that there is no life but the life of God; it is plain that nothing creates itself, and that nothing can exist apart from Him."

Hold to that, then. Know of a surety that God is your life. Now, then, what can you not believe, since you say that you believe that God exists and that He actually lives in you, otherwise you would not be alive?

"I cannot believe that He saves me."

But you have daily evidence that He does. He saves you from death every day. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not, they are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness." Lam. iii. 22, 23.

"But I am so wicked."

Just in that very thing is the greater evidence of His salvation. You know that you live only in Him; for "in Him we live, and move, and have our being." He keeps you alive in spite of your sinfulness. He does not forsake you, although you deny Him. He suffers your ways. He is your life; therefore He bears all the sins of your life. How long-suffering and patient He is! Now you must know that "the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation." Hear what He says: "Thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities. I, even I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." Isa. xliii. 24, 25.

God says, "I, even I, am the Lord; and besides Me there is no Saviour." He

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is Saviour. His presence saves. You cannot disbelieve in His salvation without denying your own existence. His everlasting power and Divinity are seen in everything that is made, including you; and the Gospel is nothing more than the announcement that His power saves.

Will you any longer say that you cannot believe? Will you call God a liar to His face? God has not left us without witness; He gives us the witness literally in our own hearts-in the life-blood that comes from the food that we receive from Him. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; and he that believeth not God, hath made Him a liar." Don't do it any more. When God Himself bears witness, take Him at His word. "He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true." Accept the mystery, that God is manifest in the flesh, and let your whole spirit and soul and body rest on that living and active word that works effectually in all who believe.

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

"A Full Heart" The Present Truth 18, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

"He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good. . . filling our hearts with good and gladness."

Did you ever hear anybody say that his heart was full of joy? Have you never felt so yourself? It is a very common expression. But you are not so familiar with the idea of a heart filled with food; yet you are familiar with the fact, even more so than with the fulness of joy, but unless your heart had always been filled with food you would not have lived.

It will be well worth your while to think of this thing, and familiarise yourself with the idea. Paul says that in God's witness to Himself, He gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, "filling our hearts with food and gladness." Acts xiv. 17. We have accepted the food as a matter of course, yet have often refused to be glad; while the gift of the food, bearing as it does the life of the crucified and risen Lord, ought to be a source of constant joy; for every breath that we breathe, every morsel of food we eat, every drop of water we drink, is God's assurance of pardon and acceptance. It is the glad news of salvation.

A friend wrote to us that the statement in a recent number of PRESENT TRUTH that the blood that filled the body of the poor woman who touched the Lord, flowed from Him to her, "needs some explaining." We cannot explain the mystery of God in the flesh, for it is the mystery of life; but the fact needs no more explanation than that we live.

The woman's case was simply this: She was constantly losing blood, and so was dying. She said that if she could but touch the Lord she should be healed, and it was even so. As soon as she touched Him she was healed of that plague-made whole-filled with new, fresh life. She received that which before she lacked, namely life-blood.

All can readily see that she received new life; and all that she received came from the Lord; for as she felt herself made whole, He felt power go out of Him. His fulness supplied her lack. But what she lacked was life,-real life, blood,-and that was what she received. No human eye saw the transfer; but it was made, nevertheless, and the new blood that she received came from the Lord.

Blood is not necessarily always red in colour, neither is it always visible. The blood of a tree-the sap-is clear and white. The blood of the grape is not always red; sometimes it is white; yet when we drink it, and it goes almost directly into our blood vessels, it is red. There are living creatures whose blood is colourless. This does not explain the case of the woman; but it is said that in order to emphasise the fact that the blood can exist under various forms. Blood is life, no matter what its form or appearance, or even if it has no form, and is invisible. It may exist as pure spirit, and it was thus that it flowed from Christ to the woman. "There are three who bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three agree in one." 1 John v. 8.

Every miracle that Jesus performed was for the purpose of teaching us God's way; it was to make a see what God is constantly doing. He turned water into wine, in order that we may know that all the fruit of the vine is from Him. He fed the multitude with bread, in order that they and we might see that the bread that we eat day by day comes directly from His hand, yea, from Himself, for all who have eyes could see that day in the desert, as the bread grew and multiplied in the hands of Jesus, that they were feeding from Him. Jesus was that day demonstrating that His flesh meat indeed, and making the people experience the reality of it.

"Filling our hearts with food." A strange expression, is it not? And yet when we stop to think of it, it seems perfectly natural. You say that our hearts are filled with blood. True enough; but where does the blood come from? We take it in at every meal, and with every breath. People think of the food as going to the stomach. So it does, but not for the stomach's own benefit. The stomach and other digestive organs simply break the food up, so it may be absorbed into the body. They pass it on to the heart, which in turn passes it on to the whole body-bone, grain, and muscle. The food that we eat, goes in the form of blood to every tissue in the body.

That day in the wilderness Jesus filled the hearts of the people with food that came from His very being. That is what He is doing every day for us. So the two miracles-the feeding of the five thousand, and the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, make plain to us the fact that the blood that nourishes our bodies is His life flowing through us.

His life is salvation, and salvation is joy and gladness. When we remember that His life has power to overcome all sin, then we know that there is not the slightest need for us to fall under any temptation, for the power is in us, filling us, that is abundantly able to resist it. The disciples after Pentecost "did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart." Acts ii. 46. We may also, for with each meal God gives us the joy of His salvation.

The Apostle John, after telling of the manifestation of the life that was from the beginning, and that is given to us, continues: "And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." John i. 4. Part of God's witness to Himself is that He fills our hearts with gladness. We are not to depend upon a feeling of gladness, as evidence of our acceptance; but to lay hold of the life by faith, allowing the joy of it to fill us.

Does God satisfy your mouth with good things? Then let your heart be correspondingly full of gladness. "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts." Yes, let it.

"O Lord, my soul rejoiceth in Thee,
My tongue Thy goodness is telling,
I've found Thy love so precious to me,
My heart with its rapture is swelling.

"Wonderful love! O Wonderful love!
I'll sing of its fulness for ever;
I've found the way that leadeth above,
The way to the life-giving river."

"Tobacco-Smoking Christians" The Present Truth 18, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

"What is your opinion of smoking? Can a Christian smoke?"

While in this case, as in all others, I shall state only that of which I am most profoundly convinced, I hope to be able so to present it that you can see its inherent truth, and know that it is not a mere editorial opinion. "I believe, and therefore have I spoken;" but nobody is to believe just because we speak, but because the things spoken is self-evident truth.

The question is asked, "Can a Christian smoke?" Undoubtedly he can, for many Christian men have done it. Christians can do many things that are incompatible with the highest type of Christianity. But that is not the proper question to ask. It should not be, May Christians smoke? but, Ought Christians to smoke? In order to answer this satisfactorily, we must know something of the nature and effect of tobacco.

This point need not detain us long, for that tobacco is a strong narcotic is invariably the first thing stated in every account of it. What does "narcotic" mean? It is from the Greek word narkao, meaning "to grow stiff, or numb." The name narka, derived from the verb, signifies "numbness, deadness." A narcotic, therefore, is something that numbs, stupefies, and deadens. One does not need to go to the books to learn that this is the effect produced by tobacco, for the evidence is patent to every observer.

There is not an intelligence smoker in the world, who will not say that smoking is not good for boys. Of course many smokers admit that it is a bad habit even for men, but will ease their consciences for indulging in it by the reflection that "everybody has some bad habit or other;" but the testimony that tobacco is especially detrimental to growing youth is almost universal.

To take only a single recent testimony, we refer to the column of "Science of the Day," in the Daily Chronicle of May 1, by Dr. Andrew Wilson. He says that "on general grounds the harm done to juveniles by smoking has been amply proved," and cites statistics by Dr. Fisk, of the American North-Western Preparatory School, showing that the smokers under his care were the lowest in scholarship. Another investigator reports that out of a total of 1,300 boys, the 400 who smoked were behind in their studies. Dr. Wilson remarks, "There may be critics who will question the scientific accuracy of the statistics; but that juvenile smoking can be considered as anything else than a mental narcotic, few persons will doubt."

But its narcotic effect cannot by any means be limited to juveniles who smoke. Its effects are always the same, only as a matter of course they are more marked in a youth than in an adult, because the youth is more susceptible. It takes a larger dose of poison to kill a man than to kill a child. Larger doses of medicine are given to adults than the children, in order to produce the same effect. It being admitted that tobacco smoking has a stupefying, deadening effect upon youth, its character is established, and we know that just to the extent that it has any effect at all, it has that benumbing, stiffening, stupefying, deadening effect.

It is solely to obtain this effect that men smoke tobacco. Every smoker will praise the wonderful "soothing" properties of the weed; and physicians (provided they themselves smoke) will advise patients to use it "to quiet the nerves." That is to say, men use tobacco in order to keep the nerves from filling their God-ordained function; for a nerve that is not sensitive is of no use. That "soothing" effect is but another name for poisoning.

That tobacco-smoking produces dimness of vision is well known. Many men who have thought they were becoming blind, have had their sight restored by leaving off tobacco-smoking. Some time ago the Daily Chronicle reviewed a book on "The Art of Revolver Shooting," by an expert marksman. Referring to the benefits of revolver practice, the reviewer said: "It imposes a physical condition which in its turn requires the exercise of several desirable virtues. Late hours and a free use of alcohol and tobacco are flatly contradicted by the little group of hits in the bull's eye." No devotee of "the weed" can ever have the quickness of sight and the steadiness of nerve necessary for a skilful marksman.

"Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we and incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as on certainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air. But they keep under my body, and bring it into subjection." 1 Cor. ix. 25-27.

CHRISTIANITY IS SELF-DENIAL

The essence of Christianity is self-denial-self-control. The apostle says: "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient; all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any of any." 1 Cor. vi. 12. The Christian must be master; he must be king. To be brought under the power of any habit, no matter how trivial in itself, is to lesson one's power for good. So aside from the physical effects of tobacco, the fact that it fascinates and soothes and thus wins men, and then holds them in chains that they find more difficult to break the longer they continue its use, is proof that smoking is incompatible with that complete mastery over self that must characterise the man who is raised "far above all principality and power" and made to sit with Christ in the heavenly places.

Tobacco has absolutely no good quality whatever. It adds not one thing to the human body. It is not food, but poison. It does not build up, but tears down. I have mentioned the smoker's eyesight. The "smoker's heart" is also a term well understood by physicians. The unsteady, intermittent pulse that marks an old smoker is easily recognised; and everybody knows that cancer is caused by tobacco smoking occasioned by the death of President Grant and the Emperor Frederick. Thousands of less noted men have suffered similarly.

These are simple, well-known facts. Now you yourself, and every reader, can see how impossible it is for any man to heed the following solemn exhortation,

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and still continue the habit of smoking:-

"I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that he present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Rom. xii. 9. Or this: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, to all to the glory of God." 1 Cor. ix. 31.

"SMOKING TO THE GLORY OF GOD"

Here someone interposes with the statement that Spurgeon smoked, and that he declared that he could smoke a cigar to the glory of God. Mr. Spurgeon was a man who feared God, and he was doubtless sincere in his declaration; but whether he actually smoked to the glory of God is open to question. Was it to the glory of God that Spurgeon's voice was still at the comparatively early age of fifty-eight? By every law of God, he ought now to be alive and active in the Master's service. If he were living he would still be well below the threescore and ten years; and who can measure the increased power that comes with ripening age? Why should God and humanity be deprived of the service of such a man just when he was in what should be the fulness of his powers?

You will say that there is no evidence that smoking causes death. No direct evidence, it is true; but call to mind the fact that it was gout and rheumatism that caused it, and that he suffered severely for years, and with that couple the fact that tobacco is a narcotic, that is, its action is "to make stiff," and you cannot fail to see some connection. No matter what any man thinks, the truth remains that nobody can possibly glorify God by any practice which to any extent whatever tends to diminish muscular activity or to deaden the nerves. People who do those things may glorify God, but not by so doing.

Here is another Christian rule: "We then that are 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. For even Christ pleased not Himself." Rom. xv. 1-3.

The question for Christians to ask is not, How much of selfish habits cannot I retain, and still be saved? but, What can I cut off in order that I may be more efficient in saving others? As before stated, the only effect of tobacco is to deaden, to kill: It can never by any possibility do anybody any good; therefore the only ground for using it is that it pleases the senses, after one has grown accustomed to it. Here then are two counts against it. First, the tobacco smoker is depriving God of a measure of His due; he is taking off the keenness of his sensibility. The nerves and muscles are to be kept ready to respond to even the slightest touch of the Holy Spirit: and it is self-evident that a brain and nerves stupefied ("soothed") by tobacco are not the best possible servants of the Divine will. Second, whoever does one unnecessary thing, simply because it pleases the senses, thereby diminishes his power to labour effectually for the liberation of others from the bondage of evil habits. There are thousands of youth, and adults as well, who are destroying their God-given strength through the selfish gratification of their senses; with what force can a man appeal to them, who is himself indulging in mere self-gratification? Mr. Spurgeon thought that he could smoke to the glory of God; who shall say how many men have used his example and statement to justify themselves in the indulgence of some even worse habit?

All evil habits are after all linked together. It is not always the magnitude of the thing itself, that one does, that makes it a sin; but its kinship to the great family of vices is shown by the fact that it is indulged in for self-gratification; and it can be set down as a incontestable fact, that every act of mere self-gratification, is, in this measure, only self-destruction.

THE LAW OF LIBERTY

Christians are ever to keep in mind the fact that they are to be judged by "the perfect law of liberty." It is not the liberty to sin, not the liberty to indulge in self-pleasing, but the liberty, the power, to deny self for the benefit of others. Jesus said, with reference to His disciples, including us: "For their sakes I sanctified Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." John xvii. 19. Every weight must be laid aside, every selfish indulgence cut off, that we may be "meet for the Master's use," "ready to every good work." And this self-denial will not by the true-hearted Christian be looked upon as hardship, but as the highest, keenest pleasure, inasmuch as the body and spirit are thus in the best condition to be used by God; and in His presence and service there is "fulness of joy."

So may "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."

"'One Flesh of Man'" The Present Truth 18, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

"The rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them all." This proverb is well illustrated in the following story in Mr. P. A. Russell's "Characteristics":-

Many years ago, before the days of railways, a nobleman and his wife, with their infant, were travelling across Salisbury Plain. They were overtaken by a severe storm, and took refuge in a lone shepherd's hut.

The child had taken cold before they could find shelter, and the nurse began at once to undress it by the warm cottage fire. As she pulled off one rich silken garment after another, the shepherd and his wife looked on in odd silence.

At last the process of undressing was completed, and little naked baby was being warmed by the fire. Garrett said, with all its splendid outer husks peeled off, its little body beginning to glow in the heat of the fire. The shepherd drew a long breath and exclaimed, "Why, it's just like one of ours!"

It is not at all surprising that the simple shepherd judging from the gorgeous rappings, in contrast with the severely plain garments to which he was accustomed, thought that the nobleman's child was of a different order of beings from his own; and we are amused at his astonishment on finding that "there is one flesh of man." His error is a very common one. Many people look upon clothing as though it were a part of the body, whereas it is but a mark of the curse. The more the human body is "adorned" with clothing and jewels, the more is the fact emphasised that the natural adornment has been lost.

Christ said, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; . . . . I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." The reason is that what we ordinarily call our clothing is not our clothing at all, but is clothing that we have taken from other creatures. The real clothing grows on the person or thing, as Christ intimated concerning the lily. Solomon, stripped of his royal trappings was certainly not so well clothed as a leaf; and even the most gorgeous apparel cannot stand comparison with the beauty that clothes the flowers.

"Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." We are not to envy the rich, nor despise the poor, because of their coverings; neither are the poor to say of the rich, "They are after all no better than we," for that may not be true. Their outer covering does not make them better, but the beauty of humility and holiness may exist under fine garments, as well as under the plainest; but all are to pray, "Let beauty of the Lord our God be upon us," knowing that if our adornment be "the hidden man of the heart,"-Christ dwelling within,-He will at His appearing "fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 18, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

The Cossacks have succeeded in silencing the opposition of the people of Finland, and now conscription for the Russian army is being carried on unhindered.

It is announced that an agitation to make Sunday a compulsory day of rest is on foot in Italy. It will be interesting to see what comes of this. Compulsory Sunday rest is the logical final outcome of all legislation in favour of Sunday.

Just a few hours after receiving the Pope's congratulations on the improvement in his health, Archbishop Corrigan, of New York, died of fatty degeneration of the heart. The Pope's reputation for infallibility could be more successfully maintained if he would confine himself to observations on purely theoretical matters.

It has been estimated that the war has cost ?400 a minute during the two and a-half years it has been waging; and more than ?400 per minute is spent a year by year continually in Great Britain on strong drink. Thus the twin evils, war and drunkenness, are responsible for wanton destruction of nearly five hundred millions sterling every year in this country alone, to say nothing of thousands of lives. What a different world this would be if they were for ever banished.

The Emperor of Austria has publicly censured the Catholic Archbishop of Sarajevo, Monsignor Statler, for interfering in politics and slandering the Hungarian Government. This reminds us that quite recently at a meeting of ministers of the "Free Churches" in England, to discuss a Bill now before Parliament, one prominent minister declared that "the Priest in politics is an anachronism, and must go." But his going will not improve matters in the least, if the minister takes his place. It is sad that so much of the opposition to the Established Church is based upon jealousy of its superior privileges.

Here is an item for those who are building their hopes on the settlement of Palestine by the Jews. A party of Polish and German Jews, mostly agricultural labourers, passed through Geneva on the 3rd inst., on their way home from Jerusalem, whether they had gone as a result of the "Zionist" movement.

"Our experiment has failed," said the patriarch among them. "The soil around Jerusalem is very poor, and yields only a scanty crop; besides, the trade is in the hands of Mohammedans and Arabs, who prefer to buy from their co-religionists rather than from Jews. The railway freights, too, are high, and swallow up all the profits."

And so it will be till the end of the world. Then will descend "the city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God," for which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob looked; and we hope to enter it with them. That settlement will not be an experiment, and it will not end in failure.

"Too severe education" is reported as having caused 2 per cent. of the bad boys in the Tokio Reformatory to be sent there. This is not a matter for ridicule, as the one reporting it seems to think; for many children are permanently injured by the modern cramming methods is called education. True education, like true religion, never injured anybody, but always builds up and strengthens.

When the young man who shot the Russian Minister of the Interior was asked if he had any accomplices, he replied, "Yes; a host." When asked to name them, he said, "That is impossible. I cannot enumerate a nation. The whole Russian people are my accomplices." The prisoner made the voluntary declaration that the Czar is safe from any fear of harm from the "Reformers." He said that Nicholas II. is a well-meaning and noble-hearted young man, but, unfortunately for his country, unendowed with the capabilities necessary in an autocratic ruler. Nevertheless, for his good qualities of heart and mind, his personal safety will be loyally respected, but war to the end will be waged against his responsible Ministers. To all other questions the prisoner absolutely declined to reply. "I am in your hands," he said; "do with me what you like. We neither expect nor ask for grace or mercy. We are working for those who come after us; we expect nothing for ourselves."

While no countenance can be given to the methods of these "Reformers," it is impossible not to admire their spirit of self-sacrifice. It is a pity that it is not better directed, and it is a pity that more who profess the name of Christ do not manifest equal zeal and devotion in the work of liberating mankind.

The following portion of the letter from a Russian official, whose name is necessarily withheld, which is vouched for by the Daily Mail as on good authority, sets forth the general state of unrest in Russia, and shows that more serious trouble must be expected. One can see how ripe the world is getting for "a time of trouble such as never was:-

"We are in a very excited state here. Riots are of daily occurrence, and fighting between the people and the soldiery takes place daily. Many cool-headed people think we are on the eve of a great movement.

"The police are busily engaged in searching houses, and hundreds of people are deported or banished. One of my near relations, who is serving his term of conscription, tells me that the feeling of disaffection is almost as strong in the Army as it is among the civilian classes.

"The unrest is not only in St. Petersburg-it extends from the Black Sea to the Gulf of Finland, and encounters between the people and the troops have taken place in the neighbourhood of Tiflis, as well as in that of St. Petersburg and all intermediate centres of civilisation.

"We are all living in a state of terror. That is no exaggeration. We do not know from minute to minute when the police will break into and search our lodgings. Some of my friends have experienced that pleasure. On several occasions peace-loving people have been obliged to keep closely within doors to avoid scenes of bloodshed in the streets.

"The soldiery have received strict orders-and these orders have been printed by Government order in all the newspapers and posted up in all public places-to spare neither age, nor sex, nor rank."

"Mysterious Dispensations of Providence" The Present Truth 18, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

Mysterious Dispensations of Providence .-Nearly everybody will recognise these words as those so commonly used when a person dies. It is usually the case that people assume that their friends ought to be exempt from death; and so when one dies they sadly said, "I cannot understand it; but God's ways are mysterious." Now as a matter of fact the cause of death is in most cases no mystery whatever. Flagrant disregard of the laws of life naturally results in death; and very few people make it the first business of their lives, as they ought, to learn how to live, and to practise what they know. God says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." The ignorant, as well as the presumptuous, transgression of the laws of life results in death. If it were not so, nobody would ever make any effort to learn, for there would be a premium for ignorance. When we consider the reckless disregard of the simplest conditions of health, and the indifference on the part of those who cannot be called reckless, we are forced to wonder that more people do not die, and to regard the fact that so many people live as a "mysterious dispensation of Providence." The fact that anybody lives at all is a manifestation of the mystery of God, "the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

The very first blood that is sent out from the heart goes to nourish the heart itself. It is necessary that the organ upon which the body depends for life must itself be well supplied. So we have the truth illustrated: "The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits." "He that watereth shall be watered also himself." So God provides that the person who in self-forgetfulness devotes his life to the salvation of others, shall himself have a supply for all his need. God calls sinners to Him, in order that He may save other sinners through them; and the Word of life which He gives them to carry to others, abundantly supplies them as they carry it, for the only way that they can carry it is as their own life.

"A Week of Disaster" The Present Truth 18, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

Last week was a record week for reports of calamities. So numerous were they that we have thought to group some of the more striking items together, that our readers may see that the Saviour's words, "upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring," are even now being literally fulfilled.

To begin with that which is least, we have the announcement: "Great stock panic; sixty United States' banks victimised; enormous losses."

Another severe shock of earthquake was felt at Schemacha, in the Caucasus.

From Salisbury, Rhodesia, comes the following:-

"The epidemic of redwater among the cattle is spreading with unabated virulence, and only the stock of a few farmers and transport riders have escaped the infection. At Umtail not a single span of oxen is available for transport purposes. The singular rapidity with which the animals sicken and die is only equalled by the extraordinary infectiousness of the disease, which attacks a whole herd of cattle simultaneously. The native cattle have been so far immune, but it is feared the contagion will be introduced among them by the natives themselves, who are carrying the diseased flesh of the dead animals all over the country.

An earthquake shock was experienced at Bourdeaux, and at other places in France, on the 6th. About the same time severe shocks were felt at Murcia, Spain, and at other points as well, by which houses were thrown down, and the inhabitants were thrown into a state of panic.

Seven members of a family in Hamburg were overcome by an escape of gas as they were asleep; four of them were found dead in the morning, and the other three were in a critical condition. This is but one of many accidents which, in view of some of the other events, may be considered of minor importance.

A train filled with Belgian pilgrims on their way to the Lourdes ran off the line near Compagne, France, on the 6th; nine persons were killed, and fifty-one were injured. This accident was the more appalling from the fact that all the passengers were invalids (and their attendants) hoping for healing at the famous resort.

A telegram from Bobruisk, in the government of Minsk, Russia, reports a destructive fire in that town, 972 houses and 650 small shops being reduced to ashes.

At the Pennsylvania Steel Works at Steelton, (U.S.A.), a great crucible of molten slag boiled over, and eight men were overwhelmed in the awful flood. Five men were killed and the other three were terribly burned.

A fire at Mit Gam Egypt, destroyed 1,000 houses and 200 shops, involving a money loss of ?200,000. Fifty persons lost their lives.

In the streets of Warsaw, 12,000 Poles of both sexes and all ages demonstrated against Russian rule. Polish national songs were sung, and there was much shouting of seditious epithets. When the huge mob came to the Governor-General's house, bodies of cavalry, infantry, and police attacked it from six points. There was fearful confusion and panic. Several persons were killed, and over a hundred injured, including many children. Nearly a thousand arrests have been made.

The herring fleet on the west coast of Hokkaido (Yezo), one of the islands of Japan, was caught in a terrible gale on the 30th ult., and 250 lives are reported to have been lost. There has also been great loss of boats and nets.

But all these disasters pale into insignificance beside that last one that comes to notice, namely, the volcanic eruptions that totally destroyed the French town of St. Pierre, on the island of Martinique, West Indies. On the 6th, a dispatch from the island stated that an eruption was in progress from Mount Pelee, and that the town, which lay at its foot and on that slope had been covered with ashes to a depth of nearly half an inch. One hundred and fifty lives were reported lost. It was thought that all was over, but on the 8th a flood of fire suddenly poured forth from the crater, and buried the town with all its inhabitants. Eighteen vessels in the harbour, including four American vessels and one British steamer, were destroyed with all on board. The captain of the British steamer Roddam succeeded in getting his vessel clear of the storm of fire, but not without losing seventeen of his crew. He himself was severely burned, but heroically navigated his ship to St. Lucia, where he and the remainder of its officers and crew lie in the hospital.

St. Pierre had a population of nearly 26,000, including a small British colony, all of whom were either burned to death or suffocated by ashes and gas. It is thought that the total loss of life in the island is not less than 40,000. Several parties have tried to effect a landing since the catastrophe, but were forced to retreat on account of the sulphurous atmosphere, in which nothing can live.

Cable communications with the island was broken off just before the final outbreak, and as St. Vincent, from which earthquakes and a slight irruption from the Soufriere crater were reported, has also been cut off from communication with the rest of the world, it is feared that that island has suffered a similar calamity.

The lesson which none should forget is well stated in the closing words of the Daily Mail editorial:-

"Such cataclysms remind us of how infinitely terrible are the sleeping forces which the Unseen Power may at any moment stir into fury."

And all this is but a warning of greater things to follow.

"Flaming Ministers" The Present Truth 18, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

Flaming Ministers. -Of God it is said that He "maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire." The same flaming spirits are also "ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them who shall inherit salvation." Also "the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." This being the case, it is evident that the child of God may be secured in the midst of the devouring fire, and may rest safely in "everlasting burnings." The promise is, "When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." This was verified in the case of three Hebrew captives in Babylon, and would be realised oftener if there were more who had the same faithful boldness. The threatened furnace of fire could not fright men who had flames of fire for their body servants. In the last great day, which shall burn as an oven, when the earth itself will become a lake of fire, what a blessing it will be to have a wall of fire round about us as a protection against the fire.

May 22, 1902

"Signs of Coming Judgment" The Present Truth 18, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof."

"A brook, whose waters
make the city of God,
is the Most High in His
habitation.
God is in the midst of her,
therefore she totters not;
God helps her when the
morning dawns.
Nations rage, kingdoms
totter,
Thunder rolls still the earth
trembles;
Jehovah Sabaoth is with
us,
The God of Jacob is our
Fortress."

In the terrible destruction of the city of St. Pierre with all its inhabitants in a few moments of time, we have a glimpse of the way in which the whole earth may suddenly be destroyed "when God ariseth to shake terribly the earth." By disregarding the lesson which such warnings are intended to teach, men are really saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?" "For this they wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the Word of God, by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished; but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same Word have been stored with fire, reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." 2 Peter iii. 4-7, R.V., margin.

That the earth is "stored with fire," is painfully apparent when there is a volcanic eruption. A flood of fire, and clouds of steam enveloped the city of St. Pierre, and the mountains literally shook "with the swelling" of the sea. The immediate cause of the eruption is said to have been "percolation of water from the sea downwards to heated materials beneath." Of course there would be the immediate formation of steam, and the heated matter would have to have vent, with the terrible results already noted.

"The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest; whose waters cast up mire and dirt." Isa. lvii. 20. That is why these fearful convulsions of the earth and sea occur. The earth was put in subjection to man in the beginning; but when the Master has lost control of himself it naturally follows that he cannot control his dominion. "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth." Isa. xxiv. 5, 6. These disasters that seem so terrible are but comparatively slight warnings of the near approach of the time when "the earth shall reae 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."

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But amid these awful scenes the righteous will be calm and confident, as unmoved as the lighthouse on the rock, when the sea beats upon it; and the reason will be that they are unmoved by the flood of evil that over sweeps the earth. Not only built upon the Rock of Ages, but firmly rooted and grounded in it, they "shine as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of life." In the fearful destruction that is coming, even the scoffers will see and acknowledge that godliness is a reality and not a mere theory, or assent to a creed. What could be more desirable than to be able to stand amid the final storm as calmly as the lighthouse that stands erect amid the raging billows? And this can everyone do, who builds upon God and keeps himself "unspotted from the world."

"Happy the man whom thou choosest and per-
mittest to dwell in thy courts;
So that we sate ourselves with the blessing of
Thy house, the holiness of thy temple!
With marvellous deeds in righteousness Thou
hast answered us, O God our Help!
Thou confidence of the ends of the earth and
of far away islands!
Thou art He who sets fast the mountains by
His strength,
All girded about with might,
Who stills the booming of the sea,
The booming of its waves and the uproar
of peoples,
They who dwell further off are afraid of Thy
tokens."

But "he that believeth shall not be confounded."

"A Question of Ritualism. Acts xv" The Present Truth 18, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

(Acts xv.)¹⁰1

The ritualistic controversy is no new thing. For centuries it has been waged. The first stricking instance that we have of it in the early church was when Paul was preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles at Antioch, and certain man which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved."

The rite of circumcision did not originate in the days of Moses, but was given by God Himself to Abraham. It was given as a sign of the covenant, "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. It did not add anything to the righteousness of Abraham, nor to the righteousness of anybody else who practised it; but it was given as a seal and a reminder. It was God's witness to Abraham that he had obtained the victory over the flesh, and had the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus, in spite of the flesh; and it was to serve as a reminder to him and to all people that "the flesh profiteth nothing." Instead of requiring man to be circumcised in order to be saved, God gave circumcision as a token that salvation does not come through anything that man can do, and that human attempts to help God are but opposition. It helps us, for He is our strength; we add nothing to Him, and can do nothing for ourselves.

Enoch was saved and taken to heaven hundreds of years before circumcision was given; and all the righteous patriarchs were uncircumcised with the outward circumcision in the flesh. That is proof that circumcision was never necessary to salvation; for the way of salvation is always the same; nothing more is ever required at one time than at another. The one requirement in all ages is "to do justly, and to love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God." Micah vi. 8.

But for Abraham's deviation from the path of faith, in the case of Hagar, when he tried through the flesh to fulfil the promise of the Spirit, outward circumcision would never have been given. Outward circumcision was the cutting off of the flesh, a sign of "the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ" (Col. ii. 11); and this real circumcision the patriarchs had. "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but the keeping of the commandments of God." 1 Cor. vii. 19. "For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law; but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." Rom. ii. 25-29.

Writing of the same ritualistic question, the Apostle Paul said, "If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." Gal. v. 9. He did not mean that the mere act of circumcision would cut off from Christ, for within a few weeks of the council at Jerusalem when he refused to allow Titus to be circumcised, he took Timothy and voluntarily had him circumcised. Acts xvi. 1-3. He had Timothy circumcised, because otherwise he could not take with him among the Jews, just as he would have adopted the dress of the country; but when it came to doing it with the idea that it was necessary to salvation, he resisted it to the uttermost.

There was no question among the apostles as to what the Gospel was, and what they ought to preach. This council was called, in order to break the influences of the "false brethren" over the new converts from among the Gentiles, whom they were unsettling, by representing themselves as Christians. This was shown by the letter which was sent out, thus:

"For as much as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law; to whom we gave no such commandment; it seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well."

Was there any disparagement to law of God by the apostles? Not in the least. They exalted the law, by their submission to the Holy Spirit; for "law is spiritual." But they did take a decided stand against teaching the people that their salvation depended on anything whatever that they might do. The law is spiritual; but the Spirit does not come as a result of keeping the law; on the contrary, the keeping of law is the fruit of the Spirit. Gal. v. 22, 23.

Neither was there any partiality in the law among the apostles. Sometimes we hear it said that there was no reference to the ten commandments in the four "necessary things" which the people were exhorted to take heed to; but those who say that have certainly not given attention to the seventh commandment, which forbids

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fornication. Why did not the apostles enjoin the observance of the Sabbath?-Because there was no question about it. All understood that the law was to be kept; the only controversy was as to the means of salvation-whether it was faith or works. Why then was the transgression of one special commandment referred to?-Simply because among the Gentiles fornication was not considered as a sin or anything unseemly. A few errors to which the people were most addicted, and which, because of their early associations, the new converts might think were trivial, were especially pointed out, and for the great things of the law they were left to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The apostles did not enjoin the observance of the Sabbath on the Gentile converts, it is said. Of course not; neither did they enjoin obedience to parents. Why not?-Because it was not necessary; God hath commanded these things, and it does not rest with men to re-enact God's law. God's word is settled for ever in heaven; and every one who fully accepts that will necessarily keep the Sabbath.

The conclusion of the whole matter is this: "Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." The fear of God is the fruit of forgiveness of sins, for we read: "If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared." Ps. cxxx. 2, 3. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that keep His commandments." Ps. cxi. 10. That is to say, Forgiveness of sins precedes and leads to the keeping of the commandments; for the fear of God leads to the keeping of the commandments, and forgiveness of sins begets true fear of God. When the soul was convicted of sin, and turns to God and finds forgiveness, the language is, "O how I love Thy law!" So, rejecting all of our own righteousness, and trusting in Christ, that His obedience to the law may be in us, it may be said of us: "Here is the patience of the saints; here they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."

"The Editor's Private Corner. What Is Christian Perfection?" The Present Truth 18, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

"Have we any Scriptural warrant for expecting that a believer may be really rid of sin this side of the resurrection, beyond having the gracious liberty to pray and fight it down? Is it correct teaching, that sin is eradicated through Christians believing for and claiming sanctification? and can you give a Scripture instance of it? Will you tell us how far people are justified in claiming perfection as an experience by faith? The Lord being everywhere, in all, and through all, can He dwell in the heart where sin, not reigning, is?"

This is a live, practical question, just such as I like to receive. While always perfectly willing to respond to the question, "What does this text mean?" as far as possible, it is far more gratifying to be called on to answer the question, "What must I do to be saved?" There are many people whose interest in the Bible never really rises above the level of mere curiosity, and whose "religious experience" consist mainly of the ability to "hold their own" in an argument concerning the meaning of certain texts. While they stand in their relation to the Bible it makes very little difference what they believe; but those who have questions to ask concerning their personal relation to God and righteousness will always meet with a hearty welcome in the "Corner."

The best thing to do in answering this series of questions is to have before us a few plain statements of Scripture. They will serve to hold us steady in our course.

First, the words of Christ, recorded in Matt. v. 48: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

The Saviour never commands impossibilities, and so we have the statement also: "By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Heb. x. 14.

Then comes this inspired prayer, containing the blessed assurance of the possibility of the thing prayed for, and the revelation of the means by which it is done:-

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, 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 through Jesus Christ." Heb. xiii. 20.

"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. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, 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 Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 1 Cor. vi. 16-18; vii. 1.

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Heb. xi. 14.

PERFECTION A NECESSARY STATE

These texts make it plain that holiness, perfect purity of body and spirit, is not only possible, but absolutely necessary; and the state is to be ours in this present evil world, before the resurrection; for we are told that without it no man shall see the Lord. "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God."

With these words of Scripture before us, it should make no difference to us whether any person has ever had the experience or not. We are not judges, and cannot tell who has and who has not. But in any case, our experience is to be built upon God's word, and not upon our own previous experience, or any other person's experience, or lack of it. The Christian life is a continual revelation of new things, continual growth, continual pressing forward to something beyond. "Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let

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us go on unto perfection." Heb. vi. 1. The words of Joshua to Israel when about to cross the Jordan are to be taken as the words of the Lord to us every day: "Ye have not passed this way heretofore."

ONE PERFECT MAN

But we do know of at least one Man who was perfect in holiness before the resurrection, and that is "the Man Christ Jesus;" and with the record of His life before us, and the presence of His Spirit with us, we do not need another instance. He was made "perfect through sufferings" (Heb. ii. 10), and having suffered, He has entered into His glory. He was the Word made flesh, human flesh.

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; 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. 14, 15. He is the first fruits, "the firstborn among many brethren;" and "if the firstfruit be holy, the love also is holy." Rom. xi. 16. He became partaker of our flesh and blood, and is entered into heaven. That is our assurance that we all shall go there; for a partaker of our flesh is there already. There will be in the kingdom of God but "one new man;" that Man now lives; therefore His perfection is by the new birth the right of every soul. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are to bring us, "in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect Man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Eph. iv. 13.

Christ 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. The power of His resurrection was the Spirit of holiness that dwelt in Him. It was by the Spirit that kept Him from sin, that He was raised from the dead; and it will be the same with us. "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But 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. 9-11.

"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." 1 Peter iv. 1. Christ had exactly the same struggles that we have with sin; for His body was the same as ours, and He had our sins to contend with. Now we must not take the Scriptures for discouragement, for that is to abuse them. So we must not despondently say; "But He had no sin," implying that there is after all a difference between Him and us. It is true that "He did no sin," and "knew no sin." It is true also that we have sinned; but it is still further true that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." 2 Cor. v. 19. "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isa. liii. 6. Therefore "as He is, so are we in this world." 1 John iv. 17. The Lord counts us as sinless as He counts Christ, and the sins that we bear are the sins of the world.

Do not misunderstand this, for it is a vital truth. What I mean is this: Since God does not impute our trespasses to us, it is evident that He counts us sinless. In this knowledge we may rejoice, and assure our hearts before Him. Then we may know that the sins that we must struggle against in the flesh are not our personal sins, as indeed they are not so long as we reckon ourselves to be dead and the sin. They will not have dominion over us, no matter how sorely they press us; and we shall know that the burden of them is upon us solely in order that we may be able to lift the burden off from some poor soul that is fainting beneath it. It is that we may show him how Christ bears his sins even in His flesh, and that he may be wholly free from them even while bearing them in his body.

The nature of the flesh of a Christian is not a bit different from that of a sinner. The flesh of every man is corruptible, and will be till the Lord comes to change us to immortal glory. 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52; Phil. iii. 20, 21. The difference between the sinner and the Christian is this, that the sinner is ruled by the flesh "fulfilling the desires of the flesh of the mind," while the Christian allows the Spirit of Christ in him to rule the flesh, and to subdue its passions; for he has "power over all flesh."

The body itself is an example of this life that cleanses. By the breaking down of tissue, poisons are continually forming in it, that is retained, would kill us; but the life stream flowing from us bears them away, and keeps us constantly alive and active. It is action that breaks down tissue; yet that very action, if it is rightly related to the fountain of life, tends to the removal of the waste matter.

GOD, NOT MAN, THE JUSTIFIER

How far, then, may man claim perfection? Not to any degree whatever. "It is God that justifieth." Rom. viii. 33. "Not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth." 2 Cor. x. 18. There have been righteous persons, perfect, holy men, approved of God; but they did not boast of their own goodness. Zacharias and Elizabeth "were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." Luke i. 6. Enoch was translated by faith; "for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." Heb. xi. 6. No higher testimony than this can be received by a man from God. It is the testimony that God gave Jesus that is baptism. But even Jesus made no claim to perfection in Himself, but said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing." John v. 30. "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." John xiv. 10.

God Himself said: "Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" Job. i. 8. What a testimony that is, and we know that it was true; yet Job said: "If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse." Job. ix. 20. He was a perfect man according to God's own testimony; yet if he claimed perfection, that very claim would prove him perverse.

This is in harmony with the words of the Apostle John: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all of righteousness." It is while we have fellowship with God, while we, ourselves at one with Him, lost in Him, so that we say, "Not I, but Christ liveth in Me," that "the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all sin." There it is there, but the ever rising tide of the blood of Christ continually sweeps away, and keeps the soul clean. We agreed with God, for that is what confession is, and then we are one with Him, and He declares us sinless.

You see, do you not, that to say that

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we are sinless is to deny Christ as the Saviour from sin? It is while we confess our sins, that we are cleansed. Constant cleansing from sin means constant confession of sin. Are we cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ that is now applied? That very joyful declaration is a confession that we are sinful. Sin is in our members, but it has no dominion over us, "but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

There is possible for every one of us in Christ a height and depth and breadth of likeness, such as we have never yet experienced; yet, having experienced it, we shall still see such infinite possibilities before us that, like Job, we shall say, "I abhor myself, and repentant dust and ashes;" and with Paul, the chief of the apostles: "Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief; howbeit for this cause have I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all His longsuffering, for an ensample of them which should hereafter believe in Him unto eternal life." 1 Tim. i. 15, 16, R.V.

"The Home. Business Principles" The Present Truth 18, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

While the selfish saying, "Honesty is the best policy," ought never to be countenanced as the utterance of a really honest man, it is nevertheless true that the Saviour's rule, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," expresses the only principle on which any business can be successfully carried on in the long run. The following story from the Youth's Companion illustrates this, and shows also that a reputation for honest work and fair dealing is the best advertisement that any man can have. The man, however, who would have his work praise and recommend him, must do good works from the love of it, without thought of the reward; for "policy" always overreaches itself.

"You have a peculiar fire insurance agent in this town," remarked a newcomer one day to an old resident. "I had about made up my mind to change my insurance from the L. M. Mutal Company to some other concern; I had a suspicion that it might not be absolutely sound. So, having seen the advertisement of a number of companies on the window of a Mr. Patlin, your agent, I went in there. He seemed to represent almost all the important companies about here except the one I thought of pulling out of.

"It seemed strange, but he advised me strongly to let the insurance stay where it was, even persuading me that the L. M. Mutual was perfectly sound. He said he could do no better by me, and perhaps not so well. So of course he lost so much business."

"Well," said the old man, "I'm not only not surprised, but I should not have known what to make of it if you had had any other experience with Mr. Patlin. He always advises everybody else to do what he himself would do in the same circumstances. It never makes the least difference to him whether what he says is going to increase or decrease his own business. That is the way with all that family; his brothers are just so, in other lines of trade."

"But how do they get along?" the young man queried. "Does this agent make a success by letting business go by that is all ready to drop into his lap?"

"No business man in town has more to show as the result of his methods," replied the other; "and yet I suppose some of the self-proclaimed 'hustlers' would think Mr. Patlin a little slow. What they lose sight of is the long haul. He has been here a good while; he intends to be here a good while longer. People, for some reason, get back to his office, even if he does drive them off occasionally."

The young man didn't carry the argument any further, but he went away with something new to think about.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

Meow! Meow! Kitty is crying for some milk. She cannot tell in words what she wants, but her kind little master knows she is hungry.

When God first made the animals, He gave them all to man to take care of. Now most of them are afraid of us, and they will not come at our call. But there are still a few who love and obey man. Among these are the horse, the dog, and the cat. Cats are very affectionate. They like to be petted. All the animals had been made to suffer a great deal because of man's sin. So we must do all we can to make them happy.

God's Word says: "A merciful man regardeth the life of his beast." That means that he takes good care of the animals that he owns.

If we do not like to take the trouble to make them comfortable and happy, we ought not to keep any pets. Little children are sometimes thoughtless, and forget to feed them. It is very hard for them to be hungry and cold and not able to tell their wants.

God notices even the little sparrows, and He knows when they are hungry. He is pleased when we are kind to any of His creatures, for it pains Him when they suffer. "The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works."

"The Lord's Army" The Present Truth 18, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

It was recently reported that "grasshoppers have become so numerous at Rivas, Portugal, that the farmers in the district have sent to Lisbon asking that 400 soldiers should be sent to help them in exterminating the pest."

This pest may not be a very extensive one, and might soon cease if no effort were made against it; but locusts form an army that cannot be successfully combated by human soldiery. The Lord is the "Lord of hosts;" He has many divisions to His army, and His host are exceedingly varied, and that locusts form a part of it nobody can doubt, who reads the following description of their migration, taken from "True Tales of Locusts," by L. N. Badenock (chapter vi., pp. 116-120), and then compares it with the prophets account of the battle in the day of the Lord:-

"It is believed that when the locusts migrate, they do so in the direction taken by their predecessors, although several generations may elapse without a migration. Their flight is to a large extent dependent on the wind, and it is said that when the air is calm and warm, and they are ready to move, they have the habit of making short flights, circling upward, apparently for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the upper currents, if they are favourable to bear them away. . . Suppose a swarm has risen from the ground on a clear sunny morning, and is being wafted straight on its course by favouring winds. Opposing winds suddenly prevent them from moving on in the direction they desire to go. Instantly they drop, and wait for a change. With a return of the wind to the original quarter, if during the warm part of the day, often, with wonderful unanimity, all again take wing, and fly off towards their intended destination.

"No sooner have they made their appearance from the earth, and have obtained a slight degree of strength, than they will at once take up a northern course, always towards lands in the interior of the continent from which their progenitors departed. Farmers and agriculturists adopt methods all but in vain to save their crops and pasture lands on their approach in countless multitudes, when swarm after swarm has to be contended with. They then fill up the whole country; their numbers are overwhelming, and cannot be driven away. They taken advantage of paths and roads, and many miles will be traversed in a day; they proceed by means of short, quiet leaps or hoppings rapidly repeated. Nothing can stay the 'Vostganers' progress northward. Occasionally they march through towns and villages, and have been seen attempting to make a stone wall, rather than be thwarted in their advance. Mountain ranges, forests, rivers, may intervene, diverting them for a while from their course; nevertheless their journey to the interior."

Now compare the foregoing with the following description of the Lord's army:-

"A great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth; the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks; neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path; and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief." Joel ii. 2-9.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

Since the volcanic eruptions in the West Indies, there have been reports of earthquakes and threatened eruptions from Mexico, Austria, and the United States.

It is stated that the disturbances among the peasantry in the Western part of Russia are increasing. It is officially admitted that fifty-six persons have been killed, and 167 wounded in recent encounters between the military and the peasantry.

By order of King Alfonso, a Santiago court-martial has acquitted a young soldier who refused to kneel at mass because he was a Protestant. The sentence asked for by the prosecution was three years' penal servitude. It is such actions that explain why "the Church" has lost its hold on the people. Its only hold is the iron grasp of persecution; while the only hold that can be lasting and effective is that of God's loving hand.

The Bishop of Bath and Wells, following the example of the Pope of Rome, has in view of the Coronation festivities absolved persons in his diocese from the obligation of fasting on Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28. The Pope, however, adds the wish that Catholics thus released may "make up for this dispensation by the recital of certain prayers which are to be prescribed for them." We shall before long have something to say on this matter of "fasting," as we already have a question awaiting an answer. It is pitiful that people do not know that so-called "fasting," and the "saying" of certain prayers do not constitute the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and cannot save them.

"An expert" begins an article to the Daily Mail, on "the Science of Volcanoes" as follows: "A candle that has nearly run its course, when its period of light-giving is near its end, begins to splutter, and evinces the existence still of a little remaining energy in the spasmodic waning and outbursts of its dying light. Our world, geologically considered, is a dying one, and the energy of its internal heat is nearly spent." Partly right and partly wrong. The earth is indeed waxing old like a garment, and tottering to its fall, like a nearly spent top; but the fires with which it is stored are the eternal fires of God, and these occasional outbursts are but premonitions of the coming flood of fire which shall overwhelm and consume it.

The list of versions of the Bible published by the British and Foreign Bible Society, now includes names of 367 distinct forms of speech, to print which over fifty different sets of characters are required.

A press dispatch from Chicago states that experiments made with X-rays on eggs indicate that the rays destroy the germ cells, thus preventing incubation. From the experiments it has been deduced that the cure of cancer and consumption by means of the rays will be permanent and not merely temporary.

The Lancet has been investigating the theory, which the Chronicle says is "at least as old as the time of the Great Plague," that tobacco smoke is a disinfectant, and is obliged to admit that it finds nothing in it. Smokers need not flatter themselves that their habit secures them immunity from pestilential germs. Germs are hardly creatures, and can stand more tobacco-smoke than a man can, just as they can endure more heat and cold. The man who attempts to kill disease germs by smoking, may be saved by it from dying of the disease, just as a man may escape hanging by committing suicide: but after the tobacco has finished, the germs will still flourish.

In order to show how every class of society is permeated with the gambling spirit, Mr. John Hawke (hon. sec. of the National Anti-Gambling League) recently stated that he was once staying in a house where the daughter was a great friend of a certain young peeress, and moved in what is known as "Society." He asked her one day if she could tell him what percentage of her friends went in for gambling. She said, "Oh, everyone we know gambles."

Among the youth of the lower classes the evil is just as widespread. The authors of a paper in a recent volume issued by the Board of Education, dealing with the condition of the boys and youths engaged in street-trading in Manchester, state that half, or more than half, the total income, which ranges between thirteen and seventeen shillings a week, "is spent regularly, unhesitatingly, and cheerfully upon gambling." And this, not with the desire for gain, but simply for the excitement, for they are quite content to lose their money as the price of their enjoyment. The writers record that so prevalent is betting among this class of lads, that they "have never met or heard of an exception," and many boys enter upon street work for the sake of the facility which it affords to gratify their passion for gambling. Nothing could be more demoralising to the youth, or make a darker prospect for the future. This unnatural excitement is the worst form of intoxication, and fitting the mind for anything solid and real; and the desire for stimulation will inevitably lead to drunkenness and every other form of dissipation.

In calling for the Lord Mayor of London to open a Mansion House Fund for the sufferers by the volcanic eruptions in the West Indies, Mr. Chamberlain says that an official report from the Government of the Windward Islands confirms "the worst anticipations that had been formed." He reports that a large portion of St. Vincent has been laid waste, and that within the radius of devastation practically all living things have been killed. At present writing, the number of victims is estimated at 2,000. The correspondent adds that "nothing green was visible," and that "the streams and rivers were dried up." Truly a picture in miniature of the condition of the whole earth in the final judgment, as set forth in the thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah.

The Berlin Church Synod has caused a great sensation, it is said, by again openly discussing the growing depravity of the young of both sexes. Although churches are being multiplied in the Capital, the Church is fast losing its influence on the people, especially on the rising generation. The startling statement is made that one marriage out of every twelve contracted in Berlin is followed by divorce. The reader will not wonder that the Church is losing its influence on the people, when he learns that the Synod's method of procedure to arrest this laxness of morals was to pass a resolution urging the police to close all restaurants and public-houses during church time! A straw to check a hurricane! The resolution itself is a confession that the Church has no power and so no right to any influence.

A company has been formed under the title of the British Submarine Boat Company, which has acquired all the patents and inventions of M. Claude Grubet, as well as to submarine boats already built, and active work will shortly begin in England. At a recent trial at Cherbourg, the new submarine remained for two and one-half hours under water, and moved about absolutely unnoticed, removing anchors, affixing torpedoes to vessels at anchor and in motion, and then rose to the surface with the crew as little affected as though they had been on the surface all the time. The boat is so small that it can be carried on board big warships, and dropped overboard when in action, and as it costs but one-sixth as much as boats previously built, the various countries will doubtless be making haste to secure this new contribution to the effectiveness of naval warfare.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

We cannot refrain from emphasising the fact that the recent disturbances in the earth are to be taken as tokens of the near approach of the end of the world. We are aware that many will scoff at this idea, and will turn it off as the notion of an "alarmist," even as many did in the days of Noah; but the flood came then in spite of scoffs, and so will the end of the world.

We claim that it is our duty to be alarmists. The Lord has enjoined us: "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand." Joel ii. 1. Whoever does not sound the alarm announcing the approaching end is remiss in his duty.

But it does not necessarily follow that the sounding of an alarm means that people are to be frightened. Nay, rather are they to rejoice, because the end which the coming of the Lord brings is the end of "this present evil world," the end of war, sickness, sorrow, suffering and sin. An alarm of war means courage for the battle; and whoever takes to himself the whole armour of God may hear the alarm with joy.

"Cause me to hear Thy loving-kindness in the morning; for in Thee do I trust." Ps. cxliii. 8.

Is not that a mistake? Does it not say, "Cause me to see thy loving-kindness"?-No; it is quite correct. It says, "Cause me to hear Thy loving-kindness in the morning." Did you not hear it this morning? If not, listen for it to-morrow morning. I heard it this morning. It began with break of day. There was a chirp, a twitter, and then a burst of melody. I looked in every direction out-of-doors, but could not see a single bird, although the whole air was full of their music. It seemed as though from every bit of space a silver throat was pouring forth song. That was the loving-kindness, the goodness, of the Lord, of which "the whole earth is full." Ps. xxxiii. 5. It is revealed to and by those who trust in the Lord; and the song of the birds is always the spontaneous outburst of trust in His keeping power. Listen to it, and then let the ever new song be in your heart, for "He careth for you."

Everybody is familiar with songs that tell about Christians afloat on a ship at sea, sailing toward the harbour of heaven; but few break the spell that a jangling melody casts over them, sufficiently to remember that such songs make havoc of God's word. We have hope as an anchor of the soul sure and steadfast, it is true; but ships do not use their anchor when they are sailing, and we are to use ours all the time. The ship at anchor does not drift. Moreover there is nothing more disastrous to a ship than a rock; but the solid Rock is the Christian's only safety. No; the Christian's relation to the troubled sea is not that of a ship tossed upon it, but of a light-house standing immovable amid the raging billows, because it is anchored to the Rock of Ages.

The eruption that overwhelmed St. Pierre burned the village of Irrine, to the south, and destroyed nearly all the inhabitants. One of the survivors says that the sea was boiling from the heat and the melted lava, and that it invaded the land. How accurately this fulfils Isa. lxiv. 1, 2: "Oh that Thou wouldst 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." The question is, Will God's adversaries take heed, and learn His name? and will the nations recognise His presence and tremble? Some will, we know; for we are told that when the judgments of God are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. So there is cause for thanksgiving even in calamities.

Did you ever notice that the birds utter their song of rejoicing and praise the first thing in the morning, because they set about gathering their morning meal? If you stop to think, you will remember that it is so. There is a concert in which every one takes part for about an hour at daybreak, and after that you will hear scarcely a note for an hour or two. Every bird having offered its tribute of thanksgiving, is then engaged in gathering the food which God has spread for it, and for which it gave thanks beforehand. They do not worry for fear they will not receive anything; they simply trust, and show forth the loving-kindness of God." Go and do thou likewise.

This "garment of praise" is what God gives us in the Sabbath, for the Psalm for the Sabbath-day we read: "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High; to show forth Thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night; . . . for Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work; I will triumph in the works of Thy hands." Ps. xcii. 1-4. The Sabbath means absolute trust and rest in the Lord, and so joy in Him.

"Perfect submission, perfect delight."

"When Thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, Thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at Thy presence. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for them that love Him." Isa. lxiv. 3, 4. None but God has seen them, but He "hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit." When sudden destruction comes, and unlooked-for calamities devastate the earth, it is only to show something of the measure of the glorious deliverance that God works for those that love Him.

Never allow yourself to give utterance to doubt or discouraged; for words always react on the mind, and tend to deepen the impression of the thought which they express. To say of a thing that God's Word has led you to pray for, "But I haven't got it yet," in a tone that implies a doubt as to its ever coming, is the same in effect as to say, "My Lord delayeth His coming." Don't ever admit the shadow of the possibility of failure. Know that you cannot think of anything too great for God to give you. Abraham had to wait twenty-five years for Isaac after God had promised him a son. A year before Isaac was born there was not the slightest indication that the long time of waiting was nearing its end. What a sad thing it would have been if Abraham had lost faith then. "We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end."

May 29, 1902

"Victory through Suffering" The Present Truth 18, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

When God called Saul of Tarsus to be His special messenger, to uphold His name before kings, He said, "I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake." Acts ix. 16. It was thus that God fortified him for the labour and trials that were before him. Paul was never surprised when he met with rebuffs and persecutions, and was never discouraged by them, because he had already passed over the way with the Lord.

In like manner after Paul had made his first great missionary journey, he went back over the route, "confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." Acts xiv. 22. Notice how he strengthened the souls of the disciples. It was not by holding out the prospect of peace, but by giving them the assurance of great tribulation.

But it is a mistake to suppose that the words of the apostle apply wholly to persecution to which disciples of Christ must pass before they can enter heaven. "The kingdom of heaven is at hand" even now; and only those who press into it now will enter heaven hereafter. If we are "strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness," then God has already "delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love."

The kingdom of God is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." But this perfect peace and joy of righteousness can be attained and held only by fierce fighting with principalities and powers that work within us, stirring up the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Peace means victory gained; but inasmuch as our foes continually rage against us, continual victory can be maintained only by continual warfare.

The words, "we must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of heaven," are parallel to those in Heb. ii. 10, 11: "It became Him, by whom are all things, and for whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of One." The perfection here spoken of is the resurrection from the dead (compare Luke xiii. 32; Phil. iii. 1-12; Heb. vi. 40), which is the proof of sonship. Rom. i. 4. Christ, having been raised from the dead, has entered the kingdom of God, being seated on the right hand of God, in His throne. In harmony with this He said to the doubting disciples, after His resurrection: "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?" Luke xxiv. 26. Even then, on the road to Emmaus, in the humble garb of a wayfarer, Christ was sharing the Father's glory.

"For as much 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." 1 Peter iv. 1. How did He suffer? "In that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted." Heb. ii. 18. In the days of His flesh He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, and was heard and delivered;" and being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." Heb. v. 7-9.

Our suffering is all with Christ, for He is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities." He bears all our sins and sicknesses, so that His victory is ours. It is not merely that we have His victory as an encouragement to us, but that the victory which He gained was over our sins, and His deliverance was from the death that was on us. And this victory and deliverance He won in our flesh. Therefore when we can say with "full assurance of faith," "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 have "passed out of death into life," and have the power of the resurrection as our daily experience. Having suffered with Christ, we have with Him entered into His glory, and are, with Him, waiting for "the manifestation of the sons of God."

"The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Matt. xi. 12. "Every man presseth into it." Luke xvi. 16. Whoever enters must wage a fierce warfare with the fleshly lusts that stand in the way. As in Bunyan's narrative, its doors stand open, and the shining ones invitingly sing,

"Come in, come in;
Eternal glory thou shalt win,"

but many blows must be given and received in the passage. Thank God, His armour has been tested and proved invincible, and we do not fight uncertainly, "as one that beateth the air."

"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Arm yourselves with the same mind with which Christ overcame, and the glorious rest is yours-that glorious rest that is undisturbed even by the sorest tribulation. With this peace within, persecutions that man can raise against our bodies are mere trifles. "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us."

"Justified and Glorified" The Present Truth 18, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesus Christ in the flesh was the representative of the human family, a sample of what all humanity might become through union with Him. All that He did as man, He did for us, as our representative, and each individual made by faith receive the full virtue of every act of His life, just as though he himself had wrought it.

Take, for example, His baptism. "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all," that He, the Lamb of God, might take away "the sins of the world." So when the multitudes came to be baptized in Jordan, confessing their sins, "then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him." And it has by faith He witnessed in this act to the power of His sacrifice to cleanse the whole world of sin, the Spirit also bore witness to the acceptance of that cleansed humanity with God.

Jesus was baptized as our representative, confessing our sins; therefore the words, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," are for us, who are "accepted in the beloved." The opened heavens, the descending Spirit, the approval of the Father, all are ours in Him who "by Himself purged our sins," and justified humanity.

This glorious fact even the apostles were slow to accept, and a special vision was given to Peter in which the truth that in Christ all men were justified and cleansed was most emphatically taught. "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common," were the words thrice repeated in the vision; and in relating it Peter said, "God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean," thereby showing that in Christ God hath cleansed every man.

Hence the yearning call to those who have not experienced a blessed as of "the man whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered," because they are ignorant of that blessed fact: "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and is a cloud thy sins; return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee."

"Whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He so glorified."

At His baptism Christ revealed man justified and accepted. Later, towards the close of His life on earth, He revealed man glorified. For a little while the veil was removed, and the beauty and glory of the Divine image shone forth and proclaimed Him the Son of God. A chosen few of His disciples were "eye-witnesses of His majesty when He received from God the Father honour and glory." And this He received as Man for men; He was still are representative. Therefore seeing Jesus crowned with glory and honour, the whole creation waits in hope for the manifestation of all the sons of God, when all whom He has justified shall be likewise glorified, when the righteousness wrought for them and in them by the Divine Son of man, shall clothe them with raiment white and glistening, fine linen clean and bright, and crown them with unfading glory.

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him and He is."

Then He shall change our vile body, and fashion it like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Jews and Gentiles: The Law and the Sabbath" The Present Truth 18, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

"I have had a talk with a friend, on the Sabbath question. He says that the law was given to the Jews, before there were ever any Gentiles, and that therefore Gentiles have nothing whatever to do with it. He refers to Paul's writings, where he says something to the effect that if a man's conscience tells him to keep a certain day, let him keep it, and if it tells him to keep another day, let him keep that. If you can enlighten me on this subject, I shall be very glad."

WHEN AND FOR WHOM THE SABBATH WAS GIVEN

I think it will not be very difficult to help you, if you will take your Bible and notice when the Sabbath was given. The first chapter of Genesis contains the record of creation, closing with the account of the creation of man on the sixth day. "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and 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. i. 31; ii. 1-3.

You can see plainly that the Sabbath was given before there were either Jews or Gentiles; for there was only one man, Adam, the head of the whole human race. Inasmuch as the Sabbath was given to Adam and Eve, immediately after the close of creation, and before there were any descendants, it is very evident that "the Sabbath was made for man" (Mark. ii. 27), as the Saviour tells us. Is a Jew a man?-then the Sabbath was made for him. Is a Gentile a man?-then the Sabbath was made for him also. Wherever man is found, wherever there is one who can claim that title, you may know that the Sabbath was made for him.

"JEW" AND "GENTILE"

Thus the whole question is answered, and we might stop; but a double answer may be useful. Your friend needs to know the difference between the terms "Jew" and "Gentile." The term "Gentile," in the Bible, means simply "nations," and is often used as synonymous with "heathen," inasmuch as all the nations of earth have turned away from God. There is but one Hebrew word where we have the three words, "Gentiles," "heathen," and "nations," in the Old Testament. One Hebrew word suffices, where we have the three; which shows that the three terms are really identical.

Now it must be evident that there were no Jews before there were any nations; and this is the same as to say that there were no Jews before there were Gentiles. As a matter of fact there were Gentiles hundreds of years before there was a Jew. The word "Jew" comes from Judah, one of the sons of Jacob, and he was not born till nearly six hundred years after the flood, or more than twenty-two hundred years after creation. There were many nations in the earth long before Judah was born.

The Jews themselves are but a branch from Gentile stock, even as all the people of the earth are descended from one common parent. The father of Abraham was a Gentile, a heathen (Joshua xxiv. 2), and Abraham, who believed in God, was called out from his kindred only in order that he might be freed from their contaminating influences, and that he might preach the Gospel to other heathen. But the calling of Abraham from Mesopotamia to Canaan did not in the least affect his origin or his relationship. He was still the son of and remained the son of that Gentile to the end of his life, because he could never cease to be his father's son. The fact that Abraham's immediate descendants were born in Canaan did not make them any differently related to the Gentile inhabitants of Mesopotamia, and of the rest of the world, then if Abraham had always remained in his native country, and his children had been born there.

ALL MANKIND ARE ONE FLESH

I have set forth the simple facts in order to enable you to see clearly that there is no essential difference in men, no matter at what time or in what part of the world they live, nor by what name they are called. There is but "one kind of flesh of man" (1 Cor. xv. 39), and "God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." Acts xvii. 26. Consequently all mankind are brethren, and whatever applies to one applies equally to all. There is no requirement, no way of salvation, for one person or one family or one tribe or one nation or one race, that is not for all.

CHRIST THE BROTHER OF ALL MEN

When Christ came into the world, He was "born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them which were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Gal. iv. 4, 5. He was in all things made like those whom He came to redeem, whom He called His brethren (Heb. ii. 11-17), and "forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; 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. For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham;" and by the grace of God tasted death for every man. Heb. ii. 9. "He died for all." 2 Cor. v. 15.

Do you not see the great truth that these few Scripture texts teach? Read them carefully, and think of them, as I summarise these statements.

THE NATURE OF ABRAHAM THE SAME AS THAT OF ALL MEN

1. Christ died for all mankind-"for every man."

2. It was necessary that Christ should be of the same nature-the same flesh and blood-as those whom He died to redeem.

3. But He took on Him the nature of Abraham. The conclusion, therefore, is obvious, that the nature of Abraham was precisely the same as that of all the rest of

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mankind, whom Christ came to redeem. "Salvation is of the Jews" (John iv. 23), for Jesus was a Jew; but, thank God, it is not confined to the Jews.

THE LAW FOR ALL MANKIND

Now think a little further. Christ came to redeem His brethren, and He was made like them in all things. But He was "born of a woman," thus becoming "the Son of Man," under the law, in order that He might redeem them that were under the law. That is, those whom Christ came to redeem-every one born of a woman-were under the law; and this, regardless of the meaning of the term "under the law," shows that the law had to do with all mankind,-that all stand in a definite relation to it.

One step further will show us exactly what the relation of all men is to the law, and that will show us Christ's relation to it, and the relation of the law and the Gospel. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." "All have sinned," therefore He came into the world to save all. The angel said Joseph, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins." But "sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John iii. 5), and "sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Rom. v. 13); therefore all mankind-every man born of a woman-has had the law, and has transgressed it, and has thus become guilty, and under condemnation of death; and Christ came to save them all from the transgression of the law. In other words, Christ came in order "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." Rom. viii. 4.

Someone will recall the statement that the Gentiles have not the law, and so will I, that I may point out that it was made for the purpose of emphasising the fact that the Gentiles, no matter how benighted, do really know the law of God. The Apostle Paul is showing that all men, both Jews and Gentiles, will be judged by the law, and says: "For 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 mean while accusing or else excusing one another." Rom. ii. 14, 15.

SALVATION IS ONLY FOR THOSE UNDER THE LAW

Whoever would evade his accountability to the law of God, must resign his claim to the salvation purchased by Christ's life and death and resurrection; because Christ died to save none but sinners-transgressors of the law. But none can evade this accountability, so everybody has a right to "the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." There is but one way of life, and it is the same for both Jews and Gentiles. "The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ" is "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 freely by His grace." Rom. iii. 23, 24. There is one law for all, which all have transgressed, and so there is one Gospel for all,-one life of obedience to the law, which becomes the birthright of every man, who by receiving Christ becomes a son of God.

CAREFULNESS ENJOINED, NOT LAWNESS

We may now devote a little attention to the expression of Paul's to which you refer, and it need not detain us long. It is in the fourteenth of Romans, where the apostle is exhorting to unity, and warning us against throwing a stumbling-block in anybody's way. I quote the Revised Version: "One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord, and he that eateth, eateth to the Lord."

From the reading of the chapter it is evident that, if the Sabbath comes into consideration at all in this chapter, which I shall not attempt to decide, the exhortation is to greater carefulness, instead of to laxness. The thought is, "Be careful lest by your indifference you cast a stumbling block in some weak brother's ways. Nobody ever stumbles over a Christian's diligence in "walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless," but many are made to fall over carelessness of professed Christians in matters which God enjoins. See Rom. ii. 23, 24.

FULL ASSURANCE

But what about "Let every man be fully assured in his own mind?" Does that mean that it is a matter of indifference? Not by any means, quite the contrary. One does not need to be "fully assured in his own mind" concerning a matter of unimportance. The Sabbath question is one, above all others, of which one must be fully assured; for the very essence of the Sabbath is "blessed assurance"-the "full assurance of faith." It means the ceasing from our own works, and the resting on the perfect, finished work of God. "The seventh day is the Sabbath [the rest] of the Lord;" but to keep God's rest means more than simply to cease work one day in the week. What tongue can describe, what mind can formulate, the glorious rest of God? It is beyond expression, even as it passes all understanding. It is spiritual rest, for God is Spirit. It is rest from all sin, for "there is no unrighteousness in Him." It is rest from the weariness of physical toil, even while actively engaged in it; for "the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not neither is weary" and "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength." Isa. xl. 38, 39. "Even the youths shall faint and be weary;" "but they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall run, and not be weary;" because they rest in the everlasting arms and on the everlasting word that created the heavens and the earth, and that always works.

On the seventh day God rested from all His work which He created and made, after having completed it on the sixth day, and seeing that everything was very good. The seventh day is therefore a memorial, a sign of the new creation. It is the revealer of the God who sanctifies. It is the assurance that God makes all things new, and the assurance that it gives us is the assurance of experience in our own bodies. Oh, if everyone who names the name of Christ only knew this blessed assurance, this glorious rest, this unspeakable gift of God, the unsearchable riches of Christ, the fulness of the power of the Spirit over the flesh, the infinite possibilities that are open to the one who with well-instructed mind is wholly yielded to God's possession we should never again hear any excuses, to evade serving Him, or any questions as to whether or not it is necessary to keep His Sabbath.

"The Children. The Creation of Man" The Present Truth 18, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

"And 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. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 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. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so." Gen. i. 26-30.

"And God blessed them and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created." Gen. v. 1, 2.

"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." Gen. ii. 7.

"The breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job xxxiii. 4.

"Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust." Psalm civ. 29.

"Adam was the son of God," made in the image of God, to be His dwelling place. God did not make man's body to be a house for the man; but He made the man to be a house for His own Holy Spirit, that through man He Himself might rule the earth with the gentle sway of love.

God Himself gave a name to the first man. And not to the first man only, for He created man male and female, and called their name Adam. This then is the family name that God has given to man. It means earth, and is to keep ever in our minds that we are only dust with no more power in ourselves than the dust of the ground under our feet. The only thing that makes us any different from it is the Spirit of God which knits our bodies together, and keeps us from crumbling into the dust from which we were made.

The breath that God breathed into Adam's nostrils was the air; so we see that the air is "the breath of the Almighty," and His Spirit is in us to give us life. For what God did for the first man, He has done for every child of Adam that has come into the world,-first formed him from the dust of the ground, and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

Think of this as you draw in the life-giving breath,-that the great God your Creator and Father, is still breathing into your nostrils the breath of life, and that if He should stop doing this for a moment you would die. Strange and wonderful as it may seem to us that these bodies of ours are really formed from the little particles of the dust of the ground, this is very clearly seen when the breath of life is taken away; for they soon fall back into the dust of which they were taken. How easily then we can see that we have no life of our own, but that we are every moment receiving, in the breath that gives us life, life from the fountain of life.

The blessing that God put upon all His other creatures, He put also upon man. He made him in His own image, male and female, and said, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." Every little child that has ever come into the world has been born by the power of this Word of God. By it God's wonderful work of creation is still being carried on, and the earth is being filled with human beings bearing His likeness.

Besides the breath that we receive from God moment by moment, we need also food to nourish and build up our bodies. This too reminds us that we are dust; for since God made man from the dust of the ground, it is from thence that all our food must come. But God works through the plants and trees, taking up the dust of the ground, changing it into beautiful forms, putting sweet flavours into it, and lovely colours upon it, making it "pleasant to the sight and good for food;" and He gives it to us in the form of fruits, grains, and nuts.

God told man what was to be his food-everything bearing seed; while the animals might eat every green herb. It was not His plan that any of His creature should feed upon each other, but all were to get their food from the vegetable kingdom.

You eat the food that God gives you every day, but do you ever think what a wonderful thing it is that this food should be changed into muscle, nerve, bone, brain, skin, and hair? It is the creative power of the Word of God that does this work, taking the dust of the ground in making man in God's image. For He has said of these fruits of the ground, "To you it shall be for meat."

Think of this every day when you eat the food He gives you, and trust in His power to create you in His likeness, not in outward form alone, but in the image of His purity and holiness.

"God, who made the grass,
The flower, the fruit, the tree,
The day and night to pass,
Careth for me."

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

Little Minnie has a flower clock. She is trying to tell the time, as perhaps you have done, by blowing off the top of a dandelion head. But of course she cannot tell the right time in that way.

But do you know that every flower is a real little time-keeper. Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, before any watches or clocks were made, people used to tell the time of day by the flowers.

Each little flower opens at exactly the same time day after day. Some open early and some late; but all the same kind always open at the same time. So those who watch them closely can tell, when they see them open or close, what the time is. One old writer said that he knew forty-one different flowers by which he could tell the time, and since then a lot more have been found out. For every hour of the day or night, some little flower opens or closes its petals.

So if you would like a real flower clock, watch the flowers closely, and those of you who live in the country, and make one for yourself. In doing that you will find out a great many more wonderful things about the flowers that God is made for our teachers. "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein."

"The Animal World. The Strength of Helplessness, or The Wisdom of Obedience" The Present Truth 18, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

That inimitable delineator of animal real life, Mr. Ernest Seton-Thompson, seems to excel in describing the growth and development of the young under the instruction of their parents; and from his fascinating stories the thoughtful reader can draw many valuable and impressive lessons.

On nothing does he lay more stress, then the absolute necessity of obedience, and the advantage that the young animal has, that most promptly and closely heed every warning given by those whose experience has taught them how to escape from threaten dangers.

In his story, and "The Lives of the Hunted," of "Krag the Kootenay Ram," a famous Rocky Mountain sheep that for years was the leader of a band that succeeded in escaping the hunter's rifle, there is the following striking paragraph:-

"For a young animal there is no better gift than obedience. It is obedience to the mother that gives him the benefit of all his mother's experience without the risk of getting it. Courage is good; speed and strength are good; but his best courage, speed, and strength are far below those of his mother, and they are at his service to the uttermost, if he will obey. Brains are all-powerful; but among very young Bighorn sheep, at least, an obedient fool is far better off than the wisest headstrong lamb that ever breathed the breath of life."

Every word of this is applicable to a young child as to a wild, Rocky Mountain lamb. Children are apt to think that obedience is bondage, and to long for the time when they can be free from parental control, forgetting or not knowing that obedience is life, liberty, and wisdom. It is well to remember this truth so well stated by Mr. Thompson, that by obedience the young child becomes possessed of all its parents' experience, without the hardship and trouble of going through it.

And all this that applies so well to children in relation to their parents, is equally applicable to people as long as they live, in their relation to our Heavenly Father. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do His commandments." Ps. cxi. 10. The words of the Lord "are life unto those that find them; and health to all their flesh." Prov. iv. 22.

We can never hope to understand all "the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge;" we cannot even know what is just before us, and we know not the dangers that beset us, even if knowing them would enable us to escape them; but by heeding "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," we shall ensure our lives. The man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, 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." For the perfectly obedience soul there are such "treasures of wisdom and knowledge" as all the schoolman of earth have never dreamed of. Of the statutes and judgments of God, it is said to us, "Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all the statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." Deut. iv. 6.

There is another interesting lesson to be drawn from animal life, which is the necessary complement of the foregoing. This lesson is from the ant, from which we may learn wisdom in more than one direction. Darwin said that considering its size, the brain of an ant was perhaps "the most marvellous piece of matter in the whole universe." This, of course, is only "perhaps;" but, without making comparisons, every observer must be struck with a high intelligence exhibited by these tiny creatures; and the lesson for us lies in the fact that for this intelligence they are indebted to their helplessness.

The young ant is a very helpless creature. "It takes the insects three or four weeks, in the pupa form, to develop into full-grown ant; and even when they have finished, they are as helpless as babes, and could not escape from the cocoon but for the kind offices of the worker attendants. Sir John Lubbock: "It is pretty to see the older and ants helping them to extricate themselves, carefully unfolding the legs and smoothing out the wings with truly feminine tenderness and delicacy." And here comes the lesson, which is thus stated by Grant Allen:-

"This utter helplessness of the young ant is very interesting for comparison with the case of man; for it is now known that nothing conduces to the final intellectual and moral supremacy of a race so much as the need for attending and carefully guarding the young; the more complete the dependence of the offspring upon their elders, the finer and higher the ultimate development."

We have seen that obedience means wisdom; and it is evident that helplessness means dependence, and that is, of course, obedience; and so the one who most recognises his helplessness, and his absolute dependence on God, will receive the most Divine wisdom. A little child is the most helpless of all creatures, and for the longest period of time; hence the responsibility of its greater development. But in order that the child may receive the full benefit of its dependence it is manifestly necessary that its parents be filled with wisdom to impart to it. And to this into end, it is necessary that they remember that to God they themselves are but little children, to be carried in His arms.

Only as parents consciously occupy this relation to God, can they stand in the place of God to their children. But with their relation recognised and maintained, what infinite possibilities open up before the children of men. By taking Christ as literally the life of our bodies, we become sons of God, and since in Him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. ii. 2, 3), it is evident that all His wisdom is at our disposal. Christ is "made unto was wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." Nestling in the everlasting arms of the eternal, all-wise God, drawing our life from His bosom, His Spirit makes us know "the deep things of God;" and this wisdom, hidden from the wise in their own conceits, is revealed unto babes. "If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise." And "let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." W.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 18, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

An armed mob in Texas (U.S.A.) the week before last, tied a Negro to a stake, surrounded him with faggots saturated with petroleum, and stood by while he burned to death. This is twientieth century civilisation, in a land that makes its boast of being the light and leader of the world. Blind indeed are they who cannot see in such savage acts the prophecy of the end.

The list of disasters still continues to increase. The volcanic eruptions in the West Indies have not ceased, and there are disturbances of a similar nature in other parts of the world, which cause much uneasiness among the people. An explosion in a coal mine in Tennessee (U.S.A.), entombed 227 men, who lost their lives by suffocation; and in British Columbia an explosion in a mine caused the death of 125 men. It is strange that the whole world cannot see that such a state of war between man and the elements is not according to God's plan, and that it cannot continue for ever. There must be a change, a cessation of hostilities, a reign of perfect peace; and the more acute the trouble, the greater are the indications that the end is fast approaching.

Much is said at the present time about being up-to-date, and a wide range of reading on all subjects is considered necessary in order to keep up with the times. Dr. Parker gives us in the following words his idea of the up-to-date minister:-

"I hold that no man is abreast with the times except the man who lives in close communion with God, and in continual association with the Spirit of Jesus Christ. . . . To Christ I go for the deepest and truest interpretations of human spirituality, motive, and an immediate relationship to God. . . . Bethlehem is not a term in Eastern geography; it ought to express the place which Christ occupies in our hearts as Child and Boy and Man and Saviour. . . . If any preacher will give himself night and day to the study and exposition of the Gospel at it is found in the New Testament, he will do all that any preacher is required to do."

That devoted missionary Thomas Chalmers, who was recently murdered in New Guinea, has told how the natives among whom he worked, when smitten with disease, sank down in many instances, simply because they gave up. And he has told also how when once at death's door with fever he heard some of his native helpers bewailing the certain doom in savage New Guinea, if their leader died, and that from that moment his face was turned to life, and he recovered. This is not, as is supposed, an instance of "will power," but of the power of confidence in one's call to service. There is nothing that will keep a man alive and in good health, so much as the knowledge that one has received definite work from God, and plenty of it. There is a power in one's own will to resist disease; but faith in the power of God's will is infinitely more effective.

A boy who was charged in court with stealing twenty packets of cigarettes, pleaded in justification that he "was dying for a smoke." No doubt he thought so; for the tobacco habit holds people in a terrible bondage, and, like all habits which tend to destroy life, it makes its victims believe that their life depends upon the continuance of the vice. It is sad to find such slaves among youth, and even mere children, and sadder still to know that the number is increasing. Such youth can never make men, even if they live to the age of manhood; for men who are men indeed are rulers, and not slaves.

A correspondent of the Christian World describes a sermon which he recently heard in a Congregational church, the gist of which was that

"We must not take Christ too literally; that we are not called upon to be losers by our religion; that if in business we have to compete with worldly rivals, there is no reason why we should handicap ourselves by a super-sensitive conscience. In order to make it workable, Christianity must be worked with an ally of common-sense, just as gold, to be made usable, must be mixed with an alloy of baser metals. An 18-carat Christianity is what the world wants."

It is impossible to see the necessity of such preaching as that. Of course there is none, because people will look out for their own selfish interests without being urged to it. But they like to be convinced that such a course is right, and they will often pay anyone who will undertake to do so. Hence the necessity of complying with the Apostolic charge to "preach the Word." The last days have come, in which it has been prophesied that men would "after their own lusts," "heap to themselves teachers."

The Madrid paper El Cristiano affirms that the only obstacle in the way of a formidable secession of Spanish clergy from the Roman Catholic Church is the difficulty of obtaining a livelihood which confronts those who have been dedicated from boyhood to the service of the Church. If Protestants were able to support all who would like to secede, it is thought that perhaps more than half of the Spanish priesthood would quit the Roman communion.

Much allowance can be made for these poor priests, who have from childhood been trained up in false views of religion. They have never known liberty or anything like independent thought. It is indeed a pity that they cannot receive some help and encouragement; for out of the number there must be some who would soon learn that the law of Christ is to serve, and not to be served; to give one's life, without making any conditions. It is perhaps just as well, however, that these priests cannot be "taken on" by the Protestant bodies, for we read much complaint to the effect that there is no inducement to young men to enter the ministry, because they would not be well taken care of. But there are plenty of people in the world who have a warm place waiting them, hearts for the men who will teach them the way of life regardless of support.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

The Word of the Lord is "living and active." Heb. iv. 12. It "runneth very swiftly" to accomplish the purpose for which He has sent forth. God says of it: "It shall not return unto Me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please." A striking illustration of the way in which the Word of the Lord works is given for our encouragement in the second chapter of Ezekiel: "And He said unto me, Son of man, stand upon my feet, and I will speak unto thee. And the Spirit entered into me when He spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard that spake unto me." "The words that I speak unto you, there Spirit," Christ said. When He speaks and we hear, the Spirit enters into us to do that which He commands, even as it entered into Lazarus and brought him forth from the tomb, and as it will finally bring from the graves all who hear His voice. "Hear, and your souls shall live."

At a missionary conference held in London last week, one of the missionaries told of his little son, who one day came into the house, and throwing itself upon the floor burst into tears. For some time he would not tell why he wept, but at last he said,

"Mamma, when we get to heaven, will papa have to be away preaching all the time?"

"No, darling," answered the mother, "when that time comes the Gospel will have been preached everywhere, and we can all be happy together."

"Then," said the little fellow, "I wish Jesus would come quick."

This cry of suffering from the child heart voiced the longing of the whole creation, which groaneth and travaileth in pain, waiting for its redemption. "Surely I come quickly. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

"Where the child has found its mother,
Where the mother finds her child,
When the families are gathered
That were scattered on the wild:
There we shall meet and rest
'Mid the holy and the blest."

There is a sense in which every individual helps to set the time of the Lord's coming. In 2 Peter iii. 11, we are told not to only to look for, but also to hasten (R.V. margin) the coming of the day of God. Everything that contributes in any way to spread the Gospel in any part of the earth hastens the coming of that day. More is involved in this than appears at first sight. For the Saviour's command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," was given for every disciple; and the promise, "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me. . . unto the uttermost parts of the earth," is for every one who receives the Holy Spirit.

How can this be? We sometimes hear it said, "We cannot all go, but if we cannot go ourselves we can help send others, and sustain them by our sympathy and prayers." This is good. Yet in a very real sense every faithful Christian does actually go, according to the Lord's command, into the uttermost parts of the earth. "The humblest worker, moved by the Holy Spirit, will touch invisible cords, whose vibrations will ring to the ends of the earth, and make melody through the eternal ages.

"Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
And grow for ever and for ever."

However obscure, however restricted by circumstances, the influence of our lives reaches out to the uttermost parts of the earth. In the light of this great and solemn truth, how momentous are our simplest actions for good or ill! How terrible the thought that any stain of sin upon our souls will spread its deadly influence to the uttermost parts of the earth, holding the groaning earth still longer in the bondage of corruption, and delaying the coming of the Lord for which the whole creation travails in pain. "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for an hastening the coming of the day of God."

"Hastening the Lord's Coming" The Present Truth 18, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

Our regular readers will have noticed a new department in our paper, beginning with the last number: In Far Off Lands. For this department we would bespeak the earnest study of all who are watching the signs of the times. The Studies in the Gospel of the Kingdom, now appearing in the paper week by week, have called attention to the Saviour's words: "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."

There are signs in the heavens and in the earth; famines, earthquakes, pestilence, the roaring of the sea and waves, distress of nations, wars and rumours of wars-all these are signs that our redemption draweth nigh. But the sign of the coming day is the preaching of the Gospel in all the world. For when this is accomplished, "then shall the end come."

In order to keep this, the great sign constantly before readers, we shall publish each week articles from the pen of missionaries with whom we are in touch in all parts of the world, who are hastening the day of the Lord's coming by fulfilling His great commission, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." The extract in this number, headed "New Highways for the Gospel," is of special significance, showing as it does how God is preparing for His servants to shed the glorious Gospel light into all the dark corners of the world, that He may finish the work and cut it short in righteousness.

"'Again It Is Written'" The Present Truth 18, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

"Again It Is Written." -The necessity of being acquainted with all Scripture is seen in the account of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. And when the devil tried to induce Him to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, saying, "It is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning thee; and on their hands they shall bear thee up, lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone," Jesus instantly replied, "Again it is written, Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God." By this the Saviour did not mean that the verse He quoted contradicted or even modified the other; but it was the shortest way of indicating that the passage in the Psalms does not justify a presumption. It applies, as is plainly evident from the context, to God's people in troubles that come upon them, and not to those into which people may capriciously jump. Jesus would not discuss the meaning of texts of Scripture with the devil, but silenced him with a text which made it evident that he had perverted Scripture. So while we are always to take every text just as it reads, the more Scripture we know and remember, the less are we liable to misread any portion of it, thoughtlessly assuming that it says what it does not.

June 5, 1902

"The Grand Climax" The Present Truth 18, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

Those who scoff at the promise of the coming of the Lord are willingly ignorant of some of the plainest and most important events recorded in the Bible, namely the creation and the flood. They say that "all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." But they were not there, while God, who was there, says that things have changed much since creation.

The word of the Lord created the heavens and the earth 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. "And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Gen. i. 3.

After a few hundred years, however, "God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." Gen. vi. 12.

Then by the same word by which the earth was made it was covered with water, the water with which it was stored being made to contribute to its destruction. By the flood the earth "perished;" the earth in its present condition bears scarcely any resemblance to that which existed before the flood.

By the same word by which the earth was created and destroyed, the earth which is now is kept until the time of perdition of ungodly men, when it will be overwhelmed by a lake of fire instead of a flood of water.

"Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." The same word accomplishes it all.

Thus it appears that the coming of the Lord has been the one grand event toward which everything has been tending ever since the fall. The "promise of His coming" is the same as the promise of a new heaven and a new earth. This was the promise to the "fathers." Those who scoff at it cannot deny that the Bible contains the promise, but they think that there is no probability of its fulfilment. They ignore the fact that things have changed much since the creation; and they have forgotten that the word of the Lord endureth for ever.

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise." Notice that it is the singular, not the plural form of the word. It is not promises, but promise. It is a fact that the Lord does not forget any of His promises, but the Scripture mentions a definite promise, namely, the promise of

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the coming of the Lord, and the restoration of the earth. It will be a "new earth" in very fact, because it will be restored to the condition in which it was when it was first made.

Now although it has been a long time, as man counts, since the promise was made, "the Lord is not slack concerning His promise." A thousand years are with Him as one day. So that it has been but a few days with God since the "fathers fell asleep." Passage of a few thousand years does not abate one jot of the promise of God. It is as sure as when it was first made. He has not forgotten. The only reason why He has delayed thus long is that "He is long-suffering to usward; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." So we should "account that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation," and should gratefully accept the kindness thus graciously offered, instead of taking His merciful delay as an evidence of lack of good faith on His part.

It should not be forgotten that while a thousand years are with the Lord as one day, one day is with Him also as a thousand years. What does that mean? Simply that while the Lord may wait a long time as man counts, before carrying out His plans, that should not be taken as evidence at any stage that to do a given amount of work will necessarily take as great a length of time as has been taken for the same amount of work in the past. One day is just as good as a thousand years with the Lord, whenever He chooses to have the work of a thousand years done in a single day. And this will yet be seen. "For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make in the earth." One day will suffice for the work of a thousand years. The day of Pentecost was but a sample of the power with which the work of the Gospel is yet to go.

"The Clothing and Armour of Light. Rom. xiii. 8-14" The Present Truth 18, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

(Rom. xiii. 8-14.)¹¹1

Although it is not possible to bring the whole of this portion of Scripture in to review at this time, we ought to read it together, in order to get the full force of those portions to which we do give a little special consideration.

"Owe no man anything save to love one another; for he that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."

This Scripture is emphatically "present truth." It bears a special message for this time, yet it says not a thing that it has not been saying for more than eighteen hundred years. Centuries are but moments in God's reckoning, and the day for whom we are now looking was "at hand" when these words were written. No one is warranted in saying, "Oh well, the coming of the Lord, and the end of the world, cannot be very near, since these things have been before men all the centuries." On the contrary, the word should rather be this: "Since the end was near so long ago, how much more weight must attach to this exhortation now."

The Father has put the times and the seasons "in His own power;" yet it rests with man to determine when the end shall come; for 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. Just as soon as the Gospel of the kingdom, as exemplified by Jesus Christ, is preached in all the world, so that God's witness to Himself, as manifested in Jesus of Nazareth shall have been seen in every nation under heaven, the end will surely come, and not till then. But if every soul who has read the exhortations in this chapter, and professed to believe the words, and had actually taken them to himself at their full value, the end would have come long ago. It is not at all difficult to believe that the conditions will all be fulfilled within a very few years; for Gospel light is now springing up in different parts of the earth, such as has not before been proclaimed since the days of the apostles.

Christ Himself is the embodiment, the personification, of the kingdom of God. The Gospel or good news of the kingdom is the demonstration of all the power of God in human flesh. Men are to be taught that the Spirit is stronger than the flesh, and can rule it; and that the flesh of weak, sinful man, even in what are supposed to be the most debased, savage races of the earth, can be used to show forth the mighty works of God. And this will be the case with every one who completely recognises the fact that he has but one debt, namely, that he owes himself to God, and thus to the world, since God lives for the benefit of His creation.

The debt that we owe to the world is love, and "God is love." Therefore we owe it to the world-to all our fellow-men-to allow God to reveal Himself to them in us. We owe it to everyone to cease holding down the truth in unrighteousness, so that all that may be known of God may be manifest in us. There is altogether too low a conception in the world of what a man ought to be. The standard of manhood is too low. The possibilities that are wrapped up in the human body are not grasped; but there are men now in the world who will allow God to use them to demonstrate that with Him nothing is impossible. Who will be one of them?

The men who will compose this glorious band will not be making excuses for not obeying God's law either in letter or in spirit. The righteousness of the law-every commandment to the full-will be fulfilled in them; for love, the manifestation of God, is the fulfilling of the law. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour;" but love must be at work; therefore love does good to his neighbour. Even so Christ "went about doing good."

In the kingdom of God the Spirit rules: but "where the Spirit of God is there is liberty" (2 Cor. iii. 17); therefore the absolute reign of the Spirit means the complete freedom of the body from all "fleshly lusts that war against the soul." The desires of the flesh will be present in the flesh; but only the mind of the Spirit will be fulfilled. What a glorious thing it is that this Gospel comes to us, and that all this freedom-the freedom of the universe-is for us if we are willing to pay the price, namely, the absolute, constant and eternal surrender of ourselves to God.

"Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." These words "put on" are from one Greek word meaning, as it is most commonly

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translated, clothed. We have the same Greek word in English; for it is the familiar word "endue or endow." See Luke xxiv. 49, "endued with power from on high,"-clothed with power,-and Matt. vi. 25: "Take no thought. . . for your body, what ye shall put on." The proper clothing of the body is the Lord Jesus; and that clothing is perfect protection-protection even from the fiery darts of the wicked.

"They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the lusts thereof." Gal. v. 24. Crucifixion means death, not in figure, but in reality. The body is to be actually dead, and yet alive, because it is dead with Christ, who still lives. The truth set forth in this is that while still in this mortal, corruptible body, we are to live as though we had died, been laid in the grave, and been raised again at the last trump. This is true temperance in its perfection; and it is the only thing that the Bible calls temperance.

Someone says that the standard is too high. Say not so. It is indeed too high for human power to reach; but then God has nowhere intimated that He expects unregenerate men to attain to it. Temperance is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. v. 22, 23), and is possible only through the Spirit of God; but, that truth being recognised, nothing can be said to be too high for human experience. Where do we feel inclined to regard the Bible standard of temperance and so high that we shrink from what it involves. How foolish that is! to refuse to give the perfection of Divine power! What sacrifice, what self-denial, what crucifixion of fleshly desires, could be too great to be undergone for the sake of being clothed with the fulness of the power of the life of God? In His presence is fulness of joy, and so the yielding soul will find self-denial,-the cutting off of every purely carnal pleasure-to be "joy unspeakable and full of glory."

This happy condition is for us now. God longs to see us in it, and He is able to accomplish it. The evidence of His power is the fact that we live. We live not by our own power, but by the power of God. "In Him we live and move and have our being." Now to God there is no such thing as difficult or easy. All things are alike to Him, and nothing is too hard for Him. It is easy for Him to hold a world poised in space as to hold a feather in the air. Therefore if our wills are but perfectly surrendered to Him, so that He may control our voluntary muscles as absolutely as He does our involuntary muscles, it will be just as easy for us to attain this perfect standard of temperance as it is to live. He is able to "do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." Eph. iii. 20. Shall we not let Him?

This true temperance is simple Christianity. It is the condition in which the soul can say: "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."

"Clothe me with Thy holiness,
Thy meek humility;
Put on me Thy glorious dress-
Endue my soul with Thee:
Let Thine image be restored,
Thy name and nature let me prove;
Fill me with Thy fulness, Lord,
And perfect be in love."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Faith and Feeling" The Present Truth 18, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

"I am anxious to obtain that faith without which it is impossible to please God; I want to know I possess it. 'I say to myself,' wrote one in similar mental straits, 'that I do trust Him; that I know He can save me; that I know His blood was shed for me, etc., but still I am not sure if I fully realise it all.' These words exactly describe the state of my mind in relation to my spiritual condition.

"We are urged by the apostle to examine ourselves, whether we be in the faith. Faith, the Scriptures tell us, is the gift of God; and this gift I have prayed for, and I responded to the teaching of Rom. x. 9: 'If thou shall confess with thy mouth Jesus is Lord, and shall believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved;' but I am still without assurance essential to peace; I cannot say, 'I know in whom I have believed.'

"This continuous seeking for light, and never emerging from darkness is painfully perplexing, and I find myself often in that state of mind reflected in the observation of Mark Rutherford. 'Our temptation is to doubt whether it is of the smallest consequence whether we are or are not, and whether our being here is not an accident.' I have prayed for forgiveness, but I do not feel that I am forgiven; all the fact that my tears, which I have cast off and again upon the Lord, are increasing instead of diminishing, invest with a perplexing interest the promise, 'I will deliver thee.'

"I am told that feeling must not be made the test of our spiritual condition. 'Don't mind your feelings,' said the late Mr. Moody, 'let feelings take care of themselves;' but on another occasion, in dealing with an anxious penitent, he said, 'At ten to-night I will pray for you; and make up your mind and will not sleep until you know your sins are forgiven.' How can these statements be reconciled? How can one be assured of the peace which the Lord gives to believers apart from feeling?"

Before taking up this inquiry, let me say that it is just such an one as every Gospel worker is glad to be called upon to answer. It is of the kind that is specially desired for the "Corner,"-and inquiry as to what to do to be saved, and how to know that one is saved, rather than a curiosity to know the meaning of some peculiar text. It was for the express purpose of coming into the closest personal touch with PRESENT TRUTH readers that is possible without actually seeing them, that this Department was opened. While I am glad to expound any portion of Scripture, I wish to lead all to realise that the sole object of the Bible is to teach men the necessity and the way of personal salvation, and how to serve God.

Your questions and statements reveal a state of self-consciousness that is very common among professed Christians who have not yet become so well acquainted with God that he absorbs their thoughts, to the exclusion of themselves. It is true that we are exhorted, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith;" but this gives no warrant for the analysis of one's own mind, and the bringing of one's own self to the bar of Judgment, that is so common among certain very good and conscientious people. We have no more right to try ourselves before an Inquisition than we have to subject somebody else to it. We are simply to let ourselves alone, and allow God to deal with us in his way, which is not by any means the Inquisitorial method.

PRAYING FOR FAITH

I have been waiting for many years for somebody to show me the place in the Bible where we are told to pray for faith. It is true that the disciples said, "Lord, increase our faith;" but that is in itself no warrant; and the answer of Christ was a rebuke to their request, for He immediately said: "If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you." Luke xvii. 6. That is, whoever has any real faith of all, has all the faith there is. Whoever has faith has it, and that is all there is to it.

"God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Rom. xii. 3. This you recognise, for you say that faith is the gift of God. Well, now, why should one pray for that which God has already given? and which, without respecter of persons, he has dealt out to every man? It is true that we speak of "lack of faith," and the Bible itself speaks of men that have little faith; but this is not a contradiction of the truth that God has given it to them. Men often reject God's gifts, and otherwise allow them to lie unused; but the fact that one does not exercise the faith does not show that it has not been given him. When we speak of lack of faith on the part of some person, we mean that that person does not exercise the gift.

A moment's consideration will suffice to show that faith is the one thing that cannot be prayed for. We are to "pray in faith, nothing wavering," if we would receive. James i. 6, 7. It is only when we believe that we receive the things we ask for, that we do indeed receive them. Mark xi. 24. Nothing but the prayer of faith is real prayer; therefore without faith one could not really pray. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Heb. xi. 6. How could it be thought necessary to ask God for faith, when without it we could not come to God, nor ask for anything? Faith is the one thing that we do not need to ask for; for if we have enough of it to enable us to receive it in asking for it, we have enough for anything else.

WHAT FAITH IS, AND HOW IT COMES

"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Rom. x. 10. Faith in God is the simple, unquestioning reception of this word, the acceptance of it as the final and absolute authority, and the resting in it as free from fear that it will fail as are the world's which it contains. To ask God for faith, when we have His Word, is to insult Him to His face, calling Him a liar; for when we have Him speak, and then ask Him to help us to believe what He says, we virtually ask Him to act in such a manner that we can have confidence in His honesty and sincerity. We tell Him that we do not regard Him as trustworthy; for "he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar."

Think how it would be to treat a man as God is ordinarily treated. Suppose a man promises you something which you would like to receive, and you look at Him steadily, and say, "I wish I could believe you; I wish I could have faith in your promise;" you see at once what that would imply. He might well ask, "What have I done to cause you to lose confidence in me? When had you known me to break my word?" and if you could not wait to a single breach of faith on his part, he would

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tell you that you are bound to believe him though you have found him untrustworthy. In matters in courts of law, a man is always given "the benefit of the doubt;" but men do not deal as fairly as that with God, when they have not the slightest reason even to doubt.

THE "FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH"

You say that you are "still without assurance essential to peace." Well, be so no longer. I will give you all the assurance you need, and tell you where you can find many times more.

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John xiv. 27.

"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." Isa. xliii. 25.

"I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sin; return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee." Isa. xliv. 22.

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. ii. 15. "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him" (Heb. vii. 25), and He assures us, "him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John vi. 37.

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. iv. 16. We can hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; "for He is faithful that promised." "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Cor. i. 9. He has sworn by Himself,-by His own existence,-and as long as we know that He lives,-that He is,-we know that pardon and peace and righteousness of are ours.

This, His word, is our assurance. It is all that can possibly be asked or given. Nothing else could possibly be assurance, for everything else is liable to fail. Only "the Word of our God abideth for ever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you."

FEELING IS NOT ASSURANCE

You already have the assurance; the trouble is that you do not recognise it, and are trying to manufacture it yourself, out of yourself. You are looking for emotion in yourself, a happy feeling, and you think that that will be assurance to you. But feeling is not and cannot be assurance of pardon, and righteousness, and peace. The assurance must come from God, in order to be of any value, and He gives it is His sacred Word. Your feeling is only something springing from yourself; and it is self-evident that you cannot give yourself assurance that God has fulfilled or will fulfil His promises. All the emotion is simply the response of one's being to something that affects it; and any genuine feeling that you may have will be simply the result of your acceptance of the assurance that God gives. When you believe that God has forgiven your sins, you cannot help being glad, but that gladness will not always take the form of exuberance of spirits. The peace of God is superior to any circumstance or condition. It exists when the soul is in the deepest trouble, buffeted on all sides, just as surely as in the clearest sunlight and the most perfect calm.

There are times when one has almost no feeling at all,-when the sins are benumbed, as, for instance, by intense cold, or when one is ill; how sad it would be if one could not at such times have the full assurance of acceptance with God. But it is not so. At times when one is too weak to feel, when one merely exists, and cannot even think,-one can quietly and sweetly rest without thought in the everlasting arms, fully persuaded that what He has promised He is able to perform. "In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength." Isa. xxx. 15.

OUR PLACE IN GOD'S PLAN

It is most unfortunate that so many good men have seen to think that the world at large would be interested in reading their doubts. So they have most religiously recorded all the unbelief which came to them in unguarded moments, and people read it as though it were necessary for them to have the same experience. If Rutherford ever doubted whether he was of the slightest consequence, or thought that his existence was a mere accident, he ought to have known better than to write it down for others to read. He ought, indeed, to have known God better than ever to have entertained a thought so dishonouring to Him. Let us read some of the assurance on this point also.

"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,
I was made in secret,
And curiously wrought in the lowest part of the
earth.
Thine eyes did see mine in perfect substance,
And in Thy book were all my members written,
Which day by day were fashioned,
When as yet there was none of them.
How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me,
O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they are more in number
than the sand;
When I awake I am still with thee."

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, . . . in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." Eph. i. 3-11.

God "hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." 2 Tim. i. 9.

"Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to my Gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith; to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen." Rom. xvi. 26, 27, 28.

Of what do all these texts assure us? Of this, that in the eternal ages of the past, "before the world began," God had us all, and each one of us individually, in His mind. In times eternal God had a plan for each one of us. God is never taken by surprise; everything is known to Him from the beginning; and from before any creature had existence He saw the place that every one of us should occupy, and the work that each one of us was to perform. This is saying nothing more than that a wise builder knows just what he is going to make, and what it will be like, and what its use will be, before he begins it.

Now think what a marvellous ground for confidence and trust this is. Unnumbered

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ages before creation God had the whole plan of the universe, down to the smallest detail, in his mind. Ages rolled round, and no sign of anything appeared, but God did not forget. The powers in the heavens were created, and innumerable millions of beings worship before Him; but still no earth with its inhabitants appeared. Still God did not for a moment lose sight of His purpose. All things were as naked and open to His eyes than as now; but there is no indication of it to any other eye. At last the earth was created, and in due course of time we came into being, for the purpose of filling the very place in creation that God appointed us ages upon ages ago. Can you not see that He who held us, and not us only, but the very sparrows, steadily in His mind to countless ages, never once swerving from His purpose, will not allow anything to interfere with His eternal purpose for us, if we are but willing that His will should be done in us? What more perfect assurance do you want than this?

KNOWING WITHOUT FEELING

You find difficulty in reconciling two statements by Mr. Moody,-one to the effect that feelings are to be left to take care of themselves, and the other that a certain person should know that his sins were forgiven. Now it is a slight matter whether any two statements of Mr. Moody or any other men are reconciled or not; but the truth in this case is that they agree most perfectly, and I think that you can already see it. The promises of God are sufficient to enable anyone to know that he is forgiven. Suppose you had in some way injured me, and apologise and ask for forgiveness; how would you know that you were forgiven? There could be but one way-by my word. If I said, "I forgive you freely," he would take that as a statement of the matter, provided you had confidence in my sincerity; and you would never once think that your feelings had anything to do with it. You would know, without feeling; whatever feeling you might have afterward would be the result of that knowledge.

Even so it must be between you and God. Get acquainted with Him through His Word. Learn first of all that the Bible contains no such text as "I know in whom I have believed." That would certainly be true, if one really believed, but it does not express the fulness of the truth. The verse reads, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." 2 Tim. i. 12. It is not enough to know who it is whom we believe, but we must know Him personally. Personal acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ will establish your confidence in Him, so that, instead of wondering if you are accepted by Him, nothing can cause you to doubt it for a moment. Study His Word; remember that it is true from the beginning, for He cannot lie; hold fast to everything that He says to you, and all your difficulties will vanish like the mist before the rising sun.

"They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee; for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee." Ps. ix. 10.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

Did you ever see a little boy with a face like this? I hope you never saw one in the looking-glass. Look at the turned down corners of the mouth, the angry scowl on the brow, and the sour expression of the face. It is not pleasant to see; no one likes to look upon such a face.

Do you know what makes this face look ugly? It is discontent. This is what makes those lines around the mouth and on the brow, takes the light of the eyes, and spoils the whole face.

Sometimes children "make faces" at one another. Do you know that we are all day by day helping to make our own faces? Think how very different the same face looks when the child is laughing or crying, when he smiles or looks cross.

So whichever way it is our habit to look, our faces will at last be set in that shape. The child who has the habit of crying and fretting, and who often marks his face with the sharp lines of temper, is making for himself a face like the one in the picture. Do you think that you can look as cross as you like at home, and then go with a bright, sweet, happy face to your friends outside.

Now look at the sweet face of this year old girl. It does every one good to see a bright face. But if you want one, do not think that you can put it on. You must make it day by day. Every small, every loving look, every good thought, is helping to make your face pleasant to look upon.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

The real reward of labour is the increased ability to labour. Therefore nobody can ever rob the labourer of his reward.

The man who has no confidence in anybody is the one who knows that nobody has any reason to have confidence in him. Conscious of his own unworthiness, he is suspicious of others.

It is a great mistake, yet one very commonly made, to suppose that difficulties in one's way are an indication one is in the wrong way, and that if there are no hindrances it is an evidence that "the Lord has gone before and prepared the way." That sort of reasoning would have proved that Christ's whole life was a mistake, for the cross was ever in His path; but the right way is ever the way of the cross.

When God brought Israel out of Egypt, "He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation;" yet they came to the Red Sea at the very outset, and were "entangled in the land." Like people in these days, they at once concluded that the Lord had not had anything to do with their going out, and accused Moses of misleading them. But it was the Lord Himself who had led them into that place where the wilderness shut them in, and, although every way was closed up, His command was, "Go forward." Then "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. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground." Ex. xiv. 21, 22.

Thus the sea, which had been a bar to their progress, was the instrument of their salvation, for it overwhelmed their pursuers. Nevertheless it was not by any means a sunny path that the people of Israel trod to deliverance. Few readers of the Bible consider that the passage of the Red Sea was accompanied by a most terrific storm and earthquake. The people were baptized "in the cloud and in the sea." 1 Cor. x. 1, 2. They were thoroughly drenched with water. But that was not all. And it was more than "a plentiful rain" that they had to pass through. Read the following description of the wonderful occasion:-

"Thou hast with Thine arm redeemed Thy people,
The sons of Jacob and Joseph.
The waters saw Thee, O God;
The waters saw Thee, they were afraid;
The depths also trembled.
The clouds poured out water,
The skies sent out a sound;
Thine arrows also went abroad.
The voice of Thy thunder was in the whirl-
wind;
The lightnings lightened the world;
The earth trembled and shook.
Thy way was in the sea,
And Thy paths in the great waters,
And Thy footsteps were not known.
Thou leddest Thy people like a flock,
By the hand of Moses and Aaron."
Ps. lxxxvii. 15-20. R.V.

Through storm and wind, lightning and earthquake, they went on in the right way, until they came to the other side of the sea; and then they found themselves in a barren desert, where there was no water. Then they were sure that God was not with them, and were loud in their accusations of Moses. Yet the bitter waters were made sweet, and from the flinty rock on which the Lord stood, living streams gushed forth. So it was all the way difficulties and dangers were continually before them, and on every hand; but every trouble only gave them the opportunity to see and experience more of God saving presence. From their history we are to learn not to judge by circumstances, but to know from God Himself that we are in the right way, and then to go forward boldly and resolutely, no matter what difficulties or opposition there may be.

"The perfect law of liberty," by which we are to be judged, is the law of infinite possibilities and endless progress. It means that there is to be no limit to one's energies, and no horizon to one's vision. It gives men freedom from sin, and thus the freedom of the universe. It means liberty to serve, having been set free from the chains which hold men inactive. Our standing when judged will therefore not depend so much on the amount of work that we have done as on the use we have made of the possibilities open to us. The poor woman who "hath done which she could" though it was but little in itself, has done more than those who performed much greater deeds, but still left undone much that they might have done. The widow who gave all her living, which was but a farthing, gave more than the rich man who gave thousands, and had hundreds of thousands left.

What a piece of presumption it is for any man to stand up before a congregation, and state a doctrine or theory, backing it up with the words, "I believe," etc., uttered with all dignity and solemnity! As though his belief were of any weight or authority in deciding any matter! While no one should speak anything except what he believes and is fully assured of, nobody should presume to tell what he believes, as any reason why somebody else should believe it. That is the Papacy, and nothing else. "He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God." John iii. 34. Then he speaks with authority, and those who hear may be convicted of the truth, and accepting it, may build upon the solid foundation that is settled for ever in heaven.

"The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him." Deut. xxxiii. 12. Do you know that this means you, whoever you are? "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John iii. 16. "The Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works." Ps. cxiv. 9. Not a creature is outside the circle of God's love. Each soul of mankind is "the beloved of the Lord;" therefore each one has the assurance of safety. "How excellent is Thy loving kindness, O God! therefore the children men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings." Ps. xxxvi. 7.

"Sit down beneath His shadow,
And rest with great delight."

June 12, 1902

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Meaning of the Cross" The Present Truth 18, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

"Why is it that 'without shedding of blood is no remission'? Why could not God save men without Christ dying?"

With this question you have touched the very core of the Gospel, and, in fact, the work of the creation, the secret of all existence. It is a sad fact, yet it is a fact, that few professed Christians know the true principles, the foundation truths, of the Gospel. I do not mean by this that they do not know anything about the Gospel; that they have never to any extent become acquainted with the Lord and learned to draw strength from Him; but I mean that to very many there is a vagueness, a dimness, in the Gospel, and it seems to them a complicated affair, when it is simplicity itself. We spend the most of our lives going backward to the beginning. It is necessary that we begin at the beginning, and so we have the paradox, that to go back to the beginning is the only way to make real advancement. But it takes the most of us so long to get back to the beginning, to begin as little children, to learn the alphabet of Christianity, that comparatively few have ever appreciated the absolute simplicity of the Gospel, and the marvellous fulness that there is in that simplicity; for there is one glorious truth: then we have really come to the beginning and have the whole; for he who is the beginning is also the end. In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

THE CROSS THE REVELATION OF GOD

If I were to answer your question offering in my own words, I should say that Christ shed His blood because He couldn't do otherwise and be Himself. It was in His very nature of things that He should die by Giving-the giving of life-is the law of the universe. By that means the whole creation came into existence, and by the same means it is upheld. The cross is not a unique thing, standing apart by itself, but is the expression of all law of life. It was not a thing devised by God after the fall of man, but the continuation of that by which man was created. It was not an afterthought, but God's original thought, and the fulness of His thought from everlasting to everlasting. The events of Calvary are an object lesson, to show mankind what God is continually doing for His creatures; in it we find the Fatherhood of God revealed.

Let us set two texts of Scripture together. The first is Jer. ix. 23, 24: "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in His wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord." The second text is Gal. vi. 14: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world as crucified and to me, and I and the world."

Both these texts were inspired by the one Spirit of God, and are therefore in perfect accord. The first says that we are not to glory in anything except in the knowledge of God-in the knowledge that in all the earth He is working lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness. The second teaches that we are to glory in nothing except the cross of Christ. It is evident, therefore, that it is the cross that makes us know God; that in the cross, and in that only (for we are not to glory in anything else), we see the lovingkindness, judgment, and righteous dealing of God. But "the earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord" (Ps. xxxiii. 5, R.V.), and therefore we know that in all the earth we shall find the cross. Wherever there is life and love,-the life that is love-there is the cross of Christ.

HEATHENISM AMONG CHRISTIANS

Just to the extent that one does not see the cross in its true light, and understand its meaning, is their lack of knowledge of God. Of the fact that so many professed Christians do not see why God could not save men without the death of the cross, and that the question of the atonement is still a vexed one among theologians, shows that the cross, and therefore the nature and character of God, is not understood by them; and that means that there is a vast amount of heathenism in the professed church of Christ; for the heathen are they who do not know God. There are many degrees of heathenism, grading all the way from absolute ignorance of God, and so the grossest degradation, and to the point just below the full vision of God's glory with unveiled faces, and thus complete deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

The lingering heathenism in the church is seen in the common thought of God, which is expressed in the following line so frequently sung:-

"My God is reconciled."

The idea that Christ died to appease God's wrath, and to reconcile Him to sinful man, is totally foreign to the Scriptures, and highly dishonouring to God. God is considered as like unregenerate man, desiring revenge, and not satisfied after any offence, without some victim of His wrath. The idea is that an offence has been committed, and so somebody must be punished, must die; no matter who it is, only so satisfaction has been made, and His outraged feelings appeased by blood. This is called the Atonement! On the contrary, it is pure heathenism; the idea cannot fitly be described by any other term than devilish, for it describes the character Satan, and not of God.

The prevalence of this false view of God is the reason why so many people are afraid of Him, and the ground of the questions so often asked, "Will God accept me?" "Can He forgive my sins?" "Have I not sinned so greatly that He cannot have anything to do with me?" It is responsible for the almost universal idea that we must do something, make some sacrifice, punish ourselves in some way, in order to win His favour. It is the reason why there is not more spontaneous acceptance of God and salvation, and more joy in Him.

GOD IS LOVE, AND HE MAKES RECONCILIATON

"God is love." 1 John iv. 8. That is His nature, His life. He is Spirit, and "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Gal. v. 22, 23. All these things flow out from the Being of God. They constitute His Being. He does not mark iniquity, but there is forgiveness with Him, that He may be feared. Ps. cxxx. 3, 4. He is not the destroyer, but the Saviour, and Preserver; and He saves by the cross, which shows the gift of Himself. He says to sinners: "I am the Lord; I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Mal. iii. 6. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity (Hab. i. 13); He is the perfection of the love that "thinketh no evil," or, "taketh not account of evil" (1 Cor. xiii. 5); and therefore it was said of Him by inspiration of His own Spirit: "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel" (Num. xxiii. 21), and that notwithstanding the fact that Israel had rebelled against Him, and, choosing their own way, and blindly and stubbornly refused to recognise His presence among them. Such is the longsuffering lovingkindness of our God. His name is "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." Ex. xxxiv. 6.

"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son," and in giving Him He gave Himself and all heaven; for Christ was but the manifestation of God in the flesh. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." John i. 18. Jesus said: "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." John xiv. 9. "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.

"Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John iv. 10. "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, Being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of the Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Rom. v. 8-10. "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and have 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." 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. The enmity is all on our side, the love all from God. He takes no account of our rebellion, but gives Himself to us, taking all the responsibility and all the guilt of our sin upon Himself, making Himself the sinner, us the innocent: and since He will by no means clear the guilty, He did not spare Himself; for be it known that the blood of Christ the Son of God is the blood of God itself, as we read in the apostle's exhortation in Acts xx. 28: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood."

LIFE COMES FROM LIFE

The cross is a necessity, because life can come only by the giving of life. It is necessary for God to give His life to us, because we have no life in ourselves. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being," "for we are His offspring." "There is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things." 1 Cor. viii. 6. "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth [born], or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God." Ps. xc. 1, 2. There is not a created thing in the universe that is not the product of the life of God, and that is not kept in existence by the continued gift of His life. The invisible things of God, even His everlasting power and Divinity, are to be perceived through the things that are made, and had been thus clearly manifested ever since the creation. Rom. i. 20. "Of him, and through Him, and to Him are all things." Rom. xi. 36. "There is one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all." Eph. iv. 6, R.V.

We are not self-existent; therefore God, the self-existent One, must give His life to bring us into being, and then, having brought us forth, He must continue to give us His life, in order that we may not cease to be; and when we have sinned, and have gone astray from Him, then is there the more need that the life should be bestowed, to restore to us His image. So we see that the cross is simply the manifestation of creative power. It stands as a revelation of what God is-of His eternal purpose and work. It shows us what God has always been doing, and what He will continue to do throughout eternity.

THE CROSS IN CREATION

"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." Gen. ii. 7. God breathed His own life into man, and by that life we now exist.

Now in connection with this text, are the following words concerning Christ. He hung on the cross: "And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost." Mark xv. 37. The words "gave up the ghost" are from a single Greek word (ekpneo), meaning literally to breathed out or to expire. The word "expire," a common synonym of "die," is a compound Latin word meaning to breathe out. Jesus breathed out His life upon the cross. It was not forcibly taken from Him, but He laid it down voluntarily, and laid it down on purpose that He might take it again as He had the ability to lay it down and take it again. John x. 17, 18.

Jesus tasted death for every man. Heb. ii. 9. "With His stripes we are healed." Isa. liii. 6. Through His death we receive life. "We have redemption through His blood." Eph. i. 7. Let us state the case in this simple way: (1) Christ had to give life to the world; (2) To die was to expire, to breathe out; (3) Man has life by a breathing in the life of God; (4) Therefore Christ breathed out His life on the cross, that we might breathe it in. Thus we see that the cross was simply the revelation of the Creator at work, and in the cross we see God creating man, the breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature," or, "there is a new creation" (2 Cor. v. 17), just as it was in the beginning; and we see clearly that the power of the cross is identical with the power by which man was created in the beginning, and by which mankind now lives. That which is technically known by the cross, is that by which all creation live, and by which the worlds were made.

"Thou know'st He died not for Himself, not
Himself arose;
Millions of souls are in His heart, and me
for one He chose;
Upon the palms of His pierced hand
graven was thy name,
He for thy cleansing had prepared His water
and His flame.
Sure thou with Him art risen, and now with
Him thou must go forth,
And He will lend thy sick soul health,
strivings might and worth."

THE CROSS NOT AN AFTERTHOUGHT

We see, therefore, that the "plan of salvation" was not a thing devised after the fall. The Father and the Son did not, as seems sometimes to be imagined, sit about to think out some method by which lost man could be redeemed, and arbitrarily settle upon the Cross; far from it. God was not taken by surprise and forced to invent something new to meet the emergency; but the stream of life which had been flowing from eternity was not withdrawn or turned aside, but still continued to flow. "Sin is the transgression of the law." Transgression means a going astray; it is, so to speak, an obstruction, a dam, placed across the stream of life, and what is needed to remove it is for the stream to flow on uninterruptedly. Thus He "hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." 2 Tim. i. 9. The cross is the manifestation of God's "eternal purpose;" the preaching of Christ is "the revelation of the mystery which has been kept in silence through times eternal."

God's eternal purpose is seen in creation; that is to say, the fact that God created earth and its inhabitants, is evidence that that was His eternal purpose; and therefore it is still further evident that the cross by which fallen men and the lost world are redeemed, is but the carrying out of that eternal purpose. So "Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. 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: I am the Lord; and there is none else." Isa. xlv. 17, 18.

THE SEED AND ITS FRUIT

All nature teams with illustrations of this glorious truth. The sowing of seed and the growth of the plant, is one of the most common phenomena, and one that is most frequently used in Scripture to illustrate the Gospel. Speaking with direct reference to His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus said, "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 ground in die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." John xii. 23, 24.

There we have Christ's own illustration of His death. The seed that is sown never appears again. It does not go out of existence, but gives its life to produce a multitude of beings like itself. This, according to Christ's word, is the death of the seed, but it is also creation-the creation of a numerous seed. Thus it was with Christ, the Seed; creation is by His death, the imparting of His life. The death of the seed is the multiplication of its life.

This is the law of the universe. There was a period in the ages past when God was alone. There was no creature to share the joy of His existence. He was self-existent, but no other being has this attribute. Therefore God could have no company except by giving His life to bring others into existence. So, even before the worlds were made, in the creation of the "innumerable company of angels"-the sons of God-we have the demonstration of the words, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." Creation is by the Cross, and the Cross, as we see it, is but the manifestation of God's creative power.

DEATH THE LIFE OF THE BEE

This truth is emphasised in the case of the bee. It is a well-established fact that when the queen bee takes her "nuptial flight," the male bee that succeeds in distancing his companions and effecting a union with her, dies in the act. Henceforth he exists only in her and in the multitudes of other bees which she brings forth from the seed deposited by that one generative act. The seed, the essential part of the bee, remains alive in the body of the queen, rendering her perpetually fertile, and he yields up his life that it may be so. His death is the giving of life to a host of new creatures.

In this we have of course only a partial illustration of the great mystery of the cross; for although God gives His life for the production of new creatures, He does not cease to exist, because He is life itself. But no one thing in nature can fully represent God; each different thing represents some particular phase; and the case of the bee brings sharply to our notice the fact that life comes only by the giving of life, and helps us to see that the cross is the law of creation-a necessity growing out of the very being of God.

THE TREE BEARING FRUIT

The same truth, the mystery of the cross, of life through death, through the giving of life, is taught by the fruit tree. The fruit is the life of the tree. In eating the fruit we eat the life of the tree, and thus receive its strength. That the tree does actually give its life in bearing fruit, is well known to every gardener, who carefully guards his trees from over-production, lest they die. I well remember a certain apple tree, when I was a boy, that in the first year of its existence was covered with blossoms, and, not being interfered with, brought thirty-five fine, large apples to perfection. But its first year was its last, for it gave all its life to the perfecting of that fruit. This was an extraordinary case, but it serves to set forth in clear and sharp lines the lesson that the producing of fruit is the giving of life. The mature tree gives its life to the fruit that it bears, but does not die, because it has more abundant life, drawing, as it does, life from the Source of life. Thus the tree teaches us the same lesson that the bee does, but more perfectly.

"SAVED BY HIS 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.

Christ came, that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly. John x. 10. Our salvation is simply the effect of the more abundant life of Christ through the cross.

This was illustrated in His miracles of healing, which were recorded "that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name." John xx. 31. Healing is salvation. When Jesus had healed a person, he often said, "Thy faith hath saved thee." The word "heal," meaning to make whole, comes often in the New Testament from the Greek word (sozo) to save.

The healing of disease is by the giving of life, for disease is but the beginning of death. Whenever Jesus healed the sick or raised the dead, He did it by importing His own life. He was the living bread that came down from heaven, to give His life for the life of the world. The healing of the woman with the issue of blood (Mark v. 24-34) is a typical instance illustrating this truth. There was a poor woman with her life blood ebbing away. When she had heard of Jesus, she came in the press behind, and touched His garment; "for she said, If I may but touch His clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was

374

dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus immediately knowing in Himself that virtue [power] had gone out of Him, turned Him about in the press, and said, Who touched My clothes?"

We see by this that the healing of the afflicted was a demand upon His life. In healing them He gave His own life to them. His fulness supplied their lack. This case of the woman was not an isolated one; for we read that when He came down from the mountain "all the multitudes sought to touch Him; for power came forth from Him, and healed them all." Luke vi. 19. Since He felt the strain upon His life force when only one touched Him, think what it must have been when multitudes drew healing power from Him. What a great draft was made upon His life. It is evident that since life went from Him in response to each touch, the inevitable result of the touch of multitudes would have been His death, if He had not been in constant connection with the fountain of life. He gave His life, and yet He lived. What have we here but the mystery of the cross before Calvary? As He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, He was laying down His life for the brethren, just as truly when He breathed out His life on Calvary. So also He did when after His resurrection He breathed on His disciples, and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost."

It is all so simple, and yet so wonderful. We see the cross at work giving life, and recognise that it is in the cross that we live, and move, and have our being; for the cross is the revelation of God creating all things, and upholding and restoring the things created.

PERSONAL APPICATION OF THE LESSON

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; and the preaching of the cross is to us who are save the power of God. Rom. i. 16; 1 Cor. i. 18. But the cross means more than simply our own salvation; it means our union with God, the Giver of life, to be partners with Him in its bestowal on others; for, said Christ, "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." John vii. 38. The stream of life which flows from God to us is not to be dammed up in us; that means stagnation and death. We have done it already, to our great loss. Therefore Christ is lifted up before us on the cross, that, seeing Him, we may be drawn to Him, and come into harmony with the soul, the law, of the universe. We are to learn that life means giving. We are to allow the obstruction which are selfishness has interposed, to be removed, so that, as the life flows out to others, new life from God may flow in.

"Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." 1 John iii. 16. He lay down His life, that He might take it again. By giving it, He retained, thus showing us that whoever will keep his life shall lose it, and whoever will give up his life shall save it.

"There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meat, and it tendeth to poverty." Prov. xi. 24. This is the lesson taught by the cross. The seed that is stored away, abides alone. More than this, if it be kept by itself too long it loses the power of reproduction. We sometimes hear of wheat found in the hand of an Egyptian mummy, which, after having been hundreds of years in the grasp of death, was sown, and produced a crop; but the story is a fable, for no seed can retain its life giving power so long. Some seeds retain it longer than others; but the longest period that any known seed will retain its vitality if not used is thirty years. If it does not fall into the ground and give its life before that time, it must abide alone.

So we, if we would live, must give our lives. By yielding up the best we have we obtain more. The reward of service is the power to greater and better service. The grace of God brings salvation (Titus ii. 11), not only to us, but through us to others. The Apostle Paul said, "By the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." 1 Cor. xv. 10. "We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain."

"Treasures" The Present Truth 18, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

"All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" are hid in Christ; and all that the human mind can grasp He has given us in His Word. It was a great truth which John Wycliffe, "the Morning Star of the Reformation," grasped and uttered in these words: "There is no subtlety in grammar, neither in logic, nor in any other sience that can be named, but it is found in a more excellent degree in the Scriptures." But the vast majority of the school-men do not know it.

"The History in His Face" The Present Truth 18, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

Few persons realise how large a place in life a looking-glass has, or ever think how much the want of one might mean. We write our lives upon our faces, and if the manuscript is lost the difficulty of remembering what we have written is multiplied manifold.

The astonishment and pain of a suddenly restored view of the record after a term of years will show something of what the more fortunate are spared by the daily use of their mirrors.

At the time the lamented General Gordon was besieged in Khartoum by the Mahdi, a young many named Cuzzl was captured by the wild Moslems of the desert, with his wife and child. His wife soon sank under the terrors of their evil fortune, and his child was carried away and left, uncared for, to die of starvation. He was kept in confinement until the recent conquest of the Soudan by the English. He had seen his young wife die, and knew the fate of his innocent child, but neither personal grief nor the horros of his long captivity had made him weep. His sorrows had stunned him. His account in the Egyptian Courier of his introduction to himself, after his release, is striking and pathetic:

The next day I made my toilet in an officer's tent, and held in my hand the first looking-glass I had seen for fifteen years. I looked curiously at my reflection in it and started back. I had gone out into the world young, active and strong, and the image which now stared at me was that of a sick, hollow-eyed, wrinkled, broken man. Never did all that I had suffered enter my mind with such strength as at this moment, and I wept like a child, the first tears in fifteen years! Before this small looking-glass I was overwhelmed. The pain of all that I had lost seemed concentrated in the grief-stricken features reflected in the mirror. At one glance I saw the story of my sufferings.

"Children's Corner. The Fall" The Present Truth 18, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen. ii. 16, 17.

"And the serpent said unto the woman, 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 as gods, knowing good and evil. 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." Gen. iii. 4-6.

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. iii. 19.

"Sin, when it if finished, bringeth forth death." James i. 15.

There is only one way of life for all things. It is the law of God. Obedience to God brings happiness and life; disobedience brings sorrow and death. Every command of God is given in love, for our good, because He knows what is best for us, and what will do us harm.

To do what God tells us not to do, or not to do what He tells us to do, is to go in the way of death. This is not because God punishes with death those who do not obey Him, but because sin itself brings forth death. Sin is the evil seed of which death is the bitter fruit.

When God told Adam and Eve not to eat of a certain tree, He told them the reason-"lest ye die." He knew that it would bring death to them.

But "that old Serpent called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth will whole world," came to Eve with lying words that contradicted the Word God. Satan had fallen from heaven because He tried to put himself in God's place. He said, "I will be like the Most High." And now he came with the same temptation to man. He told Eve that the fruit of the forbidden tree would make them like God-so wise that they could do without Him, and rule the earth by themselves. He made her think that this was why God had kept it from them, and that He was keeping back something that would be good for them.

Satan tempted Eve not to believe God's Word, until she really thought that the fruit which God had said would kill them, was "good for food, and a tree to be desired to make one wise." So forgetting all the goodness of God, and all the tokens of His love that He had given them, she took the fruit and did eat, and gave also unto husband with her, and he did eat.

Up to this time they had been able to look upon the face of God without fear, and He had walked and talked with them in the beautiful Garden that was their home. But now they were terrified at the thought of meeting Him.

They had been clothed with righteousness as a garment of light, and crowned with glory and honour. But sin had robbed them of their crown and there royal robe. Naked and dishonoured, they hid themselves from God, who knowing all about their fall into sin, was seeking them to comfort them and lift them up again. If only they had known Him better, they would have fled to Him, instead of trying to flee from Him.

God reminded man of the meaning of his name, "Dust thou art." Man by himself without God is nothing but dust, and those who will not have Him to dwell in them and rule them, must go back into the ground from which they came.

And not upon man only, but upon the whole earth and everything in it, the curse of death was brought by his fall. For God had given man dominion over the earth, so when Satan got into man's heart, he got power over the earth, and became the god of this world. But all the power that he has is the power of death,-the power to destroy.

Everything was lost,-man's innocence, his kingdom, and his life. But God did not leave him in this sad state to perish without hope. Next week we shall learn of the promise of a Saviour, who should restore all that man had lost by sin.

"The Story of a Garden" The Present Truth 18, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

"Once on a time, in a garden fair,
Beasts of the field and birds of the air
Lived together in peace and love,
Green grass beneath them, blue skies above;
The eagle and dove perched side by side;
Nor did the Lamb from the lion hide,
While a kind master rule over all;
They loved him an answer to his call.
'Twas a beautiful time
Of brotherhood,
When all were happy
And all were good.

"But sorrow came to that garden fair,
And shattered the peace of the dwellers there;
The master, a rebel to his King,
Was driven forth from its sheltering,
And beast and bird grew wild with fear,
And dared not come to their master near,
Where he sat forlorn outside the gate,
Stripped of his glory and desolate.
Now none were happy,
He was not good.
And heavy clouds
O'er the garden brood.

"Said the Lion-'I'll go to the forest dim,
As far as I can, away from him.'
Said the Lamb-'I will hide in the deepest
shade,
My heart is quaking and sore afraid.'
Said the gallant Horse as he tossed his
Mane,-
'I will gallop from him to the far off plain.'
And the dark-eyed deer from his hand that
Fed

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Of yore, now trembled and from him fled;
While the birds soared up and flew like the
wind,
As if peril were following close behind.
All the creatures went hurrying past,
Each one dreading to be the last.
'Twas a sorrowful time;
Fear had entered there
And driven all peace
From the garden fair."

How glad and thankful we may be that this is not the end of the story of the Garden. The story is not ended yet, but from the Word of God we know how it is going to end.

It tells of a time when all fear of man will be taken away from the whole animal creation, neither shall they fear one another any more, but "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kids; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain."

Adam lost his power over the animals when he sinned. But in the lowly stable of the Bethlehem inn a new King was born for them, who should rule them again with the gentle sway of love. I need not tell you who this gentle King is.

When His kingdom comes, and His will is done on earth as it is in heaven, the beautiful will be restored, and the happy time will come again when there will be no fear in all the earth, but all God's creatures will be at peace one with another, and look up to man as their king, their protector, and their friend.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

Have you not wondered what becomes of the bodies of all little birds and animals that die in our fields and woods? Many creatures are caught and killed and eaten by animals larger and stronger than they.

You have seen the spider's web, and know what she spins it for. You know also what becomes of the body of the little mouse when it is caught by the cat.

Look at our picture, and you will see what happens to those that are not killed or be eaten. The little insects you see are called Burying Beetles. When they find the body of a dead rat or mouse or bird they join together to dig a grave for it.

Four or five of them glide underneath and dig very fast. In two hours they can make a hole deep enough, and then they pile up the ground over the body.

Why do they do this? It is because they want to lay up a store of food for their young. They lay their eggs on the buried animal, and when the young are hatched, they at once begin to feed on it. This is all the beetles are thinking of; but God is using them to do a work for the world, to help to keep the earth pure and sweet. Nothing lives for itself only; everything is a part of God's great plan.

"The Source of Light" The Present Truth 18, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

Attention is called on this page to the mechanical power of the sun's rays, and also to their healing virtue; but no one should fall into the error of supposing that the power and virtue are inherent in the sun itself. That would be to make it a god, a thing that is commonly done, when men tell what the sun does, and trace the power no farther back. All things are the servants of God, and the heavens simply reveal His glory.

Jesus said, "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. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John i. 4); and since His life is light, it necessarily follows that there must be life-healing virtue-in the light that comes from Him. There is life in sunlight, simply because the light that lightens our earth is but the glory of God's life, of which the sun is but general agent.

An instance of the healing power of light, which also shows that the light which our eyes can see is Christ's own life, is recorded in the ninth chapter of John. As Jesus passed by, He saw a poor beggar who was born blind. As His attention was called to him, He said, "I am the light of the world," and forthwith He gave the man sight. The light of Christ's life healed the blind man's eyes.

So we see that when the sunlight destroys disease germs, cleansing our earth, and making it habitable, and putting colour into the cheeks of people, as well as upon the roses, it is the working of the same life of Christ that cleanses from all sin. Thus the whole creation preaches the Gospel. "Unto you that fear My name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

It is stated on the best authority that one out of every twelve marriages in Berlin is followed by divorce; and the Berlin clergy attribute the lax morality among the young of both sexes to the low plays which attract such crowds to the theatres.

A return shows that the average consumption of tea per head in the United Kingdom is just over six pounds. There is probably no other form of purely sensual indulgence that is so prevalent as tea-drinking; yet there must be some thousands of people in the kingdom, who are free from it, which makes the actual average considerably higher than six pounds. What a pity that so much money is spent for that which is not bread, and so much labour for that which does not really satisfied.

The Baptist Times closes its reference to the volcanic eruptions that overwhelmed St. Pierre, and made St. Vincent a desert, with these words:-

"In these great convulsions we see an illustration of the processes which have been at work through countless ages, shaping our earth, and fitting it for the habitation of man."

A strange idea, truly! One would naturally suppose that the processes that were working to fit the earth for the habitation of man would be preservative instead of destructive. It would seem as if even an evolutionist would begin to lose some confidence in the theory of "natural selection," when tens of thousands are killed at one stroke in the process of preparing the earth for habitation. Rather an expensive process. Yet the statement is true in a sense not understood by the evolutionist; for these upheavals are personifications of the end-outbreaks of the fire within the earth, that is to dissolve and cleanse it at the last day, so that there may be new heavens and a new earth, wherein the righteous shall dwell.

The Church Family Newspaper says that "Sunday is rapidly ceasing to be a day of rest and worship, and is being more and more devoted to amusements." This does not in itself indicate any laxness in morals on the part of the people, but only shows that the only lasting foundation is the Bible. The church is composed of the people, and the institution of Sunday rests, as is well known, and often confessed, on the sole authority of the church, that is, of the people; and the people are at last discerning that what they themselves set apart, they may at their own pleasure set aside.

In a speech after a sham fight to entertain the Shah of Persia and the Crown Prince of Siam, the German Emperor said that in the next European war 6,000 men with machine guns would be able to hold an army of 80,000 men a bay; and this remark has been extensively copied. It is doubtless true, provided the army of 80,000 men had no such weapons; but how would it be if they also had machine guns? People read such statements, and hastily jump to the conclusion that improved armaments will make people afraid to fight, forgetting that all nations are equally zealous to provide themselves with the latest inventions in the military line, and that, no matter how deadly the weapons, when armies think themselves equally matched they are as ready to risk the chances as are two men who are armed only with their fists.

According to the statements in the record volume of the "Encyclopedia Britannica," Supplement, the British Empire now includes about 12,000,000 square miles, nearly one-fourth of the earth's surface, and most of its inhabitable by white men; the population of 400,000,000 is something more than one-fourth of the world's population; and they carry on one-third of the world's trade. All this shows what a responsibility rests upon the servants of Christ, to see that the Gospel of the Kingdom is preached throughout those vast dominions, which opened the door so widely to it. It is not true that the Gospel needs that nations should prepare the way for it with armies; but Christians should certainly be none the less active in improving all the opportunities which a free Government affords.

The first Hindu god to cross the seas came with the Maharajah of Jalpur and his suite last week, and had the honour of a special compartment in the train from Dover. It is a golden image of Krishna, and its reputed value is ?28,000. The principle which the Indian ruler dimly comprehended is a correct one-always to have the presence of his god with him. In this he is more faithful than many professed worshippers of the true God, whose presence is always with His people, but not always recognised. The Hindu does not forget his God, because having to carry it makes him mindful of it; while the Christian often forgets his God, who, instead of having to be carried by him, carries him.

"The Action of Tobacco" The Present Truth 18, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

The following is a letter from Thomas Dutton, M.D., to the Daily Mail of May 24:-

"Among physicians who have studied the tobacco question, we are all agreed as to its pernicious effect upon the growing tissues of the boy.

"Nicotine and the essential oil in the leaf of the tobacco plant produce an irritation of the nervous system, and we get symptoms of an excessive flow of saliva, irregular action of the heart, and the twitching of the muscles. The boy smoker is continually spitting. This robs the blood of much of its fluid contents, and digestion of one of its principal ingredients; hence we get indigestion, loss of appetite, wasting, and anaemia."

That is good testimony as to the effect of tobacco on the human system; and we wish that every boy might read it and lay it to heart.

But a question arises, and that is, Can it be that tobacco which is so injurious to boys is harmless to men? If so, it becomes very important to settle it just what age a boy ceases to be a boy, and becomes a man. Who can tell? Tobacco is always tobacco, and the tissues of a man are of exactly the same material as those of the boy. Tobacco will cause "irregular action of the heart, and a twitching of the

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muscles" in a man just as surely as in a boy, only a little more will be required, and that increased quantity is usually consumed as the tobacco-user becomes accustomed to the poisonous weed. Shakespeare wondered that men would put an enemy in their mouths, to steal away their brains; but it is even more to be wondered at that they will think that they cannot live without something the only action of which is to kill.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

Of the "strong city" the walls and bulwarks of which are salvation, in which God exhibits His marvellous loving-kindness to His people, we read that while its walls are called Salvation, its gates are Praise. Isa. lx. 18. Whoso offers praise prepares the way for God to show him His salvation. Ps. l. 23, R.V., margin. Praise is the only way to salvation, the gate into the city were God dwells continually. Then when we cease praising God, because of trials and temptations, we allow Satan to occupy the gates of the city. Let us not do it any more; but "let everything that hath breath praise the Lord."

"God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause His face to shine upon us; that Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations." Ps. lxvii. 1, 2.

This scripture should be read in connection with the extracts on another page of this paper concerning the disinfecting, life-giving power of the sun's rays. The light of the sun is but a portion of the brightness of the face of God; and as "his going forth is from the ends of the heaven; and his circuit unto the ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof," it is thus that the saving health of God is made known among all the nations. Thus is the Gospel proclaimed through all the earth. "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance."

Jesus said, "Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know."

That implies that we ought to go to the same way that He goes; and that is the case; for the Scripture says: "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. 8.

But the way is so often all hedged up before us; all seems dark and we cannot see where to go, and we feel like saying, with Thomas, "Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way?"

Then comes the answer, quick and clear: "I am the way."

Oh, blessed safeguard against going astray! I need no longer be in perplexity as to which of two courses I shall pursue, nor worry lest I make a wrong choice. I cannot go astray, if I do not allow any earthly consideration, any selfish ambition, any worldly gain, and fleshly lusts, nor any prospect of enjoying even lawful pleasures have any weight with me. Christ is the way, the living way, and if I only abide in Him, and give diligence to be in Him, without spot, and blameless, I have nothing more to do. He is the way, and in Him I cannot be where He would not have me be.

"Rock of Ages, cleft for me
Let me hide myself in Thee."

Let me never know anything else than Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

"Peace" The Present Truth 18, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

Throughout all the civilised world the news has been proclaimed that the long and tedious war in South Africa has been brought to an end, and that Boers and Britons are now at peace; and the reception of the news has been attended with great rejoicing, especially heartfelt by those who have friends and loved ones in the army. One can seem to feel in the very atmosphere that a load has been lifted from the people.

Of this peace we do not need to say more than that we heartily join in the general thanksgiving; for all our readers have already learned more about it from the newspapers than we could possibly tell them; but there is another proclamation of peace which has been much more widely proclaimed, over which there are no such universal signs of joy, although it is "to all people."

All mankind is in rebellion against God; for "the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. vii. 7. But "the very God of peace" has sent word to all nations, "preaching peace by Jesus Christ." "He is Lord of all" (Acts x. 38), and therefore He is authorised to proclaim peace to all. "For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the fulness dwell; and through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross." Col. i. 19, 20. God has no need to be reconciled to man; for He was never at variance with us. His kingdom and His very nature are peace; and He says: "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil." Jer. xxix. 11.

Jesus, the Prince of peace, says to us: "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John xiv. 27. He gives His own peace, which cannot possibly be provoked into retaliation.

Many people want to know how to have peace with God. The way is simple-cease fighting against Him. Trust in His goodness. "Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Everlasting peace has been proclaimed, and we have only to accept it and keep it. "In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." Isa. liv. 8-10.

This everlasting covenant of peace is God's law, which by the Holy Spirit is written in the heart. God says: "O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." But although we have rebelled, the offer of peace still holds good, and we may have it any moment we choose. Then "let the peace of God rule in your hearts."

"The king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved." Ps. xx. 7. That is the secret of power-trust in the Lord. Whoever trusts wholly in the Lord is king; he is master of every situation and of all circumstances; nothing can move him. Therefore "trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."

June 19, 1902

"Bread from Heaven. Ex. xvi. 1-15" The Present Truth 18, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

(Ex. xvi. 1-15.)¹²1

"O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, who He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; and gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses." Ps. cvii. 1-6.

That is a description of a portion of the experience of the children of Israel in their journey from Egypt to Canaan, and it is written for the instruction and encouragement of God's redeemed people in all lands to the end of time. Read the whole story, in the sixteenth chapter of Exodus.

One of the first lessons for us to learn from it is that God gives according to our need, and not according to our actions. The people murmured in the wilderness, charging Moses and Aaron with having led them out to kill them, and thus denying God's leadership; yet God supplied them with food just as readily as though they had honoured Him. "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities."

The next lesson that we should learn is the uselessness and the sinfulness of complaining when in trouble. Many hundred years later several thousand of the descendants of the same people were out in a desert place without any food. Jesus said to Philip, "Whence shall we by bread, that these may eat? And this He said to prove him: for He Himself knew what He would do." John vi. 5, 6. Even so it was when the people were in the desert without bread in the days of Moses. The same Lord was with them, and "He Himself knew what He would do." God knew that there was no food in the wilderness, yet He had led them there; and this is the reason why:-

"Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep His commandments, or no. And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers 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." Deut. viii. 2, 3.

The most obvious reason for the giving of the manna, was to satisfy the hunger of

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the people. But we are told that God first "suffered them to hunger." He knew what He would do; He designed all the time to feed them out of His abundant storehouse; and His suffering them to hunger was for the purpose of preparing them for His gift, and causing them to appreciate it. So we may know that whenever God suffers us to get into distress, that is an evidence that He has something for us.

WHY GOD GIVES FOOD

But this is not all. God suffered the people to hunger, and then fed them with manna, in order that they might know that man does not live by bread only.

That is, God wishes us to know that our daily food is to teach us of His salvation. This is plainly set forth in Ps. lxxviii. 22-25:-

"They believed not in God, trusted not in His salvation; though He had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, and had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels' food."

Even though they had bread from heaven, they did not trust in God's salvation! That bread which came down from heaven was Christ's own self,-His body,-for Jesus said, "The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." "I am the bread of life." John vi. 33, 35. The fathers "did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ." 1 Cor. x. 3, 4. They drank from Christ, and they ate from Him; their life day by day was sustained by Him,-in fact, He was their life,-yet they trusted not in His salvation! Was it not strange?

Do you not see the real reason why God gives us food for the nourishment of our bodies? It is that we may know and remember our dependence upon Him. We eat in order to live; but it is in Him that we live, and move, and have all our being. God could, if He wished, keep us alive without food; but in that case we could not so readily recognise the fact that we are not self-existent nor self-sustained. Our daily bread-our life-not only comes from heaven, from the hand of God, but it brings to us the very life of God,-the life by which we are saved. The power of God, which saves every one that believes, is seen "in the things that are made." Rom. i. 16, 20.

This truth is made very apparent in the miracle recorded in the sixth chapter of John, together with the talk that followed. There were five thousand hungry men, besides women and children, and but five loaves of bread; yet as Jesus took the bread in His hands, and broke it, it multiplied, so that all were filled, and there was more bread at the close of the meal than at the beginning. There the people could see with their own eyes that the bread that they ate came directly from Christ; and this is the truth which this miracle, as well as that of the manna, is designed to teach us concerning our daily bread.

Our daily bread contains the life of the Lord, and yet it is but representative of that life; for Christ came that we might have life, and that we might have it "more abundantly." John x. 10. The life that is contained in all the food and drink and air and sunlight on this earth is but a small fraction of the infinite life of the Great Creator and Father of all, which is at the service of all who will accept it. These visible media of His life are designed to teach us our dependence on Him, and to introduce us to His inexhaustible storehouse of power.

A SABBATH LESSON

So giving the children of Israel manna God was proving them whether they would walk in His law or not. It was not merely to see if they would keep the Sabbath day. They could not very well help keeping that, outwardly, at least, when no manna fell on the seventh day, and twice the usual amount fell on the sixth day. For forty years God made it plain which day of the week was the seventh day, and how sacredly He regarded it; and the same day, with the same sacredness, is the Sabbath of the Lord to-day; and if we do not keep it we read the story of the manna in vain.

But, as already stated, it was not for the purpose of seeing if the Israelites would nominally keep the Sabbath, that the manna was given. It was to see if they would trust God implicitly; for that is true Sabbath-keeping. It was to see if they would accept His life as their own, and recognise and acknowledge day by day that they lived only by Him, and so allow Him to control their every act and thought. That is the lesson He wishes us to learn from the record, as well as from the food which He daily gives us.

The Sabbath itself is given to make us know God is the Creator and Sanctifier. You would laugh at the idea of anybody saying in the wilderness when the manna was being given every week day, that he didn't see how he could keep the Sabbath, and that he should certainly lose his living if he did. The God who commanded the observance of the Sabbath was the God who was feeding them from His own table, and, so to speak, making it easier for them to keep the Sabbath than not to.

Well, the same conditions obtain to-day. The same commandment is in force, and the same God lives to supply us with our daily bread. Do not think that the account of the giving of the manna was recorded merely for our amusement. It was that we might learn the lesson of trust in God. Dare you do it? or do you think that He cannot or will not do for you what He did for ancient Israel? Was the record written in vain, so far as you are concerned?

A LESSON OF UNSELFISHNESS

The Apostle Paul refers to the gathering of the manna, to enforce the lesson of unselfish giving. When he was pleading for a liberal collection for the poor saints, he wrote: "I mean not that other men be eased, and ye be burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance may also 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." 2 Cor. viii. 13-15. Compare Ex. xvi. 16-18.

Some in reading the words, "He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack," have supposed that in some reckless manner the manna shrunk if one had gathered more than a certain quantity, and increased if he had not gathered enough; but the fact is that those who had more than they needed for the day divided with those who had an insufficient quantity. There was the same condition that existed after Pentecost, when all the believers had all things common, and none laid up for the future. The lesson of the manna is not only that God gives bread, but that He gives it to us as we need it. We can trust Him to provide for our wants, even as little children trust their parents.

The Lord feeds us from His own table, and naught of that which we have belongs to us. Therefore we are to consider that all of His children have the same right to the Lord's table that we have. If we find more "under our hand" than we need for the time, it is not to be hoarded up to

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spoil, but passed on to be used while it is fresh. So as we live by faith in the "God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all," we will give day by day our daily bread, supplying all our need according to His riches and glory, and His kingdom will come, and His will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Cry for Help" The Present Truth 18, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

We give place here to the following sincere cry of a soul in distress, believing that many readers of the PRESENT TRUTH will find their own experience and longing expressed in it; and I trust it will too touched a responsive chord in the hearts of many others, who know the redemption from sin Christ Jesus, and who will join in prayer that the answer that follows may be blessed to the deliverance of souls from the snare of the enemy.

"I venture to approach you as my friend, and as I am in great trouble I have taken the liberty of asking you to help me. During the past few months I have given way to a black sin, that is slowly but surely dragging me down, away from the Saviour. I am a Sunday-school teacher and Christian worker, and have known what it is to enjoy fellowship with God; but at the time of writing I feel the worst of sinners. Will you tell me how to overcome? First, please note these facts; every time I am tempted I yield, and soon after I am filled with sorrow; I go on my knees and implore God's forgiveness; I realise that He has forgiven me, and I promise Him that I will never do it again; but, alas, after a few days the temptation comes again, and again I yield, and so I go on. I have prayed and prayed, but I really cannot resist, much as I wish to do so; for I may tell you that I detest myself for the shameful way I treat my dear Saviour; it seems no use making resolutions, no use asking God's help. Oh! do tell now what I am to do. I feel like giving up altogether, but no! I cannot do that; I must conquer. I cannot, dare not, go on in such a life of sin and misery. It is impossible to remove the cause of temptation; what I want to know is, when I am greatly tempted, How may I stand and conquer? Please help me. I do so want to be a real Christian. Yours in great distress."

I am very glad that you have had confidence enough to make the request for help that you have, and thankful that the Lord has provided the answer for you. There is help for you, and abundant victory; the Bible was written for no other purpose than to afford help to people in just your condition; for there is no temptation come upon you but such as is common to man; and "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.

It is a glorious thing to know that even the weaknesses of our flesh are, through Christ, made stepping stones to infinite power. One of the brightest passages to me in the whole Bible is the expression in the eleventh of Hebrews, concerning the men of faith who "out of weakness were made strong." So the Apostle Paul said, "I take pleasure in infirmities, for when I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor. xii. 10); for God said to him, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, instead of losing heart, we can say, "Most gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Instead of becoming despondent, we are to "count it all joy when we fall into diverse temptations." James i. 2. This shows that the very temptation itself, instead of being against us, is a means of grace, if we look at it from God's point of view. All power in heaven and earth belongs to Christ; and so even Satan, with all his wrath against the Lord, is but an instrument to carry out His purposes. "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Ps. cxxiv. 8. Nothing is too hard for Him.

Your trouble, in short, is this: You are trusting to yourself rather than to the Lord. I know it does not seem so to you, because you pray earnestly, and implore God's forgiveness, and believe and even realise that He has forgiven you. Yet the fact that you invariably fall when the temptation comes, shows that you are not trusting the Lord for salvation; for we read, "The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble; and they that know Thy name shall put their trust in Thee; for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee." Ps. ix. 9, 10. "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever." Ps. cxxv. 1.

NOT OUR PROMISE, BUT GOD'S

The secret of your failure is revealed in one sentence, which I repeat from your own words: "I go on my knees and implore God's forgiveness; I realise that He has forgiven me, and I promise Him that I will never do it again; but alas, after a few days the temptation comes again, and again I yield."

Your experience is that of many thousands of sincere Christians; but it is not real Christian experience, because it is not the experience of Christ. He "was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin." It was not because He was of a different nature from us, for inasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, "He also Himself likewise took part of the same" (Heb. ii. 14), and in all things was "made like unto His brethren." Heb. ii. 18. Like you He, "in the days of His flesh," "offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was able to save Him from death," and He "was heard, in that He feared." Heb. v. 7. He trusted in God, not in Himself. His words were: "I have set the Lord always before Me; because He is at My right hand, I shall not be moved." Ps. xvi. 8.

And again: "The Lord God will help Me; therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth Me; who will contend with Me? let us stand together; who is Mine adversary? let him come near to Me. Behold, the Lord God will help Me; who is he that will condemn Me?" Isa. l. 7-9. And then we have the words: "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness and have the light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God."

Instead of promising the Lord that you will not yield again, you must take His promise that you shall not. Your mistake has been in trusting your own promises instead of the Lord's promise. It is by the "

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exceeding great and precious promises" of the Lord that we are made "partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2 Peter i. 4. "He is faithful that promised" (Heb. x. 23), for "all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, and to the glory of God by us." 2 Cor. i. 20. "This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith." 1 John v. 4. Our promises can add nothing to God's promise; they are not only wholly unnecessary, but they are a hindrance. We promise that we will not do the evil thing any more; but that very promise implies the supposition of strength on our part, whereas power belongs only to God, and our strength is in recognising that.

Remember that Jesus died for our sake, not for His own. He did not need to come to this earth and be tempted, to prove His own loyalty to the Father. He came to declare the Father's name unto His brethren. He came to show that by the faithfulness of God all flesh can be saved. "In Him is no sin;" but He was made to be sin for us, in that He bore our sins. 2 Cor. v. 21. The flesh that He took was our flesh; the sins that He overcame were our sins; and He did really overcome them. When He cried, He was heard in that He feared. And He still bears our flesh,-an High Priest "touched with the feeling of our infirmities." He can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way, because "He Himself also is compassed with infirmity." Heb. v. 2.

Our oneness with God comes through the recognition of the fact that Jesus Christ is, in the flesh. When strong temptation comes to us, our victory lies in recognising that it has already been overcome. Then in the face of it we can say, "Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. xv. 57. "Thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ." 2 Cor. ii. 14. Do you desire deliverance from the temptation? That desire is the enmity which God has put in you against Satan; it is the evidence of the presence of Christ in you; for "the Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." Know that it is Christ in you, longing for freedom from that sin for His own sake, and then you will know that just as surely as He overcame in the flesh eighteen hundred years ago, so surely will He overcome in the same flesh to-day; for Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Heb. xiii. 8.

THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS

I see by your letter that you are well enough acquainted with Christ to know the fact of forgiveness; but what you have not yet learned is the power of forgiveness. There is forgiveness with God, that He may be feared. Ps. cxxx. 2. "The fear of the Lord is to depart from evil." When God forgives our sin, that forgiveness is the power by which we resist in the future. The life that cleanses from the sin abides with us to withstand it. Christ is a merciful and faithful High Priest, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people; but His priesthood is according to "the power of an endless life." Heb. vii. 16. So the faith that overcomes the world is the faith that grasps the fact that Jesus Christ, with His endless life, incorruptible life, abides in us to save us from sin which brings corruption and death. Then we say, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life that I now live in a flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. ii. 20. Mark the expression, "I live by the faith of the Son of God." The faith that Jesus Christ had in the Father, by which He resisted sin in the flesh, is given you for the same purpose in your flesh.

It was to teach us this, that the miracle of healing the palsied man was recorded. This man was helpless, and could not move, but had to be carried. When he was let down in the presence of Christ, Jesus said to him, "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee." Matt. ix. 2. Comfort and good cheer came to the poor palsied man with those words. He knew that he was forgiven, but neither he nor the men that sat by knew the power that was in that forgiveness. So, in order that they might know that the Son of man had power on earth to forgive sins, and that they might know the power that was in that forgiveness, He said to the palsied man: "Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house." And in the strength of that word he rose and walked. His rising up and going to his house was the visible manifestation of the forgiveness of sins.

THE POWERLESSNESS OF HUMAN RESOLUTIONS

The same thing is shown in the healing of the man at the beautiful gate of the temple. See how perfect an illustration this is of your condition: a man who was impotent in his feet, and never had walked, having no power to stand alone! He might promise the Lord every day of his life that he would walk, but it would have done no good. Resolutions to walk would never have helped him. But when Peter said: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God." Acts iii. 1-16. The name by which he was made to stand up, was the name by which he continued to stand, for the same day, as he stood in the midst of the council, Peter said: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole." And it is in this name and in this way, that we are saved. Acts iv. 10-12.

GRACE GREATER THAN SIN

"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.

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." Titus ii. 11-13. This grace is given to us all freely, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Eph. ii. 8, 9. Where sin abounds, there does grace much more abound. Rom. v. 20. Do you feel sin in your flesh, asserting its power claiming the master? Know, that the more abundant grace is there, and that from it you learn to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, "sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Rom. vi. 14.

How are you to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts? By confessing Christ come in your flesh; "for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom. x. 10. Thus: sin comes like a slave driver, claiming you as its victim, but you say, "I am dead; it is not I who live here any longer, but it is Christ for whom sin has no power." Do you see at once that your victory is gained by your faith in Him? The old slave master may crack the whip to frighten you into submission, but you say with great confidence, "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds." Ps. cxvi.

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16. It is impossible for a man to be overcome while holding fast their confidence.

NOT AN EXPERIMENT

Let me impress this thought upon your mind. You are not to try experiments with the Lord. You must not wait to see if you have the victory, before you claim it. That is not trust in the Lord. You must have confidence enough in the Lord to know that He has gained the victory over everything for you, and must live and rejoice in the strength of it. It is the victory that gains the victory. If this message comes to you in the very moment of defeat, you can assert your liberty, saying, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, when I fall, I shall arise." Micah vii. 8. Then begin at once to thank the Lord for the wonderful deliverance that He has given you. Do not doubt, for it is doubt that brings defeat. Do not receive what you will do, but keep your mind on what God has already done, and you cannot help singing for the joy of it. I can assure you that while you are in this state of joyful confidence in God, having no confidence in your own flesh, but "strong in faith, giving glory to God," temptations will have no power.

"Be careful [anxious] 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." Phil. iv. 6, 7.

PURITY AND SIMPLICITY OF LIFE

I might on go indefinitely in the same line, for the Bible is a vast storehouse full of the riches of God's grace,-an armoury in which all the armour of God, ready for our use. But I cannot close without offering some practical suggestions which I am sure you will find useful, whatever the temptation may be that besets you. We are exhorted to "abstain from fleshly lusts, that war against the soul," and in order to do this we are told to "make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Rom. viii. 14.

Many sincere souls, earnestly longing and praying for deliverance from sins inherent in the flesh, are unconsciously working against their prayers, and providing for the fulfiling of those lusts, by their habits of life. We may co-operate with the life of Christ within us, or we may work against it and hold it down. Our business in life is to learn the secret of that life, that we may fall in line with it, and not in any way oppose its action. That life is purity and simplicity; which teaches us that all our habits should be simple, and our food and drink and air, by which life is conveyed to us, should be as pure as possible.

The man who drinks intoxicating liquor cannot help becoming intoxicated. So the person who through improper diet generates poisons in his system, cannot help being irritable or passionate. Those things are as really the manifestation of intoxication as is the staggering of the drunken man. We know that God can receive the drunkard from his bondage, but He cannot keep him from becoming intoxicated if he drinks. So God saves us from fleshly lusts, by instructing us concerning the things that beget those lusts, and saving us from them.

I cannot now go into all the details concerning the right way of living, but I shall be glad to answer any further questions you may have on this subject. I only wish to call your attention to the fact that we have victory and salvation in our own hands, for God's divine power "hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness."

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us," (Eph. iii. 20) "who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty, dominion, and power, both now, and for ever. Amen." Jude 24, 25.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

Jeannie and Johnny have not been happy to-day. Would you like to know why? It is because they have been quarrelling, as some other little children sometimes do.

Johnny is a little echo of Jeannie. When Jeannie smiles and speaks gently, her little brother laughs and is good and happy. But when Jeannie is cross and speaks sharply to him, Johnnie cries and pouts and says naughty words too. Here is a lesson for all little boys and girls who have baby brothers or sisters.

But now it is bed-time, and mamma has been telling them that God is love, and that He wants all His little children to be like Him. So He says, "Little children, love one another." He also says, "Let not the sun go down on your wrath." So Jeannie forgets that she has been angry with dear little Johnny, and makes him happy with a sweet kiss.

It is our enemy Satan who tries to make us unkind to one another. He knows that this will make Jesus sorry. Let us ask God every day to give us loving hearts, and make us kind and gentle to one another, that we may be like Him.

"A Sixth Sense" The Present Truth 18, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

A Sixth Sense. -The actual possibility of a sixth sense in human beings was advanced with great plausability by Dr. Javal at the meeting of the Paris Academy of Medicine. Dr. Javal, who is blind, denied that Nature compensates blindness by increased sensibility of touch and hearing. Rather he considered that when a person is blind an extra development takes place of the sixth sense, which has been called the sense of obstacles.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

The Daily Mail reported that a coal merchant last week lost his life through an act of forgetfulness. He went for a drive, but forgot to put a bit in the horse's mouth, and so could not control the animal when it bolted. It is very uncommon for one to forget to put to bit in a horse's mouth, but thousands of people lose their lives for eternity through forgetting to bridle their own tongues. Read James iii. 2-8, to see the necessity for having the tongue under control. "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison;" how then can we bridle it? Only by putting it continually into the keeping of Him who has "power over all flesh," and praying, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." We must not forget, but meditate on God's law day and night, and then our tongue will not lead the body to destruction.

All can rejoice in the peace that has been proclaimed, and no one will grudge the tribute of praise to the soldiers who have faithfully discharged what they consider to be their duty; but not all can join in all that is said about war and the duties of citizens in relation to it. For instance, the Baptist Times, referring to the honours bestowed upon Lord Kitchener, says, "A soldier has nothing to do with the merits of the case in which he draws his sword. 'His not to reason why.'" This is dangerous and misleading teaching. God has never designed that one man's conscience should ever in any matter be subjected to any other man. "The head of every man is Christ." 1 Cor. xi. 3. "One is your Master, even Christ." Matt. xxiii. 10. Men should "honour the king" as well as "fear God;" but they can truly honour the king only when they truly fear God, and keep His commandments. Man's first duty is to God, and no man can take God's place to any other person. Even the parent is to give the little child "the reason why," teaching it the commandments of God that justifies his commands. The teaching that the soldier or any citizen is not to ask the reason why, is purely papal. There is a vast amount of papacy among those who repudiate the Pope of Rome. Whoever holds his conscience subject to any earthly being, recognises a pope. The true dignity of manhood, and the high calling and position of every man in Christ, is yet far from being understood.

There has recently been some correspondence in the Daily News with reference to the Sabbath, and the remarks of one correspondent called forth the following true statements from others:-

SIR,-Surely your correspondent, "M. A. Cantab," is joking when he says, "The fourth commandment does not in the least indicate that the Sabbath should be the seventh day of the week." It is the whole genius of the Commandment that the seventh day should be kept holy; and that there should be no ambiguity in this decree, the Almighty condescends to give the reason-that is, that in six days He made the heavens and the earth and all that was in them, that He rested on the seventh day. "He blessed the seventh day and hallowed it." Three times the Almighty distinctly and specifically mentions the seventh day. From the whole of the Scriptures "M. A." cannot produce a single text annulling this holy law, nor can he find a solitary sentence authorising the substitution of the first day for the seventh. This difficulty is so clearly felt that of late years a new Protestant sect has sprung up with the object of obeying the fourth commandment in accordance with the Written Word of God, and not after the presumptuous caprice of men.

Most Protestants err with Catholics in systematically violating this Commandment. May I ask "M.A." if he can give any other authority than the Edict of Constantine for his keeping holy the first instead of the seventh day of the week? A Catholic priest told me that Sunday was kept holy simply because the Christian church had the power to so order it, and he showed me with a kind of triumph a text from his Testament which stated Christ gave all power to the Apostles, and He sent them as He claimed to be sent by the Father. But if "M.A." repudiates the Church and the doctrine of Apostolic succession, and takes his religion solely from the Bible, how does he justify the alteration of the day that the great Father of us all commanded that we should observe.

SIR,-In reply to your correspondent, "M.A. Cantab," permit me to say, "the Sabbath" is not a perfectly correct term for "the Lord's Day," if the words in Rev. i. 10 are intended to refer to the first day of the week, which is doubtful.

Matt. xxviii. 1 plainly shows that "the Sabbath" and "the first day of the week" are two perfectly distinct and separate days.

As to saying "the Fourth Commandments does not in the least indicate that the Sabbath should be on the seventh day of the week," your correspondent is mistaken. The first time mention is made in Scripture of the giving of the Sabbath to Israel, we read, "So the people rested on the seventh day." Ex. xvi. 30. See also Ex. xx. 10; xxv. 2.

Under the heading, "What Is Sunday Trading?" the Daily Mail of June 11 contained the following:-

"Some original conundrums were asked at a meeting of the Bristol City Council yesterday in the course of a discussion on a proposal from the watch committee that steps be taken to check Sunday trading. One member wanted to know if doctors would have to give their patients a holiday; another asked would undertakers be debarred from carrying on Sunday funerals; a third wanted enlightening on the point whether penalties would be imposed on liverymen for supplying carriages for Sunday civic church parades; while still a fourth was curious as to the risk of bakers in cooking Sunday dinners for the poor. The council, in order to give time for the solution of these problems, adjourned consideration of the proposal."

These are but a small portion of the problems that demand solution when one undertakes to live by human rules instead of by divine principles, or when human Governments take upon themselves the regulation of people's religious life. All these arise from the failure to comprehend what Sabbath-keeping means. It is that that has led to the misapprehension concerning the day, and the substitution of the first day of the week for the seventh day of the Fourth Commandment. If all men in official positions knew the first principles of true Government, much valuable time would be saved, that is now wasted in useless speculation, and innumerable evils would be avoided.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

Sometimes a person thinks: "I am but an insignificant atom in the Greek universe; I cannot accomplish anything, and my loss would not be felt." And feeling thus, he loses energy, and almost or entirely gives up the struggle.

There are several things to be thought of at such a time. One is that the universe is composed of atoms, each one in itself is insignificant as any other. That which may be said of one may be said of all; if one can be dispensed with and no loss be felt, so might another one, and all the rest one by one; that is, the universe might be destroyed without any notice being taken of it! You say that that cannot be; and neither can a single atom be lost without being missed.

But here is some Scripture to think of in this connection. "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" Isa. xl. 12. The answer is, God has; He has measured the dust of the earth, and weighed out the proper proportions for the mountains and hills to a single grain; there is not one too many or too few. He continues: "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, 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 is lacking." And then He very purposely asks: "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed away from my God?" In place of Jacob and Israel, each individual may insert his own name, and it will read just the same.

Neither the earth nor the inhabitants came into existence by chance. God created them according to His eternal purpose. "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." Nothing that occupied His thought in creation is too small for Him to notice afterward. He tells us that not a single sparrow is forgotten; God has them in His mind all the time. And as for us, each one of us may say to Him in truth:-

"Thou hast formed my reins;
Thou hast knit me together in my mother's
womb.
My frame was not hidden from Thee,
When I was made in secret,
And curiously wrought in the lowest part 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."

Surely God cares for that which He has taken such pains to make.

God created everything for a purpose, and to every person He has given a work to do. It is not for us to say whether that work is of great or little importance. How can we know, when we have not seen the plan? To know that God sees not as man sees, and His thoughts are not our thoughts; therefore we cannot estimate the value of things according to God's standard. All we can know is that everything and everybody is of importance,-how much or how little is none of our business. Our part is to give diligence not to get out of the place where God puts us, so that we may always be ready to His hand, and to know that there is not a creature so insignificant but that it can be said, "the Lord hath need of him."

"Christian Evidence" The Present Truth 18, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

Christian Evidence. -The call for something on the "Christian Evidences," is quite frequent in the religious papers, from young Christians who are brought in contact with scoffers. They want to know what books will furnish them with the matter wherewith to meet the arguments of unbelievers. There is nothing in the world that can take the place of the Bible. The Lord says: "Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, that I may make thee note the certainty of the words of truth; that thou might just answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee"? Prov. xxii. 20, 21.

But those words of truth must be in the heart and life of the Christian, as is indicated in the verses immediately preceding those just quoted: "Bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto My knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips." If they are not in the life, they will not be fitted in the lips, but will have a strange sound; but coming from the heart, they will fit the lips naturally, and will have a convincing power. This is the same "evidence" that is referred to by the Apostle Peter: "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." 1 Peter iii. 15. The best "Christian Evidence" is the life of Christ.

Like every other special miracle wrought by Christ, the giving of the manna was to teach us to recognise God at works all the time doing the same thing. When He rained bread from heaven, it was that the people might learn that that is what He is always doing. Our daily bread is just as truly rained down to us from heaven as was that of the Israelites. He "commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven," and rained down manna; and even so "the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater." "The clouds are the dust of His feet," and "all His paths drop fatness."

So not only the Israelites in the wilderness, but all the heathen, even at that same time, and we ourselves, have eaten bread rained down from heaven. Indeed, we never ate any other. To the idolaters at Lystra, the Apostle Paul said that although God had suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, "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." And this witness received into our hearts day by day with our food, makes us His witnesses. What kind of witnesses are we? Are we faithful witnesses? or have we by our faithless lives denied the Lord, saying that He is not among us?

June 26, 1902

"God Save the King!" The Present Truth 18, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

"The king shall joy in Thy strength, O Lord; and in Thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. For Thou preventest 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 exceeding glad with Thy countenance. For the king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved." Ps. xxi. 1-7.

In this portion of Scripture we have the assurance that the prayer so often uttered,

"God save the king!"

is not a vain one. "The Lord saveth His anointed." Ps. xx. 6. The king's glory and rejoicing are only in the salvation of God; for the grace of God brings salvation, and no one is indeed king except by the grace of God.

The words, "Edward VII. by the grace of God king," etc., are more than a mere formula. They express a most solemn truth; for it is indeed a serious matter to be in a position of so great influence and responsibility as is the one who stands with the eyes of a great nation upon him. The Sacred History reveals to us the fact that kings never come to the throne except to carry our some part of God's great plan, and that when they have performed their appointed service, or have shown their unwillingness to serve God, He has removed them. "He removeth kings, and setteth up kings." Dan. ii. 21. "The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will." Dan. iv. 25.

This is true not merely of kings over God's chosen people,-of men who knew the true God,-but of heathen who never heard His name. To Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the prophet Daniel said, "The God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all." Dan. ii. 37, 38. God Himself sent by the prophet Jeremiah a special message to the kings of many lands, saying, "I have

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made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant." Jer. xxvii. 5, 6. And all nations and kings were commanded to serve him. A refusal to acknowledge Nebuchadnezzar as King was regarded by God as disloyalty to Himself; but this did not give him authority to put himself in place of God, or to regard himself as anything else than God's instrument. In the tenth chapter of Isaiah we read, "O Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger, and the staff in their hand is Mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of My wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so." The Assyrian king's idea was that he was ruling by his own power; but God characterised his action thus: "Shall the ax boast against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood." Just as God used the king of Assyria as an instrument to execute His judgment upon a faithless nation, so He did the king of Babylon, saying, "I was wroth with My people, I have polluted Mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand; thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke" (Isa. xlvii. 6); and because the king of Babylon did not, like God, mingle mercy with judgment, God took the kingdom from him.

In like manner we read of the king who conquered Babylon:-

"Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; . . . I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me." Isa. xlv. 1-4.

Because the king "is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil" (Rom. xiii. 4), we "must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake." Therefore it is that we are exhorted to "Fear God; honour the king." 1 Peter ii. 17. He who does not honour the king, even though it be a heathen king,-the tyrant Nero, who ruled in the days of Peter and Paul,-does not truly fear God and keep His commandments. When ancient Israel were carried captive to Babylon, God's message to them was: "Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace." Jer. xxix. 8. Anarchy and anarchists can find no sympathy or support in the Word of God.

It is for these reasons that the coronation to-day is not only a gorgeous spectacle but a solemn ceremony. How great its import, none but He who rules over all, working all things after the counsel of His own will, can tell. That this great kingdom, equally with the kingdoms of the past, that were greatly inferior in extent of territory and population, has a place in God's plan, none who believe God's Word can doubt; and all such will from the heart comply with the exhortation to pray "for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all of godliness and honesty." And that he who is this day anointed king over this vast realm may fully appreciate the high responsibility placed upon him, and the wondrous opportunities for good that are open before him.

"We are living, we are dwelling
In a grand an awful time;
In an age on ages telling,
To be living is sublime."

How much more so, then, to stand in a position where one's every word commands the attention of the whole world. Never was there a time when so truly as now the words of Christ were applicable: "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." The Gospel of the Kingdom is now going to the world to an extent never before known, and soon He will come whose right it is. Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords will soon come, "and the kingdom and 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 him and obey Him." Dan. vii. 27. And "This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled."

Edward VII., if God spares his life as long as He did the beloved Queen Victoria's, will have questions brought before him for decision, such as have been before no other king for centuries,-questions affecting his personal relation to God, His truth, and His people. God grant, that for his own sake, as well as that of his people, his heart may indeed be in the Lord's hand as the rivers of water, to be turned withersoever He will; and let all the people say, "Amen! God save the King!"

"The King and the Crown" The Present Truth 18, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

It is not concerning a single individual or a specially favoured few that the twenty-first Psalm speaks. "Whosoever will" may apply it to himself. And yet it may indeed be said to be limited to a single individual,-Christ, the King,-for "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist," and He is the One New Man. All men together are but "one in Christ Jesus," so that one embraces the whole. Everything that is said of "the Man Christ Jesus" applies to all who accept Him; for "as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name."

God made man in the beginning male and female, "and called their name Adam" (Gen. v. 1); "and God bless them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiplied, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Gen. i. 28.

When God made man for the express purpose of having dominion over the works of His hands,-made him king,-He "crowned him with glory and honour." Ps. viii. 5, 6. Every individual of mankind, male and female, was designed to have this high honour. Now we do not see men in possession of their rightful dominion, but we see Jesus who as man has it, and who as "a quickening Spirit" has power over all flesh to give it to every man. He suffered our humiliation, that He might bring many sons back to the original glory. Heb. ii. 9, 10. This is our assurance of perfect victory over Satan and all his temptations. "Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ." Every person, however rash and impetuous, may learn patience, and possess the ability to rule his own Spirit, and thus be greater than the mighty.

It is no dishonour to His Majesty King Edward VII. to say that every man is by Divine right a king. On the contrary, if all men in the British Empire would avail

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themselves of that right, it would be the highest honour ever accorded to any human being to be acknowledged as king over them. For it must be admitted by all, that the more honourable and mighty the people are, the greater is the honour of the king. So the truest patriotism and the highest honour that any person can show to his country is to be wholly subject to God. He who best serves God best serves his fellow-men.

The motto, Job Dieu, "I serve," which the king had as Prince of Wales, is the one which to a far higher degree belongs to him now; for the greatest ruler is the greatest servant. "Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matt. xx. 27, 28. God, the King of kings, serves the universe, looking carefully after every detail necessary to secure the comfort and well-being of His creatures. Next week we shall, God willing, show more fully how from the throne of the king the wants of all the subjects must be supplied.

What is the crown which the Great King gives to those who by acknowledging Him become kings? and when do they receive it? We have already read, "Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head" (Ps. xxi. 3), but we have a very faint appreciation of the dignity and greatness of our calling if we think that this is corruptible gold such as is used in commerce. Earth has no gold valuable enough to form a real crown for a king indeed. The purest gold of this earth, fashioned into the most gorgeous coronet, can at best serve only as a figure of the true crown.

Think a moment! Is it fitting that the authority of the king should be derived from something far beneath him in value? We shall find a clue to what constitutes the crown, if we read carefully a few scriptures. Read 1 Peter i. 19, 20, which tells us that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, with silver or gold, but with the precious blood, the life of Christ. It is by this life that we reign with Him.

Again: "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life." James i. 13. Now read in this connection Ps. xxi. 2-5, concerning the King: "Thou preventest him with the blessing 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 the Lord taketh pleasure in His people; He will beautify the meek with salvation." Ps. cxlix. 1. Life, the incorruptible, endless life of Christ, is the pure gold "tried in the fire," which we are to buy without money, and which will be our everlasting crown.

This is still further indicated by the terms used concerning the crown. For instance: "His enemies will I clothe with shame; but upon himself shall his crown flourish." Ps. cxxxii. 18. The word "flourish" is used of things that grow, like a flower, as Aaron's rod budded and bloomed blossoms. Num. xvii. 3. "Israel shall blossom and bud." Isa. xxvii. 6. The crown of glory that the faithful shepherd kings receive "fadeth not away." 1 Peter v. 4. All this language implies a crown that grows upon and out of the king himself. His crown is the perfection of the life, the outshining of the glory within him.

This crown is necessarily a "crown of righteousness," because the life of the Lord is righteousness. And so we see that we may have the strength and glory of the crown even now, and are not obliged to wait for "the crowning day" that is coming. As King Edward has reigned for more than a year before the coronation, receiving the homage of his loyal people, and having his royal authority recognised by all the world, even so we are now uncrowned kings. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be," for the glory is not yet revealed, but the never-fading, never-ending glorious life that will crown us in the world to come is our strength for overcoming in this present evil world. We are to reign now, the coronation day will simply be the blossoming out, the shining forth, the perfection, of the life by which we are "more than conquerors."

"The Royal Law. Ex. xx. 1-14" The Present Truth 18, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

(Ex. xx. 1-14.)¹³1

The Apostle Peter in an Epistle that all Christians like to believe is addressed to them, and which we are sure does speak to us, because it contains living words, even the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever, says: "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people." 1 Peter ii. 2. God's people are a royal people, because they are children of the Great King. God is the King of kings; He reigns over kings, and has no subject of lower rank than king. All His subjects are members of His own family; they are His own children; hence they are a kingly race, a royal people.

Now it is fitting that a royal people should have a royal law, and this God's people have. The Apostle James, writing to those who have "the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory," says, "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well." James ii. 8. This royal law, given by the King of kings, is what God's loyal and royal people are to keep. They are to fulfil it even as Christ fulfilled it.

But this that is quoted by the Apostle James is but a portion of the law. By the words of Christ we find that it is but one-half of it; for we read the following question and answer:-

"Master, 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 is the first and great commandment. 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." Matt. xxii. 36-40.

Since the words, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" are a royal law, and are but the second portion of one great law, we know that the whole is the royal law of God for His royal people. Our study this week pertains only to the first portion of the law; next week we shall consider the second branch.

God's law cannot be too often read, and there are no other words equal to them which God speaks with His own voice amid such awful scenes as will never be paralleled until Christ comes in the clouds of heaven, to save His people, and therefore we print them here:-

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"And God spake all these words, saying, 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.

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing 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.

"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.

"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 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."

These words the Lord spake "in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice." They are the first portion of what is emphatically the royal law.

Many articles would not be sufficient to set forth all the details of these commandments, taking them one by one, for the commandment is "exceeding broad," and we have half of the law before us; hence we can do but little more than merely refer to it; if anybody wishes to enquire particularly concerning any feature we shall be glad to answer; but let each one note these words of Christ: "If any man willeth to do His [God's] will, he shall know of the teaching." John vii. 17. That the law of God is His will, is shown by the Apostle Paul in Rom. ii. 17, 18, where he says that the one who knows the will of God is the one who is "instructed out of the law." If anyone, therefore, is willing to keep God's law, he has the promise of Jesus Christ that he shall know all His teaching. Truly it is a royal road to learning. "The law is spiritual" (Rom. vii. 14), and the Spirit is given us, to guide us into all truth. Here is what a great king of old said of this law:-

"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. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; and in keeping of them there is great reward." Ps. xix. 7-11.

He also said, "O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day." Can each one who reads this say the same? Have you, like him, made haste to keep God's commandments? We have seen that those who keep this law are a royal people; and it is plain that those who do not are not of the royal family; for "if ye have respect of persons ye commit sin, and are convinced of [by] the law as transgressors. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law" (James ii. 9-11); and there is a vast difference between a transgressor of law and a king.

The apostle's reasoning applies as well to any other commandments as to those he mentioned. For example, He that said, Thou shalt not kill, said also, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Now if thou do not kill, yet if thou art profane or irreverent, thou art convicted by the law as a transgressor. Or, again: He that said, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, said also, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Now if thou do not swear, yet if thou profane God's rest day, thou art a transgressor of the royal law; thou art acting contrary to the rules of God's family, and so disclaiming relationship with Him.

Would it not be well to recall the exhortation, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves." It is possible that some readers of these lines have unconsciously been trampling some portion of God's holy law under foot. Do not run any risk. Do not rest in uncertainty. "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" You cannot afford to have the slightest doubt in regard to this matter. If there is any deviation in your life from the plain letter of God's law, do not flatter yourself that you are obeying its Spirit; for while the letter kills, and the Spirit gives life, you must not think to find life in departure from the law of life. The Spirit is not opposed to the letter, or separate from, but resides in it, quickening it into life.

If you find that you are not keeping all of God's law just as He commanded, do not think that you can do it yourself; and, above all, do not make the mistake of excusing your shortcoming by saying that since you are not saved by works you are absolved all from any duty with respect to it. Our righteousness cannot save us; but our unrighteousness can destroy us. Only the righteousness-the right-doing, the commandment-keeping of Christ can save us; but His obedience to the law must be in us, not apart from us. We are "saved by His life" (Rom. v. 10) in us, and His life was characterised by a perfect obedience to the law; and that same perfect obedience must be in us. "By the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." Rom. v. 19. Notice it is not by the obedience of One that many are allowed to do is they please, and to transgress the law; but by Christ's obedience we are to be made righteous. Through Him the righteousness of the law is to be fulfilled in us. Rom. viii. 3, 4.

What more need we say? We have sinned, but God is ready to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness-to make us righteous. "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. 23, 24. His promise is to send His Spirit to put His law in our inward parts, and to write it in our hearts, so that we can both remember it and do it. Let us then yield to His Spirit, praying with new fervour and enlarged understanding, "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so one earth," even in me.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Lost Tribes of Israel" The Present Truth 18, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

"What do you think of the idea that the Anglo-Saxon are the lost tribes of Israel?"

There is a popular, almost universal, idea that at the time of the Babylonish captivity, ten of the twelve tribes were wholly lost, and that only two tribes could be mustered to return to the land of Palestine at the close of the seventy years. So deeply rooted is this notion, that almost everybody knows at once what is referred to whenever the expression, "The ten lost tribes," is used. How this idea came to be, we shall not now stop to inquire, but shall content ourselves with ascertaining what the Bible has to say upon the subject of the lost Israelites.

JUDAH AND ISRAEL

First, however, it may be well to note a common misconception concerning the terms "Judah" and "Israel." When the kingdom was divided, after the death of Solomon, the southern portion, consisting of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, was known as the kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital; while the northern portion, consisting of the remaining tribes, was known as the kingdom of Israel, with headquarters that Samaria. This northern kingdom it was that was first carried captive, and the tribes that composed it are the ones supposed to be lost.

"JEW" AND "ISRAELITE" THE SAME

The misconception is that the term "Jew" is limited to the people of the southern kingdom, namely, to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and that the term "Israelites" signifies only those tribes composing the northern kingdom, supposed to be lost. Going on in the line of this supposition, "the warm, ungoverned imagination" of some speculative theologians has fancied that the people generally known as Jews are from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin alone, and that the Anglo-Saxon race, or more specifically, the people of Great Britain and America, are the Israelites, or, in other words, "ten lost tribes" discovered.

CHARACTER, NOT NATIONALITY

It is easy to see how this originated. It originated in an utter failure to comprehend the promises of the Gospel. It was invented in order to bring in the Anglo-Saxon race as inheritors of the promises to Abraham, the fact having been lost sight of that those promises embrace the whole world, without respect to nationality, and 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. If men had believed that "an Israelite indeed," is one "in whom is no guile" (John. i. 47), they would have seen the folly of the idea that no matter how wicked an unbelieving people may be, they must be Israelite simply because they are part of a certain nation. But the idea of a national church and of a national religion is wonderfully fascinating, because it is so much more pleasant for people to suppose that they are to be saved in bulk, regardless of character, rather than through individual faith and righteousness.

SCRIPTURE USE OF THE TERMS

A few texts of Scripture are sufficient to show that the terms "Jew" and "Israelite" are used interchangeably, each being applicable to the same person. For instance, in Esther ii. 5 we read that "in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Kish, a Benjamite." But in Rom. xi. 1 we have the Apostle Paul's statement, "I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin;" and the same Apostle said, "I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus." Acts xxi. 39. Here we have one man of the tribe of Benjamin, a Jew, and another man of the same tribe, an Israelite, and at the same time a Jew.

Again, Ahaz was one of the kings of Judah, and reigned in Jerusalem. (See 2 Kings xvi. 1, 2; Isa. i. 1.) He was a descendant of David, and one of the ancestors of Jesus according to the flesh. (2 Kings xvi. 2; Matt. i. 9). Yet in 2 Chron. xxviii. 19, in an account of the invasion of "the south of Judah" by the Philistines, we are told that "the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord."

When the Apostle Paul had returned to Jerusalem from one of his missionary tours, "the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help!" Acts xxi. 27, 28.

ONE COMMON ANCESTOR

The reader can readily see the naturalness of this, when he remembers that all the twelve tribes; while, because of the prominence of Judah, the term "Jew" came to be applied to any of the children of Israel, regardless of their tribe. In speaking of the covenants God says that He will "make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah" (Heb. viii. 8), in order to make it unmistakable that the new covenant is to be made with the entire, undivided people, just as the old covenant was.

Thus we see that the term "Jews" is rightly applied to the same people as is the term "Israelites;" but we must not forget that, strictly speaking, "he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." Rom. ii. 28, 29. The reckoning of the tribes has been lost among the people called Jews, but that makes no difference; they may be called Israelites just as properly as Jews; but neither term is in strict propriety applicable to any of them except to those who have real faith in Jesus Christ and both terms are, in the strictly Scriptural sense, applicable to any who have such faith, though they be English, French, Greek, Turkish, or Chinese.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

You all know what a crown means. It means that the one who wears it is a king or queen. Just now we are hearing a great deal about "The Coronation," and the King's Crown.

God meant every man to be a king, and when He made the first man, He Himself crowned him king. But He did not put on him a crown of gold and jewels like the one that the King of England wears,-a crown that can be put on or put off.

He "crowned him with glory and honour." A beautiful crown of glorious light shone round about his head. This was the beauty of his holy character that shone out and showed that he was the son of God, and belonged to the royal family. He was clothed also with a royal robe of light.

But through sin, wrong-doing, disobedience to their Heavenly Father, men have lost their crowns and royal robes. Their crown of glory has faded from their brow because sin has got into their hearts. Their robe of light has vanished, and they have to cover themselves with clothes that they make for themselves.

Jesus Christ came into the world to bring back to us all that we have lost by sin. He came to take sin of our hearts, and to bring us again into the family of God. When we believe on Him we become God's children-kings, because we are the children of the King of kings. And when He comes we shall each receive a beautiful crown of glory, that will never fade away.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

It appears that the "colour line" is being drawn more strictly than ever in the United States. It is not enough that Negroes are forbidden to ride in railway carriages with white people, but the whites are not permitted to ride in the carriages reserved for the coloured people. For doing so, a daughter of General R. E. Lee, the famous Confederate leader, was recently fined ?1 at Alexandria, Virginia.

We are told that a woman at Newcastle has been completely cured of lupus, after suffering from it for over thirty years. The treatment consisted of fifteen minutes' exposure to the X-rays daily for nearly 200 consecutive days. Thus what men ought to have learned from the Scriptures long ago is being practically demonstrated, namely, that inasmuch as the life of Christ is the light of men, there is life for men in light. All true light is life-giving. This is an incentive to "walk in the light," for those who do so continually will certainly have occasion to praise God for the health of His countenance.

A Paris physician, Dr. Garnault, has had himself inoculated with consumptive matter taken from a diseased cow which had been ordered to be destroyed. This is done with a view to demonstrating the fallacy of Dr. Koch's theory that bovine tuberculosis cannot be communicated to human beings. The doctor expects that the disease will soon manifest itself in him, and many will watch the results with interest: nevertheless his act cannot be characterised in any other way than as foolhardy. Such experiments are wholly unnecessary, for without them people can, if they will, guard themselves against taking the disease. Moreover, nobody has the right thus to trifle with human life, even though he call it his own. All life is God's life, and is therefore to be conscientiously guarded for His sake.

Everybody in Great Britain is naturally exercised over the practical continuation of winter into the middle of summer; but these islands are not alone in this experience. As late as the 15th inst. we read of trains blockaded by snow in Cape Colony, the average depth in the Midland district being six inches. Reports from Southern France, June 18, stated that snow had been falling four days, and that there had been heavy frost. It may truly be, as meteorologists say, that there is no connection between this weather and the volcanic activity in various parts of the world; but no one can fail to note the fact that the weather of late years is not nearly so reliable as formerly. One cannot be accused of being fanciful for saying that the elements seem to be in a state of disorganisation to a great degree. From the Word of God we are warranted in believing that this is but a premonition of the final dissolution.

A French physician declares that the consumption of absinths and other murderous liquids, especially by women and children in France, has grown to such proportions that it has become absolutely necessary for the State to do something to check the downward movement. The one thing needful, which is the supplying a new nature not in bondage to the corruption that is in the world through lust, is what the State cannot do.

"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 finded."

Whoever wishes it, has the power for complete deliverance in the glorious liberty of the sons of God; and whoever delights in bondage cannot be saved from it by all the combined powers of earth.

The great whisky manufacturer, Mr. John Dewar, speaking about a project to amalgamate three Scotch whisky distilleries, said that he did not anticipate any increase in price so far as the consumer is concerned, because, he added, there is sufficient whisky in Scotland to supply the world for the next five years, even if there were not another drop made during that period. If he had said, "to supply the world's need," he might have extended the time to all eternity; for one drop would more than do that. Think what a mass of sorrow, of war, of babblings, of wounds without cause, of poverty, of vice, and crime is stored up in those warehouses in Scotland, waiting to be poured out upon the earth! It is awful to contemplate. Would that there might be a monopoly that would make the wretched stuff prohibitory; but no such good fortune can be expected.

On the 14th inst., on the Horse Guards Parade, over 10,000 lads belonging to the Boys' Brigade were reviewed by the Prince of Wales. This recognition will undoubtedly give a great impetus to this movement, which is certainly destined to occupy an important place in the future history of the nation. Lord Roberts was also present at the review. The Daily Chronicle, after mentioning the "valuable basis of practical education" that the drill and discipline afford, adds: "We must remember, too, that 10,000 lads passing year by year through these Boys' Brigades form most valuable material for any volunteer army that we may require, and one volunteer is always worth two conscripts. "Thus this movement, which was supposed to be wholly religious at the beginning, and which is still under ministerial and priestly control, is really a feeder for the army. The lads are called a "volunteer apprentices to arms." It is sad to think of youth growing up to manhood completely swallowed up by military ambition. It can be set down as certain that this does not in any way tend to peace. When the military spirit is cultivated, it will surely find or make opportunity for exercise.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

The article in "Editor's Private Corner" this week, on "The Lost Tribes of Israel" is not complete, on account of lack of space. It will be concluded in the next number.

God provided food for Jacob and his family in Canaan, and when that failed, He sent them into Egypt and fed them with the corn that Joseph had stored there. Then Israel went into the desert where there was no food, and God gave them bread from heaven to eat. God gave the corn that grew from the ground as truly, and by as miraculous power, as He gave the manna, and the water from the rock. Men who can see that nature is only God working, will also be able to see back of all providences the ability of God to give direct. The man who sees that it is the Almighty power of God that takes the water from the ground and changes it into wine in a vine, ought also to be able to believe that God can do the same thing in a vessel if need be.

"Our Father, who art in heaven." Who is He?-"He is the living God, and an everlasting King." He is more than a king; He is the King of kings. He is King only of kings; there is no lower rank in His kingdom. Then what does it mean when we call Him our Father?-It means that we claim our birthright as kings. All who receive Christ receive power, the right, to become sons of God. He "loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto the God." Rev. i. 5, 6. Being sons of God, not subjects merely, we must be kings. Do you see what rights and privileges this confers upon you?-It places you "above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion;" and you can begin at once and demonstrate this marvellous authority given you, by controlling yourself. God has given to each one the right and the power to be master, first of himself, then of everything in the universe that would stand in the way of this perfect control over and self. All creation is the inheritance and the servant of the man who knows that he is king solely by virtue of his being a son of the Almighty God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

GIVING

"God's love hath in us wealth upheaped;
Only by giving it is reaped.
The body withers, and the mind,
If pent in by a selfish rind.
Give strength, give thought, give deeds, and give pelf,
Give love, give tears, and give thyself.
Give, and give, be always giving;
Who gives not is not living.
The more we give
The more we live."

In the day that God wipes away tears from off all faces; when the Lord comes to save them that look for Him; when the new heavens and the new earth appear, and the tabernacle of God is with men (Rev. xx. 1-4), this song will be sung: "We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." Isa. xxvi. 1. That is to say, The strength of the walls of the New Jerusalem, to protect its inhabitants from those that come against it (compare Rev. xx. 7-9; Isa. liv. 11-17), will be the saving power of God-the power of the cross. From this we know that every soul that trust in God for salvation is as safe now from every device and assault of Satan as you will be when he is actually in the New Jerusalem. "Blessed be the Lord; for He hath showed me His marvellous loving-kindness and a strong city." Ps. xxi. 21.

The charge that Jesus gives to His disciples is, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." It is "the Gospel of the kingdom," which He Himself proclaimed, that they are commissioned to preach, and nothing else. But it is too often forgot, that this charge is based upon Christ's statement, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." Because of this, He says to us, "Go ye therefore," promising to be with us in every place that we go. This being the case, it is evident that nobody has any right to go without that power. To go forth without the power of Christ,-the power by which He preached and worked,-is presumption; it is not obedience to the Divine command; and whoever does so cannot possibly preach Christ's Gospel. And why should it be thought a hard saying, that no one should presume to go forth without the "all power," when Christ is so anxious that everybody should have the benefit of it?

It would seem as if many scientists and other investigators do not recognise any limit to their own powers of mastering every subject in heaven and earth. An article in a current monthly praises, in an extravagant manner, the scientific work of a young American, who at the age of forty-two delivers himself thus:-

I wanted to go to the bottom of things. I wanted to take life in my hands and play with it. I wanted to handle it in my laboratory as I did any other chemical reactions-to start it, to stop it, to vary it, to direct it at my will."

This modern Canute would no doubt arrest the movement of the sea if he could. Pity that any courtiers are yet found to flatter the vanity of the would-be gods. The greatness of man does not consist in his magnificent pretensions, but in his humble submission to, and co-operation with, the law of his God, whose inner secret he can never surprised.-The Christian.

In printing the time of the setting of the sun on Fridays, and the consequent beginning of the Sabbath, at the very urgent request of some of our readers, we did not think it necessary to state, any more than do the daily papers that give the time of the sun's rising and setting each day, that it applies only to the latitude of London, or more particularly of Greenwich. It was taken for granted that everybody would know that the time varies with the distance either north or south from London.

"God that made the world and all things therein," and who "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth," also gave the commandment, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labour, and do all thy works; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work," etc.; therefore it certainly is possible for men everywhere to tell when the Sabbath comes, and to keep it. The one thing needful is a willing and trustful mind.

July 3, 1902

"The Throne and the King" The Present Truth 18, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

The Coronation Chair shown on this page, as it stands in its place against the wall in Westminster Abbey, though not known as the king's throne, does in reality stand for the throne of Great Britain, hence upon it all monarchs have been crowned since Edward I. Of it we need not speak further here, its history is very well known, and is easily accessible to all; what we are especially concerned with is the greater, more real, and everlasting throne on which the Lord elevates all who follow Him, no matter how lowly their origin: "He raiseth up the 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.

It has repeatedly been shown in these columns that God made man to be king. He crowned him with glory and honour, and put him over the works of His hand, putting everything under his feet, in subjection to him. Men have lost their kinship, "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;" but God's only begotten Son has come into man's place that He might bring many sons back to glory; and it is evident that in bring them to glory He restores the lost dominion, and places them upon the throne.

The promise of Jesus is, "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. Now let us read how "the Man Christ Jesus," "the firstborn among many brethren," was elevated to his position "on the right hand of the Majesty on high," "angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him." We read the Scripture in full. It begins with the Apostle Paul's prayer for us,-

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what 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, and set Him at His own right hand in the 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; and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." Eph. i. 17-23.

It was by the resurrection from the dead that Jesus was raised to the throne of God; but the resurrection is included in the death of the cross; for Paul, who preached Jesus and the resurrection, rigidly confined himself to Christ in Him crucified;

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and Jesus laid down His life only to take it again. Therefore we are justified in saying that it was the cross that elevated Jesus to His high position. This is corroborated by the words which Jesus used in describing the manner of death that He should die: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." John xii. 32.

Not merely did the cross elevate Jesus to the throne of God, but the cross was itself the throne. There were no accidents in Christ's life. All that "Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel" did to Him was no more than what God's hand in and counsel had "determined before to be done" (Acts iv. 27, 28); and therefore the placing of a crown upon His head, and an inscription above it, calling Him king, exactly indicated the rank which He held on the cross. It was a cruel mockery that the crown was placed on the head of Jesus was made of thorns, but it indicated a truth which those who did it did not understand,-that the cross is the throne of God, and the thorny way is the way of glory.

If we recall the figures and descriptions of God's throne, we shall see the cross of Jesus fills all the conditions. Let us take a hasty glance at some of them. The thing for which the ancient tabernacle, and afterward the temple, were especially built, was the ark in which were the tables of the law. This ark symbolised God's throne, for God said to Moses: "There will I meet with thee, and there I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel." Ex. xxv. 22. God dwells between the cherubim. Ps. lxxx. 1.

Again, Mount Sinai, the place of the law, was God's sanctuary when He came down upon it with all His angels. See Ps. lxviii. 17. From that mountain flowed forth, even while it was the embodiment of God's law, a stream of living water for the people. Even so it is with God's throne in heaven (Rev. xx. 1), which is a living throne. See Ezekiel i. This stream came from Christ, the Rock, the living Stone (1 Cor. x. 4), from whom the "pure river of water of life, clear as crystal" springs; for the Lamb slain is in the midst of the throne. Rev. v. 6.

We see that God's throne contains the living law on living stones, and sends forth a stream of life. All this we see in Christ and Him crucified. In His heart was God's law (Ps. xl. 8), and from it flowed the blood and water which, uniting, formed one stream of life. John xix. 34; 1 John v. 7, 8.

Jesus is still the crucified One. It is no mere figure of speech, therefore, when sinners are invited to "come to the cross;" for in obeying the exhortation to "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. iv. 16), we do literally come to the cross of Jesus.

From this we learn that the good old hymn so often sung,

"Nearer my God to Thee,
Nearer to Thee;
E'en though it be a cross
That raiseth me."

expresses the truth, but not the whole truth. It seems to imply that one may get near to God in some other way than by the cross, and that the cross is the way of last resort, whereas it is the only way. "In Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Eph. ii. 13. It is by the blood of Jesus that we have boldness to enter into the holiest, into the secret dwelling place of the Most High. Heb. x. 19. So we may amend the hymn, and sing with glad submission:-

"Nearer my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee;
Although it is the cross
That raiseth me."

Thank God, the cross does place us upon the throne of God, by the side of Jesus Christ; for "you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; . . . and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Eph. ii. 1-6.

God says of His anointed, "His enemies will I clothe with shame; but upon himself shall his crown flourish." Ps. cxxxii. 18. Contrary to all human calculation, the "root out of a dry ground" blossoms and buds, and fills the face of the world with fruit; the crown of thorns blossoms as the rose. Every drop of blood drawn by its sharpness is a fadeless flower, and the dry, unsightly instrument of torture becomes "a crown of glory that fadeth not away."

From all this it appears that the child of God is always on the throne, and can always give thanks to God, who "always causeth us to triumph in Christ." Nothing, not even a defeat at the hands of our enemy, can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Though sin cover us with shame, we may know that all sin and shame are on the cross, and that the cross is the throne, and so out of defeat we win in victory. At these two extremities of His life, both of which were times of absolute helplessness,-when he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger, and when He hung on the cross,-Jesus Christ rightly received the homage due a king; for he was the King. Both the manger-cradle of weakness and the cross of shame, are the throne for the conqueror. The victor over sin is king.

THE KING A SERVANT

The King of kings is "the great Shepherd of the sheep." It is written of the prophet concerning Bethlehem:-

"Out of thee shall come forth a Governor,
Which shall be Shepherd to My people Israel."

The king is the one who feeds the people and his authority is in proportion to the power to serve. It is not usually so in this world, but so it ought to be. Jesus said: "The princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." Matt. xx. 25-28. In proof of this, Jesus, in immediate connection with His being lifted up upon the cross, "knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;" and that He was Master and Lord, washed the feet of His disciples. John xiii. Not only so, but He tells us that when He reigns supreme in the kingdom of glory, and all His faithful followers have been gathered to Him, "He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." Luke xii. 37. The King of kings serves as waiter! There we have proof that the greatest king on earth is the one who does most for his fellow-creatures.

And now just one glance into the future. We read of the New Jerusalem that the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him. Rev. xxii. 3. Of the innumerable company which have come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, we are told, "Therefore are they before the throne

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of God, and serve Him day and night in his temple." Rev. vii. 14, 15. A comparison with the parables in the twenty-fifth of Matthew and the nineteenth of Luke shows that they have entered into the joy of their Lord,-the joy of giving,-and are made rulers over many things, each one having authority according to his ability to serve. God takes His faithful servants and associates them with Himself in the government of the universe, making them ministers of His life; and this shows what is of right our privilege and occupation here, for Christ said, "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." And this, again, shows that believers,-all who are loosed from their sins by the blood of Jesus Christ,-are even now kings and priests and the God. Rev. i. 5, 6.

"The Royal Law. Ex. xx. 12-17" The Present Truth 18, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

(Ex. xx. 13-17.)¹⁴1

Although the law of God is summed up in two great commandments, there is no division in it. "The Lord our God is one Lord," and His law is one law. Just as there is one life, one mind controlling the two hands of the body with their ten fingers, so the ten commandments into which the two great commandments of the law are divided all together form one word, namely, love; "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Gal. v. 14. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. xiii. 10.

Jesus named supreme and undivided love to God as the first and great commandment, and "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," as the second, like unto it. Matt. xxii. 37-39. The Apostle James does not make any invidious dissent when he called this second commandment "the royal law." James ii. 8. On the contrary, it was to show that the second is equal to the first, being of the same nature. There is no ground in Scripture for the common supposition that "the second table," so-called, pertains only to our duty to man, while the first pertains to our duty to God. It is all the same God, and the last six commandments show our duty to God as clearly as do the first four. Whatever we do, we are to do as unto the Lord. When Joseph was tempted to violate the seventh commandment, He said, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? Gen. xxxix. 9. And when David, had been guilty of both murder and adultery, he said to God, "Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight." Ps. li. 4. Nothing but a sense of responsibility to God, and love for Him, can keep us in right relationship to our fellow-men.

The first and great commandment is, "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." This includes the whole being, and all our powers and faculties. Therefore it evidently includes love to our neighbour. That is to say, after loving God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, we can have no love aside from this, wherewith to love our neighbour. Therefore love to our neighbour is part of our love to God, and is proof of it; "for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God who he hath not seen?" 1 John iv. 18. Let us now take a hasty glance at the commandments comprised in this week's lesson.

"Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

This commandment makes it plain to us that the law pertains to eternity. When God spoke this law He was bringing Israel out of Egypt, in fulfilment of His covenant with Abraham, into the land which He had promised him. Now the promise to Abraham was that he should inherit the world through the righteousness of faith (Rom. iv. 13), and he looked not for an earthly, but for an heavenly country. Heb. xi. 16. Therefore we know that the land referred to in this commandment is the "new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter iii. 13.

This commandment, like each one of the others, is "exceeding broad." It includes every act of life. It does not mean merely that little children should be obedient to their parents, but it speaks to old men and youths as well, telling each one not to do a dishonourable thing, but so to act that honour will be reflected on his father and mother, even though they be dead. This fifth commandment, therefore, is equivalent to Christ's words to the young enquirer about the way to eternal life: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."

"Thou shalt not kill."

Here again we have a commandment that touches every act of life. God is our life, and God is love, and "love worketh no ill to his neighbour." The commandment is therefore not negative, but positive. It teaches us that we should lose no opportunity to do good to our fellow-men. Gal. vi. 10. It teaches us also that we must regard our own life as a sacred gift from God, in fact, as a part of God's own life, and must therefore sacredly guard it. A man has no more right to kill himself than he has to kill his neighbour; and to do anything contrary to the principle of life is to sin against God,-to crucify the Son of God afresh. Thus this commandment teaches temperance in eating and drinking, and the doing of everything to the glory of God.

"Thou shalt not commit adultery."

Whoever is faithful to God cannot be faithless to any creature; so the secret of keeping this commandment is loyalty to God. He makes a covenant with His people, as a husband to them (Jer. xxxi. 32), and Paul says that the body of sin, to which we were united, being dead, we are married to another, even to Him that is raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God. Rom. vii. 4. Friendship with the world is enmity against God; and they who are friends of the world are adultresses. James iv. 4, R.V.

"Thou shalt not steal."

The Word of God says to all of us: "Ye are not your own." We have been purchased with the life of Christ, and belong wholly to Him. Our life is not our own; none of the things that we possess are our own; all belong to God. When David

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fled from Saul, and came to the priest, he said to him, "What is under thine hand? Give me five loaves of bread in mine hand." 1 Sam. xxi. 3. We are simply God's stewards; that which we are accustomed to call our own is merely under our hand, for us to take care of it for the Master, and use it in His service. If therefore we use strength and money for our own selfish gratification, we are guilty of embezzlement-of theft. Is it not evident that whoever looks upon things in this light can never rob his fellow-men? The fear, that is, the love of God, is the one thing that keeps men from evil.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

It is not necessary with this commandment either, to enter into subtle niceties, such as the Rabbis set forth, as to what does or does not constitute a violation of it. "Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord." Isa. xliii. 10. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself" (John v. 10); for believing Christ is receiving Him (John i. 12), and thus receiving God. Our sole business in life is to show forth the virtues of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. 1 Peter ii. 9.

We are in this world as representatives of God; for in the beginning God placed man on this earth we ruler for Him, to reveal Him to his fellow-men, and especially to the lower orders of creation. A man is a complete man only when God wholly controls him, and his body is but an instrument for the manifestation of the life of God. He who denies the Lord, refusing to allow His life to control his body, misrepresents Him, and he is moreover a false witness against all human kind, and consequently emphatically a violator of the ninth commandment, in that while professing to be a man, he gives a false representation of what a true man is. Christ is the Truth; and whoever continually confesses Christ in his flesh, cannot be false to any man.

It must be remembered that no one who disbelieves the promises of God is a keeper of this commandment. "He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he hath not believed the record that God gave of His Son." 1 John v. 10. God's record is that in Christ we have the life that cleanses and saves from all sin. Whoever does not believe this, or does not accept it, which is the same thing, charges God with lying; but God cannot lie, and therefore whoever charges God with lying is himself a liar. Of what use is it to profess to be truthful to our fellow-men, when we are bearing false witness against God? An evil speaker shall not be established in the earth (Ps. cxl. 11), but "the lip of truth shall be established for ever." Prov. xii. 10. Therefore "believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established."

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ms, nor anything that is thy neighbour's."

This is the last commandment, completing the circle of the law, which ends where it begins, for covetousness is idolatry. Col. iii. 5. A covetous man is an idolater (Eph. v. 5), because his longing for earthly possessions shows that he does not trust wholly in God. He is trusting in uncertain riches instead of in the living God "who giveth no richly all things to enjoy." 1 Tim. vi. 17.

The tenth commandment embraces the whole, and indicates, more than any other, that "the law is spiritual." The Apostle Paul said, "I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, "Thou shalt not covet." Rom. vii. 7. So whoever keeps this one commandment is sure to keep the whole law. It may truly be said, therefore, that the whole law is summed up in the words, "Thou shalt not covet." The one who really keeps this can say to God, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none on earth that I desire beside Thee." Such an one loves God with such supreme, all-absorbing love that there is no room for any other love. This love to God is but the working of His "everlasting love" that draws us to Him, and makes one with Him. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3. We are not made members of the Royal Family by keeping the law; but, being by the love of the Great King made members of His family, we as a matter of course keep the Royal Law.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Lost Tribes of Israel" The Present Truth 18, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

NONE OF THE TRIBES LOST

That the ten tribes were no more lost after the close of the Babylonian captivity than they were before, is as plain from the Scriptures as that the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were not lost. How does anybody know that these ten tribes were not lost, that is, lost to sight?-By the simple fact that we find reference to them after the captivity; individuals belonging to those tribes are mentioned by name. In the same way we know that the other tribes existed as distinct after the captivity as before.

Not all the people of Israel were carried away to Babylon; the poorest and least prominent were left in their homeland. But the majority of all tribes were taken away, and so in the royal proclamation at the close of the seventy years, the permission to return was universal, as follows:-

"In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem." Ezra i. 1-3.

The permission to return was unlimited, but not all of any tribe took advantage of it. All the tribes, however, were represented; but those that remained were not thereby necessarily lost. A family cannot be said to be "lost" because they live in a foreign country. Later on Artaxerxes in his commission to Ezra wrote: "I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of His priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee." Ezra. vii. 13.

"ALL ISRAEL" REPRESENTED

Immediately following the proclamation of Cyrus we read, "Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem." Ezra i. 5. We know that the services of the sanctuary were re-established, and none but Levites could be employed in them; and in Ezra iii. 10-12 we read that when the foundation of the temple was laid, "they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with symbols to praise the Lord." Even after the resurrection and ascension of Christ, we read of Barnabas, "a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus." Acts iv. 36.

In Luke ii. 36-38 we read of "Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher," who recognised the infant Jesus as the Lord, "and spake of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem."

Here we see representatives of two of the ten tribes that are supposed to have mysteriously disappeared, expressly mentioned by name as dwelling in Jerusalem. It is most certain that a thing cannot be lost when you know exactly where it is.

The other tribes are not specified, but in Ezra ii. 70 we read, "So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the people, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities."

THE TWELVE TRIBES

When the Apostle Paul was on trial for his life, before King Agrippa, he said, "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." Acts xxvi. 6, 7. Here we find that the twelve tribes were in existence in the days of the Apostle Paul, and were looking forward in hope to the fulfilment of the promise which God made to the fathers.

Again, the Apostle James addressed his Epistle "to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad." James i. 1.

We have here sufficient evidence that no one tribe of Israel was ever lost more than another. All tribal distinctions are now lost, and no Jew can tell to which of the twelve tribes he belongs; and so in that sense, not merely ten, but all of the tribes are now lost, although all the twelve tribes are represented in the Jewish people scattered over the earth. God, however, keeps the list, and in the world to come will put every person in his proper place; for the city for which Abraham looked, the capital of the inheritance promised to him and his seed, the New Jerusalem, has twelve gates, and on the gates are "the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel." Rev. xxi. 12.

WHOM THE LORD COUNTS AN ISRAELITE

The last two texts suggest another fact, namely, that God's reckoning of the tribes is not after man's reckoning. "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh upon the heart" (1 Sam. xvi. 7); and "he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; . . . but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart." Rom. ii. 28, 29. All those who are saved will "enter in through the gates into the city" (Rev. xxii. 14), but each of those gates has the name on it of one of the twelve tribes, showing that the saved compose the twelve tribes of Israel. This is evident also from the fact that "Israel" means an overcomer. The Epistle of James is addressed to the twelve tribes, yet there is not a Christian who does not know that its instruction and promises are for him.

ALL "GONE ASTRAY"

And this brings us to the fact that in reality all the tribes are lost, "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. iii. 23. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have burned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. liii. 6); therefore when the Lord Jesus came, He said, "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." At the very moment when He was about to confer a blessing on a poor, despised Canaanitish woman, a descendant of those heathen who inhabited the land before the days of Joshua, He declared, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matt. xvi. 24.

Here at last we have located the lost tribes of Israel. Not ten only, but all of the bribes are lost, so completely lost that the only hope of their salvation is in the death and resurrection of Christ. In this condition we find ourselves, and therefore we can read with delight, as pertaining to us, the promises concerning the gathering of Israel. Whoever acknowledges himself lost, and depends wholly on Jesus for salvation, will surely be saved, and will be numbered among the twelve tribes.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet. All for Jesus" The Present Truth 18, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

Little hands may work for Jesus,
And may do their Maker's will;
Little feet may run for Jesus,
They may do His errands still.

Little lips may sing for Jesus;
Precious tributes they may bring;
They may sing the glad hosannas
To praise of Israel's King.

Little one, oh, love the Saviour;
Give yourself to Him, I pray.
He will willingly receive you;
He will lead you all the way.

"Reverence for Authority a Divine Instinct" The Present Truth 18, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

In these days when on account of the Coronation, the minds of people all over the world are turning, with varying degrees of interest, to the contemplation of royalty, it is well to note that reverence for authority and for people in positions of authority is a natural instinct, that is, an impulse implanted by God Himself. There are not a few people who sneer at the homage paid to kings, and who delight to show, in words at least, there disregard for them, saying, "They are nothing but men, after all." This is true enough, but the Word that tells us to pray especially "for kings, and for all that are in authority," to "be subject to principalities and powers," and to "honour the King," affords no warrant for even that mild form of anarchy that knows no other way of exalting itself than to seek to lower somebody else.

One of the characteristics of "filthy dreamers" who defile the flesh is that they "despise dominions and speak evil of dignities," (Jude 8), whereas even Michael the Archangel would not rail against the devil himself, "the prince of the power of the air," the god of this world. The thing that the Word speaks against is the assumption of authority and lordship,-never the yielding of all the homage to a position of authority, even though it be unworthily filled.

In this connection the following paragraphs from Maetterlinck's "Life of the Bee," are of special interests, as showing loyalty to authority and unselfish fidelity in creatures that have not, like man, cast off allegiance to God:-

"In common with all amateur bee-keepers, I have more than once had impregnated queens sent me from Italy; for the Italian species is more prolific, stronger, more active, and gentler than our own. It is the custom to forward them in small, perforated boxes. In these some food is placed, and the queen enclosed, together with a certain number of workers, selected as far as possible from among the oldest bees imn the hive. It is their mission to feed the queen during the journey, to tend her and guard her. I would frequently find, when the box arrived, that nearly every one of the workers was dead. On one occasion indeed, they had all perished of hunger; but in this instance, as in all others, the queen was alive, unharmed, and full of vigour, and the last of her companions had probably passed away in the act of presenting the last drop of honey she held in her sac to the queen, who was symbol of a life more precious, more vast than her own."

"Though the sting of the bee is always held ready to strike, though they make constant use of it in their fights among themselves, they will never draw it against a queen; now will a queen ever draw hers on a man, an animal, or an ordinary bee. She will never unsheathe her royal weapon curved, in scimitar fashion, instead of being straight, like that of the ordinary bee, save only in the case of her doing battle with an equal; in other words, with a sister queen."

"One may mention here the curious fact that the workers always avoid turning their back on the queen. No sooner has she approached a group than they will inevitably arrange themselves so as to face her with eyes and antenn?, and to walk backwards before her. It is a token of respect or solicitude that, unlikely as it may seem, is nevertheless constant and general."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

Many readers of PRESENT TRUTH have doubtless heard of the removal of Dr. Agar Beet from the chair of theology at the Richmond Wesleyan College, on account of his published views on immortality. As was to be expected, the matter has been the subject of much correspondence, considerable space in each number of the Methodist Times being devoted to it. The following letter that appeared in that paper, June 26, shows that the spirit of the early Reformers,-namely, that of loyalty to God's Word above church or creed,-is not wholly dead among Methodists. We heartily endorse it, and gladly give it a place:-

DEAR SIR,-To my mind a clear recognition of the issues involved-viz., whether man possesses inherent immortality or not-decides the all-important matter whether the Bible, the whole Bible, shall be "understanded," or be a puzzle, an enigma and a distraction. By grasping the initial Bible truth that disobedience involved death (Gen. ii. 12), and further emphasised, after the serpent's subtle suggestion (Gen. iii. 4), categorically (Gen. iii. 12), the scope of God's great salvation in relation to man becomes an absorbing factor, that salvation being no less than a ransom of man from death and the grave (Hosea xiii. 14), and the bestow upon approved ones the gift of the eternal life (Rom. vi. 23). Man, per se, is an heir of death; his life described by the unerring Word as a vapour, and thus, scripturally, a man has no more claim to immortality than a vapour has claim to permanence. Dr. Best deserves well of lovers of the Word for casting away the bondage of the heathen philosophy of the immortality of man. God alone hath immortality (1 Tim. vi. 10). The Spirit Words of God to man require neither embellishment or bolstering from either Egyptian, Assyrian, or Grecian sources. Let God be true though every man be a liar. If a doctrine said to be a fundamental of the faith once delivered to the saints cannot be found in the Bible nor be proved thereby, what account can possibly be rendered to the Lord at His second coming of the presumptuous teaching that man already possesses what the Lord comes to bestow? Maranatha! the time hastens; the Judge is even at the door, and this recent reawakening to the Biblical truth as to immortality as revealed in the Scriptures is a cause of profound thankfulness to those who look for and love the appearing of Christ, who is our life, and who brought life and incorruptibility to light through the Gospel.

In connection with the discussion over Dr. Agar Beet's stand on the question of immortality, a sentiment altogether too common in every denomination has asserted itself very prominently. It is, in short, the sentiment of "denominationalism,"-of adherence to the set views of a certain denomination, rather than to the eternal principles of truth. It reveals itself in such expressions as these, taken from letters in the Methodist Times of June 26: "Is the teaching of Dr. Beet, in his works on 'The Last Things' and 'Immortality of the Soul,' in harmony with our standards as Wesleyan Methodist?" It is said that his views differ from those laid down in "our standards," and it is queried how he can say yes to the question that is asked year after year, "Do you believe and preach our doctrine?" These expressions are not peculiar to Methodists, and we call attention to them in order to bring home to all the truth that they are essentially Papal in their origin, no matter to what denomination the people belong to use them. The only true church is the church of Christ-His body, and the only true standard is God's Word. Christ came into the world to save sinners, and not to found a society. True religion does not consist in adherence to some form of belief, but in keeping unspotted from the world. "Belief in the truth" is indeed necessary to salvation, but only because of the influence of the truth in the sanctification of spirit, soul, and body. Compare 1 Thess. v. 28 and John xvii. 17. Those who talk about "our Church" "our doctrines," "our standards," "our faith," etc., are unconsciously entangled in the meshes of the Papacy, and have in them the seed that under favourable circumstances germinates in the persecution. As there is but one church, so there is but "one faith," namely, "the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ."

In the science column of the Daily Chronicle of June 26, Dr. Andrew Wilson, in noting the death of the imminent physiologists, Adolf Fick of W¸rsburg, calls attention to his work in determining what class of foods produce energy, or the power of doing work. He says:-

"Liebig's views have long held the field. They asserted that are bodily work was done on ultrogenous foods-that is to say, on diet of which beef-juice, white of egg, and like substances are examples. Fick and Wialioauus, as the result of experiments made in their own persons, in their ascent of the Faulhorn mountain, showed that Liebig's views were erroneous, and laid the foundation of the other researches which confirm the results of which they have arrived. They found that the output of ultrogenous waste was practically unaffected by work. This species of waste was not materially increased by the muscular exertion expended in the mountain ascent, whereas waste of another character, non-ultrogenous, was markedly increased as a result of the expenditure of energy. Thus was settled one of the primary facts regarding the use of foods. That we do our work on fat, starch, and sugar is an accepted dictum of dietetic. More, there can be no hard and fast line drawn between the two classes of foods, but the fact remains that it is to the last named substance that we owe our bodily energy."

This is a very important item, and one that ought to be made note of and heeded. Carbonaceous food, that is, fat, starch, and sugar, is that from which we get bodily heat and energy. Now this pure, original fat is found chiefly in nuts, and also in corn; and sugar is best taken in its natural state, that is, in fruits. Thus it appears, and experience has demonstrated, that fruits and nuts, instead of being mere luxuries, are staple articles of diet, and that they are best capable of supporting one while doing the hardest kind of bodily and mental work.

Another point ought not to be overlooked, and that is: Since physical exertion does not result in ultrogenous waste, and food is only for the purpose of repairing waste, it is evident that the free use of ultrogenous food can result only in the accumulation of ultrogenous substance in the body, and its consequent degeneration and the formation of poisons. Thus it is clear that meat-eating, even at the best, must tend to produce disease, and chiefly rheumatism.

At an inquest at Yarmouth on the body of a girl of fourteen, who had committed suicide, the coroner remarked on the terrible frequency of suicide by children nowadays, and said that he could only attribute it to the influence of the miserable trash that is sold in the shape of "penny horribles." Only last week a boy of sixteen was charged at Clerkenwell Police Court with stealing ?142 10s. from his employer, and his mother, who was present, when asked by the magistrate if she knew what made him do it, said that it was "reading foolish books." In his room was found "Dick Turpin" and other stories. Parents ought not only to know what their children are reading, but to know that they are reading that which will tend to produce sound character. It is useless to say that such things cannot be controlled. Parents were alive to a sense of their responsibilities will see that their children early acquire a taste for that which is helpful. This is as much their duty as it is to supply them with wholesome food. The most terrible thing in this world is the fact that people bring children into it, and afterward give them less instruction calculated to fit them for life than the dumb beasts to their young.

The Paris correspondent of the Evening News writes that Colonel Humbert of the French Colonial Artillery has invented an apparatus which, he claims, will make war a practical impossibility. His apparatus, which can be fastened to any weapon, rifle, pistol, or cannon, will, it is claimed, entirely suppress the sound of the report, the flash, and all the smoke. He says it is as effective on a pom-pom or a Maxim as on a small revolver. We dare not deny that it will do all that is claimed for it, except suppress war. Everything is possible in these days, except that. By it war would be made more fearful, but nothing will put an end to it but the coming of the Prince of peace.

The newspapers of Athens have given the details of the dangerous Bulgarian propaganda in that city, and throughout Greece, the avowed object of which is to carry on war against the Greek element in Macedonia. A letter that has been seized by the police reveals the fact that rifles and cartridges had been collected, and asks for a quantity of dynamite for the destruction of Greek schools and churches. It is said that these Bulgarian plotters were concerned in the riots in connection with the translation of the New Testament into modern Greek. Thus the world goes on in its course toward destruction. These fires of discontent that are smoldering in the bosoms of the people are far more to be dreaded than those that caused the eruptions of St. Pierre. It is significant of the nature of anarchy and impatience of restraint and rebellion against the powers that be, that they are connected with hatred of the Bible.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

"God save the King!" has become in these days a prayer indeed, and in no case a formula, as it has been uttered by millions of people. The sudden illness that has endangered the king's life has shown, as in the case of the late Queen Victoria, that loyalty to the throne is no empty sentiment, but a reality, and that reverence for authority is a God-given instinct.

The indefinite postponement of the Coronation, which caused such disappointment and, considering the cause of it, such a shock to millions of people, is but an illustration of the uncertainty of everything earthly. But, thank God, no earthly disappointment can, after all, be real loss. The crown which King Edward would have received on the 26th of June, and which it is earnestly hoped he may yet be spared to wear, is not a real crown, but only a figure of the Crown of Life laid up for all who long for the appearing of Christ. With that there will be no postponement and no disappointment; it will not, like this one, be worn for a few minutes, and then laid aside as too costly and too cumbersome, but will perpetually and to eternity grace the possessor, and witness to his royal authority.

"Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua i. 9.

What a blessed assurance this is! What a comfort to the one who has learned that God is loving and kind, with us, watching over us, and thinking of us, for good, and not for evil, and who therefore does not dread His presence! Wheresoever we go, God is with us; there can be no "untried path," for He has been over the way before us.

Let no one say that this assurance was given to Joshua alone, and that we have no right to apply it to ourselves. God is no respecter of persons. It is from His charge to Joshua that we have the quotation, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Heb. xiii 5), which the Apostle applies without limit. What the Lord says to one, He says to all.

Moreover this promise to Joshua is the very same that Jesus speaks to us all, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matt. xxviii. 20. And He is present with all power in heaven and earth. To the church of Christ to-day, as well as of old, the words apply, "What nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?" There is not a nation on earth that has as much power as is furnished to any single individual who trusts wholly in God. Therefore we may boldly say, "The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto him."

Insincerity is worse for the man who practises it than for the one who is deceived by it, since the one who is insincere insensibly loses his power to be truthful or to discern the truth. For the same reason nobody can afford to indulge in sophistry or to utter a fallacy in order to gain a point, because every time he does so he lessons his ability to appreciate or to use a logical argument. We cannot trifle with principles or with any of our faculties.

"Our Inheritance" The Present Truth 18, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

"In Him we live, and move, and have our being." What comfort, strength, and inspiration, these words contain. When we realise that we are truly "members of His body;" that the life-current flowing through our veins is but the circulation of His life blood through us; that the beating of our heart is but a pulsation from the great heart of God, we can abandon ourselves in perfect peace to His care and control.

Certain of the Greek poets, Paul said, put this grand truth into this following brief sentence: "For we are also His offspring." Think of the meaning of the word "offspring,"-

"Part of His being from Him sent,
A Life to live in body pent,"-

yet never separate from Him, for apart from Him there is no existence. So we have only to yield ourselves to Him as the members of His body, and let Him live His life in us in His way, in order to be "filled with all the fulness of God," that He may make us "perfect in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight."

Infinite power, boundless wisdom, measureless love, are the attributes of the life that animates these bodies of dust. These are our inheritance as sons of God, heirs of the Divine nature, lost in Adam, in whom we "all die," but restored in Christ, in whom we are "made alive." In giving us life God has placed His limitless resources within our reach. "All things," Jesus said, "are possible to him that believeth."

"Faith is an affirmation and an act
That bids eternal truth be fact."

"Every day is a fresh beginning. " What a comfort to know this. God wakes that we may sleep; and His tender, loving care and forgiving kindness are shown in that He keeps the heart beating and brieathes the breath of life into our nostrils moment by moment while we are unconscious. So as we wake from the sleep which is the image of death, we should consider our coming to consciousness with the new day as a resurrection to a new life. His love banishes care and weariness and sadness in sleep, and that is the pledge that He has also removed the sins of the preceding day. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed; because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness."

"David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers." David was king, but he was also servant, and he was king because he was servant. He was chosen to be king, but just because he was a faithful keeper of sheep. And let no one forget that he was king, the anointed of the Lord, long before he left the sheepfolds. While but a shepherd lad, God sent His prophet to anoint him because he was even then king. So we know that the king is the one who serves his generation by the will of God, even though it be in the humblest capacity. Whoever can do one thing that is of use to others, no matter how small it may be, and who does it well and faithfully, is king indeed.

July 10, 1902

"'For His Name's Sake.' Gen. xxxii. 1-35" The Present Truth 18, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

(Gen. xxxii. 1-35.)¹⁵1

The twenty-third Psalm-the Shepherd Psalm-is one of the best-known portions of the Bible; yet, as is the case with all Scripture, few, if any, who repeat the familiar passages of this psalm over and over, comprehend the depth of meaning they are designed to convey. The words, "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake" are wonderfully illustrated in the dealing of God with the people who made and worshipped the golden calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the tables of the law which forbids such worship, and which the people had heard spoken but a few days before. When we remember that God is the "Shepherd of Israel," (Ps. lxxx. 1), and that He was leading His people "like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron," (Ps. lxxvii. 20) through the Red Sea and the desert, we can in reading the thirty-second chapter of Exodus, especially verses 7-14, see how strikingly these words apply: "The Lord is my Shepherd; . . . He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

A more flagrant insult than that which the Israelites offered to God can scarcely be imagined. He had delivered them from cruel bondage, and overthrown their oppressors in a manner that left no room for doubt that the Almighty God alone had accomplished it. The people themselves had done nothing to contribute to the wonderful deliverance, and could not have accomplished anything if they had tried; and the marvellous distinctions that are placed between the Israelites and the Egyptians in the matter of the plagues showed clearly that they did not happen" in the ordinary course of nature;" God had said to them, "I bear you on eagle's wings and brought you unto Myself" (Ex. xix. 4); "in all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old." Isa. lxiii. 9. Yet, in the face of all this they said to Aaron, "Up, make us gods [literally, God] which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him."

Mark how the people repudiated God. They gave Him no credit whatever for carrying them from bondage to freedom, from danger to safety; and, moreover, in the place of the God who bore them in His arms, they were content to have a god of their own making, which should go before them. So "they made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt, wondrous things in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea." Ps. cvi. 19-22.

434

It must have been in bitter irony that Aaron said to them when the golden calf was made, "These thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt;" but the people in their blindness saw no incongruity in it; and when Aaron built an altar before it, and made a proclamation and said, "To-morrow is a feast to the Lord," "they rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play,"-not the simple, innocent games of childhood, but the rude, coarse, boisterous, lascivious and indecent revellings of the heathen. In later times the Christians at Corinth, who had formerly been heathen, turned the Lord's Supper into a drunken revel, after their former heathen custom when worshipping their dumb idols (1 Cor. vi. 17-22); and from this we get a glance at what the Israelites did before their idol. It was a shameful performance in itself, and much more so when done in the name of Jehovah; for the calf was not another god before God, but the professed worship of God under the form of a beast. This was really a worse insult than direct repudiation of God.

"Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His servant stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He should destroy them." Ps. cvi. 23. How did Moses stand in the breach, and turn away the wrath of God from Israel? What arguments did he use? what plea did he make? Did he tell the Lord how good the people had been, and plead that this was a "first offence"? Did he promise on their behalf that if He would only spare them this time they would "never do it again"? No; for neither of those things would have been true. Here is the plea of Moses for the sinful people:-

"And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever." Ex. xxxii. 11-13.

"His oath, His covenant, and blood,
Support me in the whelming flood."

When God made a promise, He confirmed it by an oath, swearing by Himself, "that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for a refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us." Heb. vi. 13, 17, 19. It was not for Abraham's encouragement, but for ours, that God hath sworn by Himself, pledging His honour and His life for our salvation. His name is in Christ, and this is why we pray "in the name of Jesus," for "the sake of Jesus," or "for Thy name's sake." That ought to be with us something more than a mere form of speech. It is our recognition of the fact that we shall obtain mercy from God as surely as He lives; that, having pledged His honour, God is under obligation, not to us, but to Himself, to save us from our sins, if we are only willing that He should.

But a little while before the making of the golden calf the people had made a covenant; promising to obey the Lord (see Ex. xix. 1-9; xxiv. 3-8); but that covenant was not once mentioned as a ground for pardon. There was no pardon in it or because of it. Indeed, that covenant could have no effect except to tend to prejudice the case of the people; for the fact that they had broken their promise only aggravated their guilt. But there was, even as there is yet, forgiveness in and through God's own promise, and in nothing else; and this promise had been made long before. The covenant made with Abraham is our plea in coming to God.

Here is a lesson for all time, which, if heeded, will save us from despair when we fall into sin. God's promise stands fast, and cannot be made of none effect by our sin, no matter how great it is, because it was given with special reference to that. We may always say, with Daniel, "We do not present our supplications before Thee for our righteousnesses, but for Thy great mercies." Daniel ix. 18. "Though we believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself." 2 Tim. ii. 13. If we may say,

"I give up every plea beside-
Lord, I have sinned, but Thou hast died."

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. iv. 16. How boldly may we come? Moses gives us an example. We must plead God's own honour, not that there is danger that He will forget it, but in order to "assure our hearts before Him;" for when we say, "for Thy name's sake," we at once see that God would never allow His name to be dishonoured by breaking His word, and so we rest securely on His promise.

We find a similar case of boldness in approaching to God, in Jer. xiv. 7, 20, 21. Israel had sinned worse than the heathen that had been cast out of the land before them, and the prophet said: "O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do Thou it for Thy name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against Thee." "We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against Thee. Do not abhor us, for Thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of Thy glory; remember, break not Thy covenant with us."

Think of a mere man daring to use such language to God! At first it seems presumptuous almost to insolence; but when we consider everything we see that it is not, but that, on the contrary, it is the strongest plea that humble faith could prompt. We can do no greater honour to God than to believe that He will perform the mercy that He has promised, and boldly to claim anything for which His name stands pledged. It is the violent that take the kingdom of heaven. Let none therefore be disheartened because they have made shamefulf failures, but press close to the Lord's throne of grace and righteousness, "strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might."

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Law Unchangeable" The Present Truth 18, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

"A minister recently told me that the Fourth Commandment is not in force now, because when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the tables of the law in his hands, and saw the Israelites worshipping the golden calf, he threw the tables down, and broke them in pieces. What do you think of this?"

I think that the minister stopped reading the Bible too soon. He should have read at least two chapters farther before he stopped. It is to Exodus xxxii. 12 that we read that "it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount;" but in Ex. xxxiv. 1-4 we read:-

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first; and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. . . . And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone."

In Deut. x. 1-5, we have the story told more in detail, thus:-

"At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me."

The fact that men of intelligence are driven to put forward such "arguments" against the Sabbath, as the one referred to, speaks volumes. From that objection, which is by no means a new one, we can see the necessity of knowing all the Word, and not merely a few detached fragments of it.

As a matter of fact, however, the breaking of the tables of the law by Moses had not the slightest effect on the law itself, and would not have even if the Lord had not written the law again on other tables. "For until the law sin was in the world; and sin is not imputed when there is no law." Rom. v. 13. The law of God existed in full force before it was spoken from Mount Sinai, just as much as it did afterward. God did not at that time tell the people anything new, but only "that which was from the beginning."

God is not making, and has never made, new laws for His people. Nay, more. He has never made a law at all. The law that He has commanded-for there is really but one,-is only the declaration of His own eternal, unchangeable life. "God is love;" that is His life; and His law is love; consequently His law is His life. Now God is; His name is I AM; and therefore His law is from everlasting to everlasting. He does not arbitrarily impose laws on men. It is not with God's Government as with earthly governments. Earthly law-makers get together and devise and plan, and with much discussion make and issue laws, which never do and never can work equal and exact justice to all, and which afterwards must needs be revised and amended, or even abolished. But God is not a law-maker. He is the law-giver. He does not devise laws, but simply commands that which is, and gives it to men, putting it into their hearts. He does not require His subjects to conform their lives to a law which He has arbitrarily fixed; but He makes known to them the conditions on which life depends; in short, He tells them what life is, setting before them life itself, that they may take it.

Thus there can be no talk about changing or abolishing God's law. "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail" said Christ. Luke xvi. 17. Men have thought to stamp God's Word out of existence, by burning all the Bibles; but their efforts have been as effective as if they had tried to blot the sun out of existence by putting blinds before their windows, or to abolish the weather by breaking all the thermometers and barometers. The weather does not depend on those instruments, which simply make its state known; and God's Word does not depend on any written statement of it. It existed before there was any Bible, and it will remain, for ever exalted in heaven, when all the books on earth, including the Bibles, shall have been burned up in the fires of the last day.

Christ is the living Stone, and in His heart is the law of God. Only a shadow of the law appears in books or on tables; the real law is alive. The two tables of law-the heart of Christ-were also broken; but even that did not put an end to the law, for He died only to live again. His heart on which the law is written, was broken, in order that the law might issue forth to us in a stream of light. This is the real law-giving. Thus by His stripes we are healed from all sin,-transgression of the law,-because the Sun of righteousness never sets. But arises with healing in His wings. His life, as we accept it and yield to it, works in us the righteousness of law; and because the law of life is eternal we also have life eternal.

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." Enoch walked with God, and had the testimony that he pleased God. If it was possible for him then, it must also be possible for us now to walk with God and to please Him. The way for us to please God is to keep His commandments by faith in Christ Jesus, and then whatsoever we ask we shall receive of Him. Shall we not seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all things that our Heavenly Father sees we have need of shall be added unto us?

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

The goat has always been one of the animals most useful to man. We read of it in the Bible from the very earliest times.

In its natural state the goat lives a free life among the rocks and mountains. It skips lightly from rock to rock, and leaps down very steep places without getting hurt. We are told that God has made "the high hills" to be "a refuge for the wild goats." He thinks of the animal and provides for the needs of every animal that He has made.

Flocks of goats were very early kept by man because of the many ways in which they were useful to him. In the present that Jacob gave to Esau there were two hundred and twenty goats. In those days people made their homes in tents covered with a goat skins. The milk, which is weak and nourishing, was used for drinking and for making a kind of butter that was given to travellers who stopped at the tents to rest, as it was thought to be refreshing.

The flesh of the young goats, which are called kids, was used for food. It was this that Rebecca used to make "savoury meat" for Isaac.

When a water bottle was wanted, a kid of the goats was taken, its head and feet cut off, the animal drawn out of the skin, the openings tied up, and the bottle was then ready for use.

"Parasite Fights Parasite" The Present Truth 18, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Those students of nature who are perplexed and sometimes dismayed as they

"in this fair world
See some destroying principle abroad,
Earth, air, and water full of living things
Each on the other preying."

will find food for thought in the following extract from a recent daily:-

"Great alarm has been caused in the province of Foggia, one of the most important wine-producing centres in Italy, by the appearance of an insect-the otiorhyncus-which destroys the leaves and shoots of the vines. Over two hundred acres of valuable vineyards have already been destroyed by this pest. Fortunately another insect, the colusimus, which feeds on the former, has providentially appeared on the scene in vast numbers."

The keeping of nature's balance in this sin-cursed earth seems to require the destruction of myriads of one species by those of another, which in their turn become the prey of others. Thus "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together," waiting for the manifestation of that full redemption which its Creator has accomplished by his Cross. Then universal harmony will be everlastingly restored, and "they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord."

"Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice;
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;
Let the field exult, and all that is therein;
Then shall all the trees of the woods sing
for joy;
Before the Lord, for He cometh;
For He cometh to judge the earth."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

The July issue of The Herald of Peace states that the "normal" annual expenditure on the British Army and Navy is ?81,905,000, while that of France is ?38,130,000; that of Russia, ?42,006,000; and that of Germany, ?31,976,000, thus it appears that Great Britain spends more on war preparation than any other two nations, and nearly twice as much as the greatest expenditure by any other country in the world. Yet comparatively few ask or think what the end of this is to be.

It is a mistake to suppose that all "carnivorous animals" always prefer flesh food to any other kind. A correspondent of the Daily Mail writes to that paper that he has six English cats, and that two of them prefer vegetables to other food. Three of them, he says, prefer water to milk, and will not drink cream. This is not so wonderful, remember that the taste for animal food is an acquired one, even for the carnivorous, since in the beginning there was no provision made for the destruction of one creature by another; and all animals lived on green herbs alone.

Considerable indignation has rightly been expressed over the discovery of the wanton slaughter of some of the pigeons that flock about the Guildhall, by early morning prowlers. The Westminster Gazette, expressing the hope that the police will be able to stop the practice, says:-

"The bird of London, particularly the pigeons, are a great pleasure to many. Even the wood pigeon, which is so wary in the country, has thrown aside all fear in London, in his confidence that no one will hurt him. This confidence deserves respect, and merits protection."

Very true; but the same thing applies equally well to the hundreds of pheasants that are butchered to make an English holiday, and also to all domestic animals. Even the wild creatures would lose their wildness if their confidence in man were not so frequently and so basely betrayed.

Great alarm is felt throughout Western India at the continued absence of the monsoon. The drought is attributed by meteorologists to the Martinique eruptions; but inasmuch as the unseasonable storms in Europe were attributed to the same thing, ordinary people may simply consider the fact that the drought is there, even as it is in Australia. People seem to feel so much better satisfied with a calamity if they can only name some "cause" for it; and the reason for this is that it relieves them of the necessity of seeing God's agency in the affair. In the ordinary operations of nature, if God allows us to see something of His method of working; and in the world to come we shall see and comprehend infinitely more; but in this world is often necessary for him to perform what men call "miracles," in order that man may be reminded that they do not know everything.

From his sick bed, to which he has for some time been confined, Dr. Parker sent the following message to the Free Church gathering in the City Temple last week:-

"If I rise again, and am permitted to lift my voice in public, I shall be more intensely and pathetically evangelistic than ever. If I were speaking as a literally dying man, I would exhort my brethren never to omit an opportunity of declaring the infinite grace and complete priesthood of Jesus Christ."

That is a theme broad enough to employ all the talent of the greatest and most learned men that the world has ever known; and it is inexhaustible.

Writing in defence of "tight-lacing," a woman who signs herself "A Lover of Stays," says that "there is no doubt that a small waist is a great attraction." If this be so, it is only because of the artificial standard of beauty prevalent among those who have not considered the perfection of God's handiwork. Among certain savage African tribes, and artificially enlarged and extraordinarily thickened upper-lip is "a great attraction;" and in China a tiny, cramped, useless foot is indispensable. In reality, the pinched foot is just as "attractive" as the pinched waste; but both are very repulsive to everybody whose taste is unperverted, or who has been educated by the standard of truth.

We refer to the controversy in the Wesleyan body over Dr. Beet's book on the question of immortality, and have quoted quite extensively from some of the correspondence; but the importance of the case justifies all the attention we give it. The following letter, signed John V. Jewinson, in the Methodist Times of July 3, is very suggested:-

"The all-important question is, do the Scriptures teach the natural immortality of the soul, and further, is it a vital doctrine of Methodism? Speaking as a local preacher of thirty years standing, I accepted the doctrine without question because it was part of the Methodist creed. Is it not therefore probable that the fathers of the Church, including Wesley, did the same? i.e., they assumed it because it was taught in the church and not questioned. But when you begin to seek for proof it is difficult to find; at least, I think so. I will refer you to the writings of one who is an authority and whose works are considered to be standard works in our Church, I mean Rev. Richard Watson, see the four-volume edition of his "Institutes." On page ninety-one, volume three, he says, 'and that the soul is naturally immortal is contradicted by Scriptures, which makes our immortality a gift dependent on the will of the Giver.' Therefore, if it be true that Watson's 'Institute's' be a standard of Methodist theology, and that he as an expert has fully considered the question and arrived at the above conclusion, then Dr. Beet in answer to the question, 'Does he believe and teach our doctrines?' can truly answer in the affirmative, and I hope that the Conference in its collective wisdom will confirm this view and give individual liberty and the interpretation of Scriptural teaching when such is not vital either to the interests of our Church or to the salvation of sinners."

The wonder is that one who admits that what the Scriptures teach is "the all-important question," could be content to accept any doctrine without question, simply because was part of a church creed. As Dr. Carson, in his work on baptism, well says: "With respect to religious doctrines and institutions, there is no antecedent probability that those in existence at any time are actually in Scripture. The vast majority of religious rites used under the Christian name are the mere invention of man; and not a single institution of the Lord Jesus, as it is recorded in the New Testament, has been left unchanged; and it is no injustice to put each of them to the proof, because, if they are in Scripture, proof is at all times accessible." This being true, it follows that nobody has any Christian right to fix a standard of faith, and then put the question, "Do you believe our doctrines?" The very question indicates the Papacy, and suggests the Inquisition.

The Daily Mail's special German Commissioner, writing of the efficient navy which the Emperor has built up, describes Prince Henry's thorough seamanship, and says: "He has been more at sea than any officer of his standing in the German Navy. He works harder than if he worked for his living." That is true royalty, and as may be shared by the poorest peasant as well as by the one whom the world calls "prince." The man who "works for a living" is the veriest slave imaginable; it is the man who works because he has a living,-because he has life from God,-who is the king indeed. Such an one will always work harder than the one who "works for his living," and the quality of his work will be as much better than that of the drudge as the free man is better off than the slave. If "Labour Unions" would but inculcate this truth they might be blessings indeed; and if "the laboring for classes" would work from this basis they would be the rulers of the earth.

The doubly misnamed doctrine of "Christian Science" was never more accurately or graphically set forth than by Pandita Ramabal in a recent number of the British Medical Journal as follows:-

"The same philosophy has been taught among my people for four thousand years. It has wrecked millions of lives, and caused immeasurable suffering and sorrow in my land, for it is based on selfishness and knows no sympathy or compassion. It means just this: the philosophy of nothingness. You are to view the whole universe as nothing but falsehood; you are to think it does not exist; if you do not exist; I do not exist; the birds and bees that you see do not exist. When you realise that you have no personality whatever, then you have attained the highest perfection of what is called 'Yoga,' and that gives you liberation, and you are liberated from your body, and you become like him without any personality. You draw on the blackboard a zero, you add a zero, multiplied by zero, divide by zero, and it equals zero. It is just like that, nothing more."

Both sin and disease are terrible realities, and they require a very real remedy. Thank God an amply sufficient remedy for both is found in the pure life that flows from the cross of Christ.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

"Let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, was what the Lord said to Moses when Israel had "sinned a great sin;" but Moses did not let him alone; he only pleaded the more earnestly for them. It is evident that Moses did not regard these words as a positive command, for if he had, he would have obeyed. On the contrary, he understood them to mean that as long as there was any plea to be made in their behalf God could not destroy them. What assurance this is to us, not simply as to our own salvation, but as to the salvation of others. If we plead God's promise for them, he cannot cast away. So this incident is but an illustration of Isa. xii. 6, 7: "I have set watchmen upon my walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day nor night; ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, take ye no rest, and give him no rest, till he establish and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth."

It was a most tempting offer that God made to Moses, when he said of Israel: "Let me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation." What an honor that would have been to Moses: to be actually the head, the father of a great nation,-to have a people called by his name. Moreover, it would have relieved Moses of a great load of care and responsibility. How natural it would have been to seize upon the opportunity! But Moses had more regard for the honour of God, than for his own. He would rather that the people should be called by the Lord's name, than by his; and he remembered that God had promised to make a great nation of Abraham: and he would not allow any consideration of personal ease or honours to stand in the way of the fulfillment of God's covenant. That was the unselfish faithfulness of Christ.

But we must not for this was "written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." We sometimes think that God is discouraged with us, and tired of our slowness and hardness of heart, and that He is about to cast us aside, if He has not already done so. We say that it would be easier for God to make entirely new men out of the original materials, than to make us new. Now this may be true; but we must remember that God does not necessarily always do the easiest thing, but that He always does the best thing. There is more glory to Him in restoring the soul of a sinner than in making a new man out of the dust of the ground; and since He has formed us for His glory, it is evident that is what He will do. "He shall not fail nor be discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth."

Moses said to God, concerning the people in the wilderness: "Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?" Now we must not suppose that Moses put something into the Lord's mind that He had not already thought of, nor that Moses had more interest in the people than the Lord had. No; the unselfish solicitude of Moses for the salvation of the people was but a reflection of the love of God that had been shed abroad in his heart by the Spirit of God. So instead of imagining that we must break down God's prejudices against us, and beg Him to deal favorably with us, we may be "confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil. i. 6. To the prayer that God will sanctify us wholly, the assurance is, "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."

We are glad to learn that the Hampstead Free Church Council has begun a campaign against the militarism that is promoted and fostered by the Boys' Brigade. It is stated that in its inception it had no reference to militarism; but however that may be, it is evident that the military authorities are encouraging it in view of its future contribution to the army. We fear that it is now too late to make any headway against the evil. Dr. Paton of Nottingham, has effected the organization of a "Boys' Life Brigade," as an effort, which is devoted to giving the boys drill in the art of saving life from fire, drowning, etc. It is truly claimed that the Brigade will secure all that was despised by the founders of the other, namely, habits of obedience, promptness, discipline, reverence, and "all that tends towards true Christian manliness," without the objectionable military features; but it is to be feared that it will not prove an adequate counter attraction. The military passions once aroused, is not so easily allayed.

"Longing for Christ's Appearing" The Present Truth 18, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

It is to be feared that much of the longing for Christ's coming to bring a better state of things proceeds from an unworthy motive. We suffer from bodily ills, we are overpressed by work and care, disappointed in our plans, deceived by false friends, or appalled by war and calamities, and we sigh, and say, "Oh, that the Lord would come, and put an end to all these things!" It needs no long reflection to enable us to see that such a desire is wholly selfish. And not prompted by the only motive that is worthy, namely, love for Christ.

The Apostle Paul speaks of the crown of righteousness that is to be given not only to him, but "to all them all love His appearing." The perfect Christian will have such a knowledge of Christ that His presence alone will make happiness for him, no matter what his condition or surroundings. "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee," is the language of his soul. The presence of the Lord Jesus makes heaven for him on earth, and makes peace in the midst of tumult and tribulation. He tastes the powers, and experiences the joy, of the world to come; and being "abundantly satisfied" with the fatness of God's house, it is evident that he cannot long for the Lord's coming, merely that he himself may be benefited.

Moreover, "none of us liveth to himself." Our concern is not to be our own salvation, but the salvation of others. We should certainly long for Christ's coming, that sin and strife and sorrow may cease, but this should be with reference to others, and not on our own account. So let us not be childishly impatient, but lovingly longing, when to His words, "Surely I come quickly," we respond, "Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus."

July 17, 1902

"The Tabernacle of Witness. Ex. xl. 1-8" The Present Truth 18, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

(Ex. xl. 1-8.)¹⁶1

In his talk before the Jewish council, when he was on trial for his life, Stephen 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." Acts vii. 44. It is in the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus that we find this given; and clearly the remainder of that book is devoted to the description of the tabernacle its furniture, and the service pertaining to it.

The principal article in the tabernacle was the ark containing the tables of the law, the ten commandments. It was called "the ark of the testimony," for the commandments are frequently called the testimonies of God. Testimony is witness, and the law is called the testimony, because it is a witness of God's presence. "Love is the fulfilling of the law," and "God is love," therefore law is God's life. So the tabernacle that contained the witness, or the testimony, was called "the tabernacle of witness."

It was from above the ark of the testimony, between the cherubim that were upon it, that God said He would meet with Moses and commune with him of all things that He would give him in commandment unto the children of Israel. Ex. xxv. 22. And it was there that the glory of God was specially manifested. In Ps. lxxx. 1, we read: "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth." And when Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, threatened to destroy Jerusalem, Hezekiah the king, in his extremity, went up into the house of the Lord, and spread Sennacherib's defiant and blasphemous letter before the Lord; "and Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubim, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow down Thine ear and hear." 2 Kings xix. 14-16.

It is in Exodus xxv. 8 that we find the reason why the tabernacle was built. God told Moses to have the people bring offerings of gold, silver, and brass, fine linen, etc. and said, "Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." In one sense this was a great honour; for, as Moses said, "What nation is there so great, that hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?" Deut. iv. 7. Yet when we consider the matter further, the command to build the sanctuary, together with the statement of the reason why it was to be built, is one of the most sorrowful things to be found in the Scriptures. "Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them!" What a sad thing! that God's people, whom He had delivered

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from bondage for the express purpose of dwelling not simply among them, but in them, had to have a house made with hands in order that His glory might be seen among them. Thus the Tabernacle was at once a witness of God's presence and of the unfaithfulness of the children of Israel.

"The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands." "Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool; where is the house that ye build unto Me? and where is the place of My rest? for all these things hath My hand made." It is evident that the tabernacle built by Moses could not be the real dwelling-place of God, and every Jew ought to have been impressed by that truth every time he looked at it. Solomon knew it well, for at the dedication of the temple that he built, which was far larger and grander than the first tabernacle, he said, "Will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have builded." 1 Kings viii. 27. What then is God's dwelling-place? He Himself indicated it when, after asking, "Where is the place that ye build unto Me? and where is the place of My rest?" He said, "But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word." "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. The human body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. 1 Cor. vi. 19. This is the true dwelling-place of God.

When Jesus was asked for proof of His divine mission, He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up." At that very time He was standing in the Jewish temple, and although He made no explanation, He expected the people to understand that, "He spake of the temple of His body." So evident is it that the human body, and no man-made building, is the temple of the Lord, that the Jews ought to have understood His meaning without any explanation. He was the temple indeed, because the law of God was within His heart (Ps. xl. 8), not in dead characters, but as the Spirit of Life, in the Living Stone. Therefore it is that He is "the faithful and true witness." To us the Lord says, "Ye are My witnesses, and My servant whom I have chosen." "I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange god among you; therefore ye are My witnesses, and My servant whom I have chosen." "I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange god among you; therefore ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God." Isa. xliii. 10, 12. When the Lord is given full possession of His temple-His people-then they also, as well as Christ, are His witnesses to the world.

When Moses erected the tabernacle, "then the cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." Ex. xl. 34, 35. Even so it was at the dedication of Solomon's temple: when Solomon had made an end of praying, "the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house." 2 Chron. vii. 1, 2. That was a representation of how it should be with God's people, His real temple. Thus it was with Christ, for "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The people saw the glory of the Lord upon the house (2 Chron. vii. 3), at the dedication of the temple. The Lord says to His people, "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." And even as the Lord said, "My house shall be called an house of prayer for all nations," so will it be with His true temple, His people, when their bodies are dedicated to Him. For He says, "The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." "And nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified thee."

There are marvellous opportunities and privileges for men who will take them! "Eye hath 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." It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth, and when the Spirit fills men they have power to be tabernacles of witness. There was no man in the tabernacle when the glory of God filled it; even so when Christ, the quickening Spirit, dwells in the heart by faith, and we are, according to the riches of His glory, "filled with all the fulness of God," self will disappear, and He that abibeth between the cherubim will shine forth.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Privileges and Possibilities of Humanity" The Present Truth 18, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

"Why did God create me, that I should come into the world to be lost, if I do not obey His laws? Why are all the millions brought into the world to suffer and be lost? Why did God create the angels so that they could sin?"

I apprehend from these questions that you think you would much prefer that God had brought you into this world incapable of sinning; but I am sure that when you give the matter real thought you will be perfectly satisfied that it is as it is.

God could have made you so that you could not sin, but it would not have been you; it would have been something else far different. God has made many things that cannot sin, as, for instance, trees and stones; would you prefer to be like them? Would you not rather be a thinking man than an inanimate thing? Would you not far rather be a human being, with all the responsibilities of a human being, than to be even the most intelligent beast? There are wonderful possibilities in humanity,-wonderful privileges,-but there is never any great gift without corresponding responsibility. One does not commit priceless treasures to irresponsible creatures.

But know, and let everybody else know, that God never created anybody to sin. He never brought anybody into existence to be lost. Read the following words every day, until they are so firmly fixed in you mind that you could not forget them if you should try:-

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Eph. i. 3-6.

"God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thess. v. 9. "We are bound to give thanks always 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. And He is "no respecter of persons," singling out some to be saved, and others to be lost; but He will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Tim. ii. 4.

If God's purpose were carried out, not a soul would ever be born into the world, except with the certainty of everlasting life. It never was, and is not now, His will that children should be brought into the world for destruction, although since the base and profligate, as well as the righteous, have the power of reproduction, there are millions brought into the world, who would have been better off if they had never been born; yet even these have an equal chance for salvation with the children of godly parents.

God's laws are not arbitrary; they are not rules which He has thought out, and then imposed on His creatures; they are simply His life-His nature. Would you prefer to live in a world of chance?-a world where no one could ever tell beforehand what would be the result of any act? Would you like, for instance, to have the world so ordered (or, rather, so disordered) that fire would be as likely to freeze your potatoes as to bake them? Would you like to have it so that you could never know when you stepped on the ground whether it would bear you up, or let you drop into the abyss below? Do you not think that it is a great advantage to have things so regulated that you can know what to depend on, and can always be sure that definite results will follow certain causes?

You wonder why God made you so that fire would give you pain if you thrust your hand into the blaze; well, suppose it would not; would you like to have it so that it would not warm you? Will you blame Him because you are ill if you overeat? Would you ask, "Why does He give us things to eat, so that we can thus injure ourselves?" You do no need to overeat, and it is certainly a great blessing to be allowed to enjoy food.

Can you not see from these questions that law is that by which the universe exists-that it is simply life? and that the possibility of deliberately choosing to dispense with life, by going contrary to it,-which is transgression,-means also the possibility of infinite and ever-increasing bliss with God? The fact that we have been created to be companions of God Himself, and sharers of His Government. We share with God the Divine right of choice,-of perfect freedom of will. It is a glorious heritage.

It is an indescribably blessed privilege, to be linked with Divinity by living cords-to be children of the Highest. It is with the deepest reverence, and with a heart too full of gladness for utterance, that I say that we have equal privileges with God. I do not say that we have equal wisdom and power, but that we-all mankind-have equal privileges. God has not reserved anything for Himself exclusively, but has made us sharers of every blessing in equal measure with Himself; and though we are necessarily inferior to Him in power and wisdom, all His wisdom and power are at our service; for He lives only for us; and Jesus Christ, who is "the power of God, and the wisdom of God," is "of God made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 Cor. i. 24, 30.

When you feel like complaining because you were born a child of Adam, subject to sin, remember that the genealogy of Jesus Christ as the Son of God is traced through Adam. Luke iii. 23-38. Read that list of names, and then look up the characters of some of the men in the list. They were the ancestors of Christ, yet He preserved His soul pure, because He kept in immediate touch with the Father of all. We may do the same; for He has taught us to say, "Our Father, which art in heaven;" and we know that as "we are His offspring," "in Him we live, and move, and have our being." He is able to do for us "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according

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to the power that worketh in us." Eph. iii. 20. "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." 2 Peter i. 3.

When you are considering your ancestry, and mourning because you were born of sinful parents, do not leave out of the account the fact that God is the first of your line, and that He is infinitely greater than all your other ancestors combined; and thus His life is infinitely more powerful than theirs. Then why not rejoice that the righteous God, the everlasting King, the Almighty Creator and upholder of the universe is your ancestor, rather than mourn because there are a few feeble, sinful mortals in the line? You can inherit from God direct, without any reference whatever to your earthly parents, if you choose.

Have you never heard of what is called "atarism"? If you have not heard the word, you have certainly seen the thing. It means, literally, "pertaining to a great-grandfather," and is used to describe the skipping of several generations in the transmission of family characteristics. Thus, a child may have a great gift for music, although the parents know nothing of it, and have no appreciation of it; but it will be found that some more remote ancestor was a musician. The child inherits some things directly from his grandfather or great-grandfather, and not at all from his parents. Well, everything in nature is but an illustration of some phase of grace: and here we find that our heirship from God is part of that natural order of things of which we sometimes so thoughtlessly complain. The new birth is, if you please, an example of atarism-all the generations between us and God are skipped, and "we are made partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." God, however, is not by any means a "remote ancestor." He is "not far from every one of us." He is our immediate Parent, nearer to us than those we call our parents on earth: for a mother can forget ever her sucking child, but He cannot forget us. "In Him we live."

Is it not simply glorious, and gloriously simple? Come, let us rejoice together that God has made us just as He has, and that even our heaviest affliction is light and "but for a moment," and "worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" for nothing can be against us, since God is for us. "Of His own will begat He us with the words of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures."

"Children's Corner. The Building of the Ark" The Present Truth 18, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

After man sinned and was cast out of Eden, God no longer met and talked with him face to face as before. Yet He left not Himself without witness in the earth. Think of all that we learned in the first chapter of Genesis about His wonderful works that tell os Him and show that He is still with us.

Yet men forgot God, because they were not thankful to Him for His goodness. And they made images of themselves, and of beasts, and creeping things, and worshipped these instead of God. so they grew more and more wicked, until all the thoughts of their hearts "were only evil continually."

Yet God always had in the earth a few who loved and served Him. These were the salt of the earth; their good influence kept the world from going to destruction. But at last there was only one true servant of God in all the earth,-Noah, the grandson of Methuselah, and great-grandson of Enoch.

In the book of Hebrews we are told that "by faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world."

The ark that Noah built at God's command was a warning to the world. It told the people that the flood was coming, so that all who would might come to God and seek for refuge.

All the time that Noah was building the ark-one hundred and twenty years-he preached to the people the message of salvation, telling them how they might be saved from the coming flood. And all this time God's Holy Spirit was striving to bring the people to repentance. "The long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing." But the people did not believe the message, and would not come to God. when the ark was finished, there were none to enter but Noah and his family.

But the animals were obedient to God; they did not resist His Spirit, they came to Noah at his command. We have learned that the Spirit of God in each living creature teaches it and guides it in the way that He wants it to go. By His Spirit He causes the birds to fly South in the winter, to preserve their lives during the cold weather. And when He was going to bring the flood of waters, He led two of every living thing to the ark, to keep some of each kind alive in the earth. This also was a witness to the people; for it showed that they might all have been saved if only they had been led by the Spirit of God.

Jesus said that the days just before His coming will be like the days of Noah, when the earth was full of violence. We are now living in the days of which He spoke, for His coming is near. When He comes the wicked will all be destroyed, as they were at the time of the flood; but God never brings His judgments upon the earth without warning the people, and making a way of escape for all who will let Him save them. Jesus is the way of escape-the Ark of safety-and the warning message is now being given, so that all who will may seek for refuge in Him, and be safe when the great day of His wrath shall come.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Liquor drinking and crime go together. The Apostle Paul says that in wine which intoxicates there is "excess," or riot; and the truth of the statement has been many times demonstrated. It is stated that since permits to obtain liquor at bottle stores are no longer necessary in Johannesburg owing to the cessation of military rule, drunkenness has been very prevalent. House-breaking and robbery are also very common now, causing much alarm. We often hear of the impossibility of stopping the sale of liquor, and that people cannot do without it; but military discipline has shown the fallacy of this claim. One cannot help wondering why, if control of the liquor traffic was necessary during the war, it should be thought less good and necessary now.

There is but one way to work righteousness in the earth, and to check, as far as possible, the spread of wickedness; and that is by preaching the cross of Christ-the glorious Gospel. Every effort to accomplish this result by any other means has always resulted in failure. Some years ago a minister of New York made heroic attempts to stamp out immorality in that city, by legal methods. He went personally into the lowest haunts of vice to collect evidence against both the police and the workers of iniquity, and related his discoveries in court. No one could question his zeal and sincerity; but the result did not justify his expectations, as he himself was obliged to admit. Now Dr. Washington Gladden says that it is asserted by those who know, that Dr. Parkhurst's heroic measures spread the infection instead of stamping it out, and that the conditions in New York have been far worse since that day than they were before.

This is the time of year when we read of people being "overcome by the heat." There is not the slightest doubt but that this is what occurs; but it ought to be known that it is in almost every case the internal heat that causes the collapse, and not the increased external temperature. A West-end physician says that "the majority of cases of heat-apoplexy occur among persons who drink alcohol," and says of alcohol, that "nothing renders the blood so incapable of resisting the heat." But it should also be known that alcohol may be formed in the system of persons who do not drink intoxicating liquor, but who do not use judgment in regard to their food, or mode of eating. There is no reason why any degrees of heat experienced in England should cause serious inconvenience to anybody. One of the first precautions against the heat is to keep up the physical strength by active exercise. The workman does not suffer as much as the idler. The next thing is not to take any more food than the system actually needs; all surplus food goes to the production of alcohol and other poisons. Another point is, to eat no meat, but only grains and fruits. Especially should one avoid drinking at meals. The food should be taken dry, and the necessary amount of water can be taken at suitable intervals between meals. With these precautions, one need not feel the slightest discomfort in the hottest weather.

In preaching to the Colonial troops at Alexandra Palace last week, the Archbishop of Canterbury is report to have described the soldier's profession as "a noble and glorious profession," saying that "he could not see soldiers on the march without wishing to march with them." It is certainly to be deplored that the highest dignitary in the church should thus exalt a profession whose sole object, plainly stated, is to kill. He says that "his father was a soldier, and to him always seemed the very perfection of manly truth." That may well be; but his honourable, manly qualities were not derived from the fact that he was a soldier-Filial affection may well set the father on a high pinnacle; but loyalty to God's Word should prevent a bishop from lauding a profession which is the direct antithesis of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."

There has been considerable stir and comment of late over the sale of the title "D.D.," by bogus universities in America, and the eagerness with which some professed ministers of the Gospel grasp after that doubly empty bauble. The following story very aptly illustrates the ridiculousness of the love for titles:-

In the old days, when the University of St. Andrews sold its degrees, a certain minister went to purchase honour at a price. Fifteen pounds was the price, and that he paid cheerfully, and was formally admitted to the estate of "Doctor." His man Saunders was there, and very much impressed. On the return journey the "Doctor" said to him: "Noo, Saunders, ye'll aye be sure to ca' me 'the Doctor,' and, gin anybody spiers at you about me, ye'll be aye sure to say, 'The Doctor's in his study,' or "The Doctor's engaged,' or 'The Doctor will see you in a crack.'" "That a' depends," answered Saunders, "whether ye ca' me Doctor too!" The reverend gentleman stared. "Aye, it's just so," continued Saunders; "for when I found that it cost so little, I e'en got a diploma myself! Sae ye'll be just good enc' to say, 'Doctor, put on some coal,' or 'Doctor, bring the whisky and hot water.' And, gin anybody spiers at you about me, ye'll be aye sure to say, 'The Doctor's in the stable,' or "The Doctor's in the pantry,' or 'The Doctor's digging potatoes,' as the case may be."

The love for titles is not only childish, but it is utterly opposed to the Spirit of the Gospel. Christ said, "Be not ye called Rabbi." The bringing of ranks and classes and titles into the church is the work of the Papacy, and as the church gets back to the primitive simplicity, such things will be altogether abandoned.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

God blots out our transgressions according to the multitude of His mercies; and His mercies are "new every morning." "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all of righteousness;" and His faithfulness is very great. He does not forget nor grow weary.

When Jesus says, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," He does not mean that He will merely go before us, or by our side, but in us. We are to go, yet not we, but Christ, since it is not we who live, but Christ in us. Gal. ii. 20. Thus, though there be thousands of mouths preaching the Gospel, there should be but one voice, and the manifestation of one power. May God help us to see and remember that none other than Jesus Christ Himself can carry His Gospel to all the world.

Let everybody always be wholly assured of one thing, and that is that God is infinitely better than even the best man. If a man should commit some offence against you, and should ask your pardon, would you grant it? You say that you most certainly would. But even suppose you are in doubt about the matter, and cannot say that you would under all circumstances grant the pardon asked, then answer this question: Do you think it would be right to refuse to forgive a man for a wrong done, especially when He earnestly desired it? Is it right to hold a grudge against anybody? You must answer that it is not. Then know that God will never do anything that is not right and just. Don't forget: He is always better, kinder and more tender-hearted than you are.

Here is another thing also to be remembered: God never transgresses His own laws. He could not possibly do so, because His laws are not arbitrary enactments which He has devised, but are the statements of His own unchangeable character. Now one of the commandments uttered by inspiration of His Spirit is this: "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." Since God never tells anybody to do what He Himself does not do, we may know that no matter how grievously we may have offended Him, "He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger for ever," not even till the going down of the sun. Therefore, knowing that we have sinned, we may say every evening: "O Lord, I will praise Thee; though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst me." And then, lying down to sleep, you can continue: "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation."

A recent writer says: "However it may be in the world to come, it is needful in this world to find some way of dividing the sheep from the goats." That is his statement, backed by no authority. It is true that the church, nearly ever since the days of the apostles, has anticipated the Judgment, and has assumed the right and the ability to make such a division; but in this the church has gone ahead of the Lord Jesus Himself, who makes no such division until He comes. The sole work of the church is to preach the Gospel, leaving the results to be determined at the last day. "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, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire." Matt. xiii. 47-50. The power to separate the bad from the good implies the right and the power to cast the bad into the fire, and has been assumed by the Papacy, which has put itself in God's place.

The apostles and elders from Jerusalem sent letters to the churches by Paul and Barnabas, whom they described as "men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Notice, however, that they did not say anything about their having "made great sacrifices for the truth." There is a fine distinction here, that is not always made. A man may hazard his life, and even lose it, for the cause of Christ; but that is not making a sacrifice. James Chalmers, who often hazarded his life for the Gospel, and at last lost it at the hands of the heathen whom he wished to save, new this difference; and he emphasised it very strongly in a letter written in 1882, in which he said:-

"It is impossible to find missionaries who will gladly dare all for Christ? Not the 'life in hand' business, or the 'sacrifices I have made'; but men and women who think preaching and living the Gospel to the heathen the grandest work on earth, and the greatest of heaven's commissions. . . Leave the twaddle of 'sacrifices' for those who do not appreciate the sacrifice of the Cross. Let the Church give her very best in heart, mind, and body, for Christ's world work. The best and greatest of all works requires the best and greatest of men."

God says: "I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared; The Lord of hosts is His name. And I have put My words in thy mouth; and I have covered thee with the shadow of Mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art My people." Isa. li. 15, 16. What a safe hiding-place under the hand of the Maker of heaven and earth! Well does He ask: "Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the Son of man which shall be made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?" Let us reply, "I will trust, and not be afraid."

But there is something more to think of in that text. God has given us a message to proclaim; He has put into us the word of reconciliation; but we must remember that we can give it only while covered by the shadow of His hand. We must be out of sight; we must not even put our head out from under the shelter to see the effect of our message. To be faithful in giving it is all that is required of us. When God gave His law He was not seen by the people. To those who heard it spoken, it was said: "Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice." Deut. iv. 12. Even so must it be to-day. Let our prayer continually be: "Oh God, keep me completely covered, and let only Thy voice be heard." "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory. For Thy mercy, and for Thy truth's sake."

July 24, 1902

"The Glory to Be Revealed. Lev. x. 1-11" The Present Truth 18, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

(Lev. x. 1-11.)¹⁷1

"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." Isa. xlix. 1-3.

"Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Isa. xl. 3-5.

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Rom. viii. 18.

The practical application of the truth stated in these passages of Scripture is illustrated in the scripture referred to at the head of the study, which begins thus:-

"And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. and there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace." Lev. x. 1-3.

The tabernacle had been pitched, and service had begun in it, according to the directions given. The glory of the Lord had filled the place when it was consecrated to His service; and the people without saw the glory upon the house, shining forth from it. This we learned last week. Then when the first offering was made on the altar, "the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people, and there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat, which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces." Lev. ix. 23, 24.

No doubt nearly everybody who reads the account of the sin of Nadab and Abihu,

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and their death, thinks that the punishment was out of proportion to the offence. To offer strange fire seems so small a thing. A little closer study of the situation will show us how serious the matter was. Of course, even without any study, we ought to know that it was no light offence; for God is not arbitrary or unjust; the fact that the sin merited death shows that it was a grievous one; and this we should keep in mind.

AN EXAMPLE FOR US

When we read the experiences of the children of Israel in the wilderness, we must remember that "all these things happened unto them for examples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." 1 Cor. x. 11. Now let us enquire what we are to learn from the account of the sin and death of these two men. Here, in short, is the answer:-

"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.

"The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men." Ps. xi. 4. There is a temple of God in heaven (Rev. ix. 24); but it is evident that the figure must be kept in the utmost sacredness, to correspond as closely as possible to the purity and holiness of things in the heavens. Hence the jealous care with which the sacredness of the tabernacle in the ark was guarded.

But we must not forget that the tabernacle was built only because the people would not allow Him to dwell in them, and fully to reveal His glory in them. Therefore we know that the human body is just as sacred in the eyes of God as the temple in heaven, and ought to be preserved from defilement as carefully as we can think would be fitting a place where the King of the universe is to dwell. Only God's life-the pure river of water of life that proceeds from the throne of God in heaven-should be allowed in it; whatever is foreign to that pure life of God, defiles His temple, and tends to destruction.

The meaning of the earthly sanctuary built by Moses has not been sufficiently considered. If all appreciated the truth that our bodies are God's temples, and, moreover, that when fully and constantly dedicated to Him the glory of the Lord is to be seen in and upon them as really as it was ever seen in and upon the house made with hands, what a transformation there would be in man. The very earth itself would be a new place. Life would be simple; the complex problems that vex statesmen and political and social economists, would solve themselves, or be removed; and health would take the place of disease. These things are not fancies, but sober reality. They are as true as God's Word.

INTEMPERANCE AND IRREVERENCE

But let us study our lesson a little further. What was it that led to the careless disregard of holy things, on the part of Nadab and Abihu? The thing is indicated in Lev. x. 8-11: "And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations; and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses."

It was intemperance that led to the awful results recorded in our lesson. The minds of Nadab and Abihu were clouded by the spirit of wine, instead of enlighted by the Spirit of God, and they could not discern the difference between the sacred and profane. And thus, strictly speaking, intemperance was the sin for which they were destroyed. By intemperance they clouded the glory of God in the true temple of God,-their bodies,-and that led to the error in relation to the figurative sanctuary. They defiled the living temple, and that naturally resulted in debased service in the temporary structure.

And so we may bring our short study to a close with the text which points the lesson and suggests the way in which the glory is to be revealed: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Cor. x. 3. It is by strict temperance in eating and drinking, above all things else, that the true temple of God is to be kept holy, so that He may be glorified in us. Let no one say, then, that it is a matter of no importance what or how we eat and drink. It is of vital importance. How many there are whose brains are stupefied, and whose minds are clouded, solely through wrong habits of eating. And they think that they are temperate, because they never drink intoxicating liquor; but they are mistaken; and their error is not a slight one. How important to keep the stream of life always running clear, so that the mind will be bright and active!

God's glory will be revealed, and it will consume and destroy everything that defiles. Shall it be revealed in our glorification, or in our destruction? Which shall it be?

"The Editor's Private Corner. Can a Sinner Pray?" The Present Truth 18, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

"Can a sinner pray an acceptable prayer to God?"

Assuredly; else no soul of mankind could be saved; "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. iii. 28. Death has "passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. v. 12. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; but God has devised means "that His banished be not expelled from Him."

The Gospel of Luke gives us two striking answers to this question. The first is the unconscious tribute which the Pharisees paid to Christ, when, thinking to cast the worst reproach upon Him, they said, "This man receiveth sinners." Luke xv. 2. The second is in the account of the two men who went into the temple to pray. The Pharisee told the Lord about his own goodness, with which he was well satisfied; while the other, not able to lift his eyes upward, smote upon his breast, and said, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Jesus said, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other." Luke xviii. 10-14.

Here is the Lord's own call to the sinner: "O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously." Hosea xiv. 1, 2. Do you think that God will refuse to hear and answer the prayer of one who comes to Him in response to His own call, and who prays the very prayer that God has told him to pray? Nay, verily. Jesus says, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John vi. 37.

Again God says: "Return, thou backsliding Israel, and I will not cause Mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, saith the lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God." Jer. iii. 12, 13. God is "rich in mercy" to sinners (Eph. ii. 4, 5), and "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." Ps. ciii. 10.

No doubt you have in your mind the words of the young man who was born blind, to whom Jesus gave his sight. When the Pharisees were worrying him with questions, they said of Jesus, "We know that this man is a sinner;" to which the young man replied: "Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not; one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see;" and then he said, in defence of Jesus, whom he knew only as a stranger who had healed him, "Now we know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth." John ix. 25, 31.

We might dismiss this statement by saying that it is simply what the untaught young man said, and need not be taken as expressing the mind of the Lord. Still we do have inspired words, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Ps. lxvi. 18. But this is no more than what we read in James i. 5-7, where, after being told that if any man asks the Lord for wisdom he will receive it, we read: "But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting; for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

The sum of it is, that whoever earnestly desires any good thing from the Lord will surely receive it; but the man who asks for righteousness while in his heart desires sin, need not expect anything. He doesn't really pray at all; for God looks at the heart, and not at the lips. God gives every man just what he really desires. If he wants sin, he allows him that to have it with all its fearful consequences, no matter what he may profess with his mouth; but whoever desires righteousness will receive it from the Lord, no matter how great a sinner he may be.

"Sing it o'er again;
Christ receiveth sinful man;
Make the message clear and plain:
Christ receiveth sinful men."

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

Have you noticed, these hot summer days, how busy the bees, caterpillars, butterflies, flies, and all little insects are? In the middle of the hot days, when even little children are tired with the heat, and the little birds' wings droop, and they sit still and quiet in the shade, then the merry hum and buzz of the busy insects can be heard louder than ever.

The sun is their life. When the sunny summer days are over, most of them will die. So now, they are making the most of their short, sunny life.

The bees are storing honey in the hive. The caterpillars are eating up the green leaves just as fast as they can, so that they will be able to spin their cocoons, of which the gay butterflies will come.

The butterflies are sipping honey enough from the flowers to keep them alive until they have done their work of laying their tiny eggs in beautiful even rows on the leaves or stems of plants. Out of these a host of tiny caterpillars will creep.

The tiny ants are rushing hither and thither on their way to or from their homes. For the ant "Provideth her meat in the summer, and gatherth her food in the harvest," ready for the winter.

What a busy world! Every living thing has its own appointed work to do, and by doing it faithfully, each little creature is helping the whole world.

"Natural Barometers" The Present Truth 18, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

Nearly everything in nature appers to be possessed of a sense, lacking in man, which warns it of the approach of stormy weather, so that it may be ready beforehand. This may possibly be because man has the power to observe these natural barometers, and draw his conclusions from their actions. Especially at the holiday season, when a little knowledge beforehand of what the weather is likely to be is a great convenience, a little study of nature's barometers, that never give a false forecast, will be well repaid. The Daily Mail furnishes the following list:

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

The strike of freight handlers in Chicago still continues, and tons of perishable matter are now rotting in the freight houses and on the railways, threatening to breed disease, besides depriving the people of food. Here again we have an example of the "perilous times" of the last days, because men are "lovers of their own selves." These "labour combinations," as they are called, are said to be benevolent in their character and object; but all their working shows that they are but the outgrowth of utter selfishness. Men in order to gain their own ends do not scruple not only to inconvenience, but to imperil the lives of hundreds of thousands of their fellow-men.

If a superstition census could be taken, there is no doubt but it would be found that there are about as many superstitious notions in the world, held by about as many people, as there ever have been. Only last week a woman died in the country from lockjaw caused by treading on a nail, which penetrated her foot. Nothing was done for the injury; but the woman handed the nail to her daughter, saying, "If you grease the nail, the wounds will heal." The extent to which ignorance of the laws governing the human body prevails, shows that there is not much difference between civilisation and barbarism.

The Czar has sent Prince Metcharsky as a special agent to the southern provinces of Russia, for the purpose of investigating the recent disturbances of the peasants, and ascertaining the ground of their complaints, and reporting as to the best means of allaying their discontent. There is a massive discontent among the people, which cannot be allayed by any act of Government, partly from lack of power to remove the cause, and partly because many of the people do not wish to be appeased. After all, if there were less "management," and affairs were left to their own natural course, they would adjust themselves much better than if interfered with by legislatures.

The United States Consul at Canton has cabled the State Department that cholera is raging in all towns in the Kwallia River, in the province of Kwang-si. Over thirteen thousand deaths have occurred in two towns. All over the world a constant battle is being waged, and people are being taken off by tens of thousands; yet because the weapons are silent ones, very little attention is attracted. If a nation should be invaded by a human foe, which should succeed in killing a few dozen people, they would at once devote all their energies to devise means of self-defence, and of repelling the invaders; but the invasion by the worst foes of all they accept as a matter of course. No one seems to think that it is possible successfully to resist epidemics of disease, but in that they are greatly mistaken.

The Chicago Tribune professes to keep an accurate record of all the great calamities taking place in the earth, and in its issue of May 20 it says: "Nature has not been so busy with her forces of devastation for many years passed and she has been during the first five months of the present year. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have destroyed 48,450 lives, storms 704, tornadoes 416, cyclones 20, floods 333, avalanches 223, tidal waves 103, snow-slides 39, and water-spouts 12, a total of 50,505 lives destroyed by nature's elements." Of course this was not the total list; for no newspaper can report every accident that takes place in the world; but it is far greater loss of life than the loss on both sides, by every cause, in the whole of the Boer war; and it enables one to see how easily "the slain of the Lord shall be from one end the of the earth even unto the other end," in the "battle of that great day of God Almighty," when the Lord has "a controversy with the nations," and arises "to shake terribly the earth." Human preparations for war will count for nothing in that battle.

"The children of the world are wiser in their generation than the children of light" is the Saviour's testimony. It is evident, therefore, that Christians may learn something from men whose sole thought is business. For example, the leading financier of Japan, who has been called the "Pierpont Morgan of the Far East," now travelling around the world, has told why the Germans are taking the lead in foreign trade. He says: "The German who comes to trade with us has probably studied Japanese at home beforehand, and he goes on studying it when he arrives. In a few years he can dispense with a middleman. His Japanese may not be very good, but it does for business." On the other hand, the English and Americans expect everybody else to learn their language, and so are distanced in the competition for trade. Here is a lesson for Christians, whose business it is to carry the Gospel to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." This is the one work committed to them by the Lord; yet they are for the most part resting content with a knowledge of their own language, just as if the whole world were coming to them to learn; and meanwhile the devil is busy carrying his wares to them in a language that they can understand.

The Queen calls attention to the fact that "only in the world of commerce do we find that the part played by a woman is a humble one, and that, whatever be the cause, they have failed to distinguish themselves." One has not to go far to find the cause of the lack of "success" by women in commerce, and it is one wholly creditable to them. It is because they excel in the higher qualities, and commerce calls forth the only the baser elements of man's nature. As Thoreau says: "Trade curses everything it handles; and though you trade in messages from heaven, the whole curse of trade attaches to the business." This does not say that they are not honest men in business, although they have a hard struggle to maintain their integrity. It is of course necessary, under the existing order of things, that some trading be carried on, although people would be a great deal better off if they lived so simply that much of it could be dispensed with; but it must be remembered that in the world to come there will be no such thing as what is known in this world as "business," although there will be very real employment for all. Consequently what is known as "a business education" is least adapted to fit us for eternity.

We take the greatest pleasure in contributing our share towards circulating the following appeal by the Graphic:-

"Why are people who walk without their hats always supposed to be wandering lunatic? This objection to a novel and reasonable proceeding might be easily overruled by a number of young men constituting themselves a Hatless League, which should be pledged to refrain from any head-covering whatever. In a little while a bare-headed person in the London streets would fail to attract any attention, and I believe the hygienic advantages would be something immense. Another thing-I fancy there would be no more bald-heads in the rising generation."

The hat is in general one of the most useless and senseless articles of wearing apparel. A light covering as a protection from the sun's fiercest rays is needful; but one which heats the head is always a nuisance, as the head should always be kept cool. We should hail with joy the formation of a league pledged to discard hats, so that people who have not enough strength of character to stand making themselves the a gazing-stock could discard the head-coverings whenever they wish, without attracting undue attention.

It is not often that we call attention to typographical errors in the PRESENT TRUTH, believing in general, that the less that is said about them the sooner they will be forgotten by those who know them; but we must break our rule, to let the readers know that it is not with intent that "Kremlin" was distorted into Kremliar, in last week's issue. The mistake was one of those incomprehensible ones that sometimes takes place at the last minute in correcting the forms.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

In connection with the first page article, on "The Glory to Be Revealed" together with the accompanying cut, it would be well for the student to remember that we are to be "trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." Isa. lxi. 3. The Lord is glorified in our bearing much fruit (John xv. 8); and if we are trees of righteousness, it is of course fitting and necessary that we be "filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, and to the glory and praise of God." Phil. i. 11.

And this is the way that God is glorified when we bear much fruit: The fruit borne by Christians, as well as that borne by the trees of the field and garden, is the product of light that has been received and stored up;" for the fruit of light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth" (Eph. v. 9); and "God is light." Thus we see the force of the Saviour's prayer: "that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." John xvii. 1.

God is glorified in the fruit-bearing of every plant that He has planted in this world. When Jesus did instantaneously at Cana of Galilee, what He ordinarily does through a long process in the vine and fruit trees-turned water into wine-we are told that in this He "manifested forth His glory." All fruit therefore, is a manifestation of the glory of the Lord; it is indeed but a transformation of the light shining from the heavens, which declare the glory of God.

When Jesus looked with intent upon the water in the water-pots, the light of His life enriched and wrought a subtle change in it, in imparting to it some of His own life-giving properties. Even so to-day He is looking upon the orchards, and vines, and fruit-trees, and the water stored in the beautiful vessels not made with hands, but framed by His own thought, undergoes the same marvellous transformation, and a blessing is found in every cluster of the ripened fruit. When God was about to feed the Israelites with manna-"the corn of heaven"-Moses said to them, "In the morning ye shall see the glory of the Lord." So not alone the fruit, but the corn and every kind of grain also make His glory visible. Truly "the whole earth is full of His glory," and if we will but believe, we shall see it.

"'Turn Away,'óFrom Whom?" The Present Truth 18, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

We are told that "in the last days" men shall be "lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God," and the command is, "from such turn away." Instinctively we look around us, to see who these are from whom we must turn away; and as we see this one and that one, or this church and that church, we say, "There they are; I will keep away from them." Some have even gone so far as to bury themselves in retired places, "away from the world," in order to fulfil the exhortation. But suddenly, as we pray for light, we hear a voice saying, "Thou art the man!" and on examining the list of sins of which men are guilty, we find ourselves described. Thus we note that what had escaped us at first, that the text says, "men," and not "some men," and we recall the words of Christ, (Mark vii. 21, 22), that all these things come "from within, out of the heart of men." What then shall I do?-I will even turn away from myself and turn to the Lord, my Saviour, who says: "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."

It is a strange, sad thing, that the Lord does not seem ever to have found a people that would go forward as reformers after the first, or at most a second, generation. As soon as the first generation in any reform movement has passed away, they become "the fathers;" and subsequent generations make than the standard, instead of adopting the standard that they took for themselves-the truth of God. Indeed, for the most part, reforms have really ceased with the first generation; for there are few reformers who have continued advance as long as they lived. They have usually rested content with their progress some time before they died. But the Lord is not discouraged; He is still looking for men-for a people-who will be like a tree,-always growing. Who will make one of the number?

"If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know the teaching," is the assurance that Christ gives. Upon this assurance we may depend. It is an absolute necessity that we know the teaching; for God's will must be done, and however willing we may be to do it, we cannot do it intelligently unless we know what it is; therefore He who "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" is therefore pledged to make His will known to us. God is more anxious that His will shall be done then we can possibly be, and so, however earnestly we long to know it, we may be sure that He is more anxious that we should. And He is able to make it known to us, for there is no teacher like Him.

God is. His Name is I AM, and standing alone it expresses more to the thoughtful mind than it could with any amount of modification or explanation. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is." Faith is simply the ability to recognise things that are, and that ought certainly to be easy for anybody. We are to believe a thing only because it is so, and we are never to believe anything that is not so. God has from the beginning chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. 2 Thess. ii. 13.

This being the case, it is evident that we are to occupy our minds with nothing but the truth. Someone will doubtless say that we must necessarily handle a great deal of error in our study to find out what is the truth. No; not by any means; far from it. We are to study the truth, and to make that our sole study. Note well, we are to study the truth, and not study to find out what is truth. Truth is not found out by studying it, but is revealed by God; and all we have to do to know it is to open our eyes. Then, having seen the truth, we are to study it, and its infinite depth and breadth will keep us well occupied throughout eternity. So from first to last we need have nothing at all to do with any phase of error.

July 31, 1902

"The Lesson of the Cloud. Num. x. 11-13, 29-36" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

(Num. x. 11-13, 29-36.)¹⁸1

When the Lord led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, to conduct them to the land of Canaan, He "went before them by day in a pillar a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night; He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." Ex. xiii. 21, 22.

"And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony; and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning. So it was always; the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed; and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. . . . And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the Lord they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the Lord they journeyed. And so it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed; whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed." Num. ix. 15-22.

The Lord Himself was in the cloud, and it was the symbol, the evidence, of His presence. We read that when the Egyptians were pursuing the children of Israel into the midst of the Red Sea, that "it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through, the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians" (Ex. xiv. 24); and Moses, recounting to the Israelites God's gracious dealings with them, said, "Ye did not believe the Lord your God, who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day." Deut. i. 32, 33.

The one great lesson for people in this world to learn, is the reality of things. The world is so taken up with the unreal, with fiction and mere play-acting, that they have almost lost the power to grasp the real. Even what is called "realism," is only a poor picture of things which, just because they are dramatised, people do not really believe actually exist. The material things which they handle are virtually unreal, because the end for which they use them is unsubstantial. Everything which has for its object this world only, is unreal; "for the world passeth away, and the lust thereof."

This spirit of the world has also seized professed Christians, so much so that the promises and the work of God are to the most of them unreal. They read the Bible too much as though its characters

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were the mystical inhabitants of the moon, instead of real flesh and blood. To many, the thrilling narratives of Scripture, even of the life and miracles of Christ, and especially of the experiences of ancient Israel, are, unconsciously to themselves, read as though they were pages of a novel. They are to them at best but a "true story," or "a story founded on fact." That is to say, we all of us too often fail to live in the events of the Bible history, and to realise that "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning," and that the same God still lives to do the same things for His people,-that the experiences of God's people in past ages may and should be the experiences of His people to-day.

We should know not only that the things which are recorded in the Bible are real occurrences, but that they are not unique, exceptional instances, but illustrations of God's ordinary working. God does not produce "monstrosities." The Bible records the faith of Enoch and Abraham, the meekness of Moses, the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Samson, the miraculous things among ancient Israel and in the early church, to show the power that all God's people ought to possess, for "there is no respect of persons with God."

Let us then consider our lesson-Israel led by a cloud-in this light. In the first place, it was a real cloud, just as much so as those we see floating in the sky, which send rain down to the earth. From it came forth "a plentiful rain," whereby God refreshed and strengthened His inheritance (Ps. Iviii. 9), so that "all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." 1 Cor. x. 1, 2.

GOD IN EVERY CLOUD

The Lord "maketh the clouds His chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind" (Ps. civ. 3); He "hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet." Nahum i. 3. His "paths drop fatness." Ps. lxv. 11. This teaches us that God is still in the cloud; not merely in some particular aloud, but in every cloud that contains water to enrich the earth. The fatness which we gather from the earth comes to it from the clouds; and thus God rains down bread from heaven for us in these days as really as He did for Israel in the desert. Now, as then, we are to discern the glory in the aloud that gives no bread; for the giving of manna, even as the turning of water into wine at Cana, was the manifestation of God's glory. "Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out of the land of Egypt; and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord" (Ex. xvi. 6, 7); and so it was, for in the morning they saw the manna which had rained down during the night.

SEEING GOD IN THE CLOUD

The poet has written of

"The poor Indian, whose untutored mind
Sees God in clouds, and hears Him in the wind,"

but that very thing shows that his mind is not so untutored as that of his civilised brother; for the highest wisdom to be found in the universe is the knowledge of God; and the ability to recognise Him in His works is the keenest perception. Israel of old saw God's works for them for forty years, and yet did not learn His way; they saw the cloud day after day, in which God dwelt, and yet doubted and even denied that the Lord was among them. Even so it is to-day. Day by day and night by night we see clouds, yet do not know that God is near at hand, although the history of Israel is very minutely recorded, in order that we might know that God's way is in the cloud. God is still in the cloud, as surely as in the days of Israel in the wilderness.

Another evidence of this is afforded in the account of the transfiguration of Jesus. Peter, James, and John went up with Jesus into a mountain, "and there was a cloud that overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My Beloved Son: hear Him." Mark ix. 7.

"The Lord reigneth; let the, earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation [foundation] of His throne." Ps. xcvii. 1, 2. Because the clouds are round about God's throne, which is established in righteousness, "the skies pour down righteousness." Isa. xlv. 8.

This is more than a mere exercise of the mind, a scholastic speculation;-it is God's truth, the reality of which we are to demonstrate in our every day lives. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" Rom. xv. 4. We are to learn to extract comfort from tribulation, and not merely to be soothed while under it, to "glory in tribulation." Clouds and darkness are round about God, yet He "dwelleth in the light," even clothing Himself with it. Glory dwelleth in the cloud, as was strikingly shown at the crossing of the Red Sea, when this same cloud was darkness and gloom to the Egyptians, and light and cheer to the Israelites. "There was the cloud of darkness, yet it gave light by night; and the one came not near the other all night." Ex xlv. 29, R.V.

LIGHT FROM THE CLOUD

The common saying that that "every cloud has a silver lining" does not tell all the truth. The truth is that every cloud is full of light, and the thickest, heaviest, darkest clouds contain the most light. Do you doubt it? Your own expert will convince you. From what clouds do the lightnings come? Is it not from the most black, threatening thundercloud? Just so now as in the beginning, when God "commanded the light to shine out of darkness. This also is for our learning.

There will come a day when "the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above are black," and terror will take possession of the inhabitants of the earth, and it will be as though God had forsaken and forgot the earth; but in that day the glory of the Lord shall be revealed as never before covering the heavens, "as the light cometh out of the east, and shineth unto the west" (Matt. xxiv. 27); "they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Verse 30. Let us learn to recognise His goings here, so that when that great and terrible day shall come we shall hail it with joy, saying, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."

"Four Kinds of Pupils" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

The Talmud says there are four kinds of pupils: the sponge and the funnel strainer and the sieve. The sponge is he who taketh in at this ear and letteth it go at that; the strainer is he that letteth our the wine and retaineth the dross, and the sieve is he that letteth go the bran and retaineth the fine flour.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Hardened Through Rejection of Mercy" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

"I have three object-lessons before me. First, out of the mass of the people at the time of the flood. Christ was preached to them, only to be and scoffed at. Second, that of Pharaoh when he hardened his heart, was softened, hardened and softened, yet hardened again; so that we are reminded of the proverb: 'He that being often moved hardeneth his neck, shall be suddenly cut and that without remedy.' Third, that of the children of Israel, of whom God said: 'Forty year was I grieved with this generation.' 'Harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation and temptation in the wilderness.' My question is, where then, was the influence of the great compassionate love and work of the Spirit, which is at work in the hearts of men, and melts the hearts of the hardest sinners? Having hearts like some, we are softened and subdued by grace, through the Holy Spirit, according to the promise, 'I will take away the heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh.'"

If we read the Scriptures aright, we shall see in every occurrence "the lovingkindness of the Lord," and that "His mercy endureth for ever." "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting." Ps. ciii. 17. "The Lord is one and full of compassion," and the instances that you have referred to show it. Take the case of the people before the flood. The compassion of the Lord was shown in that He strove with them by His Spirit (Gen. vi. 3), to turn them away from iniquity, so that they might be saved. Moreover, the Lord tells us that "as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." It is true He refers specially to the wickedness of the people; but that shows also that the mercy of the Lord is the same. The people before the flood were no worse than the people will be in the last days, when "the everlasting Gospel" will, we know, be preached in its fulness; so that there is no occasion for asking where the compassion of the Lord was then, than for asking where it is now.

We must not get the idea that if people are defiantly wicked, and are destroyed, it is because God is lacking in mercy, or that His patience has become exhausted and worn out. We are called on to "give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever;" who "overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea; for His mercy endureth for ever;" "to Him which smote great kings; for His mercy endureth for ever; and slew famous kings; for His mercy endureth for ever." Ps. cxxxvi. 1, 15, 17, 18. The Lord did this while He was in mercy leading forth His people whom He had redeemed from the enemy; and He was just as merciful in the overthrowing of Pharaoh and his host as in protecting those who trusted Him. Both things were parts of the same act. God never lays aside His mercy, to take up the sword of justice. His strict justice is but the evidence of His everlasting mercy. "He is faithful and just to forgive as our sins."

Your own statement of the case sets forth the fact that the compassionate love of God was at work upon Pharaoh, melting his heart into submission to God. True, he became hardened time after time, and at last rushed defiantly forth to destruction; but that very thing shows that a man cannot be lost without first rejecting and trampling upon the mercy of the Lord that is drawing him to salvation. Unwillingness to give up one's way, and to acknowledge the hand of the Lord, must always tend to harden one; and the more that spirit is cherished, the more is one hardened. Thus it appears that the greatest manifestations of wicked rebellion are where God's loving mercy is most plainly revealed.

So in the case of the children of Israel, who stand as a warning to us, that we do not harden our hearts as they did. They hardened their hearts even while seeing His gracious work. "In all their afflictions He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them and carried them all the days of old." Isa. lxiii. 9. He bore them "even as a man doth bear his son." Deut. i. 31. He says: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt. . . . I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love." Hosea xi. 1-9. Just as one takes a little child gently by the arms, to teach it to walk, so the Lord bore His people of old; but they were too proud-spirited to acknowledge that they could not walk alone; and there is nothing that will harden one's nature so much as failure to recognise and acknowledge kindness shown.

The fact that people reject the mercy of the Lord is an evidence of their high, calling in Christ,-that they are allied to Divinity, in that they can act for themselves. The inanimate earth acts automatically, and cannot choose but receive and show forth the goodness of the Lord. Even the beasts, who have reason, do not know enough to resist the influence of God's Spirit, and are all passive to His will. Now it is not the part of wisdom for man to resist God; but the fact that he can refuse to be led by Him shows that God has in His great love endowed him with His own attributes; and so, when man is as passive to the will of God as the beasts and the inanimate creation, that is counted to them for righteousness; it shows that they are worthy to rule with God on His throne. So it is because of "His great love wherewith He loved us," because He is "rich in mercy," that God makes us sit together with Christ (Eph. ii. 4-6); and it is only this crowning mercy rejected that results in the destruction of anybody. "The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy; teach me Thy statutes."

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Coming in of the Gentiles" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Almighty swore to Abraham and his seed unconditionally; has, He kept His promises, or has He broken them, by taking them from Israel and giving them to the Gentiles?"

All the promises of God, how many soever they be, are yea and amen in Christ; they cannot be broken. But here is a thing that many of our friends forget, and that is, that all God's promises are in Christ, and that the rejection of Christ cuts one off from the promises. "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of One, and to thy Seed, which is Christ." Gal. iii. 16. Therefore "if ye

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be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Verse 29.

"Know ye therefore that they which be of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." Gal. iii. 7, 8.

In the face of this, and with the record before us, that the promise of God to Abraham was, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. xxii. 18), and even more emphatically, "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. xii. 3), it is strange beyond all comprehension, that anybody should think that God's promise to Abraham is broken by being bestowed on the Gentiles. The only way it can be fulfilled is by the gathering of the Gentiles; for it is written that "blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so shall all Israel be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." Rom. xi. 25, 26.

Abraham was himself a Gentile, born and reared in heathenism. Joshua xxiv. 2. Thus we see that the gathering of the Gentiles in fulfilment of the promise is no new departure, but the consistent carrying out of God's original purpose.

This appears throughout the whole history of Israel. Did God break His word to Abraham when the harlot Rahab, a Canaanitish woman, was counted among His people? Was He unmindful of it in accepting Ruth the Moabitess as an ancestor of the Messiah? The fact that both these women, taken from among the heathen, were ancestors of Christ, shows that God's promises and purposes and plans, have from the beginning embraced all people. So James had a clear and accurate perception of the truth when he said: "Simeon hath declared how God at the beginning did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophet; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up; that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth these things. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." Acts xv.14-18. Instead of God's promise to Israel being broken by the coming in of the Gentiles, it is only by the preaching of the Gospel to them that the house of David is built up.

Take another case. Jesus went up into the region of Tyre and Sidon, seemingly for the express purpose of healing the daughter of a Syro-Phoenician woman; for He went back as soon as He had performed that deed. "The woman was a Greek," or a Gentile, as the margin has it. When she preferred her request, He seemed to be indifferent, and unwilling to grant it, but it was only to try her faith. He said, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and then He responded to the woman's faith, and healed her daughter. Thus He showed that this Gentile woman was one of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to whom He was sent.

To limit the promises of God to any one of the nations of this earth, is to limit the Gospel of the grace of God. Christ was made a curse for us, in hanging on the cross, "that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ." Gal. iii. 13, 14. In the Gospel there is no distinction of nationality, for in Christ Jesus those who were far off are made nigh by His blood; and thus the Gentiles who were without Christ and without God in the world, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, "are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." Eph: ii. 11-13, 19. Let us not waste time in seeking to circumscribe and narrow the promises of God, thus narrowing our own minds, but allow our hearts to be enlarged by the contemplation of His boundless promises, so as to 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," and be filled with all the fulness of God.

"Under the Law" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

A truth never derives force by being uttered by any man, however great he may be; nor is it any less weighty when declared by the weakest. Truth, like God, always is, and it always is just what it is, and must be accepted for just what it is, wherever we find it. On this basis we may take the following statement of truth from Augustine:-

"It is one thing to be in the law, another, under the law. Whoso is in the law, whoso according to the law; whoso is under the law, is acted upon according to the law; the one therefore is free, the other a slave."

"Note" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

The writer of this little story does not tell us whose voice it is that calls the little vapours up into the clouds, and sends them down again to water the earth. Perhaps she thinks we all know it. Can you tell? In the book of Job we read that it is God that "draweth up the drops of water, which distill in rain, from His vapour." And then He sends the heavy-laden cloud to the place where He wants it, and saith to the snow, "Fall thou on the earth, likewise to the shower of rain, and to the showers of His mighty rain."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

Calling attention to the suggestion by a United States Senator, that the Exclusion Bill be amended by a provision that only Christian Chinese be allowed to enter that country, the Japan Advertiser says that now at last a sure cure for China's heathenism has been discovered. It says that "the experiment was once tried by the Spanish in the Philippines, with the result that thirty thousand Chinese saw light within a single week." It is no new thing; nor are such "conversions" peculiar to the Chinese. The extent of "commercial Christianity" in every country is deplorable, and it is by no means on the decrease. There are many now, as of old, who suppose that gain is godliness.

It is becoming a generally accepted statement nowadays that "the church must make itself felt in politics;" but those who make the claim think to save the situation by adding a clause, "but not in party politics." The staving clause is a weak one, however, for everybody knows that there is no such thing as non-partisan politics. As men say in politics, "it is voices that counts;" and when a number of people combine, sufficient to carry or to resist any proposed measure, they form a party. That cry is an evidence of the extent to which Papal principles have permeated the professed Protestant denominations. The church of Christ is not politics at all, and cannot be, any more than Christ Himself was. The real power of the true church is wholly spiritual; and the church is in the world solely for the purpose of demonstrating the superiority of spiritual power to temporal power. The Spirit of God, or a single angel from heaven, and can do more to turn a king from his purpose than all the votes or all the armies in the world; and the power is that which is committed to Christ's church. Whenever a professed Christian, or a minister of the Gospel, steps into the political arena, in order to correct some abuse, he thereby shows his lack of confidence in the power of the invisible Spirit that has been given to animate the followers of Christ.

The same paper which reports a sermon by a popular preacher, in which it is stated that the church must make its voice heard in politics, but not in party politics, also contains a speech by the Prime Minister, in which he says:-

"Our whole political organisation is arranged in order that we may quarrel-and we always do quarrel, sometimes over matters of great importance, sometimes over matters of small importance, sometimes over matters which cannot but be matters of bitter strife, sometimes over matters which I could well have supposed might be dealt with almost by agreement. I don't complain of this state of things. It is a condition of healthy public life, as we know it, and I no more object to the daily interchange of compliment and repartee between us and the Opposition than I object to any other unavoidable incident of free government carried out through the laborious medium of public discussion."

Just fancy Christ in that wrangle! One cannot think of such a thing. Then it ought to be just as impossible to think of the church in that situation; for the church is His body.

It was only a few weeks ago that a negro was burned at the stake in America, and now another case is reported, of a negro being tortured to death by a mob of "respectable citizens." When a few fierce Kurds in Turkey murder some Armenians, who may themselves be the aggressors, the world rings with accounts of it, and there are loud clamours for the extinction of a Government that cannot put down and prevent such outbreaks; but the United States Government confesses itself powerless to control these cruel outrages upon the negroes, and we hear no demands for its extermination. It makes a great difference whose ox is gored, or what ox it is that does the goring. We do not upbraid anybody for not saying that "the United States must go;" but wish to call attention to the injustice that is done to Turkey. The explanation is doubtless found in the fact that Turkey is not Christian, and that its territory is much desired by other nations, for commercial and political reasons.

Referring to the case of Dr. Agar Beet as "by far the greatest question that will come before the conference" of Methodists, now in session at Manchester, the Chronicle correspondent says:-

"For seventeen years Dr. Beet has filled with great ability his present post, and has a large following among the younger ministers who have been under his tutorial care. To expel so scholarly a theologian, whose praise is in all the churches, will result in much harm; whereas to do nothing in the matter will be to give grievous offence to all of the thoroughly orthodox school. Methodism has been singularly free from controversy on all matters of doctrine, and may regret deeply that Dr. Beet should himself have created an opportunity for this controversy by the publication of his two recent volumes."

That is always the cry of the man who wishes to sleep: "I am so comfortable; why do you disturb me?" Inertia is the greatest foe of the Christian Church. Christianity means progress,-not merely spreading over larger territory, but growth in the knowledge of truth. "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day;" but the tendency is to settle down in a well-defined creed, and decline to move. Such cases as that before the Wesleyan Conference ought not to present any difficulty whatever. All that is necessary is to enquire if Dr. Beet's views are Scriptural. If they are, then it is clearly his duty to publish them, no matter who is disturbed. Light never disturbs anybody but the sleeping man, or the man who wants to go to sleep.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

When Jesus was in Herod's court the soldiers mocked Him, and shamefully abused Him. When He hung on the cross the priests and people reviled Him, making light of His claims to be the Son of God and King. They really thought that He was but an imposter, a stirrer up of sedition, a fomenter of discord, an over-thrower of the established order of things. If they had known who He was, "they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory." 1 Cor. ii. 8.

But they were all wrong. Learned doctors were as much in error as the ignorant people, and were even worse, because it was they who led the people astray. That there was sincerity among the priestly opposers, is shown by the fact that afterwards, under the preaching of the apostles and elders, "a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." Acts vi. 7. Perfectly sincere people, therefore, may be wholly wrong. Saul of Tarsus is a notable instance of this, for he verily thought that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth; and he did. Jesus also told His disciples that the time would come when whoever should kill them would think that he did God service.

These things should be a warning to us, not to revile or despise or speak evil of any. "To speak evil of no man" is as much a duty as to be subject to proper authority. Gamaliel's advice is as good for us as it was for the Jewish Sanhedrin. If the work be of men, it will surely come to naught, for every plant that God has not planted shall be rooted up. Therefore the best way to demonstrate whether or not men are in error is to "let them alone"-advice that was given also by the Saviour.

We must not forget, however, that all the Jews-both priests and people-might have known who Jesus was, and so avoided their great mistake; and the great company of priests might have believed on Him at first, as well as afterwards. He was the Truth, plainly revealed before their eyes, and both words and deeds testified to it. They had no excuse, yet there was forgiveness for them. Such is the marvellous forbearance and lovingkindness of our God. Thus the case of the rejecters of Jesus is to us both a warning and an encouragement.

"Answers of Peace" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

Answers of Peace. -When Pharaoh told Joseph that he had dreamed a dream, and wished to have it interpreted, Joseph replied, "It is not in me; God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." Joseph did not as yet even know what the dream was, but he knew God so well that he could confidently assure the king that, whatever the dream and its interpretation might be, it would certainly be peace. Then came the prediction of seven years of terrible famine. Some would say that that was anything but peace; but we see that in the announcement of the calamity there was the direction how to escape its disastrous effect. Moreover, the famine was the means of introducing God's people to the people of Egypt, bringing the Gospel of peace. God is "the very God of peace" and so we can always sing:-

"Let good or ill befall,
It must be good for me,
Secure of having Thee in all,
Of having all in Thee."

"Making Peace" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

A common exhortation to sinners is to make their peace with God; and a question often asked is, "Have you made your peace with God?" Ours would be sad condition, if we were under the necessity of making peace; for we could find no answer to the question, "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the most 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 transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Nothing that we could offer would suffice to make peace.

We may be glad that it is not necessary to make peace. Peace has already been made by God Himself, who has never been at war with mankind. He is "the very God of peace," always it peace. He has sent a message to us, "preaching peace by Jesus Christ," who is "Lord of all." Acts x. 36. "For He is our peace," by whom the enmity is destroyed." 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." Col. i. 19, 20. So Jesus says: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you." John xiv. 27.

Then what have we to do? Simply to appropriate the peace that is given,-to keep the peace. Our peace-the peace of all mankind-has been made with God, by God Himself; and the question to be asked is, "Have you accepted peace?" or, "Are you keeping the peace?" It is a bad thing to be found fighting after peace has been declared. Don't do it any more. Surrender your ways and your thoughts to the Lord, and "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

"The Beginnings of Evil" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

The Beginnings of Evil. -"Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines; for our vines have tender grapes," said Solomon. No man goes at a single leap from innocence to great transgression. The beginning of all sin is so minute as scarcely to attract attention; yet one may notice it if a zealous watch is always kept. Whoever gives thought to the matter must have remarked how small is the deviation from the right course, which prepares the way for a great apostasy. If we relax but a little of our diligence; if we give way on the seemingly most trifling matter of principle or practice, the inevitable tendency is to let go of something more. Let but a few drops trickle through the dyke, and the flood is likely to follow. Hence the necessity of watching in little things,-of being true to principle in the smallest particular. This is all that we need to concern ourselves with; "for he that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greatest."

There are many people who dread the thought of the coming of the Lord, and refuse to believe that it will ever take place, or at any rate hope that it will be long delayed, because they have some enterprise that they wish to see accomplished, and they are afraid that Christ's coming would upset all their plans and put an end to their business. Now no one need have any such fear, unless he is engaged in something that is wrong; for the coming of Christ will not put an end to anything but sin. There is nothing really worth doing in this world that cannot be carried on in the world to come; and our whole business in this world should be a preparation for one to come.

"Unfaithful Witnesses. Num. xiii. 1-3, 25; xiv. 4" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

(Num. xiii. 1-3, 25; xiv. 4.)¹⁹1

Did you ever stop to consider how much, or rather, how little, of the Bible was written when David gave expression to his appreciation of the Scriptures? If not, it would be well to do so. It will not take too long to discover that when he wrote, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimonies of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;" or, "Through Thy commandments Thou hast made me wiser than mine enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers; for Thy testimonies are my meditation," there was very little of the Scriptures written except the five books of Moses. When you read the one hundred and nineteenth psalm with this thought in mind, it will help you to appreciate those simple records as never before. You will then see more force to the words, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning; that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. All the law and the Gospel, and all the truths proclaimed by the later prophets is in those books.

In studying the report of the spies, do not be content with the meager references given in the lesson outline, as indicated at the head of this article. Read the whole of the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Numbers, and the first chapter of Deuteronomy, if you would know even a small portion of the Gospel lesson that the event has for us. The Jews themselves did not learn the lesson, and we find Christians to this day going over the same ground.

We read in our lesson that, "The Lord spoke unto Moses, saying: Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel; for every tribe of their fathers shall he send a man, everyone a ruler among them. And Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran" (Num. xiii. 1-3); but we must not hastily conclude that Moses was the one who first proposed the plan. If we do, we shall certainly lose a large portion of the lesson.

In recounting the experiences of the people to them, just before he was taken from them, Moses said:-

"And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. And the saying

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pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe." Deut. i. 20-23.

So the spies went up, with these instructions: "Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain; and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not."

A USELESS EXPEDITION

A very wise and necessary precaution, some will say; but the fact is, it was a very foolish and useless expedition. There was no need to send spies to find out what the land was, and whether it was fat or lean, and before they left Egypt, and many times afterward, God told them that it was "a good land and a large," "a land flowing with milk and honey."

Moreover, it was wholly unnecessary to send spies to find out by what way they must go up to the land, when the Lord Himself went before them in a cloud by day, and fire by night, to search them out a place to pitch their tents in and they could not journey except when and where that pillar went. Their searching was so much useless labour.

And what difference did it make what sort of cities the people dwelt in, or whether they dwelt in tents, when the Lord had promised to drive them out before the Israelites? "For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arms save them." Ps. xliv. 3. A giant is no more than a pigmy to Lord, and a walled city is no stronger against Him than a gauze curtain. To Him nothing is great, nothing is small.

See how it was when they actually entered the promised land. Jericho, one of the strongest cities, fell without a blow, or the loss of a man, because they had faith in God; or as when they trusted in their own strength they were repulsed with great loss from the little town of Ai. Numbers do not come with the Lord. As King Asa said to the Lord, "It is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or within them that have no power." 2 Chron. xiv. 11. "God hath chosen. . . things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence." 1 Cor. i. 28, 29.

EVIDENCE OF LACK OF FAITH

Is it not evident from all these things that the sending of the spies was an evidence of lack of faith? The result demonstrated that it was; for ten out of the twelve "brought up an evil report of the land which they searched, unto the children of Israel, saying, The land through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof." This was in direct contradiction to the report God had given of the country, and contrary to the evidence which they brought back in their hands. They literally, "spread a slander" against land, and so against God, who had recommended it. And then the people, in spite of the repeated assurances from God that He would bring them into the land, declared that it was of no use to think of going further, and determined to go back into Egyptian bondage. But all this was the natural development of the unbelief that led them to send the spies in the first place.

The foolish wickedness of the ten spies in bringing an evil report of the land, the goodness of which was certified by the fruits that they had gathered, is often commented on; but we must not overlook the fact that all the people bore the same unfaithful witness against God, when they sent to enquire into the truthfulness of what He had said about the land. "He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar."

GIVING PEOPLE THEIR OWN WAY

But why did the Lord tell them to send spies?-For the same reason that he told Balaam to go with the messengers of Balak. He had told Balaam not to go; but Balaam was set on going, and so at last the Lord told him to go. Likewise the Lord directed Israel in the choice of a king, although He had expressly told them not to make one, for He was their king. Thus we see that when men are determined to do a thing, it is not only easy for them to find a good "reason" for doing it, but they can even get God to assent to it; and, still more, to give directions concerning it, although He has forbidden it. From this we see how terrible a thing it is for men to choose their own way; for God always gives every man his own choice; but the result of not being content with God's first choice for us is always disastrous.

How many there are who, with the plain, explicit commandment of the Lord before them, concerning the Sabbath, will presume to ask the Lord if they shall keep it! We need not doubt in the least their statement that they have received an answer from the Lord, to the intent that they need not; but we may pity them, because they do not see that the commandment which they follow is one which they themselves have devised, and not the Lord's commandment. When people undertake to lead the Lord, they are sure to get into trouble. It is better to let the Lord lead us into difficulties, then to insist on going the easy way.

NOT CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

How different it was with Abraham. When God told him to go into the land which he was afterward to receive for an inheritance, he went forth, "not knowing whither he went," and not asking. It was "to Abraham and to his seed" that the promises were made; but the unbelief displayed in sending spies to search out the land which God said was good, and to which He had promised to lead them, show that these people were not really the seed of Abraham; and "so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."

It is not always best to try to know everything. God mercifully hides the difficulties that the future contains for us, in order that our spirits may not be alarmed or downcast by them. He would not have us needlessly disturbed by the long contemplation of them; He knows that He will remove them, or help us through them when the time comes, and so He says: "Sufficient unto the day, is the evil thereof."

"I know not what awaits me;
God kindly veils to mine eyes;
And o'er each step of my onward way
He makes new scenes to rise;
And every joy He sends me comes
A sweet and glad surprise.

"One step I see before me;
'Tis all I need to see:
The light of heaven more brightly shines
When earth's illusions flee;
And sweetly through the silence comes
His loving, 'Follow Me.'

"So, on I go-not knowing,
I would not if I might;
I'd rather walk in the dark with God
Than go alone in the light;
I'd rather walk by faith with Him
Than go alone by sight."

"Our doubts are traitors," and they always bring defeat wherever they are entertained. The children of Israel thought that they could not take possession of the land of Canaan, and they did not. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Resurrection of the Body" The Present Truth 18, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

"It surprises me to find that you lay so much stress in your teaching, on the coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. It seems to me that neither of these events is of primary importance to Christians. Since we are present with the Lord as soon as the body dies, it seems to me that to be reunited with this body of dust after experiencing the untrammeled freedom of existence without it, is not something to be looked forward to with pleasure."

We lay stress upon the coming of the Lord and resurrection, simply because the Bible does. Nothing else is so prominent in all God's Word. The coming of Christ is the bringing of "the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets which have been since the world began." Acts iii. 21.

Even in Eden, before Adam had been driven forth because of sin, God told of the coming of the Seed of a woman, to bruise the serpent's head. The bruising, or crushing, of the serpent's head, is its destruction; "that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, has not yet been destroyed; he still goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; consequently we have yet to look for the fulfilment of God's promise made in Eden. As it was the entrance of Satan into Eden that resulted in its withdrawal from the earth, so his destruction will be the restoration of it. Is not that a thing worthy of having stress laid upon it?

Peter, filled with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, said, as just quoted, that by the mouth of His prophets since the world began God has foretold the coming of Christ and the resurrection, which is the restoration. Let us take a very hasty view of their testimony.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied concerning the wicked, standing by anticipation in eternity, and saying, "Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness." Jude 14, 15.

Balaam, who wished to curse, but was forced to bless, prophesied of the latter days, saying:-

"I see Him, but not now;
I behold Him, but not nigh;
There shall come forth a Star out of Jacob,
And a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel,
And shall smite through the corners of Moab,
And break down all the sons of tumult."
"And out of Jacob shall One have dominion,
And shall destroy the remnant from the city."

Job, of whom God said that he had spoken the thing that was right concerning Him said:-

"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." Job xiv. 14, 15. "For 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; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." Job xix. 25-27.

The Psalms are full of references to the coming of the Lord, and if we should try to print them all we should fill the paper with them. One or two specimens must suffice:-

"The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. 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. 1-6.

Again: "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. The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round about him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about. His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory. Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods. Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O Lord." Ps. xcvi. 10-13; xcvii. 1-8.

Isaiah might be said to be devoted wholly to the coming of the Lord, the Judgment, and the restoration. The book is so full of it, that we cannot quote, but must be content to ask you to read certain chapters. Begin, for instance, with chapter eleven, and read through the fourteenth. This does not mean that nothing is said about the coming of the Lord before the eleventh chapter. Far from it. Read the second, third and fourth, especially. Then read the twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth. When you have done this, you will have only a beginning of what there is in Isaiah about this great theme. If you read the other prophets, you will find that it is the same.

The coming of Christ, and the end of the world, formed the burden of a great deal of Christ's own teaching. Note the parables recorded in the thirteenth of Matthew: nearly all of them are about the end. Chapters twenty-four and twenty-five are devoted to the same subject.

The apostles preached "Jesus and the resurrection," and wrote of it. Every chapter of Thessalonians, for example, closes with reference to the coming of the Lord. It was with the promise that He would come again, that Jesus comforted His disciples, when He was about to leave them; and the words of comfort have been

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recorded for us. John xiv. 1-3. The comfort is, that He will come again, and receive us unto Himself, in order that where He is, there we may be also. That makes the coming of Lord the grand centre of the Christian's hope, since we know from it that we cannot be with Him unless He comes, nor until He comes. This is emphasised in 1 Thess. iv. 13-18:-

"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For 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 prevent 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."

BROUGHT FROM THE DEAD WITH CHRIST

The apostle says, "Them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." From whence will He bring them?-From the grave. God brought Jesus again from the dead, and as surely as He did that, will He bring them that sleep in Him. The resurrection of the dead in Christ is just as sure, and just as necessary, as His own resurrection. This is made very emphatic in the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians:-

"Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen; and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ; whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." "But now is Christ risen, from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept." Verses 12-18, 20.

And still further:-

"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. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Verses 51-54.

THE RESURRECTION NECESSARY TO FUTURE EXISTENCE

Now all these Scriptures set forth the resurrection at Christ's coming as a most necessary thing. It is the consummation of the Gospel. It is that which is set before us in the Lord's Supper, and in which we show our faith every time we celebrate that ordinance intelligently; for, we are told, "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death till he come." 1 Cor. xi. 26. And why is it so important? Simply because there is no being with Christ except by His coming to raise the dead, and take His people to Himself.

It is wholly an assumption, unwarranted by the Scriptures, that we are present with the Lord as soon as the body dies. Such an idea is entirely opposed to the teaching of the Bible. This you can see by the Scriptures just cited. As a matter of fact, there is not, and cannot possibly be, any conscious existence for any man when the body is dead. It takes the body to make the man. If the body is dead, the man does not exist any more than water exists when the hydrogen has been separated from the oxygen.

You will doubtless remind me that consciousness depends upon the spirit. You will quote that "the body without the spirit is dead," and, "there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." You may also recall these words: "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" and will say: "Since it is upon the spirit of man that the body depends for consciousness, how can it be dependent on the body for its consciousness? Why can it not retain all its knowledge when it is separated from the body?"

This is no new proposition. It is as old as Plato, who was consistent in his use of it; for he taught that the spirit had all its knowledge before it came into the body. Indeed, it was this theory that was the foundation of the other; for his argument was that since the spirit knew all things before it came into the body, it must retain its knowledge after it departed; and it was he that taught that the body is a clog, a hindrance to the spirit existence. Do you not see that you cannot possibly hold to the consciousness of the spirit apart from the body, without admitting its conscious pre-existence? This is the basis of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, and of all the false theories that have blinded men to the truth of the Gospel that saves from sin.

It is true that at death the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God, who gave it; but it also returns as it was. The breathing of the spirit into the body makes man a living soul. The combination of body and spirit makes the soul-the man; and when the combination is broken up, the man ceases to be until he is restored.

THE SPIRITUAL BODY NOT A CLOG

In a proper condition the body is no clog upon the spirit. At the resurrection "when that which is perfect is come," the body will be made spiritual,-fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body. Phil. iii. 21. His body is no clog. After His resurrection He ate and drank with His disciples, yet He passed quickly from place to place; entered the house when the doors were shut; became visible or invisible at will; and finally ascended to heaven, in that same body, where He now sits at the right hand of God. "This same Jesus" shall come again, just as He went into heaven; with the same body. Acts i. 11. That is our hope for the future, and our inspiration for the present.

It is by the power of the resurrection that we become sons of God, and overcomers. We are to be quickened even now by that power; and as the Spirit of God is given full control of us, we become spiritual even now, so that the flesh does not hinder us in our Christian life. It is true that while the flesh is yet mortal and corruptible, we are subject to certain limitations: and that is why we long for the redemption of our body, which will take place at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Then with bodies wholly spiritual, yet the very same bodies that we now possess, we shall know the fulness of joy that is in the presence of the Lord; and that is why we respond to His assurance "Surely, I come quickly," "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

August 7, 1902

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

The sweet and gentle dove is often spoken of in God's Word. It is a beautiful bird; we are told of "the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold."

The first time we hear of the dove is after the Flood, when Noah sent her forth from the ark, and she came back with an olive leaf in her mouth. The olive branch is the sign of peace; so that dove seems to us to be the messenger of peace.

The dove came back to Noah for rest and protection. This bird has always been a favourite with man, perhaps because it is so tame and gentle and loving, and trusts in his care and keeping.

But although the dove is so gentle, it is also very strong. It can fly very fast and very far. King David said: "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest."

It was in the form of a dove that the Holy Spirit came upon our Saviour when He came out of the water after His baptism. He wants to come and make His home in every heart. The Holy Spirit brings to us peace, and love, and strength. And this is what the dove is to remind us of.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Great activity is being manifested by the Los von Rom (free from Rome) movement on the continent. About ?750 is collected every month in Germany to support Protestant missionaries in Bohemia and other Austrian crown lands. This has stirred up the Catholic press of Germany and Austria, which is urging Catholics to make similar collections for the circulation of Catholic literature in the "infected" districts. Much nervousness is said to be displayed by the clergy in the Tyrol, where every Catholic inhabitant is urged to sign his name to prepare declaring that he has no sympathy with Protestantism, and intends to remain faithful to the church. This is doubtless the best the clergy can do; but it will be of little value when truth, as simple truth, and not as Protestantism, makes its appeal to their hearts.

The Church Family Newspaper says that Sir Gordon Sprigg, Prime Minister of Cape Colony, is an ardent teetotaler and anti-tobacconist, and that he has expressed the opinion that smoking is doing the English people as much harm as excessive drinking. We believe that he is right. He wishes that English bishops and clergymen would preach against the tobacco habit. So do we; but first they must all become emancipated from it.

Writing of the decline of the priestly power in France, in connection with the recently-issued demand that all Catholic institutions should derive their authority from the State, the Rev. Charles Williams says in the Baptist Times:-

"Strange it doubtless is, that the priest should be losing power everywhere but in Great Britain. No Cardinal is a greater influence in the councils of this nation on educational matters than is the Cardinal-Archbishop of Westminster. The most Protestant of all nations is the most deferential to priests and prelates. Perhaps our country will learn some day to reject the counsels of the clericals."

The Daily Chronicle well says of the Million Guinea Fund which the Wesleyans now have practically in hand, and the disbursement of which is the next question to be considered: "Increase of riches brings always increase of anxiety, and it is suggested that 'the spending of the fund. . . will be fraught with not a little danger to the peace and harmony of Methodism.'" It is to be feared that the heartwarming which resulted in the collection of the fund will be more than counter-balanced by the heartburnings engendered by its allotment. It will be a miracle of grace if spirituality can survive the possession by a church of so large a sum of money at one time.

In Germany the Protestants, according to the census of 1900, numbered 35,231,104. By Protestants is understood the adherents of the Lutheran Church. The Catholics are 20,327,913 in number, and the Jews 586,984. Other denominations have but a small representation. The proportion can best be seen by the following: Out of every 1,000 persons in the German Empire 625 are "Protestants;" 361, Romanists; and 10, Jews. This leaves only four in every thousand for all the other denominations together. When it is remembered that a very large per cent. of the Protestants, including most theological professors and students, are openly infidel, it will be seen that their religious outlook is not very brilliant in the Kaiser's dominions.

A recent issue of the Daily Telegraph contained the following hint to gardeners, which ought to be to them as to all others a reminder of the care they owe to themselves. Since mineral substance in the water does such injury to grass, what must be its effect on the tender tissues of the human body?

"The value of water as it falls from the clouds or conserved in receptacles from the roofs of buildings is inestimable to the gardener. The force it exerts on plant life in supplying the necessary food is very great, and in this respect a pailful of soft water is worth a tubful from a well or pipes. . . . Its use on a lawn in particular is far to be preferred to the hard, corrosive stuff that comes by force from a service pipe, which in time injures the very fine, growing grasses, as it clogs the surface, giving it the appearance of being concreted. Soft water contains all the natural elements that are taken up by plants, it sweetens their very existence, and assists them to thrive luxuriantly. It is not so with hard water, which may keep the most robust alive, but in time they are sure to shows signs of dislike by an unhealthy and ungenerous appearance. Dwellers in the suburbs are strongly advised to save all rain water, either in tube or tanks, if only for the use of plants in pots, whilst those having either a pond or stream running through their crowns need not take the trouble."

In giving an audience to Cardinal Matthieu, a few days since, the Pope is said to have avowed that the dread thought of the possible contingency of an independent National Church in France haunted his old age like some horrid specter. There is in French episcopal circles much dissatisfaction with the Vatican's policy, and the contribution of Peter's pence has been diminishing year after year. It is sad to think of the old man in the Vatican, who possibly has brought himself to actually believe that he really is the Vicar of Christ on earth, wearing his life out in anxiety over the defection of the French bishops,-not from Christ, but-from him. And it is sadder still to know that thousands upon thousands of professed Christians regard Christianity as consisting chiefly in adherence to some particular sect or party.

It has just transpired, in the course of a libel suit, that the judges at the Paris Exposition did not, in many cases, at least, even look at the articles for which they granted medals. In the case of tea, they merely asked the size of the estate from which it came, and granted a gold, silver, or bronze medal, according to the answer in square miles. The particular case in court was on account of an inventor who had been granted a bronze medal for a piano, which the judges had not taken the trouble even to open. This is of general interest, not only showing how much or, rather, how little dependence is to be placed on exhibition of works, as indicating the value of any article, but also as teaching the folly and emptiness of emulation. In this age of "enterprise and progress," men are substituting tinsel for gold, and depending on vigorous puffing and shouting to make up the deficiency; and the people are for the most part deceived by the noise and display. And yet, after all, the work whose own worth is its only advertisement is the work that really wins.

Old customs die hard. Men of sense and education will cling to them, even after they have been demonstrated to be not only useless, but dangerous. The giving of beef-tea to invalids is an instance. Announcing the sickness and sudden death of the noted M.P., Mr. William Johnston, the paper stated that "he was very weak, and beef tea was the only nourishment he could take." Yet every qualified physician has learned in his medical course, from his instructors in Physiology, that there is absolutely no nourishment in beef tea; and that even the good that a patient might derive from the hot water used in its composition is more than counteracted by the poison that is extracted from the beef. This does not mean that there is no nourishment in beef itself; but "beef extract" and beef tea contain none of that nourishment. They contains simply the waste matters which every living animal generates, and which would kill the ox itself, if it did not speedily get rid of them. Yet men who know all this will, because it is an old custom, prescribe beef tea for their patients.

"Different Manifestations" The Present Truth 18, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Dr. George P. Hays was relating an incident not long ago to illustrate some familiar things of everyday life which are difficult to explain. A German sceptic was announced to deliver an address in a certain country district, and, being met by one of his less educated countrymen, he was accosted thus:-

"Is you the young man what is to schpeak dis evening?"

"Yes, sir, I am."

"Vell, vot you schpeak about?"

"My subject, sir, is this, 'Resolved, that I will never believe anything that I do not understand.'"

"Oh, my! is dot it? Vell, now, you shoost take one lectle example.

"There, you see that field, my pasture over there? Now, my horse, he eats de grass, und it come up all hair over he's pack. Then my sheep he eats de same grass, and it grows vool all over him. And now, vot you tink! My goose, he eats the grass, too, and sure's I tell you, it come all over him feathers. You understand dot, eh?"

There is only one way to understand this or any other natural phenomenon: "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God," and everything that they contain was formed by His command. So when we read that, "God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind," we understand how it is that the same grass from the same earth produces hair, wool, or feathers, according to "the kind" of the creature that eats it. "The Spirit is life,"-the life of every creature; and just as "that one and the self-same Spirit" works various things in different men, "dividing to every man severally as He will," so that Spirit of life in the various living creatures causes each to manifest that phase of life which the Divine mind wills.

Faith, so far from being opposed to reason, is itself the highest reason, and can solve enigmas that man's so-called reason can never penetrate, and give an understanding of physical science altogether unattainable to him who refuses to exercise this God-given faculty.

"How We Live. The Value of Natural Treatment" The Present Truth 18, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

The following extract from the life of Catherine Booth speaks for itself of the value of the rational application of the remedies that God has provided in nature:-

"I was told that one of our most devoted cadets was raging mad. He had flown at Ballington, of whom he is most fond, and it took eight men to master him. They had a clever doctor, and he stated that it was a case of hopeless insanity, and ordered him to be taken to an asylum, as their lives were in danger. I came in just as they were negotiating this, and said he should not go. I felt sure it was a case of inflammation of the membrane of the brain. I sent the Commissioner of Lunacy off when he came, and dismissed the doctor, taking charge myself. They had him tied with ropes, hand and foot, and four men to watch him. I instructed them to take the ropes off one hand at a time, substituting strips of wet linen, leaving the ends for them to hold, let them undress him, got a sheet ready, and we had him in a pack and asleep in three quarters of an hour! He had not slept for three nights and days! I had him packed morning and night, and a hot mustard blanket up to the loins at noon ever since, and he has got the turn and will be well in eight or nine days. We have given him nothing but milk and fruit. I sent for Dr. Metcalf yesterday, to confirm our people in the course I had taken, and he says I am quite right, that it is inflammation and congestion, and that I could not have done better, only that I should not have taken all the anxiety of it upon myself, but have sent for him, which I should have don't except that I feared he would not let us persevere. Dr. Metcalf says that hundreds of people who are in our asylums might be saved in the first instance by these measures, and I am sure of it. I have told you all this to confirm your faith in Hydropathy."

This is painfully suggestive of how much physical and mental suffering might be avoided if all would endeavour to become acquainted with of the causes of disease, and how to co-operate with the Creator, the great and only true Physician, in the healing and restoring of the afflicted. To teach the principles of life and health, and a practical use of simple natural remedies, is the object of this department of PRESENT TRUTH.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

It would be well if all people would frequently repeat the little girl's petition, "O Lord, help me to believe that things are so." That expresses the perfection of faith; the recognition of the truth; for truth is that which is so. All the Lord asks of us is to believe things that are so. Not an unreasonable request, is it? Everybody ought to do that. Without faith it is impossible to please God; but the faith that pleases Him is the belief that "He is." That one truth, always recognised and always adhered to, is sufficient to save anybody and everybody. It is not a narrow creed, for it takes in the whole of creation.

"Where Is Your Life?" The Present Truth 18, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Where Is Your Life? -We frequently hear of men who have "taken their lives in their hands," and gone on some dangerous service, possibly as missionaries to a tribe of cannibals, or to some fever-infected district. A soldier going to fight the battles of some earthly king might be expected to "take his life in his hand;" but a soldier of the king of kings ought to know better than to carry his life where it may so easily be lost. Life is not a play-thing, to be carried about, but a sacred treasure. Christians have a safe place for their lives; for to them it is said: "Your life is hid with Christ in God;" and there it should remain, "bound in the bundle of life with the Lord." With the life there, it is as safe as God's own life.

"Resurrection" The Present Truth 18, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Fancy a British soldier, and not one only, but a company of them, excusing themselves for allowing a prisoner to escape, whom they had been detailed to guard, with strict orders to keep him, by saying that he was assisted to escape by friends of his who came while they were asleep! And, more incredible still, fancy the military authorities saying, "Very well; if you were asleep, of course you are not to blame," and allowing the matter to rest there! It is impossible to imagine such a thing; yet that is all the "proof" that was ever put forth against the resurrection of Jesus.

The Roman guard told how He came forth from the grave which they had received strict orders to guard. Just as though they had not been there, and the chief priest bribed them to say: "His disciples came by night, and stole Him away while we slept; " and that was the story they spread.

Rome's discipline was iron in its cruelty and relentlessness, and in every nation death has been the penalty for soldiers who slept on guard; yet those soldiers received not even a reprimand. That shows that the Roman authorities knew that it was a lie. No soldier would ever have dared tell such a story if he had not known that it would not be believed. Thus Pagan Rome bore its testimony to the resurrection of Jesus, and so to the justness of His claim to be the Messiah, the Saviour of the world.

"The Scriptural Method of Evangelisation" The Present Truth 18, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

The Scriptural Method of Evangelisation. -It is not necessary to have long conferences to discuss the "best methods of reaching the unsaved;" the one way to ensure the carrying of the Gospel to all the world, is just briefly but plainly set forth:-

"Let the people praise Thee, O God, let all the people praise Thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him." Ps. lxvii. 5-7.

If all people would honestly think the Lord for the benefits they have received from Him, they would all be saved; for it was unthankfulness that resulted in heathenism and all manner of sin (Rom. i. 21-29), and God says: "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me, and prepareth the way that I may show Him the salvation of God." But it cannot be expected that non-Christians will begin the good work. The initiative rests with those who profess to be followers of Christ. When they, with their feet firmly planted on the rock, sing the new song of praise unto our God," "many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord."

The Greek word for resurrection, or to rise from the dead, means to stand up. Resurrection, therefore, means uprightness, and the hope of the resurrection is the hope of the coming of the new earth, wherein righteousness shall dwell. It means the lifting up of the earth from its accursed, down-trodden condition, to the everlasting glory of the new creation. Jesus was raised, according to the Spirit of holiness, "and our hope in the resurrection is the hope of righteousness by faith. Not that we must wait for the final resurrection in order to obtain righteousness; but the power of the resurrection now, in the life of Christ, makes possible the future resurrection of the body. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy about Hymenaeus and Philetus, "who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is passed already." The same heresy is still extant; for a book has just been issued, teaching that are Lord's advent is already past, and so the resurrection also, since the resurrection takes place in connection with Christ's second coming. See 1 Cor. xv. 51-54; 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17; Phil. iii. 20, 21. Whoever believes these texts, together with many others which describe the manner of Christ's coming knows that His coming is still in the future. It is true that "His continual spiritual presence" is the strength and hope of the church, because it is the assurance that He has not forgotten His promise, and will come again. The Holy Spirit is His personal representative; but He will come again in the same body with which He went away, and as visibly.

God says: "I will be sanctified in them that come nigh unto Me, and before all the people I will be glorified." And again, "Thou art My servant, in whom I will be glorified." Good! He will be glorified in us! That is good news for us; for since He has said it, it rests with Him to accomplish it; we may be sure that He will if we are willing.

How will He be glorified in us?-Here is the answer in Christ's words: "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples." John xv. 8. And is when the love of God fills our hearts and bounds, and we learn to "approve things that are excellent," or to try the things that differ, so as to put difference between the sacred and profane, that we are "filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." Phil. i. 9-11.

August 14, 1902

"'Saved by a Look.' Num. xxi. 1-9" The Present Truth 18, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

(Num. xxi. 1-9.)²⁰1

We cannot begin at any better place than the time-honoured "golden path" that has saved the souls of many besides Nicodemus: "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 eternal life." John iii. 14, 15. Then comes the second realization, which, by its comprehensiveness, gives point to the whole story, and makes it a personal assurance to each individual:-

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

What about that serpent in the wilderness? Why was it lifted up? The story is brief; let us read it:-

"And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they 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 the Lord said unto 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. 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.

If you have read this, and you believe it, you understand the whole "plan of salvation" as well as any man can. It is just as simple, and just as incomprehensible, as that. By looking at the serpent of brass elevated on the pole, the stricken people were healed; even so by looking at Christ-and continuing to look-every wounded, sin-sick soul, no matter what the extent of the disease, will surely be made perfectly whole. By beholding we become changed, and "are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." Thus are we saved, because we absorb the nature, the life of the Saviour. When His life becomes our life, then it is certain that we must be saved from sin and death; because neither sin nor death could get any power over Him.

And herein lies the secret of the susceptibiliby of those Israelites In the wilderness to the poison of the fiery serpents, and of the healing of those who were saved. They

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dissociated themselves from God, as was indicated by their murmurings, and so their defence was lost.

Let us understand this case fully. Do not suppose for a moment that God created those serpents for the occasion, nor that He imported them for the express purpose of biting the Israelites. How do we know that this was not the case?-Because we know God, and know that that is not His way of working. He "who is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish," does not make or import snakes for the express purpose of killing people. No; be assured that the serpents were there before the Israelites were there; and if the people had only made the most High their habitation, they might have trodden upon the venomous reptiles with impunity. See Ps. xci. 1-13. It was only when they stepped out from under cover, that they were exposed to danger, and were susceptible to the poison.

Take the case of Paul as an instance in point. When he was shipwrecked on the island of Malta, and had gathered sticks and made a fire, a viper, driven forth by the heat, fastened itself on his hand, and "he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm." Acts xxvii. 5. The animal was poisonous, and the natives, who knew its nature, expected to see Paul fall down dead; but no harm came to him. Why not? Not because he was a god, as they thought, but because he had the fulness of the life of God in him. As long as he was in absolutely perfect harmony with that life, he was immune.

But what good did the serpent of brass do? It did no good whatever. It was only "a piece of brass," but by looking at it, according to God's commandment, the people showed their faith in God's sacrifice-Christ-who bore the curse of the world. They had been bitten by serpents, and that brazen serpent on a pole represented the serpents (the cause of their distress) exterminated-hanged on a tree. That was an object lesson of Christ bearing sin, the curse of the world, on the cross. "With His stripes we are healed." It was their faith that made them whole; and the same faith will heal us to-day from the deadliest wound that sin has made.

The faith of those wounded Jews who looked at the brazen serpent, did just what the touch of the poor woman, and multitudes of others, did for them when Christ was on earth. It brought His life into them; and that life drove out the poison from soul and body. Before life, death must flee away. Receive the life, pure from the heart and throne of God, and you have the perfect remedy for sin and everything that comes in its train.

DISSATISFIED WITH GOOD THINGS

It is worth while to give a little consideration to the specific sin of the Israelites. They tempted Christ. 1 Cor. x. 9. They denied His presence among them. Murmuring, then, is heathenism, idolatry, denial of God, and lays us liable to any cause of death that may be lurking about. On the contrary, whoever offers praise provides the way for the revelation of the salvation of God. Ps. i. 23, R.V., margin.

The people were discontented, dissatisfied. They were receiving fresh bread from heaven every morning, just such bread as the angels ate, yet they complained about it. They called it "vile." The word rendered "light" in our common version, is the Hebrew word meaning cursed. They said that they couldn't relish it, they loathed it; literally, they were nauseated with it; and we have no reason to suppose that they did not tell the truth. They did loathe it; it did nauseate them; but it was not "vile" bread. In this they were wrong. It was the best bread ever given to man; it was "the bread of the mighty" (Ps. lxxviii. 25, margin), even of the "angels that excel in strength." The trouble was not in the bread, but in them. If they had eaten it in faith, discerning the Lord's body in it, they would have been strong and healthy, in spite of all the serpents or pestilence in the world. In their case we can see that a murmuring, dissatisfied heart, can change a blessing into a curse.

Here is a lesson for us. God provides food for us now. In the Lord's supper we see that the Lord's body is the true food. That is pure, incorruptible. Thus we learn that the food that we receive from heaven is very simple and pure. It is not composed of a mixture of a great number of ingredients; the best food requires but little preparation,-no addition of spices or condiments of any kind "to taste," as all the recipes have it.

"But," someone says, "our food must be palatable, or else it will not digest."

Of course it must, and that was just what the Israelites in the desert thought and they were right too. They couldn't, digest the manna; it made them sick. What then? Oh, they must have a change. Yes; that was just what they needed; the food did not need to be changed. It was the people that needed to be changed. And that is just what people need in these days. They need to be changed, so that they will be satisfied with good things.

When a person says of the simple food that God gives us so richly, and in such abundant variety, that it "isn't good without the addition of something else, he is doing just what the children of Israel did. They said that the manna was not good. They did not relish it. But it was good. Moses ate it every day for forty years, and found no fault with it; and there was not a healthier man in the whole camp. The angels also eat it every day for centuries and ages. Can you not see what those murmuring Israelites ought to have done? They should have disciplined their taste. They should have learned to eat what God gave them, knowing that it was good because He gave it to them. Everything that is good has a delicious taste to the well-ordered palate. Men can teach themselves to like even the most disgusting nauseating things, as tobacco; how much easier it should be to learn to like that which is wholesome and good.

This is not a trifling subject. Whoever can discipline and control his appetite can do anything. The discipline acquired from training the appetite to obey divinely instructed reason, is of invaluable aid in enabling one to control the entire being and keep it under; and he who can do that is sure of not being a castaway.

There is a measure of truth in the saying that "what is one man's meat is another man's poison," but not in the sense in which it is generally understood. God made man, and He is never mistaken in His dealing with mankind; and the time that He provided one kind of food, and only one, for a whole nation, and that day after day for forty years, without variableness proves that when men have a perfect food, they need no variation from it. The nearer we come to the divine plan, the less need is there for continual change. The simpler one's food, the less liable is one to become tired of it.

But the point we wish to emphasise is that a man may bring himself into a condition where that which is life to others may be death to him. If our language cannot express all that is indicated by the vowel form of the Hebrew words, this would not be apparent to everybody in the simple reading of the narrative of Numbers. Let us see if a few words would not make it plain.

Without troubling the reader with forms which he may not understand, we will say that the Hebrew word for "brass" is

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the word meaning serpent, and this noun is identical with the verb meaning "to be burnt." It was fitting therefore that the serpent should be of brass; for brass represented the serpent, and especially this particular kind of serpent. On the connection of brass with burning, see Rev. i. 15.

Still another: the word "fiery," which describes the serpents, is from the Hebrew aleph-"burning." The reader will no doubt at once connect this with the plural form, which is found in English in Isaiah vi. 6, "seraphim." Now this very word is used in Num. xxi. 6; and in verse 8, where we read that the Lord said unto Moses, "Make thee a fiery serpent," the two words "fiery serpent" are from the single Hebrew word "seraph." Thus it was seraphim snakes that bit the people, and the Lord told Moses to make a seraph, and put it on a pole, that the people might look at it and be healed.

The seraphim are the creatures of fire that cover God's throne; yet doubt can convert them into demons. Discontent turned one of those preservers into Satan, the destroyer; and it was discontent that that made the children of Israel susceptible to the fiery darts.

God will purge the guilt of Jerusalem "by the spirit of burning." Isaiah iv. 4. The effect that this will have upon the people will depend entirely upon themselves. If it finds them in a grumbling mood, stubborn and rebellious, it will consume them; but if it finds them lovingly loyal to God, it will preserve them, by burning away every corruptible thing, leaving them so that they can "dwell with the devouring fire" and "with everlasting burnings." "Our God is a consuming fire," yet He is the Saviour. If we are satisfied with Him, and want nothing on earth besides Him, He will be our portion and our life to all eternity.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Salvation from Sin and Death" The Present Truth 18, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

"Being on my holidays, I have met with a few friends, who have given me certain numbers of PRESENT TRUTH to read, in which, among other questions, you have answered a question concerning the nature and destiny of man: I am greatly interested in the subject, and as an earnest seeker for truth I humbly ask you to oblige me with answers to the following questions: Is natural death, or what we term the first death, the result of sin? If it is, why could not belief in Christ remove it, since it removes the second death, or what we term eternal death? I shall be obliged for help out of the difficulty.

You question goes to the root of the matter, and touches the very heart of the Gospel, and I am glad to help you with the testimony of God's Word.

Let us start with the apostle's statement that "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. This is sufficient to establish the fact that death is indeed the fruit of sin. But for sin, there never would have been any death in the world.

Just here you may perhaps ask the question that so often is asked, "What kind of death is it that is the result of sin? The answer is simply, death. There are not two kinds of death, any more than there are two kinds of life. True, the Bible speaks of the first death, and the second death; but these are not two kinds of death, but death at two different times.

What is life? No answer can be given to this question, except the words of Christ, recorded in John xiv. 6: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." Or, "The Spirit is life because of righteousness." Rom. viii. 10. Life is the being of God, and is manifested through Christ the Son. "He that hath the Son hath the life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life." 1 John v. 12. From Rom. viii. 10, just quoted, we might derive the definition that righteousness is life. So it is. There is no righteousness but God's righteousness; and His righteousness is everlasting. Perfect righteousness is invulnerable; from its very nature-perfect purity-it is incorruptible; it can never know anything of decay or death. It was because Christ maintained perfect integrity, absolute holiness, that no man could take His life from Him, and that He laid it down of His own free will (John v. 17, 18); and it was because of this that God raised Him up, "having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." Acts ii. 24. It was "according to the Spirit of holiness" that He was raised from the dead. Rom. i. 4.

The conclusion of the statement that "as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin: and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," is that "even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Rom. v. 18, 19.

This righteousness of One,-Christ,-by which we are made righteous, is the righteous life of Christ in us; for we are "saved by His life." Rom. v. 8. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ" is that which makes us "free from the law of sin and death." Rom. viii. 2. Christ is "a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people" (Heb. ii: 17); and His priesthood is "after the power of an endless life." Heb. vii. 14. Thus we see that it is only by the power of an endless life,-a life that is endless because sinless,-that we are saved from sin.

Now there is but "one Lord," as there is but "one faith" (Eph. iv. 5); and Christ is not divided. 1 Cor. 1. 13. He gives the whole of Himself to everyone who receives Him. "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Eph. iv. 7. Therefore it follows that, having received Christ for salvation

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from sin, which is accomplished by His life, we can just as well as not have the full benefit of His sacrifice, appropriating, if we will, all that there is in His life. He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us, in order "that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. v. 21. Even so "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses" in order that we might be delivered from them. Matt. viii. 16, 17. The life of Jesus may be manifest "in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor. iv. 11), and that can be only by its power over mortality.

Let us now read a few passages bearing directly on this subject. The first will be the familiar call to bless the Lord, "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. 3-5.

Next let us compare Acts iii. 26 and Psalms cxxxiii. 3. The first tells us that God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless us, in turning away every one of us from his iniquities. The blessing of God is salvation from sin, and the blessing which He has commanded is "life for evermore." "His commandment is life everlasting." John xii. 50. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not, they are new every morning" (Lam. iii. 22, 23), and are "from everlasting to everlasting." "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 in famine" (Ps. xxxiii. 18, 19); and we receive this mercy just to the extent that we hope in God, and appropriate it.

And now let us have some practical examples of this truth,-some illustrations of the working of it. The most noted is that of Enoch. "By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death." Heb. xi. 5. Note that it was not by accident, but by faith. He was translated by faith, because He lived wholly by faith. "Before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." Elijah also was taken to heaven without dying. Now God is no respecter of persons; and what He did for those men, He is certainly willing to do for all who have their faith.

We know that there will be many who at the coming of Christ will be taken to heaven without dying. "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52. Read also 1 Thess. iv. 15-17. There are no accidents in God's dealing with men. Those who are taken to heaven without dying, when Christ comes, will not be translated simply because they happen to be living at that time; but they will be living at that time simply because their faith in Christ, and their knowledge of His life, and so their appropriation of it, will be so great, disease or death will have no power over them. Thus we read of that terrible time of trouble, when "the seven last plagues" devastate the earth:-

"He 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. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers and under His wings shalt thou trust; His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon day. A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the reward of the wicked. Because those hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Ps. xci. 1-10.

Nothing could be plainer than this. There is such a thing as victory over disease and death, through Christ. The flesh is corrupt and sinful; but Christ has "power over all flesh," so that His life can repress sin even in "sinful flesh," and by the same power He can resist the encroachments of disease even in our mortal flesh.

But we must have a wide and deep and intelligent faith in Christ. We must have our eyes open to see the life, and give ourselves diligently to study its manifestations, and then yield to it in every particular. It is just for this reason that now, as we are approaching the time when the end cannot be delayed, God is giving a flood of light upon how to live. "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); and it must not be overlooked nor forgotten that it was by the healing of all diseases and all weaknesses, that Christ demonstrated the kingdom of God at hand. This is the special message for this time and next week we shall, God willing, present a few additional thoughts, which may clear away some difficulties that will possibly present themselves to the mind of some readers.

"'Incurable' Diseases" The Present Truth 18, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

The Youth's Companion tells the following story, which we recommend to all who receive from their physicians the information that their disease is "incurable":-

"A year ago of three prominent physicians told a certain New Yorker that he was afflicted with locomotor ataxia, and beyond the power of cure. Thereupon, this man, who, even when he used two canes, floundered around wherever his legs chose to take him, went to the gymnasium. He took exercises in ten-minute installments. It was torture, but he persisted in it, and when he was not exercising he stayed out-of-doors. Presently he began to ride the bicycle, too, although he could not stop his machine except by putting on the brakes and falling off. After seven months of hard work his legs were 'still wobbly,' but he began to play handball. Through the winter he kept up regular practice in the gymnasium, gaining all the time, surely though slowly. This spring he had the reward of a year of prodigious and painful effort. He could take forty-mile rides on his bicycle. The doctors say he has perfectly recovered. He says he never felt better."

As a matter of fact, there is no such thing as an incurable disease. The only healer in the universe is God, and He can raise even the dead, much more people who are yet in life, no matter how badly diseased. Men can apply remedies successfully, thus co-operating with Him, just to the extent that they understand the working of His life. Whenever a physician pronounces a case terrible, he merely shows his ignorance of it. Very often a case that one physician pronounces incurable, another physician, with more experience, pronounces curable. And demonstrates his prognosis.

No case of disease is incurable, provided the sufferer, with intelligent faith in God, determines that he will not die; unless, like Hezekiah, he has received direct word from the Lord that He is to die. Many good and useful men are in their graves solely because they "gave up." We hear it said of men and women, as a mark of grand virtue, that they are "resigned to die." There are altogether too many who are thus resigned. What all people, whether ill or well, ought to do, is stubbornly to resist every approach of death, and resolutely to fight for life.

It is not a matter of mere will power, but of unshakable, intelligent trust in God, and constant, persistent, laying hold of and submission to the Divine life. "While there is life there is hope," because the life is the hope; "the power that worketh in us" is "the power of an endless life," and if we fight the good fight of faith we shall lay hold on it. If we have any life at all, "it is of the Lord's mercy," and His mercy is upon us according as we hope in Him. If we appreciate the value of life, and love it well enough to comply with its conditions, God will satisfy us with it.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

One of the chief objects of the Million Guinea Fund which the Wesleyans have been amassing for the past two or three years was the creation of a "church house" in some central location in London. It also has now been insured for that purpose, it being nothing less than the Royal Aquarium, for the purpose of which ?200,000 has been allotted. The Methodist headquarters will therefore be, as Mr. Funks said, "near to that which is the centre of everything-the House of Parliament," and face to face with Westminster Abbey. There was not however perfect equanimity in the conference over the project, one prominent member declaring that he would rather use ?32,000 spent on each of two houses in different parts of London. That would indeed be better for the people, but perhaps not for the church or its institution. Better still would it be to put that amount of money into the education and training of men. Brains and muscle are of more value to Gospel work than brick and mortar.

A large number of nuns and Sisters of Mercy are arriving in England from France, as a result of closing the religious schools and convents. Thus the secularising of France will prove a considerable factor in the Romanising of England.

The wife of a farm labourer in Suffolk, who is over sixty years of age, has just learned to read and write, in order that she may keep in communication with her children, who are grown up and away from home. One never gets too old to learn. On the contrary, the experience that comes with years ought to make learning much more easy for the old than for the young.

At an inquest held by the City coroner on the body of a pensioner who died of pneumonia accelerated by extensive drinking, a brother of the dead man, also a pensioner, said that on July 1 they each received ?5, and went "on the house" together. To the corner's query if they always spent their pension in drink, he replied, "Yes sir. I am sorry to say it. It was booze all day long till the money was gone. We're all the same." In a like case at Liverpool, where a dock labourer died from pneumonia following excessive drinking, a witness declared: "I do not think he has even been properly sober for twenty years."

One of the defenders of the all-absorbing cricket, who asks why cricketers should not look on the game as one of the ends of life, says: "For me it is certainly a more desirable end than soldiering. Too much has to give way nowadays to the exaggerated importance attached to militarism." That is a sample of a very weak, but all too common, form of argument. A foolish or bad practice is defended on the ground that it is better, or no worse, than something else. It may be admitted that cricketting is not so bad as soldiering without speaking very highly in its praise. It seems to be a characteristic of these days, as in those that preceded Rome's downfall, that the two things that men give most attention to are self-enjoyment and the killing of other people; that is, games and war.

The Daily Chronicle's Rome Correspondent sends to that paper of July 25 a lengthy communication concerning the American Mission to the Vatican on the question of the Philippines, in which are set forth the intrigues of the various parties in Rome, which resulted in the breaking off of negotiations without any result having been claimed, and the loss thereby of a great opportunity for the Vatican, much to the chagrin of the old Pope, who is keenly alive in everything that will advance the interests of the Roman Church. Although nothing was accomplished, the following extract from the letter, shows to what lengths the United States Government was prepared to go in dealing with Rome; and we may be sure that its compliance will yet be turned to account:-

"Not for a hundred years or more, if indeed since the Reformation era, had such an opportunity of displaying its prestige and of widening the sphere of its political or moral influence been accorded the Roman Curia. Standing influential Protestant opposition, the independent Republic in the New World had exhibited honourable deference towards Rome, such as no nominally Roman Catholic Government in Europe would go out of its way to show."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

A certain writer has well said, "Let us go to the extremes of truth, if we will only go to both." That is, we take it, let us go to Christ, the beginning and the ending. Going to extremes is too often confounded with going out of the way. This is a great error. The man who goes to the extreme must keep in the way; if he goes out of the way he will never get there; and the man who is always afraid of going to an extreme never gets anywhere.

"Be still and know that I am God," says the Lord. That indicates that it is only in silence that we can become acquainted with Him. This will readily appear when we stop to consider that God is known through His works and that His greatest works are conducted in silence. Everybody will agree that one quiet interview with a man in his own home will help us to know him far more than a hundred hasty interchanges of greetings as we are rushing to overtake a tramcar.

Everybody who has ever had any experience with insane people knows that stubbornness is their great characteristic. One cannot reason the out of anything upon which they have set their fragment of mind. This should remind us that "unwillingness to yield is not necessarily the mark of a strong mind, nor is modest deference to others a mark of weakness. It is only the one who has lost his reason who is not amenable to reason, and our most "reasonable service" consists in yielding ourselves wholly to God.

"The Economic Aspect of the Drink Problem," a little pamphlet of eighty pages, has just been sent us, and after a careful examination of it, we can heartily commend it to any who wish some reliable facts and figures concerning the drink question, put in a very plain and forcible way. It is the "Lees and Raper Memorial Lecture," delivered in St. James's Hall, April 25, by Thos. P. Whitaker, M.P., and covers the following topics:-

The Nation Drink Bill-The Indirect Cost-What the Classes and the Masses Spend-Do people drink less than their fathers did?-What is Wasteful Expenditure?-Is the Expenditure all Cost to the Nation?-The Liquor Trade and the Labour Market-National Efficiency-Drink and Efficiency-How the People live-Overcrowding-Effect on the Death Rate-Effect on Childre-How the Survivors fare-Early Marriages and large Families-The Cause of it all-Does Poverty cause Drinking, or Drinking create Poverty?-Temperance the Basis of Social Reform-Drink and the Death Rate-Abstainers v. Moderate Drinkers-The Cost and Loss-Drink and Mental Vigour-Drink and Moral Qualities.

Although small, it contains a great deal; and those who wish to be well informed on the drink problem, or who wish something very definite and concise to present to others, cannot do better than to send fourpence to the Lees and Raper Memorial Trustees, Broad Sanctuary Chambers, Westminster, S.W., or the Ideal Publishing Union, 33, Paternoster Row, and get it. We shall make some extracts from it for PRESENT TRUTH.

"The Nature-Study Movement" The Present Truth 18, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

The Nature-Study Movement. -Considerable, but not nearly enough, attention has been called to the Nature-Study Exhibition and conference at the Royal Botanic Gardens, from July 23 to August 5. It is a hopeful sign, that this important study is receiving so much consideration by the leading educationalists in this and other countries; and the cordial support that was given the conference by men in the highest stations in the kingdom is a sign that it will receive much more attention in the future. The study of nature, no matter what object one has in view, cannot but tend to refine and elevate the mind just as the reading of God's written Word is a benefit, even though one may not always read to the best purpose. As Lord Avebury said: "The man who sits and drinks in a public house is the man who does not know how to sit and think in a field." The thing to be regretted is that while stress was laid upon the habits of accurate observation which nature-study begets, and its value in disciplining and enlightening the mind,-in short, that the knowledge should be sought for its own sake, and not for ulterior, business purposes, there was nothing said about the most important end of all, namely, the recognition of God. Still, we are sure that great good will result from the movement which has just received such a new impetus; for when the minds of so many people and especially the young, are directed to the contemplation of the works of God, some are sure to learn His ways.

"Close Communion with God" The Present Truth 18, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

Close Communion with God .-It is a blessed truth, that we can touch the hem of Christ's garment even in the busiest throng; but it is a great misfortune if we are content with that passing acquaintance. It is as though our association with our friends never went further than bowing to them, and shaking hands with them on the street. If we wish for intimate acquaintance with them, we must visit them at their homes, and take long rambles with them alone in the quiet fields or woods. So it is in "the secret place of the Most High" that we come into full fellowship with God. the secret of the life and strength of a Christian, as well as of a tree, is out of sight. God sees in secret, and though His reward is openly seen, it is wrought out in secret.

"In secret silence of the mind,
My heaven, and there my God, I find."

There has been a good deal of talk about open and close communion, without any real understanding of what communion is. the misunderstanding has arisen from the expression, "the communion of saints," the idea being the faulty one that the communion is with one another. the real communion of saints is their communion, fellowship, with God; and this can never be too close.

"Superficiality in Bible Study" The Present Truth 18, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

Superficiality in Bible Study. -The following words by a writer in a recent number of a religious journal deserve more than passing notice:-

It seems a commonplace to say that nobody should take part in Sabbath-school instruction who is not himself a constant student of the Bible; but the reminder is required. We assume too quickly and easily that we are familiar with God's Book; we fancy often that we know its contents with more accuracy than we really do; we forget how absolutely essential is the daily, patient, systematic, loving scrutiny of the Word of truth and life. but are there not some of us who think ourselves quite ready to enlighten the children, when our own acquaintance with God's many-coloured revelation is shallow and superficial? This state of things must end if the school is to grow in usefulness and power, and if, indeed, it is to vindicate its continued existence.

It is most unfortunate, but true, that there is no other book about which people assume so much knowledge, with so little study, as the Bible. Hundreds of thousands of people are engaged in "teaching" the Bible, as by a mistaken courtesy it is called, who have never really studied it themselves. We would not take the responsibility of saying that they should discontinue their attempt to teach, but we do unhesitatingly say that they ought to learn how to study, and then do it.

"The Children. Hagar and Ishmael" The Present Truth 18, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

When Abram and Sarai, his wife, obeyed the call of God and left their home, they had no children to take with them. But God promised them that their seed should be "as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered."

Last week we learned that the seed God promised to Abram is Christ and all who are His. It was a promise that Christ, the Seed first promised to Adam and Eve, should come in Abram's line, as one of his descendants.

Yet the years passed on, and no little child came to bless the home and gladden the hearts of Sarai and Abram. God kept them waiting a long, long time, to teach them a lesson of patience and trust.

One day Abram reminded the Lord about His promise, and said that he was still childless, and his chief servant, who was born in his house, was his heir. Then God took Abram out into the clear night, and bold him to look up into the heavens where the host of stars were shining in the sky. In the clear air of Palestine many more stars can be seen than in this country. God said: "Behold the stars, which cannot be numbered for multitude; so shall thy seed be."

And yet the child of promise was not given, and Abram and Sarai were getting old. It was ten years since they came to Canaan, and the promise was first made, and Sarai was already much older than the mothers of little children usually are. At last she thought that perhaps if Abram had a younger wife, God would give him the promised child. This was why she gave her Egyptian maid Hagar to Abram for his wife, hoping that a child might be given to her.

Of course, this was wrong, for it was God's plan that a man should have only one wife. Sarai ought to have trusted the Lord, but she was so anxious for the promise to be fulfilled that she tried to help Him by giving Abram another wife. But after Hagar became Abram's wife, she was very proud to think that she would be the mother of the child God had promised. She despised her mistress, Sarai, for she thought that Abram would think more of here and love her more if God should give her the child.

Hagar's pride brought her into trouble but although she had acted foolishly, God did not leave her without comfort, He sent an angel with a message for her, and Hagar called the name of the Lord, "Thou God seest me!" because He had seen and helped her when she was alone and friendless in the desert, and comforted her in her trouble.

The angel called Hagar, "Sarai's maid," to remind her of her position, and take the pride out of her heart. And he asked her, "Whence cometh thou? and whither wilt thou go?" to show her the folly of running away from her good home and kind friends, when she had no place to go to.

Ishmael, the son afterwards born to Hagar, was not the child of promise. Hagar was not the true wife of Abram, and God did not look upon Ishmael as his son. He came to him again, and said, "Sarai, thy wife, shall bare thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac." And "in Isaac shall thy seed be called."

But when Abram prayed for Ishmael, God said that He had heard him and that He would bless Ishmael also, and make him the father of twelve princes, and of a great nation.

August 21, 1902

"'One of the People.' Deut. xviii. 9-22" The Present Truth 18, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

(Deut. xviii. 9-22)²¹1

When the three disciples were with Christ "in the holy mount" where He was transfigured before them, there came a voice out of the cloud, a voice from heaven, which said, "This is My beloved Son: hear Him!" Compare Matt. xvii. 5 and 2 Peter i. 17, 18.

These words proved that Jesus was the one of whom the Lord spoken, when He said to Moses, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him." Deut. xviii. 18, 19.

In the words, "a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee," we have the hope of the Gospel-the hope which the Gospel holds out to mankind. "The Man Christ Jesus,"-the one Mediator between God and man,-was in all things "like unto His brethren" from among whom He was taken; and therefore we know that every man may, if he will, be in all things like unto Him. He was made like us, not that He might know what man is, but that we might see what man ought to be, and what we may be.

"Then Thou spakest in vision to Thy saints, and sadist, I have laid help upon One that is mighty; I have exalted One chosen out of the people." Ps. lxxxix. 19. Who is this "One that is might"? It is the helpless Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger; it is the boy of twelve who got lost in the crowd; it is the faint and weary traveler by the wayside well; it is the "Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," offering up prayers and supplications with "strong crying and tears," asking for strength, because He said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing;" it is the man fainting beneath the heavy cross, and then stretched upon it;-this is the Mighty One-the Man of the people.

This might One was born of a woman, and was subject to all the infirmities and disabilities of other men born of women. He is partaker of the same flesh and blood that all other men are, and is of Himself as weak as the weakest of them; for no man can possibly be weaker than not to be able to do anything. Therefore since God is no respecter of persons, we know that every person, every one of His brethren, may be a mighty one-"strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might;" "strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power."

Jesus had no power on earth to resist and overcome sin, that we may not have. He had no advantage over us; when He came to this earth, He "emptied Himself," and became wholly like those whom He would redeem. If it had been otherwise, He could not have been a perfect Saviour; for He saves us by His live,-His life in complete touch with ours. If there were a point where His life did not touch ours, just there He could no nothing for us; and since we must be saved as a whole or not at all, it is evident that if in a single point He failed in establishing a connection with us, He could not

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save us at all. He is "a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people," because He was "in all things" "like unto His brethren."

"This Jesus hath God raised up," and "being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost," He sheds the same power upon His brethren. What he has attained to, all may gain through Him.

This is beautifully and forcibly set forth in the term frequently applied to Christ, namely, "the firstfruits." He is the first-fruits of the harvest that is to be gathered at the end of the world. A sample sheaf has been selected, and by it the whole crop is to be tested. He is the first; in all things He has the pre-eminence, and always will have; yet to all eternity He will still be "one of the people."

Christ was a Prophet like unto Moses, yet those who professed to believe Moses would not listen to Him. "We know that God spake unto Moses; but as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is," they said. John ix. 20. Thus is it to-day. Men are holding fast to a dead past, refusing to accept the living present. They know that the truth was proclaimed years ago, and there they take their stand, sure, as they think, of being safe. Looking backward, instead of forward and upward, they lose the light which shines now,-the same light that shone then, only brighter, as we get closer to it. and so we have the anomaly of men standing close to the light, and yet in far greater darkness than many who are far away. Let us give heed lest even to-day that come upon us, which God spoke through the prophet so many long years ago: "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you." The Prophet still speaks: Hear Him.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 18, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Speaking at the Methodist Conference, the Rev. W. H. Findlay, Missionary Secretary, said: "The sum of what I have to say is that wherever grounds for pride and satisfaction are church may find in some departments of its work for God, the state of its Foreign Missions is gravely, indeed, intolerably unsatisfactory." I find that the income of our Missionary Society has practically stood still for thirty years; has stood still while we have increased our chapels by hundreds, our membership by tens of thousands, our adherents by hundreds of thousands, and our wealth by millions; so that a stationary income has meant a steady decline in the average giving of Methodists to this cause." And that means a steady decline in Methodism as a whole; for no matter what wealth of means and members any body of Christians is able to exhibit at home, it is practically dead, or in a dying condition, if it is not alive to the Saviour's command, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature."

Commenting on the recently-developed prominence given to the religious vote in politics in Australia, the Daily Chronicle's Melbourne correspondent writes as follows:-

"Irishman and the Roman Catholic Church possess immense influence in the Civil Service and the Governments of Australia by reason of the real administrative ability of the colonial Irish, and of the solidarity with which Romanists support candidates known to be favourable to the Roman education policy, to Home Rule, and other causes dear to the Cultic heart. Individual Protestants have, in an insulated fashion, fought the Irishmen, and the powerful Orange Ledger have attacked them from pulpit, Press, and platform. Now, however, the Victorian Protestants intend taking a further step. A circular, signed by all the leafing Non-conformists and three Anglican Bishops, has been issued stating that-

"There are many circumstances which, in our opinion, render it desirable that a league should be formed for the purpose of meeting and counter-acting the organised Roman Catholic influence on the legislation and the administration of this State, without in any way combating or interfering with the Roman Catholic religious position.

An anti-Romanist political organisation will certainly come into existence. In New South Wales similar steps are to be taken, so that when the reduced and reformed State Parliaments are created, the first elections will be inoculated with the virus of religious animosity."

All this is to be regretted, inasmuch as it will be a serious check to real religious work. The religion of Jesus Christ is advanced by preaching, not by politics. No error can be successfully combated by its own weapons. Politics is Romes peculiar field, and the only way its progress can be effectually checked is by preaching the Word. While the Protestants are fighting Rome with her own peculiar weapons, and neglecting the Word, they are really helping her. If they would allow Rome to have a monopoly in politics, and would give themselves wholly to the Word of God, they might win.

Passing along the streets, and noting the contents bills of the various newspapers, especially the evening papers, one would naturally get the idea that the most important business of the country is the playing of cricket. Cricket and racing news take precedence over almost everything else; and we are glad to see so influential a journal as the Daily Mail call attention editorially to games which spin out over days and days. Among other things it says:-

"Cricket has become with us a perfect mania, to which many other interests are sacrificed. At each important match, who has not been puzzled by the large number of people who have apparently nothing else to do but to watch cricket, and who day after day postpone to that pleasure their business-if they have any? Not merely on Saturdays, but on ordinary week days, thousands may be found collected around the field of play. Can this phenomenon be in any way connected with the stagnancy of British industry? Certainly it was not a phase of our English life in the past; it is a feature which is not to be observed in the United States, where baseball matches occupy only an afternoon; nor is it noted in Germany. It is difficult not to feel that our thousands might often make a better use of their time."

A correspondent also says:-

"We have sacrificed everything to cricket-our military prestige, and our shipping, commerce, and manufactures. We have neglected science for cricket, we are behindhand in electricity, and have been content to be ignoramuses at chemistry in order that we may be proficient at cricket."

It is possible that this awakening of conscience is partly due to the defeat which the English players have suffered at the hands of the Australian; but whatever the cause, it is well that the attention of the public should be called to the fact that playing games is not the chief end of man.

"Disease Resistance" The Present Truth 18, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

The ability of a man's body to resist disease is not measured by his weight but by his specific gravity. It is not its weight or the amount of blood or of flesh that determines the health; it is the solidity of the flesh, the amount of power a pound.

God makes our features, but we make our own countenances by our inward mental habits.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Somebody asked us the other day, "Do you believe in the atonement?" Our reply was, "We don't believe in anything else." There is nothing else to believe in. Christ is the Author and Finisher of faith; there is no other object of faith; and belief in Christ is belief in the atonement, for He is set forth for no other purpose than to atone for sin.

People talk about "the doctrine of the atonement," as if it were one of many Christian doctrines. That is a most mistaken notion. The atonement is not a dogma; it is the actual salvation of sinners from sin, by the fulness of the life of God in Christ.

Gentleness and courteous grace are not incompatible with firmness. Moses, the meekest man, was one of the firmest and most immovable. Daniel very politely and meekly requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself with the king's dainties: but he had "purposed in his heart" that he would not. He did not think that it was necessary, however, to bluster, and to use strong language, in order to impress the one in charge; it is only the weak man that does that; the strong man is quiet simply because he is strong. "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."

We hereby gladly acknowledge the receipt of ?1 "partly for missionary work and partly as it may be of most use in the service of our God and Saviour." This acknowledgement should have appeared several weeks ago, and we beg the anonymous donor's pardon for the delay.

"How Many Holy Days?" The Present Truth 18, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

How Many Holy Days? -Great applause greeted the statement by Bishop Vincent of America, at the recent Methodist Conference, that "in the Calendar of our Church there are 365 Holy Days every year." This is a fallacy into which many fall, making it an excuse for not keeping the Sabbath of the Lord; for they say, "We keep every day holy." Thus they imagine that they are even better than the commandment of the Lord requires them to be. When God created the heavens and the earth in six days, He "blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it," or made it holy. There is just one holy day in the week, and that is the seventh day, "the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." No other day is holy, or can be kept holy.

Holy Days and Holy Men. -It is one thing to say that the seventh day of the week, of each week, is the only holy day there is, and quite another thing to say that one cannot be holy on any other day. This last is not true. The seventh day only is holy; but he who is not holy every day cannot keep the seventh day holy. But his keeping the seventh day does not add to its holiness, nor does anybody disregard for it detract from it. But while even a holy man cannot impart anything to God's holy day, the day when kept does contribute to the advancement of his holiness. God's holy rest day, spent in contemplation of His works, is calculated to lift him higher with each successive recurrence, each Sabbath giving him an impulse that will last through eternity.

Going Beyond the Commandment. -As already said, people imagine that in keeping, as they erroneously suppose they do, every day holy, they are seven times as good, in that respect, as God asks them to be. The condition of such is well illustrated by the story of the young sailor lad who was placed at the helm with instructions to keep the ship headed towards a certain star. By and by he called to the mate and asked him to give him another star to steer by, as he had "sailed past that one." He had turned the ship about, and because the star was then behind him, he supposed that he had sailed beyond it. Whoever gets beyond the commandments of God has simply turned his back on them. Be sure that when a man thinks that he is better than the Lord require him to be in one particular, he invariably and most naturally assumes that he is justified in balancing matters by falling short somewhere else. Thus he is "guilty of all." See James ii. 10.

"A Sign of the Last Days" The Present Truth 18, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

The Scriptures tell us that a special characteristic of "the last days" will be that "men shall be lovers of their own selves," and that this will cause the "perilous times" that will then be experienced. 2 Tim. iii. 1, 2. That we have already come to those days seems quite evident from the following extracts from an article by the Rev. Philip Young, in the Daily Mail of August 8, which only state in concise form what every observer of current events well knows:-

It is impossible to observe advance of the American upon the great trade centres of Europe without seeing what probably the American himself does not see-the crass selfishness which allows no room for pity or for kindly feeling. It is one of the saddest phases of this new century that Christianity would seem so little to have permeated the national life; that the spirit of Christ is so little understood.

Time was when the injunction, "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others," was better observed that it is to-day. It is out of fashion now, or observed only in a way at variance with the kindliness which gave it birth. "The things of others" truly enough are "looked upon"-with a view to seizure.

It will possibly be urged in defence that the American feverish demand for more is but the natural outcome of an impulse of energy, itself born of a climate exhilarating even to intoxication, or the mirror outward expression of Nature's first law-the desire for self-preservation.

But this latter it certainly is not. "Live and let live" was once a healthy model. Now it is "Let me live, I care not who may die."

We think, rightly think, that few things are so painful and so pitiless, viewed as an exhibition of human nature in its worst form, as the shipwrecked man using his fellow-man as the lever by which he shall gain hold on lifeboat or clamber up the raft.

If it were possible to palliate such action, which it is not, it could only be upon the basis of the "first law," seeing that the higher law of self-sacrifice was unknown or selfishly held in abeyance. But America has no such plea. America is not a shipwrecked man. Her own incomparable resources, her energy and electric powers have lifted her into an almost boundless prosperity; yet from sheer lust of gain she must throw herself upon the commerce of the world, fed by the one all-absorbing and insatiable ambition-to be first.

"Meditation" The Present Truth 18, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Meditation. -This is something that is very much neglected, to the detriment of the individual soul, and of society as well. It is common for people to allow the press of work in business to crowd out meditation; they think they "have no time for it." That is a short-sighted policy; they might as well say that they have no time to eat. It is the man who meditates, not merely occasionally, but "day and night," who has prosperity in whatever he undertakes. Christians are in danger of adopting the world's methods, and the world's standard of success. Real success is not always by any means that which is described by the highest figures.

August 28, 1902

"Our Obligation to the World" The Present Truth 18, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

"I am debtor, both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise." These words, when Paul wrote them, embraced the whole world; the Greeks were the cultured people of the world, and all the rest were the barbarians. And that which they meant then, they mean now-the whole world. Paul stated that he was debtor to the whole world. What did he owe to the world, and why did he owe it? He owed his life, himself, and therefore "he counted not his life dear unto himself," but he said, "If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all."

Paul was debtor, because he had received something; and he must give that thing which he had received. He himself tells us what that was: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ 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." Therefore when Paul said he was debtor, he meant that he owed that life that was in him,-the life of Jesus Christ-to the world; for he it was that said, "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." Having received the gift of Christ, who gave Himself for him, Paul recognised that he himself owed that same gift to the world.

Now what did the Apostle Paul receive that you and I have not received? What did he owe more than we owe? That is the thing for us to think about when we read that text. Everyone who receives Christ as Paul did, so that he is crucified with Him, and lives in himself no longer, but Christ in him, is debtor. What do we owe?-You will say, Our life. But what is our life; who is our life? Christ is our life; therefore we owe the Lord Jesus Christ to the world. So when we are not representing the Lord Jesus to the world, we are defaulters; We are failing to discharge our debt. There is a terrible responsibility resting upon us.

EVERY MAN A DEBTOR

Whether you feel it or not, this is a fact, a truth for every individual. The man who acts regardless of God is no less debtor of himself to God. "What hast thou that thou hast not received?" Your life, your existence, the sustenance that continues your life,-what have you that was not given to you? You are debtor to God. But debts to God are payable to man, for He says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." So we discharge our obligation to God by paying it to man. We want to recognise the debt, that we may not come to the day of reckoning with an out-standing account. We do not want to come up to the time when the day of service is passed, and fail to find our debt discharged; we must square up all our accounts now.

Our life, our strength, our intellect, our very existence we owe to Christ. Every fiber of our being is due to Him. Therefore we have no right to take ourselves into consideration in any question whatever. We are to be left out of the account entirely; our feelings are not to be consulted. "Even Christ pleased not Himself." "Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good for edification," and not himself. Our convenience is never to be consulted in a question of right or wrong, or of duty.

SANCTIFICATION FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS

In the prayer of Christ, that is recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, is this

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prayer for all the disciples, for all the world: "Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy Word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth."

Thank God there is a call to go into the missionary field. The voice is being recognised: "I am debtor." But we must get away from the idea that we cannot discharge that debt until we have sailed a certain distance, or traveled a certain distance by rail. You cannot get away anywhere in the world from that obligation. Wherever we go, we are debtors to all with whom we come in contact, to represent Christ to them. And He said, "As Thou hast sent Me, even so have I sent them; and for their sakes I sanctify Myself." Then since we are in His place as ambassadors, sent forth in Christ's stead, to pray the world to be reconciled to God, the thing that He did is obligatory upon us to do. What is that? "Sanctify yourselves." The Lord said, "I sanctify Myself that others may be truly sanctified." So we are to sanctify ourselves, in order that others may be sanctified.

No man liveth to himself. There is not an act of our lives that does not have some affect upon someone else. The evil thought you have had toward your brother has not heard him at all. But the evil we cherish in our hearts has had a disastrous effect upon some soul, because it has crippled us in the good we can do. That is the injury; it has injured ourselves, and it has injured somebody else on that account. So we cannot afford to cherish evil, unkind, or impure thoughts, or evil thoughts of self-pity.

We must sanctify ourselves for the sake of others. Every act of our lives, our dress, our eating, our drinking, our sleeping, and our work, our recreation, our exercise, whatever it may be, must be done, not with reference to ourselves, but with reference to the effect it will have on us-whether to build us up or to depreciate character,-and its consequent effect upon others. "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give a reason for the hope that is within you." And that hope is, "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

We may take this text and think about it; let us resolve it in our hearts. Then when we are inclined to do something simply because we want to do it, and we have no reason for doing it except that it will gratified us, we shall hear these words of Christ-"For their sakes I sanctify Myself." That does not mean that life is to be a hardship, a penance, and a grinding, and dragging forth of duty from us. It means that we shall delight only in the will of God, and shall find our highest pleasure in His service. Self-denial will be enjoyable. We shall enter into the spirit of Moses, who esteemed "the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt;" and we shall share the experience of Christ, who "for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame." We shall even find joy in the cross itself. Paul said, "I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong." "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." In all these things he found more than compensation, in the measure of the presence and power of God that they brought to him.

EXTENT OF INDIVIDUAL INFLUENCE

In the same line is the third text, which is linked with these others. It is in the second chapter of 2 Corinthians. I wish that we could begin with this text, and read right along in this book, and see what it has for us. It is a message of service. The third chapter of 2 Corinthians, as you well know, is the chapter of Christian ministry. "He hath made is able to be ministers." The fourth chapter goes on, "that we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants, for Jesus' sake." The fifth chapter comes in the same line, and the sixth also.

But now I am concerned only with the fourteenth verse of the second chapter. "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place." This text has unlimited application in two ways. That is, in every place where we are, He will make manifest the savour of His knowledge by us. This is the thought already presented,-that you cannot get into any place where you are not debtor. You cannot get into any place, however secret it may be, however far from the habitation of man, where you are not under obligation to sanctify yourself, that others may also be sanctified. We cannot please ourselves to-day and God to-morrow; we cannot serve the Lord in sections. We must serve Him all the time, for He is to make manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place.

But we may take this text also as unlimited in another sense; that God will make manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place, though we always remain in one place. From every true believer who realises his indebtedness to all men, and who for their sakes sanctifies himself, streams of life will flow forth, that shall go into all the world, carrying the savour of the knowledge of God. Christ said of Himself: "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." This, His work on earth, is His work in heaven; and our reward for working with Christ here is a greater power and wider privilege of working with Him hereafter. So many have the idea that now is the time of work, and there will be "resting by and by," and we shall have nothing to do henceforth. But there is work over there, and the man who has not learned how to work and rest here, could not work over there, and also rest. The rest the remains throughout eternity is for us here and now. But notice this, that our reward for faithful service here is larger capacity and greater power for service in the world to come. Now we are but learning how to work. Everything we do, or everything we ought to do that we fail to do, has its effect, not only here, but it will have its effect in heaven, and throughout the universe. We are apprentices here, taking lessons, and learning how to work; and our faithfulness in our apprenticeships will have much to do with determining our standing when we are admitted as qualified workman, when every man's work has come up in review.

OUR TIME OF APPRENTICESHIP

God has given every man his work; by and by He is going to examine the work. He will give to each man authority according to the capacity developed by his faithfulness in doing the work committed to him here. Among those who are saved will be some whose sphere of influence will be limited compared with that of others. There is something more for us to think of than simply being admitted into heaven. I have no sympathy with the thought that "if I can only get to heaven I shall be satisfied." That is not what we are here for. Christ said, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." His aim was not to get back to heaven again, but to do the work. Our

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business is to glorify God here in the earth, and that is all; and when we get into the kingdom of God, the work is not ended, but only begun.

We do not have to think about our own salvation, but, Are we using all the privileges that God has given us? Am I faithful? am I developing as a workman? Am I refusing some work because it is hard, and thereby depriving myself of experience and development? Now the person who does that, I do not say that he will not be saved, but in the Judgment day he will see what grant privileges he has lost. Everybody will be satisfied; we shall be just as satisfied with one city as the man who has authority over ten cities. But we should consider that God will be deprived of so much service. It is not what we shall get, or what we shall lose; but what will God get, or what will He lose, by our faithfulness or unfaithfulness. According to our work here will be our field of labour in the world to come. Our work here will have its influence upon the work we shall do for the universe throughout eternity.

There is nothing in this world that is wasted. We have in that beautiful poem of Gray's, these words:-

"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its weakness on the desert air."

This is a mistaken idea. Born to blush unseen and unknown, it may be; but its fragrance is not wasted. God never made anything in vain. There is not a flower that blooms in the depths of the darkest forest, with no eye to recognise it except the eye of God, that does not affect, in its measure, the whole universe. It adds something to the sum of the world's fragrance and loveliness. You may say, "It is not worth reckoning." We cannot reckon it, because we have not such fine perception as God has; but He who thinks things into existence, can measure the fragrance of that tiny blossom, and its effect upon the world.

And thus you and I, and the words we speak, the thoughts we think, and the actions we perform, even when alone, have an influence on some other soul, we know not how many souls, yea, even upon the whole world. We need to think seriously of these things, and of the great responsibility resting upon us. For "the humblest worker, moved by the Holy Spirit, will touch invisible chords, whose vibrations will ring to the ends of the earth, and make melody through the eternal ages."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Saul and the Witch of Endor" The Present Truth 18, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

A SPIRITUALIST MEDIUM

"Being a reader of PRESENT TRUTH, and reading in it about the state of the dead, I do not understand about 1 Samuel xxviii. 3, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18. How could Samuel be brought back from the grave, or the dead?"

If you remember that "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (2 Cor. xi. 14), it will help to remove the difficulty from your mind. Since he can transform himself into an angel of light, and even personating Christ Himself, so as almost to deceive the very elect, it is no marvel that he could assume the form of Samuel so successfully as to deceive Saul, who had forsaken God, and who was wholly given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind.

Let us take a view of the situation as set forth in the chapter referred to. Samuel, the prophet of the Lord, was dead and buried, so that Saul could no longer consult him. Indeed, long before Samuel died there had been no communication between him and Saul, because Saul had rejected his counsel from the Lord.

Moreover, "Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land," according to the commandment of the Lord: "There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or an necromancy. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord; and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee." Deut. xviii. 10-12. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Ex. xxii. 18. "Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after them, to be defiled by them; I am the Lord your God." Ex. xix. 31.

But now Saul was in sore distress, and when he enquired of the Lord, "the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophet." "Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor." This woman was a spiritualist medium, and her "familiar spirit" was the demon with whom she was in constant communication. Thus Saul had rejected God, and had turned to the devil, applying to one of the mediums whom he had banished.

The woman practised her incantations, and the familiar spirit assumed the appearance of Samuel, and talked with Saul. Now the question is, was it really Samuel, or was it not? That it was not Samuel, is evident from the fact that God alone has power to raise the dead, and He had ceased to communicate with Saul. It is not consistent to suppose that when God had refused to answer Saul by His own appointed means, He would communicate with him through a way which He Himself had forbidden. God "cannot deny Himself," and therefore He had nothing to do with the woman with the familiar spirit; so it is evident that He did not raise up Samuel; and it is still more evident that the woman could not; therefore the real Samuel was not present at all, but only an evil spirit who is called Samuel because he pretended to be Samuel, and Saul thought that he was Samuel.

Note, however, that Saul himself did not see the apparition at all, but had only the woman's statement that she "saw gods coming out of the earth," and that his form was that of an old man covered with a mantle.

Thus the case is very easily disposed of. We might call attention to one other feature, for the benefit of any who think that the dead are in heaven, and that is that this being whom the woman saw came up out of the earth. He did not come from heaven, but from beneath. In the woe pronounced upon Ariel, we read: "Thou shall be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust." Isa. xxix. 4. This tallies exactly with the case before us.

The sum of the matter is, therefore, that Saul, who had rejected God, and appealed to the devil, was led captive by him at his will, and made to believe that which was not true, and which he ought to have known was not true, since truth is found only with God.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Was Abraham a Jew?" The Present Truth 18, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

"I am a constant reader of PRESENT TRUTH, and there is a good portion of truth in it; but it seems to me that you are too positive over every disputed point of doctrine. However, what I want just now is for you to explain how Abraham became a Jew, if, as you say, he was first a Gentile. Mind, this is not meant as sarcasm, by any means. You remember the Jews quoted Abraham as their father, and the Saviour said in reply, 'Your father Abraham,' etc."

Before I answer this question let us consider this matter of being "too positive." Let me ask you, What would you have when you ask a question? If you are lost and enquire the way, you certainly want positive direction; you do not wish your professed informant to be undecided, or to guess at the answer he gives you. If you find two or three men who are disputing over the way, you will turn with eagerness to the man whose quiet, confident assurance begets confidence in you. So when you ask me a question about the way of life, it is because you want a positive answer, because you want to know.

The matters with which we are dealing are vital, and it will not do to be uncertain; if we do not know, then we must keep still; but we need not keep still, for we may positively know the truth. The Word God makes the way plain, and "by faith we understand;" therefore we speak because we believe. We may have the "full assurance of faith."

Now about Abraham. You ask, "How did Abraham become a Jew, if, as you say, he was first a Gentile?" Let me ask you, Is there any doubt about it? Is it simply a I who say that Abraham was a Gentile at first? The Bible says that Terah, the father of Abraham, "served

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other gods." Joshua xxiv. 2. We know that he came from Ur of the Chaldees. He was a Chaldean. How then did his descendants become Jews? I might ask you, How did some of his descendants become Arabs? How did the descendants of Adam become, some black, some white, some yellow? Do you not remember that the promise to Abraham was that he should be the "father of many nations"?

But this question admits a still more positive answer. In the ordinary use of the word, Abraham never was a Jew. The Jews, as well as all other nations, sprang from Adam, that Adam did not belong to any nationality now on earth.

In the truest sense, however, Abraham was a Jew, and he became one in just the same way that every other real Jew becomes one, namely by faith. "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, and in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God." Rom. ii. 28, 29.

"Hope the Result of Tribulation" The Present Truth 18, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

A man that was an expert in trouble, viz. Paul, says "tribulation worketh patience." Does it, Paul? Sometimes it worketh impatience; sometimes it worketh almost casting away of faith altogether, but if it does the right thing, it works patience. And if that is wrought, then, as the proverb says, "It is only the first step that costs."

"Children's Corner. Sodom and Gomorrah" The Present Truth 18, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

The first time that Sodom is spoken of in the Bible, when Lot left his uncle Abram and "pitched his tent toward Sodom," we are told that "the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly."

The next time we hear of Lot he was living inside this wicked city. But he was not happy there. Peter says that he was "vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. For that righteous man, dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul with their unlawful deeds."

At last the Lord could no longer leave these wicked cities of the plain to spread their evil influence over the earth, for they would soon have made it as bad as it was before the flood.

Jesus said that His people are the salt of the earth; they keep the world from becoming altogether corrupt. Many wicked are spared for the sake of a few righteous, in the hope that they will be saved through their good influence. God would have spared the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if only ten righteous persons could have been found in them to influence them for good.

God sent two angels to Sodom in the form of men to warn the people. Lot saw them, and having learned from his uncle Abraham to treat travellers with kindness and hospitality, he invited them to his home. They at first refused but he pressed them, and at last they went with him.

The Apostle Paul, in Hebrews xiii. 2, tells us not to be "forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." This is what both Abram and Lot did. They did not know that the men whom they treated with such courtesy and hospitality were angels. They entertained strangers with the same kindness whenever they had the opportunity.

Lot knew that in that wicked place no strangers would be safe in the street all night. Some harm would be sure to come to them before morning. This is why he pressed them so earnestly to go home with him.

Noah's family were saved in the ark for his sake, and God would have saved the family of Lot also if they would have let Him. But when Lot warned them, "he seemed to them as one that mocked." Although Lot's wife left the city with him, yet her heart was behind in wicked Sodom, even when she saw that it was so bad a place that God was obliged to wipe it off the face of the earth in order to save the world. So she did not obey the angel's command: "Escape for thy life: look not behind thee!" She was changed into a pillar of salt-turned into ashes like the people who stayed behind in Sodom-a warning to all not to look back, but to press onward in the way of salvation.

When Jesus was speaking about His second coming, He said it would be as it was in the days of Lot: "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." And then He gave the solemn morning, "Remember Lot's wife." If our hearts and our treasure are in this world, we shall then perish with the rest of the ungodly, even though we may have outwardly made a start away from "the City of Destruction."

Lot had gone to live in Sodom for the sake of worldly gain, but he lost everything that he had. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."

By turning the cities and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, God made them an example so that all might see what will at last be done with all who live ungodly lives.

"Inventions. Restoring Hearing to the Deaf" The Present Truth 18, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

In these last days of physical degeneracy and disease, God is mercifully shedding upon the world a flood of light with regard to new methods of treatment, using the minds of men, and instructing them how to make use of the lifeforce stored in nature, for the healing or alleviation of the sufferings of mankind. "Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds."

One of the latest inventions is that of an American electrician, for enabling the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. This invention is described as follows in Pearson's:-

"A Trade Secret" The Present Truth 18, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

It is not generally known, says the Daily Graphic, that the mysterious Oxford India paper, which has practically revolutionised the Bible and Prayer-book trade, is a quarter of a century old this year. The paper has an interesting history.

In 1841 an Oxford graduate returned from the Far East with a fold of paper, the like of which had never been seen in England before. Though remarkably thin, there was no paper in all Europe to beat it in toughness and opaqueness. The student presented the fold to the Oxford University Press, and in 1842 the late Mr. Combe, who was then printer to the University, was able to produce from it an addition of twenty-five copies of the smallest Bible at that time in existence. The copies were considered too rare to be placed on the market; one was presented to the Queen, and the rest-though as much as ?20 apiece was offered for them-were all distributed as a gift to various people.

Efforts were made to trace the paper to its source, but without success. Mr. Gladstone suggested Japan, but, although a peculiarly thin paper was discovered in the Mikado's country, it could only be printed on one side. Then the matter dropped and was forgotten until, early in 1874, a copy of the 1842 Bible was shown to Mr. Frowde, who had taken over the management of the London business of the Oxford University Press only a few months previously. The result of this was that experiments were at once started at the University mills at Wolvercote, and by some mysterious means (though to this day the secret is jealously guarded) the secret of manufacture was discovered.

On August 25, 1875, another edition of the Diamond Bible was issued, exactly similar to the twenty-five copies printed in 1842. It was the first Oxford Bible that Mr. Frowde published, and it caused something of a sensation at the time, a quarter of a million copies been soon snapped up. Only three living persons know the secret of manufacture, and no workman is allowed to know more than one stage of the process. Nowadays, the paper is used for several hundred different works and editions.

At the Paris Exhibition it was one of the features of the English publisher's display. Volumes of 1,500 pages were safely suspended by one leaf, as thin as tissue and perfectly opaque, throughout the period of the Exhibition; while it was shown that a strip only three inches wide could support a quarter of a hundredweight without yielding. It was this paper which largely contributed to the winning of the Grand Prix by the Oxford Press on that occasion, as well as a lion's share of the other prizes awarded to British publishers.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 18, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

The annual railway returns for the United Kingdom show that there were over a thousand million third-class passengers on the railways last year, and but just over a hundred millions of first class and second-class passengers combined. The third-class passengers paid ?29,000,000 for tickets, while the other two classes together paid only ?10,000,000.

Under the heading, "No Money in Modesty," the Daily Mail quotes from the Spectator that "there is one trait which invariably attaches to the exceptional young men in business,-he does not possess the Christian virtue of humanity." This is a sad testimony to the fact that commercialism and Christianity do not coalesce, which shows that commercialism tends to heathenism.

Of the six and a half millions of people living in London, not more than a million and a half ever attend Christian worship. Few Christians appreciate the fact that there are thousands of people in London who have never seen a Bible, and never heard the name of God, except in blasphemy. There is probably no other part of the world where there are so many hethean in the same space.

A regular service of trains between Europe and Eastern Siberia has at length been established, and the journey from Paris to Peking can be completed in twenty-two days. It is a great achievement, and, like all modern "improvements," will be an important factor in the coming conflict which is to engage the whole world. Commerce and war are the two things to which everything is now made to contribute.

A new North German Lloyd steamer, the largest afloat, has just been launched at Stettin. Its displacement is 26,000 tons, with 40,000 horsepower engines, and its speed is to be twenty-three and a half knots.The vessel was built to accommodate 775 first class, 343 second class, and 770 steerage passengers, and the crew will number 600 men. There are arrangements for mounting a number of guns, so that the vessel will serve as auxiliary cruiser in war time. Everything is done with a view to preparing for war.

The Methodist Times says that "the Methodist Church is admittedly the most democratic of all the churches, and, if the Romish Church perhaps be excepted, it is the most perfectly organised Church in Christendom;" yet all its "organisation" does not prevent a great leakage in membership. The same column contains the statement that "the church has to deplore the loss of 12,371 members during the past year through removals, to say nothing of the 21,597 who are tabulated as 'ceased to meet.'" Life is the only real organisation, and it alone can cause growth.

During the late war in Africa, 34,582,760 pounds of jam and marmalades were consumed by the troops in the field. During 1900 every man in the field had an average of 80 pounds of jam, which means over a pound and a half a week. One can well believe, what one of the soldiers writes, that "many of us conceived an intense loathing for the stuff." The vast amount of this unnatural food that was consumed by the troops no doubt contributed materially to the sickness by which so many lost their lives. The making of fruit into jam simply converts a most unwholesome article and is something most indigestible and ruinous to the digestion.

We have followed with much interest the discussion of Dr. Beet's case at the last Conference, because he has seemed to be following the line of truth; but there was one weak point in the defence of him by his friends. It was this, as stated by one of them; "Dr. Beet has never taught his special views on this question from the chair of theology at Richmond, and he never intends to. When he took the chair he laid down for himself a great principle. He said: 'Now, brethren, I am not going to discuss with you in my official position any questions upon which there may be differences of opinion in Methodism. I will speak of those essential doctrines of the evangelical position upon which we are all agreed.' And he has rigidly kept to that position." If the doctrine which he has published had in it vital truth, it ought not to have been withheld from all the people; and if it had not, it was not worth writing a book about.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

Although no notes on the International Lessons appear this week, none will be omitted. The notes on the lesson following the one last issued will be printed next week, and will then be in good time for those who wish to make use of them in studying and teaching a lesson.

In a talk at the late Keswick Convention, Dr. A. T. Pierson called attention in the following words to a most alarming state of things in the Christian church, and its cause:-

"There is no more awful apathy, than that which exists with regard to doubt. I was born in 1837, and I have seen grow up a most amazing and colossal fabric of infidelity in the Church of God, and it almost seems as though the people are apathetic and lethargic with regard to it. Christ outlined the whole history of modern criticism when He said, 'If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; but if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My sayings?' They began by assaulting the authenticity of the writings of Moses; they then assaulted the words of the Prophets; and they then assaulted those of Jesus Christ. Now they are not persuaded that He rose from the dead. You have the whole history of all this opposition unveiled in the warnings of Jesus Christ. In my youth a man would not have been tolerated in the Church as a layman who held doctrines now taught by professors in theological seminaries. Apathy about doubt is one of the most awful signs of decadence in the Church of God."

A premium has in these last days been set upon doubt, and most people seem to fear nothing so much as simple belief. This is the working of the so-called Higher Criticism, which, however "high" it may begin, invariably tends downward.

"'The Coming of the Seed'" The Present Truth 18, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

The coming of the seed is the harvest, for it is to the harvest that the farmer looks for the gathering of the seed. But something must precede that, namely, the gift of the seed. You may present a man a tract of land, but if he has no seed, it is useless to them. You must also give him the necessary seed. When the seed has been given him, it is of no use until it has been sown. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."

The harvest is the perfection of the seed. Christ is the standard of perfection, but it takes all who are His as children of Abraham to constitute the fulness of the coming of the seed. "The good seed are the children of the kingdom." The coming of the seed therefore means that there will be multitudes like Christ the first fruits. The perfect image and life of Christ are to be seen in thousands in all parts of the world before the coming of the Lord; for the harvest does not come until the seed is fully ripe.

It is evident that the coming of the seed depends on the sowing. Here is a lesson from the seed, that needs to be laid to heart. We have all read the pretty story about the handful of wheat found in the hand of a mummy that had been dead and buried in a pyramid for hundreds of years,-how that the wheat that had lain buried so long was sown and yielded a harvest. It is only in imagination, for there is no truth begin it. It is impossible for seed to germinate after lying idle so long. Thirty years is the longest time that any known seed will retain its vitality. Some will retain it only three or four years. If the seed does not fall into the ground and die before that time, it must abide alone. It has lost its opportunity.

So there are many people who have lost the opportunity of their lives. They have hesitated to receive light, and have shunned the responsibilities that would have developed their character, until finally they have lost the capacity for growth. What a sad condition!

"Light Out of Darkness" The Present Truth 18, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

The work of creation shows us the Gospel; in it we learn God's way of working. "God who commanded the light to shine," not into, but "out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts." When we understand the simple lesson taught in these words, and believe that God calls the light out darkness, the darkness will not be dark to us, discouragements will not be able to discourage, nor death to kill; but we shall be able to say, "Thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph."

The glory streaming from the cross of Christ shines out of the thick darkness. In all His previous encounters with the enemy, there had been a clear path of light between Christ and the Father. But the dense darkness enveloped in the cross, the thick cloud of our transgressions, shut out even the light of the Father's countenance, and drew forth the exceeding bitter cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" The eternal light of the universe was the hour of its thickest darkness.

"In the cross of Christ by glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime."

"Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was." For a time he was swallowed up in the darkness, but he emerged from it transfigured, with his face shining with the glory of God. "Clouds and darkness" are round about the throne of glory, and to God "the night shineth even as the day." Those who learn this lesson, though they may seem for a time to be overwhelmed by the clouds of sorrow, and darkness of trial, will come out triumphant with shining faces, and a powerful testimony.

"The Ministry of Reconciliation" The Present Truth 18, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

The Ministry of Reconciliation. -God has committed unto us "the ministry of reconciliation"-a breaking down the enmity and hatred of mankind, and a winning souls to Him. "God was in Christ, reconciling"-drawling-"the world unto Himself." Men may resist His drawing, yet all have been "made nigh by the blood of Christ." The arms of Christ stretched out on the cross, have encompassed the universe, and now they close in, and draw all to Himself. In spite of the scorn, the scourging, and the spitting, His persistent love is drawing all to His heart.

Even so we, revealing God, who is in us reconciling the world to Himself, must be oblivious to hatred and persecution. This will be swallowed up in the Divine love that constrains us. In the battle, the good soldier, regardless of his own wounds, presses through all opposition that he may reach the heart of the foe. We also, to whom this ministry of reconciliation is given, must press through all hindrances, and all opposing forces, to reach the heart of the enemy, in order to speak comfortably, words of love that shall destroy the enmity, and bring the peace of God.

September 4, 1902

"'Perfect through Suffering'" The Present Truth 18, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

"Perfect through Suffering." -"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. Why perfect through sufferings?-Because there was no other way. Men talk about "the plan of salvation" as if it were something God had worked out, as an architect works out the plan of the house, choosing this idea, and discarding that, until He is satisfied with it. Nothing of the kind. God did not choose between two ways of saving mankind; there is always but one way for Him, and that is just the way that He takes. His way is the right way, because it is the only way. There is not, neither could there, be any other name given among men, whereby they could be saved, than the name of Jesus Christ.

And when Christ came to this earth as Man, there was no other way for Him to get back to heaven, except the way of the cross. The cross with all its suffering was that which lifted Him from the earth up to heaven. It was alone upon the cross that He was hailed by all as King; it was only when He had in Gethsemane tasted to the full the bitterness of the cross, that He declared Himself King. The cross was His throne; and the fact that it was the suffering of the cross that lifted Him as Man up to the throne of God, is evidence that the cross is the rule of God's Government-it is God's life. God suffers, and so there can be no perfection without suffering. It became God, in bringing many sons to glory,-to Himself,-to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Therefore must men suffer, otherwise they can never know perfection, and can never know perfect happiness. "For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." It is suffering alone that shows our kinship with God. "For if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." Heb. xii. 8. It is human nature to seek happiness through pleasure, and to feel that we are not fairly treated if we are forced to suffer; but that is where human nature errs. There can be no perfect pleasure except in perfection; there is no perfect pleasure but at God's right hand, where there are pleasures for evermore; for nothing is perfect that is not lasting; and so suffering, which is the way to perfection, is the only way to happiness. Ah, how often men turn impatiently away from happiness! "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of heaven." "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him; for just as it was with the Captain of our salvation, it is the suffering of the cross that crowns us kings. We can welcome suffering, and even be glad of it, when we look away from the things that are seen to the unseen, eternal things, and know that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us."

Although happiness comes only through suffering, we are not to go out of our way to seek it. We are not to make trouble for ourselves. There is no virtue in making a martyr of oneself. There is trouble enough without making it. To court persecution is not to suffer with Christ. Our part is simply to know, and by faith to make sure, our complete oneness with Christ, and then, knowing when tribulation comes, that we are partakers of His sufferings, we must necessarily rejoice.

"The Ever-Present Word. Deut. xxx. 11-20" The Present Truth 18, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

(Deut. xxx. 11-20.)²²1

The experience of the Apostle Paul (that is, the experience of Saul of Tarsus before he became an apostle, and which, as an apostle, he so vividly portrayed) is the experience of thousands of others even until this day: "To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." "I find that a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me."

With this state of things many, unlike the apostle, are content, thinking that God will take the will for the deed, and satisfied that if they but cry out against sin, and always declare their desire to do right, that will be sufficient excuse for their conformity to the evil that dwells in their flesh.

But there is no excuse for sin, no matter how closely it is interwoven with one's flesh; for "Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh," "the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God," and "he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin." In the lesson before us, we learn how truly and how righteously it is that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold [down] the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them;" for ever since the creation of the world the invisible things of Him, even His everlasting power and Divinity, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,-seen most clearly in men, the earthen vessels that bear about the living image of God,-"so that they are without excuse."

So come we to the teaching of "the righteousness which is by faith," which sounds as clearly forth to-day as when Moses uttered it, to every soul that would either comfort or upbraid itself with the words, "How to perform that which is good I find not," but "I find a law that, when I would do good evil is present with me." And here is the teaching:-

"This commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." Deut. xxx. 11-14.

The commandment, the word, is "very nigh unto thee." How near?-"In thy mouth, and in thy heart. "Why is it so near?-"That thou mayest do it." Is it not plain that these words are spoken to those who are yet in sin, seeking, no doubt, but not yet having found the way of righteousness? The word is near those who are not doing it, in order that they may do it.

CHRIST IS THE WORD

What is this commandment, this word, which is so very nigh unto us, even in our mouth, and in our hearts?-There can be but one answer: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, . . . full of grace and truth." The same Word is still made flesh, and is yet dwelling amongst us, and in our mouth and in our heart, full of grace and truth, that we may do thereafter.

Christ is the Word, and He is with us-"God with us"-always, even unto the end of the world, in our mouth, and in our heart. This is the message of righteousness by faith to a sinful world. Hear it as it is given by the same apostle who bemoaned the ever-present sin his flesh:-

"The righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above); or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead). But what saith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the Word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom. x. 6-10.

It needs no argument to show that Paul quotes from Moses, and that the "word," of which Moses spoke, was Christ. It is Christ that is very near, in our mouth and in our heart. It is true that there is a sense of nearness, a reality, to the saint, that the sinner knows nothing about; but the actual difference consists only in faith or the lack of faith. Christ is equally near to all, but all do not know it. To the most of mankind He is as if He were not; when faith comes, it lays hold upon that which is, and we see and know Him "who is over all, and through all, and in all."

How strange it is that people are slowest to believe that which is most evident. Men in general have a sort of belief in God as One far away, but they have no idea of His nearness, and it is difficult to make them believe that He is near. Now see how God puts it: "Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?" Jer. xxiii. 23. He will not consider that anybody can doubt that He is a God near at hand; but He will have the doubters believe that He is far off as well,-that He is a great God, who fills all things.

PROOF OF GOD'S NEARNESS

"But, how can I know for myself that He is near?" someone says. It is the easiest thing in the world. The wonder is how anybody can help knowing it. "The Word [Christ] is nigh thee, in thy mouth." Draw in a full breath, and hold it a few seconds; you often do it, but do it now consciously, voluntarily. Now breath out again. Try now to go two minutes, or even one minute, without breathing. Perhaps you could hold out a minute, but you find two minutes impossible. You must breath in spite of yourself. It would be an absolute impossibility for anybody to commit suicide by holding his breath. And think now, that the stream of life-giving breath is day and night flowing. You use it in speaking and singing, without thinking of it. It is God's own presence; it is the breath of the Almighty that gives you life. Your lungs are but the instruments for God's breath.

"And in thy heart." Steadily, without ceasing day or night, your heart keeps up its activity. Not only so, but it, so to speak, regulates itself according to circumstances, beating fast when more blood is needed, and slowly when the system sinks to repose. It does it itself, they say. What! is the heart self-existent? if so it must be God! Oh, no; the heart is but a bundle of muscular fiber; but God, the ever-present, ever-active is there. The fact that we live is proof of His presence. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." He is "not far from every one of us," was Paul's testimony to the heathen in Athens. And He is near to the weakest and most wicked, in order that they may serve Him if they will.

HOW TO OBEY GOD

Well, then, how is it that we can lay hoId of this Divine power, so that it will show itself active in us, not merely in giving life to our bodies, as it does to the beasts, but in holiness and righteousness? The answer has been given: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

But what is it to confess the Lord Jesus?-It is to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh,-in human flesh, and therefore in your flesh. He is the Son of man, indissolubly joined to humanity. To confess is to acknowledge thing that already exists. You confess Christ by recognising His presence in your being, and by acknowledging it and His right and power to rule in you. This is the true and only real "confession of faith." What then? "Believe in thine heart at God hath raised Him from the dead." Believe that it is the living and active Lord that is in you; that He dwells in every cell and fibre of your being with all the power of the resurrection. Is there not victory in that truth? You say rightly that in you, that is, in your flesh, dwelleth no good thing. That is, the flesh itself is wholly corrupt, and all that can come from flesh itself is sin and death. But the Word of life is there, and He has "power over all flesh," as was fully demonstrated in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

This is the way to serve and obey God. We simply recognise and constantly acknowledge, and so come into harmony with, that which is,-with the almighty power that rules the universe. Try it, not hesitatingly or doubtingly, but in the same confidence in which you lie down to sleep or go about your work, assured that your breathing will continue, and you will find that He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, "according to the power that worketh in us;" and you will involuntarily give to Him the glory and the dominion. This is practical righteousness.

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS

And, that Word of God Incarnate,
Jesus Christ our Blessed Lord,
Wondrous Mystery of ages,
Son of Man, and Son of God;
He is with us now and ever.
Jesus, Saviour, still the same,
Closest Friend and truest Brother,
Love, His best and endless name.
S. J. W.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Blotting Out of Sin" The Present Truth 18, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

I read with pleasure your article in a recent number on "The Meaning of the Cross." It certainly opens up the subject in a wonderfully clear light, and enables one to read the Gospel message for himself in all creation. I should he very glad if you would write further with regard to the cleansing power of the blood of Christ as applied to the heart of man, and tell us what is meant by the "blotting out" of sin. Else it not a deeper meaning than the destroying of the record of the sin? Or rather, is not each individual in himself the record of his own past? Must not the "blotting out" therefore be a work wrought in the individual, and not something apart from or outside of him?

It is part of fallen human nature to make religion consist of forms and ceremonies, formulas and doctrines. Sacerdotalism is not peculiar to certain denominations; it is inherent in fallen human nature and just to the extent that one loses sight of God, that formalism will manifest itself even in those who are most sincere. There are just as sincere souls among those whose religion consists of forms as among any people on earth. I have seen among Roman Catholics as much devout sincerity as among any people. Our danger lies in thinking that the truth consists of certain statements-of losing sight of the distinction between truth and the statement of truth. There is just as much difference between these two as there is between the law and the writing out of the law. The real law is living; the writing of it in the book is only a shadow. We are in danger of making a creed, and thinking that that is the truth.

No human words can express the truth of God. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit." The fulness of the truth of God cannot be stated in human language; otherwise it could be heard by the ear. It cannot be framed in human thought; otherwise it could enter into the heart of man. Truth can be revealed to man only by the gift of the Spirit of truth.

"This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we sap that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; but 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. 5-7.

Just forget the division of this epistle into chapters, with which John had nothing to do. This was a letter, containing but few sentences, not so long as we ourselves have sometimes written. At the beginning of the letter he makes this statement of what his message is, and a little later he writes about the end of the world. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." This then is just the message for the last days, that which will make people stand when the world passes away.

Then the Apostle speaks of "the anointing that ye have received of Him" so that, "ye need not that any man teach you." No man can teach you the truth; the things which God has prepared are revealed, only by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. "And even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him. And now, little children abide in Him, that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming." So this is the message that will give people boldness at the coming of the Lord, so, that they will look up and say, "Lo this is our God, we have waited for Him and He will save us."

This then is the message, that God is light, and if we walk in the light the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all,-

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blot out all iniquity. The proof of whether or not we have the truth is in the effect that that which we have has upon our lives. Does it cleanse us from unrighteousness? If we walk in the light, then the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us. Light is the flowing forth of God's life, which cleanses, and blots out sin.

We need to be on our guard against the idea that the blotting out of sin is merely as the passing of a sponge over a slate, or an entry in a ledger, to balance the account. This is not the blotting out of sin. An ignorant man who saw a thermometer for the first time thought to lessen the heat by breaking it. But how much effect did this have upon the weather?-Just as much as the wiping out of the record of his sin has upon the sinner. The tearing of a leaf out of a book, or even the burning of the book containing the record, does not blot out the sin. The sin is not blotted out by blotting out the account of it, any more than throwing my Bible into the fire abolishes the Word of God. There was a time when all the Bibles that could be found were destroyed; but the Word of God-the truth-remained just the same, because truth is God Himself; it is His life.

Truth is implanted in the heavens and earth, it fills the stars, and keeps them in their spaces; it is that by which the plants grow, and the birds build their nests; it is that by which they know how to find their way across the sea. When Moses broke the tables of stone, the law was just as steadfast as it was before. Just so, though all the record of all our sin, even though written with the finger of God, were erased, the sin would remain, because the sin is in us. Though the record of our sin were graven in the rock, and the rock should be ground to powder-even this would not blot out our sin.

NO MORE CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIN

The blotting out of sin is the erasing of it from the nature, the being of man. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. Our bodies are but the channel, the border, the sand upon the shore, of the cover of life. Impressions have been made upon us by sin. At the sea-shore, when you see a smooth piece of sand, your first impulse is to make some mark on it, to write the characters upon it. Then the sea comes up, and each wave that passes over it helps to obliterate the impression until it is entirely blotted out. Even so the stream of life from the throne of God will wash away and blot out the impressions of sin upon us.

The erasing of sin is the blotting of it from our natures, so that we shall know it no more. "The worshippers once purged"-actually purged by the blood of Christ have-have "no more conscience of sin," because the way of sin is gone from them. Their iniquity may be sought for, but it will not be found. It is for ever gone from them,-it is foreign to their new natures, and even though they may be able to recall the fact that they have committed certain sins, they have forgotten the sin itself-they do not think of doing it any more. This is the work of Christ in the true sanctuary, which the Lord pitched, and not man, the sanctuary not made with hands, but brought into existence by the thought of God.

OUR BIRTHRIGHT INHERITANCE

The most discouraging and depressing thing that comes to our minds when we think of the possibility of overcoming sin is our heritage. We think, "I was born with these crooked, perverse tendencies; I was born in sin, and it is a part of myself; how then can I escape from it?" We all know the effect of this thought. It works in two ways: Sometimes it makes us careless and self-satisfied, and we say, "I was born thus, and the Lord knows it; therefore He will make allowance for it." But this never really satisfied our conscience. Then on the other hand we think, "Well, I cannot help it; there is no hope for me; I cannot overcome." And so we settle down in despair. But the Lord gives us abundance of hope. We are told to abide in Him, that when He appears we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

The Bible teaches us that our inheritance from our parents is only incidental; our inheritance goes back to God; our parents are only incidental links in the chain. They, with all that we receive from them, may pass away, but God, with all that we get from Him, abides for ever.

OUR GENEALOGY

The third chapter of Luke gives us the genealogy of Christ. You may have thought that this is only a long list of names, containing no help or strength for us, but it is really one of the most comforting chapters in the Bible, and we might do a great deal worse than to read it for morning worship, if we read it understandingly. We trace through the list until we come to the familiar name of Noah, "which was the son of Lamech, which was the son of Methusaleh, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Mahalaleel, which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God."

Jesus, "the Son of man," traces His ancestry back to God through man. He is the Son of God because He was the son of Adam, "which was the son of God." We also are sons of Adam, for Eve was "the mother of all living." Jesus, because He was the Son of Adam, is the Son of God; therefore we also, being sons of Adam, are sons of God, and may become all that Jesus was as the Son of man and Son of God. Every son of man-both father and son-are alike sons of God. We may leave out all the intervening links, and draw our strength, our life, our birthright inheritance, day by day direct from God. He wants us to know that we are the children of the Highest, that we may abide in Him, and study the working of His life, not only in the Bible, but in the book of creation.

In the Word we read that Jesus went about doing good, and that is a very necessary thing to study; but we see His life working in the same way just as clearly in all creation. The grass grows not for itself, but to give life; the corn does not flourish for itself, but to impart life; the trees put forth their blossoms, and bring fruit to perfection, not for themselves, but in order to give their life to others. The sun shines not for itself, but to give the light of life to the world. This teaches us that no man is to live for himself, but for others. Jesus the Son of God went about doing good, because God was with Him. Man got out of touch with God's purpose and life, but in the book of creation we read that it is the nature of God to give His life for the salvation of His creatures.

We cannot waive our God-given rights and be guiltless. The sin of that is shown in the case of Esau, who sold his birthright, We might think that he had the right to do what he would with his own; but when he held it lightly, and sold It for a mess of pottage-bartered it for a supposed present necessity-he was counted a "profane and wicked person." So the rights that God has given us we must maintain and keep, and value them as we do God Himself. We cannot carelessly ignore them without showing that we despise God, even as "Esau despised his birthright."

The world has despised and forgotten its birthright,-sold it for a mess of pottage, for the gratification of appetite; but our mission is to let them know their high calling.

"Children's Page. The Birth of Isaac" The Present Truth 18, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

One day when God was talking with Abram, He said to him, "Thy name shall no more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee." Abraham means "father of a multitude."

And God said unto Abraham, "As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be." Sarah means "princess," and God said of her, "She shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her."

At this time Abraham was ninety-nine years old, and Sarah was nearly ninety. They had waited patiently for nearly twenty-five years for God to give them the child He had promised. Now they were so old that there was no hope of their having a child, except as the special gift of God.

But Abraham was "strong in faith, giving glory to God," believing that "what He had promised, He was also to perform." And Sarah also "judged Him faithful that had promised." So at last God rewarded their faith by giving them Isaac, the child of the promise.

The name Isaac means "laughter." His mother was very happy when at last after all the years of waiting, she held him in her arms. She said, "God hath made me to laugh so that all they that hear will laugh with me."

But there was one bitter drop in Sarah's cup of happiness, and it came from her own wrong act of giving her maid to Abram for a second wife. Hagar and Ishmael were not glad when Isaac was born. Ishmael had been looked upon as the heir to all Abraham's riches, but now he was set aside by Isaac. Isaac was about three years old when he was weaned and his father made a great feast. Ishmael's conduct during this feast made Sarah see that there would be no peace for Isaac so long as Ishmael stayed there. So she told Abraham to send him away. Abraham did not know what would become of the lad if he should turn him out of his home; but after God had talked with him about it and promised to care for Ishmael, he was quite willing to let him go.

He gave them some bread and water, and sent them away. They soon drank up all the water that was in the bottle, and then when Ishmael was faint with thirst, his mother had nothing to give him.

Once before Hagar had been in trouble in the wilderness. God had comforted her then, and He did not forsake her now. When Ishmael was dying of thirst, "God heard the voice of the lad."

There is no moan of pain, no cry of need, that God does not hear. His loving Father heart is always touched with the needs of His creatures. He is the only One who can supply these needs, so every cry of trouble is a cry to Him. He told Job that the young ravens "cry unto God" for their food. Also the young lions when they "roar after their prey," "seek their meat from God." And if He hears the cry of the ravens and the lions, will He not much more listen to the cry of His human children when they are in trouble?

God opened Hagar's eyes so that she saw a well of water. God Himself is "the fountain of waters," and He is able to open rivers in dry places to give drink to those who thirst. If our eyes are opened by faith to see Him ever with us everywhere, we shall know that we have in Him an abundant supply for every need.

"Easy Steps for Little Feet" The Present Truth 18, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

Oliver's father has a brown horse named Dobbin, and Oliver has a little pup that he calls Don. Of course Don is very fond of his young master. How quickly he comes at his call, and follows Him wherever he goes. He tries to do all that he is told. But he is very playful, and sometimes gets into mischief and trouble. He will learn better as he gets older.

Oliver is teaching him many tricks. You see he has a whip, but this is more for show than anything else. He uses it to make Don understand what he wants him to do. and sometimes when he rides on Dobbin's back, he cracks his whip to make the patient old horse go faster, but he does not strike him with it.

God made the human race to rule over all the animals. In the new earth all living things obeyed the voice of Adam. He did not rule them with a rod or a whip, but with kind, loving words. When God makes the earth new again, "a little child shall lead them." They will all be as gentle and obedient as they were at first, and love will take away all fear of each other from both children and animals.

But even now the dog is the faithful friend of man, and the horse is his obedient servant.

"Alcoholism" The Present Truth 18, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

Statistics recently collected from the fifteen largest cities of Switzerland, the population of which varies from 12,000 to 163,000, give the yearly average of deaths from all causes for the period from January 1, 1891 to January 1, 1898, as 7,957. Of these including both sexes over twenty years of age there were 465 deaths which were ascribed by the physician in attendance as certified in the death-certificate, either directly or indirectly to alcoholism. Taking both sexes into consideration, alcoholism, therefore, was the cause of 6.4 per cent. of all deaths occurring during this period. The death of males alone, between the ages of twenty and thirty-nine inclusive, formed 10.6 per cent. of the total death rate.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

The coming of Christ will mean the end of the reign of sin; it will mean the universal and eternal reign of Christ; it will mean the end of sorrow and brokenness of heart and disappointment to so many thousands and millions of people. Yes, it will mean the end of the sufferings of our Lord, who has given Himself for the redemption of this groaning creation.

We do not need to be in any doubt at all as to what is the message for these last days, for we are plainly told in the third verse of the first chapter of the first epistle of John. It is "that which was from the beginning;" there is nothing new. God Himself is always the same, and Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. He is not first the Alpha and then the end. But He is always the Alpha and the Omega, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. He is the first and at the same time the last, at once the beginning and the end. Therefore the end is the same as the beginning.

There is no new truth in these last days. This last message is only to bring us back to the beginning. If we are going in the way of truth, we are coming back. Not content with the Lord's way, we have been enterprising, and started on a way of our own, and called that advancement. This is the spirit of Satan; he was enterprising, and reached out for something beyond what God had given him. When the last day shall come, where shall we have come to? "Behold I make all things new." We shall have come back to the beginning, with the new man and the new earth; we shall have completed the revolution, and the world will have come again to its original state, in which it will for ever remain. So the quickest and surest way for us to come to the last day is not to rush onward as the world is going, but to come back to the beginning. Christ cannot come until the world is made ready for Him, either by men returning to the beginning, being made new creatures, or by so far departing from Him that the race would cease to exist if He should tarry.

An invitation from the king is a command that nullifies all previous engagements. We issue invitations to our friends, and sometimes they excuse themselves on the ground of inconvenience or previous engagements; but not one ever heard of anybody making such an excuse to royalty. If a statesman should refuse the king's invitation-command-to dine with him, that would end his political career. This is an object lesson to us. God's invitations, the privileges that He accords to us, are commands, and we cannot lightly ignore them. If we are content with anything less than the way of life,-the perfection of life which He makes known to us,-if we excuse ourselves because of previous engagements or inconvenience, that puts us outside of His Government. But God is longsuffering and kind; we have made many excuses, but our career in His kingdom is not yet ended. He still makes the message known, and gives freely to us. More than all this, He gives us that privilege of letting the world know what its glorious privileges are.

"God's Inheritance" The Present Truth 18, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

God's Inheritance. -We think and speak so much about "the saints' inheritance," that we are liable to forget about God's inheritance. We are heirs of God; He Himself "is the portion of mine inheritance," even as He said to Abraham: "I am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward." But what does God get? Paul speaks of "the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." "The Lord's portion is His people." "Ye are God's husbandry" or "tilled land," and the seed sown in us is "the Word of God." We need to realise our responsibility to cultivate this garden of the Lord, that when He comes He may find in us "the riches of the glory of His inheritance."

"'Thy Will Be Done'" The Present Truth 18, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thy Will Be Done." -This petition is the most difficult of all for human beings to utter from the heart. Indeed, often as it is repeated, it is scarcely ever thought of as really a petition, but rather as a concession to the Lord. People in general, perhaps without being conscious of it, regard the will of God as something to be submitted to and endured; they talk about being "resigned to the will of God," and think it the highest attainment of piety if they do not exhibit or express impatience under it.

That this is altogether the wrong view of the case, may readily be understood if one but stop to think where the expression, "Thy will be done" is found. It is in the prayer that the Lord Jesus has taught us to pray, and ranks as a petition, a request, along with, "Thy kingdom come," "Give us this day our daily bread," and "forgive us our trespasses." It is therefore a thing to be ardently desired, as much as our daily bread or the forgiveness of our sins. It is not something against us, but a thing for our benefit.

It is not the will of God that any should perish; but, on the contrary, He "will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." He wills that which is best for us, and therefore when we pray, "Thy will be done," we are only asking Him to do the best thing possible for us. That prayer really embraces all things, so that when we have asked for all the things that we can think of in detail, we can add, "Thy will be done," which will be equivalent to saying, "and do everything else for us that you think is necessary for our welfare." He is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think," and that is His will for us. His good will toward us is as boundless as His power; if therefore we ask according to our own will we shall get but little, but if we ask according to His will, we are sure of having all things.

September 11, 1902

"The Fountain of Eternal Youth. Deut. xxxiv. 1-12" The Present Truth 18, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

(Deut. xxxiv. 1-12.)²³1

Our lesson is called "The Death of Moses;" but there is this difference between the death of Moses and that of ordinary men: In general, when we hear of the death of a man we think of his weakness and feebleness; whereas a reference to the death of Moses invariably reminds us of his strength and youthfulness, even in old age. "Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." That is a wonderful record, and we may be assured that it was not written as a mere matter of curiosity; there is certainly a lesson in it, which we have been very slow to learn. Let us see if we cannot learn it.

In the first place, Moses was doubtless the most complete type of Christ to be found among the Old Testament characters. So complete was his character that he is the one man to whom Christ, although far greater, is likened. Thus: "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all His house." Heb. iii. 1, 2.

Now that which makes anybody active and faithful in God's service is life. The Word works in them that believe (1 Thess. ii. 13), and the active word is living (Heb. iv. 12); it is life. 1 John i. 1. It was life,-the life of God,-that is committed to all men, that Moses improved so fully that he was worthy to have Christ likened to him. It is by laying hold of eternal life that we "fight the good fight of faith" (1 Tim. vi. 12); and this is simply to live, for "the just shall live by faith." Life itself is a fight against sin and death. We fight for life, and it is with life that we fight.

Christ said: "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." Why has the Father given to the Son to have life in Himself, and authority to execute judgment?-"Because He is the Son of man." But we are all sons of man, and therefore we know from Christ that the gift which God has graciously bestowed upon all men, to have in themselves, is life. Whosoever will lay hold of it, and keep it, is master of everything, even death itself.

Now what proof have we that Moses had this life, and consciously and understandingly laid hold of it?-We have it in

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the work that he did, in the freshness and youthfulness of his old age, after forty years of the most wearing toil and care that any man ever had, and in these words of the Lord: "Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto Mount Nebo, . . . and behold the land of Canaan, . . . and died in the mount wither thou goest up." Deut. xxxii. 49, 50. Here is a plain intimation that the life of Moses was in his own hands, and that he could keep it or lay it down at his will, even as Christ could, subject always, of course, to the command of God. This is the power that God wishes every man to have.

Moses did not commit suicide, neither did God kill him; yet he died in the full strength of manhood, with no trace of disease upon him. And the command of the Lord, because he had been unfaithful in a single instance, he laid his life down, just as he would compose himself to sleep. A single failure to acknowledge and honour God before the people, on the part of a man in the position of Moses, meant much more than a failure in duty would on the part of an ordinary person; and for that reason Moses could not be the complete type of Christ, by taking the children of Israel into the promised land. But God's refusal to allow him to do this, and His command to Moses to die, was not an arbitrary punishment; it grew out of the very nature of the case. Moses had broken the connection,-had turned aside the stream of life from its proper channel,-and having denied it once, he was obliged to lay it down. It was but a temporary break; but the people had to learn that it is not a light thing to be out of harmony with God.

But let us from the case of Moses consider a little more closely some of the possibilities of life. God is no respecter of persons, and what He did for Moses we may be sure He will do for any who will use life as faithfully as Moses did. By using it faithfully I do not mean merely what is called "improving the time," but recognising God's ways, and learning how He lives, so as to know how to conform to the laws of life. God "made known His ways unto Moses" (Ps. ciii. 7), in the same psalm that tells us this, it tells us to bless His Holy name, "and forget not all His benefits; 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."

Note that it is when our mouth is satisfied with good things that our youth is renewed like the eagle's. Thus it was with Moses. Others complained of the simple food that God gave them,-bread from heaven;-but Moses did not. How can people be so blind to the influence of diet upon their life, when they know full well that they live by eating? God told the Israelites in the beginning of their sojourning in the wilderness: "Ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee." Ex. xxiii. 25. In Moses this was fulfilled, and so it might have been in all the rest.

Do not misunderstand. The idea is not that the fountain of eternal youth is in eating and drinking. Far from it. But the truth intended to be conveyed is that God, "the Fountain of living waters," with whom is "the Fountain of Life," is for that very reason the Fountain of the eternal youth, and that by learning His way of living, and adopting it-living by perfect and intelligent faith in Him, we can preserve in ourselves the youthfulness of the Ancient of days. Our food and drink come from God, and are the visible means of the communication of God's life to us, but not the only means. By eating and drinking, as well as doing all of the things, to the glory of God, we not only get fresh life from Him, but we put no obstruction in the way of His life, and so by faith we get the "more abundant" life that is greater than all the visible things in the universe. To know God's ways, should be the one study of mankind.

It is not God's design that the lapse of years should bring infirmity and decrepitude. Age gives experience, and an experienced work man is more valuable than a beginner. What master would turn off a faithful workman just as he was completing his apprenticeship, and was most capable of doing the best work? That would not be wisdom; no man's business would prosper if he did that way. Even so God can ill afford to let His servants die. It is expensive business for Him. "Costly in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Ps. cxvi. 15. That is what the text really says.

If we know the possibilities of the life that God has given us, we shall, if we appreciate it, devote ourselves to lay hold of them; but if we do not realise "the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints," we shall allow ourselves to be overcome, and shall be the prey of disease. It is in our power to do with as we will. God has not only given us service for life, but our service is life; it is the ministration of life. Should not the one who carries life to others be able himself to live by it? Is it reasonable, that the one who ministers life should himself be the prey of death? "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord;" and "in His favour [lovingkindness] is life," even "life for evermore."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Unity and Uniformity" The Present Truth 18, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

"Now that the church is extending its missionary operations into all the world, and the different beliefs that divide it into sects must be a great stumbling-block to the heathen and extremely puzzling to the converts, does it not seem that it would be well if all could agree as to the essential doctrines to be taught, and thus present a united front to the heathen world? Did not Christ say that when His disciples are one, then the world shall believe?"

Without the slightest approach to unity, there may be the most perfect uniformity. A lot of marbles may be exactly uniform as regards size and shape and colour, but there is no unity among them.

So there may be uniformity among people without unity. Since the days of Constantine strenuous efforts have been put forth by the ecclesiastical politicians to produce uniformity, and these efforts have been thought to be in the interests of Christian unity. In some cases uniformity has been attained, but there has been no more unity than there is in a gross of buttons fastened together by a string.

The Bible is full of the idea of unity in the church of Christ, but we do not read so much about uniformity. This unity is to be the unity of life and growth, and not a mere outward connection. In Christ's prayer to the Father for His disciples, He said, "And the glory that Thou gavest Me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one." John xvii. 22, 23. Here we see that the glory of the Lord is to effect the union of believers, and the union is to be that of the Father and the Son.

The union of the Father and the Son is a union of spirit. We cannot comprehend this union, but we may know that it is not a forced union, but that it results from their very nature. They have one life. Their thoughts and purposes are the same, not because they come together and compare notes and agree to be alike, but because one life is in them both. So the union of believers is to be a vital union, or it is not any union at all. It is not accomplished by strife and debate and decisions of majorities, but by yielding the mind to Christ and hearing His voice. They are to be united by the mind and spirit of Christ. The life the Father and the Son in each member of the church will produce the most perfect union in the whole body.

For the human body is the most perfect example of unity, and it is the example that the Bible gives us. Christ is the Head of the body, the church. Eph. i. 22, 23; Col. i. 18. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body; whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and hath been all men to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many." 1 Cor. xii. 12-14. In the human body there are many members, and each member has a different office from the rest; there is not uniformity of action among the members, but there is the most perfect unity.

All work together in perfect harmony for one object. So it is in the body of Christ. "There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all."

This gives no ground for the idea that there may be divisions in the church of Christ, one division believing one thing, and another division pleading and practising another thing. God has tempered the body together, that there should be no schism in the body." 1 Cor. xii. 24, 25. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Eph. iv. 4-6.

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The apostle's exhortation is, "that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." 1 Cor. i. 10. But let it be borne in mind that this union is not artificial, but natural; not the human nature, however, but the divine nature.

The unity of belief in the church is not performed by the church coming together and the majority defining the creed to be believed. The church cannot define doctrine. The church of Christ is made up of all who obey the Lord's commands, not a body to issue commands. The Head directs, the body obeys. God speaks; each one must listen to His voice, for faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and no man can give faith to another. "It is the gift of God."

"For Little Ones. The Offering of Isaac" The Present Truth 18, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

"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." Hebrews xi. 17.

We have learned already who was the seed promised to Abraham. In the third chapter of Galatians Paul tells us plainly that when God said to Abraham, "And thy Seed," He was speaking of Christ. God had more than once promised Abraham that Christ should come in the line of his son Isaac.

And yet God bold him to go and offer up Isaac as a burnt offering. How then could God's promises be fulfilled? Ah, Abraham had learned from the birth of Isaac that nothing could keep the Word of God from being fulfilled. He knew that since God had promised it, Christ must come through Isaac, even though he should take his life as God commanded.

So "he that had received the promise offered up his only begotten son," "accounting that God was able to raise him up bring Isaac from the dead." Abraham told his servants: "I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." In this he showed his faith that God would bring Isaac from the dead, and that he would return home with him.

In the bitter trial of offering up his only begotten son, Abraham learned more of the wonderful love of God in giving up His only begotten Son to die for us.

Isaac was a type of Christ, the only begotten Son whom God gave, and who willingly gave Himself for us. We are twice bold that "they went both of them together,"-Abraham to offer and Isaac to be offered. Like Jesus, Isaac carried the wood, upon which he was to be sacrificed. Isaac could have easily escaped from his aged father if he had wished, and not have let himself be bound on the altar. But, like Jesus in this also, he delighted to do the will of God, even when God's will was that he should be offered as a sacrifice.

"God will provide Himself a lamb." These words of Abraham in answer to Isaac's question, "Where is the lamb?" were a prophecy of Jesus, "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."

Abraham found near at hand the ram that God had provided, and offered this in the place of Isaac, who went home rejoicing. This also teaches us the Gospel that God has given Jesus to take our place and suffer death for us, while we may go free because He has "found a ransom."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

The fastest boat in the world has just been launched in the Thames. It is a torpedo boat for the Swedish navy, and has maintained a speed of 32.4 knots an hour for three consecutive hours.

The island of Martinique has had another volcanic eruption and earthquake, by which it is thought that not less than 2,000 lives have been lost. The remaining inhabitants are now in a state of complete terror, and steps are being taken by the authorities to abandon the island. What will be done when the whole earth is in the same condition?

In a sermon entitled "Christian Empire," recently published, by Principal Forsyth of Hackney, the advice is given, "Preach the Lord's Supper more often and the tea-meeting less, as the church's social centre and family hearth," which is good advise, and, unfortunately, too much needed. It will be urged that the tea-meeting is needed for the raising of necessary funds; but experience shows that there is nothing that can keep the stream of generosity flowing except loving devotion to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

On account of the action of the German Government in prohibiting the importation of cattle, in order to stamp out disease, there is a shortage in the supply of meat, and an increase in price, which threatens a "famine" to those whose staple articles of diet is flesh. In many places it is impossible to procure meat, and the butcher's shops have been closed. It is stated that in many towns in Saxony dogs are being slaughtered to provide meat for the poorer classes. What a pity that people will allow themselves to suffer from hunger when the best of food is abundant. The soil of Germany produces enough grain, fruits, and vegetables to supply abundant provision to all the inhabitants, and it is to be hoped that this deficiency of meat will result in driving many to this source of natural and healthful food.

The seventh of March, 1904, will be the one hundredth anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and arrangements are already being made to celebrate in a fitting manner. It is self-evident that one of the most fitting ways of celebrating the centenary of a society having the objects of the Bible Society will be the increasing of its facilities for extending its good work; and it is expected that this will be done. During the year 1903-4, monthly popular pamphlets will be issued, for the purpose of making the public as perfectly acquainted as possible with the Society's history, objects, work, and methods of work. These will certainly be interesting and constructive, and every lover of the Bible ought to secure them. A "History of Versions," is announced, which will tell how the Bible has been translated into languages which had no words to express Gospel truths, so low had the natives using them fallen. This will certainly be a most valuable contribution to the history of Bible work. It is stated that "there is scarcely any land which does not ask for new Versions, or Revised Versions, or extended circulation." In view of this, and as an act of thanksgiving for the blessings of the past, it is proposed to open a Cenenary Fund, the aim being to collect 250,000 guineas. Such work as the Bible Society is doing ought not to be crippled, and it is to be hoped that this sum will be raised. Its work commends itself to all sections of Christian people,-to all who love the Bible and the souls of men,-for without it the work of the missionary would be hindered beyond all expression. The coming year certainly ought to see the interest in the Bible Society and its work largely increased.

Among all the objects for which the pope grants indulgences, none is more worthy than that proposed by an ecclesiastic in Rome, who, "in the interests of civilised society, and for the honour of religion in Italy, "begs the pope to grant" a plenary indulgence to all priests and monks who shall wash themselves daily." If this petition is granted, and the attractive offer has the desired effect, it will be one thing to the credit of indulgences. Something to show the connection between cleanliness and godliness is certainly needed; for while "students belonging to Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon Colleges in Rome are easily recognisable by their general meekness and cleanliness," "in Italian seminaries and monastic seminaries the tradition of the sanctity of dirt still holds sway. In most of them, soap, the hair-brush, and the looking-glass are worldly luxuries excluded by rules; and the new clerics emerging therefrom perpetuate the tradition by simple force of habit."

In an article entitled, "Are We a Great People?" in Public Opinion, in which some of the successes and some of the failures of British rule are referred to, this sentence occurs: "The Empire can only be great if it is run for the maximum good of the most helpless citizen under its flag." That is a good sentiment, but it can and ought to be carried a great deal further. Thus: An empire can be truly great only when it is run for the maximum good of all mankind. A nation or a man that rises on the ruins of another, is building but for the same ruins; such a foundation is too shaky for a substantial structure. That is why every nation that has ever existed has crumbled to pieces; and it is why all the existing nations of the earth have sure destruction before them. The only nation that will endure throughout all generations will be the one whose individual members, from highest to lowest, obey the injunctions: "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another." "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness let each esteem other better than themselves."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

The Lord's mercies are "new every morning." Then each new morning we may take the new mercies as confidently as though we have never received mercies from the Lord, and not profited by them. And they are new "because His compassions fail not." What a blessed assurance it is that we cannot exhaust the patience, the long-suffering, and the loving-kindness of our God. They are as great as He is Himself. Then since the treasury of saving mercy is inexhaustible, why should we ever be content with a limited supply? His mercies are upon us, according as we hope in Him.

Old age does not necessarily depend on the number of years that one has lived. Moses at one hundred and twenty was younger than many men at forty. "His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." Why was this? What was the secret of his youthful old age? It was simply this: He was faithful in all God's house; and whoever fights the good fight of faith lays hold on eternal life." 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; to show that the Lord is upright; He is my Rock." He is all for us that he was for Moses, if we will but learn His ways as He makes them known to us.

"'He Opened Not His Mouth'" The Present Truth 18, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

"He Opened Not His Mouth." -Christ was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and "as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth." We miss much of the lesson that we are to learn from this, by thinking only of Christ's patient endurance of the physical suffering that He passed through. We think of Him standing bound to the pillar while the scourge lacerates His back, and not uttering one cry; but many wicked men have born the same amount of physical pain without a groan. But there is something worse than bodily torture, and that is taunts and abuse. The Lord Jesus was reproached; He endured great "contradiction of sinners against Himself;" false accusation was brought against Him, but He "held His peace." Here is where we need to learn from Him. We need to learn to keep our mouths closed when words are spoken to us, that sting worse than the sharpest blows. We need to learn to be quiet when our best actions are misjudged, and our most sincere words of help are misinterpreted. We need to learn to keep still when taunted with failure. If we allow ourselves the self-destructive luxury of a retort, we have yet to learn the simplest lesson of the cross of Christ.

But here is comfort for us: He is with us, doing the same thing now. We have said that Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter; but the Scripture says "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter," and "He openeth not His mouth." Let us give diligence to learn this lesson from Him; for "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body."

"Tribulation the Gate of Heaven" The Present Truth 18, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

Would you like to go to heaven?-"Of course I would," he replies; "that is the one great thing above all others that I long for."

Then you would really be glad to find the gate of heaven?-"Indeed I would; the day that I see it will be the happiest day of my life."

Well, here it is: "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." That is the gate through which we must pass, and there is no escaping it. Surely it is very inconsistent in us to profess to want to enter a certain place, and then begin to complain and to turn back as soon as we come to the door. If we should rejoice to be in heaven, we ought also to rejoice in tribulation. Perhaps we have never looked at it in that way before; if so, then there is joy for us that we never before knew of.

Remember that we have only to pass through the great tribulation; we do not have to stay for ever in it. But let us not make the mistake of going through it as the boy goes through a piece of treachery imposed on him-grumbling, or at the best, thinking only of a good time to follow. We must learn to find joy in the way to heaven, if we expect ever to know the joy of heaven itself.

Then, too, we must not forget that while we must go through the tribulations, we do not have to see them. Here is where we most frequently fail; we do not even try to go, because we cannot see through. If we wait till we can see through the thick cloud, we shall never advance, but we can go through without seeing, if we have a good guide. Above the cloud that hides the sun from our eyes we can see the golden beams of light, and thus we can really see more light than if the sun were uncovered so that we could not look that way at all. So, although we cannot see through our troubles, we can always see over them.

And, finally, we come back to the assurance that through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God. The entering is sure, if we go through the tribulations. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." If the sufferings of Christ abound in us, nothing can hinder the comforts of heaven from abounding in us also. "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."

Christ Must. -Have you thought that stern necessity laid its hand on Christ, and that He had to endure trials of which we have no conception? He bears His sufferings so willingly and so uncomplainingly that we are often in danger of forgetting their greatness, and that necessity was laid on Him. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." "Christ must needs have suffered." It was "by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God" that Christ was taken by wicked hands and crucified and slain. Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of the Jews, were gathered together to do what God's hand in counsel had "determined before to be done." Then when we find a way full of tribulation and affliction that must be gone through, we may know the Christ must go through also, and He cannot forsake us. Even if we should turn back, He must go through. So we comfort ourselves with the knowledge that if we go forward He is with us always, and that it is only when we refuse the way of hardship that we lose Him.

Two persons, each signing himself "A Friend," have sent us 20/. and 15/. respectively, for the distribution of PRESENT TRUTH and the forwarding of the work of God, the receipt of which we hereby acknowledge with thanks. May the Lord bless the givers and the means.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Tithing Question" The Present Truth 18, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

"I have enclosed P.O. for 15s. to be used in forwarding God's work. I read a piece in Present Truth last week on giving a tenth to God. Now I should like to know if I am to give a tenth of all I receive, or to take out first the cost of materials used, which I have to pay for. If you can help me in this matter I shall be pleased. Also, how am I to give this? I am not a member of any chapel. I go to the Baptist meetings and Bible class, and the adult school on Sunday mornings."

A little consideration of what the Scriptures say about the tithe will make this matter clear, and the question and answer may be of benefit to many others, whose minds are not clear on this subject. Let us read the first Lev. xxvii. 30: "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."

That this was not a mere ceremonial regulation, that was local and temporary, is evident from two things. First, we find the tithe paid by Abraham and Jacob as a matter of course, long before there were any Jewish ceremonies, or even any Jewish nation. See Gen. xiv. 17-24 and xxviii. 20-22, which we shall talk about presently. And second, we have the words of Christ, plainly stating that the tithe ought to be paid: "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of law, judgment, mercy, and faith; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." Matt. xxiii. 23.

The Saviour did not pronounce a woe upon the scribes and Pharisees for being strict in the payment of tithe, but for neglecting the vital principles of the Gospel. He said that they ought not to have left undone the payment of tithe, even upon the smallest bunch of herbs in their garden, and that they ought at the same time to have kept judgment, mercy, and faith. Therefore we know that the tithe is not a ceremonial, local, and temperal regulation, but that it applies to all time. It also concerns all people, for "the tithe is the Lord's," and one class of people has no more right to appropriate what belongs to the Lord than another class has.

Now let us note the first recorded instance of the payment of tithe. It is that of Abraham, when he was returning with all the goods of the city of Sodom which he had received from the kings who had carried it away. The king of Sodom went out to meet him, and Melchizedek, also, king of Salem, or Jerusalem, and priest of the most high God, met him, bringing bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abraham, and to him, as God's priest, Abraham gave tithes of everything. Note the words: "He gave him tithes of all."

Then the king of Sodom said to Abraham, "Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself." But Abraham would not seem to be under any obligation to the king of Sodom, and he said: "I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldst say, I have made Abram rich." Of the young men who were with him, however, he said "let them take their portion," that is, they were entitled to what they had eaten while engaged in the work.

From that we learn (1) That Abraham tithed all that he captured from the kings, giving the tithe to the Lord's representative; (2) That he did not recognise the tithe as belonging to the king of Sodom at all; for he was not taking anything from him, in paying tithe on the property. When the king of Sodom's property came into the hands of Abraham, and belonged to him by right of capture, he used his right to give to the Lord that which belonged to Him, and then returned the rest to the original owner.

We learn, in short, that one is in duty bound to tithe the whole of his income-all that comes into his hand so as to be called his own; but it is also a self-evident that the amount necessarily expended in securing that income must be deducted from it. Thus, if a man's income during the year is ?200, and he has had to expend ?50 for help and materials for his work, it is plain that his real gain is only ?150. A strict tithe does not demand that he should tithe the ?200, but only the ?150, since it is to be supposed that he had already paid tithe on the ?50 which he paid out.

This is really the sum of the matter, technically considered; the religious significance will be considered in the article just following. The question, however, remains, "To whom the tithe be paid?" The answer is, to those to whom is especially committed the charge of the Lord's work. The church of Christ is a body existing solely for the purpose of doing the work of the Lord; and if one is connected with any branch of the church he will naturally pay his tithe to the one who has charge of the funds used in carried on the Lord's work. A general rule, which would cover all, whether professedly members of any church or not, would be this: Pay your tithe to those who, the most fully of any that you know, stand as the Lord's representative since spreading the knowledge of His truth.

It must be recognised that the tithe is entirely separate and distinct from offerings for the support of the poor, or other special purposes; but of this we shall speak in the consideration of the question which follows.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Our Debt to the Lord" The Present Truth 18, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

"I was very much pleased with the article in your paper on the giving of the tenth; but would it not be more correct to render it paying, since we know that God has reserved to Himself the tenth of man's income and the seventh of his time? These two things belong to God, and whoever keeps back the same is so much in debt to Him. Man has the liberty to give offerings in both money and time; but how much better would his offering be, if he had already paid that which he owes.

Just let me tell you what I once heard a servant of God say about his own experience in paying the tenth. He, like the writer of the article, never knew anyone turn back from serving the Lord on account of paying tithe; but I know that his experience was that a great many ran back, afraid of trusting the Lord; but his own experience was that since he had begun to pay tithe his master had sent for him to come into the office no fewer than eleven times, to raise his wages, without ever having been asked for an advance. He told me

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about a lady whom he knew, that was in business, who was bold enough to try the Lord in this matter, whose takings never exceeded ?70 per week; but on paying her first tithe she drew over ?400 the following week. Now who will dare to trust the Lord even with His own? Oh, these sins of omission, how heavily they weigh upon us! We seem to realise the sins of commission more easily; but I am afraid that the sins of omission will rise up still higher, if possible, to condemn us in the end."

It is really not a matter of much importance which term one uses concerning the tithe, provided one recognises the true principle in it; although we ought always to endeavour to use correct terms, since names and words have a great influence on our actions. But as a matter of fact, either word, pay, or give, is correct as regards the tithe, since both are used in the Bible. In Genesis xiv. it is said of Abraham that he gave Melchizedek tithes of all; but in Paul's reference to the affair, in Hebrews vii. 9, it is said that Levi paid tithes in Abraham. The tithe does indeed belong to the Lord, and is due Him, so much so that those who withhold it are declared to be robbing God (Mal. iii. 8, 9); but we often in common language use the word "give" in connection with the payment of debt. Thus, one might say, "I gave the man his money," although the money was due him.

Perhaps, however, if we studied the matter very closely, we might see that, while the tithe belongs to the Lord, and is paid to Him, we give it to those who are set over His work, that they may use it in His service. Thus in the seventh of Hebrews it is made evident that Christ, "Of whom it is witnessed that He liveth," is the real receiver of the tithe; men are but His stewards.

Some people hesitate to speak about the payment of the tithe, lest it should repel the hearers; and we often find people speaking against it as a harsh, arbitrary requirement. They seem to regard it as a tax, and if they render it to the ministry at all they do it grudgingly, as though the receivers of it were tax collectors. Now all this comes from an utterly false and narrow view of the matter. There is a rich blessing connected with the payment of tithe; and in asking people to do it, we are doing it for their own good-that they may receive a blessing. To all the requirements of God, the words of Christ are applicable: "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." A blessing comes in the doing; for all the commandments of God promises.

No one should pay tithe with the idea that he is thereby contributing something to God or His cause, and therefore entitled to something in return. All should do it as a matter of simple justice, and loving and joyful recognition of God as the Creator and upholder of all-the great Provider. The constant recognition of God keeps us in continual, conscious touch with Him, and thus ensures His guidance and protection. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Prov. iii. 6. And this acknowledgement has special reference to the devoting of money to His service; for immediately we read: "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine."

I have known men who would say, "Why cling to the old, narrow, Jewish ordinance of the tithe, when all that we have belongs to the Lord?" and while excusing themselves from paying tithe, on the ground that all belongs to God, they would avoid giving anything. It is true that all we have and are belongs to God, and that is the basis of our offerings of money in service; but the tithe is a special test of faith, and so brings a special blessing. It is God's appointed means of supporting those who devote their entire time and strength to Gospel work, making no provision whatever for themselves. And those who minister faithfully, and receive their support from the Lord's treasury, are not to be counted paupers or pensioners any more than those who labour for wages in shop or field; for they also are supported out of God storehouse. "Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel." 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14.

Our friend has told of material blessings that have accompanied the payment of the tithe. That is what the Lord promises. He says: "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 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 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." Mal. iii. 9-11.

This is not a bribe, that the Lord offers; for He is not in need of anything, and we cannot give Him anything; but it is a statement of what will necessarily follow a complete and faithful recognition of Him. It cannot be otherwise, for the Lord is rich, and it would not speak well of Him to allow His faithful children to come to want.

But why does not the Lord do just as much for us without our paying tithe? it may be asked. He does indeed do all things for everybody; but it is faith that appropriates; and there is nothing except keeping of the Sabbath that tests one's faith like the payment of tithe when one is hard-pressed for the necessities of life. One reason why the blessing promised through the prophet Malachi is not more apparent is that few pay all the tithe. That blessing is contingent upon nothing being kept back. Let each one examine his own course, and see if he is honest with the Lord. If he is not, what right has he to expect special blessings?

But is it not cruel to ask the poor to pay tithe?

Read Mal. iii. 10, 11 again, and then ask the question. Is it cruel to ask men to serve the Master who has "unsearchable riches," to whom the earth with all its fulness belongs, and who counts His servants as His own children? Would you receive tithe from the poor?-Yes, certainly; with greater joy than from the rich; for they need the blessing more. As a matter of fact, it is chiefly those of small means who pay tithe, and who experience God's blessing. The rich man, with a vast income, looks at the tenth of it, and thinks that it is too large a sum to part with, not considering how much he has left; but the poor man's tithe is so small that it does not trouble him so much to part with it. In fact it is so small that he is often ashamed to give so little to the Lord, and so, like the poor widow, he casts in his whole living.

There is yet to be considered the question of debts owed to men,-whether one should pay tithe while he has other debts pressing,-and the devoting of the Lord's money to one's own personal use, under the pressure of great necessity; and next week, if the Lord will, we shall present a little historical incident which will show the shortsightedness of such a course.

September 18, 1902

"A Grant of Land" The Present Truth 18, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

In God's covenant with Abraham, the central promise was concerning land. All the land of Canaan was promised Abraham and his seed for an everlasting possession. And then the seal of the covenant-circumcision-was given, a seal of the righteousness which he had by faith. This shows that the land of Canaan was to be possessed only by faith. And here we have a practical lesson as to the possession of things by faith. Many people think that a thing that is possessed by faith is only possessed in the imagination. But the land of Canaan was a real country, and was to be actually possessed. Possession of it was to be gained however, only through faith. That is, faith was to give them the possession of it. This was indeed the case. By faith the people across the river Jordan, and "by faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days." Heb. xi. 30.

CANAAN AND THE EARTH

The land of Canaan, which was promised in the covenant, was to be had through the righteousness of faith, which was sealed by circumcision, the seal of the covenant. Read now Rom. iv. 13 once more, and we shall see how much was involved in this promise. "For the promise, that he should be heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." This righteousness of faith we are told in verse eleven was sealed by circumcision; and circumcision was the seal of the covenant which we have recorded in Gen. xvii. Therefore we know that the promise of land, which the covenant with Abraham contained, was nothing less than the promise of whole earth. As we come to the fulfilment of the promise, we shall see more plainly how it can be that the promise of the land of Canaan included the possession of the whole earth; but the fact may be briefly indicated here.

The covenant in which that land was promise, was, as we have seen, a covenant

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of righteousness. Its basis was the righteousness of faith. It was an everlasting covenant, promising an everlasting inheritance to both Abraham and his seed, which meant for them everlasting life.

But grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life only through Jesus Christ our Lord. Eternal life can be had only in righteousness.

Moreover, since the promise was to Abraham, as well as to his seed, and Abraham was assured that he should die long before the inheritance was bestowed, it is evident that it could be gained only through the resurrection, which takes place at the coming of the Lord, when immortality is bestowed.

But the coming of Christ is at "the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his Holy prophets since the world began." Acts iii. 21.

Therefore we are shut up to the fact that the inheritance of righteousness, which was promised to Abraham for an everlasting possession, to be had through the resurrection, at the coming of the Lord, was the "new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness," (2 Peter iii. 13) for which we look according to the promise of God.

"Children's Page. The Marriage of Isaac" The Present Truth 18, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

Sarah was ninety years old when Isaac was born. She lived for thirty-seven years after this, and died at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven years. Abraham buried her in the cave of Macpelah that he bought for a burying ground.

Isaac mourned for his mother, and Abraham's household was without a mistress. When Isaac was forty years old, his father made arrangements for his marriage. The twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis tells the whole of the beautiful story.

God had called Abraham out from his country and his kindred and his father's house, because He wanted to make him the father of a race of good men who should teach all the nations about the true God. This is why Abraham was so anxious that his son should not go back to the country from which God had called him out.

When God promised the land to Abraham, the promise, we have learned, took in the whole world. Yet He spoke especially of the land of Canaan, saying, "Unto thy seed will I give this land." The 11th chapter of Hebrews says of Abraham that "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." He made is servant swear that his son should not be taken away from the land of promise.

But the Canaanites worshipped idols, and an idolatrous woman would not have made a good wife for Isaac. So Eliezer was sent to bring a wife from Abraham's birthplace. Although he and his seed could not go back to the country from which God had called them out, yet others might come to them to join them in the worship of the true God.

Isaac did not choose his own wife, neither did his father Abraham choose for him; nor even Eliezer, who was sent to find her. The choice was left to God, and He sent His holy angel to guide Abraham's servant as he set forth in his search for the one whom God had chosen. This story shows how much easier and better in every way it is to let God chose everything for us, and lead us in His way, than to choose for ourselves, and go in our own ways.

When Eliezer reached the place to which Abraham sent him, he asked God to show him by a sign whom He had chosen. The sign that he chose was, that the maiden whom he asked for a drink of water who should be willing, not only to give him drink, but to give drink to his camels also, should be the one.

Before he had finished his prayer, a beautiful maiden drew near the well where he was resting, to draw water. As soon as he asked her for a drink, she willingly gave to him, and offered to draw water for the camels also. So Eliezer knew that she was the woman God had chosen for Isaac's wife, and he thanked the Lord, who had so quickly answered his prayer.

The signs that Eliezer chose, by which he might know the woman God had chosen, were the marks of courtesy, energy, kindness of heart, and an obliging nature. Rebecca might have been content with giving him the drink that he asked for; but she thought of the thirsty camels and ran to get water for them also, and did not rest until they were all satisfied. This was hard work, for ten camels that had come a long journey would drink a great deal of water. Yet she did the work quickly and carefully.

Rebecca's willingness to go back with Eliezer when she heard the story of how the Lord had guided him to her, showed that she had already begun to trust in the God of Abraham.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

The Sunday-School Chronicle calls attention to a Sunday-school at Taybout, Wales, which has a class that may well be called unique. The teacher is ninety-three years old, and the scholars, all of whom are women, ranging in age from ninety down to seventy-six. his a good object lesson to be held before the youth who imagine that they are getting too old to attend Sunday-school. We must confess, however, that the lesson would have more force if there were some men in the class.

Of the fifty-five consumptive patients discharged during the year from the Durham open-air sanatorium, forty per cent. were very much improved, and thirteen per cent. were improved. It cannot be too often repeated, or too much emphasised, that fresh air is the food of the lungs. With abundance of fresh air night and day, good nourishing food, and regular exercise of the body, combined with cleanliness, one may bid defiance to consumption.

Considerable comment is being made upon the subject of the Revolt from Rome, on the part English Catholics, which some claim is attaining serious proportions. Prominent Catholic ecclesiastics declare that there is nothing in it; but it cannot be denied that there are strong complaints, if nothing more. In the September Fortnightly, the Rev. Arthur Galton takes as the basis of an article on this subject, the following statement: "In spirit, in aims, in methods and institutions, the English people and that narrow oligarchy of Italians which pretends to be the Catholic Church are by their respective qualities necessarily opposed to one another." However much there may be to the "revolt," it is nothing in which lovers of truth can rejoice, since there is no dissatisfaction with the false doctrines of Rome, but only a complaint that the Church in England is being "Italianised."

The anti-ritualistic campaign in Liverpool has resulted in the imprisonment of the chief agitator, who chose to go to prison rather than pay the fine imposed on him for disturbing the peace. Right-minded people will certainly not gratify his evident desire to be honoured as a hero and a martyr for the truth. Christians are under special obligations to be "no brawlers," and when they go out of their way to interfere with other people's work or worship, they may justly expect the same measure of punishment that is given to professed "hooligans." Paul and Barnabas were "neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers" of the heathen goddess, but were content to preach Christ Jesus the Lord. And he who is not satisfied with doing that, must needs resort to physical force, shows that he has no confidence in the power of the name that he professes to preach.

"Famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places" are declared by the Lord to be "but the beginning of sorrows" in connection with His second coming. The earthquakes in divers places are present reality, as almost every volcano in the world is not in a state of eruption. A dispatch from St. Vincent, September 8, said that the Rebecca River was a stream of fire a quarter of a mile or more wide, and that "mimic eruptions" were in progress everywhere along the river bed. This is but a miniature representation of the whole land in the very last days, when "the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone." Isa. xxxiv. 9. The eruptions reported are indeed but "mimic eruptions" of the "great earthquake" in connection with the coming of the Lord. Rev. vi. 12. Well may the question even now be asked, "Who shall be able to stand?"

A correspondent of the Methodist Times having stated that "without doubt, the billiard-table has proved a valuable auxillary to our mission work," a class-leader takes occasion to make some pertinent comments. He says: "As a mission workers among the mission classes, I do unhesitatingly say that there is no need to introduce anything of questionable association in order to bring men to the house of God, or to keep them when they are brought. It is my experience that the very best means of crowding a chapel or a mission is by preaching the Gospel soundly and simply, and winning men for Christ. There is no better advertisement for a place of worship than souls being saved." "It is very easy to say that there is no harm in a game of billiards if played under certain conditions such as your correspondent has set down; but a young fellow may learn to play under such conditions, and become a crack hand, and then the temptation is ten times greater to him to go and play the game under any but healthy conditions." It would seem to be self-evident that if the Gospel is not preached in any given place with sufficient purity and power to hold men there, it is not worth their while to stay.

At the Sanitary Congress held in Manchester last week, the President, Earl Egerton of Tatton, in his address, said that "in that great city they had triumphs of engineering and mechanical art applied to various industries, but the population which inhabited it had, as in other large towns, degenerated in size and physical power from the ancestor or progenitor who was attracted into the town from the country districts by higher wages." The same procress, he said, is still going on; and "the large percentage of rejections from physical disabilities among those who offered themselves as recruits, even in Manchester itself, gave an alarming proof of the degeneracy of the town population." Now when it is remembered that the towns are being overcrowded at the expense of the country, to which attention was also called in the address, it is evident that the race as a whole is degenerating; for what is true of England is true also of nearly, if not quite, every other country. This also is a sign of the times, showing that the end must come before long. It is useless to say that with increased knowledge this state of things will be improved; for the physical degeneracy has increased with the increase of knowledge of sanitary science; because only a few will make use of that knowledge.

The Catholic Times says: "So strong has been the feeling of resentment aroused amongst the Catholics of Liverpool by the Protestant preachers, that were it not for the restraining influence of this clergy some of them would have retaliated in a way which would not be forgotten upon the Kensitites and Mr. Wise and his followers. On Saturday night the Kensitite lecturers would certainly have been roughly handled were it not for the interference of the police. The Stipendiary Magistrate evidently holds that those who provoked disturbances in this manner are more to blame than the persons whom they excite to violence." The Catholic Times evidently believes, what indeed it has previously declared, that people must be expected to retaliate, and are justified in doing so, when their religion is spoken against; and that, if they use violence, the one who even unintentionally provokes it ought to be punished, and not they themselves. They do not stop to think that all this is a confession that their religion is not the religion of the Lord Jesus, "who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not." The religion of Jesus Christ saves those who hold to it, and is a defence for them; the religion that must itself be defended, is not worth the trouble. Heathen gods must be guarded by their worshippers; God Himself is the Guardian of His people.

A very serious outbreak of ptomaine poisoning occurred in Derby last week, from eating pork pies, and as that particular batch of pies was largely distributed, the epidemic has spread to many other towns, including London, and is even yet spreading. Several deaths are reported, and many are seriously ill. "Ptomaine poisoning," it may be explained, is simply another name for poisoning from putrefaction, the word "ptomaine" been derived from the Greek word meaning a corpse. Ptomaines are therefore the poisons resulting from decaying animal or vegetable matter. Poisoning is more apt to occur from putrid animal products than from vegetable matter, since putrefaction poisons may exist in the former without being detected, while in the latter the slightest beginning of decay is at once apparent. The Chronicle, referring to the case, says:-

"Investigations are being made which ought to throw some light on the affair, but until the conditions that produce ptomaine poisoning are more fully understood, the precautions that are taken will occasionally prove insufficient. The tradesmen engaged in the pork trade, labour under sad disadvantages at this time of year, but the moral seems to be that in warm and "muggy" whether, it is wiser to follow the Hebrew abstinence in such matters of diet.

That is only half a moral. The lesson that ought to be learned is to abstain altogether. Why will people needlessly run risks with their lives?

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." This is from the Lamentations of Jeremiah; if we are Christians indeed, knowing the Lord, we shall make all our lamentations in the same way.

One who signs himself "A Well-wisher" sends ?10, saying: "Will you use this to the best of your ability in spreading God's Word, and for the extension of Christ's kingdom? Please use this for making known God and Christ the best way you can, and may God bless and keep you to the end. Please thank God, not man; for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof."

We do from our hearts thank God for this token of His acceptance of our labours; and we thank Him not more for the gold sent than for the prayers and good wishes that accompany it. May His blessing abide with the sender.

"The Novel-Reading Plague" The Present Truth 18, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

The Daily Mail of September 8 contained an article by A. T. Story, entitled, "Some Evils of Free Libraries," which shows that Mr. Carnegie, with his millions which he is lavishly expanding for free libraries, may not be wholly the benefactor of the human race that he is supposed to be. The writer calls attention to "The Plague of Novel-reading," which is becoming almost universal, and which is spread by the free libraries. Mr. Carnegie is acquitted of any intentional complicity in the matter, for it is stated that his philanthropy was turned in the direction of libraries, "because, as a youth, he was given the freedom of a gentleman's library, and he derived so much profit from the books thence obtained and read. But we may be sure they were not novels he pored over." Mr. Story says:-

"One of the most noteworthy sights of the present day, and, to my mind one of the most ominous is to be seen daily as we travel to and from town by train or car. Whether in the morning, travelling by the business train, or returning home in the evening, the same thing strikes one, the number of girls and young fellows reading. On the first view one would think, what a studious generation! But on a closer examination, how the scales drop from our eyes, for in nine cases out of ten, nay, in nineteen cases out of twenty, the books read are, what? Novels,-nothing but novels."

"If we go into any public library we shall find that the novels are out of all proportion to any other class of literature, and each volume of fiction is read on an average twenty times where a work on a general subject is read or taken out once."

This is indeed a most striking sign of the times, showing how the world is fast degenerating into that condition, which will make the coming of the Lord, a necessity; for, as the author says, the majority of the novels of the day are calculated "to wither and emasculate a growing man's powers. For it cannot be too often repeated that the ordinary novel does little or nothing to cultivate the intellectual powers, but a great deal to stir up the passions and emotions."

One of the most common and deplorable sights is the boy with a cigarette in his mouth, and his eyes glued to a "Penny Dreadful"-thus doubly addling his brains and weakening his physical, mental, and moral nature. The future of such a boy, unless he is reclaimed, is absolutely hopeless, and there are tens of thousands of them in the land. This curse may well be called a plague, for it is just such things that are hastening on the seven last plagues, and which is "filled up the wrath of God." Never before was there such desperate need for "the sincere milk of the Word," which alone can give health and strength to all the powers of mind and body.

"False Christs" The Present Truth 18, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

A SIGN OF THE END

That a man should stand up before a congregation and solemnly declare that he is the Messiah, and that the congregation should in all sincerity acclaim and reverence him as such-these are almost incredible events for London in the twentieth century," says the Daily Mail, yet that happened on Sunday night, September 7, at a church in Clapton. They are not, however, such incredible of events as the Mail supposes; for the Saviour expressly warns us against men coming in his name, and saying, "I am Christ." Matt. xxiv. 4, 5. No one who heeds His words need be deceived.

The present deceiver, the Rev. J. H. Smyth Pigott, who is himself no doubt as much deceived as his followers, is the successor of one "Brother Prince" who achieved notoriety some years ago. On the Sunday night he said: "I who speak to you to-night am that Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again and ascended into heaven." The congregation unanimously acclaimed him as the Messiah. One of them, a lady rich and well-connected, declaring her belief that the Messiah had come, said:-

"We looked for Him to come as the Scriptures had foretold, from the sky. But for a year we have been conscious of a great change in him who was Mr. Pigott. We were prepared for his declaration, though nothing was said. . . . .

Gradually he made veiled allusions to what was coming, and he altered his methods of service-only staying at the meetings to say what was borne in upon him, and then going away.

"There was no definite pronouncements until a fortnight ago. Then he called the church together and told us the great news. It did not come as a surprise, but as an immense relief. I can say truthfully that we all accepted the solemn fact with thankfulness."

There we have the secret of the deception: Those who knew the Scriptures did not hold to them. They knew what the Scriptures say about Christ's second coming, yet accepted something in no way corresponding to it. None of these things cast the least discredit upon the Scripture teaching concerning the second coming of Christ; and we need only repeat the words of the apostle: "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward." "For yet a little while and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." These "false Christs" that arise are but signs that the coming of the real Christ is sure.

"Where Money Is of No Value" The Present Truth 18, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

Where Money Is of No Value. -The millionaire steel maker, John Henry, was recently the victim of a railway accident, and, according to the Springfield Republican (U.S.A.) as he lay, crushed and torn, at the little railway station near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he said, "I will give $100,000 to any one who will save my life." It was a vain offer. As the Republican says, "he might have offered his entire fortune with the same result; the most skillful surgical attention could not save him.

How forcibly this impresses the words of Psalm xlix. 6, 7: "They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him." Most assuredly not, when all their wealth cannot save their own lives. "Riches profit not in the day of wrath; but righteousness delivereth from death." Prov. xi. 4.

September 25, 1902

"Suffering for Righteousness' Sake" The Present Truth 18, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

SOLDIERS WHO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS

The Paris correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, referring to the case of Colonel de Saint Remy, who was practically acquitted by a court-martial for refusing to obey an order to expel some nuns from their school, says that it is expected to lead to the liberation of the four soldiers now in prison for refusing, as a matter of conscience, to carry arms, and gives the following interesting account of the different cases:-

In each case there was no attempt at display. Petit, the young conscript from Verdun, obediently passed through the preliminary military instruction; but no less deliberately refused to wield or even touch weapons intended to destroy the life of his fellow-creatures. Every effort to persuade him failed, and when the Court-Martial sentenced him to three years' imprisonment he calmly remarked that he was condemned because he declined to be a murderer.

The case of the soldier Gontaudier is still more striking. He came expressly from America to draw his number, which proved that he was not refractory. He implored the Colonel to put him on to some laborious job; but his scruples were recompensed by a sentence of two years' imprisonment. At the end of that term he again declined, and was sentenced to the same punishment.

"Grasselin, of Belfort, was perfectly docile till the question of taking arms was raised. He then meekly replied: 'I cannot. Jesus Christ has said, 'Thou shalt not kill,' and, 'Love one another.' I am bound, as a Christian, to obey Him.' There was no sign of outside influence, and his father, an Alsatian, heaped curses on his head. His employers state that his character, before entering the army, was that of an evangelist, and that he gave a large portion of his wages to poor people. The doctors affirmed that he was healthy, and of thoroughly sound mind, with an over-keen sense of the Gospel precepts. Grasselin was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

Soubigou, of Brest, who also carried his scruples so far as to refuse to eat flesh meat, replied: 'You can imprison my body till I am fifty-five; but you cannot touch my soul.'

"The Government is embarrassed by the alternative of encouraging others or of showing an excess of clemency. The President of the Republic can certainly cite one remarkable instance-that in which the Committee of Public Safety exempted the Anabaptists from carrying arms, out of respect for their humanitarian scruples. The document is signed by Robespierre Couthon, Saint Just, and Lazare Carnot."

It is refreshing and encouraging to know that there are men in the world willing to suffer for conscience' sake. These men are not posing before the world, seeking applause as martyrs, but are suffering in silence. God alone knows how many men there are who, without complaint, are enduring affliction for the sake of His truth. The law of God plainly says, "Thou shalt not kill;" and John the Baptist, speaking directly to the Roman soldiers who came to him for spiritual advice, said, "Do violence to no man." If that instruction be heeded, it is evident that it is useless even to carry arms, and therefore the men in question are justified. How sad it is that governments which delight to assume the prefix "Christian," should persecute men for simply obeying Christ! When we pray "for kings and for all that are in authority," let us also "remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them."

"The Strength of the Law. Joshua. i. 1-11" The Present Truth 18, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

(Joshua i. 1-11.)²⁴1

Without doubt this phrase conveys to most people the idea of something harsh and repellent, of stern justice, keen to detect errors, and quick to administer severe punishment. How little such ones know of the law of the Lord! for "this is the love God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3. Since "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. xiii. 10), it is evident that the law itself is love; and therefore the strength of the law is the strength of love. The law is life,-the life of God,-and God is love. The strength of law is therefore the strength of love of God.

This is made most beautifully clear and emphatic in the lesson before us. Moses was dead, and upon Joshua devolved the task of taking command of the hosts of Israel, and leading them into the promised land. It was a work that might well have staggered the boldest man, even to contemplate it. Moses, the grand old man of all history, was not an easy man to succeed notwithstanding all the murmurings of the children of Israel against him, they could not help acknowledging his wonderful ability; and it would be most natural for them to make disparaging comparisons if a weaker man took his place; and a stronger man it would be impossible to find.

Joshua succeeded to the command just as the real work was beginning-that of driving out the inhabitants of Canaan, and dividing their land among the Israelites. It may well be believed that his heart sank at the prospect, and this was the cause of the repeated commandment, "Be strong, and of a good courage." It is here that we see the kindly strength of the law.

GOD'S GIFT OF WORK IS THE PROMISE OF STRENGTH

The promise and the oath of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are referred to as the basis of hope and courage. Instead of saying, "The task of possessing and dividing the land is so great that I cannot do it," Joshua could say, "God has sworn that the land shall be possessed by us, therefore we are well able to possess it," even as He had spoken forty years before. And he could further say, "The Lord has given me the work of leading this people into the land, therefore I can do it."

How natural it is to take counsel of our weakness instead of the promise of God. We say, "Here is a vast amount of work to be done at once, and I cannot do it, because I am weak and ill;" whereas we should say, "I am weak and ill, but I know that I shall be strong and well, because God has set a great work before me, which must be done at once." God never gives any man work which he cannot do.He does not trifle with His children. It may indeed be that we are not equal to the task; but "our sufficiency is of God," who gives us the work in order that He may reveal to us and in us a new measure of His power, and develop qualities in us that we have hitherto lacked. So when a new and difficult task comes to us from the Lord, we are not to think of what we have hitherto been able to do, but of what God wills that we shall do.

THE WORD OF LIFE

"The Lord our God is one Lord," and all His commandments are one law. So the words, "Be strong and of a good courage;" "Only be thou strong and very courageous;" "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and pf a good courage," have the same force as the ten commandments given from Sinai. God said to Joshua, "Be strong;" and His words gave him strength. He speaks to us the great things of His law, and as we receive His commandments into our hearts and minds, the righteousness which they require comes with them.

A striking instance of this is seen in the case of Daniel, to whom similar words were spoken. A wonderful vision had been given him, and fear had seized his companions, and they had fled. "Therefore I was left alone, and saw the great vision, and there remained no strength in me; for my comeliness was turned into corruption, and I retained and no strength." Then follows the account of the angel coming to him, and talking with him, and we read further:-

"And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips; then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me. Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me." Dan. x. 15-18.

"TO YOU IS THE WORD OF THIS SALVATION SENT"

The same strength may be ours; for God Himself has laid His hand upon us, and says to us: "Fear 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." Isa. xli. 10. Here are the same words that He spoke to Joshua; so we know that we may have the same strength that was given to him. We may not have as great a task is Joshua had, but we may be sure that, whatever the work, and however strong the enemies we have to contend with, whether within or without strength amply sufficient will be given us. Our weakness is not once to be taken into consideration, but only God, who is the strength of our life. He even takes things that do not exist, to bring to naught things that are. 1 Cor. i. 25.

Take notice that the strength and prosperity that God gives do indeed, literally from His law. God said: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for thou then shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." Compare this with the first psalm. The man whose delight is in law of the Lord, and who meditates in it day and night, has the assurance that he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water,-fresh and fruitful-and that "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

Yes, there is power in the law of God-the power of everlasting righteousness, the power of the living God. "His commandment is life everlasting." It gives physical as well as spiritual life. "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." Prov. iii. 20.

This is indicated in the words of Joshua; for the Hebrew word rendered "courage"

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has the meaning of strength, alertness. The passage might well be rendered, "Be strong and alert;" or, "Be strong and swift-footed;" or, "Be strong and hardy." The man whose muscles are continually failing him when he wishes to use them, and whose nerves are all unstrung, cannot possibly be of good courage. Mind and body act and react on each other. The work that the Lord gives requires a clear head, steady nerves, and muscles trained to respond to every demand; and it was nothing less than this that God promised to Joshua, and that He promises to every one of us who will literally keep His law-keep it in the mind and in the flesh.

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage." Who can talk of weakness when God has said, "Be strong?" Such talk is nothing less than mutiny; it is rebellion. If He has said, "Be strong,"-and He has said it to everybody,-there is nothing to be said, except, "Amen; so let it be." It is the word of creation. God said, Let this and that be; "and it was so." Our part is simply to receive the Word, and to study it, so that we may know how its life manifests itself.

"Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." The same thing is still true. "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." How many times we have repeated these words, and still have continued to be afraid, and have been dismayed at the prospect before us. Where then is our belief in God? Shall we not learn this lesson now? There may be many who will be able to repeat every verse in this Sunday-school lesson; but no one will have learned it, unless he has learned not to be afraid, and how to be strong and well. Then he can say, "The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident."

"Definite Information as to Christ's Coming" The Present Truth 18, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

It is very evident that there is even to-day among Christians a deplorable lack of knowledge concerning the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, of which so much is said in the Scriptures. The fact of His coming is recognised, but there is the most indefinite idea as to the time and nature and even the object of the event. That this vagueness of thought concerning it exists, is evident from the following words from an editorial in a recent number of the Baptist Times:-

"Into the debatable question as to whether what is known as the 'second coming' is a past or a future event, I have neither time nor inclination to enter."

And then follows the statement that "Christ's comings are many." We quote these words from the Baptist Times, not for criticism or controversy, but as evidence that there is indefiniteness of knowledge concerning the coming of Christ. There are without doubt many who are in the same state of mind as the writer of those words. The fact that an entire congregation of well-to-do, intelligent, and cultured people in London have recently testified their belief in their pastor's claim to be the Messiah, who has come the second time without sin unto salvation, demonstrates this.

SOURCE OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST'S COMING

Now this need not and ought not to be; for the same Bible from which we learn that Jesus has promised to come, also tells us the nature and object of His coming. For example, we have the well-known promise of Christ in the fourteenth chapter of John, beginning, "Let not your heart be troubled." Jesus had said that he was going away, and that the disciples could not go with Him, and now He added: "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."

That is sufficient to settle the question as to the number of Christ's comings, and as to whether the coming of which He speaks is past or future. "I will come again," He said. That means, once more, a second time. In corroboration of this, we have the inspired words of the Apostle Paul: "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him will He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. ix. 29. It is as easy to know that the coming of the Lord Jesus, which is always spoken of in the singular number in the New Testament,-the coming,-is the second coming, as it is to know that there is any such thing as the coming of Christ at all.

And it is also just as easy to know that the second coming of Christ is yet future. What did He say?-"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." Are you now with the Lord in the place that He has prepared for you? Do you seek no better country than this? Is this earth, with its cares and disappointments, its sin and sickness and sorrow, your permanent abiding place? The question answers itself; for we know, even without the statement of Scripture, that "our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding." 1 Chron. xxix. 15. Therefore we are but, sojourners on this earth, however much we may seek to be friends with it, instead of strangers.

THE MANNER OF CHRIST'S COMING

The manner of Christ's coming, which is most plainly and minutely described in the Bible, is another guide by which we may most certainly know that it has not yet taken place. Jesus led His disciples out from Jerusalem as far as Bethany, talking by the way, and then lifted up his hands and blessed them; and "while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And 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." Acts i. 9-11.

He will come as He went. He was seen to go, away in a cloud, and, "behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him." Rev. i. 7. He went away blessing His disciples, and when He comes, sitting on the throne of His glory, He will say, "Come, ye blessed of My Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. xxv. 34. But He has not yet been seen to come in that manner, and therefore we know that His coming is still future.

RESTORATION OF THE NEW EARTH

There is another proof from the verse just quoted. When Jesus comes He will say to His true disciples: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." When the world was founded it was vastly different from what it is now. It was new, and perfect in every respect. No curse of sin or blight of death marred it. "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Gen. i. 31. Christ's second coming, therefore, means the renewal of the earth. And this we read in Acts iii. 20, 21: "He shall send Jesus Christ, which before

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was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." Therefore "we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Pet. iii. 13); and for the accomplishment of this we must wait the second coming of Christ.

IMMORTALITY TO BE BESTOWED

When Christ comes the second time, as great a change will take place in His saints as in the earth itself. Their bodies will be restored to the condition of Eden beauty and perfection. We are but strangers and sojourners on this present evil world, and "our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall 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 subdue all things unto Himself." Phil. iii. 20, 21.

"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." 1 Thess. iv. 16-18.

This also shows most convincingly that the coming of Christ is yet future; for no such events have taken place as are here described. There will be no secrecy about Christ's second coming. No one need be deceived by any who come, saying, "I am Christ." "If they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth; behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 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. 26, 27. When He came the first time, angels announced the glad tidings; but when He comes the second time He Himself will proclaim it with a voice that will shake the earth, and open every grave. See John v. 28, 29.

"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.

DISCREDITING THE BIBLE

This is done in various ways. One way is by saying that it is not to be taken literally, or, in other words, that it does not mean what it says. We are told by some that these statements about the sounding of the trumpet, the cloud, and the fire of glory, are only figurative expressions. That being admitted, it is an easy and natural step to claiming that the declaration concerning the destruction of the wicked is only figurative; and then the next step is that the resurrection is not real, but only a figure of speech; and the end of it all is a denial that Christ will really come at all; and that means that there will be no salvation for the righteous. Thus we have the entire Gospel explained away to nothing, and the Bible discredited; for if we cannot believe what the Bible says about the second coming of Christ, we cannot believe anything that it says. It is strangely inconsistent for people to talk about the coming of the Lord, an event for the knowledge of which we are dependent on the Bible, and at the same time say that we cannot know anything about the nature of His coming. We have the same authority for the details of the second coming of Christ that we have for the fact that He will come at all; and that authority is the infallible word of God.

The other way of discrediting the Bible is by ignoring it, and not studying it. There is nothing said against it, but the person merely treats it as though it did not exist. This is really as bad as the open denial of it; for the individual tacitly says that it is not worth attention. And the result is just as bad; for the one who neglects the study of the word is a prey to deception equally with the one who denies it. Both are "willingly ignorant" of great truth which a child can and ought to understand. We have a "sure word of prophecy," and unto it "ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place."

"Seek the Lord" The Present Truth 18, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

The futile life of one of the weakest kings of Judah is gathered up in this one striking sentence: "He did evil, because he did not fix his heart to seek the Lord." That is to say, because he did not strongly resolve to do right, he did wrong; and that is a universal truth. Yet there is a deeper truth than that in the words-because he did not set his heart to seek God, therefore he stumbled into the grip of every tempting evil. That is to say, the true way to overcome temptation is to fill the heart with God.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Are the Dead with Christ?" The Present Truth 18, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

"I was rather shocked to see the following in your paper, the PRESENT TRUTH, page 502, August 7th:-

"'It is wholly assumption, unwarranted by the Scriptures, that we are present with the Lord as soon as the body dies.'

"'May I ask you to kindly look at the following scripture: Job xiv. 10: 'Man dieth. . . . and where is he?' Acts vii. 57-60: 'Stephen calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Acts viii. 2: 'Devout men carried Stephen to his burial.' His spirit went up to be with the Lord, and his body went to the grave. Phil. i. 23, 24: 'Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ.' 2 Cor. v. 5-8: 'Absent from the body and present with the Lord.' 2 Peter i. 13, 14: 'I must shortly put off this tabernacle.' Luke xvi. 19-31: 'The rich man died, and was buried; and in hell,'-His body went to the grave, and his soul still lives.He could see, feel, remember, reason, and pray; but it was too late. The second coming of Christ: Acts i. 9-11; 1 Thess. iv. 13-18; Rev. xxii. 20: Soul and body reunited. Believe me, yours faithfully."

Our friend has imposed a large task on me; for to quote these texts in full, and so to open them up that each reader shall be able to see exactly what they say, and have his mind cleared of false conceptions concerning them, would take many hours' writing, and fill an entire number of the paper. Perhaps, however, he means only that the editor shall read them for his own private benefit. I thank him for his kindly effort to instruct; but must in turn ask him to read the article again, in the PRESENT TRUTH from which he quotes; for in it several of these texts are quoted, and treated of at some length. I have myself read them all many hundreds of times; and though no one can ever study any portion of the Bible so much that he can learn no more from it, I know from my study of these that I shall never be able to find any indication in them of a conscious existence of the spirit or soul of man apart from the body. Such an idea is opposed to the very nature of man.

May I be permitted to say in all kindness, that the way in which my friend has thrown these texts together, and the statements he interjects about some of them, are clear evidence that he has not given them much thought; and so, although I have not space for any extended study of the scriptures cited, any one of which would furnish sufficient matter for one number of the paper, I will briefly note at least a few of them, for the benefit both of my correspondent and of many others who are feeling after the truth. I wish, however, they would first read again the article referred to in the PRESENT TRUTH of August 7. A habit of careful reading would often save much misunderstanding.

"MAN DIETH, AND WHERE IS HE?"

To begin with the first text cited: Job xiv. 10: "Man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" Yes; where is he? He is not. It is a striking instance of the power of theology to bias a man's judgment and perception, that a person can think he sees in this verse any argument for the conscious existence of man in death. We refer to theology in its ordinary signification-the study of sacred things from the basis of philosophy, and not of the Bible.

The patriarch answers his own question, "Where is he?" Read verses 14, 15: "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." Read 1 Cor. xv. 51-54 for a statement as to what the "change" is, of which He speaks, and when it will take place. It is at His second coming that Christ will call, and the dead will answer Him. See 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17; John v. 28, 29. And where will they "wait" till their "change" comes? Here is the answer: "If I wait, the grave is mine house; I have made my bed in darkness. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister." Job xvii. 13, 14.

Let us go back to the beginning, and we shall be saved much confusion. The simple story of the creation of man helps us to unravel many a tangled web. "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." Gen. ii. 7. That is the making of man; here is his unmaking: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Eccl. xii. 7. Or this, spoken of God: "If He gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust." Job xxxiv. 14, 15.

It is impossible for anybody to find in these scriptures anything else than that at death man is resolved into his component parts each in the same state as it was before it was used in building the man, whatever is true of the elements composing a man, after his death, was true of them before his existence; and there can be no argument for the conscious existence of man in death that does not just as fully prove his pre-existence. Plato, to whom Christians are indebted for the doctrine of the so-called "immortality of the soul," taught its pre-existence. Indeed, his argument for man's natural immortality was based on his belief in the pre-existence of the soul. It is strange that men accept the structure that Plato built, and reject the foundation.

Let us proceed with our texts. We have the case of Stephen, calling on God, and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." But please notice that this intimates nothing as to the state of the spirit when the Lord receives it. The fact that the spirit returns to God, who gave it, is not in question. All that the PRESENT TRUTH has taught is that when man dies, and the parts of which he is composed are dissolved, he no longer exists as man. The parts still exist just as they were before he was created; but the man has ceased to be. The Lord watches over the dust of His saints, to bring them forth from the grave; and He also keeps their spirit for them; for it came from Him, and was His all the time they had it. His receiving their spirit is simply the assurance that they shall live again.

DEPARTING AND BEING WITH CHRIST IS NOT DEATH

Phil. i. 23, 24. It is utterly impossible for anybody to understand these two verses without studying the connection. To

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snatch an expression here and there from the Bible, on the run, as it were, and then to build a theory upon it, from the mere sound of the words, is not Bible study. Reading the context, we find that Paul says that he does not know which he would choose-life or death-if the choice were given him. His only desire was that Christ might be magnified, by His life or by His death; but by which means Christ would receive the greater glory, he did not know, and so he had no choice. Now it is not crediting the apostle with good sense to say that he first says he does not know which he would choose, whether life or death, and that then in the very same breath he declares that he has an intense desire to die! That would be nonsense. What he actually says is this: He had no choice between life here on the earth and death; but he had an intense longing for something else, namely, to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better than either of the other two. And this shows us most clearly that departing and being with Christ is something entirely different from death. So the text which is commonly imagined to teach that men go to be with Christ in death, proves the exact opposite. If Paul continued on this earth, or if he died, he would not be with Christ, the thing for which he longed.

WHEN WE ARE "CLOTHED" WITH IMMORTALITY

Now we must place by the side of this text two others that have been referred to. The first is 2 Cor. v. 1-8. Here three states are referred to, as in the one just considered. These three states are: This present, unclothed, and clothed. Let us read a portion:-

"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."

Noting the statements carefully, we see that to be "clothed," or "clothed upon," is to have mortality swallowed up of life. Between that and this present state there is a third condition possible, namely, "unclothed," which the apostle did not long for. The thing desired was the swallowing up of mortality. Now read 1 Cor. xv. 51-54, and you will see that the swallowing up of death,-immortality,-and putting on of immortality is at the sounding of the last trumpet, when the Lord shall descend. Note the words: "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." You see we have here an exact parallel to 2 Cor. v. 2-4. The clothing to be desired is immortality,-the immortal body. If we die,-put off this tabernacle,-we are naked; but if we receive immortality, then we are clothed, and are present with the Lord.

How plain it is from the scriptures that death, instead of bringing us into the presence of Christ, is the widest possible separation from Him. Now read 1 Thess. iv. 13-18. where it is stated when the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, and with the trump of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first, incorruptible, and the living saints will then be caught up "together with them," to meet the Lord in the air; "and so shall we ever be with the Lord." When the Lord comes, and not till then, all the saints of God, both living and dead, are changed from mortality to immortality. Then, and only then, both those who are still in this tabernacle, and those who have put off this tabernacle, and are dead, "unclothed," will be "clothed upon" with immortality; and thus, not being naked, they will be fit for the presence of the King.

This covers the most of the texts referred to, and makes the subject under consideration very plain, and we will not take space for anything further at present. Remember, however, that there is no self-contradiction in the Scriptures, and every other portion exactly coincides with those that we have very briefly studied. The teach us that the Lord must come for us, if we are ever with Him, and that His coming is the one hope of the church.

THE TRUTH THAT SAVES

What difference does it make, anyhow, whether we believe that we go to be with Christ in death, or not? It makes all the difference between truth and error; and nobody is saved by error. God has chosen us to salvation "through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the word." The Word of truth is the Gospel of our salvation. The theory that men go to be with the Lord at death, makes of no effect a large portion of the Bible, and makes useless the most precious promises of Christ. It nullifies the teaching of the resurrection, and causes people to lose sight of the coming of Christ; for if the dead saints were already with Christ, there would be no use for Him to come for them. Thus this theory makes nonsense of all the promises concerning the coming of Christ and the resurrection. Surely this is reason enough for making the truth prominent.

Again: Those who believe that the dead are not dead at all, but are with Christ, alive and conscious, have absolutely no safeguard against the deception of Spiritualism. It is the fact that cannot be controverted, that people have seen, and to see, bodies that exactly resemble their dead friends, and that profess to be such. Moreover the spirits, professing to come from the other world often show themselves accurately acquainted with the private life of those to whom they appear, telling things known only by the individual and the dead friend. Now if a man believes that his friend is in heaven, conscious of all that is going on here below, such an appearance and communication would be sufficient to convince him that his departed friend had returned. And then, having gone that far, contrary to the Scriptures, it would be the most natural thing in the world for him to accept any statement that the spirit might make, however contrary to the Bible it might be. But every one who adheres to the Bible statement that "the dead know not anything" (Eccl. ix. 5), that "his sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them" (Job xiv. 21), cannot possibly be deceived by the false pretences of Satan and his evil angels.

Still further: The doctrine of the resurrection is made a wholly unnecessary thing by the theory that men go to heaven at death. And when that is lost sight of, it is an easy step to lose sight of the power of the resurrection, by which we triumph over sin. And this is why Spiritualism inevitably tends to immorality. No man is able to save himself from sin; and so, no matter how well-meaning a person may be, if a person cut himself off from the truth that saves, he must sooner or later land in the pit of corruption.

If we fly swift, obedient to His will,
He gives us wings to fly; if we resist
Temptation, and ne'er fall, it is His shield
Omnipotent that wards if ott; if we,
With love unquenchable, before Him burn,
'Tis He that lights and keeps alive the flame.

"For Little Ones. Jacob and Esau: The Birthright" The Present Truth 18, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

It was twenty, years after Isaac was married to Rebecca before God gave them any children. So their faith in the promise of God was tried, as Abraham's had been. God had promised that through Isaac Abraham's seed should be multiplied,and the number of his children be as the stars of heaven and the dust of the earth for multitude.

Isaac knew the story of his own birth, and how his father and mother had prayed and waited for the gift of God. So he also prayed that God would give him a child, and in answer to his prayer, God gave twin sons to Rebecca his wife. The first-born was called Esau, and the younger, Jacob. Before their birth God told Rebecca that the elder should serve the younger.

The birthright was the right of the eldest son to inherit the father's property; besides this, it made him a prince or ruler in the family. But it was not the worldly good it brought that made Jacob set so much value upon it. The choicest possessions of Isaac were the promises of God to him and to his father Abraham. He who received the birthright was heir of the promise that in his line the Saviour of the world should come.

But Esau cared nothing for these things. His mind was set on the things of this world; he did not think of the world to come that Abraham and Isaac looked for. So when he was faint with hunger, he said, "Behold I am at the point to die, and what good shall this birthright do me." He was like those of whom Paul spake in 1 Cor. xv. 23 who because they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead and the future life, said, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," as though the things of this world were all that is worth living for.

Jacob valued the blessings that Esau despised. Because God had foreseen the character of the two boys. He had told beforehand that the birthright should be given to Jacob. But Jacob did not know God enough to trust Him to bring His own word to pass. He made the same mistake that his grandfather once made, and tried to get the birthright for himself, instead of waiting for God to give it to him.

One day when Esau came in from the fields where he spent most of his time hunting, he was very hungry and exhausted. He saw Jacob making some lentil pottage, and asked for some of it. Jacob ought to have been willing to feed for nothing, but he said that he would sell him the birthright for it. Then Esau said, "Behold I am at the point to die, and what good shall this birthright do me?" And he let it go.

Esau despised his birthright, and sold it for a morsel of meat. Because of this he is called a "profane person," and his act was very displeasing to God. He is the type of all those who through their love for world lose the eternal riches.

Esau was not the first one who sold his birthright for a morsel of meat. Our first father Adam did the very same thing. "Adam was the son of God," but we have found how he sold his birthright and lost his inheritance for the sake of a morsel of meat that God had forbidden.

Jesus the Second Adam, was tempted in the same way by the same serpent that tempted Adam in Eden. When He was very hungry the Devil said, "If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." But if He had obeyed the voice of the tempter to satisfy hunger, He would have lost His birthright as the Son of God. So He conquered Satan by the Word of God: "Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

There are many to-day who are sell their birthright as sons of God for the sake of a morsel of meat. As His children it is our right to be filled with His Holy Spirit, to give us clear minds and good judgment and strong bodies in this world, and an inheritance in the world to come. If we eat or drink what God has told us is not good for us, or even too much of what is good, we are in danger of clouding minds and driving away the Spirit of God and shutting ourselves out from the new earth that God has promised for the home of all His children.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

The two great universities in America, Yale and Harvard, have each decided to establish a missionary organisation somewhat on the lines of the Oxford Mission in Calcutta and the Cambridge Mission in Delhi. Yale has selected China as the field of its operations, and a mission settlement will shortly be formed in one of the large cities of Central China. India is likely to be chosen for the work of the Harvard men, but their plans are not yet fully matured.

It is, unfortunately, not an uncommon thing to hear of the murder of a father by his son; but such an item as the following is not common in these days:-

"Hadj-Fud, an Arab aged 112, has been murdered by his youngest son, aged sixty-five, at Assiz-bouma, Algeria."

What a pity that those upon whom God has bestowed His wondrous gift of long life cannot be content to enjoy it!

When the German Crown Prince first went to the University of Bonn, he refused to join his companions in the Prussian court in their drinking bouts, which caused them to protest to the Kaiser against the unsociability of his heir. The Prince himself also had an interview on the subject with his father, and the Emperor has denounced as preposterous the practice of the students, of forcing one another to drink enormous mugs of beer, and has declared that they are injuring their health by inordinate beer-drinking. It is in such things as this that true royalty reveals itself.

It is stated that one of the most important papers read the recent meeting of the British Association, was by Professor Brown, "Death-raises from Consumption." Of course lack of sanitation, and inattention to the simple rules of hygiene were shown to be important factors in the high death-rate; and drink was also stated to be responsible for a great deal. The report says: "He attributed the high death-rate for consumption in Ireland to the increased use of bread and tea as the main and almost sole diet of the working-classes. It should be taught in our schools that alcohol is one of the greatest enemies of health, and that tea, if drunk very strong, is decidedly injurious, more especially if it is long drawn." People in England will do well to heed this warning. Consumption means wasting away. The system does not get enough nourishment, either because not enough is applied, or because it cannot be appropriated. Now neither tea nor alcohol contributes the least thing to the upbuilding of the system, but on the contrary, they both hinder the digestion and assimilation of that which is real food. Consequently it is as plain as noon-day that consumption-wasting of the body-must naturally follow any considerable use of these two beverages. They do more injury in large quantities than in small; but the only safe course is to leave them alone.

"Ten miles from the sea a seal weighing 52lbs. and measuring 3ft. 5in. in length, and 2ft. 2in. in girth, has been shot while basking on the banks of the River Slaney." Yet we hear nothing of the arrest of the murderer. It is a burning shame that men cannot see an innocent creature not of their own species, without been seized with an insane desire to kill it. Every such act is rebellion against God-a declaration that he made a mistake in giving life to any creature except man. It is a deplorable state of mind that finds its highest enjoyment in depriving some other creature of enjoyment.

The Government of India has just issued an official announcement prohibiting all further export of wild-bird skins and feathers, of which enormous quantities have hitherto been sent to England for use in trimming the ladies' hats. This is the result of the agitation against the barbarity of the trade. It will be admitted that the action has been taken none too soon, when it is known that in the year 1896-97 the value of the feather export was ?370,990, and that in the year 1897-98 the value of the skin export was ?6,935,320. But it is a pity that the agitation did not reach the hearts of ladies before it did those of the Government officials, so that the cruel traffic could have been stopped by their action instead of by the law.

A correspondent of a London journal says that the German Emperor's household is conducted on lines of almost austere frugality, and that the young Crown Prince not only practises "plain living and high thinking," but that, as a matter of early training, his physical system is so evenly balanced that even a moderate quantity of alcoholic liquid disturbs its equanimity."

This is good testimony, the value of which ought not to be overlooked. It is opposed by many, who do not think, that the ability to consume large quantities of stimulants of any kind, without being conscious of any ill-effects, and is an indication of a strong, well-balanced constitution. As a matter of fact, it is just the opposite. The perfect constitution is the one which gives notice immediately whenever an enemy intrudes; just as the perfect balance is the one which responds to the slightest weight.

According to the Catholic Times of August 29, the religious condition of even Catholic France is not at all satisfactory to Roman Catholics. That which is complained of is an almost complete indifference to religion. For example, "the Easter communion" is the last thing that a good Catholic churchman would think of omitting; yet the writer says that at Besanoon, which is an archiepiscopal city, only 1,500 persons, out of a population of 55,000, attended at Easter communion. He says, "In a very large number of French towns of 10,000 or 15,000 inhabitants, there are not one hundred persons who approach the Sacraments at Easter, and yet in this respect the towns are better than the rural districts. The worst of the matter is that the state of things is due to the clergy, and therefore the church cannot hope for much improvement in it. From this it is apparent that in spite of the pressure of the Church of Rome, and the long hold on the field, France is truly missionary ground, as much as any other part of the world; and men who will preach Christ, and not merely the crucifix, ought to feel the burden of it on their hearts.

Penniless people are not the only paupers in the world. We frequently hear of men who are driven to commit suicide because of extreme poverty, and a case recently occurred in Poland. In this instance, however, the man was a millionaire, who shot himself because the owner of a few hundred acres adjoining his estate, upon which he had set his heart, refused to sell. This man was poor in spite of his millions; because poverty consists in what a man wants and cannot get. The man's actions were not only wicked, but exhibited the pettishness of a spoiled child. However, if any comparison can be made in sins, it was better to kill himself than to kill the owner of the land, as Ahab did. How empty life must be to a man who can find no joy in it, if he is deprived of a single thing, of which he does not really stand in need.

We have already referred to the high price of meat in Germany, on account of the frontier regulations regarding the importation of foreign meat; and now we are told that "the prices have gone so high that for the workman's family meat has become almost impossible, and in the poorer districts in the provinces, the consumption of meat has become nil, and in consequence, sickness is said to be rife in many places." It is well that the saving clause, "it is said to be," is put in there; for it is impossible that sickness should follow the leaving off of meat, unless the people prefer starvation to eating anything else. The soil is productive in Germany, and the Germans are good agriculturalists, and if the prohibition of meat only continues indefinitely, we may look for a wonderful improvement in the general health of the people.

An article in the Daily Mail of Sept. 12, based on statistics, declares that "as the country prospers, drunkenness increases. A year of high wages and good trade is also a year of deep drinking." That being so, "hard times" are not the unmitigated curse they are supposed to be. And when such a base use is made of prosperity that the Lord gives, what right has anybody to expect a continuance of it?

It is also stated, "that the vice of drunkenness among women is on the increase is admitted on all hands. " "Since 1877 the deaths of women from intemperance have increased from 31 to 40 per cent. Since the same year the ratio to population of such deaths, has increased from 25 to 51. During the period in which the deaths of men from the same cause have increased 43 per cent., those of women have increased no less than 10 per cent." And this does not by any means tell the whole story; for the effect of this drunkenness upon the offspring is incalculable. Who cannot see that these things point unmistakably to the extinction of the human race, with the exception of a "righteous seed"?

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

Last week we promised an article on the subject of people taking the Lord's money-the tithe or offerings-to help themselves out of difficulty. We are sorry that a press of other matter has crowded it out of this number, but it will keep till next week.

We sometimes receive letters asking us to explain entire chapters in the "Editor's Private Corner," a request which for obvious reasons cannot possibly be complied with. To say nothing of the space required, a general exposition might miss entirely the thing which the one making the request had in mind. Questions must have some definite point in view, and then they can be answered.

Whenever a man pays a debt, the creditor gives him a receipt. Even so does the Lord, but not as man does. God, as the Great King, cannot give in any ordinary way. His receipt, therefore, is not a mere slip of paper; He acknowledges the payment of a debt by giving the debtor far more than he paid. This makes the poor man's debt to God the greater, and as he seeks to discharge it, God again acknowledges by returning more. One can afford to be honest with God. Generous with Him we cannot be, for His generosity to us makes that impossible.

It is noticeable, so far as one can judge by the published reports, that the Clapton clergyman, who claims to be the Messiah, loses no opportunity of making his claims known. He reiterates it in his public, or semi-public, meetings, and it is the first thing he says to one who has an interview with him. But Jesus of Nazareth did not do so. Only on two occasions did He, according to the Scripture record, plainly state that He was the Messiah-to the woman at the well, and when He was on trial. It was always the people who made the declaration that He was the Messiah; and their declaration was based on the wonderful works that He did, and the gracious words that He spoke. There is a principle here over which an impostor must of necessity always trip, and that is that real worth always makes itself apparent without self advertisement. If a man's worth does not reveal itself to others, he evidently has not enough to make it worth while for him to talk about it.

"'Not My Will, but Thine, Be Done'" The Present Truth 18, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

"Not My Will, but Thine, Be Done." -In reading the account of Christ's prayer in the garden, people quite naturally get the idea that the well-known words just quoted, which He uttered, were a sort of protest, as though He would say, "Well, if I cannot have what I desire, let Thy will be done." This is because we judge Him by ourselves, who are so apt to regard God's will as a hardship to be endured, rather than a blessing to be desired. We should remember that the words are a request, and are but the continuation of what Jesus had already prayed; "Father, if thou be willing, let this cup pass from me." Christ's prayer was all in harmony with what He had taught His disciples to pray, namely, "Thy will be done." This prayer recognises the fact that God's will is the only perfect will, and that only what He wills is right and good. Nothing is more disastrous for any man than to have is own way. We are to meditate upon God's ways until we know that His ways and His will are as much better than ours as the heaven is higher than the earth, and then we shall ardently long for His will to be done. Thus we shall most earnestly pray to be saved from having our own way and doing our own will.

"Spring in Autumn" The Present Truth 18, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

Spring in Autumn. -It is a typical autumn day,-a November day, however, rather than one in September; the sky is grey and cold, and the chilly wind has a threatening sound; the birds are gathering in groups for their southward flight, and their voices are not heard; the leaves are already falling from the trees in showers, with every gust, and those that are left are sere and faded. Everything speaks of the coming winter, although the short, chilly summer has scarcely allowed us to forget the last one. But just across the road from my window are some trees that carry a different message. About half of their leaves have long since fallen, and in their places, a second crop of fresh, young leaves, so that on the same trees are seen the rich green of spring, contrasted with the dulness of autumn. It is a sight to rest one's eyes.

Some would say that the new leaves are out of season; but to me they tell a different story. They are not a "freak of nature," but the manifestation of God's unchangeable law, showing His everlasting, ever-youthful life that work in the midst of the curse. They tell of the everlasting spring that abides in the land where God's law has unhindered sway. They show the working of the power that redeems our life from destruction, renewing our youth, and that will at last renew the face of the whole earth. They reveal the fact that in God's plan there is no cold, dreary winter, no withered, falling leaves, no feeble old age, no death,-but ever-present spring and summer, continual fresh foliage and fruit, youthful old age, everlasting life. With Him every spring of the year is but a new variety of spring. So I have before me a constant invitation to abide in God's house; for "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, to show that the Lord is upright."

October 2, 1902

"A New Way. Joshua iii. 9-iv. 7" The Present Truth 18, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

(Joshua iii. 9-iv. 7.)²⁵1

With the story of the crossing of the Jordan every reader the Bible is familiar: with the lessons to be learned from it there is far less acquaintance. Yet it was written, not purely to excite our wonder, nor to satisfy our curiosity, but for our learning. If, enough contemplation of the Scripture narratives, we lived far more with the events which they describe, we would experience the power of God in our daily lives to an extent far beyond what we now do. We must understand that the Bible is not the record of an age which is antiquated, and can never be paralleled, but of the acts of the living God, who is our God.

"When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back" (Ps. cxiv. 1-3); or as picturesquely put in the Danish, "Jordan turned, and ran back," as if abashed at the presence of the Lord. The crossing of the Jordan is coupled with the crossing of the Red Sea, and is fully as wonderful an event.

There was an exhibition of sublime faith on the part of a vast host, and an example of how to meet obstacles that confront us in the way that the Lord has told us to go. It was the time of harvest, when "Jordan overfloweth all his banks," and the river was not fordable. The Lord could have timed Israel's arrival so that they would have cross and could have crossed with comparative ease. But God delights in difficulties, that is, in what to us are difficulties; for with Him there is no such thing. He deliberately chooses the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty; and foolish things to confound the wise; and things that are not, to bring to naught things that are. 1 Cor. i. 27, 28. This is not for vain boasting, but in order to strengthen the faith of His people, and to induce men to trust in His salvation. If Israel had always gone forward in the power that took them through the sea and through Jordan, no enemy would ever have

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stood before them; and if we in this day would continually trust in God as the God who always does just such wonderful things, we should be invincible.

When the officers were preparing the people for the great movement that was to take them into the promised land, they said to them: "When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure; come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore." Joshua iii. 3, 4.

That is the secret of Christian progress: always treading a new way, a path hitherto untrodden. We must never assume that past experience is sufficient to carry us through any work without special, divine guidance, however familiar with the affair we may consider ourselves. "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps," no matter how often he has passed over a road. "The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord," and only the Lord can keep him from falling in the plainest path.

So each day's task, though it may be but the repetition of the same thing that we have done hundreds of times, must be met as an entirely new thing. In that way continual improvement may be made in our work; and that is what God would have. God promises to show us "new things;" for the work that we best know how to do, He knows how to do far better; and therefore there is always the possibility for not to do far more and far better work than we ever yet have done. With God all things are possible, and therefore in Him even the impossible is possible for us. With our eyes fixed on God, we have but to step boldly into the raging flood that threatens to stop our progress, and God will make the way. "It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect."

Did you ever stop to think that the apparent danger to the Israelites increased every minute that they were crossing the river? The water below them was running away to the sea; but to their right the wall of water was continually piling higher and higher, as that from above came down. We are so accustomed to think of the fact that they crossed over safely, that we never consider the danger that they were in while crossing. "Ah, no;" you say, "they were not in, danger at all; for God was holding the waters back." True; and so He is always doing for His people. He measures all the waters of the seas in the hollow of His hand; and this is told us as a reason for quiet confidence in Him at all times. The Israelites were really in as much danger in crossing the Jordan as the disciples were on the Sea of Galilee, or as we ever can be when we are in the path in which God is leading. What we need to do is to dwell in the secret place of God, who inhabits eternity, so that in the midst of present difficulties and threatening dangers, we look at them as already past. That is the secret of strength, and of victory. Our very temptations and dangers and difficulties are made the means of our deliverance, just as Noah and his family are said to have been "saved by water" (1 Peter iii. 20) which destroyed the earth.

A WAY THROUGH THE FLESH

It is by "a new and living way" that we draw near to God, though the flesh seems to interpose an impassable barrier. Christ took our sinful flesh, which separates us from God, and veils Him from our sight, and consecrated a way through it, so that we are "made nigh by the blood of Christ." No flesh is so corrupt, no inherited evil is so strong, that the Lord cannot make a way for us through it, straight to His throne. Yea, He has made a way: He has "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.

With this knowledge we may give thanks to God who "always causeth us to triumph in Christ; and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place." 2 Cor. ii. 14. The greater the sin in the flesh, with which we have to contend, the more can the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of God be spread in the world, to the praise of the glory of His grace.

The strength which God displayed in making even the depths which obstructed their passage "a way for the ransomed to pass over," is the measure of the strength which He gives to us day by day in our march to the promised land; "therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away."

"Misappropriation of Funds" The Present Truth 18, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

"In the six and thirtieth year reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah." 2 Chron. xvi. 1.

That was a critical situation,-worse than any amount of private debt,-threatened the very existence of the nation. If the king of Israel succeeded in building and holding Ramah, then he could a command the whole of the kingdom of Judah and put it under tribute. All the traffic of the kingdom would be stopped, or be exclusively in the hands of the king of Israel; no one, from the king to the peasant and tradesman, could have anything that he could call his own. It was a desperate case, and called for desperate measures,-at least the king of Judah thought so,-and that promptly.

"Then Asa brought silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king's house, and sent to Benhadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee silver and gold; go; break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he depart from me.

"And Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building of Ramah, and let his work cease.

"Then king Asa of Judah; they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Asa had building; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah." 2 Chron. xvi. 2-6.

So the kingdom of Judah was delivered from the king of Israel, by the prompt action of Asa. At least it seemed to be delivered. Asa had done all that he could do, and the general opinion would be that he could not have done any less. He not I only stopped the plan of the king of Israel and drove him away, destroying the city that was to command the commerce of Judah, but he guarded against any future danger by building Geba and Mizpah, or to translate the words, a hill and a water tower. To be sure he used the Lord's money with which to do it; but what else could he do? Perhaps he intended to pay it all back again with returning prosperity.

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That is the way man looks at the case; now hear the truth of the matter from God:-

"And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars." 2 Chron. xvi. 7-9.

This was not a case of pique on the part of the Lord. He did not propose to punish Asa with wars, because he had relied on the king of Syria, instead of on Him, but He merely told him, through His prophet, what would be the inevitable result of his foolish course, which to human shortsightedness seemed so wise and politic.

Asa did not stop to consider that in bribing Ben-hadad to break his league with Baasha, so that Baasha would be compelled to cease operations against him, he was simply placing means in the hands of the king of Syria, wherewith to attack him at some future time; for Ben-hadad could break his league with Asa as readily as he had broken his league with Baasha. King Asa had simply postponed his trouble, but had by no means ended it.

Here we have an exact parallel to the case of many who are in debt, and sorely distressed, perhaps not knowing even how to supply the wants of their family, to say nothing of paying their debt. Or it may be that they are not in debt, but they are in exceedingly close circumstances; and they can see no way out except to take the Lord's tithe, or other money belonging to Him, and use it for their pressing necessities. They may say that they will pay it back as soon as they can, but even if they cannot, they must live; they cannot let their family starve.

The case resolves itself into this: Shall we trust the Lord to use His own unlimited resources in His own way for our deliverance, or shall we seize upon a portion of His property, to help ourselves? Enlightened judgment would say that the former was the wiser course. The one who takes the Lord's tithes to pay his own debts, or to keep himself out of debt, as he imagines, does not accomplish his purpose. He succeeds only in putting off the trouble, and the last case will be worse than the first.

If Asa had trusted the Lord, and depended on Him for deliverance from the king of Israel, he would have been delivered; for God has never forsaken those who seek Him. Ps. lx. 9. His promise is, "I will not fail thee." And the deliverance which the Lord wrought would have been decisive, as it was when the Ethiopians came against him, to which the prophet referred. See what took place then. An overwhelming force came against Asa. "And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power; help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee." 2 Chron. xiv. 11. Now what was the result of Asa's trust in God?

"So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar; and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the Lord, and before His host."

What a pity that Asa did not remember that experience; and what a pity that we do not always remember and profit by the record of it; "for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Rom. xv. 4.

How many things were written aforetime concerning how God provided the necessities of life for His people! Think of the manna in the desert, and the water from the rock. Think of the widow's meal and oil (1 Kings xvii. 12-16), and of the provision for the payment of the widow's debt, and for her future living, in the time of Elisha. 2 Kings iv. 1-7. Think of the feeding of the multitudes in the wilderness in the days of Christ, and of many other miraculous interpositions on the part of God, as well as the miracle of our very existence day by day, when we are not conscious of want.

The same God lives to-day, and He is our God. His resources are undiminished, and He is just as compassionate, and just as ready to help the needy. We have been taught to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," and we profess to believe that all that we have comes from Him, and that our existence depends on Him; yet when trouble comes we are likely to act as though God did not exist, and everything depended on ourselves. Do you not see why these hard times are allowed to come upon us? They are to test our confidence in God. Shall we trust Him in the time of trouble, even to the last extremity, and experience a wonderful deliverance? or shall we trust in ourselves, and multiply our troubles?

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Personality of Satan" The Present Truth 18, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

"A lady supplies me with PRESENT TRUTH, and during a little chat with her I was incited to write you, and asking certain questions I put to her in connection with Satan as the Devil of the Bible. A lady left PRESENT TRUTH of August 7, and I found on page 500 an article entitled, 'Fallen Angels.' Can you tell me where in the Bible the fallen angels mentioned by Peter and Jude are defined as the Devil? and if they are in everlasting chains under darkness, reserved till a certain day, how can they be roaming about as a lion, seeking whom they may devour?

"Next concerning Eze. xxviii. Verse 2 says, 'Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus.' Now if, as this chapter says, it is the king of Tyrus that is spoken of by God through the prophet, how do you reconcile your statement that he was a fallen angel, that is, the Devil and Satan?

"The next passage is Isa. xiv. Is this not highly figurative language? and does not the context declare it to be spoken against the king of Babylon? I refer you to Dan. iv. 30, for a literal fulfilment of this prophecy in the person of Nebuchadnezzar.

"The next reference is Rev. xii. 7, 8. Rev. i. 1 says the revelation is signified, i.e., given in signs, to John, to show things that must surely come to pass. I fail to see how you can say in the face of this, that this war in heaven occurred previous to Adam's temptation.

"There are other difficulties, too, such as this: If sin originated in heaven, and its originator was an angel, I don't see what Paul's meaning is, when he declares that by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; because if the angels that sinned were cast into the earth previous to Adam's sin, then it did not come into the world by man, but by an angel.

"I believe that every man has an evil heart or mind naturally,-that he has himself to fear, and those of like nature, and not a supernatural, personal devil. Paul says that the devil is that which has the power of death (Heb. ii. 14); sin has that power; therefore sin in the flesh, i.e., human nature unrestrained is in my opinion the Satan of the Bible."

SATAN A FALLEN ANGEL

It is not at all necessary to be able to identify the fallen angels mentioned in Peter and Jude with the Devil, since he is but one, and there are many. There is but one being known as "the Devil and Satan," while there are many demons, or devils, who, like their leader, have fallen from heaven. That Satan fell from heaven is plainly stated in Luke x. 18 and Rev. xii. 7-9; and in the last reference we are told that "his angels were cast out with him;" so we are not drawing on our imagination in the least, when we identify "the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation" with the devils of which the Scriptures have so much to say, and that are the enemies of mankind.

A little more careful reading will show that it is not at all incongruous for things that have previously occurred, to be referred to in a revelation of things that must shortly come to pass. Indeed, we are plainly told that this is the case; for in Rev. i. 19 we read this instruction to John: "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter." In order that the reader may understand the description of things that are to take place in the future, it is often necessary to introduce an account of things that have already occurred.

You say that you do not see how we can say that Satan's expulsion from heaven took place before Adam's temptation, when the description of it occurs in the revelation of "things which must shortly come to pass." I have just shown from the same Revelation that John was to write some things that already were; and nearly a hundred years before John wrote, Jesus said, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke x. 18), without indicating how long it had been since He saw him fall. This takes out all the force of your objection. Now when we know that Satan fell from heaven long before John's day, we are bound to identify the serpent that beguiled Eve, with "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." We are not for a moment left to conjecture, for the declaration that that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, deceiveth the whole world, necessarily includes the deception of Eve.

THE DEVIL A POWERFUL PERSONALITY

Now a few words concerning the idea that there is no devil except "human nature unrestrained." Such an idea cannot be held by anybody who has read the Bible through, unless he paid no attention to what he read, or else did not believe it. Let me cite only one or two instances out of many. In the fourth of Matthew we read that the tempter came to Jesus in the wilderness, that he took Him into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and afterwards took Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and that "then the Devil leaveth Him." Do you think that all this was done by "human nature unrestrained"? No answer is necessary.

Was it "human nature unrestrained" that went at the command of Jesus from the two men who dwelt in the tombs, and entered into the herd of swine? See Matt. viii. 28-33.

THE DEVIL IS DISTINCT FROM MEN

I might pursue this line further; but this is sufficient to show that a man's opinion is very absurd when put in the light of Bible truth. It is impossible to read the numerous references to Satan and his angels, and what they did, believing the record, without knowing that they are real, personal beings, as real as men are. But that they are supernatural beings, and not man, is plainly declared in Eph. vi. 11, 12:-

"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil. For we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, again spiritual wickedness ["wicked spirits," margin] in high places."

But they are bound, you say, and so are harmless. Yes, they are bound to this world. They have not, as the unfallen angels have, the freedom of heaven, nor the privilege of visiting other parts of God's universe. They are in bonds, under darkness so dense that no ray of heavenly light ever pierces it. This intense darkness they have plunged themselves into, through rejecting God, and so there is nothing for them to look forward to but "the blackness of darkness for ever"-utter extinction.

"THE GOD OF THIS WORLD"

We have now only the two texts referred

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to in Isaiah and Ezekiel, yet to consider; and these are so full of instruction that I am glad to notice them in particular. The first ten verses in Eze. xxviii. are addressed to "the prince of Tyrus," and the languages such as could well apply to an earthly ruler having great riches, power, and wisdom. But from the eleventh verse to the nineteenth we have a "lamentation upon the king of Tyrus," in language that could not possibly apply to any human being. Read:-

"Thus saith the Lord God, Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was light covering, the sardius, topaz, and diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold [compare Rev. xxi. 10-21]; the workmanship of thy tabrets and thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth [compare Ps. lxxx. 1]; and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God, thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned; therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, and from the midst of the stones of fire."

The reading of this is enough to show us that it never was true of any man on this earth; it applies to the highest being ever created in heaven-one of the cherubim overshadowing the throne of God in heaven. The question then comes, How is it that he is called the king of Tyrus? The answer is easy. Satan, "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. ii. 2), is "the God of this world" (2 Cor. iv. 4), the chief of "the rulers of the darkness of this world." He is therefore the real ruler of every heathen nation that sets itself in opposition to God; while the nominal king is only his agent. So the visible ruler of ancient Tyre, that proud and wicked city, was in reality only the prince; the real ruler was the wicked spirit to whose control he had yielded himself, and whose designs he was carrying out.

This also applies in the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah. That is indeed in connection with prophecies of the destruction of the city over which Nebuchadnezzar ruled. Satan, who first brought sin into God's universe, by seeking to make himself equal with God, was the real ruler of ancient Babylon when its nominal ruler exalted himself against the God of heaven. That the prophecies in Isaiah concerning Babylon embrace a great deal more than the city famed in history, and whose ancient site is noted in our maps, is evident when we read the New Testament. That city was utterly destroyed long before the days of the apostles; and the kingdom of Babylon had been succeeded by three other world powers; yet the book of Revelation of abounds in references to Babylon, and of prophecies of its fall. The very language of Isaiah is used by John. Compare Isa. xlvii. 8, 9 and Rev. xviii. 7, 8. Babylon and its king exist as really to-day as they ever did, although the city and king known to secular history have long since ceased to be. In the destruction of Babylon of the Chaldees we have the type and the assurance of the destruction of Satan and his kingdom.

SATAN POWERLESS EXCEPT WITH MAN'S CONSENT

What about the statement that "by one man sin entered into the world"? It is perfectly consistent with the statement that Satan's sinned in heaven, and that he is the originator of sin; it must be so, since both statements are in Scripture. Satan introduced into the universe; but Adam introduced it into this world; for although Satan was permitted to come to earth after he sinned, Adam was the ruler of it, and nothing could be done here without his consent. Satan might have roamed up and down on this earth without having the power to blight a single flower, or to cause a moment's pain or suffering to any human being, if man willed it to be so. Sin may crouch at the door, desiring to seize upon and ruin man; but it is powerless and harmless unless man consents; man may rule over it.

And herein is hope and comfort for us; for although man has proved recreant to his trust, God is faithful to His word, and He has never taken back the dominion which He originally gave the man. In Christ we are still kings, and if we resist the devil, he will flee from us, even as He did from Christ, when Christ said, "Get thee hence." And we have the assurance that "the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." Rom. xvi. 20.

NECESSITY OF KNOWLEDGE CONCERNING SATAN

Someone may ask, What difference does it make whether or not we believe that there is a personal devil? If we earnestly resist the devil that we find striving within us for the mastery, what difference does it make to us what its source is? It makes a great deal of difference whether we believe the Bible or not. The mere fact that the Bible tells us of a personal devil, and warns us against him, is sufficient evidence that it is a matter of vital importance for us to know the truth about him; for the Bible does not deal in trivialities.

Here is one all-sufficient reason for being well-informed concerning the devil and his devices: It is a sure safeguard against being led astray by that great delusion, Spiritualism. Without this knowledge, one is sure to fall into that horrible snare. If Satan can only persuade people that he and his host cannot exist, and that the Bible accounts of him are myths, then he has them at his mercy, which is cruel. Then when they get messages purporting to come from their dead friends, relating incidents that no other human beings could know; and when they even see and converse with and handle things that have every resemblance of those dead friends, they will certainly fall into the trap, and believe that their friends have surely returned to visit them. And when those supposed friends declare that they have just come from heaven, and that the things which they once learned from the scriptures they now know to be error, the poor dupes will inevitably throw away what hold they have on God and His Word. This is not fancy, for it has been done many times, and it will be done yet more.

Directly growing out of the fact that ignorance concerning Satan lays one open to the deception of Spiritualism, is the fact that this belief in his existence naturally tends to disbelief in Christ and the atonement. First of all, because Spiritualism itself is first and foremost of all a denial of Christ; and second, because that when a person believes that he has only himself to contend with, it is very natural for him to persuade himself that he can conquer by his own unaided power. Such an one will insensibly, no matter what his present belief in Christ, come to regard the power of the Lord working in him as proceeding only from himself; for that is a great temptation that continually besets all mankind. So from believing that he is his

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own tempter, he will come to believe that he is his own saviour.

Michael, the Archangel, contended with the Devil for the body of Moses. The mighty Prince was not disputing with His "human nature unrestrained," but with a being as real as He Himself. And this brings us to the close, with the blessed knowledge that the battle with the hosts of darkness is not ours, but the Lord's. The great controversy is between Christ and Satan, for the souls of men, and for the possession of the earth. Thank God, Christ has conquered at every turn, in every conflict, and we have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

"The Children. Jacob and Esau: The Blessing" The Present Truth 18, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

Although Esau did not love God, but cared only for the things of this world, his father Isaac had determined that he should have the blessing and the birthright that God had given to the seed of Abrahram. Even when Esau married idolatrous women of the land of Canaan, Isaac did not change his mind. Esau was his favourite son. We are told that he loved Esau because he brought him "savoury meat." It may be that's what clouded Isaac's mind, and made him for a time go against the will of the Lord.

But their mother Rebecca remembered the words of the angel before the twins were born,-that the elder (Esau) should serve the younger (Jacob). She knew from the character of the two as they grew to manhood that God meant Jacob to have the birthright. But instead of trusting God to give it to him in His own time and way, she was afraid that he would lose it altogether, when she heard Isaac making plans to bless Esau.

So she told Jacob to get a kid and skin it, and put the skin on his hands and the back of his neck, and she made the flesh into "savoury meat," and gave it to Jacob to take to his father, pretending to be Esau. Isaac thought that the voice did not sound like Esau's, but when he felt the hairy skin, he thought it was all right, and so he gave to Jacob the blessing he had meant for Esau.

As soon as Jacob had gone out, Esau came in with more "savoury meat" for Isaac, ready to receive the blessing. Isaac was terribly distressed, when he learned how he had been deceived, and Esau wept bitterly when he found that the birthright blessing had been stolen from him. Rebecca thought that she was doing a good deed, and saving her husband from going against the will of God, when she deceived him as she did.

The name Jacob means "supplanter." This name showed that it was Jacob's nature to try to get good for himself at the cost of others. In this matter he thought he was but carrying out the will of God.

But both Rebecca and Jacob suffered much for their mistake. Because of it they had to be separated, and we are not told that they ever met again. Besides this, it laid a sin upon Jacob's conscience, that he bitterly repented of in after years.

In the blessing that Isaac gave to the son that he thought was Esau, he said: "Be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee." This was just what God had before said about Jacob, and Isaac was really only confirming the words of the angel about Jacob, when he thought he was speaking of Esau. This shows how useless it is to try to change the mind of the Lord, or to keep His from coming to pass.

The Holy Spirit of God rested upon him as "by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come," and nothing could alter the blessing that he put them. In our last lesson we learned "that Esau despised his birthright," and so God took it from him. He had been willing to sell it for a morsel of meat," and "afterward when he would have inherited

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the blessing, he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears."

"Mother's Wish" The Present Truth 18, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

I read a very pretty story the other day about a little boy who was sailing a boat with a playmate a good deal larger than he was.

The boats had sailed a good way out on the pond, and the big boy said: "Go in, Jim, and get her. It isn't over your ankles, and I've been in every time."

"I daren't," said Jim. "I'll carry her all the way home for you, but I can't go in there; she told me I musn't dare to."

"Who's she?"

"My mother! Why, I thought she was dead, said the big boy."

"That was before she died. Eddie and I used to come here and and sail our boats, and she never let us come unless we had strings enough to haul in with. I'm not afraid, you know I'm not; only she did not want me to, and I can't do it." Wasn't that a beautiful spirit that made little Jim obedient to his mother even after she was dead?-Selected.

That was obedience to the commandment which says, "Honour thy father and thy mother." We can keep the commandments when our parents are dead, just the same as when they are alive. That little boy showed respect to his mother's teaching, and by his actions people who never saw her could know that she was wise and a kind mother; and thus he caused her name to be honoured. So we keep the command and not only by obeying our parents while they are living, but by remembering their instructions after they are dead, and as long as we live. Can you not see that if you are rude or naughty in any way, you cause people to think that your parents did not give you good training, and thus you dishonour them? Do we not all wish that our parents, whether they are living are not, shall be honoured?

"A Terrible Sight" The Present Truth 18, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

The Daily Chronicle of September 27 contains the following special correspondence from the island of St. Vincent, dated September 5; it is a vivid description of one of the most awful experiences that can come to people on this earth, when they can do nothing but stand and gaze in helpless terror, since escape is impossible. Yet the volcanic eruption and earthquakes in the West Indies are but as a drop in the bucket compared with that of which they are the tokens, namely, the destruction of the earth at the coming of the Lord. Happy the people who have a hiding place and a shelter in God, at that time, and who can say, "Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar, and be troubled."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

In a single column of the last daily paper received before we go to the press, are these headings: "Cyclone in Sicily: Great Loss of life;" "Terrible Damage in Catania and Modica;" "Volcanoes Active;" "Earthquake at Kashgar: 667 Persons Killed, and 1,000 Injured;" "La Soufriere in Eruption: the Heavens a Mass of Flame." These are not sensational headings, for the purpose of creating excitement, but the simplest statement of the facts in the various cases. With the cyclone in Sicily, "the sea swept over the land for several kilometers inland, carrying everything before it." A succession of severe earthquake shocks has been felt in Victoria and South Australia. Kashgar, where the earthquake caused so great loss of life is in Turkistan. It would not take much more of "the sea and the waves roaring" to cause men to expire from fear, as the Saviour foretold.

Cases of ptomaine poisoning are getting to be a frequent occurrence. Deaths are still reported from the pork pies, to which reference has already been made; and now comes a case of poisoning at Fulham, from eating Australian frozen rabbit. An entire family was made seriously ill, and a little child, who had only a little of the gravey, from its grandmother's finger, died. The doctor who attended, testified before the coroner's jury that death was due to come from gastric-enteritis and congestion of the kidneys from bacteria and ptomaine poisoning from the rabbit. He said also that it was quite possible for the ptomaine to have developed after the rabbit was cooked, and that if it existed before, cooking would not destroy the poison. It should not be overlooked that in both instances the poison has developed in animals that the Scripture expressly points out as unfit to be eaten. Yet people will continue to eat pigs and rabbits. We shall call attention to this matter again.

The rector of St. Edmund in the city, Canon Benham, a son-in-law of the late Archbishop Tait, does not trouble himself of the question of ritualism, believing that the preaching of the Gospel itself is of far more importance than the manner of doing it, or the trust that one wears. He says: "I can celebrate the Holy Communion with or without candles, and can preach in a surplice or a black gown." Doubtless, so matter of fact a man could, like the late Phillips Brooks, even preach in ordinary clothes. At any rate he writes plain truth in plain clothes, saying: "I am never tired of saying to my people, 'Read your Bibles.' It is somewhat of a weak spot in the church system of late years that there has not been enough importance given to the study of the Bible." And that is a fatal defect. It is the same as though one should say that a weak spot in the Board schools, is that they do not teach the children how to read. The church that does not make it its one business to instruct people in the Bible, and to instil into them a love for its study, has no reason for existence.

The Daily Mail of Sept. 27, contained a letter from Messrs. W. J. Davies and Sons, of Weston Street, London, S.E., importers of glue, pumice-stone, rotten-stone, and fish skins, which certainly merits the designation, "interesting." Following is a part of it:-

"A customer to whom we had sent a few hundred weight of ordinary glue, as used by joiners, etc., wrote us, asking if it contained any deleterious substance, as it was to be used in making the jelly in pork pies! As one of the largest and oldest dealers in glue in this country, we have an extensive experience of the many uses to which it can be put; but, considering its unsavoury origin, we do not think its presence desirable in such popular articles of food as pork pies."

One should say not; and yet we do not know of any more unsavoury article that could be put into pies than pork itself. We commend this letter to the lovers of that popular article of food, who may like it unadulterated, and who will now be in constant perplexity as to how to obtain the simple swine in their pies. We are glad that no such trouble perplexes us, for we eat neither pork nor glue.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

We read in Matt. xiv. 34-36 that Jesus, after feeding the five thousand in the desert place, crossed over the sea, and came into the land of Gennesaret, "and when the men of that place had knowledge of Him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto Him all that were diseased, and besought Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment; and as many as touched were made perfectly whole."

"That was not the only instance of healing by the touch of Christ's garment. When we read the record we cannot help exclaiming, if that was the result of only touching the hem of His garment, what must be the effect of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ? We are exhorted thus: "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Now we know that "the Lord is that Spirit," and that if we walk in the Spirit we shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Gal. v. 16. Must it not be then, that He who has such "power over all flesh" that He can save from all its lusts, can at the same time give complete deliverance from all its infirmities? Truly He will, if we but receive Him in intelligent faith; for He who forgives all iniquities also heals all diseases. It was well with those who only touched the hem of His garment; but let us not be content with that; let us be clothed with Himself, His humility, His righteousness, assured that He will do for us "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." For every believing soul there is health and strength such as no one has ever yet dreamed of.

The French physicians who examined one of the recruits who refused to bear arms, reported that he was "healthy, and of a fairly sound mind, with an over keen sense of the Gospel precepts." That is a sad defect in the eyes of the world, and not to be tolerated by Governments of earth. They want men to be religious, but to hold their religion subject to the commands of their rulers. To be zealous in the performance of all the Gospel precepts, is considered as "going to extremes." To be wise in the eyes of this world, one must make a judicious selection of the Gospel precepts that one will follow, and must hold even those subject to circumstances. It is refreshing and inspiring to hear of a man once in a while, in whom no fault can be found except the law of his God.

"'Wilt Thou Be Made Whole'" The Present Truth 18, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

"Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?" -That was the question that Jesus put to the poor, impotent man at the pool of Bethesda. It is the same question that He puts to every one of us; and He is just as willing to heal us as He was to heal that man. He is not only willing, but He is intensely anxious to make us all whole; for whenever He saw a great multitude on earth, "He was moved with compassion for them, and He healed their sick." Why then are we not well?-Simply because we either do not see Him standing beside us, with all power in heaven and on earth, and lovingly and longingly asking us, "Wilt thou be made whole?" or else we in some way object to the condition, which is that we shall abide in Him. The healing involves an exchanging of self for Christ. The lame man at the gate of the temple was healed in the name of Jesus of Nazareth;" and it was in His name, "even in Him," that He stood before the people perfectly whole. How sad it is to think that so much of the Scriptures seems to have been written in vain, even for the professed followers of Christ. Why is it? It is because they follow Him as the multitude followed Him on the way to the house of Jarius, and to not come into conscious, definite, purposeful touch with Him, as did the poor woman with the issue of blood. There is infinite power, both for body and mind, awaiting those were willing to receive it in the Lord's way, and to hold it always subject only to His service.

"The Mercy of the Lord" The Present Truth 18, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

Its Greatness. -"As the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him." Ps. ciii. 11. "Thy mercy is great unto the heavens." Ps. lvii. 10. "The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy." Ps. cxix. 64.

Its Duration. -"O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever." Ps. cvii. 1. "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children." Ps. ciii. 17.

By It, Sin Is Blotted Out. -"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions." Ps. li. 1. As indicated in the preceding paragraph, the mercy of the Lord bestows His righteousness upon those who accept it.

It Provides Royal Clothing. -Righteousness, holiness, which is given by the mercy of the Lord, is the clothing in which we can appear before Him without being ashamed. "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. "I will come into Thy house in the multitude of Thy mercy; and in thy fear will I worship toward Thy temple." Ps. v. 7.

Take as Much as You Like. -"Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in Thee." Ps. xxxiii. 22. "He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about." Ps. xxxii. 10. It is unlimited, and the measure that one receives and profits by depends only on his own faith to take it. We can have more than we can ask for; and we pay for what we have received by taking still more. Then "hope in Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption."

The Hand of Love. -We are but children, however long we may live, and we never outgrow our longing for the touch of a loving hand. How many of the sorrows of childhood are seduced away into the land of forgetfulness by the mother's gentle touch. Well, we need not be deprived of this necessary luxury, even though gray hairs have come to our heads, and we have no friend in sight to sympathise with us. The Lord, who is our protection behind and before, has laid His hand upon us, saying, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort thee." It is a good thing to fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; and the everlasting arms are ever underneath us. The Lord's hands are stretched out to us in love, and if we will but look to Him on the cross, we shall never be without the satisfying consciousness of their healing, strengthening power.

October 9, 1902

"The Taking of a City. How to Win Victories. Joshua vi. 8-20" The Present Truth 18, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

(Joshua vi. 8-20.)²⁶1

"By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days." Heb. xi. 30.

Who shall say that faith is not a real thing? Here is something tangible, something that we can see, something that appeals to the understanding of the man of the world. A city besieged, and the walls thrown down, is a work that everybody can comprehend. Here was a city that was closely shut up and guarded, so that none might go out or in. Its walls were very high and strong, and there were giants in it. Anybody can see that great force is needed to capture it, and to lay its walls low. But it was done, and by what means?-By faith! The children of Israel believed God, and did exactly as He said, and the walls fell flat. They did not have any of the modern implements of warfare, and did not do anything according to recognized military tactics; but they took a city, and that was the end to be accomplished. No other city ever fell so easily.

What did the Israelites have to do to take this strong city that opposed their progress into the promised land?-Only to march and keep silent. Thirteen times they marched around the city, without a word. For six days in succession they left their camp, marched round the city once a day in silence, and returned to their quarters. On the seventh day they went round it seven times as before, the priests leading the way with the ark containing the law the symbol of God's presence.

There was ample opportunity for the Israelites to become discouraged and disgusted with such a seemingly fruitless mode of warfare. It was a severe test to their faith, but they stood it bravely. And there was also opportunity for the inhabitants, of Jericho to recover somewhat from their first surprise and terror at seeing these Hebrews of whom they had heard so much, before their gates. The long lines of the, vast host marching in mysterious silence might well cause them deep anxiety at first, which would naturally increase as the march was repeated. But as day after day passed, and no movement was made to attack, and the besiegers were as far off from taking the city as ever, their fear would give way to mockery at such childish methods of warfare.

But however much the people in the city might jeer at the seemingly useless

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tramp of the Israelites, the latter were never to utter a word in reply. They knew whom they had believed,-the invisible Leader who had conducted their fathers through the Red Sea and the wilderness,-and they were acting according to the words, "Be still, and know that I am God." In quietness and confidence was their strength.

THE CLIMAX

At last came the thirteenth round-the seventh march round on the seventh day. Not a stone had moved a hair's breadth in the walls, not even a bit of mortar had been chipped off; but God's time had come, and the power of faith was about to be demonstrated, as a lesson for all time. "And it came to pass at the seventh time when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city." "So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets; and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great about, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city."

What is the lesson of hope that we are to learn from this thing that was written aforetime? It ought to be apparent to us; yet most of us have read the record from childhood, as though it were but a nursery tale, and have been none the better for it. We have had hard battles to fight, and spirits of our own to subdue, that meant victories greater than the taking of any ordinary city, and have often given up in despair, although the means of conquest were at our disposal. Shall we not begin at once to act as though we really believed the Bible, including the account of the fall of Jericho?

OUR BATTLE

Out battle is against sin in our flesh; our task is to work righteousness. We read that "with the heart man believeth unto righteousness," and in the taking of Jericho we have an illustration and an assurance of the reality of it. "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.

There is a power infinitely greater than man, all around us and in us; and the putting of ourselves into conscious touch with this power, and in harmony with it (which is faith), will make us invincible. "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Matt. xvii. 20. What a pity that such mighty power is allowed to go to waste, so far as we are concerned, for lack of use!

OUR ASSISTANTS

Angel hands cast down the walls of Jericho, when the signal was given; and the same angels are sent forth still to do service for those who shall be heirs of salvation. Heb. i. 14. Our instructions are: "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life." 1 Tim. vi. 12. Jesus Christ is one with us, in our flesh, a merciful and faithful High Priest, to make reconciliation for our sins, and to succour us when we are tried by mighty foes; and He delivers us by "the power of an endless life." Heb. ii. 17, 18; vii. 16. Vain imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God are cast down by the power of the eternal Spirit; and every thought is brought into captivity, to the obedience of Christ. That means that we may have the perfect knowledge of God, which comes only by personal experience of His powerful presence in us; for to know God is life eternal.

"He that cometh to God must believe that He is." To know the nature and character of God, and to believe that He is,-that He is everywhere present, filling all in all,-is the one thing essential to perfect victory over every enemy,-over the carnal mind and the lust of the flesh.

OUR VICTORY

What must we do then?-"Shout; for the Lord hath given you the victory." Do not waste time conferring with flesh and blood, or mourning over the strength of the enemy, or the many times that you have already been defeated. That is nothing to the purpose. Declare in the name of the Lord of hosts that you have the victory, and hold fast your confession.

"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Be fully assured that "He is faithful that promised," and that "the power that worketh in us" is able to legions of devils in the flesh.

Do not say that you "cannot see is to be done." You do not have to see. You cannot see how the seed grows into a plant; yet you know that it is done; "so is the kingdom of God," which within you, "as if a man should as seed into the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how" Luke xvii. 21; Mark iv. 26, 27. The farmer casts seed into the ground, in perfect confidence that the power that works in all creation will give him a crop. We are to trust that same power to work in us. If the children of Israel had refrained from shouting victory, because they could not see it, they would never have had it, although God had given it to them. "This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith" (1 John v. 4, R.V.); and we are to insist that it is ours, even in the face of an advancing enemy.

OUR WEAKNESS NO HINDRANCE

The whole trouble consists in being afraid (that is, provided we really want to overcome our sins), and in considering our own weakness as contrasted with strong temptations. But the battle is God's, and not ours; and our confidence is to be in Him. The life that we in live the flesh is to be lived by the faith of Son of God, who loved us, and gave Himself for us, and who is so completely our substitute that we can say, It is not I that lives any longer, but Christ liveth in me. He is the victory, and our constant assertion that the victory is ours, in His name, is what gives us the constant experience of it.

If you have some habit that you know is opposing the manifestation of the fruits the Spirit in your life, stop and consider that "ye are not your own," but that you belong to the Lord; and then allow His full liberty to take possession of His own. Then consider further that Jesus even in sinful flesh is without sin, because He has "power over all flesh;" and He has this power, in order to give eternal life and a its power to you. John xvii. 2, 3. Consider that no temptation, no lust, no envy, no poverty or distress, no inherited tendency, is too strong for Him. Think of yourself, then, as entirely out of the case, as dead, and Jesus Christ as having taken your place; and then think what the result would surely be. That is to "reckon

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ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. vi. 11. When you have in all seriousness considered thus far, and the truth dawns upon your mind that it is so, then you will not be able to refrain from shouting the victory. You will know that you have the victory over the enemy that is even that moment threatening you, and you will find that this resisting the devil, steadfast in the faith, causes him to flee from you. This is practical experience, that has been demonstrated in thousands of cases. It never fails. "Trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."

"The Law, Faith, and the Inheritance" The Present Truth 18, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

When God chose Joshua to succeed Moses, and to conduct His people the land of Canaan, He said to him: "I will be with thee; I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 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, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses My servant commanded thee; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." Joshua i. 5-8.

"Is the law then against the promises of God?" Not by any means. On the contrary, the law is the soul and life of the promise. The promise is, "I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." The law is the strength of promise,-it is itself a promise,-and on this stability and unchangeableness rests our faith in God, that He will do all that He has promised.

So when the Israelites crossed the Jordan, they were instructed to follow the ark of the covenant of the Lord, which contained the law, and to keep it well in sight. See Joshua iii, 3, 4, 11, 13-17. Likewise when they compassed the city of Jericho, it was with the ark of the testimony at the head. "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down," because the people were following God's holy law,-walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. Their faith did not absolve them from obedience to the law, but, on the contrary, it was manifested in their following it-walking in its track.

Even so it is to-day; for the promise that was given to them is left to us. The inheritance of the land of Canaan, which is offered to us as well as unto them, is ours by the righteousness of faith; by faith which causes the righteousness of the law to be fulfilled in us. Though a nation should seize on the whole earth, and not have the whole of God's holy law enshrined in their hearts, they could not hold it, except seemingly, for a time. The world empires of history have demonstrated this. They crumbled into dust, because they were not built on God's law, and permeated with it. Righteousness alone exalteth a nation; not a modified righteousness consisting of custom and tradition, according to the will of the people, but the righteousness demanded by the ten commandments without the alteration or abatement of a single jot or tittle, and exemplified in the life of Christ.

Why is it so essential that we understand the true nature of the inheritance promised to Abraham and his seed? Why should we know that the real inheritance was not the earth nor any part of it in its present sin-cursed state, but made new, and freed from every vestige of the curse, as Eden itself?-It is in order that we may, as we read the ancient, sacred records, learn the true lesson that they teach us-that by the power by which God made the earth in the beginning, and will restore it again to its original state, we are to overcome sin and Satan working in our flesh, and thus be prepared for the glorious inheritance. All the deliverances wrought for ancient Israel can become ours in our struggle against sin. We shall overcome "as sure as the world."

"The Real Land of Promise" The Present Truth 18, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

The record of the taking of Jericho teaches a lesson that ought to be studied by every one who is in danger of being led to accept the theories of "Anglo-Israelites," and to expect the return of all Jews to Palestine before the coming of the Lord.

That victory at the very door of the land of Canaan, showed how alone the land which God has promised could really be possessed, and consequently the character of the inheritance. "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down," even as the children of Israel had crossed the Red Sea, and the Jordan by faith. The land which they were to inherit, in fulfilment of the promise of God, was one that could be inherited only by faith-by a people full of faith, and living and moving only by faith.

But faith means righteousness. "The just shall live by his faith." We are made righteous by faith. Therefore the inheritance was to be one in which only righteous people can dwell; and for that we, according to God's promise, still look, "for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter iii. 13.

This was in the promise from the beginning. When God appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia, and said, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee," (Gen. xii. 1), He said, "I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing," "and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Blessing means the removal of the curse; so the blessing upon all the families of the earth means the removal of the curse from all the earth. The blessing promised to Abraham is forgiveness of sins, the turning away from iniquities (Acts iii. 25, 26; Rom. iv. 6-9); it is also "life for evermore." Ps. cxxxiii. 3. Now the curse came upon the earth because of man's sin, and therefore it follows that when all families of the earth are delivered from sin, the curse will be removed from it. Thus we have it that Abraham and his faithful descendants gladly confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, even as King David at the height of his power did (1 Chron. xxix. 15), desiring "a better country, that is, an heavenly." Heb. xi. 16.

And for this reason "God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He hath prepared for them a city." The promise of God to the seed of Abraham, extending even to us, was, "I will be their God." "I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." Gen. xvii. 7, 8. Compare Heb. viii. 10. The possession of God Himself-"heirs of God"-is the essential part of the promise, the sum and substance of it. "I am . . . thy exceeding great reward." Gen. xv. 1. Having God, we have all things; "having no hope and without God in the world" we are "aliens

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from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise." Eph. ii. 12.

The Israelites crossed the Jordan, and captured Jericho, by faith-the faith of Jesus-the faith that means the receiving of God the Divine Word. Their abiding in God was their surety of the possession of the land; without Him, their being in the land, even as rulers, was as though they were in Egypt. In Him we also obtain the same inheritance, and the Holy Spirit is the pledge of it. His abiding presence causes us to look with confidence and hope for the coming of Christ from heaven, at the time of the "restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets which have been since the world began." Acts. iii. 20, 21.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Help for an Overworked Mother" The Present Truth 18, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

"As a reader of Present Truth, I would like to ask you a question. A year ago I had a very severe Illness, which brought me so low that I was given up to die; I recovered from it, but it has left me in a very melancholy way. I have no energy. I have nine children, and it is hard to feel as I do. The question I want to ask is this: What would a Christian woman do under the circumstances? Is my family my first care? I went to serve the Lord; but how can I serve Him? Will you be my friend, and tell me, if you can? I forgot to say that I have such low, miserable thoughts; no ambition for anything. Is it right that I should allow such miserable thoughts in my mind?"

With some variation in the number of children, that letter might have been written by any one of hundreds of women. It is a pitiful call for help; but there is help. It must be recognised, however, that as the bodily condition has reacted on the mind, to produce a low grade of thought, so if the thoughts are ever elevated, it must be largely by improving the physical condition. Just what steps to take to do this cannot be told without a more definite knowledge of the previous illness, and what led to it, the present condition, and especially the habits of life.

A mother's first duty is undoubtedly to her family. Just as God, who has given us life, lives for us, so she must live for those to whom she has given life, and must give herself to them. But this means that she must have something to give to them, that she must always be receiving, in order always to be able to give herself; that she must actually live for them, and not wear herself out. A mother's first duty to her family is to take care of herself. But God who gave her the children, is the living God, and His one great gift is life; moreover He provides special help for those who have special need; so you may enjoy just as much life from the Lord as you will accept. But you must have your eyes open to see how His life is manifested.

It is safe to say that you use tea, that cheat that robs so many women of their strength, while making them believe that it gives them strength. Tea is not food, but poison; it stimulates, but does not strengthen; it does not build up, but bears down. The only good thing about a cup of tea is the water with which it is made. If the cup of hot water were taken at a proper time, minus the tea, it would be a real refreshment, helping to cleanse the system from the poisons produced by overwork.

If I am right in my supposition that you use tea, I have only to say, Leave it off, and do it at once. Take a rest for a day or two, if necessary, and take light, simple food, and your system will soon become accustomed to the change, and you will find yourself emancipated. You can drink hot water, either with or without milk, or, better still, hot gluten gruel; but do not drink anything at mealtime. Eat preferably dry food, such as will require long mastication. An occasional meal of fruit alone, or better still, fruit alone for an entire day or two, will do wonders toward clearing out your clogged system. Do not take late suppers,-better no supper at all,-but if anything is taken in the evening let it be some plain fruit, not that indigestible compound of fruit and sugar, called jam. The feeling that most people mistake for hunger in the evening is usually simple weariness, the call for rest, and not food. An already overworked stomach, or sluggish bowels will produce a sensation like hunger; but to take food is the worst thing that could be done in that state. Relieve the overloaded bowels; bathe the irritated nerves of the stomach with a draught of either hot or cold water, which will cleanse away the poison that is causing them to cry out; and in most cases the feeling of hunger will be gone, and both body and mid will be refreshed.

I have given only the very directions, such as can be easily followed for bringing the body out of its pressed state. Much more would be necessary for perfection; but this may do for a beginning. The sum of the matter is, Let the life of the Lord, fresh as it comes from His throne, have unobstructed course, and health and vigour must return.

You want to serve the Lord. Good! He wants you to serve Him, and when you two are thus agreed nothing can hinder you. But remember that "your reasonable service" is to present your body "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." You can do no greater service to simply to let His life be manifested in your mortal flesh, so that through you those who see you may know His power. You do not need to go away from home in order to serve God acceptably.

"Who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best: His state
Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed
And poet o'er land and ocean without rest
They also serve, who only stand and wait."

But a mother of nine children has a more promising field for service than is granted to most people. How many ministers of the Gospel, do you suppose, are sure that they have been the means of bringing nine souls into the kingdom of God? Many go to foreign lands at great expense, and undergo the greatest hardships, to accomplish even less. Judson laboured nine years in Burmah before he saw a single conversion. The missionary knows not what may be the result of his work; but a mother has souls committed to her care, of whose salvation she may be as sure, as that they have been given her. "The promise is to you, and to your

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children." You may, and should, lay hold on life, that you may have fulness of life to give.

But you must be of good courage. You think that this is very easy for me to say, and that it is almost mockery to one in your condition. One in your state is just the one to whom it must be said. It would be mockery, if your courage had to come from yourself; but the source and ground of courage is the eternal, omnipotent, loving God. Your weakness is no bar whatever to the working of God; on the contrary, it gives Him an opportunity to show His power to the best advantage. He deliberately chooses the weak things of this world to confound the things which are mighty. 1 Cor. i. 27. Your unfavourable circumstances have nothing whatever to do with the case, and are not to be taken into consideration. You have only to think upon the love and power of God. Difficulties only provide a way by which He can lead His ransomed ones to victory. He says to you as to Joshua, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage." I say this deliberately, that to a person who believes in the promises and the power of God, there can be no greater blessing than to have burdens greater than he feels able to bear, and to be placed in a position where he cannot see any way out. The Lord is hunting for just such ones, to help them. "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards Him." 2 Chron. xvi. 9. And it is nothing for Him to help, "whether with many, or with them that have no power."

Of course it is not right for you or anybody else to have such low, miserable thoughts; and it is not necessary. When you yield your body a living sacrifice to God, for Him to manifest His life in it, you will be "transformed by the renewing of your mind." "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established." And now I want to ask you to read the first article in this number of PRESENT TRUTH, for it all applies to such as you. Believe that the mighty God of Israel lives, and that you are one of His children; trust in the Lord for ever, "for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength;" and you will find yourself lifted up out of the horrible pit and the miry clay, and your feet set on the rock, and a new song in your mouth, which will be,-

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles'."

"With force of arms we nothing can,
Full soon were we down-ridden;
But for us fights the proper Man,
Whom God Himself hath bidden.
Ask ye, Who is this same?
Christ Jesus is His name;
The Lord Sabbaoth's Son;
He, and no other one,
Shall conquer in this battle.

"And were this world all devils o'er,
And watching to devour us,
We lay it not to heart so sore;
Not they can overpower us.
And let the prince of ill
Look grim as e'er he will,
He harms us not a white.
For why? His doom is writ;
A word shall quickly slay him."

"The Editor's Private Corner. 'The Gospel Preached to Them that Are Dead'" The Present Truth 18, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

"I have been very much interested in the line you take with regard to our departed friends,-that they are unconscious until the resurrection. I should like to give an explanation of 1 Peter iv. 6, as I have been very much pleased with your answers in connection with other subjects in PRESENT TRUTH."

The text in question reads thus: "For 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." It is very evident that this is a conclusion from something that precedes, a and that we must begin back a little way if we would understand what is here said. If we begin in the preceding chapter, verses 18-20, and get an understanding of them, we shall have no difficulty when we come to this. Let us read them:-

"For Christ also hath once suffered in the flesh, 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 disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing."

Let us take each clause separately, and find out exactly what the text says.

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. By this same Spirit He went and preached to the spirits in prison.

4. They were in prison-"kept under the law, shut up" (Gal. iii. 22, 23)-"when the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing."

5. 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 long-suffering 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.

The instruction that we are to receive from this text is this, that the preaching of the Gospel is by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. His 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 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 this, and 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 lust of men, but to the will of God. . . . For 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.

Read also the following:-

"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 passed out of death into life." John v. 24, R.V.

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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-He appears for us.

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 is was preached to them that are dead. The reference is clearly to the time spoken of in 1 Peter iii. 19, 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 preached now 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 be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Rom. viii. 9.

The two texts together teach us a most precious lesson when it is received into the heart. They teach us to give thanks to the Father, "who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; in whom we have redemption."

"Little Folks. Jacob's Dream" The Present Truth 18, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

When Jacob fled from his home because of the anger of Esau, he must have felt sad and discouraged. He left behind all that was dear to him, and his sin seemed to have separated him even from God. It was then that God, who comforts all who mourn, appeared to him for the first time, as he lay in the desert with a stone for his pillow.

The first thing that God showed Jacob was a ladder-a way of reaching from heaven to earth. This taught him that though he had sinned, he was not cut off from God, but there was still a way by which God could bring him blessing and help. You know who this way of salvation is: Jesus said, "I am the Way." So this beautiful ladder of light was God's way of revealing the Saviour Jesus to the sinner Jacob. He descended from heaven to earth, and ascended from earth to heaven, to make a way by which God can reach down to fallen man, and lift him up to heaven.

And then, on this beautiful ladder, Jacob saw the angels of God ascending and descending. Jesus said: "Ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." He is the only way by which every good and perfect gift from above cometh down to earth. The angels can come to minister to us only through His Cross, which has bridged the gulf of separation between fallen man and God. So every blessing that we have comes to us through Jesus Christ.

Above the ladder Jacob saw the Lord, the Father of lights, from whom comes every good thing, the Source of every blessing. And for the first time in Jacob's history, God spoke to him directly. He revealed Himself as the God of Abraham and Isaac, and confirmed the blessing already given through Isaac.

The promises that God made to Jacob, were the very same that were first given to Abraham; the land, the Seed, and the blessing of the whole earth through that Seed. What a comfort to him in his lonely wanderings must have been the promise then made, "I will keep thee in all places whither thou goest."

Notice that Jacob said when he awoke: "The Lord is in this place and I knew it not." God had been with him all the time, but as he slept, God "opened his eyes" for a few moments, so that he might see what was going on all around him. Then he knew that the place he was in was made holy with the presence of God, and radiant with the angels who were passing to and fro on heavenly ministries.

But that place which Jacob named Bethel, meaning "the house of God," was no different from any other place, only it

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was there that his eyes were opened. Of every place we may say as Jacob did, "This is the house of God; this is the gate of heaven," for "Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?" Wherever we are, there is Jesus, the way that reaches up to God, the Gate of heaven, through which all of God's blessings may come to us. May God open the eyes of every child who reads this, so that they may not be like Jacob when he "knew it not," but may "worship the Lord," as he did when his eyes were opened.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

A critical situation is reported as a result of the coal strike in America. Coal is no more than four guineas a ton, with only sufficient in New York for one day's supply in cold weather. The rise in the price of fuel is likely to cause an increase in the price of bread, and timber dealers are guarding their yards with the greatest vigilance, fearing that a sudden fall of temperature will cause people to attack the yards to get wood to save themselves from freezing. How much ruin the selfishness of a few men can cause!

According to news received by the Cologne Gazette, from Alexandria, cholera is spreading over the whole of Egypt. The disease has already attacked more than 1,200 towns and villages, and it increases so rapidly that there are 1,500 new cases daily. During the last two months there have been more than 29,000 cases, of which more than ninety per cent. have resulted fatally. Many Europeans are stricken down.

In view of the fact that Mecca is one of the most dangerous places of infection, the Cologne Gazette asks whether the fatal pilgrims' journeys to Mecca should not be suppressed by the interference of the Powers. That would be touching Mohammedans in a very tender spot, and it is easy to see how very serious complications might result.

Speaking of the absurd and blasphemous claims of the Clapton pastor to being the Messiah, and the notoriety that foolish people have given him, by attempting to mob him, the Catholic Times said:-

"Unfortunately, curiosity tempts folk to assemble, if only that they may gain a glimpse of the notorious leader of a crazy, but much-talked-of, sect. But what a light it all sheds on the vagaries of Protestantism, and on the worth of the principal of private interpretation of the Holy Scriptures!"

But as we have already pointed out, this comes not from the private or any other kind of interpretation of the Scriptures, but from the utter neglect of them. The Scriptures never lead anybody into vagaries.

One would fain believe that the report of the latest lynching in America is a fabrication; yet the affair is reported with such minuteness of detail, and withal is so similar to others that have taken place, that we must accept it as true. A negro had killed and mutilated a white woman, and was lodged in gaol; but the Vigilance Committee decided that he should be publicly burned at the stake. The news spread rapidly, and the railways ran special excursion trains, to bring people from the surrounding country to see the burning. The wretched man was tied to an iron stake, surrounded with fagots saturated with oil, and burned in the presence of a vast crowd, which is described as very "orderly." Twenty citizens, acting as special police, kept order; and special places were reserved for ladies and newspaper reporters. Granting the utmost amount of guilt on the part of the victim, that does not justify others in emulating his crime. Gradually people are coming to the point where the epithet, "fierce," will be applicable; and then that which is now practised on real criminals will be done to innocent persons, who will be accounted criminals for their obedience to God's law. There will yet be ample opportunity for men and women to prove the power of faith to quench the violence of fire.

Strange revelations of "Christian life" are sometimes incidentally made. For example, in explaining the cause of the panic at the convention in a negro Baptist church at Birmingham (Alabama, U.S.A.), it is said that one delegate trod on the toes of another, and the latter "made as though he would draw his revolver;" then someone said, "Be quiet," which somebody else mistook for a cry of "fire," and then came the rush. But in all the notices of the affair, it never seems to have occurred to anybody to wonder what use a delegate to a religious convention expected to make of a revolver. It is a strange state of religion, when delegates to Christian conventions carry revolvers as a matter of course, and nobody regards it as worthy of remark.

When the question of compulsory Sunday observance has been agitated, it has always been urged that the law must be obeyed whether it was good or not; but now we are hearing a different story. The same religious papers and leaders that before were so zealous for law, are now with one voice advocating opposition to law, if the Education Bill passes. It is quite generally agreed by Nonconformists that they will refuse to pay rates if that Bill becomes law. Leading ministers openly advocate the refusal to pay rates, and religious conventions enthusiastically pass resolutions to that effect. Resistance seems to be in the air; for a demonstration took place in the East-end last week, to welcome home a man who had been imprisoned for ten days under the vaccination laws. After several had spoken, the man himself, amid great applause, said that "he stood there not only as an antivaccinationist, but as a law-breaker, for he held that it was a good thing to break a bad law." Now that is a most unfortunate way of putting the case. No Christian is ever warranted in resisting law, or in refusing to pay even unjust taxes. Christians cannot by any means comply with civil enactments that contravene Divine laws; but their action should always be based upon obedience to the higher law, and not on resistance to the lower. On the latter basis, self and human rights are the prominent things; on the former basis, God and His honour are kept always in the front.

The Catholic Missionary Bishop of Shensi has assured the Pope that a clause in the secret Russo-Chinese Treaty grants liberty of propaganda to the Orthodox Russian Church in Tibet, to the exclusion of other Christian denominations, especially the Roman Catholic. This news confirms the rumoured cession of the rights of China in Tibet to Russia. The Pope intends to apply directly to the Tsar for the revocation of the clause. Of course the whole thing is political, since religion in Russia is an instrument of the State; and the report shows how active Russia is in pushing her way to the East.

All our lives we have been accustomed to hearing about emigration to the United States; and it has never seemed to be thought a possibility that there could ever be such a thing as emigration from them. Yet in spite of the teaching that is so insidiously instilled into the minds of the people of that country from their childhood, that there is no other country worth living in, statistics show that in the first four months of the present year, 11,480 farmers from Kansas, Nebraska, and Minnesota, crossed into Canada. In the year 1901, the emigrants from the United States into the Dominion numbered 20,000, and the indications are that the number the present year will not be less than 35,000. Without touching on any possible political phase of the question, it is enough to point out the fact that three-fourths of the wheat-growing area of North America is north of the boundary line between the United States and Canada, and that land can no longer be had in the United States for merely settling on it. It will not be long before all the tillable land on the earth is taken possession of;-and then what?

In an article entitled, "The Metamorphosis of London," Public Opinion of September 19 calls attention to the growing luxury of the city, as indicated by the rapid increase of fine shops, and gigantic hotels and restaurants, and says:-

"What strikes one, as one looks from London, is that it seems mainly run for the gratification of personal pleasure. Its tailors and its milliners, its tobacconists and its eating-houses, its jewellers, its hotels, and its theatres suggest unparalleled luxury, and the command of resources illimitable."

Then, quoting from a German, who exclaimed, "London, mein Gott, what a city for to sack!" it adds, "If that could be said in the old days, how much truer it is now, and, to judge by the tendency of things, how much truer will it be ten years hence!" It is high time that somebody began to think of the temptation which all this display of wealth suggests, not only to a foreign enemy, but still more to the home labourers, who are stirred up to discontent by paid agitators. Long years ago the prophets foretold what the result would be, saying, "Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with pledges! Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and await that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?" and the Lord said by another: "I will punish the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their hearts, 'The Lord will not do good, neither will He to evil.' And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation."

"The Convincing Power" The Present Truth 18, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

The Convincing Power. -When a truth was presented to a Bible-class recently, some one said, "That is very good, if you can only convince people that it is so." But that is not our work, for we could not possibly do it if we tried. Only the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, can "convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." Our part is to set the truth before the people, both by word and deed. This, however, must be done by the Spirit; for "it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth." It is only by the Spirit that the truth can be spoken; and only the Spirit working upon those who hear can convince them of truth. How important, then, that those who are Christ's witnesses "walk in the Spirit."

"Wait on the Lord: be strong and let thine heart take courage; yea, wait thou on the Lord." Many people seem to get the idea that the Lord delights to keep people in suspense, waiting for Him to fulfil His promises. This is not so. Jesus says of those who cry continually unto Him, that "He will avenge them speedily." When the prophet Daniel prayed, an angel was sent to help them at the beginning of his supplication. "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose hearts are perfect towards Him."

It is true that the Hebrew word rendered "wait," in the text first quoted has the signification ordinarily attached to it; but it means more. Its primary signification appears in the first instance of its occurrence in the Bible, namely, Gen. i. 9: "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place." To gather, to twist, or bind together, is the primary meaning of the word; the secondary meaning, to tarry, arises from this, since what is thus joined together will remain in that state. So we read Ps. xxvii. 14, and similar exhortations, with a fuller comprehension, when we understand them as saying, "Fasten yourself to the Lord; be bound up in the same bundle with Him; let the threads of your life be interlaced and joined into one; and you will find strength."

"Depending on God" The Present Truth 18, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

"Remember, now, I am depending on you; so don't fail me."

How often we hear words similar to these. We make an appointment with a friend, to assist him in something, or to accompany him to some place, and as he takes leave of us, he says, "Very well, I shall depend on you." We undertake some responsibility, and the one interested in the outcome says to us, "Can I depend on you?" and when we assure him that he can, he dismisses all care of it from his mind, provided he has confidence in us.

It throws us on our honour, and calls forth all our energies, to have somebody depending on us. When they say that they depend on us, it does not mean merely that they are helpless without us; it may mean that, and it may not; but in any case, it means that they are expecting that we will do what we have agreed to, and will not disappoint them.

Just so we may and should regard our dependence on the Lord. Of course when we say that we depend on the Lord we mean that without Him we are helpless; but we ought never to let it rest with that. When we tell the Lord that we are depending on Him, we have a right to say it in a way that shows that we are appealing to His honour that He will not fail us. We may with great boldness say, "I depend on Thee to help me in this difficulty," thus letting Him know definitely, that we throw the responsibility upon Him, expecting Him to shoulder it. Of the one who thus practically puts his trust in the Lord, it is said, "His soul shall dwell at ease."

God has firmly committed Himself, saying, "I will not fail thee." He has pledged Himself to help us, and He has a good reputation. "He is faithful that promised." "They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee; for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee." "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even for ever." "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved;" "He that keepth thee will not slumber."

From depending on the Lord,-hanging on His word,-it is easy to pass to the thought of resting in Him, in His everlasting arms,-building on Him. The root of the Hebrew word meaning believe is the same as that meaning to build; so we might properly read that Abraham built on God; and 2 Chron. xx. 20 could without violence be read, "Build on the Lord your God; so shall ye be built up."

In keeping with this thought are the statements that Christ is the only foundation, that He is the Living Stone, and that coming to Him we are built up a spiritual house. He is the chief Corner Stone, "in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth [he that buildeth on it] shall not make haste," even when the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters overflow the hiding place. Isa. xxviii. 16, 17. The house that is built on Christ's word shall stand even though the rains descend, and the floods come, and the winds blow and beat upon it.

This is most strikingly illustrated in the case of Rahab at the fall of Jericho. She lived in the most exposed place in the city. "Her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall." Joshua ii. 15. We know that after the walls of Jericho had been compassed by the Israelites they "fell flat," yet her house stood. How could her house stand when it was built on the wall, and the wall fell flat?-"By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not." Heb. xi. 31. She had a more substantial foundation for her house than the stone wall of Jericho; she had the Word of God. We see in her case how literally true it is that faith furnishes a solid foundation, and that our visible houses may stand fast on the invisible Word. These things are written that we may learn to say,-

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed."

October 16, 1902

"True Education" The Present Truth 18, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

Among the effects of a poor Cherokee Indian student at Hampton Institute (U.S.A.), was found a paper on which he had written: "My reasons for coming to Hampton: To develop all my powers; to learn self-control; to help people." There you have both the sum and the object of true education, clearly perceived and expressed by an Indian boy. Many white people who go to school, as well as many whose school days are past, could learn a good lesson from him.

"Sure Defence and Victorious Attack" The Present Truth 18, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

In all ages, and among all people, the temple, no matter to whom it was dedicated, has been considered a place of safety. If a city were besieged, and hard pressed, the inhabitants as a last resort would take refuge in the sanctuary; and the men who defended the city would make their last stand there, since it was the most strongly fortified. Even a criminal fleeing from justice, was usually safe from the executioner, while in the sanctuary.

The Christian has the privilege of always dwelling in the sanctuary, even the sanctuary of the Most High God. "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will 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. 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." Ps. xxvii. 4-6. "Be Thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort; Thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress." Ps. lxxi. 3.

But perhaps this seems figurative and unreal to many. They do not see the temple of refuge. The Scripture, however, provides for that difficulty, for it says: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" "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?" 1 Cor. iii. 16; vi. 19. Wherever we are, therefore, as long as we live, we may know that we abide in God's temple.

If we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, this will be very real to us. "When He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me." Heb. x. 5. His body we know was sacred, and it was the temple of the Lord. But the Son of God did not come into this world solely for the purpose of appearing in the body that was born of Mary. That was but the revelation of a great purpose. "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," just as Jesus of Nazareth was. He makes of all believers "one new man" in Himself. We have just read that our bodies are not our own; whose, then, are they?-They are the bodies of the Lord Jesus. Each one of our bodies is the body which God has prepared for His Son coming into the world; each one is just as precious in the eyes of God as His was, and is to be guarded as sacredly.

What then? Why, it is as clear as noon day that we are always as safe from the assaults of the enemy-of all enemies-as Jesus of Nazareth was; just as safe as He is now. The Lord in His holy temple will defend it against all invading foes. He even defies them saying: "The Lord God will help Me; therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth Me; who will contend with Me? let us stand together; who is Mine adversary? let him come near to Me." Isa. l. 7, 8. "Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh, for the Lord God shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken." Prov. iii. 25, 26. "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not slumber." Ps. cxxi. 3.

But this is not all. We are not to consider ourselves as continually on the defensive, shut in by a raging foe on the outside. The promise concerning each believer is that he "shall possess the gate of his enemies." Gen. xxii. 17. We can always abide in the living, moving temple of the Lord, that impregnable fortress, and still make attacks on the enemy. It is not enough for the Christian merely to repel the enemy's assaults; he must destroy all his foes. This is His privilege. "By Thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have by leaped over a wall." "I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them; neither did I turn again till they were consumed. I have wounded them, that they were not able to rise; they are fallen under my feet. For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle; Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against thee. Thou hast also given

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me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me." Ps. xviii. 29, 39-41.

Christ's army goes forth "conquering and to conquer." Through Him they are "more than conquerors." "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Even this foe is not merely to be resisted, but to be pursued to his overthrow. That means that as time goes on, we are to receive new accessions of the more abundant life, and to be lifted up higher above the power of death; that death is to be compelled, by the inherit force of life, to loosen its hold upon us, until it at last drops off for ever. "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and the righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord." "Cry out, and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee."

"'The Unsearchable Riches of Christ'" The Present Truth 18, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Lord of hosts. . . hath made the earth by His power, He hath established it by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by His understanding." Jer. li. 14, 15.

"O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever. . . . To Him that by wisdom made the heavens; for His mercy endureth for ever." Ps. cxxxvi. 1, 5.

The Apostle Paul, to whom was given grace to proclaim "the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ" (Eph. iii. 8, 9), desired that the hearts of all men "might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledging of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Col. ii. 2, 3. Now when we read these last two texts in connection with the first, we see that the extent of the heavens is the line by which God's wisdom and understanding is measured. When we look at them what do we find? The following from "The Story of the Stars," by George F. Chambers, F.R.A.S., will serve to start us on our search:-

"Secchi noted the following experiment as one that he often tried with interesting results. After taking a glance at some particular part of the heavens, he would transfer his eye to the finder of the great telescope at the Roman College at Rome, and would see in this subordinate telescope, whose field was no larger than ?∞, as many stars, as were to be seen in the 13∞or 14∞ grasped by the naked eye. Passing then to his great telescope, armed with an eye-piece showing only an arc of 15 feet, or one-fourth the area of the field of his finder, he would still see as many stars as in the finder; proceeding yet further to diminish the field by increasing the power, the number of the stars would scarcely diminish, because, though the area was curtailed, yet the increased magnifying power revealed minute stars which had previously escaped notice. Thus it came about that in certain localities it was possible to see in a field no more than 1 12∞ in diameter, as many stars as were visible to the naked eye in a field 13∞ in diameter. This train of thought will readily enable the general reader to realise the fact that the larger our telescopes the more stars we can discern; in other words, that as we cannot say for a certainty how large our telescopes might become, so accordingly we cannot say when stars hitherto unseen will cease to be invisible. So that we may indeed say with Galileo that the stars are innumerable."

But we can go still further; for where the largest telescopes fail, photography comes in to help supply the deficiency. The sensitive plate is exposed to a portion of the heavens where the most powerful telescopes revealed only one or two stars, and, after the lapse of hours, the impression of the light from thousands of invisible stars will be seen. Now there is no more ground for saying that we have seen all that the heavens contain, and than there was when only the naked eye or the telescope of low power was used; and we are compelled to conclude that with more perfect viewing powers, we could go on and on for ever, always discovering something new.

The mind of man staggers at the thought of the immense distance of those bright stars, the light from which requires hours to make itself visible on the photographic plate. Suppose now that we could be transported, with our telescope and photographic apparatus to these inconceivably distant climes, and repeat our observations in the same direction as before, we should without doubt obtain the same result; and so we could go on eternally, so boundless is God's universe.

Now remember that the heavens were spread out by God's understanding, and we see something of what is meant by "the unsearchable riches of Christ," "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." He "bringeth out there host by number; He calleth them all by names." They are but the expression of His thought, for they are constantly in His mind, and were in His mind before they were created. Well may we exclaim with the psalmist, "O Lord, how great are Thy works! and Thy thoughts are very deep."

Well, now, it is just these "unsearchable riches" that are contained in God's Word; for "by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made." Ps. xxxiii. 6. God's Word is the expression of His thought-the same thought that comprehends the boundless universe. Thus we see the impossibility of the Scriptures ever being explored to their depths by any man; and we are encouraged to devote ourselves to the study of them, knowing that they afford the means of endless development and culture of our minds.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Perfect Life; and the Best Help to the Understanding of the Bible" The Present Truth 18, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

"I have a great, longing desire to be a true and perfect Christian; but when I look back on a day gone, I find several things done that ought not to have been done, and plenty of opportunities let slip. I often hear Salvationists give their testimony, saying that they have lived without sin; but I cannot understand it. I never feel satisfied with myself. I also have a great desire to know more about God, and should so like to know about God's plan. What book with you advise me to get, that would help me? I should esteem it a favour if you would advise me about the books on God's plan; and also what books are best to help me to study the Scriptures."

The best thing in the world to enable one to understand the Scriptures is the Bible itself. There are books that lead one to the Scriptures, opening them up to the understanding, just as it is the mission of PRESENT TRUTH to do; and of these I cannot think of any that will help you to trace the one purpose running through the whole Bible better than the three following: "Patriarchs and Prophets;" "The Great Controversy;" and "The Everlasting Covenant," all of which may be obtained at the office of the International Tract Society, Ltd., 451 Holloway Road, London, N. But the Bible itself is the book that has to be studied in order to get an understanding of it; and these that I have mentioned are valuable simply because they lead the reader to the Scriptures as the source of all knowledge.

It is a mistake to suppose that the Scriptures are hard to understand. How can they be, when they give understanding? "Through Thy precepts I get understanding." The Scriptures are the Word of the Lord; and "the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." The trouble with most people is that they have not patience to study the Bible. They want to understand it without taking the trouble to become familiar with it. People will ordinarily spend five minutes as much time reading what somebody has said about the Bible as they will to learn what the Bible itself says.

You can see that this is unreasonable. How can one expect to understand the meaning of any book with which one is unfamiliar? It is self-evident that if you wish to know what anybody means, you must know what he says. Now I can assure you that if you will just give your attention in earnest to the Bible reading it indeed, not merely pronouncing the words, you will understand it. But perhaps I should explain a little further.

In the first place, do not think to grasp the entire Bible at once. You cannot do it, anymore than you could pick up and carry ten thousand blocks of wood in your hands at one time. But by taking only one or two pieces at a time, you could move a whole timber yard; and so you can grasp the Bible. By taking one step at a time one can go from London to Edinburgh; but no one can cover it all at one step. So the way for one to do, who really wishes to understand the Bible, is to start with some portion of it, and some book, to which one is especially attracted, and make a thorough study of it.

How shall you do this? You will say, as so many others do, that this is just what you want to know: How to study the Bible. Well, there is no magic, no mystery, in it. Simply go to work to store your mind with what it says. The Apostle Paul gives the rule, in writing to the young man Timothy: "Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things." 2 Tim. ii. 6. This will require more close and careful reading than to master a newspaper article; just as a close-grained, hard piece of wood requires more strength to cut it than a soft piece does; but you know from what you get the most service.

Having settled on the portion of Scripture to which you intend to devote special study, begin at the beginning, and read. Here I must explain what I mean by reading. As already stated, I do not mean merely to pronounce the words. There are some things that can be grasped at a glance; even some parts of the Bible can be understood (superficially, of course) by the most cursory reading; but whether it requires little or much time and application, real reading means the intelligent grasping of the thought expressed by the words.

Here is where reading becomes study, and not simple recreation or amusement. You must read again and again until you remember; for it must be evident to you that one reads to no purpose unless one remembers. To read that which one does not wish to remember is a waste of time, and mere intellectual dissipation, and fitting the mind to lay hold of that which is useful; just as the eating of that which does not build up the system, weakens the digestive powers, and makes one less capable of enjoying real food. So as we should not waste time reading what we do not wish to remember, when we read what is worth remembering we must read it so attentively that we shall certainly remember it.

This means repetition, but not slavish parrot-like repetition. Keep this distinction in mind: We read for the thought, and not for the mere words; but since the Scriptures are given by inspiration of God, the thought is put into language that will best express it (barring defects in translation); therefore in our effort to get the exact thought fixed in our mind, we insensibly get the exact form of words there also. In short, we simply more or less consciously analyse the substances and paragraph as we read them, thus perceiving the relation of each part to every other part, and do this so thoroughly that they stay with us by the power of association.

Read an entire book through in this way, until you can, without it, recall its entire contents in the course of a morning's walk,-until you can see it spread out as a whole before your mind's eye, just as you can the town in which you have lived for years. Now you know what the writer says; you have it all in connection; and now you cannot fail to see that there really is a connection in it,-that there is a continuous thread running through the whole. The meaning reveals itself. Now you see that the reason why you did not understand the book before was that you did not really know what it said.

You can see, provided you believe what I have here written, that one must proceed

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with the Bible just as one would with a law book. The law student knows that there is but one way to an understanding of law, and that is by actual mastery of the contents of the law books; by close application to what they say. Only there is no manner of comparison between the study of human law and Divine law. The same amount of study put on the Bible, that the law student puts on his text books, will yield infinitely greater returns. One can master the contents of a portion of the Bible in less time than is required for the same amount in any law book of purely human production; and then we have this advantage, that we are sure that everything we study does really mean something. The Word of God is good seed; it is pure life, that germinates and multiplies.

I have several times spoken about mastering the Scriptures. I do not wish to be understood as conveying the idea that one can master them in the sense of knowing all that they have to reveal. That can never be done; and in another article in this number it is shown why this is impossible. The better acquainted one becomes with the Bible, or any part of it, the more will one see that only the outer edge of the surface of it has been touched. The Bible is a well of infinite, unfathomable depth,-an immeasurable expanse; but we can master it in this sense, that we have a clear and firm grasp of what it says, and may know that we know what we do know of it.

When you have done the work that I have indicated with a single book of the Bible, you will find to your delighted surprise that every other book of the Bible is more open to your understanding; for the Bible is one whole, having a single purpose, which may be likened both to a thread and to a broad, measureless plain; and the life and the fulness of all whole is in each part. This study will have given you a love for Bible study, such as you never had before, and you will by far prefer to search out its treasures for yourself, to having somebody else dig them out and present them to you.

I should not leave this subject without saying that in order to get the perfect understanding of the Scriptures one must continually seek and depend on the Holy Spirit, whose testimony they are. Without the Spirit's aid, all our zeal and application will be in vain. "There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." But while everything depends on the Spirit, we must work as though everything depended on us; for the Holy Spirit is not given to save people the trouble of making exertion, but, on the contrary, to stir them up to activity. We may, then, in a word, say that the helps to an understanding of the Bible are the Spirit of God and application.

SELF-SATISFACTION

We come now to the consideration of the first part of your communication. You want to live the perfect, Christian life, yet you can never be satisfied with yourself. That is good. It is good that you want to live a perfect, Christian life, and it is good that you are not satisfied with yourself. May the Lord always keep that same longing and that same dissatisfaction always present with you. A few words of Scripture will help you here.

Righteousness comes from God, and not from ourselves. "As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." Rom. v. 19. The kindness and love of God our Saviour appears to us, "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Titus iii. 4-7. "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," (Rom. ix. 16); "for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Phil. ii. 13. "As for God, His way is perfect," and "it is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect." Ps. xviii. 30, 32.

"Where is boasting, then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of faith." Rom. iii. 27. "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; for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 8-10. Therefore the true Christian must continually say, "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." Gal. ii. 20.

The apostle who was best acquainted with the Lord, and lived closest to Him, wrote these words: "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; but 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. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." 1 John i. 6-10.

You see the point? We are sinners. The chiefest apostle counted himself the chief of sinners; and just because he was the chief of sinners, the grace of Christ was manifested in him in chiefest measure, in making him what he was, as an encouragement to others. 1 Tim. i. 15, 16; 1 Cor. xv. 10.

We are to confess ourselves sinners, but to confess Jesus Christ as the Saviour of sinners. Sinners, yet kept from sin by the power of His grace. Sinners cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ. It is while we walk in the light, that is, in Him, that His blood cleanseth us from all sin; the continual cleansing is necessary, in order to keep us free from sin and that is in us.

"Reaching forth. . . I press forward," is the Christian's motto. If he were satisfied with himself he would not do that. And yet he may all the time be living the perfect, Christian life. Indeed, he would not be living it, if he were satisfied with himself; for "not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth." 2 Cor. x. 18. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not enough; but if we confess our sins,-and we do so only as we confess the Lord righteousness,-we are in accord with the Lord, and He declares us righteous. He tells us that we are sinners; if we say that we are not, we make Him a liar, and our declaration of sinlessness is itself a proof of sin; but when we, looking at His cross, say that we are sinners, He says, You are right.

Day by day as the Lord created the earth, He saw that "it was good;" yet it was not complete. The plant may be perfect at every stage of its growth; yet it must still keep on developing; for if at any stage it should become satisfied with its growth, and should cease developing, it would be imperfect.

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The problem, then, is, to keep sinful men free from sin. How can it be done? Only through the Word of God,-the life. "By the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." Ps. xvii. 4. "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony." "Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." And thus, remembering that it is by incorruptible seed, by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever, that we are born again (1 Peter i. 23), we come to the statement that "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. The shield of faith, which is by the Word of God, enables him to "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked," and thus he "keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." The treasure is in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God, and not of us. Even in the world to come we shall be satisfied only in contemplating the virtue of Christ; and our songs will be "unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His blood."

"For Little Ones. Rachel and Leah" The Present Truth 18, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

The well by which Jacob first met his cousin Rachel was no doubt the same where Eliezer had waited for Rebecca. As he waited by the well, wearied with his journey, behold Rachel came with her father's sheep which she kept.

It seems that in those early times and in eastern lands, the young women helped the men in taking care of the flocks and herds, as they do now in some countries. When God first made man, He put all the animals under him, and gave him the garden to take care of.

And for a long time after the fall, the best men seemed still to have kept to those occupations which were God's plan. Abel was a keeper of sheep. The wealth of Abraham and Lot was in their vast flocks and herds. Isaac inherited his father's wealth, and so his son Jacob was used to a shepherd's life. So when Rachel came with the sheep, he helped her to water the flock.

Jacob had been sent away by his father and mother, because Esau was so very angry with him for stealing the blessing of his father from him, that he was laying plans to kill him. When his parents sent him away, they told him to take a wife from among his own kindred in Mesopotamia, and not marry an idolatrous woman of Canaan, as Esau had done. As in the case of Eliezer, the first woman he met by that well was the one God had chosen for Isaac's wife, so with Jacob; for he loved his cousin Rachel. He went to live with her father, and served him for her seven years, which seemed to him only like a few days because of his great love.

But Jacob had a terrible lesson to learn: that "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." "Do unto others as ye would that men should do unto you," for you are sure to be done by as you have done unto others.

Because Jacob had deceived his blind old father, God suffered him also to be deceived. For when he has served the full time for Rachel, and expected that she would become his wife, another was given to him instead, and he did not find out the deception until Rachel's sister Leah had been made his wife. This was why Jacob had two wives, instead of keeping to God's plan, for He afterwards married Rachel, although he had to serve another seven years for her.

Jacob could not love Leah as he did Rachel. He had never chosen her for his wife, and she had only become so through deceit. But God, who we have found is ever ready to comfort those that mourn, even though it be through their own sins, comforted Leah by giving her a number of children.

But Rachel had no children for many years after her marriage with Jacob. At last, in answer to her earnest prayers, God gave Rachel a son whom she named Joseph. Another son, Benjamin, was also given to her, but she died at the time of his birth. These two boys were more dear to Jacob than all his other children, because they were the sons of his beloved Rachel, and because they were given to him in his old age, as Isaac was to Abraham and Sarah.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

The French National Committee of Miners has ordered a general strike in France, which began on the 9th, and calls upon the miners of all countries to join them in the struggle. It is evident that the greatest troubles that the world has ever seen, are yet to come through "labour wars."

The chief inspector of foods and drugs for the county of Durham says that many cheap chocolate sweetmeats contain paraffin wax, which has a tendency when eaten to bring on appendicitis. The absolutely safe way is never to eat composite things of any kind. Let each kind of food be taken by itself, and then one knows what one is eating. Simplicity is the law of life.

How many who have read of the death of the famous French writer, M. Eola, have stopped to think how unnecessary it was? Such a death could never come to a man who slept with wide-open windows, as everybody should. It is never good to sleep in a room with a fire; but no matter how much gas is formed, the man with the open window will not be overcome by it. It is sad to see people losing their lives, solely through a failure to follow the simplest rules of hygiene.

It is reported from Manila that on the 25th ult. one hundred and eighty shocks of earthquake were felt in the island of Guam. One doesn't wonder that the people are in the state of terror; yet the Christian may learn a lesson of comfort from even such reports, by remembering that the God whom He serves daily, keeps those who take refuge in Him from being afraid, though the whole earth quakes for an entire day. The strength which keeps the trusting ones then, is available all the time.

There is no country in the world more persistent and shrewd in pushing its way into other territory than Russia. It is now seeking, in a way that promises permanent success, to secure a firm hold on Persia, namely, by establishing schools. In the schools, especially in the evenings, free instruction is given in Russian and French; and they are largely attended by young Persians of the higher classes. This is a part of the world struggle for existence, which will culminate in the great battle of the day of God.

Under the heading, "Dangerous Ice Cream," the Daily Chronicle of October 3 called attention to the statutory provisions regulating the manufacture and sale of ice creams on and after November 1, and said that, judged by the report of the medical officer of the city Public Health Department, "the urgent necessity for stringent supervision of this industry is apparent." Arrangements were made for taking samples of ice cream generally, and of twenty-three examined, "twelve, or about 52 per cent. were found to be absolutely poisonous." Even when the ingredients are not bad, the conditions of manufacture are such that contamination must result. Out of thirty-two places where ice creams are made and sold, sanitary defects were discovered in fifteen." The poisoning of two telegraph messenger boys from eating ice-cream, led to it being fed to guinea pigs and mice, which died as a result. The safest way is to avoid all such combinations, which, even at the best, are never beneficial to the body, and which almost always do positive injury.

By the census taken in Germany in 1900, thirty-five millions, or sixty-two per cent. of the population describe themselves as Protestants, and twenty millions or thirty-six percent. as Catholics. During the ten years ending in 1900, the country population decreased by 1.1 per cent., while the population of the towns increased by 16.7 per cent. It requires not much skill to enable one to foresee what must be the end of such an unnatural tendency. When cities increase at the expense of the country, ruin is inevitable. Those regard who the rapid growth of cities as a sign of prosperity, are very much deceived.

It is wholly unnecessary for any non-Catholic to enter into the arena, and take up a lance against the Roman Catholic Church, when such terse and vivid writers as Michael J. F. McCarthy, B.A., T.C.D., Barrister-at-Law, Dublin, are found in the bosom of the church itself, to lay bare its defects. In a recently published book, entitled "Priests and People in Ireland," he sums up the case against the church in its relation to the Irish people, under four heads, saying that its aims are,-

"1. Its own aggrandisement as a league, apart from the body politic in which it flourishes, but in alliance with an alien organisation whose interests are not the interests of us, the Roman Catholic laity of Ireland.

"2. Moulding the ductile minds of our youth, so that their thoughts in manhood may run not in the direction of enlightenment and self-improvement, but in obedient channels converging to swell the tide of the priest's prosperity."

"3. Perplexing and interfering with our adult population in every sphere of secular affairs, estranging them from, and embittering them against, the majority of their fellow-citizens in the United Kingdom, imbuing them with disloyalty to the Commonwealth of which they are members, the result being that our people are the least prosperous-indeed the only unprosperous-community in the British Isles.

"4. Terrifying the enfeebled minds of the credulous, the invalid, and the aged, with the result that the savings of penurious thrift, the inheritance of parental industry, the competence of respectability, are all alike captured in their turn from expectant next-of-kin and garnered into the sacerdotal treasury."

He shows that the effective Roman Catholic organisation in Ireland outnumbers the services of the Imperial and local governments combined, and that this organisation is spreading, although the people are growing poor, and the population diminishing. Others concede that this is the cause of the poverty. The question, "Who are the Irish priests?" He answers thus:-

"I know several ecclesiastical students, in the diocese of Dublin, who are being 'educated' free for the home mission, both at Clonliffe Diocesan College and at Maynoeth. The sons of professional men hardly ever become priests; the sons of the gentry never; even the sons of well-to-do shop-keepers and farmers will not become priests, unless they are enticed into an irretrievable step when very young. But the sons of licensed publicans frequently become priests-perhaps as an act reparation-the connection between the priests and publicans being very intimate. The sons of policeman, national teachers, local government officials, and others who owe their positions to sacerdotal patronage, and even labouring men's sons, now supply the bulk of the Irish priests. All these people are respectable, and their children equally so; but they are nevertheless the class of priests' Irishmen, who are out of touch with European civilisation, and belong mainly to the submerged seven-tenths of our fellow-religionists."

These are strong, and undoubtedly true, statements; yet however necessary it may be to make them, it must be remembered that they only lay bare the ulcer, but do not give the remedy. That cannot be expected; for reformation must come from without, from those who are armed with "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." Moreover, no hope need be entertained of reforming the church; the most that can be done is to save individuals out of it; and when some of them clearly see its condition, as does Mr. McCarthy, there is hope that they may listen to the call, "Come out of her."

A man has just been sentenced to three days' imprisonment at Venstedl, Hungary, because he vilified a neighbour by calling him "a freethinker." There can be no higher attainment or honour than to be really worthy of such an epithet; for only the man who thinks according to God's Word, and who has God's thoughts, is really a freethinker. Thought that is contrary to the truth of God's Word, is bound; for only the truth makes free. The safest, way, however, for everybody, is not to deal in epithets of any kind, and not to characterise anybody, but simply to "speak as the oracles of God." Even for such a straightforward adherence to principles, men will yet suffer imprisonment as many have in the past.

In a recently published biography of Ruskin the following is quoted as one of his wisest utterances: "There are, of course, good people still, but they seem to spend all their time in undoing the harm that others have done-in nursing, reforming the East-end, teaching idiots, and so on, while the healthy and hopeful are neglected. But it is the same, and not the sick, who are best worth working for." The writer says: "When hurried people talk of Ruskin as an impracticable madman who wrote good prose, it is pleasant to remember such words." Thus speaks the wisdom of this world; but it is not according to the mind of the Master, who said, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick," and who "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil." He is now in the heavens "until the times of restitution of all things," and in His absence this work of restoration is committed to His true followers.

"God Glorified in Giving" The Present Truth 18, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

God Glorified in Giving .-God is a great God, and He does great things. It is fitting that He should do great things and give great gifts; and therefore we, as His children, ought to expect great things of Him. If we do not expect great things of the Lord, we dishonour Him. Not to expect great things of the Lord, is to deny His greatness, and to discredit His goodness and generosity. Not to accept great things from Him, is to cause Him to be dishonoured by others; for it is a fact that we have nothing, no talent or ability, however small, that does not come from the Lord; but if we are content with small gifts from the Lord, people are much more likely to call it "natural ability," giving us all the credit; whereas, if we expect and take from the Lord an extraordinary measure of strength, which itself is so easy for Him to impart, the world will know that it comes from God. Thus the King, to whom belongs the power, will receive the glory.

The Altar of Incense. -John saw in a vision heavenly beings "having golden vials full of odours, which are the prayer's of the saints. "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 upon the golden altar that was before the throne." When Noah, after the Flood, offered the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God, "the Lord smelled a sweet savour." The incense offered upon the golden altar in the earthly sanctuary, represented the true worship of God which comes up before that Him as "an odour of a sweet smell."

Receiving to Give. -We cannot offer anything to God except what He first gives to us. He must apply the incense; and this He has done in giving us Jesus. "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 Him in the heart that we can offer an acceptable worship to God.

The Fragrance of God's Knowledge. -The fragrance of the incense spread out for miles around the tabernacle in the wilderness, so that anyone in the neighbourhood would be attracted to find out what it was, and thus be drawn to the house of the true God, there to learn of Him. And so in every human earthly tabernacle where Jesus dwells, His sweet presence will shed its perfume all around to draw others to Him.

"As some rare perfume to a vase of clay
Pervades it with a fragrance not its own
So when Thou dwellest in a mortal man
All heaven's own sweetness seems around it
thrown."

"Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations." "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." No wonder the psalmist exclaims: "How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God!" It is truly precious to know that we were formed according to "the eternal purpose" of Him "who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will;" for this gives us the positive assurance that He who has begun a good work in us will perfect it." He who kept us in His thought through countless ages, never for a moment losing sight of us, will certainly not forget us now that we have been brought into being.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

"He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him; but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it." Prov. xi. 26. This text was forcibly brought to mind by reading the following item last week:-

House coal of all classes was advanced by 1s. a ton in London, yesterday. "This movement is entirely due to the cold weather coming on," said a dealer on the London Coal Exhange to a Daily Chronicle representative yesterday, "and has nothing to do with the American demand for coal."

If we should have an unusually cold winter, such items of news would be a frequent occurrence. Yet the cold weather does not in the least increase the cost of the production of coal. The increase in the selling price is simply the taking advantage of the necessity of the people, especially of the very poor, and is therefore on a par morally, with the act of the man who receives money from the trembling wayfarer at the mouth of his pistol. Take notice that the text does not say that people ought to curse those who withhold the necessities of life in order to get a higher price for it, but that they will do so; and we call attention to it, not for the purpose of arousing indignation against those who thus enrich themselves at the expense of the poor, but to caution any who read, against following the same unrighteous practice. Such a procedure is so common that it is considered only as ordinary business policy," and many well-meaning persons may be led into it without thinking how opposed it is to the principles of Christianity.

Our thanksgiving to the Lord is too often the polite "Not anymore, thank you," with which the hungry person declines an offered portion of food of which he thinks there will not be sufficient for all if he partakes liberally. It is the forced thanksgiving of refusal, instead of the spontaneous thanksgiving of the one who is being daily loaded with benefits, and who knows that his father gives to all liberally. When the Bible says, "Oh taste, and see that the Lord is good," it does not mean that there is but a taste for us. It means that we should try Him, and, finding Him good, should live by Him, feeding on Him, abundantly satisfied with the fatness of His house.

There is something majestic in the appearance of a well-developed tree; and everybody must have felt the restfulness that there is in the forest, where the trees stand closely together in their native soil. As one has said: "They seems so to belong to the place where they are, and their life seems so steadfast; they know what to expect, and go through each years' work so steadily." Well, we need not envy them, nor repine at our lot; for they are examples of God's purpose for us." 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." God gives His Spirit freely to His people, "that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified;" and He says, "As the days of a tree are the days of My people."

October 23, 1902

"A Place of Refuge. Joshua xx. 1-9" The Present Truth 18, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

(Joshua xx. 1-9.)²⁷1

There is an idea prevalent, that in the ancient days of Israel everyone was allowed to avenge his own wrongs. People read the words of Christ, "Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, 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," and think that in the days of Moses everyone took the law into his own hands, and if one were injured, he gave the other "as good as he sent." Thus they think that that was a crude, barbarous age, and that justice rose no higher than private revenge.

That this is a mistaken idea may be learned from a reading of the entire chapter in which the directions referred to occur. There it is seen that they are given in instruction to the judges; and that the conditions were the same then as now, when there are statutes, with penalties annexed. It is simply the principle of the civil law, that whoever commits an offence must be made to suffer or to pay an equivalent, as nearly as that can be determined.

In saying, "Resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the 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," Christ was not bringing in any new principle, but merely stating the eternal truth, "Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."

The Christian law is, and always was, "the perfect law of liberty." Just as we must not do a thing because the law counsels us, but must in Christ exercise our glorious privilege of going far beyond what the words of the law can express, so we must refrain from demanding our legal "rights." God is always on the side of the oppressed; and whoever commits His case wholly into God's hands, has infinitely better defence, and greater redress, than if he sought the defence of human law.

The appointment of the cities of refuge, according to the command of the Lord, was in keeping with this. We read that the Lord spoke to Joshua saying:-

"Speak to the children of Israel, saying,

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Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake to you by the hand of Moses; that the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly, may flee thither; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. And when he that doth flee unto one of those city shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that He may dwell among them. And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime. And he shall dwell in that city, until he appear before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days; then shall the slayer return, and come to his own city, and unto his own house, and to the city from whence he fled."

We must not suppose that any friend of an accidentally slain man was privileged to kill the slayer wherever he found him outside of one of the cities of refuge. Far from it. The Lord never planned in any such way as that for the land to be filled with violence. God said that "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," and, "the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it;" but He never designed that this should be done except by the executioners appointed by law; and the cities of refuge were provided as a check on the law, guarding even a manslayer against hasty execution of it.

A beautiful and most comforting phase of the character of God is illustrated by the cities of refuge. They show us that "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe." Prov. xvii. 10. It teaches that "the Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble," and that those who know His name will take refuge in Him. Ps. ix. 9, 10. He is our "strong habitation," whereunto we may continually flee (Ps. lxxi. 3), for He has given commandment to save us.

Who may take refuge in God? "The children of men," without respect of persons; for "in Him we live, and move, and have our being." "How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God; therefore the children of men put their trust [literally, "take refuge"] under the shadow of Thy wings." God made a promise to Abraham, including all who believe, and confirmed it by an oath, "that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever, and after the order of Melchizedek." Heb. vi. 18-20.

That is where the consolation lies. Christ is "high priest for ever;"-made "after the power of an endless life." The slayer was to remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest; but our high priest is alive for evermore. "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." Heb. vii. 25. Thus God is our dwelling-place in all generations.

"Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone.
And our defence is sure."

"The Editor's Private Corner. This World and the World to Come" The Present Truth 18, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

"In reading the article in your paper on 'The Earth's Future Glory' I noticed the statement that the lower animals will be affected by the restoration. This is not enough for me without a Scriptural sanction. Can you give me any proof that animals will be living after the Judgment? Is there any promise that they shall have a future life and be raised from the dead, and their viciousness removed? Is it during the thousand years, or in the new earth, that the wolf, the lamb, the kid and the lion, shall dwell together, and a little child shall lead them? Further, I find that houses are to be built. Shall we be men as we now are, and sow and plant and reap? Shall we need cattle to plough with, and shall we need the products of the earth to feed our spiritual bodies? We shall then be as the angels of God; what need will there be of houses to live in? If you can make this subject more clear, you will greatly assist one of your readers."

I have no doubt but that more than one of my readers will be helped by a clear exposition of the truth concerning the world to come; for there is nothing about which people in general have more hazy ideas. Indeed, very many even of the most noted religious teachers seem to accept it as a settled fact that we can know next to nothing about the future state, in spite of the fact that the Bible has so much to say about it, going into many of the most minute details. Now it is not to gratify idle curiosity, that Bible makes these revelations; the Lord never reveals anything for that purpose; but it is that we may know how to use this world as a preparation for the world to come. I would not have you think that the whole subject can be made clear,-that is, that all that the Bible teaches concerning it can be set forth,-in a single article like this; but I do think that with the Lord's help, I can enable you to get hold of the truth of the matter. The fulness of it affords material for study all the rest of one's lifetime, both in this world and in the world to come.

In order to get an understanding of this subject, as of everything else, we must go back to the beginning. You can at once see that this is so, since that which the Bible speaks of as taking place at the coming of Christ,-that which God has spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets since the beginning,-is "the restoration of all things." Acts iii. 20, 21.

Things are not now in this world as they were at the beginning. The third chapter of 2 Peter sets this forth very clearly. It says that "in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."

That this declaration of the mockers is self-evidently false, the apostle next proceeds to show, saying: "For this they wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God; by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished; but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored with fire [marginal reading], being reserved for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men," at which time "the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. But, according to His promise, we look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter iii. 1-13, Revised Version.

Here several worlds are spoken of, but every reader knows that they are all this world, that is, this planet, under different conditions. There was the world in the beginning, so perfect in every respect that God Himself could not see anything that it lacked. Then came sin, and within a few hundred years the earth, which at the first was the home of peace, was corrupt and "filled with violence," "for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." Gen. vi. 11, 12. Then the earth was destroyed by the water that was stored within it, together with that which the firmament had separated from it; and from the waters of the flood there came another earth, oh, so terribly marred and changed from what it was before, yet cleansed from its defilement. That is the world that is now, and which is fast becoming as corrupt as it was before the flood. "The earth is also defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant" (Isa. xxiv. 5), and therefore the curse will soon completely devour it. This time the work will be indeed complete, for a lake of fire, instead of water, will overwhelm it; but from the flood of fire another world will emerge, a renovated, purified earth, new as in the beginning, to be the eternal abode of righteousness, as it was designed to be.

Please go over this bit of history again, so that you can firmly grasp all the details of it. Now let us consider the relation of each one of these worlds to the others, so that we can at a glance take in the three views-the earth in the beginning, the present earth, and the new earth to come. No one has any difficulty in connecting "the world that then was," as Peter designates the world before the flood, with the world that now is. It is far inferior in looks and productiveness now to what it was then, and the inhabitants are not now as strong or as long-lived as were the inhabitants of the earth before the flood; but nevertheless the same material is in this earth that was in that, and the inhabitants are the same order of beings.

Well now, let us take another step. Just as in the preceding case, nobody has any difficulty in connecting the world after the fall with the world before the fall. When Adam was driven out of the garden of Eden, he went out into this present world, as it now is, or as it was before the flood. It was the very same earth that God created and pronounced "very good," only it had suffered a blight because of man's sin; when Eve was tempted,

"Her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate;
Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe,
That all was lost."

It was the same earth after the fall as before, only marred, and man was the same creature, only weakened and susceptible to all sorts of diseases.

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One step more takes us into the world to come; for that will be identical with that which was from the beginning; the new earth for which, according to God's promise, we look is the result of "the restoration of all things," new as it originally came from the hand of the Creator; and the change from this earth to that will be no greater than the change from the new earth in the beginning to this present state. It will be exactly the same change, only in reverse order. That was degeneration; this is regeneration.

Can you not now see clearly that the world to come must be as real as this? To get a crude sketch of it, picture to yourself this present earth infinitely more fruitful than it now is, and bringing forth only perfect products, and the people on it free from every phase of selfishness, and all forms of disease; then think of them as going about all sorts of work that benefit mankind and glorify God.

Let me try to bring the immortal state a little more vividly home to you in another way. You know what it is for people to be very ill, and to recover. Men on the verge of the tomb have often been restored to what is termed perfect health in this world. Well now, just carry this restoration a little further; let the life that raised them from sickness to health be present in abundant fulness, transforming an glorifying the whole being, and let it be a permanent possession, and you have the new earth state, so far as man is concerned. In short, the world to come will be this present earth freed from all encumbrances, and its inhabitants freed from all disabilities.

Were there beasts and birds and fishes when the earth was created?-Read the first chapter of Genesis. Then of course there will be all these creatures after the restoration. What would the world be without them? And, as in the beginning, they will be subject to man-his servants.

Then what was man's work in the beginning?-To dress and keep the garden which God planted, and to fill and to subdue the rest of the earth. Even so in the world to come. When the fires of the day of God have burned up all the corruption, the promise to the righteous is, "Ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. iv. 3. Then will be the time when "the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed" (Amos ix. 13), for the captivity of God's people will be ended, and they shall be planted upon their own land, and "no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God;" "and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine there of; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them" (verses 14, 15); "they shall not built, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 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." Isa. lxv. 22, 23.

This, as we see in verse 17, is when God creates new heavens and a new earth. And the fact that they do not build for another to inhabit, nor plant only for others to eat the fruit, shows that there is to be no death in that state. Will it not be glorious?

Just a word in closing this hasty outline. Do I need to tell you why it is that God has in His words set forth the conditions of life in the new earth so plainly before us? Do you not see for yourself that it is that we may know how we ought to live now? Is it not forcibly impressed on your mind that as we are to be the same people, going right on living as a real life as we do now, that, barring mortality, we are called on to live now the same as we shall live then. Our bodies only, not our characters, will be changed when Christ comes; and that change will only be the perfection of that which we now struggle and groan for.

Thank God the life to which the new earth invites us is not merely a pleasant dream in this moral state; for Christ has power over all flesh (John xvii. 2), and the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. "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. When this is true of all men on the earth (those who reject Christ having been destroyed), what more natural than that God should provide a place for them to live in, corresponding to their nature? So when all things are passed away, and all things are become new inside of men, the same thing will take place outside of them; and the righteous will go on living to all eternity, and after Christ's coming, just as they begin to live before His coming, only under infinitely improved conditions. In this assurance there is both infinite incentive and infinite help to "live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Good and Bad Spirits" The Present Truth 18, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

"I am a reader of your paper, and I see in the number dated September 25 the statement that Spiritualists communicate with Satan or his evil angels. One thing alone will prove that you are wrong; and you will see that the spirits will communicate, and show themselves to their friends. In 1 Sam. xxviii you will see that Saul recognised Samuel, and the spirit of Samuel was not Satan or one of his angels. From the days of Moses until now, there have been communications with the spirits. In 1 John iv. 1 we are told to try the spirits, whether they are of God."

Precisely; that is what we have been writing about. The fact that we are told to "try the spirits, whether they be of God," is proof that there are spirits that are not of God; and whatever spirit is not of God is of Satan.

I have been struck with the fact that comparatively few people seem to understand the truth about angels,-that they are an entirely different order of beings from man. It is this confusion of ideas concerning the angels and the spirits of men, that makes so many an easy prey to Spiritualism. They read in the Bible about supernatural beings communicating with men, and straightway assume that the dead can and do communicate with their friends.

Some years ago I was talking with a very intelligent gentleman, the editor of an influential Spiritualist journal, who asked how it was that I, a believer in the Bible, denied spirit communication. Said he, wonderingly, "Do you not believe that there are any such things as spirits at all?" To him I replied, just as I say now to our enquiring friend: "Certainly I believe in spirits good and bad; and I believe that they can communicate with us.I believe this, because the Bible teaches it. They not only communicate with us, but good spirits have a great deal to do with us every day, and we are very dependent upon them. But the spirits are angels, and not men, and they never were men."

In the first chapter of Hebrews we are told that God "maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire;" and that they are all "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." God gives His angels charge over us, to keep us in all our way; and "the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." Ps. xxxiv. 7.

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These angels, sons of God, were in existence before there were any men; for when the foundations of the earth were laid they all "shouted for joy." They could not possibly be the spirits of dead men; for they were all created not only before any man died, but before there was any man.

But some of the angels "kept not their first estate," and have given themselves up to try to thwart the purposes of God, and to lead men astray. This they do in various ways; but one of the boldest is to profess to be the spirits of good men who have died, and to have come direct from heaven with messages for men still on earth. "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness." 2 Cor. xi. 14, 15.

Right here is where we need to heed the exhortation to "try the spirits, whether they are of God." How shall we try them?-"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 it need not take us long to prove them thoroughly by God's Word. Indeed we may know them at the very outset; for when they come professing to be the spirits of the dead, we know at once that they are lying spirits, and we should have no further words with them. We know they are lying spirits, because "the dead know not anything." A spirit's claim to be one of the dead returned, proves him to be of the devil.

But what about Saul and Samuel? That is easily answered. My friend says that "the spirit of Samuel was not Satan or one of his angels." That is self-evident; but the spirit that talked with Saul on his night visit to the spiritualist medium was not the spirit of Samuel.

Read the account in 1 Sam. xxviii. Verse 7 says that Saul said to his servants, "Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit that I may go to her, and enquire of her." And his servants said, "There is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor." Note particularly that this woman had "a familiar spirit;" not many, but one; there was one spirit with whom she was in constant communication. Now will anybody claim that the spirit of Samuel held itself subject to the beck and call of a woman, who by the command of God was an outlaw? The idea is too absurd and repulsive to be entertained even by those who believe that Samuel was conscious after death.

Note further that "when Saul enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." 1 Sam. xxviii. 6. Because God would not answer Saul, he had recourse to the woman with a familiar spirit,-one who was "an abomination unto the Lord." Deut. xviii. 10-12. This proves conclusively that God had nothing whatever to do with that interview. But since it was not of God, it was certainly of the devil; and we know that Samuel, who faithfully served the Lord all his lifetime, would not serve the devil when he was dead, even if he were conscious and able to serve anybody. Hence we know that neither God or Samuel had anything to do with Saul's interview with the woman of Endor.The spirit with whom he talked was not the spirit of Samuel but the spirit of the demon personating Samuel.

Moreover, the Scripture does not say that Saul saw any spirit, but plainly indicates that he did not. When, as a result of the woman's incantations, the spirit appeared, Saul did not see it, but asked, "What sawest thou?" "An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle." Then Saul "perceived that it was Samuel." How did he perceive that it was Samuel?-Solely by what the woman said. He wanted Samuel, and of course the evil spirit knew enough to personate him.

But it is thought that the fact that it is said that Saul perceived that it was Samuel proves that Samuel, although dead, was there. Not by any means. Read the account of the fall, in Gen. iii. 1-6. God had said that death would surely follow eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan 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 as gods, knowing good and evil." Then follows the statement that "when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat."

Are we to understand that the tree was really good for food, and to be desired to make one wise?-Certainly not; It was deadly, and not at all good for food. The woman, hypnotised by the serpent,-Satan,-who is the author of all hypnotism, saw what was not so. Even so it was with Saul.

It is true that from the days of Moses, and long before his day, until now, there has been communication with spirits; and so there will be till the end. We are glad to know this, for so we know that we may be permitted, even as Abraham and Lot, to hold converse with angels who are sent forth to do service for us.

There is most certainly a reality to Spiritualism. Men do really communicate with real spirits; but never with the spirits of the dead. And though the spirits of devils are continually on the watch to lure us to destruction, we need not fear them, so long as we hold fast to the shield of faith, and "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

"For Little Ones. Joseph and His Brethren" The Present Truth 18, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

Jacob stayed with his uncle Laban for twenty years, doing the work of the shepherd. Fourteen years he served for his two wives, Rachel and Leah, and six for wages. Then God told him to return to Canaan, the land of promise. He reached there in time to see his old father again, and to bury him with Abraham in the cave of Macpelah, when he died at the age of 100 years.

While Jacob had been away he had learnt to know God and to trust Him fully, and so his name was no longer Jacob, a supplanter, but God had changed it to Israel, an overcomer. This change in his character gave him a power over men that quite overcame Esau, and changed him from an enemy into a friend.

Jacob had now twelve sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Assher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin. From this week's lesson we can see what was the character of these sons.

Joseph, his father's favourite, was of pure heart and life, and because of this his brethren hated him. In this He was like Jesus, whose holy life condemned the sins of the people so that they determined to kill Him.

God sent Joseph two dreams which gave him some idea of the high place that he was to fill in his manhood. First he dreamed that he and his brothers were binding wheat in the field, and his sheaf stood upright, while all the sheaves of his brothers bowed down to it. Afterwards he dreamed that the sun, moon, and eleven stars, representing his eleven brothers, all bowed down to his star. When Joseph told the dreams to his brothers they were very angry and said, "Wilt thou indeed reign over us?"

Perhaps it would have been better for Joseph if he had not told the dreams to his brothers. He might have waited quietly for God to bring them to pass without boasting of them to his brethren, and thus making them more jealous and angry. Even his father reproved him for talking about them, though he kept them in his own heart.

Jacob gave to Joseph a long coat with sleeves, a special kind worn only by princes. This made his brothers think that his father meant to set Joseph over them all as ruler of the family, and that increased their anger and jealousy.

Once when Joseph's brethren were away from home with their flocks, Jacob sent Joseph to ask how they were. When they saw him coming, the wicked thought came into their minds that this was their opportunity to get rid of him. They said one to another, "Let us kill him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams."

So they took him cast him into a pit, where they would have left him to perish, but just then they saw a company of Ishmaelites coming with their camels bearing a lot of merchandise that they were taking to Egypt. As all that they wanted was to get rid of Joseph, they decided not to kill them, but to sell him as a slave to these people. Thus they would get something for him, and not have upon them the terrible sense of taking his life.

Then they took Joseph's beautiful coat, and dipped it in the blood of an animal, and took it home to their father, who, when he saw it, said, "Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces." All his children tried to comfort him for the loss of Joseph, but he refused to be comforted.

All that Joseph's brothers did to prevent his dreams from coming true, God used to bring them to pass, as we shall learn in future lessons.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

There are renewed volcanic eruptions in St. Vincent, and earthquakes and eruptions are reported alarmingly frequent in other parts of the West Indies and in Central America.

People will doubtless, as long as the world stands, continue to accost the idea that smoking and drinking make any difference with one's physical or mental powers: and those who advise total abstinence from tobacco and alcohol, and temperance in eating, will always be called faddists and fanatics. Yet even in the very papers where the food and drink reformer is sneered at, one is continually coming across incidental remarks which show that men know their excellence can be attained only by right living. Thus the Daily Mail of October 6 contains the report of an interview with the lawn tennis champion of Europe, who, speaking of his recent visit to America, said: "The players in America, too, are always in good training; they rarely smoke or drink, and throughout the winter are hard at play in some form or other." There is nothing new in this. Many hundred years ago the Apostle Paul wrote: "Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible." In their contest only one receives a price; but in the Christian warfare every one may be a champion. Is it seemly that an aspirant for eternal glory should be outdone by one who strives only for fleeting, earthly rewards?

One item in the question on page 677 was overlooked in the answer, and as the omission might convey a wrong impression, attention is called to it here. The question is asked:-

"Can you give me any proof that animals will be living after the Judgment? Is there any promise that they shall have a future life, and be raised from the dead, and their viciousness removed? Is it during the thousand years, or in the new earth, that the wolf, the lamb, the kid, and the lion shall dwell together, and a little child shall lead them?"

It has been made clear that there will be animals in the new earth. The context of the passages which speak of their dwelling together in peace shows this, as does the first chapter of Genesis, which tells the story of the creation of the new earth. But we have no reason to believe that animals will have a resurrection. The Gospel is not preached to the beasts, but to men, and therefore salvation pertains only to men. The beasts, therefore, that will inhabit the new earth, will be a new creation. This is intimated in Ps. civ. 29, 30, where we read concerning the animals, whom God sustains: "Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled; Thou takes 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."

Through the intervention of President Roosevelt, the coal-miners' strike in America has been ended, both parties agreeing to submit their differences to arbitration. Work in the mines will now be resumed, and exorbitant prices that have been demanded for coal will undoubtedly speedily abate. The loss to the coal companies through the strike is estimated at over eleven millions sterling, and a loss in wages to strikers at six millions. Besides this, the loss to the coal-carrying railways is two and a half millions, and the damage to the mines and machinery one and a half millions. When we add to this five millions loss to business firms outside the mining region, we have the enormous total of over twenty-six million pounds lost by this one strike, to say nothing of the loss of life, and other evils that always accompany idleness; and after all, it yet remains to be seen whether the strikers will gain their ends. It ought to be plain to everybody that, considered from a purely financial point of view, strikes do not pay. When we come to the moral aspect of the question, it is plainer still that strikes even at their best are in every particular wholly opposed to the spirit of Christianity. This is not by any means a justification of the course of the mine owners, or other employers; but Christianity never combats evil with evil. Love, which is the fulfilling of law, works no ill to one's neighbour, but strikes are for the sole purpose of causing as much injury as possible.

The latest movement of Russia is attracting the serious attention of the Powers, and promises to open up the whole Eastern Question again. "Put briefly, Russia has offered to Turkey a revival of the Unkier-Skeleusia Treaty.

"This treaty, concluded in June 1833, established an alliance between Russia and Turkey, the treaty being, as set forth in the document, 'the result of the most ardent desire to ensure the duration, the maintenance, and the entire independence of the Sublime Ports.' As a matter of fact it reduced Turkey to the position of the subject State, while carefully concealing the truth. It bound Russia, at the request of Turkey, 'to furnish by land and by sea as many troops and forces as the two contracting parties should deem necessary.' The wording clearly indicated the dependence of Turkey on Russia, for the latter was apparently to be specially called in whenever required." "It gave the control of the Dardanelles to Russia, by stipulating that whenever Russia was at war with any Power, Turkey should close those straits of the warships of that Power. The practical effect was to convert the Black Sea into a purely Russian lake, with an outlet into the Mediterranean. So serious a view did the Powers take of this treaty that they declined to recognise it, and the French and the British fleets appeared in the Dardanelles. As a result of their vigorous action the treaty was abandoned by Russia, and in the end a declaration was accepted by her in 1861, to the effect that the straits were closed to the warships of all powers."

"Now, however, Russia has proposed to Turkey not only to renew it, but to introduce articles which, if possible, would radically strengthen its purport. The actual proposal was made by the Grand Duke Nicholas during his recent visit, which, as events have since shown, the full cognisance and approval of the Russian Government.

"This 'proposal' has caused consternation in Palace and Government circles. There are some important members of the Government who are disposed to entertain it, but the majority of influential people are against it.

"The attitude of the Sultan is not yet known, but what can he do? It is impossible for him, in his present state of embarrassment and inclilnation, to hold out if Russia should hint that her 'proposal' is a 'request'-which it really is,-and in that case he would be obliged to yield."

The Daily Mail, which makes the movement the subject of its leading editorial, under the heading, "A thunder-cloud in the East," says that the news "comes as a grave reminder that the Eastern Question is still with us, perhaps in a more menacing form than at any date since the war of 1877."

The special interest for our readers is the evidence that at a moment's notice, all Europe may be thrown into a state of war; for the effect of Russia's action, should it be carried out, would be similar to that produced by thrusting a stick into a wasps' nest. Meanwhile, those whose interests are wholly in "a better country, that is, an heavenly," can look on the agitation unmoved, except by the thought that it leads to hasten the consummation of their hopes.

The newspapers last week appeared with news columns headed, "Turkish Atrocities;" "Reported Massacre of Christians;" but a reading of the news itself revealed the fact that the "atrocities" consisted simply in the successful repulse of some Macedonian revolutionists. It is stated that "Macedonia is in a state of anarchy through the action of the Bulgarian committees, helped by brigandage." Indeed the atrocities seemed really to have been committed against the Turks. The British Consul-General at Salonika expresses the opinion that the situation in Macedonia is less perilous than it is represented to be. He asserts that the murder by villagers of a Turkish tax-collector and gendarmes who were escorting them, and a similar murder of some Turkish charcoal burners, are really the only serious incidents that have occurred so far in the district of Salonika. He does not believe the situation will have serious consequences except in the event of Macedonian hands receiving support from some Power in the background. This, however, is just the result that the revolutionary committees hope for. There is no probability that the editors of newspapers will cease characterising every act of the Turks as barbarous, and calling the punishment of brigandage the "persecution of Christians;" but it is to be hoped that all who are desirous of being real Christians will be on their guard against joining in the popular clamour, which is not at all in keeping with Christianity, and which brings the term "Christian" into disrepute by applying it to political malcontents and desperadoes.

"Notice to Correspondents" The Present Truth 18, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

Although we do not publish any names in the "Editor's Private Corner," we like always to have both the names and addresses of all who send questions; for sometimes a question cannot be answered through the paper; and whether it can or not, we wish to be able to communicate with the sender. Quite frequently, however, the address is so indistinct that it cannot be made out; and we ask as a special favour that all correspondents will write their name and addresses legibly.

Will all who write asking questions, or making any reference to matter contained in the paper, please address their letters to the Editor of PRESENT TRUTH, and not to the International Tract Society? Please do not fail to note this.

"God's Strength and Repose" The Present Truth 18, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

God's Strength and Repose. -"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He is become my salvation."

It is well to think of the strength of God, that we may trust in Him. He makes Himself known as "the Almighty God." "The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." What confidence those terms inspire,-almighty, eternal, everlasting! "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out there 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 is lacking." "He taketh up the isles as a very little thing." Surely,

"That hand which holds creation up
Shall guard His children well."

For God is not so absorbed or over-occupied with the care of the mighty planets and suns, that He can give no attention to details. He gives the birds their food, and notes the fall of the smallest one of them. He has time to paint the most delicate hues on the tiniest flower, and to furnish the animalcule that is so small that a fly is an elephant in comparison, with the most exquisitely-finished and perfectly-working mechanism of joints. He hears and responds to the cry of the lonely young raven, and the faintest sigh of every one of His children.

"'Tis sweet to muse upon His skill displayed,
Infinite skill in all that He has made!
To trace in nature's most minute design,
The signature and stamp of power Divine,
Contrivance intricate, expressed with ease,
Where unassisted sight no beauty sees;
The shapely limb and lubricated joint
Within the small dimensions of a point;
Muscle and nerve miraculously spun

His mighty work, who speaks and it is done."

With all this care of great and small things, God is never flustered or worried. In the midst of councils involving the welfare of nations and systems of worlds, He can without annoyance or irritation listen to the prattle of the little child insistent on recognition and on having its wants immediately supplied. In the performance of His mightiest works, He is always in a state of calm repose. He is always working and always resting. It is this that is our hope and trust. "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed away from my God? 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. 27-29.

Here we have the secret of rest. God is calm and reposeful, because He has infinite strength. We may share in His rest, if we lay hold on His strength, to make peace with Him. Only the strong can really rest. The person whose muscles are weak and flabby, and whose nerves are all unstrung, never rests even in the intervals of labour. So when the Lord calls us to come and learn of Him, and to find rest for our souls, He means that we shall share His strength. This is evident from the fact that He calls us to take His yoke upon us. When we have His strength, we shall have His rest.

This is true Sabbath-keeping; for he who rests with the Lord, keeps His Sabbath. And this shows us that the Sabbath truth and the keeping of God's Sabbath day bring perfect health and strength for spirit, soul, and body. The Sabbath message is a healing message; and whoever keeps the Sabbath perfectly has perfect health. The man or woman who comes up to the Sabbath day worn out with the toil of the week cannot properly keep the Sabbath. Now since they must do the work, and cannot change its nature or variety or amount, it follows that the command to keep the Sabbath carries with it the promise of strength that will enable one to perform the week's necessary toil, and endure the distractions, and still be fresh and vigorous. This is the secret of the Lord, that is with them that fear Him.

This complete rest of everlasting strength we may have in spite of physical infirmity, as the Apostle Paul experienced. He had a "thorn in the flesh" that irritated him and disturbed his rest, and he besought the Lord thrice that it might be removed. Then came the assurance: "My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." "Most gladly, therefore," said Paul, "will I rather glory in my weakness, that the strength of Christ may rest upon me." When our physical infirmity, even though it be like Paul's thorn, "the messenger of Satan to buffet us," causes the everlasting, almighty power of God to be manifest in our mortal flesh, it brings the rest of God, and gives repose, instead of destroying it.

"The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory" The Present Truth 18, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory. -"Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever," is what the Lord Jesus has taught us to say to our Father in heaven, who, because He is in heaven, rules over all, doing whatsoever He will. Ps. ciii. 19; cxv. 3. But the same Lord Jesus tells us: "The kingdom of God is within you." Luke xvii. 21. Therefore since "the power and the glory" belong to the kingdom, it is evident that all the power and the glory of God will be manifested and revealed in every one in whom God is allowed to reign supreme. When other lords that have had dominion over us, are cast out, and God's kingdom fills us, then the power and the glory that pertain to His kingdom, must also fill us. What a high and holy calling this is? In Christ, "of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." "Thanks be unto God for at His unspeakable gift!" May the grace of God, and the gift by grace, abound more and more in our hearts.

October 30, 1902

"Who Can Serve God? Joshua xxiv. 14-25" The Present Truth 18, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

(Joshua xxiv. 14-25.)²⁸1

The question is not, Who will serve God? but, Who can serve God? That is a very important question. A failure to understand who can serve God, is the reason why many people continue in useless attempts to serve Him.

Joshua had recounted to all Israel the goodness of God to them and to their fathers, and concluded with these words: "Now fear the Lord, and served Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seemed evil to you to serve the Lord, choose ye 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."

Then all the people answered, and 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, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way and wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed; and the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites, which dwelt in the land; therefore will we also serve the Lord; for He is our God."

That was a good resolution. How shocked they must have been, therefore, when Joshua turned on them with the assertion: "Ye cannot serve the Lord; for He is an holy God."

Only such as are holy can serve a holy God. That is plain enough if we but stop to think for a moment. To serve Him is to do His will; His will is holy; therefore whoever does His will must be holy. An unholy person certainly does not serve the Lord, and cannot as long as he remains unholy; for his unholiness is most displeasing to God.

Are there then only a select few who can serve God? Yes; for all of God's people are "the elect," or the selected ones:-Christ says to His disciples, "I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should bring forth much fruit, and that your fruit should remain"-and the number of them is very small compared with the number of wicked. But this does not mean that only a few have the privilege of serving God if they will. "Whosoever will" may take of the water of life freely; and the assurance is, "To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are." Whoever fully yields himself, soul, body, and spirit, to God, is accepted by Him as His, and is made holy, so that he can serve Him.

Christ has chosen us, that we should bear much fruit to the glory of God. But He says that the tree must be made good, before it can bring forth good fruit. Matt. xii. 33. "A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." "A good man out of the good treasure of this heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil." Luke vi. 43, 45. So when we are cleansed by the Lord we become "trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."

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The law of God is the transcript of His character. Wherefore "the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good." Rom. vii. 14. To keep the law of God is to serve Him; but not everybody can keep the law. The latter part of the seventh chapter of Romans pictures the unsuccessful efforts of an unregenerate man to keep the law of God. Then comes the comforting assurance: "What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, 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."

So it is not a difficult matter to serve the Lord, after all. Then what about the statement that a good many people try to serve God, and fail? The answer is found in the form of the question: they simply try to serve God, which is something that God has never asked anybody to do; He asks us actually to serve Him. We must do His will, not try to do it; and to the end that we may really serve Him, He puts His laws into our mind, and writes them in our heart. Heb. viii. 10. This is done for all who accept Him as their God, and who fully yield to Him. "His commandment is life everlasting;" therefore when His law is in our heart, it follows that it is our life; it controls our actions, instead of our attempting to put it into action. When we yield to righteousness as completely as we have to sin, we shall find that there is a greater power in righteousness than there is in sin; for "greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."

But in order that we may experience the perfect working of this power we must not be partial in the law, choosing one portion and rejecting another. We must receive it all, and be willing for it all to have its effect in our lives. Thus, with God working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, we shall come to know the blessedness of the assurance, "His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Satan's Offer" The Present Truth 18, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

"Was it possible for Satan to give Christ all the kingdoms of the world? If not, wherein was the temptation?"

We read that Jesus was tempted by the devil, and that one of the temptations consisted in taking Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showing Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and saying, "All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me;" therefore there cannot be any doubt about the fact. We know that the offer was a temptation; and since it was a temptation, it is evident that Satan had something to offer. To find out just what it was, is not a matter of mere curiosity, or of trifling importance, for Christ suffered for us, being tempted, and His temptations are what we have to meet. He met them, and resisted them, in order that we might have the victory.

In 1 John v. 19, we are told that "the whole world lieth in the evil one." In 2 Cor. iv. For, the one who blinds the minds of those who believe not-who is certainly the devil-is called "the god of this world." Hence it is evident that Satan has a very definite hold upon "this present evil world." Indeed, he has full control of it; but he cannot keep it for ever; for "the world passeth away, and the lust thereof."

Satan could have given Christ just as much as he himself possessed, and no more,-that is, "this present evil world." Do you say that there could be no temptation in that?-Millions of men have bartered their souls for only a small portion of it. The temptation that came to Christ was exactly the same, except in degree, as that which caused Esau to sell his birthright, and Balaam to try to curse Israel. It is the temptation that comes to every man, to give up the unseen for the seen, the world to come for this world.

When the world was created, perfect and glorious, it was given to man. Man was made king-God's viceroy on earth. But men proved recreant to his trust, and basely sold himself to Satan, who of course thereby gained possession of the dominion. Satan's usurpation of the earth at once corrupted it; but God never acquiesced in the transaction. God, in giving the earth to man, did not give up His own right as Over-Lord, and therefore when Satan overthrew man, and seized his kingdom, he did not in the least degree diminish God's right. Satan is indeed god of this world; but this present evil world is not the world that God designed for man's dwelling-place, and it is not what Christ came to acquire for man.

No one can ever get a better title than he himself possesses. Now God is the "possessor of heaven and earth," and He alone can give a valid title. Satan is a thief, and therefore whoever receives goods at his hands must know that they will sooner or later be confiscated. But this is just what the majority of men never think of. They grasp after the glittering prize that Satan holds out, not recognising the difference between what only seems to be and what really is. Christ always had a clear perception of things that differ, and hence He was able to resist Satan's allurement.

The same temptation came to Moses, and was resisted. "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; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." Heb. xi. 24-26. So "he endured as seeing Him who is invisible."

This temptation comes to every person in some form. Do you want to know something of the strength of that which

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Christ resisted?-Then recall the times when you have had the choice between the gratification of appetite and passion-the things that pertain to this world-and the opportunity to develop mind and body, and to be of greater use in the world. Let every one think what opportunities for gaining knowledge he has let slip, simply through love of ease and selfish indulgence, and he will know something of what Jesus resisted for us.

But you will say that one really gets nothing in the end by this exchange. After we have gratified the flesh, we have nothing to show for it; there remains nothing but weakness, weariness, disgust, regrets, aches and pains, and the fear of death. Exactly, but the thing looked attractive enough before we indulged in it; and we may be sure that Satan made the kingdoms of this world look very attractive to Christ. He showed Him all the glory of them. Do not imagine that there is no parallel between the lust of the flesh, and the kingdoms offered to Christ. To be sure there was no appearance of grossness in what was offered Him,-only the glory appeared,-but the grossness was all there, but concealed. And there was never evil thing held out as a bait to man, that was not made to appear good.

Think what the offer meant to Christ-to be the leader of the world having the ears of all the people. How it would be suggested to Him that here was the opportunity of His lifetime. For just one act of compromise He could get into a position where He could present the truth to the whole world, and thus, it would be argued, the end would justify the means. He could be lifted up above the world, without enduring the cross. Ah, there was the secret of the temptation: the prospect of escaping the dreaded, cruel cross. Think how all men naturally shun the cross, and seek to escape it; think how many times you have neglected duty for pleasure,-the pleasure of sin,-and you will be able to comprehend a portion of the temptation that assailed Jesus.

But Christ, like Moses, had respect unto the recompense of the reward. With all the pomp and power, the glory and glitter of the world before Him, He deliberately turned from it to choose the cross of shame. The myriads of warriors moving at His command to overcome opposition to His will, He resigned for the company of twelve men of obscure birth. Through death He opened the way of life; whereas if He had yielded to Satan's temptation He would have had only the pleasures of sin "for a season," and then eternal death.

"He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." In the way of self-denial and the cross there is everlasting satisfaction; while in the way of self-gratification there is emptiness. The earth desolate through the thousand years between the first and second resurrection, with Satan confined to it (See Rev. xx.), shows what the kingdom really was, which seemed so dazzling as Satan spread it out to the view of Christ. And that shows what everyone gets who chooses this world. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

OVERCOMING THE WORLD

Christ conquered, in order that we might conquer. His victory is ours, if we fully accept Him. "This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith." "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ;" therefore to meet the temptation of the small portion of "this present evil world" that is offered to us we have the strength that met and conquered the whole of it. Thus we are "more than conquerors through Him that loved us."

Just one thought in closing,-a bit of practical help in resisting "fleshly lusts that war against the soul." Let us say, for example, that you are very hungry, and that along with the simple, wholesome food that your system really requires, there is set before you some dainty, pleasing to the palate, but not helpful to one who strives for the mastery. Now stop a moment and consider the end. It seems at this moment as if you want that thing more than anything else in the world; but if you listen to wisdom you will know that if you will but wait a little while, until you have satisfied your legitimate wants with good food, you will not care for this tempting morsel. In short, put yourself at once on the further side of the temptation, and you have won. You put it behind your back. We escape the sinful attractions of this world, by transporting ourselves by faith in the future, eternal world, laying hold of the power of the world to come. Let us ever pray that the god of this world may not have power to blind our eyes by the glitter of this present evil world, so that we shall not be able to discern the real good from the false show.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Conversion and Falling Away" The Present Truth 18, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

"I am anxious to know what is really the teaching of Scripture concerning the falling away of the converted. It seems to me that in the Scriptures is clearly taught that a renewed man, while in this present imperfect state of existence, is not only subject to the allurements of temptation, but liable to lapse and gradually drift back, and ultimately find himself again in the depths of iniquity. A truly converted person, according to the creed of the church in whose teachings I have been indoctrinated, can never ultimately be lost. He may fall into the water, but will never remain in it till drowned; he may make hair-breadth escapes, but escapes in every case are inevitable. Such doctrine seems to me opposed to the clear teaching of Scripture, which never speaks of the faithlessness on the part of Christians as being due to a lack of genuineness in relation to their conversion. On the contrary, such express utterances as, "Be thou faithful and the death," and, "It is impossible to renew such (as fall away) to repentance," of necessity involve the possibility of falling away from "the truth as it is in Jesus."

In discussing a question of this kind we need to guard against find-spun theological theories, and to keep to simple, practical truth. The Scriptures set the truth forth very clearly, in the abundant warnings against being led away by the error of the wicked and falling from our own steadfastness.

We can settle this question at once by referring to the beginning, before there was sin. Of the god of this world, Satan, it is said: "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." Eze. xxviii. 14, 15. If the pure and holy angels, even the chief of them all, the one who stood closest to God, and put the seal perfection, could fall, it is evident that men who are walking with God can fall. Adam was the son of God, yet he fell; we also, although sons of God, are not any more beyond the possibility of falling again.

Those who claim that the same can never fall away, always say, when a good man apostatises, that he had never been truly converted. Thus they throw doubt upon the genuineness of everybody's conversion, and lead many timid souls to lose their confidence in God. But this false claim can easily be met. It will be admitted that the just live by faith,-that the one who has faith is just before God. The claim, therefore, that a really righteous man cannot fall away, is the same as saying that it is impossible to give up his faith. Now take the case of Peter walking on the water. We know that he did

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actually walk by faith; yet he fell. Would anyone say that the fact of his fall shows that he had not really walked on the water, but only seemed to do so?

One writer is quoted as saying: "One does not cross the bridge leading to life, and by-and-by return by another to the shores of death. Once passed from death to life, he is alive, and will never return into death." That sounds very fine; but it lacks proof. Judas, who at the last betrayed Jesus, was one of the twelve who received "power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases," and who "went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing everywhere." Matt. x. 1-5; Luke ix. 1-6. A man cannot carry life to others unless he himself has it; yet Judas went at last to perdition. We must not flatter ourselves that a like thing cannot happen to us; for if we do we shall surely fall.

But what about Christ's statement that no one can pluck His sheep out of His hand? It is true; but they are in His hand only because they choose to be, and can leave of their own free will whenever they choose.

Well, at any rate we know that "whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God, keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." 1 John v. 18. Yes, it is true. "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. But note that it does not say, "whosoever has been born of God." But, "Whosoever is born." The Christian's relation to God is always that of a newborn babe no matter how much he may grow. The good seed is the Word of God; and it is only as this word abides in us that we live. If we neglect or reject the word it any time, we shall die as surely as if we stopped eating the food that nourishes our bodies. And here we have an exact parallel; for our daily bread is given us for the purpose of teaching us how to obtain life from the word; and it is just as reasonable to say that a living man cannot starve himself to death as to say that a live Christian cannot become dead in trespasses and sins.

"Thou standest by faith; be not high-minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He spare not thee." Rom. xi. 20, 21. No one can question the genuineness of Paul's conversion; yet he declared that he was obliged to wage a continual warfare with himself, keeping his body under, and bringing it into subjection, lest he should become a castaway.

Read the awful warning in Heb. vi. 4-6. "It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify unto themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame." Surely there is no spiritual state possible in this life, higher than that here described; yet it is plainly indicated that men may fall from it. There would be no sense in saying, "If they fall away it is impossible to renew them again to repentance," if they could not fall away. And then the words, "But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you" (verse 9), show that it is possible for those to whom the apostle writes to have the same experience.

But is this possibility of falling away to perdition always too haunt the saints of God? Will the redeemed throughout eternity ever be in danger of losing their estate, as the fallen angels did? Not by any means; and the reason will be that before they reach that state, they will have been so thoroughly tested,-will have had such experiences with every sort of temptation, that nothing can come to them that they have not already met and resisted. When the restoration of all things is accomplished, rebellion will have been for ever wiped out of the universe.

And even here we are not to be "haunted" by the fear of falling away, although we are ever to keep in mind the possibility of it, and the danger that besets us. We are to know that we are safe in the everlasting arms as long as we do not take ourselves out. God "is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy," (Jude 24); and this suggestion of the possibility of falling is our assurance that we shall be "able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

"Money an Idol" The Present Truth 18, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

A millionaire, who had been born a poor boy, and whose money was now his idol, after showing his grand house and beautiful grounds to a Quaker, said, "And the almighty dollar has done it all! What cannot money do?" "Ah, friend," replied the Quaker, "thou remindest me of the Israelites, who worshipped the golden calf, saying it brought them of the land of Egypt; when really it hindered them rather than helped them on the journey to the Promised Land; and may-be thy dollars may do the same to thee."

"For Little Ones. Joseph in Prison" The Present Truth 18, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

In our last lesson we learned that Joseph was sold by the Ishmaelites to Potiphar, one of the officers of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He did not waste his time mourning, though it was a bitter trial to him to be separated from his father, knowing how Jacob would grieve for him. But he put his trust in the God of his fathers, and did with his might told all that his hands found to do.

God was with Joseph, and made everything that he did to prosper, and blessed the house of Potiphar for his sake. Potiphar saw this, and gave him charge over all that he had. So Joseph was a witness to the true God, in that dark heathen land. He was doing the work that God meant Abraham and his seed to do when He called him out. His promise was, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." This was seen in the history of Joseph, who was an object lesson of Christ, the true Seed.

But Potiphar's wife was angry with Joseph, because she could not get him to do wrong. He never forgot that God was with him, and when he was tempted he said, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" So Potiphar's wife told lies to her husband, about Joseph, and he was put into prison and kept in hard bondage: "his feet they hurt with fetters, he was laid in irons." Ps. cv. 18.

But God was with Joseph in the prison, and the keepers soon saw that he was not like one of the common prisoners. Here, just as in Potiphar's household, he did with his might whatever work he found to do, and soon he was put over all the prisoners, "and what soever they did there, he was the doer of it."

God was preparing Joseph for a very great and important work, and the training that he got as a slave and a prisoner was the very best he could have to fit him for it. Joseph did not see all this at the time, but he trusted that God was leading him, and worked at whatever came to hand, without murmuring at his hard lot. No doubt he sometimes thought of his dreams, and wondered how they could ever be fulfilled.

Joseph was not wrapped up in his own troubles. All that he had suffered had given him tender sympathy for others, instead of making him selfish. He was quick to see when others were in trouble, and to try to help them.

One morning he noticed that two of the prisoners looked very unhappy, and he asked them kindly, "Why look ye so sadly to-day?" He did not know that these kind words would open the door of his prison, and set him over all the land of Egypt.

The two men to whom he spoke were servants of Pharaoh's household, his chief butler, and baker. They had each had a dream, and they were troubled because they did not know the meaning of their dreams. God had given Joseph understanding to interpret dreams, so he told each one the meaning of his dream.

The chief butler dreamed that he saw a vine with three branches, and it budded and blossomed and brought forth grapes, and he took the grapes and pressed out the juice into Pharaoh's cup that was in his hand, and gave it to Pharaoh to drink. Joseph told him that the three branches meant three days, and within that time Pharaoh would restore him to his old place in his household. Then asked the butler to remember him when he should be brought out of the prison, and to speak to Pharaoh about him, because he had not done anything wrong, but was shut up in prison without any just cause.

When the chief baker heard that the butler's dream had so good an interpretation, he told his dream also. He held three baskets of bread on his head, and in the top basket were "all manner of bake-meats" for Pharaoh; and the birds came and eat them out of the basket that was on his head. Joseph said that the three baskets were three days, and within three days Pharaoh would take off his head, and hang him on a tree, and the birds should eat his flesh.

The third day from this time was Pharaoh's birthday, and he made a feast to all his the servants, and he remembered

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his chief butler and baker who were in the prison. Then he restored the butler to his office, but the baker he hanged, just as Joseph had said. But the butler, as soon as he was out of prison, forgot all about Joseph for a long time. Yet in all these things God was working out a wonderful purpose for the good of the whole world. What this was we shall learn next week.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

Last week another negro was burned at the stake in Arkansas (U.S.A.); yet we hear nothing of "European intervention," as would be the case if there would come news of some hypothetical "Turkish atrocities." The Bible teaches that persecution of the saints will be rife at the coming of the Lord; and therefore we know that these affairs in America, in the cases of possible or probable criminals, are only the preliminary training for the revival of the horrors of the Inquisition.

A Bill has been introduced into the French Chamber of Deputies, ordering that all churches now recognised and partially supported by State subventions be separated from the State. The Bill included a denunciation of the Concordat and all compacts between the State and religious bodies, whether Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish, the suspension of the Budget of Public Worship, and of the Embassy at the Vatican, and application of the funds thus obtained to old age pensions. While France is taking steps to make the separation between Church and State complete, most other countries are making the union more complete.

It is reported from Sydney that the Narandera Meat Preserving Works have purchased 120,000 sheep at 6d. to 1s. each, the owners being unable to keep them, on account of the absence of fodder through the drought. It is well known that disease is always prevalent among poorly-nourished stock, and it may safely be taken for granted that the sheep that are slaughtered to keep them from starving to death are not by any means in the best condition. People who eat mutton this winter must not think much about it, if they wish to enjoy it. A far better way, however, would be to think of it so seriously as not to eat it.

In the Clerkenwell Police Court the other day a father complained to the magistrate that his son, aged ten, was beyond control. When asked what he had done to correct the lad, the man said that he had beaten him with the open hand, and had used a cane. The magistrate said: "Now, take my advice. Return home with the boy, and beat him well with a strap. It is no good beating a boy with the open hand." Then, addressing the boy, he told him that if he were brought up again he would be severely birched; and in order to impress him with the meaning of this threat, the gaoler, at the magistrate's direction, showed the boy a formidable rod, and whizzed about his ears.

Not a word of censure to the father, or of intimation that he was the one who was most in need of the rod. A child of ten years may certainly be a tartar; but never without the parent being to blame. No more humiliating confession of weakness and incapacity can be made, than for a man to say that he cannot control his ten-year-old son. It is a disgrace for any parent to acknowledge that he, or she, cannot control a child: yet it is no uncommon thing to find children not half ten years old, who are beyond the control of their parents, and the parents have no thought of shame. Disobedience to parents is given as a characteristic of the last days; but the blame always rests with the parents.

At a recent inquest held on the body of a baby that had died from gastric irritation, one of the physicians from St. Thomas's Hospital stated that a very large number of children suffered from intestinal irritation through constantly sucking the so-called "baby comforter," which is so well known as to need no description. This gets very dirty through being dropped, and illness is a result. In short, the baby is poisoned. The coroner said to the jury: "Well, gentlemen, I suppose you will call this a natural death. A very convenient term for such cases as these." Quite right, too: a natural death from an unnatural habit. Of course, many habits thrive in spite of it, just as they do in spite of much worse treatment; but that only shows the strength of vitality, and does not justify the wrong habits.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has been telling a story that illustrates the working of altogether too much of what is called education. He was examining a school, and finding that ecology was in the list of subjects taught, he asked the boys what they had learned of it. A bright lad answered that he learned that ruminants were vegetarians. On being asked what the word "ruminants" meant, the boy answered, "A class of animals;" but when he was asked if he had ever seen one, he replied that he thought not, and that he would not know one if he did see it. Yet, said the Archbishop, the school was in the country, and the boy must have passed half-a-dozen cows that morning. But he had not been taught to think, or to attach any meaning to the words that he learned parrot-like from the book. The more one gets of such education, the worse it is for him.

The Daily Mail recently published statements from several men who are between ninety and one hundred years of age, as to the secret of their longevity. Without exception they attributed it to simple living-plain diet, and plenty of fresh air and exercise. Abstinence from intoxicants and tobacco is also emphasised by each one. The Christian World, in referring to these cases, says that "all fail to recognise that year by year the possibilities of living such lives grow less and less." If it had said probabilities, it would have been quite right, for the people are in general manifesting more and more disregard and even contempt for life, and by increased self-indulgence, and the study of new ways to gratify the desires of the flesh, show that they are anxious to use up the gift as rapidly as possible. But the possibilities are as great now as ever. The way of life is as free to all as ever it was, and whosoever will may take of the water of life freely. The words of the Lord: "Ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee," are as good now as when they were first uttered.

The Rev. Dr. Cobb, who has been officiating several years at St. Ethelburga's, Bishopsgate, said recently, in a noon-day discourse, that he was "appalled by the dominant paganism of this great city," and that, "with a dozen splendid exceptions, his parishioners took not the least interest in the religious work of the parish." What is still worse, he said that it is "much the same throughout the city." In view of this "dominating paganism," he declared that peoples "idea of Christianity must be of a very low order, if they could think that England was justified to-day in calling herself a Christian country." The strange part of the matter is that any Christian could ever have imagined that this or any other country is a Christian country; and the sad feature is that so many who like to be known as Christians do not know Christianity from paganism.

A little story that recently came to our notice throws light on some "modern educational methods," and goes well with the Archbishop of Canterbury's story of the country boy who had never seen a ruminant. A text book on physiology, which was written for the purpose of enabling children to learn some truths about themselves, and not for the purpose of stuffing them with technical terms, was handed to a head master for examination. After reading it, he replied that the book would be an excellent thing to put into the hands of parents or any others who had the training of children, and wished to teach them right habits of living, but that it would be of no use in preparing them for examinations. That speaks volumes. The children are drilled with reference to an examination; and if they can pass that, after cramming, it is considered of secondary or no importance whether they understand anything.In fact, thinking is directly discouraged on the part of both teacher and pupil, by much of what is called education.

Catholic papers are indignantly protesting against what they call the irreverence, or even insults, to the Pope, in making him a character on the stage, as is done in the dramatisation of Hall Caine's book, "The Eternal City." They think it scandalous that such liberty should be taken with the Pope. Yet for many years the Passion Play has been a fixed institution among Roman Catholics, and in that, Jesus Christ Himself is represented, or rather misrepresented, on the stage. Is this protest against the "indignity" offered to the Pope by representing him on the stage, an indication that his person is held more sacred among Catholics than is the person of the Lord?

We are glad again to acknowledge the receipt of ?2 from "A friend," to be applied as will "best help forward the dear Lord's work," and we join in the prayer that He may "accept and add His blessing."

"Much More" The Present Truth 18, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

"Much More." -This may and should always be the Christians watchword. Read the fifth chapter of Romans, and you will see that however great the need, God gives much more. However much we have received from Him, He still has much more to bestow. Now since the neglect to receive what God has for us indicates ingratitude and lack of appreciation, it follows that the true Christian can never think that he has all there is to have in any line. There is no place for one can rest satisfied with his attainments. He must always be "reaching forth unto those things which are before," knowing that however much God has done for him, He is always ready and waiting to do as much more, and when He has done that, to do as much more, and so on indefinitely. Whether it be holiness, wisdom and knowledge, or health and strength, we must always expect much more from God, who "is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask for think," and is as willing as He is able.

"The Power of 'The Redemption that Is in Christ Jesus'" The Present Truth 18, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

After the deliverance of the Israelites at the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel sang an inspired song of triumph, at the beginning of which are the following words: "The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation." That which God set His hand to do with Israel was not accomplished, for we are told that they could not enter into His rest because of unbelief. Yet the rest remains, and "some must enter therein;" therefore the Lord has "set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people," the true seed of Abraham, that is, all who belong to Christ, and bring them to His own dwelling place.

The prophecy of this is in the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, where we are told that the Lord shall "shake His hand over the River, and smite it into seven streams, and cause men to march over dry shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people," "like as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt."

Immediately following this, in the twelfth chapter, in the song of triumph that the redeemed shall sing in that day, we have a repetition of the passage quoted from the song of Moses: "The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; and He is become my salvation."

In the fifteenth chapter of Revelation this redeemed company are brought to view standing before the throne of God, the place to which God would have brought Israel if they had been faithful. "And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb."

This connects the experience of God's people in the last days with that of ancient Israel, showing that the power by which we are delivered from sin and death is the power by which the Red Sea was divided. Israel sang the song on the shores of the Red Sea while still in the wilderness. We also may now in this wilderness of sin sing the song of victory, because our faith is the victory that has overcome the world. "The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion."

"Light in Darkness" The Present Truth 18, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

The Scriptures tell us that God "covereth Himself with light, as with a garment" and "dwelleth in light that no man can approach unto." Yet in Ps. xcvii. we read that "clouds and darkness are round about Him." These apparently contradictory statements are brought together and harmonised in Ps. cxxxix: "Even the darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee."

This does not mean merely that God can see in the dark; but darkness and light are to Him who made them the same thing. This He demonstrated at the creation, when He "commanded the light to shine out of darkness," and again when He caused the dark cloud to give light to the children of Israel "There was the cloud in darkness, yet gave it light by night."

The truth that "the light shineth in darkness" and "out of darkness" is shown in all nature. It is from the black thunder cloud that the vivid lightnings shoot forth. The black coal, which is stored-up sunshine, yields the glaring gas and fire-light. Blackness is but absorption of light, even as whiteness is reflected light. The thick cloud is itself the evidence of sunshine, for it is the sun's rays that draw up the vapours which form the clouds that sometimes veil its glory before they can descend in blessings upon the thirsty land.

This is not merely a bit of scientific curiosity. The story of the clouds and darkness that gave light, and which we see repeated in some form every day, was "written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." The lesson that we are to remember is that "the light shineth in darkness," and the darkness cannot hinder it. It is to keep us from ever being depressed by clouds and darkness. It is to show was the reality of the promise that our darkness shall be as the noonday. Isa. lviii. 10. Though we walk in darkness and have no light, we shall stay on our God, who is light, and so even the valley of the shadow of death will have no terrors for us. Even there our path will be as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

"The House of Bread" The Present Truth 18, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

The House of Bread. -Bethlehem, the town where Jesus was born, means "the House of Bread," for He is the living Bread that came down from heaven to give life to the world. The tabernacle was a "House of Bread," for in it the Lord's table was always spread with cakes of showbread. Every house of God should be a house of bread, a place where hungry souls can come and feed upon the Bread of life. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?" If we feed upon Christ, the heavenly Bread, then wherever we go we shall carry Him with us to make us a blessing, to feed and give life to others.

One Bread. -"We being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread." This was the meaning of the twelve separate cakes of bread. It was all "one bread" representing Jesus the true Bread; for it was in twelve cakes, one for each tribe, to show the children of Israel that they were meant by God to be the bearers of that bread to the world. The bread had to be changed every Sabbath in order to be kept fresh. If we would be ever ready to feed others with the Bread of Life, we must have constantly a fresh supply for ourselves. And the Sabbath is especially the day when we may receive life and blessing that shall make us a blessing to others through the week.

November 6, 1902

"The Bruising of Satan" The Present Truth 18, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

"And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." Rom. xvi. 20.

As you read that, stop and meditate upon it a moment: a vivid picture is here presented before us. God shall bruise Satan under your feet; he is to go down, and we are to stand. That thought must necessarily suggest another in Ephesians vi. 11-13: "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

A WRESTLING MATCH

We have here a wrestling match, a contest, not with flesh and blood,-we have no enemies among mankind, and are not to reckon any man upon earth as our enemy,-but against principalities and powers, wicked spirits, the rulers of darkness. Stand, therefore, that ye may be able to withstand, and having done all, "to stand." The great thing is to stand, and to remain standing. When a person is wrestling, his great struggle is to stand, and to make his antagonist fall.

We wrestle, not with darkness, but with the rulers of darkness. We go right to head quarters and get the victory. "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet;" he will be down, and we shall stand and tread upon him.

It is worthwhile to stop a moment, and think of that picture. The reason why some of us never get the victory, is because we never come to close quarters with the enemy; we are content with a little skirmish on the outskirts. We often hear people talk about being discouraged and in darkness. But if we go right to the rulers of the darkness, and wrestle with them and overcome them, darkness cannot trouble us. It is no use fighting with a few of the underlings; we must come to close quarters with the chiefs, and get the victory over them. It is no use cutting off some of the branches; we must destroy the root. God shall tread down Satan under your feet. We have a wrestling contest, and in the strength of God we shall stand, and Satan will be bruised.

THE VICTORY FORETOLD

Our minds must necessarily recall the first promise, given before man had yet been driven out of the Garden of Eden. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise by head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Here we have the same thing, the bruising of Satan, and treading him under foot. The heel will get some wounding in the process, but that is not a vital part, while the head of the enemy will suffer, and that means its complete destruction. For that old serpent of whom this was spoken, is "the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." He is to be bruised in the vital part, the head. If you can once get your foot upon a serpent's head and tread upon it, it is all over with it.

THE FULNESS OF THE SEED

We sometimes stop half way in a truth, and so miss the blessedness of it. We get our minds so absorbed with the first sight, that we miss the fulness. So in reading the promise to the seed of the woman, we stop with the one individual, Jesus of Nazareth. Christ is the Seed of the woman; that is a great truth that we must always keep in mind. He is the Seed of Abraham,-"thy Seed, which is Christ." But when we get that truth, which we cannot keep too fast hold of, we are in danger of missing the blessedness of it by not taking in the fulness of that Seed. The same chapter which shows that Christ is the Seed of Abraham (Gal. iii.), shows also that "if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

"He saith not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy Seed, which is Christ." It is all one seed, one new man in Christ, but it is multiplied indefinitely. Take a single grain of wheat, the figure that Christ used: "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit," it multiplies. God gives to every seed its own body. Put one kernel into the ground and you get many, but it is all the same seed,-one seed.

So when we go back to the original promise that the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent, we do not want to leave ourselves out. We cannot think too much of Christ and the promises made to Him, but we must not think that because they apply to Him they do not apply to us. Our belief in Jesus Christ is to no purpose, unless it makes us one with Him, so that every promise made to Him applies equally to us. We are made joint-heirs with Him, and therefore nothing comes to Him but what we share. He will not even take possession of His kingdom until we are ready to share it with Him. He sits meanwhile upon His Father's throne, waiting until His enemies be made His footstool, and He treads them all under His feet.

ALREADY VICTORIOUS

This fact may give us courage, and shut up a loophole by which some might try to get away from the blessedness of this text. God shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. We incline to put some space of time in there, and would make it a long while, and think: This victory over Satan we cannot have now, for He is not yet under our feet. But Christ sits expecting until His enemies be put under His feet. Heb. x. 12. Has not He the victory? He had this same wrestling that we have, and He triumphed over principalities and powers, and spoiled them, and made an open show them. Yet He is still waiting: but while He is waiting, He is reigning; "for He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet." 1 Cor. xv. 25. So we also, while we have this promise, may in the meantime have the same power over Satan that Christ has, absolute mastery over him.

THE WAY OUT OF TEMPTATION

We have no ground for acquiescence in our weakness, or for despondency over it, because of that word shortly. We might just as well think that Christ has not at the present time power over Satan, because He is waiting until His foes be made His footstool. But He had such mastery over the devil that when He would no longer endure his presence and his temptation, He said, "Get thee hence, Satan!" He could not stand Satan's temptation any longer; it was "past all endurance," as we often say; and that was His way out. We sometimes feel that we can no longer endure the trials and temptations of Satan, and with us that means succumbing; but Christ, when He could not stand it any longer, completely triumphed. It is not surprising that immediately after this He went throughout Galilee and Judea healing all who were oppressed by the devil, and delivering them from his power, and casting out evil spirits. The power that He had over the evil spirits was the power that He had over the devil in the wilderness.

When Christ sent forth His disciples to do the same work, and gave them power over all devils, He said that they should tread upon serpents. This idea of treading down the enemy is all through the Scriptures. We have it in the ninety-first Psalm, in God's promises to those who abide in Him: "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and dragon shalt thou trample under feet."

THE SEED OF THE WOMANóTHE SON OF MAN

Every promise made to Christ is for us in Him. The seed of the woman is to bruise the serpent's head. Who is he that is born of woman?-Man. Christ chose always to make Himself known by one title, "the Son of man." We are too much afraid of lowering the dignity of Christ by associating ourselves with Him. A person who has been ill-treated, kicked and outled until there is no spirit left in him has a cringing manner, and a fearful disposition; he will hardly presume to take what is freely offered to him. We have shown something of this disposition towards the Lord, and have unconsciously allowed the spirit of the Papacy to dominate us to the extent that we have set up Christ upon a pedestal, and have hardly dared to draw near for fear of compromising Him, and lowering His dignity. But He Himself has drawn nearer to us, making Himself eternally one with us, emptying Himself, and making Himself of no reputation, calling Himself by our name, that we may know that we are one with Him.

"The Son of man" is not a distinctive title belonging to Christ alone. We also are the sons of men, the seed of the woman. And Christ became the Son of man, the Second Adam, the Seed of the woman, that He might redeem us so that we in Him might receive the adoption of sons,-that we might be men indeed,-for outside of Him there is no real, true manhood. This promise therefore is to us: "the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet." Every one who is in Christ shares in that blow that destroy Satan for ever; each one of us must get our foot on his head. In the very beginning Satan was told that man whom he had caused to fall should overcome, and put his foot on his head. Though fallen, he should rise again and stand upright, while Satan should fall and be destroyed for ever.

It is the spirit of Satan that works in the children of disobedience. Eph. ii. 2. He has got right into man, so that we inherit sinful flesh, and we have to wrestle with him within us. For this cause

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"Jesus Christ is come in the flesh," to put enmity against Satan, and to give power to overcome him. It is not we that do the bruising, but God: "The God of peace shall bruise Satan," but He will use our feet to do it with. And that does not vary the contest from what God originally intended; for when man in the beginning was set over the works of God's hands, all the power that he had was through the presence of God in him. "It is God that worketh in you." It was when he came short of the glory of God that he lost the dominion. He was nothing but dust, and all power that he had was God animating the dust, keeping Himself in the background, and letting man be glorified in Him.

AGGRESSIVE WARFARE

Thus you see you can make what you choose of that word shortly. "According to your faith be it unto you." You can bring it just as close as you please, and let the victory be now, just as well as to allow some considerable space to intervene. The eighteenth psalm is full of the thought expressed by our text, and shows conclusively that it is not merely defensive warfare against the enemy that the children of God are engaged in. "For by Thee I have run through a troop, and by my God I have leaped over a wall." This suggests offensive, aggressive warfare, leaping into the enemy's stronghold, chasing and killing him. "For it is God that girdeth me with strength, and subdueth [literally, treadeth down] the people under me." "They are fallen under my feet." Christ said of Himself that the Father had given Him authority to execute judgment, "because He is the Son of man." John v. 26. But in the one hundred and forty-ninth psalm we read that "to execute upon them the judgment written, this honour have all His saints."

God has never acquiesced in any of Satan's usurpations. He has never recognised that man does not now have the dominion that was originally given to him by his Creator. So whoever has faith in God's gift will even now have the dominion that God gave to man, and triumph over the devil, even as Christ did, demonstrating that God has not withdrawn His gift, nor transferred it to Satan. We can cast off all the chains with which he has bound us, physical, mental, or spiritual, proclaiming our liberty in the name of the Lord, and can even pursue and bind him.

"And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible." What they do to obtain a corruptible crown and the applause of men, through the mastery of their antagonist, we are to do in order that we may obtain the incorruptible crown which the complete victory over Satan will assure to us. They are "temperate in all things." Therefore we also are to keep under our body and bring it into subjection. So may we not be content with barely getting inside the kingdom, but as "more than conquerors," have "an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Rock of Our Salvation" The Present Truth 18, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

THE CHURCH'S FOUNDATION

"Having been greatly helped by the answers given in the 'Editor's Private Corner,' I should feel obliged if you could help me with a little study of Matt. xvi. 18, 19. My chief difficulty is this: 'Thou art Peter, and on this rock will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' A little explanation would greatly oblige me and several other readers of PRESENT TRUTH."

Let us first read those two verses in their connection. "When Jesus came into the coasts of C?sarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

In this sentence, "Thou art Peter, and on this Rock I will build My church," there is a play on words, which makes the statement very striking and clear, where it is recognised. The word "Peter" signifies a stone. The word, however, is entirely different from "Rock." The Greek word for "Peter," petros, is masculine, while the word for "rock" is feminine, petra. This word signifies, "not loose stones, but masses of live rock."-Liddle & Scott's Lexicon. It indicates rocks "such as run out from the beach; a ledge or shelf of rock;" and "there is no example in good authors of petra the sense of petros, a stone."

From this little study of words it will be seen that instead of a comparison between Peter and the rock, there is a sharp contrast. A loose stone, as Peter, petros, would not do for a foundation; nothing could be built on it; but the great ledge, petra, jutting out into the sea, against which the mighty waves dashed themselves and repair broken and defeated, is just the right foundation for a building.

Now who is this Rock? There is abundant answer in the Scriptures. The children of Israel in the wilderness "drank of that spiritual Rock that followed [went with] them; and that Rock was Christ." 1 Cor. x. 4. He it was who stood on the visible rock in Horeb when Moses smote it. Ex. xvii. 6.

Again: "The Lord is my Rock, and my Fortress, and my Deliverer." "He shall cry unto Me, Thou art My Father, My God, and the Rock of my salvation." Ps. lxxxix. 26. "The Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." Ps. xcii. 15.

Still more emphatic are the words of the Lord in Isa. xxviii. 16, 17, to those who are making lies their refuge: "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. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow the hiding place."

Compare this with the assurance that those who come to God in Christ are "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 all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." Eph. ii. 19-20. This does not say that we are built upon the apostles and prophets (much less

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Peter), but on the same foundation on which they were built;" for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. iii. 11. There is more testimony; but nothing could make this more clear.

You may ask why Jesus did not say plainly, "I will build My church upon Myself," and thus make it impossible for anybody to mistake His meaning. So we might ask why when He stood in the temple, of which He had just driven the buyers and sellers, He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will take it up." He meant the temple of His body, yet the Jews thought that He referred to the building in which they were standing. They need not have been mistaken, however; and there is still less ground for misunderstanding His meaning in the verse that we are studying, for the words themselves, as I have pointed out, show the contrast between Peter and the Rock on which the church is built.

Peter's own testimony on the subject ought to be final, since he is the one about whom the controversy over Christ's words has raged. It was he who gave utterance to the conclusion of faith: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," thus indicating, what he at another time plainly declared, that Christ has the words of eternal life, and has life to bestow. Now let us turn to his epistle, written long afterwards, and we shall see that he recognised the difference between loose stones and the solid foundation. Speaking of Christ, he says: "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded." 1 Peter ii. 4-6.

Loose stones, such as Peter and all other men, are not the proper thing for a foundation, but they are just the thing with which to build a house on a foundation already laid; and the great Master Builder takes just such poor, weak, vacillating, rash, impulsive persons as Peter, and forms them on the True Foundation into a beautiful structure that will share the eternally enduring nature of the Foundation itself.

For the Rock on which we are built is a living Rock. He was dead, but He liveth for evermore, and He has the keys of death and the grave. Rev. i. 18. The gates of hell (the grave) could not prevail against Him,-they were not strong enough to hold Him,-and so they will prove equally powerless against all who are built on Him. Yea, to those who are in Christ it is the same as though death even now did not exist, for He "hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." 2 Tim. i. 10. And since over even death itself, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us," it follows that in Him we are also victors over sin, for that is really the gate of the grave. Blessed are all they who, with Peter, recognise and continually confess this glorious truth in their lives.

"The Editor's Private Corner. 'Christ the Firstfruits'" The Present Truth 18, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

"In your article, 'Moses and Elijah,' in PRESENT TRUTH of October 16, I read that the saints who will be raised from the dead at Christ's coming were recognised by Moses, who had died, but who, raised from the dead, appeared in glory. If that be so, how can Christ be 'the firstfruits of those that slept'? 1 Cor. xv. 20. Again, 'Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming.' Verse 26. See also Rev. i. 5. Where we read that Jesus Christ is 'the first begotten of the dead.' I should like more light upon this matter, and I feel sure that all readers of your valuable paper will be interested in it. It does seem a mystery. May God grant you the light on this subject."

Amen. It is indeed a mystery; for it is the very essence of the Gospel, which is the mystery of God. But we may be sure that God will give us the light; for since the mystery is "the glorious Gospel of Christ" it carries the light in itself.

You are not the first one who has been troubled over this matter. But why is it that you have never thought of the mystery until the resurrection of Moses is mentioned? Why should it seem more strange, or more in opposition to the texts you have quoted, that Moses should be raised from the dead before the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, than that others are raised? Elijah raised the widow's son to life (1 Kings xvii. 17-38), and Elijah brought the Shunammite's dead child back to life. 2 Kings iv. 18-37. Besides these, the Gospels record many instances of the dead being brought to life by Jesus, before His own resurrection. Recall, for instance, the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus. These cases do not, of course, lessen the mystery, but they show that the fact that Christ is "the firstfruits of them that slept," is not incompatible with the resurrection of Moses.

I know that you will at once feel inclined to say that Moses appeared in glory, whereas the others, as far as we have any record, appeared only on this earth; but you must remember that the essential thing is the fact of the resurrection, and not where they appeared. A person who is brought to life from the dead, and who remains on this earth, is just as effectually raised to life as if he were taken to heaven. Moreover, we have the cases of Enoch and Elijah, who were both taken to heaven alive, one of whom appeared with Moses in glory. Now the power of death was broken in these two cases, just as surely as if they had died and had been raised from the dead. "Death passed upon all men." Rom. v. 12. Exactly the same power is shown in the translation of the living as in the raising of the dead. The changing of the living from mortality to immortality, from corruption to incorruption, is precisely the same act as the raising of the dead to immortality.

These things only increase the mystery, yet they help to give us light in knowledge, as might be expected from a mystery which is itself glory. They suggest to us what is involved in the thought that Christ is the firstfruits and the first begotten of the dead. Rom. i. 4 will help us still further. Christ was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." The resurrection did not add anything to Christ's power, but only showed the power that He had before. It did not establish any new relation between Him and God,-did not make Him the Son of God,-but made that relation manifest. The power by which Christ was raised from the dead was the same power by which He was brought into the world. It was the same power by which He performed all His miracles, and, indeed, it was the power by which it He lived His blameless life; for it was "according to the Spirit of holiness."

The very same mystery that attends the raising of the dead before the resurrection of Christ, the firstfruits, is equally great in another connection, namely, that of holy living. Jesus Christ is the Author and Pefecter of faith (Heb. vii. 2); "the fruits of righteousness," with which we are to be filled, "are by Jesus Christ unto the glory in praise of God" (Phil. i. 11); yet those were men of faith,-men who were righteous,-before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. There you have the mystery; can you explain it?

To come directly to the root of the

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matter, we have only to recall the statement that Christ is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Rev. xiii. 8. "Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who by Him do believe in God." 1 Peter i. 20, 21. Now since He was slain from the foundation of the world, it follows that He was also raised from that time, which is easy for us to believe when we grasp the fact that He is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature; for by Him [literally, in Him] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible; . . . and He is before all things, and by Him [in Him] all things consist." Col. i. 15-17.

A comparison of two or three texts will make it very plain that the resurrection of Jesus was a present reality in the days of Moses and David. First read Eph. iv. 8-10, where there cannot be the slightest doubt that the resurrection of Christ is spoken of: "When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive [a multitude of captives], and gave gifts unto men. Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things." This is a direct quotation from Ps. lxviii. 18, showing that the power of Christ as the great Emancipator from the grave was the joy of the psalmist.

Now compare Deut. xxx. 11-14 with Rom. x. 5-9. We see that the latter is merely a repetition of the former. Moses, in Deuteronomy, was describing the righteousness which is by faith, and said, as quoted by Paul, "Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above); or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead). But what saith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the Word of faith which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

Here we see it plainly set forth that the keeping of the commandments, the life of righteousness, was possible in the days of Moses, as in all other days, only by the presence of the resurrection life of Jesus in the heart. "The reproach of Christ," which Moses chose, is the cross; and he, as well as Paul, could say: "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." Gal. ii. 20.

Do you now see light in the mystery? Do you not see that since "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); the power of the cross and the resurrection is the power of creation? You now see that "that which was from the beginning" was "the Word of life," and that this life has been the light of every man that has come into the world? Do you not see that from Abel till our time the resurrection power is the only power by which men can be righteous? and does not this make you glad, in that you have the resurrection power to work righteousness in you?

God "quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were" (Rom. iv. 17); because His Word is that which makes the things exist. Abraham saw and rejoiced in Christ's day (John viii. 56), and the power of the resurrection of the Messiah, who was to come through Isaac, was so really present in Abraham's time that it brought Isaac into being in order that He might be born of his line. Can you conceive of any greater mystery than that? And is it not a glorious mystery? Since "Jesus and the resurrection" had such power in the days of old, before He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, what may it not accomplish in us and for us now?

"For Little Ones. Pharaoh's Dreams" The Present Truth 18, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

God called Abraham that He might make him a missionary and the father of a race of missionaries, through whom He could teach and bless all the nations. Although Joseph's brothers sold him into Egypt through envy, it was God who sent him there, because He wanted to make Himself known to the people in that dark land of idolatry. When Joseph, through patient endurance of his trials, and faithfulness in doing all the duties that came to him, was quite prepared for the special work God had for him, He opened the way for it to be done.

The king of Egypt had two dreams that puzzled him very much; he was anxious to know their meaning, but none of his wise man could tell him. God had sent the dreams to Pharaoh, and He was the only one that could make known the interpretation. Then, for the first time, the butler remembered Joseph, and how he had interpreted his own dream in the prison. So he told Pharaoh about it, and Joseph was sent for.

Joseph told Pharaoh that it was God who alone could tell him what his dreams meant. When Pharaoh told him the dreams, God showed Joseph the meaning of them.

In the first dream, he had seen seven very fat cattle eaten up by seven very lean ones, which did not get any fatter, but were just as lean as before they had eaten the fat ones. Then he saw seven very full ears of corn, that were devoured by seven very lean ears.

Joseph said that both dreams had the same meaning, but God had given the dream twice to show that what He made known to Pharaoh by it was to come to pass very soon. The seven fat cattle, and the seven full ears, were seven years of great plenty that were to come in the land of Egypt. But these were to be followed by seven years of famine, and that was what was meant by the seven lean cattle and the seven lean ears. As the lean cattle ate up the fat ones, so the seven years of famine would swallow all plentiful stores that the earth brought forth in the seven good years.

As Joseph learned the dreams and God showed him their meaning, he saw at once that the best thing to do was to build great storehouses and gather up an abundance of food during the years of plenty, so that they could feed the people during the famine. He said that Pharaoh should appoint a man to do this work.

Pharaoh said that they could not find a better man than Joseph himself, to whom God had showed all this. So instead of going back into the prison, Joseph was set over all the land of Egypt. He rode in the king's chariot, and they cried before him, "Bow the knee."

If Joseph had been in the high place he held in Potiphar's household, he would not have had the opportunity to interpret the dream of Pharaoh's butler, and so he would not have been made known to Pharaoh as one who was able to interpret dreams. So the dungeon into which he was unjustly cast was the way to the throne, although he did not know it. God, who sees the end from the beginning, and does whatsoever He pleases, is working out His own plan in the life of each one of His children, and if we trust in Him He will bring us to just the place for which He has fitted us.

God never brings judgments or trouble on the earth without sending beforehand a warning message, so that all who will may be prepared for it. We have seen that He did so before the Flood, and before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Before sending the seven years of famine, He sent Pharaoh a message that, if he heeded it, would save the world from starvation.

Joseph was very quick to think and to act. His work when he was set over Potiphar's household, and again when the keeper of the prison left all things in his hand, had trained his mind to see quickly what was the best thing to be done. And now the Spirit of God that gave him the interpretation of the dream, showed him at once what was the right thing to do.

Joseph made Pharaoh to understand that the wisdom he had was not his own, but that it came from the God who had sent a warning dream.So Pharaoh

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spoke of Joseph as a "man in whom the Spirit of God is." And as he saw that there was no man in Egypt like Joseph, and he knew that the God of Joseph was far above all the gods of Egypt. Thus Joseph's God was made known to all Egypt, and, as we shall learn next week, to all other nations besides.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

The reports of earthquake shocks in the West Indies are so common now that they scarcely attract any notice or call forth remark. We mean, of course, in the newspapers which contain the telegraphic dispatches.It may safely be said that in the islands where the earthquakes occur, they still attract the attention of the people; for a quaking earth is a thing that nobody ever treated with contempt, or regards with indifference.

Another Polish paper has just been excluded from Germany, the exclusion to continue for two years, because of the hostile attitude it has taken towards the Polish policy of the German Government. This is the fourth paper that has met such a fate within a short space of time. There we see the strong hand of the German Government; yet this act, which exhibits its strength, shows the inherent weakness which it shares with all other human organisations whether civil or religious, in that it cannot endure criticism. Only God, and those who are built upon the foundation of His eternal truth, can regard criticism and opposition with equanimity.

An eminent insurance agent has just compiled an actuarial return, showing that ministers of religion live longer than men of any other class who insure. This is as it ought to be expected; for who should live longer if not those whose business it is to minister life? If a man has not life in himself, he cannot carry it to others. And this "promise of life" is all the insurance any man needs, and should keep him from dealings with insurance companies. The Christian World suggests the fact that the vast majority of ministers are total abstainers may account for their longer life. Surely that is a factor; the fact that temperance in that respect adds to one's life ought to teach men that obedience to laws of life in other respects would add still more to its length, and to its fulness as well.

The "Actors' Church Alliance," of which Bishop Potter is the president, has appointed a committee, which includes several of the leading New York clergymen, to visit of the New York theatres and report whether the plays are "fit for religious men and women to see, and for children to know about." One cannot help smiling at the childish lack of knowledge of human nature indicated by the appointment of that committee. The committee might just as well have been made to consist of the congregations as of the clergymen; for as soon as certain plays are reported unfit for religious people to see, they will want to go and see for themselves if the committee decided correctly, and why the play is improper. Those who know the stupendous realities of God's kingdom, which infinitely transcend all human imagination, are saved all the trouble of deciding in such matters, because they have no inclination to see theatrical representations of any kind.

Four months' imprisonment with hard labour is the sentence imposed on a Clerkenwell restaurant keeper and sausage maker, for having on his premises over 600 pounds of putrid meat, which he proposed to make into sausages. His guests would doubtless have feasted on the dainty, if the Inspector had not intervened. Sausage-eaters may comfort themselves with the thought that the bad meat was seized and destroyed; but such comfort is vain. The fact that the defence claimed that the meat was good, and when asked if it was slimy, said, "Oh, it's what we call 'muggy' in the trade; that only has to be wiped off, and then it's all right," shows that decaying meat is certainly a common basis for sausage. It is fearful to think of people thus trying to sustain life on death. The inevitable result must be evident to every thinking person.

Although there is no doubt that the Czar is a liberal-minded man, and wishes to leave every man free in matters that concern only himself and God, it is evident that he has very little influence with the real Government of Russia, which is controlled by priests for the benefit of their order. An instance of the inevitable tyranny of State religion when rigidly carried out, is reported from Riga, where a married couple calling themselves Protestants, but who were regarded by the authorities as within the pale of the Greek Church, were sentenced to two months' imprisonment because they refused to bring up their daughter in the State Church. The Court decided that the child should be taken from them, and placed under the care of "orthodox" relatives. This is evidently only a premonition of what is coming; for there seems to be a revival in the Russian Church, if that term may be applied to zeal in dead forms which kill.

A decidedly new departure has been taken at Yale University. It has just decided to admit to its senior class a graduate of another university, where Greek is not required. The new student will be the first one in the history of the university to graduate without Greek; and the action indicates that henceforth Greek will not be compulsory in the institution. This is an indication that the old crystallised, or fossilised, theories of education are gradually being abandoned. It is no disparagement to Greek, which is as useful as it ever was to those who have use for it; but it is a recognition of the fact that all men are not alike, and that as all have not the same work, or the same kind of work, all ought not to be cast in exactly the same educational mould. Greek, as well as some other things in the ordinary curriculum, is absolutely necessary for some men, and wholly useless to others; and it is possible for a man to have a perfect knowledge of language, and still be poorly educated, or for a man to know nothing of it, and yet be very well educated.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

"My cup runneth over," sang the psalmist. With what was his cup filled so lavishly? He tells us, "The Lord is the portion. . . of my cup." He had an overflowing measure of the Lord. What is the nature of this drink?-It is life, eternal life. He is "the Fountain of living water." And we can say the same that the psalmist did; for "of His fulness have all we received." He has come that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly. Out of our overflowing cup of life we are to drink until we are also full to overflowing, and from us must flow forth rivers of living water for the refreshment of others.

The children of Israel were led in the desert by a cloud from which the light shone forth in the darkness of night. Thus they were taught that they were being delivered, guided, and protected by the power that in the beginning caused the light to shine out of darkness. "Oh, send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles." It was to this place that God was leading Israel, for Moses, after crossing the Red Sea, sang: "Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance; in the place, O Lord, which Thou has made for Thee to dwell in; in thy sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established."

"Patience Triumphs" The Present Truth 18, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

Patience Triumphs. -When Christ was forewarning His disciples of all the persecutions they must suffer His sake, He said: "In your patience possess ye your souls." Luke xxi. 19. This is usually taken to be an exhortation to hold their souls back from impatience; but it is much more than this; it is a promise. The Revision makes this clear. That reads, "In your patience ye shall win your souls." That is, patience will always ensure your safety. Since this is true of the great "time of trouble," it must much more be our deliverance in these days. If when we are delivered up to death, and are hated of all men for His name's sake, our patience delivers us, how much more must it give us victory in all lesser trials? Many things tend to vex and irritate us; injustice may be done us; but though men rage and storm at us, and oppress us, patience will disarm them, and make us their masters. The man who can rule his own spirit, and can suffer and wait in patience, is the rock against which all the weapons of the fierce and ungodly shall be broken to pieces.

"He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation." This passage which occurs in the song of Moses, recorded in Ex. xv., is rendered in the Revised Version: "He is my God, and I will praise Him." In Ps. xxii. 3 we have a link that connects these two translations, which at first sight seems to have no affinity. "Oh Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." From this it is evident that by praising God we prepare Him an habitation. The gates of the New Jerusalem are named "Praise" (Isa. lx. 18), therefore wherever there is praise, there God dwells. Praise is the way into the city whose builder and maker is God. Therefore "the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion."

"'Thine Is the Kingdom'" The Present Truth 18, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thine Is the Kingdom." -These are some of the words that our Saviour taught us to say every day. We know that the Lord's Prayer is to be offered daily, because in it we have the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread." We need bread every day, and we are to ask for it as we need it; so day by day we are to acknowledge to God in heaven that the kingdom belongs to Him.

What will be the effect of this prayer when prayed in faith that is well-instructed? First of all it will bring forcibly before our minds what and where God's kingdom is. We pray to our Father in heaven, and are reminded that "the Lord prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all." Ps. ciii. 19. "Our God is in the heavens; for He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased." Ps. cxv. 3. He has all power, and nothing is too great for Him to perform in and for His kingdom. If there is rebellion, He can subdue it. If reforms are needed, He can carry them out.

But we must not forget that great as is the kingdom of God, the Saviour has said, "The kingdom of God is within you." This surely means that those who know and acknowledge the truth shall have "largeness of heart"-breadth of understanding. Our hearts are to be large enough to take in the world; for we read that "He hath set the world in their heart." Eccl. iii. 11. This means obedience; for "largeness of heart" means wisdom (see 1 Kings iv. 29-33); and "the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Daily to say to God, "Thine is the kingdom," knowing that the kingdom of God is right within us, is to agree to keep His commandments; for we read again: "I will run the way of thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart." Ps. cxix. 32.

This acknowledgement contains our assurance of righteousness. When we long for holiness of life, and are inclined to despond because of the natural perverseness of our hearts, that causes evil to be present with us even when we would do good, we have but to remember, continually remember, and acknowledge with the whole heart, that we are God's kingdom, and that He can do whatsoever He pleases in us. Nothing is too hard for Him. Our weakness only gives Him the opportunity more effectually to exhibit His power. He can work in us to His fulfil all the good pleasure of His will.

"The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven." But we are His temple, and His throne is in us. So our acknowledgement, "Thine is the kingdom" ought to be a request to the Lord to take to Himself His great power and to reign supreme in His kingdom, doing what He will with His own. When we utter the prayer understandingly, we virtually say to Him, "I give the reins of government over to Thee; cast down and out every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of Thee, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Drive out everything that offends. I cannot cleanse the temple,-the task is too great for me,-so I give it over into Thy hands, and shall depend on Thee to see that it is wholly cleansed." And with this word comes the comforting assurance that He has never failed any who trusted in Him; for "He is faithful that promised." So as His is the power, to Him shall be the glory, for we shall be "to the praise of His glory" as we trust in Him.

November 13, 1902

"Wine Against Wisdom" The Present Truth 18, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

THE TWO SPIRITS

Speaking of the judgment to come upon "the drunkards of Ephraim," and of "them that are overcome with wine," the prophet says: "In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, and to the residue of His people, and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment." Isa. xxviii. 1-7.

What a contrast between the Spirit of the Lord and the spirit of wine. The Spirit of the Lord is the Spirit of judgment, "the Spirit of wisdom and understanding;" but wind causes even the wisest men to "stumble in judgment." The statement that "when the wine is in, the wit is out," is perfectly in harmony with the Scriptures; and the experience of mankind corroborates it.

This agrees with the exhortation given by the Apostle Paul: "Be 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. Men fancy that wine contributes to the flow of wit and wisdom; but that is where they are deceived. "Wine is a mocker; strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." Wine loosens the tongue, and if but little be taken a wise man, being stimulated to talk, will naturally speak some wisdom; but a very little more will make him talk foolishness; and in any case the wine adds nothing to what one has.

The Spirit of the Lord, on the other hand, imparts true wisdom, and with this we are to be filled; but to be really filled with anything means that all else is excluded. So just to the extent that one has wine or the spirit of wine, alcohol, in one's system, to that extent, at least, the Spirit of God must be absent.

In wine there is "excess." Mark the words well. It is not said that wine leads to excess, or that there is danger that if wine be taken it will be taken to excess, but the excess is in the wine itself. It is as true of a teaspoonful as of a gallon, the difference being only one of degree. Wherever there is wine at all, there is excess. Of course it is understood that this refers to the wine that is fermented and intoxicating,-the wine which by fermentation, decay, has become the bearer of death.

God's Spirit is the pure water of life. John vii. 38, 39. It is a striking illustration of how Satan seeks to substitute death for life, and to make people believe that there is no death, but that death is life, that he has caused brandy to be known as eau de vie-water of life-when it is in reality the water of death. "Fire water" it is appropriately named by the Red Indians.

Temperance is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Gal. v. 22, 23. By this we see that temperance does not consist, as some suppose, in a "moderate" use of everything, whether it is good or bad; for "the Spirit is life," and death and life cannot exist together. Whoever is led by the Spirit, and filled with the Spirit, is necessarily separated from every form of death, or everything tending to death, it is absolutely impossible for one to be completely filled with the Spirit, and at the same time to have death working in him. Therefore the Spirit-filled man has no alcoholic poison in his body.

This opens up a still wider range of temperance. Many who will allow that temperance pertains to the Gospel, and that alcohol is opposed to the Spirit of God, will not admit that what one eats has anything to do with religion. Let us see whether this is so or not. In what does the evil of alcoholic liquor drinking consist? Is it in the mere act of drinking? or in the taking of a liquid? Evidently not; since water, the purest and strongest drink is liquid, and the act of drinking water is just the same as that of drinking intoxicating liquor. Wherein, then, lies the evil? Just in this, that it is intoxicating, poisonous, destructive of life.

Now then, suppose one takes food which produces alcohol in the body, which is a very common occurrence, where is the difference, except in degree, between that and

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alcohol which one drinks? There is none. Alcohol formed from food within the body is just is poisonous, just as intoxicating, as that formed in a still, outside the body.

The next question is, what are the signs of intoxication from alcohol found within the body? They are just the same as those for intoxication from alcohol which one drinks. They cannot all be enumerated; but few people do not know the sensation of almost irresistible drowsiness after meals. All are familiar with the dull glassy expression of the eye, which is so often seen in one who is making vain attempts to keep awake after a too hearty meal, or even a smaller meal which is not digesting properly. This is identical with the drunkard's eye.

Again, everybody is familiar with the expression "a bilious attack." Too many know by experience what it is; and whether by experience or observation, all know that the result is often the same as with the man who has taken more liquor than the stomach can endure. Now how much better is the man who eats in such a way that alcohol and other poisons are produced in the stomach until the organ is compelled to eject its contents, than the man who produces the same result by drinking? Can you not see the Christian grace of temperance has to do with eating as surely as with drinking? We have not space at this time to point out the kind of food, and the manner of taking it, which cause auto-intoxication; that will appear later, both in the "Corner" and in the Health Department; but all can see the importance of giving diligence to eat, as well as to drink, to the glory of God.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Two Laws" The Present Truth 18, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

All communications intended for publication, and all questions, whether an answer is desired by letter or through the paper, should be addressed to the Editor of PRESENT TRUTH, and not to the International Tract Society. Correspondents are requested in all cases to give the name and address, and to take pains to write them legibly. All questions are regarded as strictly confidential, and nobody but the Editor ever has any knowledge of the questioner's identity; but the Editor which is always to be able to communicate with his correspondents.

E. J. WAGGONER, Editor.

"What was the difference between the moral and the ceremonial law?"

In determining the meaning of any term, the first thing to do is to collect all, or at least a large number, of the instances of its use, and set them before the mind's eye at the same time; and from the way in which it is used, we see its meaning. Now when we begin to apply this method with the terms "moral law" and "ceremonial law," we straightway find that we have no Scriptural basis for determining their meaning, since they are not to be found in the Bible. To some it might seem that this increased the difficulty of our task; but in reality it removes it; for since the terms are wholly foreign to the Bible, it follows that they ought never to be used in religious conversation or writing. Everything that needs to be known of God and the Gospel, and of the relation of man to God and his fellow-men, may be canvassed without ever once using those terms of human invention; and the less they are used, the less difficulty will people have in understanding the Gospel.

As a matter of fact, all the difficulties in understanding the Gospel are man-made. The Gospel itself is so simple that a child can comprehend it; and the more childlike one's mind and character are, the more easily will it be understood. It is by the invention and use of unscriptural terms, that men have obscured the gloriously simple truths of God's Word. All the controversies that have disgraced the church, and confused the minds of believers and unbelievers, have been over terms and formulas which for the most part were unknown to those through whom God revealed His truth to the world. The confusion arose from the different meanings which different people attached to these terms; and there was no possibility of arriving in a perfect agreement, since there was no final court of appeal. The terms in use were not in the Bible, and therefore each person was warranted in putting his own construction upon them. That being the case it is evident that a Pope or a council was the only means of allaying strife. But popes and councils are wholly unnecessary when we hold ourselves rigidly to Scriptural terms. It is for this reason that the expressions "moral law" and "ceremonial law" are never used in PRESENT TRUTH.

It will not do, however, to leave the matter here; we must take a brief view of law in its various phases, or of the various laws spoken of in the Bible; for there can be no question but that the Bible does mention more than one law. If we understand the Bible use of the term "law," it is of little or no consequence of what men mean by the terms which they have invented.

Readers of the Bible will recall the fact that it speaks most frequently of "the law," indicating that there is in reality but one law worthy of the name. A few texts will enable us to see what this law is. "All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.'" Gal. v. 14. "Love is the fulfilling of law." Rom. xiii. 10. "God is love." 1 John iv. 16. "I know that His commandment is life everlasting." John xii. 50. "And this is life eternal that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." John xvii. 3. These, taken together, show us that the real law is the life of God. There is nothing else that can be named in the same breath with it.

This is the universal law, the law for the universe-for man and beast, for plant and mineral. One life has created all, and one life pervades and upholds all. There is "one God and Father of all, who is over all, and, through all, and in all." Eph. iv. 6, R. V. His life in each created thing, will, if given free course, bring that thing to perfection, "after its kind,"-will cause it to fulfill God's purpose concerning it. The same life that causes the vine to twine round a support, always turning in one direction, causes the oak tree to grow upright. It is one life that makes each perfect after its kind. The same life brings the beasts to perfection after their kind, barring the curse brought upon them by man, making them fulfill the object of their existence. That same life in man, if wholly yielded to, will make him "perfect in every good work to do His will."

Thus we see there is but one life, but an infinite variety of manifestations of it; one law, law of life. Law is spiritual because it is the life of God, who is Spirit. People are accustomed to speak of "the laws of nature;" but these are but the working of God in the things that He has made. Drummond wrote of "natural law in the spiritual world," which is a complete inversion of terms; for the truth is that spiritual law reigns in the natural world. But men have faculties that animals and plants have not. They are capable of committing sin or of doing righteousness, terms which cannot be applied to the lower creation; consequently the law which defines the righteousness for which man was created is sometimes called the moral law. This law, put into words, is the ten commandments, which God spoke from Sinai; wrote with His own finger on tables of stone, and delivered to Moses to be put into the ark, in the most holy place of the sanctuary.

These ten words are the form of knowledge and of the truth. Rom. ii. 20. They are the statement of law on the Living Stone,-the Lamb slain,-which is in the midst of the throne of God, which is the source of the river of life. This law, "which was ordained unto life," is death to some. All depends on our relation to it. If we yield wholly to "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," and it is righteousness and life to us (Rom. viii. 1-4); but if we disbelief or doubt, even though we do our utmost to keep the law, it is death to us. "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." The living law working in us and controlling us, is righteousness,-morals,-while the law only in outward form, in letter, is but form and ceremony.

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Ceremonialism grows out of the absence of life power. Just to the extent that people lose connection with the life of the Lord, will they multiply forms and ceremonies. They will do as the Pharisees did, attempt to prescribe for every circumstance in life, laying down rules to guide in every detail. Thus while they think that they are enlarging the law, they are really narrowing it down from the infinite breath of God's free life to the measure of their own mind. This is essentially the ceremonial law, if we allow ourselves to use the term; and it is the law in ceremonies, instead of in life.

It will be asked, "Did not God Himself give the people laws besides the ten commandments? and the reply must be, Yes. He tells the story Himself in Eze. xx. He says of His people: "I gave them My statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them." "But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they walked not in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them." "Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live." If the people had walked in the steps of the faith of Abraham, they would never have needed even the commandments spoken from Sinai, any more than he did. He lived by faith, and so God said, "Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My commandments, My statutes and My laws" (Gen. xxvi. 5); and they might have been equally righteous without the written law. But the same unbelief that made it necessary to give them a law on tables of stone,-the shadow of the real, living law,-made it necessary to give other precepts. Their unbelief was a veil interposed between them and the light of God, the law ("for the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light." Prov. vi. 23); and that of course made a shadow. It was bad enough for them so to reject the living, glorious law that God Himself had to give them only a shadow; but it was much worse for them to increase the darkness by additions of their own; yet this is always the result when man chooses to serve God in his own way.

Thus the two laws are the law of faith and the law works. Rom. iii. 27. One is the law applied by the Spirit, and the other is the same law and attempted to be applied by man, with or without the additions which he himself devices. The one is life, the other is death.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Purpose of Confession" The Present Truth 18, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

A friend who has for years been a professor of religion, and a leader in the church, writes that for a long time he was secretly indulging in sin, which now by the grace of God he has overcome. But he feels as though he had been a hypocrite, and wishes to know if he ought, in order to get the favour of God, to confess publicly what a sinner he has been in secret. To his enquiry the following reply, in substance, has been sent, which is here reproduced for the benefit of others similarly situated.

If I understand your question correctly, you wish to know what is your duty as regards confession, and whether or not you have forfeited the favour of God. Now as to the last, I can speak without hesitation. "His mercy endureth for ever." "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." "For the Lord will not cast off for ever."

Read the book of Hosea through and note the sins that are there recorded against Israel. It is a terrible picture is it not? After noting carefully the fallen condition of the people, pay particular attention to the close of the book. Read the last chapter, keeping in mind all that precedes. The Lord says to them that have fallen by their iniquity, "Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously;" and then He says, "I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely; for Mine anger is turned away from him." And then note how tenderly and beautifully the chapter closes. How can you have any doubt as to the Lord's acceptance of you, in view of these words?

But you say you have often failed after repenting and promising to reform, and that you therefore doubt if God can have patience with you. Remember then that God is "the God of patience and consolation." He is "long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Now recall what He says about our forgiving one another: "How often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven." And still further: "If he trespass against thee seven times in the day, and seven times in a day turning unto thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him." That is what the Lord expects of us; and can you think that He expects us to be better than He is? or to do more for one another than He does for us? We cannot have any virtue that does not come from Him; therefore we know that as He expects us to be "strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience," we cannot tire out His patience; and that knowledge is what inspires us with hope and courage, so that we can resist evil. I might quote much more; but you are certainly acquainted with the Scriptures, which teach that "the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."

Now as to confession. A little consideration of what confession is will help you to see your duty in the matter. The word means literally, "saying the same thing; agreeing with." When we confess our sins to God, we simply agree with Him that what He says of us is true. He says that we are sinners; but we say the same thing. He says that a certain thing that we have done is wrong, and we agree with Him that it is so. We do not tell Him anything that He does not already know.

The case is not exactly the same when it comes to confession to men; because they do not always know, as God does. Yet in general the same principle holds good. The object of confession is not humiliation, but the clearing away of the wrong. Sometimes the wrong against a person is of such a nature that it cannot be put away without telling him about it, even if he knew nothing about it before. But in general we are to acknowledge to others only the things of which they are cognisant in our lives, or which affect them. For example: If we have robbed another, confession means restoration, and that of course means the acknowledging of the sin. A life of open sin, or even a single act of sin, which is well known to others, and which may have been very apparent to others even before we ourselves were convicted of it, naturally calls for open and public confession. Such confession cannot fail to have a beneficial effect on all who hear, and of course it is, if sincere, a blessing to us. But if we have only thought evil of another in our hearts, or even if we have spoken evil of him, we have no confession to make to him, but only to God and to the one to whom we said the sinful things. It could not do the man himself any good to learn that someone had been thinking or speaking uncharitably of him, and it might cause a much pain to learn it. We have not injured him by our evil thoughts, but only ourselves; and our confession is to be made to God alone.

Now take the case of one who through sin has injured his own body. It does not

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concern anyone except himself and the Lord. Since nobody knows it, nobody has been led astray by it. To tell the public of it would not help anybody, and might be productive of harm. The very telling of it might put evil thoughts into the minds of some who were previously ignorant of such things. Now it is not God's plan that sin shall be published; but rather that it shall be hidden and destroyed. It is not to be concealed and practised in secret, but to be covered up and buried-blotted out. "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing." Prov. xxv. 2. "He retaineth not His anger for ever, because it He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, He will have compassion on us; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Micah vii. 18, 19.

God does not wish evil to be spread abroad and made known. His work is to hide it out of sight, and to get rid of it as soon as possible. So He sets before us a way by which our sins may be covered up and blotted out so effectually that though they be sought for they cannot be found. He tells us that if we will but acknowledge our sins to Him, so that He can remove them from us, He will undertake that nobody shall ever learn of them. He will not betray the confidence that we repose in Him. Our secret sins are set before Him, in the light of His countenance, but He does not reveal the secret to anybody else; and by the light of His countenance they are destroyed. "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of the Thy countenance. In Thy name shall they rejoice all the days; and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted." If we walk in the light of His countenance,-"if we walk in the light as if He is in the light,-the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." Then to all eternity nobody but the Lord and we ourselves will ever know our sins; and He Himself will forgive them, and we also shall have no more consciousness of them. Is it not gloriously simple and comforting?

So, my brother, as you have already confessed your sin to the Lord, and know that He abundantly pardons, you have only to rejoice in His mercy. Remember that it is not in our own goodness, but in the multitude of His mercies, that we approach to Him (Ps. v. 7); and it is according to the multitude of His mercies that He blots out our transgressions. Ps. li. 1.

Another thing that I must remind you of is that it is not your promises that save you, but the Lord's. We do not have to make promises to Him, but only to plead His promises to us. He makes the promises, and our part is to believe them; and by His "exceeding great and precious promises," which receive in full and unwavering faith, "we are made partakers of the Divine nature."

I cannot close without seeking to impress very sharply on the mind the practical working out of this lesson. Confession, the saying of the same thing means that sin is not to be mentioned except to those who already know of it, and for the purpose that they, as well as the one confessing, may be benefited. That effectually shuts off all scandal and all gossipping about the sins and errors of others. We are to avoid either speaking or thinking of what is evil, and diligently to cultivate the good. The less one thinks about evil, even his own, the less he will do wrong; therefore "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things."

"For the Children. The Famine in Egypt" The Present Truth 18, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

The famine that God had warned Pharaoh about was sore in all lands, and not in the land of Egypt only. The fame of Egypt's storehouses filled with grain had gone into all countries. And as "all countries came into Egypt to buy corn," they would learn why the Egyptians had gathered such a store when the earth was bringing forth "by handfuls" year after year. Then they would hear about the God of Joseph, and how He had warned them, and taught them what to do, and thus many people of all lands would be led to trust in Him. These would become missionaries to carry the good tidings-the Gospel-back to their own lands.

Do you not see that in sending the famine, God was working to bring the true heavenly Bread of Life to all the people of the earth? This is what the people found when they came to buy the corn of Egypt. And so the promise began to be fulfilled that all the nations of the earth should be blessed in Abraham's seed. For Joseph was a child of God, and therefore a true son of Abraham.

Perhaps Jacob's sons had heard of the great ruler who had saved the land of Egypt by his wisdom, but they little thought that he was the brother whom they sold as a slave. God had overruled their wicked act, to save their own lives; for Egypt was the only place where they could go to get corn. Does not this again remind you of Jesus, who was rejected by His brethren, but exalted by God to save them and feed them with the Bread of Life?

The time came when Jacob and his family had no food; they had eaten all their provisions, and there was only one place where they could get a fresh supply. So Jacob said to his sons: "There is corn in Egypt; get you down thither and by for us from thence; that we may live, and not die."

Then Joseph's brethren journeyed into Egypt-all except Benjamin. Jacob could not bear to let Benjamin out of sight for fear that some harm would come to him, as he thought it had to Joseph.

Now Joseph, the governor over all the land of Egypt, sold corn to all the people that came. One day he saw his own brethren before him, bowing themselves with their faces to the earth. He knew them at once, but they did not recognise him, for he was but a boy when they had last seen him.

When Joseph's brothers sold him, they said, "We will see what will become of his dreams." But now they bowed themselves before him, with their faces to the earth, just as he had seen in his dream, without knowing that the dreams were then being fulfilled, and all they had done had but helped to bring them to pass. But Joseph remembered, and he saw how God's hand had led him all the way, that He might bring to pass His own purpose.

In the life of Joseph God was giving the Children of Israel a wonderful object lesson to teach them of His great plan to save the world through Christ, the true Seed of Abraham, even though He should be despised, rejected, and cast out.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

However much poverty there may be in the world, there is always enough money for "sport." Forty-five thousand pounds is the estimated cost of the new yacht to be built to defend the American Cup. And that is but a small fraction of the money that will be spent on the race.

It is announced that the Kaiser has completed his thirtieth year as a hunter and sportsmen, and that in the thirty years he has killed an aggregate of 47,443 animals. What a fearful record! It was not in order that He might destroy life, that man was given dominion, but that He might preserve it.

In his speech at Edinburgh the other day, Lord Rosebery said: "The whole aspect of the world is changing. Never did any generation live a time when such startling changes were taking place all over the face, and, what is more, in the spirit of the world." Keen-sighted men of the world see that mighty changes are taking place, but do not know the cause or the meaning of them. But the student of God's word knows that they mark the speedy coming of events such as no generation has ever yet seen.

The Daily Mail, dealing with the supposition that the Kaiser's visit to this country has for its object the possible formation of some alliance, says: "In dealing with Germany, not sentiment, not prepossession, but national interest, coldly and calmly considered, must be kept in view." Selfishness is the key note, the main spring, of all the actions of the nations which love to call themselves Christian. It is freely admitted that they could not exist in this world on any other basis; but that very fact emphasises the importance of Christians bearing in mind that their citizenship is in heaven, and not on this earth.

In nothing is the childishness of human nature exhibited more than in litigation. The acme of childish foolishness was reached in a London Police Court the other day, when a boy four years of age was summoned for assault! To figure in a court case, is to some the same mark of distinction that to fight a duel is to others. People of quarrelsome disposition seem to think that courts exist chiefly, if not solely, for the purpose of allowing them to vent their spleen and to take their revenge on somebody; and, unfortunately, the magistrates do not always disabuse them of this bias. How contemptible all litigation seems when contrasted with the quiet dignity of the Christian life.

The Secretary of the Congregationalist Total Abstinence Association announced that the last Sunday in this month will be observed as Temperance Sunday, and expresses the hope that all the churches and denominations together with Sunday-school, etc., will join in bringing forward the subject of temperance on that day. Temperance is a fruit of the Spirit; but why have one special day in the year devoted to it, and not one to goodness, joy, and faith, which are likewise fruits of the Spirit? Someone may say that these things are the themes dealt with every Sunday. Precisely; and the fact of one particular Sunday being devoted to temperance, and another to peace, shows that these themes are not prominent in the ordinary ministration. One thing that all ministers of the Gospel and all professed Christians ought to learn is that the Christian graces are not divided into sections, and put into separate compartments, but they all unite to form one "great grace." The minister who does not put temperance into every sermon, has not yet learned his whole duty.

It would be well if people in the church as well as in the state, would take a leaf out of Lord Rosebery's notebook, as indicated in his last speech. He said: "I am beginning to hate precedent. I think precedent has been a curse to this country." There is no question but that it has been a curse in religion. It is one of the worst forms of bondage, making the person who is tied to it the slave of even his own action. Moreover it assumes that whatever has been done is right, and that nothing else is. Precedent is always opposed to progress. "Forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before," is the motto of the Christian.

The Daily Chronicle, in a note on the Doukhobors, the people whose crusade in Canada has roused so much excitement, says: "The telegrams we recently received described the proceedings of this peculiar people as a result of religious fanaticism or lunacy, but the mail accounts attribute the movement to 'land troubles and the difficulty of persuading the Doukhobors to go through the legal processes necessary to secure titles.' Aversion to law and lawyers, some of us think, is a symptom of sanity rather than lunacy." They may be both fanatical and insane, but it is certain that opposition to litigation is not an evidence of it.

When some "critic" of the Bible wishes to establish his point beyond all controversy, so that nobody will dare open his mouth to reply, he usually declares that "scholars are all agreed" upon it. This is expected to overwhelm the listener or reader, and to keep him for very shame from saying a word in opposition, lest he thereby proclaim himself no scholar. But those who hold the integrity of God's Word may take heart. We may be sure that there were many "scholars" among "the Gentiles and the people of Israel" who were agreed that Jesus should be crucified. The Jewish Sanhedrim was composed of scholars,-all of them were learned doctors of law,-yet they were agreed that Christ must be put to death. The scholarship of "the princes of this world" did not save them from crucifying the Lord of glory. "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God," who "taketh the wise in their own craftiness." Their wisdom passes away; but "the Word of God abideth for ever." Therefore the part of true wisdom is to stick to the Word of God.

One of the arguments which is much used by those who deny the inspiration of the historical accuracy of portions of the Bible is that echoed by the Bishop of Derry, at the recent Church Congress, that "revelation is a progressive," and that "it would be ruinous in our day to put forward with authority revelation as established." But even granting that "revelation is progressive," how would that fact show the untrustworthiness of that which we have? A new revelation from the Lord cannot nullify a previous one, since He changes not. As a matter of fact, however, it is our understanding, rather than revelation, that is progressive. It is exactly the same as in the visible creation. Scientific knowledge is progressive; but the facts of nature, and the truth of various phenomena, are the same that they always were.

Speaking at the Manchester District Convention of Wesleyans, the Rev. Dr. A. P. Wilkinson, whose subject was "Christian Life and Character in Relation to Foreign Missions," said: "Men used to be converted into Methodism; Now they are brought up in it, and our traditions, alas! are too often only read of in books." That is one great reason why every religious movement that has ever sprung up has begun to decline after the first generation. People are born and brought up in it, accepting just what "the fathers" did, just because they did; and formalism is result. The Reformation will never be complete until people are found who are followers of the first reformers only in their loyalty to the Word, and in their determination to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Their motto must be,

"Never stand still
Till the Master appear."

Burning at the stake, which has usually been regarded as characteristic only of "the Dark Ages," seems not to be a commonly recognised method of punishing criminals in America. It is now of so frequent occurrence as scarcely to excite more comment than hanging. Hitherto it has been claimed by apologists that it was resorted to only in cases of outrageous crimes on women, and defended on the ground that such a terrible punishment was necessary as a deterrent to the creatures who were too brutal to be affected by anything milder; but very recently a negro was burned at the stake for the murder of two white men, the motive being robbery. Now robbery and murder are by no means crimes peculiar to negros, and therefore the old apology fails. The increased frequency of this barbarous mode of punishment, to say nothing of the practice of lynching in itself, can only be set down to the growth of that fierceness which the Scriptures (2 Tim. iii. 3) declare will be characteristic of the people of the world in the last days.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

The days of creation are sufficiently designated by being numbered, but the day that celebrates creation complete is honoured by having a name. The name of the seventh day is "Sabbath." Thus a double purpose is served. By the naming of the seventh day it is distinguished from all other days, and by the numbering of the others without naming them and the fact that the Sabbath is a definitely-recurring day is made prominent.

"Christian Pleasure against Amusement" The Present Truth 18, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Just as the children of Israel in the desert were continually, or at least with rare intermissions, turning in their hearts back to Egypt, and dwelling longingly on the pleasures that they enjoyed there, when they sat by the flesh pots and "did eat bread to the full," and as they felt that what God provided for them called for a constant sacrifice on their part, even so it is with a multitude of professed Christians to-day. They are always looking back to the "good times" they had in former days, when indulging in the pleasures of sin, and talking of what they have "had to give up" in order to be Christians. Indeed, they often give the idea to the world that the religion of Jesus Christ is a life of hardship and self-denial to be endured at the price of the better life to come, and that so far as pleasure in this world is concerned, the life of the ungodly has much the advantage.

It is this mistaken idea, in various degrees, that leads to the frequent and increasing demand for the church to provide amusement for the members, especially for the young. There seems to be an idea prevalent that the form of religion suitable for adults is not adapted to the youth,-that it is by far too dull, and somber, and monotonous. It lacks but little of there being a demand for a separate church for the young, even as the Bible has been re-written for them, with the portions omitted, which it is not thought suitable for them to read, and the rest put "in simple language." People do not consider that in this they are casting reflections on God Himself, as though He had not had the young in mind when He gave His word, or had not appreciated their needs, or known how to adapt Himself to their comprehension. They forget, too, that God has only "one fold" for all His flock, and that both the sheep and lambs are to be fed by the same shepherd. There is but "one body" and "one hope."

There is no questioning the fact that the type of religion found in too many churches is not adapted to the needs of youth; but then when we consider closely we find that it is no more adapted to the old; for it does not accomplish for them what God designs that His Gospel should. Since God has but one Gospel, and has revealed it in but one Book, which He expects both young and old to become familiar with, it is evident that the demand for a phase of religion that can interest the youth and children, is a sign of declension and apostasy. In such a case, therefore, instead of seeking for something else for the young, and leaving the old to the doubtful enjoyment of their routine form of religion, those charged with the care of the church should seek to bring about a general reformation.

One needs only to read the Bible with one's senses alert, to see that the religion to which God calls people is full of joy and gladness. He gives "the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." When He brings people out of the pit, He puts a new song in their mouths, when He turns their captivity, He fills their mouth with laughter, and their tongue with singing. He sets our duty before us, in Isa. lviii., and says that if we do it, "then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord." The upright in heart are expected to "shout for joy." The psalmist said to the Lord, "There is none on earth that I desire beside Thee," or as the Norwegian "When I have Thee, I have no desire for anything on the earth." These texts show, by contrast, the state of professed Christians when they feel as though the world offered attractions that the church ought to emulate or copy.

People should learn to discriminate between amusement and pleasure. Everybody should find pleasure in life; life itself ought to be one continuous flow pleasure and happiness; but the craving for amusement is the sign of a weak or vacant mind. A wise and well-balanced mind, a mind that is properly trained, can find no pleasure in mere amusement. A babe must be amused, because its mind is undeveloped; but in the case of the babe the amusement is really instruction, since it is awakening its faculties. Nothing more loudly proclaims the degeneracy of this generation than the craze for amusement. There is the same distinction to be observed between amused and pleasure, that there is in eating for mere sensual enjoyment and eating for strength, under the guidance of reason. To eat merely to please the taste, lowers the man below the level of the beast; yet eating ought always to be a pleasure-the pleasure of receiving new life.

This distinction is clearly marked in the case of Christ our Pattern. "Even Christ pleased not Himself." No one can think of Him as spending time in mere amusement, or in longing to be amused even in His youth. "What a humdrum existence His must have been," somebody exclaims." It was no doubt necessary for Him, because of the mission He had to He perform; but He surely does not expect us constantly to carry about such a burden of care, and to live lives destitute of lightness and brightness," is the unexpressed thought in many minds. Now stop and really think. He calls everybody to come to Him and learn of Him. His burden was light. He left us an example, that we should follow in His steps, and even at twelve years of age He recognised His Father's business, and devoted Himself to it. He "pleased not Himself," but His was by no means a joyless life. On the contrary, He said, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart." He knew and experienced, what He wishes all His followers to know, that in the way of life and holiness is found the most exquisite pleasure, beside which "the pleasures of sin" pale into insignificance, and are regarded as empty and distasteful. "The pure delight of a single hour" spent before the throne of God outweighs the pleasures of a lifetime of sin; and this joy need not be confined to a single hour, but may be ours every hour. Then not a moment will hang heavily on our hands, and we shall find that the joy of the Lord is the joy of everlasting strength.

November 20, 1902

"The Secret of Reformation" The Present Truth 18, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

When Wycliffe was translating, or was about to translate, the Bible into the English language, he wrote these words:-

As the faith of the church is contained in the Scriptures, the more these are known in their true meaning the better; and inasmuch as secular men should assuredly understand the faith they profess, that faith should be taught them in whatever language may be best known to them. Forasmuch, also, as the doctrines of our faith are more clearly and exactly expressed in the Scriptures than they may probably be by priests,-seeing, if I may speak, that many prelates are but too ignorant of Holy Scripture, while others conceal many parts of it; and as the verbal instructions of priests have many other defects,-the conclusion is abundantly manifest that believers should ascertain for themselves what are the true masters of their faith, by having the Scriptures in a language which they fully understand. For the laws made by prelates are not to be received as matters of faith, nor are we to confide in their public instruction, nor in any of their words, but as there are founded in Holy Writ,-since the Scriptures contain the whole truth. And this translation of them into English should therefore do at least this good, namely, placing priests and bishops above suspicion as to the parts of it which they profess to explain. Other means, such as the friars, prelates, the pope, may all prove defective; and to provide against this, Christ and His apostles evangelised the greater portion of the world, by making known the Scriptures to the people in their own language. To this end, indeed, did the Holy Spirit endow them with the knowledge of tongues. Why, then, should not the living disciples of Christ do in this respect as they did?

The work of translating the Scriptures into the language of the people has now been almost completed. Since the days of Tyndale it has been an easy matter for anyone to get a copy of the Bible in the English language, and the book has been translated into almost every language under heaven. Still the work of the Reformation is not complete. It is not enough that the Bible should be furnished in the language of the people; it must be read and studied by the people. It is of little use to have the Bible if the words of man are to be taken as to what it means, instead of reading it for one's self. To too great an extent at the present day, as in the days of Christ, when the people had the Bible in their own tongue, the fear of God is taught by the commandments of men, rather than by the Word of God. So the work of the true teacher is to take the Bible which the people have ready to their hand, and bring them face to face with it.

To be a follower of the Reformers does not mean to believe just what they believed, and nothing more. To be a worthy follower of the Reformers is to be actuated by the same spirit that moved them. That was loyalty to the Word of God. Their principle was that the Bible should settle all questions; that it, and it alone was the truth. They did not know all that the Bible teaches. No man has ever yet known it all. Sometimes, also, they were mistaken in their views of Scripture, and made the common mistake of teaching what they thought instead of what they knew. Whether a man is right or wrong, if we follow the man, we shall surely go wrong; for at the best we shall get only partial truth; but if we follow the Scriptures just as they have read, we cannot make a mistake. Only they are true followers of the Reformers who have the same loyalty to the word that they had, regardless of what they thought about certain points.

Let the question which Wycliffe ask be pondered well: Why should not the living disciples of Christ do as the disciples of old did, in bringing the Bible to the people, that they may read it without the interpretation of men? When this is done as it should be, there will be a greater reformation than has ever yet been known. The true teacher does not tell what he thinks about the Word, for that is but to preach himself, and not Christ Jesus the Lord. His work is to lead men to the fountain of life, where whosoever will can drink.

"A Wonderful Victory. Judges vii. 1-8, 16-21" The Present Truth 18, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

(Judges vii. 1-8, 16-21)²⁹1

When God led Israel out of Egypt He took them by way of the sea, and not to the land of the Philistines, lest the people should see war, and be disheartened. When the Egyptians pursued them, and overtook them camping by the sea, He made a way of escape for them through the sea, and caused the sea to swallow up their enemies. The marvellous deliverance, together with the wonders wrought in Egypt, in order that they might be delivered, made it manifest that God was doing the work Himself, and that human planning or skill had no place in it.

This miraculously deliverance was calculated to strike the inhabitants of Canaan, and of the land to which they had to pass to get to it, with such terror that the Israelites could possess the land without being molested. On the shore of the Red Sea, after the people had passed over, and the Egyptians had been overthrown, Moses sang this inspired song:-

"The people shall hear, and be afraid; sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established." Ex. xv. 14-17.

All these things go to show that the Lord did not intend that the Israelites should do any fighting whatever. Indeed, this was plainly stated by Moses, when the spies returned, bringing word that the cities were great and strong, and inhabited by giants. At that time he said unto them, "Dread not, neither be afraid of them. The Lord your God which goeth before you He shall fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes; and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son." Deut. i. 29-31. Moreover, the Lord promised to send hornets before them, which should drive out the hostile inhabitants, to make room for them.

It is true that the children of Israel did do some hard fighting, but that was only because they did not believe the Lord, who went before them in the way, to search out a place for them to pitch their tents in, and to show them, by fire at night, and cloud by day, which way they should go. And their fighting was all to no purpose. It was wholly superfluous, and contributed nothing to the ultimate victory, and as we read in Ps. xliv. 1-3:-

"We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them."

After the children of Israel were settled in the land of Canaan, there were numerous instances of God's protecting care over them, showing that if they had only been steadfast in the faith which they exercised at times, He would have continued their victories until, according to His promise, the whole earth should be inhabited only by righteous people; for the victory of faith is righteousness. A notable proof of this is seen in the victory gained over the Midianites, who were oppressing them. The story will repay careful study, as it shows something of how faith works.

Gideon had been chosen as the one through whom the deliverance should come. The Lord had given him the clearest evidence that he was to lead the people to victory, and this accounts for his confidence. The man who knows that he has received his commission from God, and that God is with him, can do all things. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour." Judges vi. 12. Then to Gideon's question why they were allowed to be so oppressed by the Midianites, "The Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the Midianites; have not I sent thee?"

What was "this thy might" of which the Lord spoke? It was not military skill, for he had none. At the time that the words were spoken, he was threshing his father's wheat, in an obscure place, to hide it from the Midianites, who were destroying all the sustenance of both man and beast. It is evident, therefore, that Gideon's might was his weakness and his obscurity; for his family was one of the poorest in the tribe of Manasseh, and he was the least in his father's house. "But 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 are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are; that no flesh should glory in His presence." 1 Cor. i. 27-29. A weak man who has God with him is strong, even almighty. The weakest person, who knows that God is with him, is invisible.

All the preparations for the deliverance of Israel from the Midianites emphasised the fact that Divine power alone was to accomplish the work. Thirty-two thousand men had gathered at the call of Gideon; but the Lord said to him: "The people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him depart early from mount Gilead." The result was that twenty-two thousand men immediately went home, leaving only ten thousand.

This has a lesson for us. God wants people who are bold because of their confidence in Him. Among the first of those who will have their part in the lake of fire are "the fearful and unbelieving." Rev. xxi. 8. In the conflict with the hosts of Satan we are never to take our weakness into account, except to glory in, before God. Our weakness is our recommendation.

But ten thousand men were too many for the Lord's purpose, and so the number was reduced to three hundred, a most insignificant army with which to do battle with the host of the Midianites, if the event depended on human might.

God works according to method, however, and we are taught that victories of faith are not won by idleness and carelessness. Trust in God means alertness and the use of every faculty that He has given us. Mark how naturally the results came about through the simple and seemingly unnatural methods employed.

Acting under the Lord's guidance, Gideon divided his three hundred men into three bands of one hundred each. In each man's right hand was a trumpet, and in

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his left a flaming torch concealed in a pitcher. In the darkness of the night they came to the edge of the camp of the Midianites, and at the blast of Gideon's trumpet they all blew with their trumpets, and shouted "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon." At the same time they broke the pitchers which they carried, and allowed the torches to shine out. The terrible din awoke the Midianites, who saw the three hundred men with trumpets, clearly outlined against the darkness. But to their minds the three hundred were multiplied indefinitely, for they would naturally think that each man blowing a trumpet, with a lamp in his left hand, was the leader of a company which might number thousands. So they were seized with a panic, "and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. In the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord said every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host." Judges vii. 16-22.

Thus the victory was gained without a blow. But mark this: It was gained by men who were fearless and confident. They were strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. They were not frightened because appearances were against them. With the Lord as their leader, they were not afraid to go against a mighty host, armed only with what might seem children's toys. And now remember that "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Rom. xv. 4. Always remember that "the battle is not yours, but God's." It is against Him that the hosts of sin are arrayed, and their assaults on us are really directed only against Him. But the Lord is mighty, and on the cross He has already spoiled all the principalities and powers with whom we have to contend, and our faith in Him is the victory that has overcome the world. Those who follow Him "conquering and to conquer." Victory is theirs to begin with. There is no weakness of the flesh, no temptation of the devil, which may not be overcome by everyone who knows and trusts the Lord; for even in death itself "we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." "Thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Roman Catholics and the Bible" The Present Truth 18, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

"Is it true that the Catholics gave us the Bible? If not, what are we indebted to for our present Bible? Are there any original manuscripts to prove the authenticity of the Scriptures?"

It is certainly not true that the Catholics gave us the Bible. Only a very slight acquaintance with history and with present conditions is necessary to make this apparent. For example, in countries wholly under Roman Catholic influence, as Spain, Mexico, and some parts of South America, the Bible is unknown. The Bible was a forbidden book in Italy, and was totally unknown in Rome, until Victor Emmanuel freed the country from Papal domination. Even in Catholic Germany to-day, it is almost impossible to procure a copy of the Bible. I am well acquainted with the young man who tried in vain to purchase a Bible in Cologne. There are places in France where even the booksellers do not know the Book by name.

Every reader of history knows at what they cost the Bible was given to the English people. The translators had to do their work in secret, and it was only at the risk of his life that anybody had anything to do with circulating the copies that were printed. Catholic prelates, acting under the Pope's orders, burned the Book singly and by whole editions, wherever they could find it; and solely because of his zeal to give the Bible to his countrymen, Tyndale was burned at the stake.

These things being so, how absurd to claim that the Catholics gave us the Bible! When they have taken, and still take, every means possible to keep it away from their own people, who can think that it was they who gave it to Protestants? Not only did they keep it away from the common people, but, at least before the Reformation, the priests themselves were totally ignorant of it. Luther had been a priest for a long time before he had ever seen a copy of the Bible; and he actually supposed that the few extracts in the Prayer Book were all the Scriptures there were, until he accidentally found a chained copy in the library.

Furthermore, the Catholic Church claims that the Bible is not by any means a sure or even a safe guide in matters of religion, and uses only such portions as can be made to appear to support its pretension, while it boldly contradicts others. Now, since it claims to be superior to the Bible, and urges its own change in the matter of baptism and the Sabbath, as proof that the Church, and not the Bible, is the sure guide, it is evident that if it had been left to Roman Catholics, the Bible never would have been translated into the language of the people. I was about to write that if it had been left to them it would never have been written; but that is self-evident, for the Bible carries its own proof that it did not come by the will of any man. It is its own unimpeachable testimony to the fact that it is of Divine inspiration.

I have already indicated to what we are indebted for our present Bible. John Wickliffe and William Tyndale in England, Martin Luther in Germany, are the names that stand most prominent in Bible translation. They prepared the way for others. A little book entitled, "How We Got Our Bible," by Prof. A. H. Sayce, published by the Oxford Press, gives briefly, but very clearly, and in simple language, the fascinating story of Bible translation. Everybody could procure it and read it with profit.

There are no "original manuscripts" in existence, but there are some very ancient copies. The manuscripts written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, etc., are not to be found; but our knowledge of the correctness of the Bible as we have it translated is not lessened by that fact; for the substantial agreement of the

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numerous copies makes the case far more sure than it could be if we had only the original copy of each writer's manuscripts. The one copy might lie under the suspicion of having been tampered with, and changed; but when we have many manuscripts, copied by different persons, and at different times, there can be no doubt that we have the Bible substantially as written by the men were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Now the question remains, How do we know that the Scriptures as we have them are authentic? How may we know that they are indeed the word of God? As to the first part of the question, there is the same proof that there is of any other ancient book. All the books of the Old Testament were in use in the time of Christ, as the New Testament and the controversial writings of heathen author shows; and this is in itself a further proof that we are not indebted to the Catholic Church for the Bible. It was in existence in its entirety, before that church had any existence. The manuscripts that are now in existence, from which present translations are made, were copied at different places and at different times from the originals, and their argument in all essentials is proof that the Bible has not been corrupted to any appreciable extent; while the variations, due to slips of the pens of the copyists, show that there was no collusion, and thus make us more sure than if all were exactly alike.

But when all has been said that may be said as to the authenticity of the documents, we have still to answer the question as to how we know the Bible to be the inspired Word of God. Here, as in the case of Jesus, no testimony can be received from man. It carries its credentials in itself. When God spoke from Mount Sinai, the people who heard did not need anybody to tell them whose voice it was. Even so it is to-day. Men may scoff at the Bible, and deny the validity or perpetuity of the law; but when the Spirit sends the arrow of conviction into their hearts, they know that the law is of God, and that it is of everlasting force. The best, therefore, and the surest proof that the Bible is really the Word of God, is personal acquaintance with its Author. As the officers who were sent to take Jesus, came back and said, "Never man spake like this man," even so those who read and hear the words of the Book are constrained to admit that they are not the production of man. When the conceited young man flippantly remarked to the College Professor that the Book of Proverbs did not show much skill, the old man silenced him with the sententious reply "Make a few."

The Bible shows us ourselves, not only as nobody on the earth could do, but as we ourselves could not. Hidden things are brought to light, which we recognise as pertaining to us as soon as we see them, but which no man could know. The Scriptures reveal the presence of One who can discern the thoughts and intents of the heart; and not only do they lay open human nature, but all creation as well. Through them we get understanding of nature both seen and unseen. All that is needed to convince anybody that the Scriptures are indeed the living word of the living God, is close acquaintance with them. "Taste and see."

There never was a time when the Scriptures were so easy of access, and it is no doubt for this reason that Satan is using every means to undermine its authority over the minds and hearts of the people. The Catholic Church kept the Bible away from the people as long as it could, and now the Protestant Church, through its foremost men, is labouring to make it of none effect. Precepts and miracles are being set aside as mere fabrications, and the prospects are that it will not be long before those who follow the "leaders" will be wholly deprived of the light of life. But God never leaves Himself without witness which the poorest and most illiterate can understand. "If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine." Then let every lover of truth,-every one who sincerely wishes to know the right way,-give diligence to become acquainted for himself with the Sacred Book, and he will have proof of the saying, "The opening of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple."

"For the Children. Joseph's Brethren in Egypt" The Present Truth 18, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The chapters between this and our last lesson tell of the different ways that Joseph tried his brothers to see if they still had the same envy and jealousy in their hearts that had led them to sell him as a slave. He knew that if they had, they would show it to his brother Benjamin. So he tried them to see if they would let Benjamin be left as a slave in Egypt while they went home to their father without him. But he found that so far from leaving him, they were willing to take his place, if only Benjamin might be allowed to go back to Jacob. In the years that had passed while Joseph was in Egypt, they had learned to be kind and thoughtful for each other, and tender and considerate for their old father.

Joseph's brothers did not know that he could understand their language, so they talked freely talked before him, and he had a good opportunity to learn what was in their minds. He heard them say: "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear. Therefore is this distress come upon us." Then Joseph knew that they had repented of their sin of selling him as a slave.

Joseph had nothing in his heart but love for his brethren; yet when he made himself known to them, they were terrified. They thought that now they were in his power, he would surely punish them. Notice how beautifully Joseph comforted them by showing them that it was God's plan that he should go into Egypt before them to save their lives.

We have learned that it was the Spirit of God that gave Joseph such wisdom and success in all his work; and it was the same spirit that put such forgiving love in his heart. He showed the Spirit of Jesus, of whom He was a type.

His brethren hated him because they saw his life was better than theirs. They said they would not have him to reign over them, just as the Jews-their descendants-afterwards said of Christ.

Joseph was sold by his brothers for twenty pieces of silver, even as Judas afterwards sold his Lord for thirty.

Joseph went into Egypt, the very place that the infant Jesus was taken to because of Herod's cruelty.

Joseph was falsely accused and condemned to suffer; Jesus was also falsely accused and condemned.

When Joseph's brethren thought they had got rid of him, and would never see him again, he was made known to them in an exalted position, with all the world looking to him for help. When the people of Christ's own nation crucified Him, and thought that they had made an end of Him, the next thing they heard was that God had raised Him up and exalted Him with His own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to the world. The cross was the way to the throne.

Joseph did not punish his brethren, he spoke kindly to them. He was not ashamed of them, but took them in and presented them before Pharaoh. So Jesus, after He rose from the dead, sent messages of love and comfort to His murderers, and "He is not ashamed to call them brethren." All who come to Him He will present before His Father with exceeding joy.

When Jacob was in trouble because he had lost Joseph, and Benjamin was about to leave him to go into Egypt with his brothers, and he was afraid he would not see him again, he said: "All these things are against me!" But when his sons came home with the joyful news of all Joseph's glory in Egypt and how he would care for and comfort him in his old age, he saw that instead of being all against him, God had been working all things for him.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

It is reported from Rome that the Anti-celibacy movement is developing among the Catholic clergy in Italy, and is attracting the attention of the Vatican, which is preparing to crush it.

The Medical Press mentions it as a well-known fact that old, worn-out horses are shipped to the Continent, and come back to England in the form of meat extract. It really doesn't matter much; for even at its best, meat extract is simply the effette, poisonous portion of the animals; and if people are bound to eat or drink poison, fancying that it is nourishment, they might as well take it from the horse as the cow.

The leading feature of the Brewers' Exhibition held last month in the Agricultural Hall was said to be "the prominence given cider and perry." The uninitiated might think that this is an improvement upon beer; but this idea will be changed when one reads that there is one foreign sample on exhibition, "which has the distinction of containing sixteen per cent. of alcohol, the ordinary proportion being not more than seven per cent." That is much stronger in alcohol than beer. The Daily Mail said "It is hoped by this competition to aid the reviving public taste for a drink which some doctors highly recommend for gout and rheumatism." And very worldly-wise they are to, in recommending it for gout and rheumatism, for there is nothing much better adapted than alcohol to produce those diseases, which provide much work for the doctors.

The Bishop of Ripon was the preacher at the Sandringham church on Sunday, the 9th, when the German Emperor was present with the King; and the sermon was based on Col. iii. 11: "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free; but Christ is all, and in all." In this text, the Bishop said, "the Apostle expresses the dream which others besides himself have dreamed-a dream which enthusiasts have tried to realise, and statesmen, saddened by experience, have relegated to the region of dreams-a dream of a time when distinctions of race and rivalries of blood shall have disappeared in one grand brotherhood." Then, speaking particularly of England and Germany in their relation to each other, he said that they were "assisting to realise that dream of the Apostle when he spoke of seeing distinctions of race disappear." But that was no dream of the Apostle,-fanciful picture of some future condition,-but a sober exhortation; and those to whom the apostle wrote, including us, were expected to realise at once the state described. This a simple reading of the context will show. And it has been realised in thousands of cases. People who are really in Christ know nothing of race or nationality or selfish "patriotism," but regard and treat one another as brothers indeed, even though they be from various countries, and the Government of those countries are actually at war. But that condition can never be produced by statesmen; for statesmen implies the existence of States, which is a contradiction of the Scripture idea. God's people are "not reckoned among the nations." "The righteous nation which keepeth the truth" is composed of individuals from every tribe and nation, who have forsworn earthly citizenship in favour of the heavenly. And this reality, not dream, may be experienced now through the working of the one Spirit which seals true believers children of God.

"Influenza has broken out in south-west London," is what the daily papers state, as though it were a wild beast that has broken out of its cage. And people who read it will wonder whether they will catch it, or, more strictly speaking, whether it will catch them. So far as health and disease are concerned, people are for the most part fatalists, taking each, especially disease, as a matter of course, and feeling, if they escape, that they have been very lucky. How different the case would be if people only knew, as they ought to, that health and disease are not accidental, nor are they arbitrarily sent by decree of heaven; but that health is man's birthright, and that disease comes only where it is invited. If people really valued health, and planned for it, they might have it; but as long as they are indifferent, or passively resigned to whatever may happen to them, expecting disease rather than health, death will continue to feed on them.

The record herring catch at Yarmouth one day last week, when over 52,000,000 fish were brought to land, set a Daily Mail writer to describing that particular industry, and incidentally to extolling the delicacy of the fresh herring. Without a word of apology, and in as matter of course a way as though he were talking of peeling potatoes, he says: "Headed and gutted before it is dead, and popped on the galley fire, it is a dish fit for a king. No salmon or trout can touch it. But to get it to perfection it must be alive when it is prepared for cooking." The thing sounds so horribly gross and heartless that we can scarcely place it before our readers, and would not, except to illustrate how a carnivorous deit, and the constant endeavour to find some new taste to tickle the palate, tends to debase and harden one's sensibilities. Leaving the feelings of the fish entirely out of the question, no man can for his own sake afford the thus to treat any living creature. The fish suffers for a few moments; the man suffers for ever, in that he loses capacity to suffer with a fellow-creature.

At a meeting of the congregation of Oxford University last week, a proposition to drop Greek out of the curriculum as a study obligatory upon every student, was defeated only by a vote of 189 votes to 166. This, together with the action recently taken by Yale University, shows that the time is very near when a man can be regarded as educated even if he does not know Greek. The proposition is not to abolish Greek, but not to make its study obligatory upon men who in after life will have no manner of use for the comparatively little knowledge which they acquire of the language. As the Chronicle says: "The real study of Greek is one thing; the acquisition of a smattering is another." And, "there are many youths who derive no advantage from Greek whatever, and who, in devoting time to a useless and evanescent accomplishment, lose the chance of better things." A proper condition of things will allow a person, after acquiring the rudiments, to develop in the line of his natural inclination and lifework, and not establish a system of rivalry, where each one feels obliged to learn a certain things simply because someone else knows it.

"The Spirit of Antichrist" The Present Truth 18, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The Spirit of Antichrist. -"Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?" 1 John ii. 22. That question carries its own answer: If all lying is summed up in the denial that Jesus is the Christ: and there is no untruth, no form of error, that is not a denial of the Lord. That is a very comprehensive statement, showing that there are more infidels than people are aware of, and that many who would be shocked to hear it intimated that they are denying that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, are really doing so.

This can easily be made to appear. "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now is it in the world." 1 John iv. 3. "Christ is come in the flesh," in human flesh, even now-the "light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Every good deed, every kindly thought, proceeds from the Lord; and whenever any good thing is attributed to a man's own nature, and Christ is not recognised in it, because the man is not a Christian, Christ is denied. On the contrary, if it be recognised that Christ is the Source of everything good, even in the basest men, by the men themselves, and His Spirit working in them is yielded to, those souls are born of God, and will be made complete in Christ.

But intimately connected with this there is still another way of denying the Lord,-a way that is sadly common among Christians. It is the sigh and cry of doubt, the declaration that there is some evil in one's character that cannot be overcome. This is the same as either to deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, which is plainly stated to be the spirit of antichrist,-or to claim that, although there, He is not able to do all things; and this is to give Him the lie to His face, since He says that He has all power in heaven and earth-"power over all flesh." How is it with you? do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, having the words of eternal life, or are you possessed by the spirit of antichrist? It is easy to determine.

"The Perfect Man" The Present Truth 18, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The Perfect Man. -"If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also." Thus we have the evidence that the perfect man is the man who can bridle his whole body, and keep it under; and we learn that the tongue is the last portion of the body to be tamed. Indeed, "the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." But God can bridle even that if we yield ourselves wholly to Him, to be controlled by His Spirit, so that we shall speak only "as the oracles of God;" "for He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God; for He giveth not the Spirit by measure." If only the words of God are on our tongue, we may be sure that we shall neither stumble or cause anybody else to stumble. But remember that this desirable condition cannot be attained by anybody who does not bridle also his whole body.

"Wrestling, but not with God" The Present Truth 18, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

Wrestling, but not with God. -One of the most common misapplications of a Scripture incident is to speak of earnest prayer as "wrestling with God." The reference is of course to Jacob's wrestling all night with the Lord; but, unfortunately for the application, Jacob did not know that he was wrestling with the Lord until his thigh was put out of joint, and he was unable to wrestle any longer. As soon as he discovered that his supposed antagonist was the Lord, he ceased wrestling, for he could not even stand alone with his dislocated thigh, and hung helplessly on the Lord for support, crying, "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me." Then it was, and not when he was wrestling, that he prevailed with God. His helplessness was the strength by which he had power with God. We may be sure that Jacob would not have wrestled for a moment, if he had known that he was trying conclusions with the Lord; and nobody in his senses could think of so presumptuous of thing.

We must wrestle, however, not with the Lord, not with flesh and blood, but "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, again spiritual wickedness in high places." And in this contest it is really the Lord who does the wrestling, not against us, but for us; for it is only with "the whole armour of God that the victory can be won, and none but the Lord can wield God's armour. Indeed, the armour is the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we are exhorted to "put on;" for He is our righteousness, our peace, and our salvation, and it is His faith alone that overcomes the world. "It is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure;" and "the God of peace shall tread Satan under your feet shortly." So we may rejoice in the knowledge that "He will turn again and have compassion upon us; He will tread our iniquities under foot." What a glorious thing, to be able to trample on the cruel sin that once had dominion over us! It can be done by every one who does not love his sin more than he loves liberty.

"Redemption through Creation" The Present Truth 18, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

Redemption through Creation. -"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 that was working for them in all creation. The pillar of cloud revealed Him who "stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain," and 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."

November 27, 1902

"An Israelite Indeed. Ruth i. 16-22" The Present Truth 18, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

(Ruth i. 16-22.)³⁰1

Of all the people who set themselves in opposition to the children of Israel on the way from Egypt to Canaan, there were none more diabolical than the people of Moab. It was Balak, king of Moab, who called Balaam, saying, "Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt; behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me; come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me; peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land." Num. xxii. 5, 6.

Although this purpose failed, and Balaam was constrained to bless when he opened his mouth to curse, the Lord assured the king of Moab, "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel." Nevertheless the Moabites proved a snare and a curse to the children of Israel; for, acting on the advice of Balaam, the Moabites seduced the Israelites in the most flagrant and disgraceful heaven-defying sin. See Num. xxv., and xxxi. 1. Thus the curse did come upon Israel through Moab, after all, and many were destroyed.

The unscrupulous, lewd, and vicious character of the Moabites is plainly revealed in the narrative to which we have referred. It was, indeed, quite in keeping with their origin. That they were idolaters, appears from Num. xxv. 1, 2, where we are told that they called the Israelites unto the sacrifices of their gods; "and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods." From all this we see that the people of Moab were as distinct from Israel, and as much opposed to them, and unlike the people of God, as it was possible for any people to be.

It was to the country of this people that many years later, when Israel had long been dwelling in the land of Canaan, a man from Bethlehem came with his wife and two sons. Famine had driven them from their home, but even though there was bread among the Moabites, the man found among them the death which he feared in his native country, and his wife Naomi was left a widow with two sons. The sons married Moabitish women but soon died; and the mother, left with only her two daughters-in-law, determined to return to the land of Israel; "for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited His people in giving them bread."

Both the daughters-in-law of Naomi started with her as she took her journey back to Canaan; but one of them, Orpah, was soon convinced that it was the wisest policy for her to remain among her own people. "And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her." Then Naomi said to Ruth, "Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods; return thou after thy sister-in-law." And then the loving loyalty of Ruth shone out in the words so well known: "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where the lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."

The story that follows is as romantic as could be imagined, but it is nevertheless a sober history. We do not need to dwell

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upon it in its details, for anybody can read it in a few minutes; what interests us mostly at present is the outcome. Ruth, who forsook her native country and its gods, to dwell among a people whom she had not known before, and to trust under the wings of the Lord God of Israel (Ruth ii. 12), married Boaz, a God-fearing man of Bethlehem, and bore a son; "and they called his name Obed; and he is the father of Jesse, the father of David." Ruth iv. 17.

Thus in a few words we have the story of the progress from idolatry to the worship of the true God,-from a daughter of a Gentile race to a mother in Israel; and in this we have a complete revelation of who constitute Israel, and of how that people is built up. Even as it was the victory of faith that gave Jacob, the supplanter, the name Israel, so it is by faith that the house of Israel is built up. "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." Gal. iii. 7.

Jesus Christ is the Son of David, according to the flesh; and David, whose name stands for Israel since it is from him that the King comes who is to rule over the house of Jacob for ever (See Luke i. 31-33), was directly descended from Ruth, the Moabitess. Not only may one by faith become a member of Israel, and a sharer in the blessings pronounced upon that people, but steadfast faith constitutes one a head of the nation. So we see that Israel is a people whose sole characteristic is faith, and the righteousness which springs from it.

"A Case of Papal Arrogance and Oppression" The Present Truth 18, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

The following paragraph we take from the Christian World of November 13. We have not seen the item in any other paper, but there is no reason to doubt its correctness, since such things are not uncommon in countries where military service is compulsory. But as involving a principle, even apart from the Sabbath question, the case is worthy of far more passing notice.

A common soldier, named Albert Meierhofer, has been condemned at Zurich, in Switzerland, to three months' imprisonment for insubordination. His trial and conviction have caused considerable excitement in the little Republic, especially among religious circles. Meierhofer, who is a recruit and an adherent of the sect of Seventh-day Adventists, declined to do duty from sundown on Friday evenings to sundown on Saturdays. He declined on the ground that Holy Scripture forbids this. After undergoing length and military punishment of the most distressing kind, e.g., drilling all day and in prison all night, he declared himself firm in his conviction that he would be sinning against God's commands if he gave way. His superiors gave him an excellent character in other respects. They extolled his willingness to do all, even the most repulsive duties, on other days, they described him as a man of the highest virtue and character. But this did not save him from punishment. At his trial he declared that in battle he would not raise his weapon against the enemy. Meierhofer's counsel begged the court to acquit the prisoner, as it was evident they had to do with a religious maniac, but the court did not take quite this view. While admitting he was "partially crazy," they could not acquit him fully of all responsibility, and sentenced him to ten weeks' hard labour. When this term expires, he will be given another chance, and should he still be recalcitrant, the sentence will be renewed.

The fact that such an affair does not make the slightest ripple among Christian people, shows that the Papacy has so firm a footing in the world, that high-handed evil passes for righteousness. Someone may ask what the Papacy has to do with this case. The answer is that it has everything to do with it, for there is a great deal of Papacy that is not so labelled. The Papacy is described in 2 Thess. ii. 4, 7, as "the lawless one" "that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped;" and that is exactly the position that the Swiss military authorities occupying in this case.

In the first place, although the commandment says, "Thou shalt not kill," they, in common with the Governments of all nations, have taken it upon themselves, not only to say that men may kill one another, but to insist that they must do so if required. There is no more glaring manifestation of the Papacy in the world than in the military rule that has everywhere established itself, and is constantly increasing in strength. The commandments of God have no weight whatever with it. It issues its decrees in opposition to God's laws, and then when one will be faithful to God's commandments, he must be "punished" as a criminal.

We are not seeking to arouse sympathy for the soldier in this case, or suggesting that anybody should interfere in his behalf. He is not nearly so much in need of sympathy as are the men who are persecuting him. Religious persecution it truly is, as much as any that was ever perpetrated. It is appalling, when we stop to think what power men have arrogated to themselves over their fellow-men, and in opposition to God. A body of men who are only men, band together and not only put themselves in the place of God to other men, but as assume power which God never seeks to exercise; namely, to override a man's conscience. Surely God will visit for such things.

Care must be exercised by the reader not to misapprehend opposition in this case, nor that of the soldier in question. We are not counselling the despising of authority even though it be self-assumed. "The servant of God must not strive," nor must you resist evil. This, according to the report, the soldier recognises; for he has shown himself submissive to every requirement, no matter how unreasonable, so long as it did not conflict with his duty to God. It is just because he is "blameless and harmless" that he is being persecuted. It is because he will not strive. As with Daniel, so with him: they can find no fault with him except "concerning the law of his God."

No Christian is warranted in ever resisting injustice for oppression; but that does not warrant the exercise of injustice or oppression. Nor does Christianity demand that its adherents should keep silence in the face of Papal arrogance. On the contrary they are to cry aloud, and spare not. It is a comparatively light thing that a man should suffer for conscience sake. His case is in the hands of his God, who judges righteously, and who will not forget him; but it is a terrible thing that people's spiritual perception is so dull that they cannot see when God is being defied.

For the case is not one between the military authorities and a common soldier, but between them and God. It is against the Lord Jesus that they are lifting up their hands, as truly as when Herod and Pilate and the rulers of the Jews were gathered together. We pray that God will give the man grace to abide faithful, and that by means of this patient endurance some souls, even it may be among his oppressors, may be led to see that they, as well as he, ought to obey God before man.

"Ritualism" The Present Truth 18, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

In order to show how ritualism fascinates people, a paper publishes some extracts from the diary of a young man, showing how he was led on day by day until he became a Romanist, simply through watching ritualistic performances. One item, descriptive of the ceremony, closes with, "I should not mind being a Catholic if I were sure that it was the right religion." That is a sample of how many people regard religion, and talk about changing religion as they would talk about changing a coat. If religion were only a matter of forms and ceremonies, one thing would be just as good as another. But religion is a matter of the life, and the right religion is that which makes a better man or woman. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."

"The Editor's Private Corner. 'The Times of the Gentiles'" The Present Truth 18, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

"What is meant by 'The times of the Gentiles,' in Luke xxi. 24? This period seems to begin at the destruction of Jerusalem. Is there any thing in the Scriptures to show when it ends?"

Let us note for a moment the period devoted to the Jewish people. Was it a time in which God would be partial, in that He would not regard the salvation of any other people? Impossible; for God is no respecter of persons. It was simply an evidence of the longsuffering of God, in that He would wait yet so many years on the people of Israel, to give them an opportunity to accept their high calling as priests of God, to make the promise known to the world. But they would not. On the contrary, they themselves so far forgot it that when the Messiah came they rejected Him.

So from being the centre, they ceased to have any distinctive place in the promise. Individuals of the race may be saved by believing the Gospel, just the same as other persons; but that is all. The desolate temple, with the rent veil revealing the fact that the glory of God no more dwelt in its most holy place, was a symbol of that people's standing in connection with the covenant. As individuals they may be grafted into the good olive tree, the same as any Gentiles, thus becoming Israel; but their position as leaders, as the religious teachers of the world, is forever gone, because they did not appreciate it. They knew not the time of their visitation.

Jerusalem was destroyed, and its inhabitants carried captive to Babylon, because of the rejection of the word of the Lord by the mouth of His prophets. The city was, however, restored, and the people allowed to return in fulfilment of the promise of God, made befor the captivity. To the rebuilt city and restored people came the Word of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and was again rejected. For this cause the city and people were again left to the prey of the heathen. In foretelling the miseries that should befall the Jews in the destruction of the city by the Romans, the Saviour said:-

"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."

THE COMING OF THE LORD

From the text it is evident that "the times of the Gentiles" reach to the coming of the Lord to judge the world. In announcing this second destruction of Jerusalem, the Lord told, as at the first time, what would take place at the end of the period of desolation. The Jews had their time in which to accept the position and work to which God had called them, and had misused it, not knowing the time of their visitation. Then came the times of the Gentiles, when the Gospel was not simply to be carried to them, but committed to them, for them to carry to the world. The Gentiles comprise all nations, so that the termination of their time must necessarily be the in end of the world. That is the coming of the Lord, "to give to every man according as his work shall be."

"THE FULNESS OF THE GENTILES"

We read: "Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved." Rom. xi. 25, 26. "The fulness of the Gentiles" is the complete restoration of the house of Israel. All Israel will be saved when all who will hear the voice of the Lord shall have been gathered out. The "lost sheep of the house of Israel" are among all the nations of earth,-the Gentiles after the flesh,-and when they are found and gathered, there will be no more necessity for the preaching of the Gospel. "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. xxiv. 14. The ending of the times of the Gentiles is the ending of the accepted time, the day of salvation.

THE TIME NOT REVEALED

"But of that day and hour knoweth no man." Matt. xxiv. 36. It is a sad fact that many, in the face of these words of the Lord, have presumed to fix the date of His coming. Every attempt of that kind is both vain and wicked. The longest period named in prophecy is long since passed, and all that anybody can know of the time of the Lord's coming is that "it is near, even at the doors." And that is enough to know.

It is true that some have thought to evade the charge of setting time for the Lord to come, by fixing a date for the termination of "the times of the Gentiles;" but that, as we have just seen, is the same thing. Besides, there is not the shadow of an indication in the Bible as to how long the times of the Gentiles are, nor when they begin. Consequently it is absolutely impossible to say when they will end. The term "times of the Gentiles," occurs but once in the Bible namely, in Luke xxi. 24, and all that we there learn of it is that the times end that the coming of the Lord. But "in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." Therefore one thing is certain, and that is, that whatever date any man may fix upon as the time of the coming of the Lord, that will be the time when He will not come. "Watch therefore."

NO SECRET COMING

In this connection it will not be amiss to call attention to the fact that the coming of the Lord "as the thief in the night" relates simply to the unexpectedness of His coming, and not to the manner. He will return just as He ascended. "While they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight." Acts i. 10-12. So "He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him." Rev. i. 7. "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God." 1 Thess. i. 16. "If they

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shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth; behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even in the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. xxiv. 26, 27. The text in Luke tells us that the times of the Gentiles are to be terminated by the coming of the Lord "with power and great glory," and that the people shall see it, and shall be terrified even to death by the terrible commotion in heaven and earth in connection with that event.

THE IDEA OF A MILLENIUM

The idea of the millennium of peace on this present earth, to be brought about by alliances and confederations, whether religious or purely civil, is a delusion of Satan, to lull men to sleep concerning the coming destruction, that they may be swept away by it. People talk about crowning Christ as King of this earth, and look forward to a time when all nations shall own His sway; but all such teaching is simply a preparation for the general worship of antichrist. When Christ assumes the authority over this earth, the first thing He will do will be to break the nations in pieces and to gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and all that do iniquity, and cast them into a furnace of fire; and then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. When men, assuming that the looked-for millennium has come, shall say, "Peace and safety," then sudden destruction shall come upon them, "and they shall not escape." 1 Thess. v. 3.

The last general revolution will be at the coming of "the Seed to whom the promise was made" (Gal. iii. 19), who will then take the kingdom to Himself. Yet a little while are these terrible judgments delayed, that all may have opportunity to exchange the weapons of the flesh for the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, which is "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."

This captivity is freedom. By God's Word we come from the Babylonian bondage of pride and self-confidence to the freedom of God's gentleness. Who will heed the call to come out, and exchange the bondage of human tradition and speculation for the freedom which God's eternal Word of truth gives?

"For Little Ones. Israel Comes to Egypt" The Present Truth 18, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

Before the birth of Isaac, God had told Abraham that his seed should be a stranger in a land not their own. But He also made the promise that after they had been there a certain time, He would bring them out again.

When Jacob, on his way to Egypt, to see Joseph came to Beersheba, one of the places where Abraham had built an altar and proclaimed the name of the Lord, he stopped there to offer sacrifices. And God met him there and told him that his children should be greatly multiplied in Egypt, and that He would bring them out again when His time came.

You will remember that Abraham was anxious that as God had called him out, so his seed should be kept separate and distinct from all the nations of earth. This is why Joseph chose for them the land of Goshen, that they might not be mingled among the heathen Egyptians, and in time become a part of that nation. He wanted them to be kept a separate people who should worship the true God, and be His witnesses to the heathen around them.

Shepherds were disliked by the Egyptians, because in that land they were a low and ignorant class, who kept the cattle of the rich, and did not own their own flocks and herds, as the Children of Israel did. Joseph made this the excuse for keeping his brethren apart from the Egyptians, and giving them the rich and beautiful land of Goshen for pastures for their flocks.

Jacob saw Joseph in great honour (as his boyhood' dreams foretold), and all his children well provided for, before he died at the age of one hundred and forty-seven years, after being seventeen years in Egypt. He made Joseph swear that he should not be buried in Egypt, but with his fathers in the cave of Machpelah, in the promised land. In this he showed his faith that God would raise them from the dead, and fulfil His promise to give them that land for an everlasting possession.

Joseph lived ninety-three years in the land of Egypt. He was in great favour with Pharaoh and all the Egyptians, and had riches and honour. But he did not care anything for the treasures of Egypt; he desired only be counted among the people of God. His two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were counted among the tribes of Israel.

Joseph's hope, like Jacob's, was in the promise made to his father's. He knew that God would bring His people out of Egypt, as a He had promised, and he made them promise to take with them the coffin containing his bones, that he might go with them into the promised land, and share in the inheritance at the resurrection of the dead.

"By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones." Through all the years of Israel's stay in Egypt, the bones of Joseph were with them as a reminder of God's promise to deliver them, and a witness that "He is faithful that promised."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

Sir Thomas Barlow declares that paralysis as a result of drink is much more common among women than among men, who are better able to withstand the effects of the alcoholism. But let no man make the mistake of thinking that he, because he is a man, can drink with impunity. Each one should know that the effect of alcohol is to produce paralysis, and that each man who drinks actually has paralysis to the same extent that the woman who drinks has it; the only difference being that it shows more readily in the woman.

One of the most successful manufacturing establishments in the world is that of the Westinghouse air brake. The Westinghouse products are known all over the world, and new inventions are continually being added. The secret of this progress was recently revealed by the head of one of the departments, who said to a visitor: "If a man is in charge of a bit of work for some time, and can think out no way of doing it better than in the past, he is not much good to me." The man or boy in any work in the world, who never thinks out any better way of doing the work he is set at, is of only secondary use. He may be a very good machine, but he is nothing more. Every Christian ought to understand that by his profession he is bound to do the very best work possible in whatever he is employed at; and since the difference between a man and machine is that a man grows, he must necessarily improve. It is a disgrace for a professed Christian to do a second rate job in even the most insignificant work.

Probably no one doubts that the German Emperor, like all wise rulers, desires peace rather than war, notwithstanding the fact that he is above everything else a military man, and the army occupies the first place in his thoughts. His reason for cultivating the military spirit, which appears in the following paragraph from a recent speech at the unveiling of a statute to the Elector Frederic, is not at all flattering to the rest of the world:-

"I am privileged to administer the heritage of my forefathers in peace, but we can only continue unmolested our peaceful work in development, if our sons recognise as their first and highest duty the defence of the fatherland, their highest honour the wearing of the King's uniform, and their holiest work the calling of arms."

That is to say, that if all the men of Germany did not religiously cultivate the profession of arms so as to make the country too formidable to attack, the rest of the world would at once fall upon them, and put an end to the peace of the land. He is no doubt right; but what an indictment that is of the world, by one of the ablest men in it. It attributes to the men of the world the disposition of wild beasts; yet all the nations call themselves Christian. Even a wolf or a lion or a tiger will not attack an enemy that it has no hope of overpowering. When all the nations become imbued with the idea that to bear arms is the holiest work a man can engage in, some fierce fighting may be expected.

In an address at a meeting of Oxford undergraduates last week, the Bishop of London referred again to "the paganism of London," which he said lay upon his soul very often. He said that he had "arrived at the conclusion that only about one person in eighty in London among the working classes went either to church or chapel." This estimate is not a wild guess; for there is nobody better acquainted with the working class of London than the Bishop is. The worst feature in the paganism is the indifference, not only of the mass of the people themselves, but of professed Christians, who the Bishop said "were apparently content to leave this great population to grow up without religion." He proposes to dispose of some of the City churches, that have a site value of ?200,000, and a congregation of only ten or a dozen, to provide church accommodation in other parts. The Bishop has a gigantic task before him, in which even success will look like failure.

One of the leading Russian newspapers says: "Although our naval forces at cannot present be compared with those of Great Britain, yet we must not forget that our shipbuilding programme provides for a rapid increase of our navy; and the success already gained by the Russian shipbuilding yards in this respect gives every assurance that our fleet will soon assume proportions corresponding to those of our land forces: that is to say, as the army is increased there will be a corresponding increase in the Russian navy, which, according to the idea of its founder, Peter the Great, is to rank among the first." And thus the work of preparing war goes on, and what the end will be, anybody but a blind person can easily see. It is strange that people will contrast the present age favourably with the past, as the age of enlightenment and reason instead of force, when there was never before a time in history of the world, when nations so systematically prepared to fight one another as they do now.

When Bishop Potter, of New York, looked at a very modern church building which he had been asked to dedicate, he said that it had "only three faults: You cannot see in it, you cannot hear in it, you cannot breathe in it." That is a fair sample of many buildings which, as if in a mockery of the free air and sunshine were God dwells, are misnamed God's house. When will people learn that the best place in which to worship God is where His Spirit of light has freest course? Sombreness does not become God's house. The beauty of holiness is not sadness and gloom. Solomon's temple was the most glorious building in the world, and that is the one house of worship which was constructed according to the Lord's directions. He Himself, describing the adorning of His sanctuary, says: "I will make the place of My feet glorious." To go on a summer day from God's free air and warm sunshine to a dark, damp, unventilated room in order to worship the Creator, seems almost like burlesque.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

We recently saw these words in a Christian worker's report of labour: "I am thankful for the way the Lord is taking care of us, and by His help I am trying to do the best I can." That is, sad to say, a too common idea of the value of the Lord's help. Really, it is impossible to see where the Lord's help comes in in such a case; for man certainly does not need much assistance only to try to do the best the he can. Without any special help, one cannot only try, but actually do, the best one can. It is too bad when people really wish to serve the Lord do not allow Him to do the best He can for them. They may be sure that if they allow Him to do anything at all, He will do His best, and that will be to make the believer "perfect in every good work to do His will."

When God fed the Israelites in the wilderness with bread from heaven, He "commanded the clouds from above," "and rained down manna upon them to eat." This is a demonstration of how He is constantly providing food for the children of men,-commanding the clouds, and raining down bread. 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, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater."

But that food which comes in the ordinary course, springing from the earth upon which rest the curse of sin, is not a perfect food; it lacks the fulness of strength that was imparted to man by the life-giving fruits of Eden. This was indicated in the words to Cain: "When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength."

Contrast this with the description of the manna: "Man did eat the bread of the mighty," bread that imparted perfect strength and fulness of life. It came direct from heaven, untouched by the curse that rests upon the earth. It was the corn of heaven, the food of the angels "that excel in strength;" and God "who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles," gave it to His chosen people that by partaking of it they might have their strength perfectly renewed, and be healed of all their diseases.

The Israelites, however, were not satisfied with the simple, health-giving food. They tempted God "by asking meat for their lust." Although the food provided by God perfectly met all the needs of the human system, the people were dissatisfied; they wanted something to gratify their taste and please their palates; they asked meat "for their lust."

The normal appetite of a healthy person is but the expression of the needs of the body. That which we call hunger is the stomach's interpretation of the wants of the system, prompting us to supply them. When inferior food is eaten that cannot build up the body, or in cases of malnutrition, when the food is imperfectly digested and not assimilated, although large quantities of food may be consumed the individual is not satisfied, because the needs of the system are not supplied. Such an one is habitually hungry. But when, as in the case of the manna, a perfectly-balanced food, easy of assimilation is provided, one that will nourish the whole body and give perfect strength, the desire for other food is simply for the gratification of appetite or lust.

It is doubtless true that food that is not relished is not well digested; but that does not prove that taste is to direct and control our eating. If we were as unperverted as even the lower animals are, we might perhaps be guided by our taste; but our appetites have been sadly perverted, and often choose that which is wholly bad. Therefore reason must control. We must know what is good, and then if our perverse appetite is capricious, it must be trained, the same as a spoiled child. If one's will is set to follow that which is best, it is a very easy matter to convince the appetite; for it should be known that everything that is really good for the body is also delicious to the taste that is not corrupted.

There is only one reason for eating, and that is to gain and preserve strength. Whoever desires or takes anything, whether in quality or quantity, that is not absolutely needed for the building up of his body, is simply living to gratify lust; and it may be set down as a fact that in such a case the baser passions will also assert themselves, since all lust is one. But whoever can keep his appetite down to the actual needs of his body, can keep every sinful lust in check. Such an one knows the joy of life, and he is the only one who does know it. That one alone truly discerns the Lord's body, and knows for a certainty that God has ordained that we should live by food, in order that we may constantly see that our strength is of Him, and not of ourselves. And as he enjoys the food given from heaven, he will realise that the joy of the Lord is his strength.

A recent work on the Atonement entitled, "The Death of Christ," closes with the words: "The more one dwells in the New Testament, and tries to find the point of view from which to reduce it to unity, the more he is convinced that the Atonement is the key to Christianity as a whole." But that does not state have the truth, which is that the Atonement is all there is to Christianity. There are many kinds of religion in the world, but it is the Atonement that makes Christianity. The death of Christ is not a feature of Christianity, but the sum of it. The Apostle Paul knew nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified; and we can say with him, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world as crucified unto me, and I the world," knowing that if we begin with Christ we shall also live with Him.

"The Obedience of Faith" The Present Truth 18, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

The Obedience of Faith. -Paul said that through Christ he had received grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith among all nations. See Rom. i. 5, margin, and Revised Version. True faith is obedience. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 29. Christ said, Why, call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" Luke vi. 46. That is, a profession of faith in Christ, which is not accompanied by obedience, is worthless. "Faith, if it hath not works, is dead." James ii. 17. "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." Verse 26. A man does not breathe in order to show that he lives, but because he is alive. He lives by breathing. His breath is his life. So a man cannot do good works in order to demonstrate that he has faith, but he does good works because the works are the necessary result of faith. Even Abraham was justified by works, because "faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect. And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness."

December 4, 1902

"Training for the Ministry. 1 Samuel iii. 1-14" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

(1 Samuel iii. 1-14.)³¹1

THE MODEL RELIGIOUS LIFE

Every reader naturally exclaims at once, "That is the life of Christ, of course," and then as naturally begins, consciously or unconsciously, to put a wide gulf between himself and Christ, assuring himself that nobody can live such a life on this earth as Christ lived. The life of Christ is indeed regarded by most people as a model to be set up on a pedestal, and looked at and admired from a distance, rather than to be lived every day. This is part of the legacy that we have received from the Church of Rome, which has represented Christ as so far removed from human sympathies that no human mortal can presume to come directly to Him, or expect to receive anything from Him except through the intercession of Mary or the glorified saints. This sentiment, so deeply imbedded in the mind, is one of the last Papal fetters to be thrown off.

But Christ Himself, who calls us to learn of Him, always identifies Himself with us, by the term Son of man, which He so much loved, and says, "I am meek and lowly in heart." He is the living representative of God the Father, who says: "I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." Isa. lxvii. 15. And He has also made the way very simple and plain for us, by setting specially before us as the model, not the man skilled in meeting the sophistries of the scribes and doctors of the law, but the little child subject to its parents.

"And Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set Him in the midst of them, and said, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. xviii. 2-4.

What do we know of the life of Jesus? Only this: "And he went down with them [Joseph and Mary], and was subject unto them." Luke ii. 51. That is the whole, and it is enough. It shows the little child always ready to run errands or to render such household service as tender hands could perform; the child whose ear was quick to catch the first sound of the call to duty, and whose highest pleasure was found in being useful. That is the religion of childhood, and it is the religion for the mature man as well.

This was the religion of the child Samuel. "Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child." "And the child Samuel ministered unto [served] the Lord before Eli." What did he do?-Just what a little child could do, and nothing more. He was not a priest, he could not enter into the holy place and offer incense. But he could wait on the priest. We read that after God had called him and spoken to him by night he "lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord." There we get a glimpse of him at his daily service. His work was to make himself generally useful, no matter how lowly the task; and in the faithful discharge of those humble duties he was ministering unto the Lord.

It is not what is done, but how it is done, that determines whether or not one is ministering unto the Lord. The person who slights his task, or performs it unwillingly, wishing that his work were something "more honourable,"-something that would attract more attention, or command greater pecuniary reward,-is not serving the Lord, no matter what nor where his work may be, even though it be in the temple itself. For that person is not a free man, but a slave; and God has no slaves in His employ. All God's servants are free; they are kings. God is King of kings, and he has no one in His service or in His kingdom of lower rank than king. Therefore every one who is the servant of the Lord is master of his work, and never allows it or circumstances to master him.

Servants, no matter how menial their service, are to obey orders "in singleness of heart," as under Christ; "not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men." Eph. vi. 5-7. "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." Col. iii. 23. This was the characteristic of Jesus, who said, "I delight to do Thy will, O my God" (Ps. xl. 8), and He was doing God's will just as much when He was assisting Mary in her household tasks, or Joseph in the carpenter's shop, as when He was preaching to the multitudes, and healing the sick. The first was the preparation for the last.

Elisha was a prophet of the Lord, performing many wonderful miracles, yet for years he was but a servant, and "poured water on the hands of Elijah." 2 Kings iii. 11. That was his "Training for the Ministry;" for how can one train for any calling better than in the exercise of that calling? and that lowly service, done willingly from the heart, was the true ministry. Elijah never served the Lord better than when he waited on Elijah.

So it was when Samuel was doing his childish tasks with a faithful, willing spirit, that he was called to the highest service that could be given to a man-that of bearing a message from God to the high priest of God. Yet the service was in reality no higher than the other.

What sweet simplicity is seen in the child Samuel! Prompt to answer every call, he rose from his bed without hesitation, time after time, to wait upon the aged Eli, who he supposed was needing assistance. Then, with the artlessness and graceful trust of childhood, he followed Eli's instructions, and said, when he heard the voice "Speak, for Thy servant heareth." Yes, he heard, because he was alert to hear, like the angels that excel in strength, that "do His commandments, harkening unto the voice of His word." In that is summed up the perfect Christian life. How many there are who missed "the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," simply because they despise the day of small things. "Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not;" for "with all lowliness wisdom."

"Oh, 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.

"Oh, give me Samuel's heart!-
A lowly heart that waits
When in Thy house Thou art;
Or watches at Thy gates.
By day and night-a heart that still
Moves at the breathing of Thy will."

"Established by Spiritual Gifts" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." What is the profit?-"For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Eph. iv. 12, 13.

The gifts of the Spirit are for the purpose of building up the church, the body of

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Christ. But the gifts of the Spirit must accompany the Spirit. As soon as the early disciples received the Spirit in accordance with the promise, they received the gifts. One of the gifts, speaking with new tongues, was manifested that very day. It follows, therefore, that the absence of the gifts of the Spirit in any marked degree in the church, is evidence of the absence of the Spirit, not entirely, of course, but to the extent that God has promised it. The Spirit was to abide with the disciples for ever, and therefore the gifts of the Spirit must be manifest in the true church until the second coming of the Lord.

As before stated, the absence of any very marked manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit, is evidence of the absence of the fulness of the Spirit; and that is the secret of the weakness of the church, and the great divisions that exist. Spiritual gifts established the church; therefore the church that does not have those gifts cannot be established.

Who may have the Spirit?-Whoever asks for it with earnest desire. See Luke xi. 13. The Spirit has already been poured out, and God has never withdrawn the gift; it only needs that Christians should ask and accept.

"Gospel Liberty" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

Gospel Liberty. -Gospel liberty is the liberty that God gives men through the Gospel. It expresses God's idea of freedom. It is the freedom seen in nature and in all the works of God's hands. It is the freedom of the winds, blowing where they list; it is the freedom of the flowers, scattered everywhere through wood and meadow; it is the freedom of the birds, soaring unrestrained through the heavens; the freedom of the sunbeam, shooting from its parent orb and playing on cloud and mountain top; the freedom of the celestial orbs, sweeping ceaselessly on through infinite space. This is the freedom that flows out from the great Creator through all His works. It is sin that has produced what is narrow and contracted and circumscribed,-that has erected boundary lines, and made man stingy and niggardly. But sin is to be removed, and then perfect liberty will be realised once more in every part of creation. Even now this freedom may be tasted, by having sin removed from the heart. To enjoy this freedom through eternity is the glorious privilege now offered in the Gospel to all men. Who that claims to love liberty can let this opportunity pass unimproved?

"The Editor's Private Corner. 'Baptized for the Dead'" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

"A friend of mine is troubled over 1 Cor. xv. 29. She has been reading the enclosed tract, and would like to know if they did really baptize another for the dead, or how should she understand the above passage. If it is not taking up too much of your valuable time to answer, I believe you can help her in this, as the remarks in the 'Corner' have been a great help to her."

My time is valuable only as I am doing just such work is this, and it is therefore never an intrusion or imposition, to ask such questions. It is my business to set forth the Scriptures in answer to them, and I am most happy when I have the privilege of so doing.

Perhaps I should first quote from the tract referred to. The following two paragraphs cover the item in question:-

"The seeker after truth may properly inquire: 'If it is necessary for men and women to be baptized, what will become of the good people who have died without that privilege?' To this the reply of the Scriptures is that the dead who died without hearing the Gospel will have it preached to them. They who obey it will be saved, but they who reject it will be condemned, as though they were in the flesh. 'For this cause was the Gospel preached to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit.'

"'But a dead person cannot be baptized', says one. Very true; but God is just. He who has provided a way in which the dead can be baptized for, by the living, as shown by the Apostle Paul in his questions: 'Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not of all? why are they then baptized for the dead? Paul referred to baptism for the dead as a proof of the resurrection, his questions showing plainly that baptism for the dead was both believed in and practised by the early Christians."

A little study will suffice to show that this is altogether a fallacy; but we study the Scriptures, not for the purpose of disproving these unwarranted assertions, but in order to be strengthened by the truth that is in them.

In the first place we need to recall and hold to the fact that "the dead know not anything." Eccl. ix. 5. "His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job xiv. 21. These are simple statements of a truth that involves the very heart of the Gospel, which teaches that there is no life apart from Christ; but we have not time or space at present to go further into a consideration of it. These two Scripture statements are certainly sufficient to show that the dead can be baptized just as easily as they can hear and believe, and no more. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," not he that believeth and has another baptized for him.

Having settled it by incontrovertible proof that might be multiplied indefinitely, that it is utterly impossible for the dead either to believe or to be baptized, we must consider the significance of baptism, for the answer to the question depends wholly on that. Whoever knows the real meaning of baptism can never have any trouble over baptism for the dead.

"As many of you as have been baptized into Jesus Christ have put on Christ." Gal. iii. 27. It is only in Christ that we can be saved. "Neither is there salvation in any other." Acts iv. 12. Therefore since we put on Christ, or come into Him, by baptism, it is easy to see how "baptism doth now save us." 1 Peter iii. 21. It is "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God."

But "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 that His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Rom. vi. 3-6.

In His death Christ gives His life for us,-that eternal life which He could lay

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down and take again, and which He laid down that He might take it again, and us with it. If we consent to die with Him, we shall surely live with Him. And this must take place now. The new life which believers live by the power of the resurrection of Jesus, is the proof of His resurrection, and the pledge of the final resurrection of all the righteous.

But this new life is wholly Christ's life. "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." Gal. ii. 20. Putting on Christ and abiding in Him, we are thenceforth wholly swallowed up, immersed, in His life; and it is of this reality that baptism in water is a figure.

Thus we have before us the meaning of being baptized for the dead. It is to be baptized into the crucified Christ; but the efficacy depends wholly on the resurrection of Jesus. It would be useless to be baptized for a dead Christ, or into His death, if He were not also raised from the dead. This is the significance of 1 Cor. xv. 29.

Please take special notice that the baptism is to be into Christ. A person may be baptized, plunged, into water, a thousand times without having once being baptized into Christ. That means a new creature-a life as new as though it were wholly another person now living. Of this living wholly in Christ, the burial in water, and rising again, is but a figure. Now while the figure amounts to nothing without the fact, the thing itself, the real putting on of Christ by faith in His death and life, is valid without anything else. God is indeed just, and therefore although He gives us emblems, figures, setting forth Gospel truth, He does not make salvation dependent on those emblems. None can be saved without faith in Christ; but it is possible to be saved without having been baptized in water. Therefore it is that when Jesus said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," he added only, "but he that believeth not shall be damned," and did not say that he that is not baptized is damned.

The dead will never have the Gospel preached to them; and the Bible nowhere says that they will. It does indeed say that the Gospel was preached to them that are dead; and that relieves God of all responsibility. All who have lived iandn died have heard the Gospel, and consequently they do not need to hear it any more. It was not preached to them that were dead, however. They were all alive when it was preached to them, but now they are dead. It was preached to them for the same reason that it is now preached to us,-"that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit;" that is, that they might be delivered from the flesh, and live spiritual lives.

This is no disparagement of baptism in water. That is a most impressive and beautiful and solemn public declaration of one's acceptance of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ; and since Christ has instituted it, every one who knows and loves Him will be most glad to submit to it; but salvation is dependent on the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord, and not upon a new sign of it. There will be many in the kingdom of God from among the heathen, who have died without ever having heard of baptism, or even the name of Christ, but who have seen the life that was manifest (1 John i. 1-3), and have accepted it; they have walked in that light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world (John i. 9), and have not held down the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. i. 18); and "in every nation he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him." May we be as faithful with far greater measure of light.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Who Is the Preferred Creditor?" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

"Is it right for a Christian to engage in business which requires that he should buy goods on credit? If already in business, and having accounts against him, what would be the most consistent course of action?"

The only way to know what is right for a Christian is to see what the Bible says: and the testimony of the Scriptures is wholly against going into debt. I do not know of any instance on record in the Bible, of God's children engaging in business and credit; and I do know that when at His command they built the tabernacle, and afterwards the temple, they obeyed His instructions, and had all the money, and materials for building, ready before they began.

We need not too closely press the words of the apostle, "Owe no man anything, but to love one another," in order to show that Christians ought not to be in debt. I will not contend with one who says that the apostle has no reference to business transactions, in the words just quoted; still, nobody can prove that he has not; and the verse just preceding "Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour" (Rom. xiii. 7) savours very strongly of a business precept. But as we are much more in danger of taking Scripture for less than it means, than for more, the safest thing for any man to do is to take Rom. xii. 8 as a positive command against incurring debts of any kind.

There is other evidence, however, equally conclusive. "The borrower is servant to the lender." Now when we remember that God's children and not in bondage, and that the seed of Abraham are all free men, it is plain that none of those who are Israelites indeed can be in the bondage of debt.

This is made still further evident by reference to Deut. xxviii. where Israel is told that if they hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord, to observe and to do all His commandments, "The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thine hand; and thou shalt land unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath." Thus we see that if a person is in debt it is an evidence that he has not been as faithful as he should be in serving the Lord. He has not kept all the commandments.

The person who, in accordance with the common business custom, buys goods on credit, is never free. Thousands of men with the most honest intentions have failed under just those conditions, and have died without being able to pay what they owed. Of course it was because something happened that they did not expect; but nobody can tell when the unexpected will happen, and therefore it is plain that all debt of whatever kind is mere speculation; and God's people are not to deal in uncertainties. They are to walk by faith, which comes by hearing God's word. They are always to know where they are and whither they are going, and how they are to get there. They are to possess substance, not a shadow.

The man who pays cash for everything he buys, when he buys, can never become bankrupt, and can never by any possibility be the cause of loss to others. He may lose everything he has, by fire or flood;

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but he can never have less than nothing, as would be the case if he owed for some of the destroyed property.

I am well aware that many will say that this advice, if followed, would greatly hamper business; but I have noticed that business men seem to think more of a customer who always pays cash; and I know, because it is Bible truth, that if nobody ever incurred debt, business would indeed be "business," and not, as is too often the case, a mere lottery.

It is evident, therefore, that the consistent thing for man to do, who is already in debt, is to get out of debt as quickly as possible, even if he has to diminish the amount of his stock. If a man cannot start in a business without going into debt, that fact alone is sufficient proof that he is not ready to engage in it.

"The Editor's Private Corner. Tithe" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

"What principles should guide a business man in the matter of paying tithe? If the only means of ascertaining his income involves taking stock, which is sometimes too tedious to be frequently done, how is he to decide the amount of tithe to be paid in the intervals? Also, how is he to know whether he is misappropriating funds [the Lord's tithe] in meeting his current expenses?"

Every real business man always knows whether his business is gaining or losing. He cannot of course always tell to a penny how he stands, because there will always be unfinished transactions; but the man who does not always know whether he is gaining or losing in his business is not a business man, and ought not to be making believe that he is.

Every business man knows his daily or weekly takings and expenses, and can lay aside his tithe regularly, according to the proportion of those two items. He expects to live out of his business, and the least that he could do would be to set aside a sum equal to one-tenth of his living expenses. Then he will know that he is not living on money that belongs to the Lord.

"If a man is in debt, is he justified in making a donation (apart from the tithe) to the Lord's work? Or should he first devote all his spare money toward removing the debt, so that he may be free to give to his own?"

One text of Scripture is sufficient to settle that question. It is Mal. iii. 8: "Will a man rob God? yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings."

This shows that we owe offerings to the Lord, as well as the tithe. Then the question resolves itself into this: If a man is in debt to his fellow-men, and also to God, should he give his fellow-men the preference over God, paying them all off before he pays anything to the Lord? Can there be any doubt as to the answer? Ought not the Lord to stand at least an equal chance with other creditors? Ought He not to receive a pro rata with the rest? I think you can answer this now for yourself.

There are, I know, hundreds of possible conditions, concerning which questions might arise; but the principles here briefly set forth will cover everything. The right way is always the simplest way.

"Little Folks. The Birth and Flight of Moses" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

God told Abraham not only that his seed should go into Egypt, but also how long they should stay there, and what should happen to them during that time. He said: "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and they shall serve them; and they shall afflict them 400 years." He also said to Jacob when he was on the way to Egypt, "There will I make of thee a great nation."

Our lesson this week shows how these words of God came to pass. For the Children of Israel "increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them." This led the Egyptians to fear them, and afflict them, as God had said.

But this did not lessen their numbers for "the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew." Hard work does not kill people, but makes them strong and healthy.

So Pharaoh tried a different plan: He made a cruel decree that every baby boy should be thrown into the river. But God used this very decree to work out His own purpose, and raise up a deliverer for Israel.

The 11th of Hebrews tells us that "by 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."

During their long stay in Egypt, many of the Israelites had left the worship of the true God, and now worshipped the idols of Egypt. But there were still some faithful ones among them who loved and trusted God, and waited in faith for Him to bring them out of their land of bondage, and take them to the Promised Land. These were looking for Him to raise up a deliverer for them.

When Moses was born, and his parents saw that he was an unusually fine child, they hoped and trusted that he was the one chosen of God to deliver Israel. His mother did at last put him in the river, but in such a way that he could not be drown. She made a little rush basket or ark with a cover, and daubed it with pitch so that the water could not get in. In this she put her precious and beautiful babe, put it at the edge of the water, and left him to the care of his Heavenly Father.

And God sent Pharaoh's own daughter to find him, and open her heart to the beautiful child, so that his life might be spared. Then his mother was able to bring him up openly without fear, and money was given to her to provide for him. How precious were those few years that Moses spent in his mother's home, and how carefully she must have taught him of the God of his fathers, and of the work that was in store for him as the deliverer of Israel!

Moses stayed in the court of Pharaoh until he was forty years old. He was a great man, "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and mighty in word and deed." He might have sat upon the throne of Egypt, and ruled over that great kingdom. But he looked for a better country, the land that God had promised to his fathers, which we have learned is a beautiful New Earth for which we also look. "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 season."

Moses at first made the same mistake that Abraham and Jacob had made. He tried to get for himself what he knew God

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intended for him. He knew that God chosen him to deliver Israel; and so, when he saw an Egyptian task-master ill-treating a Hebrew slave, he killed the Egyptian. Then, thinking that his brethren understood that God had set him over them, he interfered when he heard two of them quarreling. But they were angry, and said, "Who made thee a prince over us?" just as Joseph's brethren said when he told them his dreams.

The life history of Moses, like that of Jesus, is an object lesson of Christ. What things in the life of Christ does this week's lesson bring to your mind? Satan knew that the time was drawing near for God to deliver His people from Egypt, and he expected that He would raise up a man to lead them out. So he put it into Pharaoh's heart to kill all the baby boys, just as he afterwards moved Herod to kill all the infants so that Jesus should be slain. But all that Satan can do only helps forward the work of God.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

A French professor says that excessive meat-eating in England and America has caused appendicitis to be much more prevalent in those countries than in France. Yet people will in general eat no less meat on that account. Still if even one should by this statement have his attention called to the evils of flesh-eating and should abandon the habit, there would be ample justification for publishing it.

It is reported that at a recent reception of the patriarchs at Constantinople the Sultan declared that he would make no distinction between Christians and Mohammedans. There is no reason to believe that he is not sincere in this; for all that Christians have suffered in Turkey has been the result of jealousy and ill-feeling on the part of professed Christians, and not from Mohammedan hatred of Christianity.

Five persons, constituting an entire family, were discovered one morning last week lying unconscious in bed, owing to an escape of gas. The mother and one boy were dead, and the other three just at the point of death. Such a thing cannot happen to those sleeping as they ought to, if they wish to retain even ordinary good health; that is, with the air freely circulating through the room. Shelter from the rain is necessary; but in other respects people's sleeping rooms ought to be so arranged as to allow them to sleep practically out of doors.

Every lover of truth and humanity must read with the feeling of special satisfaction that Pobiedonostseff is about to retire from the office of Chief Procurator of the Russian "Holy Synod," which in his hands has been about as unholy an office as could well be imagined. He has been a most relentless persecutor, and it is doubtful if anybody can form an estimate of the number of persons he has sent into exile, or else forced to conform to the customs of the Russian Church. His name has been a synonym for narrowness, bigotry, and intolerance; and though his office will be filled, and some other man will carry on the work of persecuting those who will follow the Bible rather than the Church, it seems almost certain that any change must be an improvement.

Yet it would be a grave error to suppose that Pobiedonostseff is an irreligious or immoral man. It is doubtful if Saul of Tarsus was ever more scrupulous in the performance of all religious practices, or more zealous to live in all good conscience than the Russian Procurator has been. His case is a marked illustration of the fact that the most upright persons make the most bitter persecutors when, like Pobledonostseff, they have no sympathy with liberty of conscience. Indeed, he can scarcely be said to any sympathies; he has rather been an iron machine, dominated by the single idea that the Church is supreme, and there is absolutely no salvation outside of it. He has but treated others with the same rigour that he has exercised for himself. "Nearly all his life he has worn a hair shirt next his body, and at stated times and seasons he mortifies his flesh with a thin wire scourge till the blood comes." Knowing nothing of true Christianity, and of the gentle Spirit of the Gospel, he has felt the burden of souls on him, and has used the only means he knew of to save them. Speaking to a conclave of bishops, he once said: "If these Stundists are lost, we share in the responsibility, and their souls will be required of our hands." And here again we are face to face with another anomaly; for the "heresy" of the Stundists is wholly the result of reading and obeying the Holy Scriptures, the circulation of which Pobiedonostseff has done much to assist. Addressing the students of the Kieff Ecclesiastical Academy, at one time, he urged them to study the Scriptures above all other writings, sacred or profane, saying, "They elevate and refine; they point out truths of faith and rules of conduct found nowhere else; they are the oracles of God. Make their lesson part of your daily lives; meditate on them with prayerful hearts, and you wll find that with God's blessing your lives will become more consecrated to the holy service on which are entering." No one could give better advice, and no one can reconcile it with his actions.He was undoubtedly thoroughly conscientious, and it is well that judgment rests with an all-wise God.

The Daily Chronicle recently contained a pitiful letter from an Oxonian, recounting his struggles to get an education, and complaining bitterly that now, at thirty years of age, with a good degree, he "can get absolutely nothing to do," closing with the words:-

"I have found out too late that the University is a luxury for the rich man only, and not for those who must work for a livelihood. I am worn down with grinding poverty, and have no prospects for the workhouse. Well, the struggle has taken so much out of me that I do not mind this very much."

There is material here for a lesson and a warning to all students. It is not, however, that they should refrain from getting the highest culture possible, but that they should look well to their motives, and consider well what true education is, and what it is for. In the first place this young man left business to study for the university, solely with the idea of "improving his position," and not with the idea of development for the glory of God. He could no doubt get employment in his old business again, but that would seem to him to be throwing away all his "education." As a matter of fact, he had never had an idea of what education is, else he would not have become worn out in obtaining it. True education is the knowledge of God, which is life eternal, and therefore the obtaining of it, no matter under what difficulties, builds one up, making him fit for anything. And He who has it will never in this world, so full of people, be unable to find work; for he will work from love of it and of his fellow-men, regardless of the remuneration; and, moreover, the world will feel the influence of his education, and be the better for it, even though he were in the lowest position of service.

Another much lauded book on "Sunday" has been added to the Oxford Library of Practical Theology. The writer is the Rev. W. B. Trevelyan, M.A., Vicar of St. Matthew's, Westminster. As has been done hundreds of times before, Mr. Trevelyan proves everything for Sunday, except that it is of Divine authority. The Church Family Newspaper, in a strong and highly commendatory notice, says:-

"Mr. Trevelyan claims to show from the Holy Scriptures, from the Canons of the early Councils, and from the writings of the Fathers that the Lord's Day [meaning Sunday] is a Christian institution dating from apostolic times of very high authority indeed; we only may not say of the highest because we have no express command of God, ordaining the observance of the first day of the week."

That is to say that Sunday lacks the only thing that could possibly give it any real claims to observance by Christians.

Commenting on the death of Herr Krupp, the "Cannon King," who has supplied Germany and other nations with their huge engines of war, the Daily Chronicle says that "now his enormous wealth and the power over so many thousand lives passes to an Austrian cousin, unless, indeed, it is possible for the German nation to take over the works that are so essential to the national existence. In either case there seems little likelihood that the prosperity of the foundries will decline through a failure in the demand for the things they make." "Pity 'tis, 'tis true;" and the fact that it is true shows that there is no warrant for the notion that this world is to enter upon a period of peace. What a terrible indictment of mankind it is, when it can be said in truth that a cannon factory is essential to Germany's national existence. It shows that the nations are like hungry, wild beasts, watchful and anxious to snatch everything they can from those who cannot defend themselves.

The Christian World, referring to the Commission recently appointed by Pope Leo XIII. to inquire into the entire question of modern Biblical criticism as it affects the Catholic Church, says that its scope "will be a very limited one;" and the ground for this statement is that "nothing is to be done by the commission, or touched by them, which in any way detracts from high authority of Scripture. The view is to be avoided that learning alone is to decide questions of criticism. The Pope says he cannot too often repeat that the Scriptures are not to be the subject of private judgment, either of the learned or of ignorant persons." It seems strange to find a Protestant journal criticising the Pope for narrowness, because of his defence of the integrity of the Bible. One is about to conclude that the Pope has been converted, until one finds in the next sentence that "the Church alone is to be the guide and teacher" in all questions concerning the Scriptures. And thus both Pope and Protestant meet, after all, on the common ground of putting man above the Word of God.

"Light from the Word" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

Light from the Word. -When Moses came down from the mount, where he had been for forty days receiving commandments for the people, he did not know that "the skin of his face shown while He talked with him." The Hebrew is, literally, "in His talking with him." It was in the talking that the light shone forth from the face of Moses, like the sun's rays. In this we have a vivid illustration and demonstration of the truth expressed in Ps. cxix. 130: "The entrance of Thy words giveth light." "The commandment is a lamp; and the law is light." Prov. vi. 23. The righteousness of God's people is the keeping of the law (Deut. vi. 29); and thus it is that those who now hide the Word of light in their hearts will, when the Lord appears, "shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matt. xiii. 43.

"Miracles and the Laws of Nature" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

Miracles and the Laws of Nature. -The controversy over miracles never ceases, and, strangely enough, it is professed Christians that seem to have the most difficulty in the most hazy ideas. It is not a matter of no concern or of light importance; for while none but God can ever understand the secret of miracles, the man who disbelieves in their existence, or who, professing to believe in them, thinks that they are a violation of law, has lost the mainspring of all Christian hope and progress. We have before us these words in a "Christian" newspaper: "It is a law of nature that a man can only die once, and a law nature that the dead cannot come back to life. In the case of Lazarus the laws of nature are therefore set aside." But as a matter of fact, death is not according to the law of nature, but the transgression of it. The law of nature, the law of all the universe, is the life of God, and so it is strictly in accordance with law that men live, and that even the dead are brought to life. The resurrection of the dead is an exhibition of the perfect working of law that has been violated. It is the putting of the law of nature into perfect operation. And this settles the case for all miracles; for death is the sum of all things contrary to the great law of nature, and the resurrection of the dead is the greatest of all miracles; therefore the resurrection of the dead serves as the demonstration of the universal truth that all miracles are, not contrary to the law of nature, but are the free working of law. It is this that is our positive assurance of victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Seeking and Being Sought" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

Seeking and Being Sought. -The mistaken notion obtains among most people, that happiness and success must be sought for. The truth is, that they are the free gift of God, and cannot be obtained in any other way than from the hand of God. Whoever seeks for them will invariably miss them. On the other hand, they are seeking us. The psalmist said: "Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." Ps. xxiii. 6. The Hebrew word here rendered, "follow" is, literally, pursue, run after. Goodness and mercy are, at the command of God, pursuing His people. In line with this are the words of Moses when he rehearsed the law of God to Israel: "If thou shalt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all off His commandments, . . . all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee." Deut. xxviii. 1, 2. If we seek for happiness we shall never find it. Because that is selfishness; and selfishness is opposed to the commandment of God; but happiness is hunting for us, and will quickly overtake us if we do not run away from it; for "His word runneth very swiftly."

"Good and Defective Eyesight" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

Good and Defective Eyesight. -The Lord has good eyes; nothing escapes them; "the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and good." But what is He looking for?-Here is the answer: "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect [whole] toward Him." And here is the text which shows what is the true test of eyesight: "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Hab. i. 13. So even though His eyes are in every place, beholding the evil and the good, He sees only good; for even of rebellious Israel it was said through the Spirit: "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, nor seen perverseness in Israel." Num. xxiii. 21.

That is a sign of good eyes. By that test we learn, therefore, that to be always seeing defects is a sign of defective vision. The one with bad eyes sees only evil; God, with purer eyes, sees only good. God is love; and love "taketh not account of evil." This is demonstrated in the case of a little child. In childhood, if ever, the sight is perfect, and everybody knows that an innocent child beholds evil, and yet sees no evil. It sees no evil, because it knows no evil. Purity of sight, therefore, depends upon purity of heart. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," who is the sum of all goodness and beauty. So the anointing of our eyes with the eyesalve which the Lord sells without money and without price, in order that we may see (Rev. iii. 17, 18), is the receiving of the Holy Spirit, to write God's law in our hearts and minds, thus shedding abroad in our hearts that love that thinketh no evil. Then instead of finding fault, we shall find goodness everywhere, because we shall carry it everywhere.

"God's Name, the Sin-Bearer" The Present Truth 18, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

God's Name, the Sin-Bearer. -In a time of great trouble and anxiety, when Israel had "corrupted themselves," and had "turned aside quickly out of the way" which God hath commanded them, making and worshipping a golden calf, and thus "changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass," the Lord descended in a cloud and stood with Moses, and declared His name. And this is the name that God proclaimed: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, and forgiving iniquity, and transgressions, and sin." Ex. xxxiv. 5-7. Now the interesting and comforting thing about this is that the word here rendered "forgiving" is from the Hebrew word meaning to lift up, to bear. Thus God really declared Himself to Moses as "the Lord God, . . . bearing the iniquity, and transgression and sin." The Lord on Mount Sinai was the same as beside the Jordan, namely, "the Lamb of God, which beareth the sin of the world." John i. 29, margin. His name and nature is to bear sin, yours and mine, the sin of all whole world; and He cannot do otherwise. Then let it remain there;

"Take the name of Jesus with you;"

and as truly as He has descended into the lower parts of the earth, will your sin be buried out of sight.

December 11, 1902

"The God of the Poor. Luke ii. 8-20" The Present Truth 18, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

(Luke ii. 8-20.)³²1

Whatever God does is done thoroughly. "He hath done all things well." When He speaks, He leaves no room for reasonable misunderstanding. So since "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life," He has taken the greatest pains to make it very clear that He is no respecter of persons and that nobody is left out. Wealth and worldly position are no recommendation with Him. The Gospel was, in its inception, addressed especially to the poor, the grand proof of the Messiahship of Jesus being that "the poor have the Gospel preached to them." Matt. xi. 5. The anointing of the Spirit of God is for the express purpose of enabling the receiver "to preach the Gospel to the poor." Luke iv. 18.

All the promises are to the poor, instead of to the rich. "Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?" James ii. 5. If Christ had come preaching to the rich, the poor would have slunk away abashed, not daring to present their needs; but when the door was open so wide as to take in the very poorest, the lowest, and the most despised, it was very evident that all who would might be saved. Nay, more, Christ Himself, who was rich, became poor, and so made it for ever impossible for anybody to doubt the sincerity of His call.

Even the rich must become poor; for none of this world's goods can ever be taken to heaven. "We brought nothing in this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out." So, as a matter of fact, God must love the poor if He loved anybody; for the richest are really poor, since they bring nothing more into the world than the poorest; and when the wealthy are required to become poor in order to gain the world to come, it is simply that they may recognise and acknowledge what they really are.

"The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God," and so the things of God are hidden from the wise and prudent, and are revealed unto babes. Thus all may understand for the most unlettered have not to acquire something, before they can know God's salvation, and the philosophers have only to let go of their worldly wisdom. The inhabitants of this earth form a vast pyramid, the base being composed of all the poor; and by identifying Himself with the very lowest

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stratum, Christ showed that His Gospel comprehends all.

"We speak. . . not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught; but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory; which none of the princes of this world knew." 1 Cor. ii. 6-8. Thus it was that when the mystery was revealed,-God manifest in the flesh-the announcement was made, not to princes, but to peasants. "There were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." First to the poor shepherds, then to all the world. God chooses the humble and unknown as His ambassadors to the world, the messengers of His mercy. Those who can understand it best, naturally receive it first.

Moses was not called to lead the host of Israel from bondage to freedom while he was the prince in the court of Egypt, and heir to the throne; but it was when he was a lone shepherd in the wilderness that the glory of God was revealed to him.

Gideon was threshing grain on his father's farm, when the angel of the Lord appeared to him, and sent him to deliver Israel from their Midianite oppressors.

David was called from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over the Lord's people.

Elisha was ploughing the field with his father's hired servants, as one of them, when the mantle of Elijah was cast upon him, which was his call to be one of the greatest of Israel's prophets.

Amos when charged with being only a conspirator, and no prophet, did not plead his family position, but on the contrary said, "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit; and the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and said unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel." Amos vii. 14, 15.

Samuel and Jeremiah were both little children when the work of the Lord was revealed to them. "Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto all lowly."

With all the evidences of God's special attachment to the poor, why should anybody ever complain of the oppression of the rich, or seek to defend themselves against injustice? The Lord thinks upon the poor and needy. Ps. ix. 18. "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him," or "would ensnare him." Ps. xii. 5. "I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor." Ps. cxl. 12.

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" "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?" If we expect Him to give us eternal things, why can we not much more trust Him for all that we need of temporal things?

The Gospel contains the remedy for all ills, the deliverance from all afflictions. "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come." Strikes and boycotts can never be mentioned as becoming saints, and no Christian will ever in any way whatever countenance any such doings; for it is by the power of the world to come that all wrongs are to be righted. The proclamation, "Peace on earth," will soon meet its fulfilment; for the Judge standeth at the door. Christ will soon come, and cause wars and oppression to cease unto the ends of the earth; and it is to this event that the angelic message directs us. "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."

"The Editor's Private Corner. Going to Law" The Present Truth 18, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

All communications intended for publication, and all questions, whether an answer is desired by letter or through the paper, should be addressed to the Editor of PRESENT TRUTH, and not to the International Tract Society. Correspondents are requested in all cases to give the name and address, and to take pains to write them legibly. All questions are regarded as strictly confidential, and nobody but the Editor ever has any knowledge of the questioner's identity; but the Editor which is always to be able to communicate with his correspondents.

E. J. WAGGONER, Editor.

"What course should a Christian take towards one who is in debt to him? Is it proper to go to law to recover a debt?"

What saith the Scripture? "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" We know well enough what course the world takes in such a case; and if the Word of God has nothing to say about it, then we can do as the world does; but if God has spoken, then we as Christians can do nothing else than what He says, no matter how widely it may differ from the way of the world.

Before taking up what the Bible says about going to law, let me repeat what I have before said in this Corner about that, so that there can be no possible ground for the idea that I am apologising for debt, or taking the side of the debtor, against the creditor. "The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again." Ps. xxxvii. 21. That fixes the standing of the man who does not pay his debts, and especially of a man who contracts a debt which he has no prospect of paying. The well-instructed, sincere Christian never does such a thing.

"The borrower is servant to the lender." Prov. xxii. 7. But God's people are all free; He is the Deliverer, and He does not rule over slaves. God's subjects are all rulers. His says that His people shall lend to many nations, and not borrow. It is evident, therefore, that no one who really understands and values the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free will voluntarily subject himself to the bondage of debt.

Now let us come directly to the point, and read in plain words what the Bible says about going to law. "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 a man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." Matt. v. 38-40. What could be plainer? "If any man will sue thee,"-if any man is about to sue you for your coat, let him have your cloak rather than go into court. Surely this would effectually cut you off from suing your brother.

But there is other scripture equally direct and strong. "Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbour, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Or know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world is judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have to judge things pertaining to this life, do ye set them to judge who are of no account in the church? I say this to move you to shame. Is it so, that there cannot be found among you one wise man, who shall be able to decide between his brethren, but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? Nay, already it is altogether a defect in you, that ye have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather take wrong? why not rather be defrauded?" 1 Cor. vi. 1-7.

You had better read this Scriptures several times, before you hastily conclude that it sanctions going to law, but not before unbelievers. If a Christian did go to law, but not before unbelievers, he would have to go before the church, and that would show that the church had usurped the functions of the civil power. But let us study the text closely. Note the first word. Dare any of you go to law? It is certainly no light matter, or the word "dare" would not be used. The Greek word signifies, to have boldness, the effrontery. According to this it is great presumption for a Christians to go to law.

The saints are to judge the world and angels; certainly, then, they ought to be able to decide matters pertaining to this life. Who ought to be able to decide? Why, everybody who is to have a share in judging angels. Do you not see that this shuts out even arbitration in the church? for if all the saints (and all in the church are supposed to be, and ought to be, saints) are capable of judging in the affairs of their neighbours, they are certainly able to settle their own affairs, without bringing them before anybody else. For one to demand a trial before his brother, to settle the question, whether by arbitration or any other means, is to stand self-confessed as unfit for the world to come; and in that case one certainly has a greater and more important duty than trying to secure ones "rights."

Christ has left us an example in this respect. He not only committed His own case "to Him that judgeth righteously," but He refused to interfere in strife. When on one occasion "one of the company said unto Him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me," Jesus replied, "Man, who may be a judge or a divider over you?" And then, in order, to discourage such sordid pursuits as striving after gain, and seeking to get one's due, He added, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." Luke xii. 13-16. Christ refused to be a judge in worldly affairs, because His kingdom is not of this world. When He comes in His kingdom, He will sit on the throne judging righteously, and then the saints will be called to their work of judging. So as He refused to judge earthly affairs when on earth, we are exhorted to "judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come." 1 Cor. iv. 5. So if there is a dispute between two brethren in the church, and the dispute is referred to another person, or to the church, the duty of that other person, or of the church, is not to interfere in the case, and decide the question at issue, but to help the disputants to get converted, so that they will have the Spirit of Christ to settle all difficulties, or rather, to prevent them. The dispute which would demand for arbitration indicates such a defect in the character of the ones demanding it as should lead them seriously to consider their prospects for the next world, rather

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than press their claims for the things of this world.

This is just what the text says. "It is altogether a defect in you, that ye have lawsuits one with another." The word here rendered "lawsuits" means not only the actual suit, but the case to be decided. It means a question, a matter for judgment. The "defect," and this is also a strong term,-the weakness, the lack,-is that there are judgments in the church-that brethren ever have any cases for arbitration. But it may be asked, "What if one in the church is really dishonest, and will not pay his just debts?" Of course that is a great fault; but the defect becomes equal if the other brother begins an action against him to recover the debt. "Why not rather take wrong? why not rather be defrauded?"

And this reminds me of the advice given by Commissioner Kerr, one of the leading London magistrates, who died a few days ago at the age of eighty-one. It is said that "he had fewer judgments reversed than any other judge in the metropolis," so it is evident that when he gave an opinion he knew what he was talking about. And here is his advice about going to law: "Never go to law under any consideration. You had much better lose your money than go to law." Thus it appears that there is sound legal wisdom in the Scripture admonition against going to law. There is more money lost than gained by it. More money is put into courts by litigants than is taken away by them.

That perfect justice cannot possibly be obtained in any human court, is plainly indicated in the statement concerning Christ. He shall be, by the seven-fold Spirit on Him, "of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, nor reproved after the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness shall He judge the poor." Isa. xi. 3, 4. Men have no means of judging except by the hearing of the ears and the sight of the eyes; therefore their judgment, even at the best, cannot be according to righteousness. It is necessary to have judges on this earth for a certain class of persons; but God's people will commit their cases "to Him that judgeth righteously."

"But it is not a personal matter with me," you say; "if it were, it would be easily disposed of; but the work in which I am engaged is a branch of the Lord's work, and it seems as though His cause ought to have all that is due it." Now let me tell you that the Lord is as able to take care of His own money as He is to care for yours. All the money in the world is His anyhow, no matter in whose hands it is. Do you think that the Lord will require you to do for Him that which He has forbidden you to do for yourself. If He were now in your place, carrying on His own work personally, do you think He would go to law to recover a debt? Would He violate His own precepts? You know that He would not, and therefore you may know that He will not ask you to do for Him what He would not do for Himself.

"But did not God Himself command that judges should be appointed for ancient Israel, who worked to decide the small cases, and bring the difficult ones to Moses, for him to settle?" He certainly did, and many other things He had done because of the hardness of their hearts. Israel was God's church, "called out" of Egypt, that each person might be a king and priest for the rest of the world, by virtue of His Spirit in them. The necessity for judges among them, therefore, indicated the "defect" of which the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, a lack of connection with God, in reality, a falling away, an apostasy.

That which was settled, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," was said to the judges, as a guide to them in their decisions. See Deut. xix. 16-21. And here we see a provision to minimise the evil results of the working of perverse human nature. The natural impulse when one is struck is to strike back, to give "as good as is sent;" but the appointment of judges took this out of the hands of private individuals. Thus the courts were largely in those days what they are now-a public means for the gratification of private revenge. Even Christians, who would not think of resenting an injury, by personal violence, seem to think that this is all right if they pay somebody to inflict punishment, who has been appointed for that purpose.

I am not decrying the existence of courts of law. They are an absolute necessity in this evil world. As long as people wish that anybody who has injured them shall be punished, and as long as people are intent on securing their "rights," so long will courts be a necessity. It is better that "justice" be administered by a disinterested party than by the aggrieved one. But when we Christians attempt to justify ourselves in making use of courts of law, on the ground that they are a necessity in the present state of the world, we identify ourselves with the world's present state, which is not at all flattering to our Christianity. It is astonishing how much Christians to-day are inclined to take advantage of a provision made long ago as a concession to the hardness of the hearts of the people just come from heathenism. It shows the hold that heathenism still has on the Christian world.

Of course the objection will be raised, "If it were known that we would not defend ourselves, nor assert our rights, people would take advantage of us, and we should lose everything we have." Well, there is the word of the Lord, and if we should present our objections to Him, He would doubtless say, "What is that to thee? follow thou Me." Love, which is the fulfilling of the law, "seeketh not her own." But "seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Our sole business in this world is to obey God, and to glorify Him; He has charged Himself with the responsibility of supplying all our needs; and He has riches enough in glory with which to do it. God's precepts are for us, and not against us. He has not forbidden us to go to law, in order to make our way difficult, but in order to save us trouble. The question resolves itself into this: Shall we defend ourselves? or shall we leave our defence with God? Shall we appeal to man for help? or shall we seek help from God alone, who made heaven and earth, and to whom the earth belongs? Which shall it be?

"Our Little Ones. The Call of Moses" The Present Truth 18, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

While Moses was caring for Jethro's flocks, he was out among the mountains, seeing the works of God in the beautiful scenes of nature. This must have brought fresh to his mind the early lessons that he learned from his mother's lips about the Creator of the heavens and the earth. For forty years he lived the peaceful life of a shepherd, learning of God the truths which he wrote out in the Book of Genesis, to teach the world in all coming time. The tender care that he had to give to the sheep of his flock also taught him many lessons, and prepared him to lead God's people like a flock through that same wilderness.

It was because Moses studied the works of God and nature that he was so quick to notice a strange sight, and to try to find out the cause of it. It was when God "saw that he turned aside to see," that He spoke to him out of the midst of the bush.

God is everywhere, filling all things with His life. In many ways the glory of that hidden life shines forth and shows to all who have eyes to see, that God is there. In the glory of the sun, moon, and stars; in all things bright and beautiful; in every common bush and shrub and tree, God is revealing His glory to attract our attention, so that He may talk with us. But many have no eyes to see the "great sight;" they pass all the glory by unheeded, so they never learn the message that God has for them.

God wants us to "behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple." We have learned that the whole earth is His temple-His dwelling-place-and in all His works He is showing us His ways. In the study of His works we are enquiring in His temple, but what we find out depends upon how we come to learn.

It was not enough for Moses to "turn aside to see." Before God could talk with him, he must learn that he was on holy ground; he must take off his shoes,-come in a humble, reverent spirit. And so it is with all who come to enquire in God's great temple. They must learn that God's presence and life makes it a holy place. Many study the works of God as Moses might have studied the burning bush, thinking it a strange and wonderful sight, but never hearing the voice of God. This is because they do not know that God is there; so they do not enquire of Him, and are not taught by His Holy Spirit.

God was going to lead His people out of Egypt away from all the false gods they had worshipped, 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."

All the false gods of the nations are nothing; they seem to be something but they are not. (Read Ps. 115) Therefore they are a lie. "But the Lord is the true God." His name is "I AM;" and He is the only one who really is. 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 God's name for ever; therefore He is ever present, "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

But He says also, I Am that I Am,-I AM that which, or what, I AM. So the name of God shows us what He is; it is to teach us His character. Every one of God's works is to show us something of what He is; so all things are declaring the everlasting name of the Creator. "O Lord our God, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth." What a grand, glorious, 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.

God wanted the children of Israel to know Him, so that they would trust Him and let Him lead them through the wilderness, as the sheep follow the kind and gentle shepherd they have learnt to know. And so He declared His name to them, for "they that know Thy name shall put their trust in Thee."

The One who appeared to Moses in the flame of fire was Jesus Christ the Saviour, who had come down to deliver His people from bondage. 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 other, in which to appear. In this He was showing in a figure how He was to veil His glory, and come to dwell in the form of man, just like any other man, in order to deliver His people from the terrible bondage of sin.

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

Last week four small shopkeepers at Llanelly paid their sixty-fifth fine of five shillings, with eight shillings costs, for Sunday trading. A year and a quarter is a long time for a sober Government to keep up such a ridiculous farce.

The New York World prints a tabulated statement of accidents in football matches in the United States, by which it is shown that eleven players have been killed, and seventy-eight injured since the season began September 10. That is indeed heavy tribute to pay to "sport;" and one cannot help wondering what war must be like when sport is so fatal. As a matter of fact, there is an increasing callousness and disregard for life, and even a fierceness, on the part of people of the world, that shows that coming wars will be more bitterly contested and more deadly than any ever yet fought.

The following paragraph from an article on Lord Dufferin, by Major-General Sir E. Cullen, contains a very valuable lesson for Christian workers:-

"I was riding alongside General Sir Gerald Graham, who commanded the British and Indian force intended to open the road to Berber, it was an extremely hot day, and the Indian contingent were on the march. He told me to ask one of the men-I think the native non-commissioned officer-whether he found it hot work, or as hot as India. I translated the general's question, and the reply came very respectfully and quietly: 'In the service of the great Queen we know neither heat nor cold.'"

If all servants of the great King, the King of kings, were moved by the same spirit, what wonders of grace and glory would be accomplished.

In a discourse in one of the city churches recently, the minister dealt with a number of questions that have been sent him. To the question, "What is Christianity?" the following answer which was "warmly cheered by the congregation," was given: "Christianity is that form of religious belief which is associated with the authority of Jesus Christ." That was the same as saying that it is just what it is. Christianity is not a "form of belief," and does not consist in adherence to a set of documents, but it is the life of God manifest in men, just as it was in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is exactly what Christianity is, Christianity is not a "form of belief," and does not consist in adherence to a set of dogmas, but it is the life of God manifest in men, just as it was in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is exactly what Christianity is, and it is nothing less. Anything less than the reproduction of the life of Jesus is at best only a reaching out after true Christianity.

It is estimated that there are at present 200,000 persons in London, who every day have to subsist on food that in both quantity and quality falls far short of the dietary required for prison inmates by law. Of this 200,000, more than half have no work, and it is estimated that there are 30,000 persons who are entirely homeless, having no alternative to a night on a doorstep or the Embankment, except the casual ward of the work-house. Yet there is plenty of room in the world for all, and the land still brings forth enough to give every soul on earth a luxurious living. The reason why this present sad state of affairs exists is, first, because people have left the land, and flocked to cities, and second, because there are so many who wish to get a living out of the food, in the process of getting it from the earth to the consumer. Artificial conditions and selfishness are at the root of most of the poverty and suffering.

Later news from St. Petersburg contradicts the report that M. Pobiedonostseff, the Russian chief Procurator of the Holy Synod is about to retire. It is said that the Procurator "still enjoys the undiminished favour of his Imperial master, and remains popular with both sections of the clergy of the Russian Church." This last was to be expected; but that the Czar favours Pobiedonostseff is wholly against the popular idea that he is a liberal-minded and progressive ruler. It is clear that "the Dark Ages" are not as far in the past as is commonly supposed.

The following item appeared in the Daily Mail of November 29: "After drinking half a pint of neat rum to cure a cold, a teetotaler has died of alcoholic poisoning. The man ceased to be a teetotaler as soon as he drank the rum. No teetotaler ever died of alcoholic poisoning; that would be an absolute impossibility. But the case of this man ought to serve as a warning. The lesson is capable of a wide application. People ought to know that a thing which is bad in itself can never be good for anything. Poison kills; and that which kills can never maintain or build up life. A principle that can ever be broken with impunity is not a real principle at all. Principles are life, and it is never safe to trifle with life and death.

The wide-spread interest that has been taken in the case of a society woman who has been convicted of cruelty to her child, and the general opinion that the sentence was absurdly inadequate, should give an added interest to the article by Mr. H. G. Wells in the Fortnightly, on "Mankind in the Making." In this, he claims that "it is quite a mistake to suppose that a mother has any instinctive knowledge as to what is best for her child. She requires to be taught this knowledge just like any other." He maintains, with perfect truth, that "the failure of many first-born children is simply due to the mother's ignorance," a thing which might often with equal truth be said of all the subsequent children. But there is no excuse for such a state of things. Why should a human mother know so much less than any other mother? There is no mother of any other sort of creature that does not know exactly what is the best for her young, even her first-born. They have never had any instruction; but motherhood brings the knowledge, and so it would in the case of the human mother, if mankind were normal. However, the human mother has, or may have, altogether the advantage of the more humble mother, in that she may be fully instructed in all that pertains to the care of herself and prospective children, before the necessity arises for the application of the knowledge. Parents are the natural instructors of their children, just as is the case among the lower animals; and the mother who allows her daughter to grow to womanhood without being fully informed and thoroughly intelligent concerning everything that pertains to wifehood and motherhood, is criminally negligent. It is nothing less than a sin to allow girls to enter into the sacred and responsible state of marriage, ignorant of what lies before them, and how to discharge their sacred duties. People are never expected to enter into any business contract without fully understanding all that is expected of them; but many foolish parents allow their children to enter the most sacred contract, which binds them for life, and concerns both body and soul, without the slightest idea of what they are doing. If there were instruction imparted in the fear and wisdom of God, there would be fewer unhappy marriages, and the divorce court records would be materially lessened, and best of all, children would have their birthright and the care to which they are entitled.

It was remarkable that within a fortnight two of the leading ministers, not merely of London, but of Great Britain, and really, of the world, should die. The two men, however, were not by any means to be compared. Hugh Price Hughes had prominence in the Wesleyan denomination, and in the religious world as well, through what may be called "religious politics." He would have been at home in the House of Commons. Dr. Parker, however, was essentially a preacher, and it is safe to say the greatest one in London. Some people thought him affected, but his peculiarities were himself. This is proved by the fact that nobody could copy him, and he would not have been himself without them. But it was not his peculiarities that gave him the place which he held so many years, but his unquestioned and unquestioning loyalty to the Word of God, and his simplicity in presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it was revealed to his mind. Not only the metropolis, but the whole world, is poorer by his death. There are so few preachers in these days who hold unswervingly to "the old sword," that the loss of one such is keenly felt.

There was never a man more thoroughly and more consistently opposed to the Established Church, as an Establishment, than the late Dr. Parker; and therefore it is all the more refreshing to find such an evidence of freedom from bigotry as the following words of appreciation by Archdeacon Sinclair, at the close of a sermon at St. Paul's Cathedral the Sunday after Dr. Parker's death:-

"It is a strange fate that before we depart from this the Mother Church of Christian London, we should have to record our regret at the loss of another indisputably great light of English Non-Conforming Christianity, as we did with equal sincerity last Sunday. For thirty-three years Joseph Parker had preached the Gospel of Christ close by the walls of this Cathedral with an eloquence, a vigour, and originality, and an impressiveness which were only surpassed by few, if any, of our own Christian orators. The silencing of that powerful voice, the natural expression of a mind instinct with faith and sympathy, will be felt as a personal loss by that wonderful Thursday midday congregation, where High Church clergymen sat side by side with the ministers of all denominations, and famous statesmen listened to the vivid natural rhetoric of the great Independent."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

The following advice by the late Commissioner Kerr, for forty-two years judge of the City of London Court, cannot be too often repeated, or too thoroughly learned:-

"Never go to law under any consideration whatever. You had better lose your money than go to law. As a rule it only puts money into the pockets of the lawyers-the very worst possible way in which money can be spent."

Long ago the same advice was given by "a greater than Solomon": "If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also."

"Freedom in Sabbath Rest" The Present Truth 18, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

The Lord Mayor of Bristol has issued an appeal to "all those who are not engaged in necessary trades, to suspend business on Sunday." He says to them, "I scarcely need to point out to you that the great majority of the tradesmen of our city-from reasons which cannot but command respect-close their shops and offices on the Lord's Day, and I believe that there is a widespread desire to preserve this day of rest;" and he further adds: "You will readily see that every shopkeeper doing business on Sunday tends to weaken the opinion in favour of keeping the day sacred to rest; is a cause of unfair competition; and is also a distinct inducement to other tradesmen to open their shops."

But what if some tradesmen know that Sunday is not the Lord's Day, and are not anxious to strengthen "the opinion in favour of keeping the day sacred to rest"? Suppose that they, knowing "the immense gain to the whole community which the observance of a day of rest would secure," have already rested on the Lord's Day, the seventh day of the week, commonly called Saturday? Must they close their shops, and rest on Sunday, just because others wish to do so? Surely no one will claim that it would be compatible with freedom to seek to compel them to do so.

Of course the plea will be put forth that if there are any who do not rest on the Sunday, that will hinder all the others resting. If that were true, we should expect an agitation for a law requiring everybody to go to bed at the same hour at night, and all to rise at the same time in the morning, on the ground that nobody can rest when others are working. There would be more sense in that than in the other for people who wish to sleep are often kept awake by the noise of people going about their business, while the fact that one person does not worship at some of particular time does not hinder anybody else from worshipping. A man can pray even while others are blaspheming.

We recognise the fact that the observance of the day of rest is an immense gain to the whole community; and this gain is realised if only one person rests. Every person who stands on the Lord's side, worshipping Him in spirit and in truth, resting on the day which He appointed, is a blessing to mankind. But the man who rests on a certain day merely because it is the custom, and who thinks that he cannot rest unless everybody else does, gets no gain himself by his supposed rest, and is no help to anybody else. The world is benefited only by men who can stand alone with God, regardless of other men. We hope that everybody in Bristol whose conscience requires him to rest on Sunday, will do so until he is instructed differently; and we also hope that nobody will assume the right to be conscience for his neighbour.

Just a word as to the significance of real Sabbath rest. It is the sign of the sanctifying power of God. Ezek. xx. 12. It is rest from sin even while the sin is in the flesh, struggling for the mastery. It is the sign of the perfect life that God can live in a person, not only in the world to come, where there is nothing to offend, but even in "this present evil world," where all the hosts of sin assail. Thus it appears that the man who cannot rest unless everybody else does, whose rest is broken by somebody else's toil or play, does not know anything about the true Sabbath, and it is therefore immaterial whether he abstains from labour on any day. True Sabbath-keepers may feel sorry that any do not know the joy of the Lord, but they are never offended nor hindered in their rest by the traffic that is always at its height on the last day of the week-God's day. "Great peace have they that love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them."

"The Gospel in the Old Testament" The Present Truth 18, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

The Gospel in the Old Testament. -The Gospel of God to which the Apostle Paul declared himself to be separated, was the Gospel "which He had promised afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures" (Rom. i. 2); literally, the Gospel which He had before announced or preached. This shows us that the Old Testament contains the Gospel, and also that the Gospel in the Old Testament is the same Gospel that is in the New. It is the only Gospel that the apostle preached. That being the case, it should not be thought strange for men to believe the Old Testament, and to refer to it as of equal authority with the New Testament.

We read that God "preached before hand the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." Gal. iii. 8. The Gospel preached to the people when Paul lived, was the same Gospel that was preached unto the ancient Israelites. See Heb. iv. 2. Moses wrote of Christ; and so much of the Gospel is to be found in his writings that a man who does not believe what Moses wrote, cannot believe in Christ. John v. 46, 47. "To Him gave all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." Acts x. 43.

Paul had only the Old Testament when he went to Thessalonica, "and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead." Acts xvii. 2, 3. Timothy had nothing in his childhood and youth but the Old Testament writings, and the apostle wrote to him: "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. Then go to the Old Testament with the expectation of finding Christ and His righteousness there, and you will be made wiser unto salvation. Do not discriminate between Moses and Paul, between David and Peter, between Jeremiah and James, between Isaiah and John.

"A reader of PRESENT TRUTH," a widow who gives no name, sends ?1 "to help on the work of the Lord," which we hereby, in His name, acknowledge with many thanks.

December 18, 1902

"The Manger and the Cross" The Present Truth 18, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

"The old, old story is ever knew,
Tell me more about Jesus."

For hundreds of years men have been talking about Him, and the story of His life has been proclaimed in thousands of pulpits, and repeated in millions of homes; yet it is not worn out. It is as fresh and new as when first told, not only because man's needs are the same now as then, and because

"Some have never heard
The message of salvation,
From God's own Holy Word;"

but because however familiar it is to us, we are always finding in it greater depths and heights than we ever dreamed of. Our intellect and understanding enlarge with our growth; but the story of Jesus and His love, which we heard as little children, has unfolded and expanded faster than our minds, so that still it must be told to us simply,

"As to a little child."

The Manger and the Cross are the revelation of the eternal, infinite God, with whom we never cease to be children. Even to old age and grey hairs He carries us in His arms, and soothes us with His "still, small voice," comforting us "as one whom his mother comforteth." The grey-haired sage is to God but the lisping infant; and he who would excel in science must come as an artless child, and listen with attentive ear to the voice of Him in whom are hid "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

"GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST"

"Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me." Jer. ix. 23, 24. Yet "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Gal. vi. 14. We are to glory only in the knowledge of God, and only in the cross. So we see that the cross is that which by revealing His glory, teaches us to know God; and since the announcement of the birth of Christ was "Glory to God in the highest," it is evident that the Manger was identical with the Cross, which is the revelation of the glory of God to man.

INFINITE STRENGTH IN ABSOLUTE HELPLESSNESS

What is the evidence that even the professed Christian world has not yet learned the full meaning of the story of the birth of Christ? This: That it is no uncommon thing for Christians to become discouraged because of their weakness and the difficulties they have to contend with. In the birth of Christ God has shown us that there is no ground for discouragement. If we rightly read the story, we shall know without referring to Rom. viii. 35-47, that in tribulation, and distress, and persecution, and famine, and nakedness, and peril, and sword, "we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us."

In Christ all extremes meet-the height and depth, the length and breadth. Infinite strength in absolute helplessness; eternal glory in shame and disgrace; perfect peace in raging conflicts; the day-star and the sun of righteousness and the midnight darkness of sin; life springing from the pit of corruption,-all these appear in Him, and inspire the believer with lively hope and courage.

No king riding in pomp at the head of victorious legions ever had such heralds as proclaimed the coming of the Prince of peace; yet when shepherds and wise men sought Him, they found only a tiny, helpless infant, unconscious of the adoration which they paid Him. That Babe resting in the manger, or in its mother's arms, careless and unconscious of the turmoil of earth, and of the plots to take its life, represents the peace which God gives His trusting children on this earth. "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him." As safe as Jesus was from the murderous Herod, so safe from sin that crouches at the door, and from all assaults, are those who put their trust in Him. "He is our peace," and therefore we may rest in peace, not knowing or caring to know what dangers may threaten us, or what troubles and difficulties lie in wait for us.

THE REVELATION OF THE GLORY

Jesus Christ in the manger with the cattle for His companions, was as surely "the power of God and the wisdom of God," as He will be when He comes in the glory of the Father, attended by all the holy angels. He had the same angel attendants then, and was the revelation of the same glory to all who had spiritual eyesight. "The Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us, (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.

What could be weaker than a helpless babe, made still more helpless by being bound in swaddling clothes? Yet that represented the measure of the power which He had in Himself when He performed the mightiest miracles. Faint with fasting, He resisted the temptations of the devil; and by the same power He cast out devils. He said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing;" it was "the fulness of the Godhead bodily" dwelling in Him, and not His human flesh, that did the works. His name is "God with us," and He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever;" and therefore the weakness of our flesh is no bar to the manifestation of His strength in us. The power that does "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think" is "the power that worketh in us." Eph. iii. 20. The trouble is that we do not get our eyes open to know what is "the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."

THE LIGHT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY

"That was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." "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." Why walk in darkness, when Christ is "God with us," and "in Him is no darkness at all"? "The night shineth as the day; the darkness into light are both alike" to Him. From the Manger in Bethlehem shined the rays that shall fill the earth with the glory of the Lord; and that coming glory will be hastened as the Manger is multiplied by the repetition of the mystery of the birth of Christ in all who receive Him. E. J. W.

December 25, 1902

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Crowning Glory of the First Advent" The Present Truth 18, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

"The PRESENT TRUTH often refers to the Second Coming of Christ. Will you not tell me what relation, if any, that coming has to the first advent of Christ, and what is the real necessity of it if the saints, as we are taught, go to be with the Lord in heaven at death?"

Let us consider the last part of the question first. We are not taught that the saints go to be with the Lord when they die. That is, we are not taught it in the Bible, and this is the only authority. We are taught that "the dead know not anything" (Eccl. ix. 5); that "there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest" (verse 10); that the dead shall "live again," coming forth from their graves at the call of Christ (John v. 28, 29); and that they "wait" in the grave the "appointed time" for their "change" at the call the Lord. Job xiv. 14, 15. What this change is, and how and when it will be effected, is told in these words:-

"Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep," 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. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Cor. xv. 51-54.

"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 [by this means, and in this manner] shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 16-18.

When Jesus was about to depart from this world, and go to the Father, He said to His sorrowing disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled: . . . 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. The word "again," means once more, and so, according to His promise, "unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. ix. 28. He went away to prepare a place for His disciples, which indicates that the place was not then ready for them. He said that as surely as He went to prepare the place, He would come again, to take them to Himself. And, further, He said that His coming again to take them to Himself would be in order that where He is, there they might be also; which proves conclusively that without Christ's second coming His disciples could never be with Him; and thus we learn the importance of the second advent. It is the "blessed hope" of the Christian, the consummation of all his hopes.

This really explains the relation of the second advent to the first. The second is the completion of the first. Without the second coming, the first would have been in vain. This shame and suffering of the cross finds its justification in the glory of the second coming of Christ. Only then will the suffering of the cross really have an end; for Jesus still bears the world with all its sin and woe. Heb. i. 3. At His first advent He had not where to lay His head; but the earth belongs to Him by right, and so He will come the second time to claim it.

The first advent was only a preparation for the second, in which culminate all the promises of God, and all the hopes of all

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the saints of all ages; for He came to make it very plain to men how they must live in order to be ready for His coming in glory. He came to give the fullest revelation of God's love to man, and to demonstrate the possibility of the perfect manifestation of the life of God in human flesh.

The Son of Mary is her Saviour; the Seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent that seduced her; and the formation of Christ in His disciples so completely that He is brought forth in their lives, is their salvation. When He shall have been reproduced in men of every tribe and nation, then will all the world have the complete witness of the Gospel of the kingdom, and then will the end come. Thus will the first advent, which was the seed sowing, blossom into the perfect fruitage of the ingathering.

"The Editor's Private Corner. The Future Abode of the Righteous" The Present Truth 18, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

"I noticed that you often refer to 'the new earth' as the future dwelling-place of the saints; yet it seems to be the commonly-accepted idea among Christians that heaven will be the home of the redeemed. Will you kindly give in the 'Editor's Private Corner,' to which I always look forward with interest, the Scriptural ground for your belief on this subject?"

All the Scripture evidence could not be presented in one or even two entire numbers of PRESENT TRUTH; yet a single short paragraph will suffice to set forth positive and convincing proof that this earth is to be made new for the eternal abode of mankind. Thus: "In the beginning God created the heaven and earth," the sea and all that in them is; "and God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Gen. i. 1, 31. Now "I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it; and God doeth it, that man should fear before Him." Eccl. iii. 14. "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be." Eccl. i. 9.

There you have the groundwork of the case. When the earth was created, when it was new, God gave it to man. He made man king, crowned him with glory and honour, and set him over the works of His hands, putting all things in subjection under his feet. "For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him." Gen. i. 26-28; Ps. viii. 5-7; Heb. ii. 6-8. God has never withdrawn His gift of the earth to man; He has never changed His plan; therefore if that plan should not be carried out, God would be defeated; and that is impossible.

The case is not helped by saying that God saves man, giving him an eternal inheritance in heaven; defeat can be avoided only by establishing man as king to all eternity, over the earth in as good condition as when God made it. God cannot afford to have it said that He began a thing which He could not carry through.

You will doubtless ask, "Isn't God really defeated anyhow, since man does not have the earth, and all things on the earth, and in the sea, in complete subjection to him, and the earth is not now as it was in the beginning?"

The reply is, No; for though it is true, as the Scripture says when telling us about man's rightful dominion, that "now we see not yet all things put under him" (Heb. ii. 8), that does not prove that we shall never see it. An enemy has come in and usurped man's dominion, and challenged God's authority, and the controversy over the matter is now going on; but surely as God is stronger than Satan, so surely will God's original grant stand unchanged. "The first dominion" will surely come to "the daughter of Zion." Micah iv. 8. If two parties of equal power were contending over the possession of the earth, or if we did not know which was the stronger, the issue would be doubtful; but there is no doubt, because Satan has no power whatever against God.

But you will ask, "Even allowing that man will finally be in full possession of the earth made new, does not the fact that he fell, and lost the dominion, contradict or disprove the statement that whatsoever God does shall be for ever?"

Not in the least. It is true that we see not now all things put under man; "but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." Heb. ii. 9. Jesus Christ, "the Man Christ Jesus," the link between heaven and earth, between God and man, has "spoiled principalities and powers," and, "crowned with glory and honour," as man was in the beginning, has the right to Adam's original dominion; and He is even now as man, the second Adam, exalted to a higher position than the first Adam occupied. Risen from the dead a glorious Conqueror, He is only waiting in the heavens "until the times of the restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which has been since the world began." Acts iii. 21.

When men receive Christ by faith they become new creatures, receive the right, and the power, to become the sons of God; and when a complete race shall have thus been made new, the earth will be given them to rule over. You can see that since the earth is corrupt because man is corrupt (Gen. vi. 12), and "is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant" (Isa. xxiv. 5), it would be useless to make it new until man has been made new; for in that case it would immediately be defiled again. But as soon as man is ready for it, it will be made ready for him.

God has never forsaken man. Looking at the spot where man fell, and lost the dominion, we see Jesus in his place, barring the curse, thus demonstrating man's lordship in spite of it; and thus it is that the dominion has really continued unbroken, and what God did at first is and will be for ever. So "we, according to His promise look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

When Christ comes, "the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." Dan. vi. 27. They will sit with Christ on thrones of judgment, judging the ungodly for a thousand years (Rev. xx. 4; 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3), and "execute upon them the judgment written." Ps. cxlix. 5-9.

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth." Then will the voice from heaven say, "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, . . . and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain;" for all things will be made new. Rev. xxi. 1-5. Then will Abraham, to whom it was promised that he, together with his seed, "should be the heir of the world" (Rom. iv. 13), have found the "better country" for which he sought. "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. 10, 11. And that will be the fulness of the "peace on earth," which the angels sang at the birth of Jesus. Thus will His mission to earth be crowned, and the ways of God to men will be justified.

"Nature Studies for the Little Ones" The Present Truth 18, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

Can you think how surprised you would be, if you had always lived in a hot country and never seen any ice, to be told that the water could become solid, and as hard as glass? You would not think that you could ever run, play, and jump on the water, it just as on the land.

This wonderful change in the water is made by God for His own wise, loving purpose. "By the breath of the Lord frost is given."

Ice is not so heavy as water; so instead of sinking to the bottom, it floats on the top. "The waters are hidden, as with stone," and only "the face of the deep is frozen." The ice makes a cover for the water, which keeps it warm enough for the fish and water animals to live in.

If the were not lighter than the water, it would sink to the bottom. Then the water at the top would freeze and sink down also, until all the water was frozen. Then all the creatures that live in the water would die, and there would be a mass of ice that the summer sun could never melt.

When the warmer weather comes, the waters do not need this icy covering. Then God "sendeth out His Word and melteth them; He causeth His wind to blow, and the waters flow."

"Editorial Chat" The Present Truth 18, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

The statement that "of 35,956 volumes borrowed from the Winchester free library last year, 35,500 were novels," is itself a whole volume of history, telling not only the present habits but the future prospects of the people. No solid structure of judgment, mercy, and truth can be built upon such a sandy, or, rather, chaffy, foundation.

Here is a characteristic word from Dr. Parker, which we heartily commend to all aspirants to the ministry, or for any line of Christian service:-

"Young men often tell me they have a desire to enter the work of the ministry, and ask, 'How are we to get a call to preach in any church?' I retort, 'You must begin as I began.' The open air is a fine place for ventilation; there is absolutely no limit to the accommodation for congregations which it affords.

Young men, and older ones, too, need to learn that whether or not they will work for the Lord depends wholly on themselves. If they really wish to do work, nobody can hinder them. "But what about the pay? is asked. Ah, there's the rub; and that question shows that they do not wish to work for the Lord so much as to work for the money. If they really go to work for the Lord, they will expect their pay from Him. And He will surely pay. It may not be through the ordinary channels, but it will be none the less sure. Whoever takes hold heartily of the work that he is fitted for, and God has called him to, and makes a success of it, may be sure of recognition and support; and if a man is not fitted for a work, and does not succeed in it, he ought not to expect or desire support.

In sentencing a man on strike to twelve months' imprisonment with hard labour for striking two men so severely as nearly to kill one of them, merely because they would not "strike," a Swansea judge uttered some sound sense. He said that the prisoner was absolutely free to refuse to work if you like, but that was an abuse of the words "freedom" and "liberty" for him to say that another man could not do the work that he refused to do. This idea that other men, brought in to do the work that the regular workmen refused to do, were "taking the bread out of the mouths" of the strikers was the "biggest fallacy in the world." This is perfectly in harmony with Scripture, which says that a man who will not work shall not eat. No one can take the bread out of such an one's mouth, for he has no right to any. The bread belongs to men who will work.

There is another word that is used in this connection, which is very suggestive. The strikers, as is always the case, were "union" men, while those who took their places are termed "free" labourers. That is an admission that trade-unionism as it now exists, is a system of slavery, and the men who find themselves in such unions are slaves. And this is literally true; for everybody knows that the members of the union are often obliged to "strike" when they have no grievance, because the leaders command it, and that went on strike they resume work only with the officials are satisfied. It is the official command that they refuse to work for some man or firm that has displeased the Union. This is the reason why no Christian who knows his duties and privileges will ever join in the trade union; for a follower of Christ must always be an absolutely free man.

The Daily Chronicle has been having a good deal of correspondence of late, under the heading, "From Plough to Parsonage," on the subject of the gaining of an education by young men born in the humblest walks of life. Quite recently we noted the wail of an "Oxonian," who found himself, after some years of effort to "improve his position," with a university degree but no employment. A reader of the Chronicle, who was struck by his sad story, wrote to that paper, saying, "I should like to suggest to him that he should take Holy Orders. There is a great dearth of clergymen nowadays, and many vicars have to go without curates because they cannot get them. . . . A man who has passed well through Oxford would only require a few months at a theological college to qualify him." What a use of the term, "Holy Orders"! and yet it is no uncommon thing for men to enter this ministerial "profession" for the same reasons, and in the same spirit, that they would take up the profession of law or medicine. No wonder another correspondent has reversed the terms, and asked if anybody knows of any persons who have gone "From Parsonage to Plough," saying that he knew some very incompetent ones who might with profit to all concerned take that step in advance. And, indeed, a good ploughman is really far above a bad preacher.

At a recent meeting in Berlin of the officials of the International Bureau for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, with the delegate of the British friendly societies, Dr. Hillier said that he believed that the tubercle bacillus would eventually federate the world; but however magnificent such an accomplishment might be, it was really of secondary importance compared with the extermination of tuberculosis, which, though not proved to be a preventable disease, is costing Europe a million lives annually. That is heavy toll for ignorance and carelessness; yet there is not much reason to hope that it will be materially diminished. It would certainly be a far grander thing for the nations of earth to federate for the purpose of combating disease and for the purpose of mere trade; but no federation will ever accomplish the desired end. Everybody has his health in his own power, under God, and can secure it, if he will, regardless of societies or national unions; and if the individual does not become intelligent concerning his own body, or anything that pertains to it, and then have the will to choose what is good and refuse the evil, no matter how crossing to natural inclination such choice may be, all federated action will be useless. The way of life is a very simple, but is also, as the Saviour says, very strait, that is, narrow. But is far better to walk in a narrow way, and live, than to walk in a way that allows unlimited wandering, and die.

"The Class" The Present Truth 18, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

GOD SPEAKING IN THE SON

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when he had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Heb. i. 1-3.

1. Who spoke in time past?

2. To whom did God speak?

3. When did God speak to the fathers?

4. How often did God speak to them?

5. In what ways did He speak to them?

6. What has He done in these days?

7. To who has caught spoken in these days?

8. What is this time called, in which God speaks to us?

9. By whom has caught spoken to us?

10. Being Son, what must He necessarily be?

11. Of how much has God appointed Him heir?

12. What has God done by the Son? (Compare verse 2 with Gen. i. 1; John i. 1-3; 1 John i. 1; Ps. xxxiii. 6, 9.)

13. What likeness does the Son sustain to the Father?

14. Of what is Christ the out-shining?

15. How is He related to God's substance? (See note.)

16. What does He do to all things?

17. How does He uphold all things?

18. What has He done for men?

19. By what means has He made purification of sins?

20. Having purged sins, what did He do?

21. Then what does He now occupy?

TOPICS SUGGESTED BY THE TEXT

1. The same One who spoke in time past still speaks, and speaks to us. How many hear His voice, and recognise it when they hear it?

2. God spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, yet it was really by the Son that He spoke to them as well as to us; for the Spirit of Christ was in the prophets (1 Peter i. 10, 11), and "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter i. 21.

3. The message which God sent to the fathers by the prophets is the same message that now comes to us; for the prophets understood that they were not ministering unto themselves, "but unto us;" and the apostles, as well as all others who "have preached the Gospel" "with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven," proclaim the identical things that were ministered by the prophets. 1 Peter i. 10-12.

4. The Word of God "liveth and abideth for ever." 1 Peter i. 23. This also teaches us that the Word which God spoke unto the fathers by the prophets still exists and is as full of life as when it was first uttered. It is not merely conveyed to us in a book, but the living voice still sounds directly in our ears, if we but have ears to hear.The written Word is also spoken. "The Word of Life" "which was from the beginning," is that which is now declared in the good tidings of great joy. 1 John i. 1-4.

5. For "by," in verse 1, and the first part of verse 2, we should read "in," as in the Revised Version: for this is the literal rendering of the Greek text. God "spoke in the prophets," and He speaks to us "in His Son." "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." 2 Cor. v. 19. But since Christ is "the firstborn among many brethren," God dwells in men who are submissive to Him. As well as in Christ, and speaks in them. He "hath put in us the Word of reconciliation." 2 Cor. v. 19, margin.

It is better also to read "through," instead of "by," in the last part of verse 2, as the Revision has it. God was in Christ, and through Him He made the worlds.

6. Jesus Christ, the Son, is "the Word of God." Compare Rev. ii. 7-9. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "All things were made by Him." John i. 1, 3. A word is the expression of a thought, therefore Christ is the expression of God's thoughts. "As the heavens are higher than the earth," so are God's thoughts higher than our thoughts. Isa. lv. That is, in Christ we have the highest thoughts of the Most High God conveyed to us. The highest knowledge possible-knowledge infinitely higher than any that can be learned from man-is therefore brought within our reach by the Word of God, who "was made flesh, and dwelt among us," and who still "is, in the flesh." 1 John iv. 2. In Christ "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. ii. 2, 3); therefore if we would know "the deep things of God" (1 Cor. ii. 10), we must come unto Him, and learn of Him. All things may be learned in His school.

7. Christ is "heir of all things." Therefore whoever accepts Christ has all things. "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. God has blessed us "with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Eph. i. 3. In giving us Christ, God cannot do otherwise than freely give us all things, because "in Him all things consist." Col. i. 17. Since Christ is good, and we get all things in Him, it must necessarily be that "all things work together for good to them that love God." Rom. viii. 28.

8. The One in whom God now speaks to us is the One "through whom also He made the worlds." "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. Christ is the Word of God, without whom not one thing was made. In Christ, the very Word of creation, the Word that brought the heaven and earth into existence, and peopled them with living creatures, is the word that is now spoken to us. Therefore its effect on us, if we receive it, must be to create us anew,-to make us new creatures. "If any man be in Christ, He is a new creature." 2 Cor. v. 17. Thus we see that redemption is simply the continuous working in us of the original Word that created all things.

9. When God created the earth in the beginning, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job xxxviii. 4-7. It was so perfect, so beautiful, so glorious a work that the heavenly host could not restrain their joy at the sight of it. Now the very same word that produced that glorious creation still works with the same power. The soul that is created anew by the Word of God is as beautiful as the earth when God breathed it forth from His Being; and therefore it is that there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. God says, "This people whom I have formed for Myself, they shall show forth My praise." Isa. xliii. 21. Then when God says, "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom" (Col. iii. 16), we have only to respond, "Amen, so let it be," and it will be so, just as when the creative word was spoken in the beginning. Our prayer should be: "Let the beauty of Lord our God be upon us." Then we can worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

10. The Greek word from which the word "brightness" is translated, is a compound word signifying "to flash forth." Christ is the flashing forth, the bright, clear shining, of the glory of God.

And here we have the settlement of the oft-raise question as to the "pre-existence of Christ." He is the brightness of the Father's glory; then wherever the glory of God is, there Christ is; and must necessarily have been co-existed with the glory of God. His "goings forth," [or, His flashing forth] have been from of old, "from the days of eternity." Micah v. 2.

11. The two words, "express image," or "very image," are translated from the one Greek word, "character." A "character" is primarily a mark, an impression made upon something soft, or a figure cut into something hard. From this we get the other common signification; namely, a person's moral and spiritual nature. The text tells us, literally, that Christ is the character of God,-the impress of His substance-His being. It was the character, the nature, of God in Jesus of Nazareth that marked Him as the Son of God. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." John i. 12. By His "Divine power" we become "partakers of the Divine nature." 2 Peter i. 3, 4.

12. Christ upholds, bears, all things by the word of His power. The same word power that created the worlds upholds them. "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, 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 is lacking." Isa. xl. 26, R.V.

Since He upholds, bears, carries, all things, it is evident that He bears all men, even us; and so it follows that He bears our sins also, and the sins of the whole world. John i. 29, with margin Isa. liii. 6.Whether we believe or not, He has our sins, together with us, upon Him. If we decline to bear them any longer ourselves, and leave them upon Him, it does not add to His burden. On the contrary, our letting go of our sins will lighten Christ's load; for when He gets them away from us He cast them into the depths of the sea,-they are swallowed up out of sight.

Although Christ bears the sins of the world, nobody ever saw any sin upon Him. He is the only one upon whom there can be sin without making a spot; His life obliterates it-blots it out. It is thus that His life manifests itself in those who receive it as freely as it is bestowed.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 18, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

This Christmas number of PRESENT TRUTH takes the place of two issues. The next number will be dated January 1, 1903.

Ever since the ritualist controversy began there has been a great deal written about the inconsistency, and even the dishonesty, of clergymen who occupy positions in the Church of England while teaching the doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome. At the present time the charge of inconsistency is centred on the Dean of Ripon, because of his alleged denial of the miraculous birth of Christ. A very pertinent item in this connection appeared as a communication in the Daily Chronicle of November 26. The writer said:-

"Many of your correspondents complain of the inconsistency of the Dean of Ripon. Let such take notice of one of the things that takes place in some churches almost every Sunday morning-viz., the repetition of the Ten Commandments by the clergyman with a prayer after each Commandment by the congregation. Is there no inconsistency in repeating this prayer after the Fourth Commandment? And is the Dean's inconsistency greater than that of those-the vast majority of Churchmen-who repeat the prayer?"

It would be well if this item could come to the notice of all churchmen, and be seriously considered by them. The Fourth Commandment 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;" and after this is read in church every Sunday, all the people respond, "O Lord, incline our hearts to keep this law," and yet keep on exalting the Sunday, and dishonouring the Sabbath day, with never a thought of the inconsistency. As a matter of fact, this inconsistency with regard to the Fourth Commandment is the root of all the other. If all were real Sabbath-keepers, there could be no ritualism, and no manner of lack of harmony with the Word of God.

The person who "kills time" have surely no reason to hope that God will give him eternity. Eternity is unlimited time, and the man who has so little appreciation of its value as to seek to kill it, does not deserve more of it on which to perpetuate his murderous designs.

"How to Master the Truth" The Present Truth 18, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

How to Master the Truth. -It would be well if all seekers after truth-all students of the Word-would speedily come to an understanding of the principles so tersely expressed by Phillips Brooks, that "not by the sharpening of the intellect to supernatural acuteness, but by the submission of the nature to its true authority," man conquers truth; that "not by agonising struggles over the contradictory evidence, but by the harmony with Him in whom the answers to all our doubts are folded, a harmony with Him brought by obedience to Him, our doubts must be enlightened." A grasp of this simple principle would save days and months, and even years, of fruitless and wearing "investigation." Nobody ever comes to a knowledge of the truth by study. We must first know the truth, by revelation from God, and then we spend the rest of our lives, even through eternity, in studying it.

"God Standing With Man" The Present Truth 18, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

God Standing With Man. -When Moses went up Mount Sinai the second time, with the tables of stone in his hand, on which the law was to be written, "The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there." Ex. xxxiv. 5. What a wonder! what condescension! The Lord of hosts, the mighty God, coming down to earth and standing by the side of a man! Who would not feel honoured by such notice? And who would not feel overawed by the perfection of the Almighty? Just that honour, however, is granted to every humble disciple, and, moreover, everyone must necessarily receive it; for we are exhorted to walk with God, and He must stand by our side before we can walk with Him. The Lord is no respecter of persons, and what He did for Moses He does for all. "The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand." "Because He is at My right hand, I shall not be moved." "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."

The first two verses of the first chapter of Hebrews, literally translated, tell us that God who in time past spoke unto the fathers "in the prophets," now speaks to us "in the Son." The revelation of God in Christ was simply the fulness of what had previously been incompletely manifested in men, and it set the pattern of what will be when "we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." He says to those who are brought before governors and kings, to testify for Him, "It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Matt. x. 20. How greatly we, the whole body of professed Christians, have failed to realise the lesson of the birth of Christ. "Unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given;" and when we like Mary, say, and say continually, "Be it unto me as Thou wilt,"-He will be formed in us, and we shall be "filled with all the fulness of God."

There is no more vivid and striking illustration of the power in weakness, which is the characteristic of the Gospel, than that presented in Rev. v. 5, 6. When no man in heaven or earth could open the sealed book, one of the elders said to John, "Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda. . . hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof" in accordance with the elder's words, John "beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne. . . stood a Lamb as it had been slain." There was "the Lion of the tribe of Juda." John looked for the conquering Lion, and he beheld a slain Lamb! A more striking contrast, and greater seeming contradiction, could not be imagined; yet the two are one and the same. In the slain Lamb which is the conquering Lion, we see how God ordained strength out of the most abject weakness; and thus we have "strong consolation."

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