The Present Truth, Vol. 13 (1897)

January 7, 1897

"About Marking Bibles" The Present Truth 13, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

A friend has asked for the best method of marking a Bible for ready reference. Quite lengthy treatises have been written on the subject, but the plan which we have followed for several years is so simple and yet so practical that we should be glad to see it universally adopted. We speak the more freely in its praise, because it is not original with us.

The plan is, in brief, this: Have your Bible near at hand, where you can pick it up at any moment. Do not let the intervals between readings be too long, nor the time devoted to each reading be too short. Select the portion of the Bible you please, and read and re-read until it is firmly impressed on your mind. Do not try to learn to repeat it parrot-like, but think upon each expression, and its relation to every other expression, until the thought is clear. Make a practice frequently to try to follow in your mind the course of the thought, turning up the passage in the Bible only when you find that you are at a loss. Do this until the text by long and frequent association, becomes very familiar, and then continue the study of it in connection with other portions of Scripture, which you treat in the same manner, and you will find that no matter how cleanly you are in your habits, the finger marks upon the pages of your Bible will be very noticeable and will always make it easy for you to find the desired passages. We know of no other kind of marks in a Bible that are of any value.

The practice of marking Bibles with pencil or pen and ink, sometimes in various colours, is quite common, but it is not to be compared with the one described above. Indeed, no other method is compatible with real Bible study.

"But," says one, "I am obliged to put a mark about the text I want in order to find them." Yes, but you must turn to the text before you can see the mark about it, which shows that the pencil mark, is really no help at all. But allowing that a mark does help to find a passage, it can readily be seen that a finger mark is by far the most valuable.

The finger mark indicates previous study of the text, and familiarity with it, it is the well-beaten path which shows that one often goes to this spot. On the other

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hand a pencil mark shows neglect of the text; for one does not need a guideboard to direct him to a place where he is daily in the habit of going. It is only in a strange place that one needs help to find a way; you will have no trouble in finding portions of Scripture that you frequently visit. When a boy is obliged to set up a stick in the onion patch, so that when he comes back he can tell where he left off weeding, the stick is evidence that he has not really been working,-it simply shows that he has been there; so the marks in a person's Bible show indeed that he has been there and read the passage, but they are conclusive evidence that he has not studied it, unless he has since learned to study, and still uses his old Bible.

It will be urged in favour of the pencil marks, that they serve to make prominent the more important texts. Well, insofar as this is necessary, the purpose is amply served by the finger marks. But which are the more important texts in the Bible? Which verse of the twenty-third Psalm, for instance, would you select as being the important one? Who has not had this experience, that verses that once seemed unimportant and almost meaningless, have afterwards been seen to be overflowing with light and comfort? In any paper or book which is the product of a human mind, we may well mark the important passages, when there are any, for often all that is really valuable is in one or two paragraphs; but it is not so with the Bible. He who will disfigure the Bible with pencil marks to indicate the "valuable texts," shows that he does not appreciate the sacred Book. All Scripture is profitable, so that if one will underscore the important texts, he will simply have black marks under every line. But after having thus marked the texts, one knows them no better than before, whereas marking after the method we have recommended insures familiarity with the text, and understanding of it. Try it, and see.

"At the Vatican" The Present Truth 13, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

The Daily News special correspondent at Rome sends the following despatch which indicates somewhat of the life and intrigue of Vatican circles. The determination of the Papacy to use military force as well as diplomacy to regain its position never weakens:-

The Voce della Verita, a Vatican organ, reporting the speech of the Pontiff to the papal soldiers and representatives of the regiments now disbanded, says that Leo XIII. spoke with youthful vigour. He explained his longevity and strength thus: A nun, who had always been in perfect health, two months ago went to him saying she had offered herself as a sacrifice to God, in order to prolong the life of the Pontiff. God had signified his approval, as the nun died, and Leo XIII. still flourished.

Evidently the Pope is now especially bitter against Italy, as he went on in his speech to emphasise the dissatisfaction which he had already expressed in his address to the Sacred College on Christmas Eve. He said the present condition of the Papacy could not last. He expressed pleasure at the constant devotion to the Holy See of the papal soldiers and ex-soldiers, and all those who propose to come to his defence, especially Canadians, Frenchman, Irishmen, and Belgians. The moment would soon come when he would see himself again surrounded by those faithful and beloved children.

The authenticity of the report cannot be questioned, as the Clerical papers receive everything regarding the Pontiff directly from the Vatican.

"Strange Sights for Angels to See" The Present Truth 13, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

The angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel, and explained to him the meaning of a vision, over five hundred years before Christ. Just before John the Baptist was born, another angel also appeared to Zacharias, saying, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God." The angel had seen kingdoms rise and fall, and men devoting their efforts to this or that fond plan had perished and been forgotten by those who followed them. And all the time God was carrying out His purposes, and seeking to save those who, here and there, were willing to make Him first in their thoughts. But most of the human family had chosen the things which they could hold but for a little time.

And now, to this day, the same sight must meet the angels of heaven. Not Gabriel alone, but "all" are sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. Heb. i. 14. They see the world hastening on to the day of God, for the most part careless of eternal interests. Dreams of empire and colonial expansion, and the struggle for place and power and for necessary food and raiment take up the thoughts of men. How strange must the sight be to the angels, even after these thousands of years, to see the human family chasing after the abiding things of earth and giving little or no thought to eternal realities. Those realities are not vague and undefined to the angels. Yet they see men making choices continually-taking practical, common-sense views of life, men call it-which shows that the darkened minds of men weigh the pleasures of life, or even a little bread and raiment, against all the kingdom of heaven. Yes, what a spectacle this little world must be to the angels, in these closing hours of its history.

"Pagan Survivals" The Present Truth 13, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

In an article on "Christmas and Memory," in the Christian World, are the following well-known facts about Christmas, which seem to be strangely absent from the memories of most professed Christians:-

"Our Yule-tide feeling is, I have said, an amalgam. The bottom part of it, perhaps the greatest part, is pagan. When we spread our feast, when we hang up the holly and mistletoe, when we pile on the Yule log, we are following in spirit and in letter not our Christian but our Norse traditions. The Yule fire is an offering to the Scandinavian sun-god; the mistletoe and the old-fashion meal of fermety are a recognition of the northern Ceres, the mother of the fruits of the earth. There is more in all this than the survival of customs, the origin of which we have perhaps forgotten. Those who search deeply within themselves will, we think, find that Christianity comes into Christmas not only late in history but late in the development of the human spirit. And it shares the fate of the late-comer in finding the ground already to a large extent occupied. For it is not only that the old heathen usages revived at Christmas. It is the time when the awakening of the old Norse spirit, the genius for carouse and jollity, and the strength of a strange indefinable sense of affinity with the past, make plain to us the rock out of which we have been hewn, and along the road along which our race has travelled."

Figs do not grow from thistles, and Christianity is not an off-shoot of Paganism; when therefore "the church" adopted heathen customs, it is not difficult to tell exactly what it to that extent becomes.

"The Promises to Israel. Vainglory and Defeat" The Present Truth 13, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou standest by faith; be not high-minded, but fear." Rom. xi. 20.

"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." 1 Cor. x. 12.

A man is never in greater danger than when he has just achieved some great success, or gained a great victory. If he is not very much on his guard, his joyous song of thanksgiving will have a chorus of vainglorious self-congratulation. Beginning with recognition of God's power, and praise and thanksgiving for it, man insensibly puts himself in the place of God, and assumes that his own wisdom and strength brought him the success and the victory. Thus he exposes himself to attack when he is sure to be overcome, since he has separated from the source of power. Only in the Lord Jehovah is there everlasting strength.

"And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up, and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men; and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty-six men; . . . . wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water." Joshua vii. 2-5

NO ONE BEYOND DANGER

The story of Jericho and Ai is sufficient answer to those who repeat with as much assurance as though it were Scripture, the saying, "Once in grace always in grace," the meaning being that if a person is once really walking in the fear of God he can never fall. There can be no question but that the children of Israel did really and fully trust the Lord when they crossed the Jordan and marched round Jericho. God Himself witnessed that they had the righteousness of faith, and His word declares that they gained a glorious victory through faith. Nevertheless it was but a few days afterward that they suffered a serious defeat. It was the beginning of apostasy. Although God afterwards wrought many wonders for them, and showed Himself always ready to do all that their faith would grasp, the whole people of Israel were never again perfectly united to "fight the good fight of faith." Only for a little season, after the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, were the multitude of them that believed "of one heart and of one soul." But that the same union and strength in perfect faith will be witnessed again among God's people on earth, is as sure as the promise of God.

THE CAUSE OF THE DEFEAT

There was sin in the camp when Israel went up against Ai, and this was the cause of their defeat. The whole people suffered, not simply because of Achan's sin, but because all had sinned. "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." Hab. ii. 4. Whether they were blinded by "the deceitfulness of sin," and then became exalted in their minds, or whether their self-exaltation led to their sin, is not material; certain it is that the people had given place to sin, and had become self-confident, which is in itself sin. Because of sin they suffered defeat; so long as sin was given a place in their hearts, they could not go on with the conquest of the land; and this again proves that the promised inheritance, into which God was leading them, was such as could be possessed only by righteous people-those who had the righteousness of faith.

The men who went up to view the country made the people believe that but few men were needed to capture Ai, because it was a small city. But they had no ground for such an assumption. True, Ai was not nearly as large as Jericho, but numbers had nothing to do with the taking of that city. "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down;" and if the Israelites had been only half or even one-tenth as numerous as they were, the result would have been the same. It required the same power to take Ai that it did to take Jericho, namely, the power of God, laid hold of by faith. When the men said that but few of the people were needed for the capture of Ai, they assumed that it was their military skill that was to secure the land for them. But that was a grievous error. God had promised to give them the land, and it could not be obtained except as a gift. The mightiest army that the world has ever seen, armed with the most approved weapons of war, could not take it; while a few unarmed men, strong in faith and giving glory to God, could have possessed it with ease. The force that takes the kingdom of heaven is not the force of arms.

DEFEAT NOT IN GOD'S PLAN

Another thing that we learn from the story of Ai is that God did not intend that His people should ever suffer defeat, or that in the occupation of the land a single man should lose his life. In ordinary warfare the loss of thirty-six men in an assault upon a strongly fortified city would not be counted great, even if the assault were successful;

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but in taking possession of the land of Canaan it was a terrible reverse. The promise was, "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you," and "there shall not any man be able to stand before thee," (Joshua i. 3, 5), and now they themselves had been obliged to flee, with the loss of men. The influence that the passage of the Jordan and the capture of Jericho would have had to impress and overawe the heathen, was now broken. Trusting to their own strength, the Israelites had lost the power of God's presence, and had demonstrated their own weakness.

THE MEANS OF DEFENCE

The fact that it was altogether contrary to God's plan that any of the Israelites should lose their lives in taking possession of the promised land, is further shown by the fact, which may well be noted here, that it was not His design that they should have to fight for the possession of the promised inheritance. We have already seen that numbers and arms had nothing to do with the taking of Jericho, and that when they depended on their weapons, force that in ordinary warfare would have been amply sufficient was of no avail. Recall also the wonderful deliverance from Egypt, and the overthrow of the entire army of Pharaoh, without the lifting of a single weapon or the use of any human power, and that God led the people by the longest and most difficult route in order that they might not see war (Ex. xiii. I8), and then read the following promise:-

"If thou shalt say in thine heart, these nations are more than I, how can I dispossess them? thou shalt not be afraid of them; but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharoah and to all Egypt; the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out; so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. Moreover, the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed. Thou shalt not be affrighted at them; for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible." Deut. vii. 17-21.

Just as the Lord did to Pharoah and to all Egypt, so did he promise to do to all the enemies that should set themselves against the progress of the Israelites to the promised land. But the children of Israel did not strike a single blow to effect their deliverance from Egypt and the overthrow of all its armies. When Moses, forty years before, had attempted to deliver Israel by physical force, he most signally failed, and was obliged to flee in disgrace. It was only when he knew the Gospel as the power of God unto salvation, that he was able to lead the people forth without any fear of the wrath of the king. This is conclusive proof that God did not design that they should fight for the possession of the land; and if they did not fight, of course they could not lose any of their number in battle. Read further as to the manner in which God proposed to give them the land:-

"I will send My fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land." Ex. xxiii. 27-30.

When Jacob, years before, sojourned in the same land, with his family, the "terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob." Gen. xxxv. 5. "When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it. When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people; He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, He reproved kings for their sakes; saying, Touch not Mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." Ps. cv. 12-15. That same power was to bring them into the land, and speedily give them an eternal inheritance in it, for afterward, the Lord, bewailing their unfaithness, said:-

"Oh that My people had hearkened unto Me, and Israel had walked in My ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned My hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him; but their time should have endured for ever." Ps. lxxxi. 13-15.

WHY THEY FOUGHT

"But the children of Israel did fight throughout all their natural existence, and under God's direction, too," it will be urged. That is very true, but it does not at all prove that it was God's purpose that they should fight. We must not forget that "their minds were blinded" by unbelief, so that they could not perceive the purpose of God for them. They did not grasp the spiritual realities of the kingdom of God, but were content with shadows instead; and the same God who bore with their hardness of heart in the beginning, and strove to teach them by shadows, when they would not have the substance, still remained with them, compassionately considerate of their infirmities. God Himself suffered them, because of the hardness of their hearts, to have a plurality of wives, and even laid down rules regulating polygamy, in order to diminish as far as possible the resulting evils, but that does not prove that He designed it for them. We well know that "from the beginning it was not so." So when Jesus forbade His followers to fight in any cause whatever, He introduced nothing new, any more than when He taught that a man should have but one wife, and should cleave to her as long as he lived He was simply enunciating first principles-preaching a thorough reformation.

EXECUTING THE JUDGMENT WRITTEN

One thing, however, which should never be lost sight of by people who are disposed to cite God's commands to the Israelites as sanctioning wars either of defence or conquest, is the fact that God never told them to destroy any whose cup of iniquity was not filled to the full, and who had not irrevocably rejected the way of righteousness. In the end of this world, when the time comes that the saints possess the kingdom, judgment will be given to the saints of the Most High (Dan. vii. 22), and the saints will judge not only the world, but also angels. 1 Cor. vi. 2, 5. They will also, as joint-heirs with Christ, have a share in the execution of the judgment, for we read:-

"Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written; this honour have all His saints." Ps. cxlix. 5-9.

Since Christ associates His people with Himself in the kingdom, making them all kings and priests, it is no more incongruous for His saints, in connection with Him, and by His direct authority, to execute just judgment upon the incorrigibly wicked, than it is for Him to do it. And so, when we remember that the deliverance from

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Egypt was the beginning of the end, and that God was then purposing to give His people the very same kingdom which He now promises to us, and to which Christ will call the blessed when He comes, we can well understand that a righteous people might then, as well as in the future, be the agents of God's justice. But that would not be a war of conquest, even for the possession of the promised land, but the execution of judgment. But it must not be forgotten that God Himself personally gives directions when such judgment is to be executed, and does not leave men to guess at His will in such a case. Moreover, only those who are themselves without sin can execute judgment upon sinners.

WAR NOT A SUCCESS

Yet one more thing must be remembered in connection with this question of fighting and the possession of the land of Canaan, the promised inheritance, and that is that the children of Israel did not get it after all, with all their fighting. The same promise that was given them, remains for us; "but if Joshua had given them rest, then would He not afterwards have spoken of another day" in which to seek and find it. Heb. iv. 1, 8. The reason why they did not get it, was their unbelief, and that was why they fought. If they had believed the Lord, they would have allowed Him to clear the land of its totally depraved inhabitants, in the way that He proposed. They in the meantime would not have been idle, but would have performed the work of faith which God set them, and which must next claim our attention.

"Fear Not" The Present Truth 13, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

When Jesus died upon the cross, the record says: "And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with Him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God."

In the tense of the verb used by the centurion there is a possible suggestion of failure to comprehend that which the words themselves acknowledged. "Truly this was the Son of God" seems to imply the inability to realise the attributes of Divinity, and to be more the voicing of a sudden horror at the idea that they had been, as they thought, a party to the destruction of Deity, than an expression of the conviction that this body, now hanging lifeless upon the cross, had been the habitation of Divinity. There is no evidence here of any thought of the rebuilding of this life which they had just seen pass from its body, but only the feeling, inspired by the miraculous manifestations to which they had just been witnesses, that a supernatural life had gone out of existence. The only feeling which they are credited with in this account is fear,-"they feared greatly."

From the description of this scene it would appear that the local events accompanying the passing of life from the body of Christ on the cross, were, in miniature, like those which will occur at His second coming. Then they who crucified Him, and who pierced Him, and all they who have denied Him through all time, will see Him, and will realise that, "Truly this is the Son of God." Then they will know the truth and will indeed fear greatly. But selfish fear is not a means of grace. The great fear which the wicked will feel at the second coming of Christ will not be their salvation. But quite the contrary, their fear will arise from the realisation of the fact that the day of probation has passed and they are not saved. They who are saved may be awe-struck, but they will feel no fright or personal fear. There are to be many evidences, in the heavens and in the earth, and among men, of the fulfilment of prophecy, and the passage of time towards its grand and final catastrophe, but it is the privilege of all who believe the Word of God to look upon these phenomena, and, understanding their significance, reverence God, but have no fear.

"Vegetarianism and War" The Present Truth 13, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

A recent number of the Lancet contained the following, on "Vegetarianism: Its Effect upon Nations," which is most striking and suggestive. Of course it must be understood that by vegetarianism is not meant subsistence on what are technically known as vegetables, but the use of all foods which the earth produces, and the non-use of the flesh of animals. The Lancet says:-

In a recent communication to the Societe d'Ethnographie in Paris, M. Verrier treated of vegetarianism from the point of view of its moral and intellectual effect upon the nations who, either from choice or necessity, are to be classed as abstainers from animal food. While fully recognising the dangers of a too abundant meat diet, as well as the advantages of a purely vegetable nourishment, the speaker nevertheless felt constrained to come to the conclusion that nature intended men to be carnivorous. The physical constitution of the human race is so ordered that to ensure the development of their higher quality its members are of necessity compelled to become to a certain extent meat-eaters. The attributes that make for dominion and progress are but imperfectly present among the eschewers of animal food, and hence vegetarianism causes the downfall of dynasties and leads to the enslavement of peoples. If, continued M. Verrier, the Hindus, instead of following an absolutely vegetable regimen, had made use of meat in a rational manner, perhaps the British might not have found their subjugation such an easy matter. His argument was easily applicable to the Irish, who lived exclusively upon potatoes. As for the Japanese, with whom rice was formerly the staple food, the energetic nature of this people could not be cited in subversion of the rules laid down in his thesis. The reawakening of the conquerers at Port Arthur, and the Yalu River was coincidental with the establishment of a trade in butcher's meat throughout the archipelago.

The thoughtful reader will note that the same argument may be used with even greater force against Christianity. Christianity utterly forbids fighting even in self-defence, and Christians do not and cannot fight. So one might object to Christianity, that it "causes the downfall of dynasties, and leads to the enslavement of peoples." Men forget that if all men were Christians there could be no possibility of the overthrow or enslavement of one people by another, and in that case the mild vegetarians would certainly be in no danger.

But what we wish to call special attention to, is the claim, not simply the admission, that flesh-eating tends to make people fierce and war-like. Of course this would strongly recommend flesh-eating to those who believe that men were designed to be fighting animals, and that their pugnacious tendencies need to be stimulated; but with those who believe that the characteristics of the wolf, the tiger, and the hyena are not to be cultivated, but express, the fact that flesh-eating tends to make men fighters, must be a strong argument against it.

Fierceness among men is one of the things that will cause the last days to be perilous. 2 Tim. iii. 1-3. Every one, therefore, who has respect for Christ's words, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," ought scrupulously to avoid that which tends only to strengthen the animal, not to say beastly, part of man, in opposition to the spiritual.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

-The metropolis of London, apart from the separate liabilities of the city proper, owes a lump sum of ?36,000,000.

-A religious sect in the Bengal Presidency worships Queen Victoria as their chief divinity. She is also an object of worship in one of the temples of Thibet.

-The first consignment of tropical fruit from Jamaica, West Indies, has lately been received at the docks in good condition. It is intended to ran a fleet of steamers in that line.

-The Post Office department has issued a notification, it is said, to all officials over sixty years of age, that they will be required to retire from the service within twelve months' time.

-London's Christmas mail has been this year much larger than usual. Wednesday evening, before Christmas Day, a million and a-half of letters were sent out from London.

-Reports from the New Hebrides state that natives are being sold like sheep on some trading vessels, fetching from ?6 to ?10 a head. In some cases they are subjected to great cruelties.

-It is said that Jewish convicts are now sent to Parkhurst prison, in the Isle of Wight, where a synagogue has been provided for them, and a Rabbi from Portsmouth is in attendance.

-In the Abbey of Cwm Hir, supposed to be the resting-place of the last native Prince of Wales, an ivy stem, three inches in diameter, is found to have raised a stone column, and to have pushed it 2? inches away from the wall to which it belongs.

-The heaviest mail on record was received from America for Christmas, one liner landing 1,500 sacks, containing about 200,000 letters, exclusive of parcels and newspapers. The Christmas mail from this country to the Cape, including letters, newspapers and book packages, was 848,700.

-Statistics seem to establish the proverbial longevity of the members of the "Society of Friends," or "Quakers." The average age at death of these people, dying in Great Britain and Ireland for the last three years, has been,-1894, 61 years, 5 months, 22 days; 1895, 57 years, 11 months, 18 days; 1896, 60 years, 6 months, 19 days.

-The new law in Germany against speculative dealing in grain is meeting with much opposition from the members of the Corn and Produce Exchanges of different German cities. In Stettin and Berlin the members of the Exchanges have unanimously resolved to absent themselves henceforward as a mark of protest against the law.

-Two orphan children, aged respectively three and five years, have just reached their grand parents in Inverness, after a journey of over 4,000 miles, from their former home in Virginia, U.S.A. The Cunard Company alone, of all the trans-Atlantic companies, were willing to undertake the care of the little travellers on their long voyage. They came to Liverpool, from New York, on the Lucania.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

"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." John iii. 16.

"For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. v. 6-8.

The Scriptures tell us that God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and that evil shall not dwell within. He hates sin, because sin is utterly foreign to His nature. In the foregoing text we see how God manifest His hatred of sin; for the measure of God's hatred of sin is His love for sinners: He gave Himself to save them from it.

In this we see the difference between God's way and man's way, and note how infinitely higher is His way than man's. When men wish to show their abhorence of sin, and to emphasise their non-complicity in it, they sacrifice the sinner: but God shows His abhorence of sin, and emphasises His perfect freedom from it, by sacrificing Himself." Teach me Thy way, O Lord."

It is a dangerous thing to pin faith to man, or to follow even the best of men; for there is no man that is absolutely perfect, and such is the perversity of human nature that we naturally tend to follow the poorest instead of the best. Indeed, this is inevitable, for when we follow men, we use only our own strength, and so we cannot lift ourselves above the faults and errors of those whom we follow. Jesus says, "Follow Me," and this we may safely do, for "there is no unrighteousness in Him." There is in Him no error to lead us astray; He is the highest, and gives us His own life to lift us to His own level. Thus we can indeed follow Him. When we follow men, our sin increases; but when we follow Christ, it is removed; "for we know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin."

Duelling has largely increased in Germany during recent years. The general public reprobate it, but militarism encourages it.

Ability to discuss the Scriptures or even to discriminate between the fine points of doctrine, is no evidence that one is a Christian. In some of the missionary schools in India there are Mohammedans who can write keener essays on the "evidences of Christianity" than the Christian students can, but they never become Christians. The reason for this is that the Gospel does not consist of arguments and "points of doctrine" but is the life of Christ. The just live by faith, and not by dialectical skill. The kingdom of God is nothing else than "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

It is estimated by statisticians that during this century fully thirty millions of civilised men have perished in war. Add to this the many millions of the uncivilised who have perished from the same cause, and we can see how war is demanding more victims in these closing days of history than in former days. Now Austria spends on its army 15 per cent. of its revenue, Germany 19 per cent., France 31 per cent., Russia 35 per cent., and Great Britain just under 20 per cent. Add to this naval expenses and interest on war debts, and we can see what a terrible physical evil war is in the world. But more than all, it is moral corruption and ruin to the world.

The religious animosity over the Manitoba school question has broken out afresh in the Dominion of Canada. Montreal despatches say that it is now believed that a political as well as a religious crisis is at hand.

Speaking of the vicious influence of war upon the spiritual experiences of soldiers, a religious newspaper, which fails nevertheless to see that Christians must never resort to strife, says: "A German officer said after his experience of the Franco-German conflict that had he led forth a regiment of angels they would have become a regiment of devils in six weeks." It is because Jesus came not "to destroy men's lives, but to save them" that no follower of His can do other than He did. There is another who does come to kill and to destroy. It is he who puts his own spirit in the man upon the field of carnage.

Amongst Nonconformists there has recently been a movement toward more elaborate ritual, and a tendency to subordinate the authority of the Bible to that of churches and councils and pulpits. This, together with the general tendency in the direction of applying political power to the advancement of religion, as in the educational question, impresses the keen perceptions of Rome with the idea that a favourable time for her to approach them is drawing on.

"Every Victory of War a Defeat" The Present Truth 13, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

Every Victory of War a Defeat .-One of the straightest testimonies that we have seen on the essential wickedness and foolishness of war was given by Mr. Moncure D. Conway, who, when many evangelical clergymen were telling their congregations on "Peace Sunday" "when war is justifiable," spoke as follows:-

Some imagine that they can diffuse civilisation and religion along with armed expeditions. The track of armies is marked with feuds, animosities, and the constitution of only that kind of civilisation which consists of ingenious contrivances for killing, superior craft, and imitation of civilisation's vices. In all history war never won a single clean victory. Every sword ever drawn has been double-edged-one edge for the vanquished, and the other edge for the conquerors.

This is true, not because Mr. Conway said it, but because it is the truth; because it is but the repetition in another form of the words of Christ: "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."

"The Mind" The Present Truth 13, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

The Mind .-"The peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." It is the peace of God that must guard the mind. But let no one think that this relieves the personal responsibility. For the apostle continues, by the Spirit, and says in the very next words that we must think on those things that are pure and honest and of good report. Phil. iv. 7, 8. Let no one think who allows his mind to dwell upon evil that the assurance of being kept is for him. It is only the peace of God continually guarding the heart that can cast away every approach of the evil that would engage the mind. It is a good thing for newspaper readers to remember this.

January 14, 1897

"Front Page" The Present Truth 13, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

"Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent." Matt. xxvii. 50, 51.

This veil was a heavy curtain suspended from the ceiling of the sanctuary, dividing it into two parts, called the holy place and the most holy place. In the inner, or most holy place was the ark of the covenant, with its covering, which was called the mercy seat, above which, from between the cherubim, the glory of God appeared. The ark in this most holy place, screened from all human eyes, except those of the high priest, who could go within the veil only once a year, was a symbol of the throne of God in heaven. See Ex. xxv. 10-22; xxvi. 31-34.

For this tabernacle, with all that pertained to it, was but a shadow, a very faint shadow, of realities in heaven. It was called by Stephen "the tabernacle of witness," because both it and the tables of the law within it were witnesses against the unbelief of the Israelites. Solomon, who built the house to the Lord, said in his prayer at the dedication, "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.

In like manner Stephen said in his testimony before the Jewish council: "Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool; what house will ye build Me? saith the Lord, or what is the place of My rest?" Acts vii. 48-50.

We see that those who lived in the time of the temple, who were in touch with the Lord, knew very well that it was not the real dwelling-place of God. All the people of Israel were accustomed to sing, "The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven." Ps. xi. 4. Those who heard Stephen's discourse, being perfectly familiar with the service connected with the temple, could plainly see that if they allowed him to continue, his next words must be something like this:-

"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 throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Heb. viii. 1, 2.

That is why they were so incensed against Stephen, for they had positively rejected Christ, and did not want to hear of Him.

Yet some of these priests must have seen the veil of the temple mysteriously rent asunder when Christ died, and they knew that it was not done by human hands, and they could hardly have failed to recall the words of Jesus, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." Never the absolute dwelling-place of God, it was not then even a symbol of it.

If the professed people of God in olden time had been faithful to their high calling, there would never have been any earthly tabernacle, with its exclusive priesthood; for God's promise was, "Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests." Ex. xix. 6. Even so all God's people to-day are "a royal priesthood," "an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 1 Peter ii. 5, 9. No other sacrifices have ever been acceptable to God.

Every believer is a priest, and therefore every one has a right to come into the

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presence of God. The rending of the temple veil at the death of Christ, was to emphasise the fact that by the blood of Jesus we have boldness or liberty to enter into the holiest place by the new and living way through the veil, which He hath consecrated for us, that is, His flesh. Heb. x. 19, 20. We are not kept standing in the outer court, but having been "made nigh by the blood of Christ," are urged to "draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith."

Seeing therefore that Christ, our Brother, is High Priest, and we are partakers of Him, let us come with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in our priestly work of showing forth the excellencies of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.

"He Saw the Inconsistency" The Present Truth 13, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Writing of the proofs of "genuine conversions" from heathenism in a variety of cases a Japanese missionary tells the following story. Let it be noticed that appreciation of the Gospel of Christ itself caused this man to see that the enslavement of the tobacco habit was not compatible with freedom in Christ. And he saw the point more clearly than the missionary who relates the story, as will be seen:-

On visiting a certain town recently, on a tour in the country, I was much impressed by the interest taken in Christianity by a man who not only came to meetings himself, but brought several of his friends with him. I was told that he was very constant in his attendance, and that he supported the work very earnestly. Seeing his interest to be so genuine, I had some conversation with him, and found him to be very conversant with the truths of Christianity, and to express hearty belief in them.

Naturally enough I sought to know what hindered him from uniting with the church by baptism. He said that it was his intention to do so later, but he could not do so now. The reason, he said, was that he was a tobacco merchant, and that if he united with the church he must give this up. He did not believe that a man should be a church member and sell tobacco.

He could not go out of the business at once without great loss, but as soon as he could he should give up the business, and then he wished to join the church. Calling to mind the many members of Christian churches at home who sell tobacco, and yet do not think that it interferes with their being church members, I told him that his purpose was commendable, but if such was his purpose in fact that he could be received into the church now on confession of his faith by baptism, if there was nothing else that stood in his way.

He was much impressed, and asked for time to think of it. Later he returned and said that Christianity was just being established in his town, and he did not want to set a bad example that it would be for a Christian to sell tobacco, and that as he had begun an arrangement by which he hoped to dispose of his business, he thought it better for him to wait till his hands were clean of the business, before he united with the church. Until that time, however, he would help all he could in the work of the church. I have no doubt that in a few months he will be numbered among the believers in that town. "Rice Christians" we do have on the mission field, but it is greatly to be doubted if they are more numerous than the advantage Christians to be found at home.

"Profession and Practice" The Present Truth 13, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Profession is one thing, and quite essential,-but it is not practice. Practice should accompany profession, even as light the sun. But in daily experience of life the two are so often found asunder that even those who think before they speak are apt to say, without apparent hastiness, that profession and practice are two different things. Their only difference should be that one is the accompaniment and resultant of the other,-where the one is there the other should always be, and there should never be any conflict between them.

That the world is acknowledged to have come to that pass that few are expected really to practice what they preach, is, actually, when one thinks of it, almost equal to a virtual verdict of insanity against the whole human race. It certainly is an unsound and unhealthy state of mind and morals which makes it possible for such an anomalous condition to exist.

The creature which continues to eat when it is already surfeited, or fasts when food is placed before it, mistaking the sensation of surfeit for hunger, and of hunger for surfeit, has no more reversed the natural order of things than has the man who acknowledges and professes truth and righteousness, and practices falsehood and unrighteousness.

The trouble with such men is that in a greater or lesser degree the devil has entered into them. When the devils entered into the Gergesenian swine they rushed madly down the peaceful seaside slope, on which they had previously been reasonably and comfortably feeding, and were drowned. The act was totally inexplicable except by the madness of the sudden possession which had overtaken them.

The course of those who hear the Gospel and will not listen to it, who understand and believe the truth and will not live in it, who know there is a God and will not obey Him; who profess and preach righteousness, but live and practise folly and all manner of evil; the course of these is only explicable by the fact that they have admitted Satan into their hearts and lives, and he is leading them to destruction no less sure than that which befell the swine, and one in which their suffering and shame will be proportionately greater in the same degree that they are higher in the scale of being and endowed with intelligence and responsibility.

"The Outlook at the End of the Century" The Present Truth 13, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

One of the writers in The Church Family Newspaper, in his summary of events in the past year, and the present outlook states the case thus:-

"And what about the world at large. Has civilisation made any great strides. Are we nearer the millennium? I troth not. . . . What the European Powers are really in earnest about is getting their armies and fleets ready to destroy each other. We read on all sides of preparations for "defence," and of millions of money being lavished upon new rifles, and new powder, new bullets, new ships, new guns, new death-dealing machines. Here, indeed, we have the keenest rivalry, and plenty of it. Is it not enough to make us rather shame-faced, and to ask our consciences some pertinent questions about our boasted civilisation at the end of this vaunted nineteenth century?"

Mr. Henry Norman, who is a keen student of European and Eastern questions, concludes a statement of the situation thus:-

Such, then, is the situation in Europe to-day: three drawn swords, sharpened to a rasor edge pointing one-way, and two drawn swords face them, with England nervously fingering the sword in its scabbard, looking on and wondering whether, if she does not draw her own weapon to range herself on one side or the other, all the swords will not be shortly at her throat.

May the winds of strife be held yet little longer.

"The Promises to Israel. Israel a Missionary People" The Present Truth 13, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

When God sent Moses to lead Israel from Egypt, His message to Pharoah was, "Israel is My son, even My firstborn; and I say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me" (Ex. iv. 22, 23); and He brought them forth, and gave them the lands of the heathen, "that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws." Ps. cv. 44, 45. The great advantage of the Jews over other people was that "unto them were committed the oracles of God." Rom. iii. 1, 2. To be sure they did not receive those "lively oracles" in all their living power, and thus make their advantage infinitely greater; but that was not the fault of God, and we are not now considering what Israel actually had and were, but what they might have possessed, and what they ought to have been.

Two things have always been true namely, that "no man liveth unto himself," and that "God is no respecter of persons;" and these two truths combined form a third, which is, that whenever God bestows any gift or advantage upon any person, it is in order that he may use it for the benefit of others. God does not bestow blessings upon one person or people, that He does not wish all to have. When He promised a blessing to Abraham, it was in order that he might be a blessing-that in him all the people of the earth might be blessed. It was in the line of the promise to Abraham that God delivered Israel. Therefore, in giving them the advantage of possessing His law, it was that they might make known to other people that inestimable advantage, so that the other people also might share it.

God's purpose was that His name should be made known in all the earth. Ex. ix. 15. His desire that all people should know Him was as great as that the children of Israel should know Him. To know the only true God, is life eternal (John xvii. 3); therefore in revealing Himself to Israel, God was showing them the way of Eternal life, or the Gospel, in order that they might proclaim the same Gospel to others. The reason why God made Himself known to Israel in so marked a manner, was that they were, so to speak, nearer at hand than other people. The memory of God's dealing with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and of their faith, was preserved among the Jews, thus making them more accessible. God chose them, not because He loved them more than He did others, but because He loved all men, and would make Himself known to them by means of the agents that were nearest at hand. The idea that God ever was exclusive, and that He ever confined His mercies and truth to one special people, is most dishonouring to His character. Never did He leave the heathen without witness of Himself, and wherever He could find a man or people that would consent to be used, them He straightway enlisted in His service, to make a more full revelation of Himself.

EFFECT OF THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL IN EGYPT

The Gospel is the power of God to salvation, and since God's mighty power was exhibited in the salvation of Israel from Egypt, it is evident that the Gospel was at that time proclaimed as it has never been since. The effect of that proclamation is shown by the words of a heathen woman, the harlot Rahab. When the two spies came to her house in Jericho, she concealed them, and said to them:-

"I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you; for the Lord your God; He is God in Heaven above, and in earth beneath." Joshua ii. 9-11. And then she begged for and received the promise of deliverance.

"By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies in peace." Heb. xi. 31. That which happened to her might have been the lot of every other resident of Jericho, provided they had exercised the same faith that she did. They had heard the same things that she had, and knew as a matter of fact, as well as she did, that "Jehovah your God, He is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath." But knowledge is not faith. The devils know that there is one God, but they have no faith. Faith is trust-submission. Rahab was willing to submit to the requirements of God, and to live as one of His people, while her fellow-countrymen were not. In her case we see the evidence that God saves people, not because they are good, but because they are willing to be made good. Jesus is sent to bless us, in turning us away from our iniquities. That poor heathen woman of disreputable life, who could utter a lie with a composed countenance, and with no consciousness of guilt, had a most meagre idea of the difference between right and wrong; yet God acknowledged her as one of His people, because she did not turn away from light, but walked in it as it came to her. She believed to the saving of her soul. Her faith lifted her out of her sinful surroundings, and set her in the way of knowledge; and no stronger

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evidence can be found that Christ is not ashamed to acknowledge even the heathen as His brethren, than the fact that He is not ashamed to have one of them, a harlot, to boot, recorded in the roll of His ancestry after the flesh.

GOD'S SOLICITUDE FOR ALL MEN

But the special point in this reference to Rahab is that God had not shut Himself up to the Jewish people. Wherever there was an idolatrous inhabitant of Canaan, who was willing to acknowledge God, that moment he was enrolled among God's people. This lesson is not merely theoretical, the point being that the promise to Abraham included all the world, and not merely the offspring of Jacob, but it is practically consoling and uplifting. It shows us how longsuffering the Lord is, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter iii. 9. It shows us how quickly God seizes upon the slightest inclination to seek Him, and uses it as a means of drawing the erring soul still nearer. He gently breathes upon the tiniest spark, if possibly it may be enlarged to a flame. His ear is continually turned to earth, alert to catch the faintest whisper, so that the feeblest cry, yea, the first impulse to call, from the lowest depths, is instantly heard and responded to.

PRIESTS OF GOD

That God's design for Israel was that they should proclaim the Gospel to all the world, is seen in the fact that if they abode in His covenant they were to be a kingdom of priests. All were to be priests of God. Now the work of a priest is thus set forth in Malachi ii. 5-7, where God says of Levi:-

"My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith He feared Me, and was afraid before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts."

To turn men away from iniquity, is the work of Christ through His resurrection; therefore the work of the true Priest is simply to preach the Gospel;-to proclaim the living Saviour, in whom is the living law that is perfect, converting the soul. But since all the children of Israel were to be priests, and therefore all familiar with the law, it is evident that they were to be priests in behalf of others, and not merely to be settled teachers among themselves. If they had accepted God's proposition, and been content to abide in His covenant instead of insisting on one of their own, there would have been no need of any priesthood to make the law of truth and peace known to them; they would all have known the truth, and consequently all have been free; but the office of a priest is to teach the law, and therefore it is positive that God's purpose in bringing Israel out of Egypt was to send them all over the world preaching the Gospel.

What an easy and speedy task this would have been for them, backed by the power of God! The fame of what God had done in Egypt had preceded them, and as they went forth with the same power, they could preach the Gospel in its fullness to people already prepared to accept or reject. Leaving their wives and little ones safe in the land of Canaan, and going out two by two, as Jesus afterward sent forth His disciples, it would have taken them but a short time to carry the Gospel to the remotest parts of the earth. Suppose enemies attempted to oppose their progress? One could chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight. That is, the power of the presence of God with any two of them would render them in the eyes of their enemies equal to ten thousand men, and none would dare attack them. So they could go about their appointed work of preaching the Gospel, without fear of molestation. The terror which their presence would inspire in opposers, shows the power which the message they proclaimed would have on hearts open to receive truth.

As they should go forth thus clothed with the full power of God, the ground would not need to be gone over the second time. All who heard would at once take their position either for or against the truth; and this decision would be final, since when one rejects the Gospel proclaimed in its fulness, that is with the mighty power of God, there is nothing more that can be done for him, for there is no greater power than that of God. So a very few years, or possibly months, after the crossing of the Jordan, would have sufficed for the preaching of the Gospel of the kingdom in all the world as a witness to all nations.

EVIDENCES OF GOD'S IMPARTIALITY

But Israel did not fulfill its high calling. Unbelief and self-trust deprived them of the prestige with which they entered the promised land. They did not let their light shine, and so in time they themselves lost it. They were content to colonise in Canaan, instead of possessing the whole earth. They assumed that the light which God had given them was due to the fact that He loved them better than He did others, and so they became haughty, and despised others. Nevertheless God ceased not to indicate to them that they were to be the light of the world. The history of the Jews, instead of showing that God was shut up to them, shows that He was continually trying to use them to make His name known to others. Witness the account of Naaman the Syrian, who was sent to the king of Israel to be healed of his leprosy. See the case of the widow of Sarepta, to whom Elijah was sent. The Queen of Sheba came from far to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Jonah was sent, much against his will, to warn the Ninevites, who repented at his preaching. Read the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and see how often the various nations are directly appealed to. All of these things show that God was not then, any more than now, the God of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also. At last, when Israel had utterly refused to fulfill the mission to which God had called them, He sent them into captivity, that thus the heathen might receive some of the knowledge of God, which they would not impart voluntarily. There a few faithful souls were the means of bringing the truth clearly before the heathen king Nebuchadnezzar, who in time humbly acknowledged God, and published his confession of faith throughout the whole earth. King Cyrus, also, and other Persian kings, in royal proclamations made known the name of the one true God in all the world.

GATHERING INTO ONE FOLD

Thus we see that there was nothing God so much desired as the salvation of the heathen round about the Jews, and not only of those near at hand, but those who were most distant, for the promises were not only to the Jews and their children, but to all that were "far off." See Acts ii. 39; Isa. lvii. 19. That God made no difference between Jews and Gentiles is seen in the fact that Abraham, the head of the Jewish race, was himself a Gentile, and received the assurance of acceptance with God 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

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unto them also." Rom. iv. 11, 12. God was always as ready to accept people from among the heathen as He was when He called Abraham out from among them. When Christ came, He declared that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and even while He said that, He showed who were the lost sheep of the house of Israel, by sending healing to a believing heathen woman. Matt. xv.

What Christ did for that Canaanitish woman, He was equally ready and anxious to do for every believing inhabitant of Canaan and of the whole world, in the days of Joshua. All who did not stubbornly cling to their idols, were to be gathered into the fold of Israel, till there should be but one fold, under the One Shepherd. There was salvation for all who would accept it, but they must become Israelites indeed.

ISRAEL TO BE SEPARATE

It was for this reason that the Israelites were forbidden to make any league with the inhabitants of the land. A league implies likeness, equality, the union of two similar powers. But Israel, when true to its calling, had nothing in common with the inhabitants of the land. They were to be a separate people, separate solely because of the sanctifying presence of the Lord. When God said to Moses, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest," Moses replied, "If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? is it not in that Thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." Ex. xxxiii. 14-16. To make a league with the nations round them, was to be joined to them, and that meant separation from the presence of God. The presence of God was the one thing that would make and keep the people of Israel separate from the nations, and His presence could have no other effect than that very thing. The presence of God will do the same thing in these days, for He changes not. Therefore if one should say that it is not necessary for the people of God to be separate from the nations, he would really be saying that it is not necessary for them to have God's presence.

The same principle was involved when the people wanted a king. Read the account in 1 Samuel viii. The people said to Samuel, "Give us a king to judge us like all the nations." The thing displeased Samuel, and doubtless hurt his feelings, but the people insisted, saying, "Give us a king to judge us." Then the Lord said to Samuel, "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken Me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee." Then Samuel, at the command of the Lord, set before the people some of the evils that would result if they had a king; but they refused to be persuaded, saying, "Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we may be like all the nations."

In the Bible the "nations" are the heathen. The Hebrew word which is often rendered "nations" is the identical word from which the word "heathen" always comes. Perhaps Ps. xcvi. 5 makes the case as clear as may be to the English reader. "For all the gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord made the heavens." Here it is very evident that the "nations" are heathen. In Ps. ii. 1 where we read, "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" The Revision has it. "Why do the nations rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" Such an idea as a "Christian nation" is as much a contradiction of terms as a "Christian heathen," or a "Christian sinner." A "nation" in God's use of the term, when speaking of earthly nations, is a collection of heathen. So what the Jews really said was this: "We will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the heathen." That was what they wanted, because all other people acknowledged other gods than Jehovah, and all the people on earth, with the exception of Israel, had kings over them. The Danish Bible renders 1 Sam. viii. 20 plainly, "We will also be like all the heathen."

God's plan for Israel was that it should not be a nation. We are apt to look at what was, as though it was what ought to have been, forgetting that from first to last the people refused, to a greater or less extent, to walk in the counsel of God. We see the Jewish people with judges, and officers, and all the paraphernalia of civil government; but we must remember that God's covenant provided something far different, which, on account of unbelief, they never fully realised.

ISRAEL THE CHURCH OF CHRIST

The word "church" is in very common use, yet perhaps comparatively few of those who use it realise that it is from a Greek word which means "called out," and that it applies to Israel more than to any other people. They constituted God's church; they had been called out of Egypt. In the Old Testament they are referred to as "the congregation," that is, those who were assembled or had flocked together; for they formed the Lord's flock, of which He was Shepherd. God is known as the "Shepherd of Israel." Ps. lxxx. 1; see also xxiii. 1. So the church in later times is called God's flock. Acts xx. 28. Stephen, in his talk before the Sanhedrim, spoke of Israel as "the church in the wilderness."

There is but one church, for the church is Christ's body (Eph. i. 19-23), and there is but one body. Eph. iv. 4. That one church is composed of those who hear and follow the voice of Christ, for Christ says: "My sheep hear My voice," "and they follow Me." John x. 27. That church in the wilderness is therefore identical with the true church of Christ in every age. This is most clearly shown by Heb. iii. 2-6. As you read the passage; remember that "the house of God" is "the church of the living God." 1 Tim. iii. 15. Now the text says that Christ was faithful in the house of God, even as Moses was. Moses was faithful in the house of God as a servant, and Christ as a Son over the same house, "whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." Jesus was called out of Egypt, as it is written, "Out of Egypt have I called my Son." Matt. ii. 15. He was the Head and Leader of the host that came out with Moses. 1 Cor. x. 1-10. Christ and Moses therefore, are in the same fellowship and communion, and whoever is a partaker of Christ, must acknowledge Moses as a brother in the Lord.

These facts are most important, since as we learn God's plan for Israel, we learn the true model for the church of God in all ages, even unto the end. We may not indiscriminately quote what Israel did, as authority for what we should do, since they often rebelled against God, and their history is more often a record of apostasy than of faith; but we may and should study God's promises and reproofs to them, for what He had for them He has also for us.

THE CHURCH THE KINGDOM

The people of Israel constituted a kingdom from the beginning, centuries before Saul was set over them; for the church of God is His kingdom, and His subjects are all His children. The "household of God" is "the commonwealth of Israel." Eph. ii. 19. Christ, with the Father, sits upon "the throne of grace," and the true church acknowledges Him, and Him only, as Lord. The Apostle John, in writing to the church, subscribes himself, "your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." Rev. i. 2. Christ declared Himself to be a King, even the King of the Jews (Matt. xxvii. 11), and received homage as "the King of Israel." John i. 49. But even while claiming to be king, Jesus declared, "My kingdom is not of this world; if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is My kingdom not from thence." John xviii. 36. As Christ's kingdom is not of this world, so His church, His body, the people whom He has chosen and called out of the world, are to form no part of the world, although in it. It is to make no sort of alliance with the world, for any purpose whatever. Its sole use in the world is to be the light of the world, the salt by which as much of the world as possible is to be preserved. It is to be no more a part of the world than the light is of the darkness in which it shines. "What communion hath light with darkness?" 2 Cor. vi. 14. There are two distinct classes on earth-the church and the world; but when the church forms an alliance with the world, whether formally, or by adopting the world's methods or principles, then there is really only one class-the world. By the grace of God, however, there have always been a faithful few, even in the time of greatest apostasy.

NOT A THEOCRACY

It is quite common to speak of Israel as a theocracy. This is indeed what God designed it to be, and what it should have been, but what in the truest sense it never was. Least of all was Israel a theocracy when the people demanded an earthly king, "that we also may be like all the heathen," for in so doing they rejected God as their King. It is passing strange the people will refer to what Israel did in direct opposition to the wishes of God, as a warrant for similar action on the part of the church now, and to their rejection of God as evidence that they were ruled by His power.

The word "theocracy" is a combination of two Greek words, and means literally, "the rule of God." A true theocracy, therefore, is a body in which God is sole and absolute ruler. Such a government has rarely been seen on this earth, and never to any great extent. A true theocracy existed when Adam was first formed and placed in Eden, when "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Gen. i. 31. God formed Adam of the dust of the ground, and set him over the works of His hands. He was made ruler "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." Gen. i. 26. He therefore had all power given to him. But at his best state, when crowned with glory and honour, Adam was but dust, with no more power in himself than the dust on which he walked. Therefore the mighty power that was manifested in him was not his own power at all, but the power of God working in him. God was absolute Ruler, but it pleased Him, so far as this earth was concerned, to reveal His power through man. During Adam's loyalty to God there was therefore a perfect theocracy on this earth.

Such a theocracy has never existed since, for man's fall was the acknowledging of Satan as the god of this world. But individually it existed in its perfection in Christ, the second Adam, in whose heart was God's law, and in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. When Christ shall have renewed the earth and restored all things as in the beginning, and there is but one fold and one Shepherd, one king in all the earth, that will be a perfect theocracy. The will of God will be done in all the earth as it now is in heaven. Christ is now gathering out a people in whom His character will be reproduced, in whose hearts He will dwell by faith, so that each one of them, like Himself, may "be filled with all the fulness of God." Eph. iii. 17-19. These gathered ones constitute the church of Christ, which, as a whole, is "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." Eph. i. 22, 23. So while the true theocracy is first of all in the heart of individuals who day by day sincerely say to their heavenly Father, "Thine is the kingdom," the multitude of them that believe-the church-when perfectly joined together in the same mind by the Holy Spirit, constitutes the only true theocracy that has ever existed in this earth. When the church is apostate, it seeks by alliances with the world, by assuming kingly power, to exhibit a theocratic form of government, but it is only a counterfeit form, with no Divine power, whereas God's true followers, few in number, scattered throughout the world, and unknown to the nations, furnish an example of a real theocracy.

Through the prophet who opened his mouth to curse, but who instead uttered blessings, God said of His people Israel, "The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." Num. xxiii. 9. The people of God are in the world, not of it, for the purpose of showing forth the excellency of Him who has called them out of darkness. But this they can do only as they acknowledge God to be supreme. The church is the kingdom in which God rules alone, and its only law is God's law of love. It is God's voice alone that it hears and follows, and it is God's voice alone that speaks through it.

NO EARTHLY MODEL

Nothing among earthly kingdoms or associations of whatever kind can serve as a model for the true theocracy, God's church and kingdom; nor can the acts of human organisations be taken as precedents. It is unique in every particular, depending on none of the things upon which human governments depend for the maintenance of unity, and yet so marvelous an exhibition of order and harmony and power, that it astonishes all.

But although the true people of God are to dwell alone, not reckoned among the nations, and consequently having no part in the direction or management of civil governments, they are by no means indifferent to the welfare of mankind. Like their Divine Head, their mission is to do good. As Adam was the son of God (Luke iii. 38), the whole human facility, although fallen, are His children,-prodigal sons,-and therefore God's true children will regard all men as their brethren, for whose welfare and salvation they are to labour. Their work is to reveal God to the world as a kind and loving Father, and this they can do only by allowing His love to shine forth in their lives.

Christ's kingdom on earth has as its sole work to show by practical likeness to Christ, its allegiance to Him as rightful Lord of all, and by thus showing forth His excellencies, to

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induce as many as possible to accept Him as King, so that they may be prepared to receive Him when He comes on the throne of His glory. Matt. xxv. 31. Christ, the King, came into the world for no other purpose than to bear witness to the truth (John xviii. 37), and so His loyal subjects have no other object in life; and the power by which they witness is that of the Holy Ghost abiding in them, and dwelling in them (Acts i. 8), and not by their mingling in political or social strife. For a little while after Christ's ascension to heaven, the church was content with this power, and wonderful progress was made in the work of preaching the Gospel of the kingdom; but soon the church began to adopt worldly methods, and its members to interest themselves in the affairs of State, instead of Christ's kingdom, and the power was lost. But let it be remembered that in those days of the church's loyalty, the very same power was present that was given to Israel for the same purpose hundreds of years before; and remember further that the people through whom the power of God was thus manifested were in both instances the very same, "for salvation is of the Jews." John iv. 22.

"As for God, His way is perfect," and we 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 men should fear before Him." Eccl. iii. 14. Therefore although Israel in the days of the judges and the prophets proved unfaithful to their trust, and the same church from the days of the apostles has been to a large extent unmindful of its privileges and duty, the time must come when the church-the Israel of God-shall come out from the world and be separate, and so, free from all earthly entanglements, and depending alone upon Christ, will shine forth as the morning, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

-There is now in Paris a legible papyrus roll that is 4,000 years old.

-Three hundred and twenty-five thousand persons have left Bombay through fear of the plague.

-One hundred and five people lost their lives in London fires last year,-an increase of fourteen over 1895.

-It is expected that the Russian railway to the Pacific will measure 4,750 miles in length, and will cost $35,000,000.

-Italy has followed the example of Germany in filling the civil service positions in the gift of the Government from the military.

-According to General Booth the revenue of the Salvation Army is considerably more than one million pounds sterling yearly.

-A Wesleyan missionary writes from Jobalpur, India, that, in his district, during the past year, 90,000 persons have died from starvation.

-Our Queen now rules 367,000,000 people, a greater number than has ever before acknowledged the sovereignty of either king, queen, or emperor.

-A trans-Pacific telegraph cable is to be laid from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Australia. It will be an all-British cable, and go is more than a thousand miles out of its way to accomplish this.

-Ship-building in Great Britain increased enormously in 1896, over previous years, the total output being 751 vessels with a tonnage of 1,323,709-an increase of 208,000 tons over 1895; of these vessels fifty-five were war ships.

-The United States Government has invited the Post Office authorities of Great Britain and the colonies to send delegates to Washington for the Universal Postal Congress to be held there next May. The London office sends four delegates.

-The number of persons in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland who use Gaelic as their native language is much larger than is commonly supposed. It includes 660,000 in Ireland, 350,000 in Wales, and 280,000 in Scotland.

-The commercial supremacy of New South Wales in toe Southern Hemisphere is nowhere illustrated more convincingly than in the official statistics connected with Australasian snipping. Of the 17,691 vessels entered and cleared at Australasian ports during 1894, 6,583, or considerably more than one third, were entered and cleared at New South Wales ports.

-A writer, recently returned from Siberia, says that many of the Russian colonists who want into the Siberian districts where grants of land were made are returning. On the platforms of stations he saw them waiting for trains, "frightened incarnations of misery, huddling together against the rain that came down in torrents, and crossing themselves at every lightning flash and thunderpeal."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

A new Roman Catholic monastery was opened near Oxford last week.

Famine grows apace in India, and the increasing plague follows after. Public attention is now being called to the serious prospect. A vast responsibility rests upon those who hoard the world's wealth, while millions of fellow-beings lack for food.

Reports in Catholic journals of the Pope's recent speeches against Italy show that the newspaper despatches correctly represented him as expressing the hope that he might soon be able to call military forces about him to fight against the Italian Government.

The exodus of the people from Bombay, all linked to the outbreak of the plague, is said to have reduced that great city's population by nearly one-half. Sanitarians are anxiously watching lest the coming summer witness the coming of the plague to Europe.

It is said that corn merchants in India are in many cases holding back supplies from the starving people in order to increase the price. They may yet feel the force of the first portion of the proverb: "He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it."

The Marshall Islands of the South Pacific are under German administration, and a law declares that the missionaries can be landed without permission of the authorities, who are determined that none other than missionaries of the one recognised society now theirs shall be allowed to work. Our missionary ship Pitcairn called at the group in October to see what the situation is there.

It has been an usually deadly year for white people on the West African Gold Coast. Of the company of four of our Society's mission to that part, one died last week in Liverpool, whither he had recently returned, stricken with serious disease. He died praising the Lord, and could not regret having obeyed the commission, "Go ye into all the world," even to the fever-stricken West Coast regions.

The one who abides by truth need never be alarmed lest the tongue of error or slander win a triumph over it. "The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment."

When Dr. Martin went to Hong Kong in 1850 he found less than 200 professed Christian converts. Now, he says, there are over 50,000 and hundreds of native pastors.

Cardinal Gibbons says in a Catholic journal that a century ago Romanists in America were but a few thousands, under the care of less than fifty priests. To-day the priests number over eight thousand and they claim to have ten million adherents, while churches, schools, and other institutions are increasing everywhere.

The rapid growth of Ritualism, which is now noted week by week as a matter of course in England, is also, it is said, seen in both the Established and Free Churches in Scotland.

"In the New Hebrides" The Present Truth 13, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

In the New Hebrides .-Those who have read that most wonderful story of modern missions, the life of John G. Paton in the New Hebrides, and know of the transformations wrought by the Gospel in those islands touched by it, will appreciate the difference between the true missionary and the mere civilised heathen, when it is reported that some of the islands are being almost depopulated by traders, who forcibly or by deception get the natives on board ship, and sell them at several pounds per head to work on plantations in various parts. A Sydney newspaper says "the natives are absolutely sold like sheep," although it is not called slave traffic, but labour traffic.

"Blind and Deaf" The Present Truth 13, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Blind and Deaf .-When Jesus was upon earth He repeatedly told the Pharisees that they were both deaf and blind. They did not hear His teachings. They did not see His works. His words, however, were spoken in their ears, and His miracles performed in their sight. The same thing is just as true to-day. God's miracles are daily in the sight of men. God's Word is open to the world. The Gospel is preached from sea to sea. Those who are spiritually blind and deaf to-day are self-condemned, as were the Pharisees of old.

"The Wages of the Poor" The Present Truth 13, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

The Wages of the Poor .-The very poor often suffer because they do not promptly receive what is due them, sometimes feeling deeply the need of amounts so small that the one owing thinks delay a matter of no consequence. A pitiful case recently occurred in New York, and the Sentinel (one of our Society's organs in that city) records the incident and points to a moral which employers may well consider:-

In the late big storm in the city a man perished because he had no shelter, although he had worked the day before. When his employer saw him dead, he exclaimed, "Why, that's Louis Bressler. He went to work for us yesterday. We would have paid him to-day if he had not died." The Lord has said, "The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning." What untold blessings would come to the poor if only those who had it in their power would do as the Bible says.

"When Union is Strength" The Present Truth 13, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

When Union is Strength .-"There is no end to the possibilities when Christians unite," says a clergyman in a recent newspaper article. If they unite as men their power is no greater than that of any equal body of men who do not profess Christianity. It is union with God which gives man power. Then how extensive is the human co-operation needed, when one man, if he but have faith like a grain of mustard seed, can move mountains?

"The Sin of Witchcraft" The Present Truth 13, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

The Sin of Witchcraft .-There is constantly a steady, and we can safely say, a rapid growth of Spiritualism in England. Many of the Christian workers engaged in connection with our Society, up and down the country, report finding it firmly established in most of the towns, and in some centres has the most vigorous propaganda of any of the societies. What the people need to know is what the Bible says of it; but very few know the positive testimony of the Scriptures on the question. Every reader who has not seen it should get "The Sin of Witchcraft" (by our agents, 2nd.), and after reading and studying it by the Word may be able to warn those in danger of falling into this fearful delusion. Our publishers have also an illustrated Bible reading on Spiritualism for distribution at 6d. per packet of 100.

January 21, 1897

"God's Preachers" The Present Truth 13, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

When we think of it, we realise that our knowledge of even the simplest everyday things about us is very superficial. What do we really know of the origin and action of those vital forces by which the plant, which we see and delight in daily, is so symmetrically formed in stalk, and leaf, and bud, and bloom, and then so exquisitely tinted and perfumed? We cannot formulate the law of the life of this little flower. We cannot gather together the forces by which it originates and develops and set them in motion.

Science notes all the phenomena of growth and catalogues the forms of its development, but, when it enquires for the sources of all this, human science is utterly at fault and helpless. He who ignores God's creative fiat is ignorant of the foundation of science.

But they who realise that the omnipotent Word is the origin of all, and that it is the "word," the "water," the "bread," and the "light" of life, which continues to support all life and existence, organic and inorganic,-they have begun their course at the school of the prophets, to be eternally taught of the Lord.

England's great poet has spoken of this with a beauty of simplicity worthy of quotation:-

"Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
Hold you then, root and all, in my hand.
Little flower; but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is."

The little flower, the wide earth out of which it grows, the sun, the moon, and the far stars, which shine upon it by day and by night, are all God's creatures, proving to us His Fatherhood, His daily care, and His infinite love.

"The Criticism of Unbelief" The Present Truth 13, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

The Word of God warns us that the thought of God are not the thoughts of men, and that His ways are past finding out. Despite this, however, and notwithstanding the Divine injunction to the contrary, men continue systematically to discount the teachings of Holy Writ. A large proportion of the most popular and influential religious teachers to-day believe in the Bible, and teach it, only as interpreted by human reason, not resting in faith on God's own words, and allowing them to explain themselves, or be their own interpretation, one of the other.

To allow the Bible to explain and interpret itself would be the natural method,-it would be the attitude which well-disposed critics would assume toward the work of an author in whom they had confidence.

If the reliability of a writer were doubted, then the testimony of the internal evidence would not be considered sufficient. It would be thought necessary to subject them to searching tests as to whether everything therein stated could be corroborated, and the domain of literature would be carefully searched to find whether other men had ever previously written or spoken the same things. But this active investigation, in which the statements and assertions of the writer himself should be quite disregarded, would imply a doubt of his truthfulness. It would be as much as to say that judgment upon his credibility was held in abeyance, awaiting the result of the investigation. Then it might be expected that if contradictory statements were discovered, even if unsupported, they would be held as throwing a cloud of uncertainty over the accuracy of his narrative. Then, if in the nature of things it should be impossible to prove the false to be false, or to harmonise seeming contradictions, it must necessarily remain uncertain as to where the truth really was.

This is the method which is followed in popular Biblical criticism,-the method of unbelief. Then, as it is certain that the thoughts of God are not the thoughts of men, is it not just as sure that when it is attempted to corroborate the deeds of Divinity, it will be found impossible to bring forward what the human mind, from that point of view, will recognise as conclusive? Were it possible, however, the very corroboration and proof, which is sought, would be instantly destructive of the element of Divinity in the deed.

So these critics by the course which they pursue find unbelief a necessity, whatever their eventual conclusion. Therefore the Bible is, in their eyes, no longer an inspired Book. For them Genesis is no longer the story of genesis; the warning of the flood serves no purpose as a reminder of the destruction which is to come; Sinai's thunders fail to call their attention to the authority and immutability of God's law; and Revelation fails to reveal.

This is the result of attempting to prove the infinite by the finite, of attempting to measure the mind of God and His ways by the mind of man and human methods. It is the criticism of unbelief, and not prayerful Biblical study inspired by faith in God. He who devotes himself to the study of the Word of God by faith will never have doubts of its inspiration; God Himself will open his mental vision to see the things of God.

"What is Needed" The Present Truth 13, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

What is Needed .-The New York Independent says:-

Six men lynched in Kentucky in six days, is the record of last week. We have no doubt that the usual reckoning of one hundred lynched in this country in a year is much below the truth. If law cannot correct the evil, then a new Christianity needs to undertake the task.

What is needed is not "a new Christianity," but the old Christianity, even "that which was from the beginning," the Word of Life. Not that Christianity can stop wicked men from doing wickedly, but when the Word is given free course, and not covered up and crowded out by human inventions in religion, it can and will transform many wicked men into good men. Christians who advocate "a new Christianity" are largely responsible for much of the evil that exists. "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." Jer. vi. 16.

"The Promises to Israel. The Promised Rest" The Present Truth 13, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

"My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." Ex. xxxiii. 14.

It was with these words that God encouraged Moses to lead the people of Israel forward after they had so grievously sinned in making and worshipping the golden calf.

THE REST OF CHRIST

In our study of the rest that God promised His people, it will be well to remember that the promise here recorded is identical with that in Matt. xi. 28. Rest was promised, and could be found, only in God's presence, which was to go with His people. So Christ, who is "God with us" (Matt. i. 23), and who is with us "all the days, even to the end of the world" (Matt. xxviii. 20), says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The rest that was offered to the children of Israel in the desert, is the very same rest that Christ offers to all mankind, rest in God, in the everlasting arms-for the only begotten Son "is in the bosom of the Father." John i. 19. "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." Isa. lxvi. 13.

But God always was and is everywhere present; why then do not all people have rest?-For the simple reason that as a general thing men do not recognise His presence, nor even His existence. Instead of taking God into account in all the affairs of life, most people live as though He did not exist. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him; for He that cometh to God must believe that He is." Heb. xi. 6. This shows that the general inability to please God, and so to find rest, arises from practical unbelief that He exists.

How can we know that God exists?-Ever since the creation of the world, the invisible things of God, namely, His eternal power and Divinity, have been clearly revealed in the things that He has made (See Rom. 1, 20), so that those who do not know Him are without excuse. It is as Creator that God reveals Himself, for the fact that He creates marks Him as the self-existent God, and distinguishes Him from all false gods. "The Lord is great, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord made the heavens." Ps. xcvi. 4, 5. "The Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King. . . . The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom." Jer. x. 10-12. "My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth." Ps. cxxi. 2. "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Ps. cxxiv. 8. Now since rest is found only in God's presence, and His presence is truly known and appreciated only through His works, it is evident that the promised rest must be very closely connected with creation.

THE REST AND INHERITANCE INSEPARABLE

This we find is the case, for the rest and the inheritance were always associated together in the promise. When the children of Israel were being instructed in the wilderness, they were told: "Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the Lord your God giveth you. But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when He giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety; then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there." Deut. xii. 8-16. So also Moses said to the tribes that had their lot on the east side of Jordan: "The Lord your God hath given you this land to possess it; ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are sons of power. But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle . . . shall abide in your cities which I have given you; until the Lord have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the Lord your God hath given them beyond Jordan." Deut. iii. 18-20. The rest and the inheritance are really one. Our inheritance is rest, in the place of the weariness that sin brings. In Christ, who is "God with us," we find rest, "in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him that worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." The Holy Spirit is the first-fruits of this inheritance, until the purchased possession is redeemed. "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance." Ps. xvi. 5. He is both our rest and our inheritance; having Him, we have all.

We have already seen the children of Israel in the land of promise; the land, and therefore the rest, was theirs, for we read this statement of what was true in the days of Joshua:-

"And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that He sware unto their fathers; and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not aught of any

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good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass." Joshua xxi. 43-48.

JOSHUA REHEARSES GOD'S FAITHFULNESS

But if we should stop here, we should fall into grave error. Passing by one chapter, we come to the record of what Joshua told "all Israel" and their elders, their judges, etc., "a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about." Joshua xxiii. 1, 2. After reminding them of what the Lord had done for them, he said:-

"Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward. And the Lord your God, He shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the Lord your God hath promised unto you. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left; that ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them; but cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day. For the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong; but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand; for the Lord your God, He it is that fighteth for you, as He hath promised you. Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God. Else if ye do in anywise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you; know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you. And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth; and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing had failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the Lord your God promised you; so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things, until He have destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you. When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which He hath given you." Joshua xxiii. 4-15.

THE REST ASSURED ONLY TO FAITH

In this portion of Scripture we have further evidence that the inheritance is the promised rest. We are plainly told that God had given Israel rest, and that this talk occurred a long time after that; yet in that very talk they were told the conditions upon which they might surely have the rest, and upon which the enemies that were still in the land would be driven out. It all depended on Israel's faithfulness to God. If they should go back from serving the Lord, and go after other gods, then they were to know for a certainty that God would no more drive out the remaining nations from before them, but those nations should continually harass them, and the Lord would utterly destroy them from off the face of the land which He had given them.

Now how could the children of Israel be said to have rest from all their enemies, and to have the land in possession, when those enemies were still in the land, and there was a possibility that the enemies might drive them out, instead of being driven out? The Scriptures themselves afford the answer. For instance, when all the kings of the Amorites threatened the Gibeonites, who were in league with the Israelites, the Lord said to Joshua, "Fear them not; for I have delivered them into thy hand." Joshua x. 8. What did Joshua then do?-He went and took them. He did not doubtingly say, "I don't see any evidence that the Lord has delivered them into my hands, for I haven't them;" neither did he foolishly say. "Since the Lord has given them into my hand I can disband my forces and take my ease." In either case he would have been overcome, even after God had given him the victory. By his activity, Joshua showed that he really believed what the Lord said. Faith works, and continues to work.

In like manner the people were told that God had given them the victory, while at the same time they stood outside the high walls and barred gates of Jericho. It was true that God had given them the victory, and yet it all depended on them. If they had refused to shout, they would never have seen the victory.

In Christ we have the rest and the inheritance; but in order to be made partakers of Christ we must "hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." Heb. iii. 14. Jesus says, "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John xvi. 33. Yet in the very same talk He said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you." John xvi. 27. What! peace in the midst of tribulation? Yes; for take notice that He says, "Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." To have tribulation, and yet not be troubled; to be in the midst of danger, and yet have no fear; to be in the heat of battle, and yet enjoy perfect peace,-truly this is giving in a far different way from what the world gives.

THE WARFARE ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED

Listen to the message which the prophet Isaiah was commissioned to give to Israel when they were passing through the most trying experiences, a message that is for us even more than for the men who lived when it was spoken: "Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned." Isa. xl. 1, 2. Glorious assurance! The warfare is accomplished, the battle ended, the victory won! Shall we conclude therefore that we may safely go to sleep? By no means; we must be awake, and make use of the victory which the Lord has won for us. The conflict is against principalities and powers (Eph. vi. 12), but Jesus has "spoiled principalities and powers," and made a triumphant show of them (Col. ii. 15), and has been raised to sit in heavenly places, "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come" (Eph. i. 20, 21), and God has also raised us up with Him, to sit with Him in the same heavenly places (Eph. ii. 1-6), equally high 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. We may, therefore,

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and certainly ought to say, from the heart, "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

LESSONS FROM THE PSALMS

David understood and rejoiced in this victory when he was hunted like a partridge on the mountains. Yet one time he was hiding in a cave in the wilderness of Ziph, and the Ziphites came to Saul and treacherously revealed his hiding-place, and said, "Now, therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king's hand." 1 Sam. xxiii. 15-20. Yet David, knowing all this, took his harp and composed a psalm of praise, saying, "I will freely sacrifice unto Thee; I will praise Thy name, O Lord, for it is good. For He hath delivered me out of all trouble." Ps. liv. 6, 7. Read the entire Psalm, including the introduction. So he could sing, "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." Ps. xxvii. 3. The third Psalm, with its expressions of confident trust in God, and its note of victory, was composed while he was exiled from his throne, fleeing before Absalom. We need so to learn the twenty-third Psalm, that it will not be mere empty words when we say, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."

THE STRONG MAN OVERCOME

The victory that hath overcome the world is our faith. Oh, that we could realise and ever bear in mind the fact that the victory is already won, that Christ, the Mighty One, has come upon the strong man, our adversary and oppressor, and has overcome him, and taken from him all his armour wherein he trusted, so that we have to fight only with a conquered and disarmed foe. The reason why we are overcome is that we do not believe and know this fact. If we know it, and remember it, we shall never fall; for who would be so foolish as to allow himself to be taken captive by an enemy without armour and without strength?

How many of the blessings that God has given us are lost simply because our faith does not grasp them. How many blessings has He given us?-"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." "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. And yet, notwithstanding the fact that all things are ours (1 Cor. iii. 21), we often act as though we had nothing. A man, a professor of religion and a leader in the church, once said when these texts were repeated to him for his encouragement, "If God has given me all these things, why don't I have them?" There are doubtless many who will read their own experience in this question. The answer was easy; it was because he did not believe that God had given them to him. He couldn't feel that he had them, and therefore he didn't believe that he had them; whereas it is faith that must grasp them, and a man cannot hope to be able to feel a thing that he does not touch. The victory is not doubt, not sight, not feeling, but faith.

The subject of the Promised Rest will be concluded next week.

"The Powers and the Papacy" The Present Truth 13, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

Preparations for the election of the next pope, in the event of the death of the present occupant of the Papal chair, have been under consideration for a long time. The Papacy is too mighty a machine to be materially affected by the death of its head. But so great is the political power of Rome that all the European nations are directly concerned in the matter of selecting Leo's successor, professedly Protestant Germany no less than Austria and France.

The Powers are interested in the Papacy for what they can get out of it to advance political ends, and the Papacy purposely makes itself necessary to the Powers in order to play them against one another for the exaltation of the Church to power over men's souls and persons. The specially Catholic Powers have always claimed the right to object to the nomination if desirable, or even to veto the choice of the Cardinals. But according to the Standard's correspondent, the Papal Nuncios at Vienna, Paris, Madrid, and Lisbon have just been instructed to inform the Governments to which they are accredited that "it must be understood that any idea of exercising the veto at the next Papal election, which has been alluded to by some of the Powers, must be totally abandoned henceforth." The prophecy truly described the Papacy as a world-power, diverse from the others, but still only an earthly and corrupt power, intriguing with the kings of the earth, the chief agency of Satan and in corrupting man's ways in the last days.

"White and Black Heathenism" The Present Truth 13, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

"There is no difference," says the Book, between sinful men. All alike are what Satan makes of them, unless saved by grace. The barbarity of the black savage is Satan's way of working through a black skin, and the same power is able to work the same wickedness in the white when restraints are removed. Men of all races and colours are brothers when saved, and they are brothers in sin. The Christian notices this in a comment on a recent book about Africa:-

How little civilisation, apart from religion, tends to bring right thoughts into men's hearts towards others of alien race and colour is sadly shown by Mr. Selous (the African explorer) in his new book on South Africa. That enterprising traveller writes regarding the native races of South Africa, some of whom are now in revolt in Bechuanaland:-

The Kaffirs whom we sought to destroy with as little compunction as though they were a pack of wild dogs, are not men and brothers, but monsters in human shape, that ought to be shot down mercilessly like wild dogs and hyenas.

If this is the attitude of the average South African settler, is it any wonder that there are occasional reprisals in the shape of massacre and murder, and that periodical revolt breaks out against the contemptuous tyranny of the white man?

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

-In the far East, where elephants are used as beasts of burden, an elephant load is estimated at two tons.

-France has kept 200,000 tons of coal stored at Toulon since 1893 to be ready in case war should break out.

-It is said that a party of explorers in Venezuela have discovered a waterfall which is not less than 1,500 feet in height.

-There have been a greater number of marriages solemnised in England the past year than in any previous equal time for twenty years.

-The ancient copper mines of Sinai, which were worked by the Egyptians thousands of years ago, have lately been re-explored.

-Our population is increasing at the rate of about 300,000 per annum, so that we are growing about three Birminghams every four years.

-The sanitary authorities in Bombay find that ants and rate spread the plague from house to house, making it almost impossible to quarantine against it.

-England is not only building ships for Japan, but furnishing great quantities of material for railroads as well. One English firm holds an order for seventy-two locomotives.

-The treaty of arbitration between this country and the United States, which is now being discussed, is generally welcomed on both sides of the Atlantic, as a step in the right direction, though on both sides it is explicitly stated that each country would fight if the dispute involved honour, etc.

-Lord Penrhyn, having had a dispute with the quarrymen in his Welsh slate quarries, has shut down his works entirely, and there is considerable feeling in labour circles that the State should forcibly intervene and forbid an employer shutting workmen away from their means of livelihood. It opens the burning question of private contract, which never will be settled as long as selfishness rules men's hearts.

-The King of Benin, in the Niger district of West Africa, who is a blood-thirsty ruler of a savage tribe, has massacred a party of Englishmen who were going to see him on a political mission. Preparations are being hastened forward for an expedition to punish him. Marine forces will be quite largely employed, it is said, and native African troops will be relied upon for military help. So by next month another "little war" will be under way.

-The population of the famine-stricken districts of India is about 85,000,000. It is said that the area and population already face to face with distress are greater than that in any previous Indian famine. Missionaries and others in the distressed districts report frightful destitution. Much criticism is made of the policy of the Government of India, by which the fund which has been accumulating from a certain tax, and known as a famine fund, has been used in boundary wars, and now is exhausted. Contributions are flowing into the Mansion House Fund, which it is hoped will reach a large figure.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

Beginning with the New Year, our society in Finland has been printing a fortnightly journal called the Aikain Vartija, devoted to the same work which PRESENT TRUTH endeavours to perform in the line of encouraging Bible study and Bible practice.

Terrible scenes are reported from Bombay, as the plague spreads. The Mohammedan burying grounds and the Hindoo burning-grounds are crowded with funeral parties disposing of the dead. In the native town "the nights are rendered hideous by the clashing of symbols and by the chanting of the melancholy funeral dirge of the Hindoos, 'Ramsri ram, ram bolo bhai ram' uttered in a faint half-hearted manner."

All of heathenism is modelled more or less after the primitive sun-worship of early apostasy. Except with the Persian fire-worshippers, however, the sun was usually worshipped through symbols of man or beast, and not directly. Now the report comes that today's explorers in the Pamir regions of Central Asia have found an absolutely uncivilised tribe who are fire-worshippers. They are of diminutive size, and, stranger still, their domestic animals are also dwarfed.

The Psalmist declared that "all the foundations of the earth are out of course." This he seems to assert as the reason why the fatherless, the poor and needy, are in the hand of the wicked,-and he calls for their defence and deliverance. The poverty and plague-stricken millions of the world cry out to-day that they are in the hands of those who take from them everything and return nothing. If there has been oppression, it is reaping its reward in the commercial losses which must come through famine and pestilence for which no defence is provided. The day hastens when the Lord will rise and judge the world, and then the foundations of the earth will be set in their proper courses, and famine, and sorrow, and sickness will be no more.

The multiplication of disasters and distresses in the world brings trouble to millions, but as we look at the future we know from the Word that these are only the beginnings of sorrows. "A time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation" is in waiting just ahead-how far no man knows. Shall the Christian, therefore, be downcast? No; when these things begin to come to pass he is to look up and lift up his head knowing that redemption draweth nigh. And he is to point others to the hope which God sets before every soul to be a support and comfort in times that try men's souls.

It is a noticeable fact that those who live and labour among the poor, as those who carry on practical charities, University settlements, etc., usually come to sympathise with the poor from other than simply charitable reasons, and indeed, eventually to side with them on social and economic questions. This is a good testimony that the condition is not primarily and entirely their own fault, and that they suffer from wrongs which their fellow-men can, and should right.

"The Turk Keeps the Peace" The Present Truth 13, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

The Turk Keeps the Peace .-The constant presence of Turkish guards about the so-called "holy places" is necessary to prevent the various factions of "Christians" from fighting and possibly killing one another. At Christmas time the rivalry is especially pronounced. A newspaper says:-

A conflict took place at Jerusalem between members of the Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholics on Christmas Eve (Old Style). The Roman Catholics oppose the entry of the Greeks into the church through a certain door, and the Turkish authorities were obliged to intervene to restore order.

Yet so devoid is religious formalism of any sense of humour as well as of spirituality that these quarrels which Turkish troops have to compose are taken seriously in Latin and Greek communions in Europe, and their rivalry is constantly in danger of embroiling great nations in strife, as it did in the case of the troubles which led up to the Crimean War.

"Great Names" The Present Truth 13, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

Great Names .-A leading religious publishing house has just brought out a book on "Higher Criticism and the Teaching of the Young," which the Chronicle reviewer hails with the remark:-

Nothing perhaps is more remarkable in the recent history of the religious thought than the surrender of the orthodox position with regard to the inspiration of the Bible. The defenders of this venerable theological stronghold have been compelled to capitulate to the higher critics.

Of course the book discounts inspiration, and yet it is written by men, mostly Doctors of Divinity, who bear names of great repute in the religious world. They represent, too, what is called the Evangelical side of Biblical criticism, and would feel aggrieved to be accounted enemies of Christianity. But the fact remains that they have nothing but their own authority to substitute for the authority of the Word which they consciously or unwittingly undermine. In the days of Jesus the Doctors of the Law obscured the Word and undermined its authority in the same way. But He who bore a name above "every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come," declared to the critics that "the scripture cannot be broken." The modern critics are fond of appealing to the great names which sustain their attitude of unbelief; but the great Name is set to the seal of Holy Scripture.

"Shutting God Away" The Present Truth 13, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

Shutting God Away .-In his criticism of the miracles of the Old Testament, one of these writers says:-

There are, we must admit, some stories in the Bible which we cannot take literally, such as that of the axe head swimming at the word of Elisha, or the three children in the fiery furnace. But a tactful teacher will know how to get over the difficulty.

The higher critic, it is to be supposed, thinks it childish to accept such stories as these; and any other critic could as readily set aside all miracles, even as some do. The thought is, that these stories bring God down to this world as directly doing something for His children who need help. This is opposed to the modern revolutionary notion of the Deity, as sitting apart in the heavens while, by the inexorable loss of matter, the world swings along in its course. Really it is not a modern notion, but only the old doctrine of Paganism, in modern dress. The pagans talked of God as enthusiastically as might be; but only in the Word and in the Word made flesh is God seen as one with His creatures, touched by their needs, and able and ready to help in the greatest distress as well as in the comparatively trivial troubles. Unbelief would shut this God away from men; but the simplest soul that knows God's power to save and to help knows more than all these learned critics ever dreamt of. Such knowledge is open to babes, but is too deep for the "wise and prudent."

January 28, 1897

"Front Page" The Present Truth 13, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

"They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." Rev. xii. 11.

Popular sentiment in sympathy with the Reformation very generally throws a glamour of romance over the story of the martyrs. It seems such a grand and glorious thing to stand before kings and councils, and boldly maintain the truth even at the cost of life.

But those who thus overcame Satan were not playing a part to any gallery. It was the plain matter-of-fact question of, What saith the Lord? and what authority shall be acknowledged, the Word of God or the word of men? The men of those days who placed their lives on the side of God's sole and supreme authority are dead, but the principles which they embraced still live, as vital as ever, and are pressing all men to decide what present-day faithfulness is.

When the Council of Constance cited John Huss before them to give a reason of the hope that was in him, there was nothing dramatic about the situation to him. He did not answer with any thought as to the verdict of posterity. He was plain John Huss, who had to tell why he believed God, and why he preached the Word, setting aside church authority and custom. The council thought that they had important business to consider, and as a mere incident, in order to rid themselves and the church of inconvenient interruption, they determined to deliver Huss and Jerome to death. But of all the work that this great council did, the condemnation of these men is that which has marked its place in church history. It was not mercy because Huss and his fellows exposed the disgraceful lives of many of the clergy that the church was against them. The very Pope who had persuaded the emperor to violate his word pledging personal safety to Huss and had thrown him into prison was himself imprisoned by the council for having committed nearly all the crimes in the calendar. But Huss had placed the authority of the Word above the authority of the officials who claimed to be able to declare the voice of the church. On that principle, which is as living an issue now as then, John Huss took his stand, and

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God maintained his cause triumphant to the death. One writer sketches the closing scenes of his life as follows¹1 :-

Enfeebled by illness and imprisonment-for the damp, foul air of his dungeon had brought on a fever which nearly ended his life-Huss was at last brought before the council. Loaded with chains he stood in the presence of the emperor, whose honour and good faith had been pledged to protect him. During his long trial he firmly maintained the truth, and in the presence of the assembled dignitaries of Church and State, he uttered a solemn and faithful protest against the corruptions of the hierarchy. When required to choose whether he would recant his doctrines or suffer death, he accepted the martyr's fate.

The grace of God sustained him. During the weeks of suffering that passed before his final sentence, Heaven's peace filled his soul. "I write this letter," he said to a friend, "in prison, and with my fettered hand, expecting my sentence of death tomorrow. . . . When, with the assistance of Jesus Christ, we shall meet again in the delicious peace of the future life, you will learn how merciful God has shown himself toward me-how effectually he has supported me in the midst of my temptations and trials."

In the gloom of his dungeon he foresaw the triumph of the true-faith. Returning in his dreams to the chapel at Prague where he had preached the Gospel, he saw the Pope and his bishops defacing the pictures of Christ which he had painted on its walls. He was deeply troubled at the sight; but the next day his grief was changed to joy, as he beheld many artists, who replaced the figures in greater numbers and brighter colours. Their work ended, the painters exclaimed to the crowd gathered eagerly about them, "Now let the Popes and bishops come! They shall never efface them more!" Said the reformer, as he related his dream, "I am certain that the image of Christ will never be effaced. They have wished to destroy it, but it will be imprinted anew on the hearts of men by much better preachers than myself."

For the last time, Huss was brought before the council. It was a vast and brilliant assembly,-the emperor, the princes of the empire, the royal deputies, the cardinals, bishops, and priests, and an immense crowd who had come as spectators of the events of the day.

Being called upon for his final decision, Huss declared his refusal to abjure, and sentence having been pronounced, the ceremony of degradation began. The vestments were removed one by one, each bishop announcing a curse as he performed as part of the ceremony. Finally a crown or mitre, on which were painted frightful figures of demons, and bearing the inscription, "The Arch-Heretic," was placed upon his head. "Most joyfully," he said, "will I wear this crown of shame for Thy sake, O Lord Jesus, who for me didst wear a crown of thorns."

When he was thus arrayed, the prelates devoted his soul to Satan. Huss, looking heavenward, exclaimed, "I do commend my spirit into thy hands, O Lord Jesus, for Thou hast redeemed me."

He was now delivered up to the secular authorities, and led away to the place of execution. An immense procession followed, hundreds of men at arms, and priests and bishops in their costly robes, and the inhabitants of Constance. When he had been fastened to the stake, and all was ready for the fire to be lighted, the martyr was once more exhorted to save himself by renouncing his errors. "What errors," said Huss, 'shall I renounce? I know myself guilty of none. I call God to witness that all that I have written or preached has been with the view of rescuing souls from sin and perdition; and, therefore, most joyfully will I confirm with my blood that truth which I have written and preached."

When the flames kindled about him, he began to sing, "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me," and so continued till his voice was silenced for ever.

When the body of Huss had been wholly consumed, his ashes, with the soil upon which they rested, were gathered up and cast into the Rhine, and thus borne onward to the ocean. His persecutors vainly imagined that they had rooted out the truths which he preached. Little did they dream that the ashes that day borne away to the sea were to be as seeds scattered in all the countries of the earth; that in lands yet unknown it would yield abundant fruit in witnesses for the truth. The voice which had spoken in the council hall of Constance had wakened echoes that would be heard through all coming ages. Huss was no more, but the truth for which he died could never perish. His example of faith and constancy would encourage multitudes to stand firm for the truth, in the face of torture and death. His execution had exhibited to the whole world the perfidious cruelty of Rome. The enemies of truth, though they knew it not, had been furthering the cause which they vainly sought to destroy.

"The Promises to Israel. The Promised Rest" The Present Truth 13, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

(Concluded.)

The Israelites were in possession of the land; not one word of God had failed; He had with Himself given them all things; but they did not appreciate the wondrous gift, and so received the grace of God in vain.

They were at least nominally faithful to God during the life of Joshua, but after his death "the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim; and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them; and they were greatly distressed." God told them that because of their disobedience He would not drive the nations out from before them, but that their enemies should remain and be as thorns in their sides. Judges ii. 1-15.

Thus we see that although God gave them rest, they did not enter into it. It was therefore as true of them as of those who fell in the wilderness, that "they could not enter in because of unbelief."

WHAT ABOUT OUR POSITION?

"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." Heb. iv. 1, 2. We are in the world in precisely the same situation that ancient Israel was, with the same promises, the same prospects, the same enemies, the same dangers.

There are no foes upon whom we may use ordinary weapons of warfare, although the followers of the Lord are assured that they shall suffer persecution (2 Tim. iii. 12), and that they shall be hated by the world, with a hatred that will not stop short of death (John xv. 18, 19; xvi. 1-3); nevertheless "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal." In this, however, our case is in no wise different from that of Israel of old.

Their victory was to be had only by faith, and, as we have already seen, if they had been truly faithful, there would have been no more need of their using the sword to drive out the Canaanites than there was to use it for the overthrow of Pharaoh and his hosts. Indeed, the reason why they did not gain full possession of the land was because of that unbelief which made the sword necessary; for it is absolutely impossible that the heavenly country which God promised Abraham can ever be gained by men with swords or guns in their hands. There was no more need for Israel to fight in the days of old than there is for us; for "when a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Prov. xvi. 7), and we are absolutely forbidden to fight.

When Christ commands His followers not to fight, and warns them that if they do they shall perish, He is not introducing a new order of things, but simply leading His people back to first principles. Ancient Israel affords an illustration of the fact that they who use the sword shall perish with the sword; and, although the Lord bore long with them, and made many concessions to their weakness, and has borne still longer with us, He wishes us to avoid their errors. All the things concerning them "are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." 1 Cor. x. 11.

THE PROMISE OF CANAAN

But we must go a little further, and see that our situation is precisely that of ancient Israel, and that the same rest and inheritance which God gave them, and which they foolishly allowed to slip from their hands, is ours, provided we "hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." Fortunately the evidence is very simple and plain, and we have already considered the most of it at some length. Let us refresh our minds with the following facts.

Canaan is a land which God gave to Abraham and to his seed "for an everlasting possession." Gen. xvii. 7, 8. It was to be an everlasting possession for both Abraham and his seed. But Abraham himself had not so much as a foot-breadth of the land in his actual possession (Acts vii. 5), and none of his seed had it either, for even the righteous ones among them (and only the righteous are Abraham's seed) "all died in faith, not having received the promise." Heb. ix. 13, 39.

Therefore, as previously shown, the possession of the land involved the resurrection of the dead at the coming of Christ to restore all things. By the resurrection of Christ, God has begotten us unto a lively hope, "to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter i. 3-6.

A WORLD-WIDE KINGDOM

But the possession of the land of Canaan meant nothing less than the possession of the whole world, as we learn by comparing Gen. xvii. 7, 8, 11, and Rom. iv. 1-13. Thus: circumcision was the seal of the covenant to give Abraham and his seed the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. But circumcision was at the same time a sign or seal of righteousness by faith; and "the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." That is to say, that which sealed to Abraham his right to the possession of the land of Canaan, was the seal of his right to the whole world.

In giving to him and his seed the land of Canaan, God gave to them the whole world. Not of course "this present evil world," for "the world passeth away;" and Christ gave Himself for us that He might deliver us from it and its destruction; but "we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter iii. 13. It was not the temporal possession of a few thousand square miles of land tainted by the curse, that God promised to Abraham and to his seed, but the eternal possession of the entire earth freed from every vestige of the curse. Even though it were true that the little territory of Canaan constituted the whole of the promised inheritance, still it would be true that the Israelites never had it; for the promise which God confirmed was to give Abraham and his seed the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, that is, Abraham must have it for an everlasting possession, and his seed must also have it for an everlasting possession. But they all died, and in time even the country itself passed into the hands of other people. No temporal dwelling in Palestine could possibly fulfill the promise. The promise still remains to be fulfilled to Abraham and to all the seed.

THE NEW EARTH

The rest is the inheritance; the inheritance is the land of Canaan; but the possession of the land of Canaan means the possession of the whole earth, not in its present state, but restored as in the days of Eden. Therefore the rest which God gives is inseparable from the new earth: it is rest which the new earth state alone can give, rest found only in God; and when all things are restored, then God in Christ will absolutely and without hindrance fill all things, so that everywhere will there be complete rest. Since rest is found only in God, it is most evident that the children of Israel did not enjoy the rest and the inheritance, even while in Palestine, for although "He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents, yet they tempted and provoked the Most High God, and kept not His testimonies; but turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images," so that "God greatly abhorred Israel." Ps. lxxviii. 55-59.

Remember that it was an heavenly country that Abraham looked for. Nevertheless, the promise of God to give him and his seed (including us, if we are Christ's, Gal. iii. 16, 29) the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, will be fulfilled to the very letter.

When the Lord comes for His people to take them to Himself, to the place which He has prepared for them (see John xiv. 3), the righteous dead will be raised incorruptible, and the righteous living ones will likewise be changed to immortality, and both together will be caught up "in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17; 1 Cor. xv. 51-54. The place to which they will be taken is the free Jerusalem above, "which is the mother of us all" (Gal. iv. 26); for that is where Christ now is, and where He is preparing a place for us. A few texts may be quoted to show this fact more clearly. That the heavenly Jerusalem is the place where Christ is now "in the presence of God for us," is evident from Heb. xii. 22-24, where we are told that those who believe are now come to Mount Zion, unto "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem," "to God the Judge of all," and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant." Christ "is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens," (Heb. viii. 1), and from this throne, it will be well to remember, proceeds "the river of water of life." Rev. xxii. 1.

THE CITY FOR WHICH ABRAHAM LOOKED

This city, the New Jerusalem, the city which God has prepared for those of whom He is not ashamed, because they seek an heavenly country (Heb. xi. 16), is the capital of His dominions. It is the "city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (verse 10), for which Abraham looked. In the twenty-first first chapter of Revelation we find a description of those foundations, where we also find that the city will not always remain in heaven, but will descend to this earth with the saints who have reigned in it with Christ for a thousand years after the resurrection. Rev. xx. Of the descent of the city we read:-

"And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; 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. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh

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shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death."

From Isaiah xlix. 17-21 we learn that the believing, righteous ones, the children of the New Jerusalem, constitute the adornment which the city has when it comes down prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. So we see that the saints of God go at once to the New Jerusalem, when Christ comes for them, and then return with it to this earth, when the time has come for the cleansing of the earth from all things that offend, and them that do iniquity, and for the renewing of all things as at first.

THE PLACE WHERE THE CITY WILL COME DOWN

But to what spot on this earth will the city descend? Speaking of the time of the destruction of the wicked, the prophet Zechariah says:-

"Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee by the valley of My mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel; yea, ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the Lord my God shall come, and all the holy ones with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be with brightness and with gloom; but it shall be one day which is known unto the Lord; not day, and not night; but it shall come to pass that at evening time there shall be light. And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall the Lord be One, and His name One." Zech. xiv. 3-9.

Thus we see that when God brings back the captivity of His people, He brings them to the very spot of earth that He promised to Abraham for an everlasting possession-the land of Canaan. But the possession of that land is the possession of the whole earth, not for a few years, but for eternity. "There shall be no more death." It was this glorious inheritance that the children of Israel had in their grasp when they crossed the Jordan, and which they faithlessly allowed to slip. If they had been faithful, a very short time would have sufficed to make the name and the saving power of God known in every part of the earth, and then the end would have come. But they failed, and so the time was lengthened, until our day; but the same hope has been the one thing ever before the people of God. So we may look forward to the possession of the land of Canaan with as much earnestness as did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, yea, and David also, and all the prophets, and with the same confident hope.

THE RESTORATION OF THE ISRAEL OF GOD

With these few outlines well fixed in mind, the reading of the prophecies both of the Old and the New Testament will be a delight, for we shall be spared much confusion, and many seeming contradictions will be seen to be plain. When we read of the restoration of Jerusalem, so that it will be the joy and praise of the whole earth, we shall know that the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven, to take the place of the old. If a city on this earth is burnt entirely to the ground, and men build a new city on the same site, the city is said to be rebuilt, and it is called by the same name. So with Jerusalem, only the city is rebuilt in heaven, so that there is no interval between the destruction of the old and the appearance of the new. It is as though the new city sprang at once from the ruins of the old, only infinitely more glorious.

So also when we read of the return of Israel to Jerusalem, we know that it is not the return of a few thousand mortals to a mass of ruins, but the coming of the innumerable, immortal host of the redeemed to the ever new city where their citizenship has long been recorded. Mortal men will not rebuild the city with brick and stone and mortar, but God Himself will rebuild it with gold and pearls and all manner of precious stones. "When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory." Ps. cii. 16. He says to Jerusalem, "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children." Isa. liv. 11-13. These are the stones in which her children take pleasure. Ps. cii. 14.

Here will be rest, perfect eternal peace. The promise is, "in righteousness shalt thou be established; thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear; and from terror; for it shall not come near thee." "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." God Himself will be with His people for evermore, "and they shall see His face," and therefore they will have rest, for He said, "My presence," literally, My face, "shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest."

Why will men nullify all these glorious promises, by reading them as though they taught merely the temporal possession of a ruined city on this old sin-cursed earth? It is because they limit the Gospel, not realising that all the promises of God are in Christ, to be enjoyed by none except those who are in Christ, and in whom He dwells by faith. Would that God's professed people might speedily receive "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation" in the knowledge of God, that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened, that they might "know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints," and that it is to be gained only by "the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." Eph. i. 17-20.

Now that we have taken this hasty glance ahead, and have seen the consummation of God's promise to give His people rest in the land of Canaan, we may return and fill in a few of the details, which will be more easily understood by reason of this outline, and which in turn will bring out in still bolder relief the view we have already had.

The paper in this series which appears next week will consider-under the title "Another Day"-the rest that now remaineth for the people of God. Heb. iv.

"Sudden Death" The Present Truth 13, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

It is said that the petition in the Book of Common Prayer, "From sudden death, good Lord, deliver us," is not in these days a heart-felt prayer in the mouths of the thoughtful and intelligent, but that it is now felt that death comes in its most acceptable form when it instantly and almost unexpectedly removes its victim from amidst the customary surroundings and pursuits of daily life.

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The prevalence, in these days, of sudden death while yet seemingly in the vigour of life, may perhaps account, partially, for this. Men have become accustomed to seeing noted persons, of great activity and renowned achievements, depart this life without even time to say farewell. So, as in more warlike days death on the battle-field was the only way by which a career could be nobly ended; now, a man must, to fittingly close a life of such strenuous effort as the spirit of the age demands, drop down and die in the harness. The battle-fields have changed, the spirit is the same. It is unnatural for man to die suddenly, without the progressive signs of the approach of age. Such death must always be the result of some contest against nature, carried so far that at last the life powers suddenly succumb without warning. Certainly this result should not be desired, because the means by which it is attained are not desirable.

A sudden end of life while in seeming strength is an evidence of unwise waste of physical resources somewhere. Both brain and body have been overdriven, overstimulated, by methods more or less mistaken, and for purposes more or less noble, or often too sadly ignoble. No! the desire to be delivered from sudden death, and to pass away at a ripe and peaceful old age, was the most calm, and sane, and reasonable wish. The lives and deaths of many of England's truly greatest men remind us that this is true.

"Positive Preaching" The Present Truth 13, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

In Dr. John Watson's new book, "The Cure of Souls," containing his Yale lectures on preaching, delivered during his recent visit to the United States, these sentences are found: "What is wanted above everything to-day is positive preaching, by men who believe with all their mind and heart in Jesus Christ. . . . The pulpit is not the place for discussing systems of scepticism, or proving the instinctive truths of religion, or adjusting the speculated difficulties of Christianity, or apologising for Christ."

Truer words than these could scarce be written. Their application in preaching would seem to be simple. Why then are there not more such men filling such pulpits. It is because the positive preaching of Jesus Christ, as He has revealed Himself to the world in the Word of God, without admitting the influence of systems of scepticism, ignoring speculative difficulties, but accepting the difficult things which the Bible itself takes out of the realm of speculation, presenting the plain truths of religion without apology for them, or their Author, or the Book from which they are drawn,-it is because such preaching as this, Christ and His Gospel pure and undefiled, so contravenes accepted theology and the popular learning of the schools and customs of Christendom, that few popular pulpits or comfortably furnished pews would endure it.

"The Schools" The Present Truth 13, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

The Anglican Bishop of Chester recently wrote-not to the Archbishop of Canterbury, but-to Cardinal Vaughan, head of the Roman Church in England, to ask his advice as to the course which should be pursued if the Government fails to satisfy the demands of the party working for direct State support of denominational schools. The Cardinal advised doing their best to win the present Government to their cause, but said that if this failed-

Other political combinations must be sought, and it will become our highest prudence and truest fidelity to the country and to God to make a political break up.

The education controversy is just beginning, and the real point in it all is to see which of the great religious bodies can best manipulate political parties to further their own ends. It was by such work in the latter days of the Roman Empire that the Church of Rome secured the ascendancy. Those on the other side, who have inconsistently demanded State-taught religion in one class of schools, while opposing State aid to distinctively religious schools, will yet see that to make religion a matter of politics is to play into the hands of Rome and Sacerdotalism.

"Indirect Conscription" The Present Truth 13, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

It is plain to be seen that the desire is growing in military and other circles to see some beginning made in the direction of conscription in this country, where the passionate love of individual liberty has kept out the accursed militarism of the Continent. This political aspect of the question does not concern us, but the moral evil of training the youth for war is the wrong against which the Gospel of Christ lifts the standard. The latest suggestion of an indirect scheme of conscription is made by Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Havelock Allen, in the Fortnightly Review. He proposes:-

"First, the general recognition, by law or by resolution of both Houses of Parliament, that 'It is the bounden duty of every Englishman receiving State-aided primary, secondary, or technical education, at the expense of the general taxpayer, to learn the use of arms between his ninth and twenty-first year, so as to be able to defend his country in times of emergency.' Second, a declaration by a resolution of both Houses of Parliament that any able-bodied boy who does not bind himself, through his parents or guardians, at the age of nine years, to become a qualified volunteer at the age of twenty-one, should not, after the former age, receive any educational aid, either from the State or from the grants made by the county councils. Now is the time to secure a recognition of this national and patriotic duty from the English nation."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

-One thousand acres of land have been damaged by the bog slide at Kerry, Ireland.

-England has seventy war-ships now in process of construction, with a total displacement tonnage of 236,045.

-It has been proposed to cleanse the plague-stricken city of Bombay with fire,-to burn the infected portions.

-Mr. Thomas Garton, who first brought to England the news of the discovery of gold in Australia has just died at Wandsworth.

-Outbreaks among the natives were reported last week from several parts of South Africa. The spirit of unrest and revolt is spreading.

-The Leads courts are said to have abolished the rule by which witnesses kiss the Bible on taking the oath. The Scotch method of swearing with uplifted hand has been substituted.

-The Health Department of New York City has stationed a special commissioner at Suez, with instructions to cable information regarding vessels from all ports infected with the plague, and bound for New York.

-The returns from the Baltic canal show that during the past year there passed through it 7,551 steamships, and 9,303 sailing vessels. The receipts amounted to about ?45,000, which Ieaves a large deficit to be met by the Imperial Treasury.

-Correspondence from Rome states that a new papal order has been issued requiring all members of the Catholic clergy to be indoors at a stated hour in the evening, marked by the ringing of bells. All priests who disobey this order are to be suspended.

-Some years ago stoats, weasels, and ferrets were introduced into New Zealand with a view to exterminating the rabbits. Instead of doing this, however, they have themselves increased so greatly as to become almost as serious a past as the rabbits.

-A Frenchman, H. Bazin, has in process of construction a seagoing steamship which is to move on wheels, or rather, hollow, circular floats. He believes that with this form of vessel the trip from Havre to New York can be made in one hundred hours.

-The medical officer of health for Kensington has made a report which shows that the average death rate of a few streets in North Kensington is 50.0 per 1,000 as against 16.5 for the whole of London. In this district the death rate of children under one year, is more than four times greater than the general average in other portions of the city.

-Labour riots in Hungary last week led to the shooting of ten of the strikers by the police. The people bitterly resent the killing, and bad blood increases. There seems to be less patience and tact on both sides of the labour war on the Continent than in England. The conditions are harder, doubtless, and the people have less to hope for from constitutional agitation where the administration is military.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

The next year's naval budget of Germany provides for the expenditure of about six and a half million pounds, an increase of over two millions above the past year's estimates.

The annual pilgrimages to Mecca are a source of great danger to the health of the world every year, and in view of the plague at Bombay the Government of India have forbidden all pilgrim traffic from Bombay and Kurrachi to Mecca.

The debate in Parliament last week on the proposed Roman Catholic University for Ireland, showed that there is every prospect that something will be done, though when it comes to details much controversy will doubtless arise. Religious laws and religious establishments are the order of the day now in all countries, and thus it must continue to the ruin of the peace of States.

The committee of the Mansion House Famine Fund made their first remittance to India last week of ?100,000. A Calcutta despatch says that about two million people are now employed in the relief works undertaken by the Government. The scenes attending the famine are terrible enough, and the suffering increases. A Reuter's agent who has been visiting the camps where those on the relief works are quartered says:-

Altogether, from what I have witnessed, I am convinced that a more effective or humane system of State aid for helpless population than that now in force here has never been seen in the history of the world.

Sir Isaac Pitman, who died last week at the age of eighty-four, after a life of great industry, was an example of the benefits of plain living and hard working. He attributed his capacity to work on untiringly, even at an advanced age to "clean food, fresh air, and plenty of work." He began his work of publishing his system of shorthand in 1840, the same year that the penny post was established, and for over forty-seven years was at his work from six in the morning till nine or ten at night. He was an abstainer, and for fifty years a vegetarian.

The locust has been so great a pest from ancient times that he has become the symbol of destruction. His later days are becoming worse than his first if the report that comes from the Transvaal is correct. There strenuous efforts have been made to save the crops from the swarms of locusts which have frequently appeared, but "to the consternation of the farmers," it is said, "the new hordes of locusts bring with them scores of black insects, which sting horribly whenever their patrons are interfered with."

"The Record Reign" The Present Truth 13, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

The Record Reign .-The speeches on the Address in reply to the Queen's Speech at the opening of Parliament last week touched upon Her Majesty's long and unique reign of sixty years. In speaking of the influence and character of the Throne in the long period during which a woman has presided over the affairs of the empire the Prime Minister said:-

Those who had the opportunity of watching that character more nearly can testify to the effects and benignant influence which it has always worked on the conduct of constitutional policy, and can bear witness to the extent to which the peculiar characteristics displayed by the Queen have enabled constitutional government to obtain a success which it has never attained in any other part of the world.

"Constitutionalism" The Present Truth 13, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

Constitutionalism .-Not only in this country-where, probably, the political independence and correct representation of the individual in administrative affairs has been carried to the highest degree of development-but all the world over, the past century, and more particularly the Victorian era, has been the era of constitutional government. Men have made and unmade constitutions, and have tinkered them, and alternately trusted them and cursed them-and all the time sin and misery and social evils have increased, until now the problems which statesmen have to face in nearly every country are generally recognised by them as the most serious in their history. All history abundantly testifies to the incapacity of men to govern their fellows, whatever form of government may be adopted. The whole question turns upon sinful man's absolute incapacity to govern himself. God has overruled and restrained and made His power known in order that He might save some out of the world, but the fact remains that Satan is the "god of this world," and man's only hope is in the world to come.

"The World to Come" The Present Truth 13, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

The World to Come .-We pray, "Thy kingdom come," and the prayer will be answered. As an earnest of the coming kingdom God sends forth peace and joy and righteousness of the kingdom to rule even now in the hearts of His subjects. The constitution of His government, the foundation of His throne, is the law of righteousness, and a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of His kingdom. The same Gospel power that proclaims the coming kingdom writes the law of that kingdom upon every heart that believes. This is the constitution that can do what human constitutions cannot do-it makes men free with a freedom which no power can take away. Ever since this world joined the rebellion of Satan against God's rule, the Lord has been calling men back to loyalty. "The earth is given into the hand of the wicked," said the prophet, but nevertheless "the earth is the Lord's," and the day hastens when the rightful owner will take possession of His purchased possession. Now He is entreating every sinner to cease building his hopes on this present evil world and to yield his heart to the rule of the everlasting kingdom.

"Peace" The Present Truth 13, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

Peace .-Of course Great Britain and the United States ought not to go to war. No more ought this country and Germany, or Germany and France. But in some circles there has been much nonsense talked about the treaty of arbitration between this country and the United States. The City Temple pulpit, for instance, said, "I look upon this treaty as the Second Advent." When this view is taken of an agreement between two nations, that they will not fight one another unless the quarrel involves a point of honour, the peace of Christendom, as it is called, must be in a parlous state. If the religious world would preach the Word about war, and show how absolutely wicked strife is, and that no Christian can take the sword, something might be done to hold back strife. As it is, the attitude of the pulpits served to justify resort to arms to defend the honour and possessions, and while crying, "Peace, and safety," as the prophecy says, popular religion is only lulling men to sleep in the face of the sudden destruction that will overcome the world when the last great struggle comes. 1 Thess. v. 3.

February 4, 1897

"Appealing to the Pope" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

In Manitoba, where Protestants out-number Catholics, in a ratio of ten to one, a system of public instruction was established which very recently undertook only the secular education of the children, leaving the churches to do their legitimate work of looking after religious instruction. But the Roman Catholic element, not only in Manitoba but in all Canada, demanded that Catholic schools should be maintained from public funds for Catholic children.

It is the true Roman Catholic position, and Catholics have been tremendously fortified in their contention by the disposition lately becoming almost universal among Protestants to try to get the State to do the work which the churches are too lifeless to do, namely, to attend to the religious teaching of the young. The result has been strife and contention for several years in Canada, and one ministry was turned out and another put in by the last election, which turned upon this question. Now the new ministry has arranged a compromise, providing for certain hours of religious instruction in the State schools where a given number of parents request it. It makes equal provision for Protestants and Catholics, and like all illogical compromises it will surely lead to much in religious friction in school matters in years to come, even if accepted by both sides.

But the Catholic hierarchy in Canada have been denouncing the compromise and threatening to make trouble. In portions of the Dominion the Catholic and French element is largely in the majority, and political life is strongly influenced by religious rivalry. The compromise has been approved by the Dominion Government and by our home Government. But it is not enough that Ottawa and Downing-street should issue a programme. Now the Governments appeal to Rome, and the matter is laid before the Pope to secure his aid in silencing the Canadian bishops. However it turns, the Pope could desire nothing better to establish his prestige. The Canadian ministry just set in power by a large majority and the British Government appeal to the Vatican for support in their educational policy. It is a situation which flatters Rome's ambition.

"'What Do We?'" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

The diverse influence of witnessing the effect of the power of the Spirit of God is well marked in the result upon those who stood by, of the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. Many who saw it believed on Him. "But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let Him thus alone, all men will believe on Him; and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad."

At the voice of Christ the righteous dead arose from the grave, but the unrighteous living, who were dead in their sins, nevertheless to their living death. They made this exhibition of Divine power a pretext for bringing His case before an extra-legal assembly called together on purpose. Here they argued, that, for political reasons, the influence of Christ must be crushed, and He Himself put out of the way,-lest the Romans come and take away their place and nation.

The futility of this argument was proved by the event, not so many years after, when Jerusalem was utterly destroyed and both their place and nation indeed taken away, while only those who believed in Christ and remembered and observed His warning words, directing them how and when to escape, were saved.

But the words of the high priest Caiaphas are particularly remarkable, in that he, being a wicked man and the tool of the Roman power, while advising, with cold-blooded cruelty, the death of Christ, at the same time, unconsciously, states the mission upon which He came to the world,-to die for the people,-and prophesies its success in the ingathering from all nations of the children of God.

How manifestly here the wrath of man is made to praise God!

"Philanthropy" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

One of the magazines has an article calculated to make one pity the poor millionaire, who, with the demands upon his income in the way of town and country houses, yachts, horses, wines, and other demands innumerable, finds it necessary to plan carefully to get ahead. Even philanthropy levies tribute upon him. "Philanthropy," the writer says, "is now obligatory upon the rich, utterly because it is the cheapest form of advertisement, but because a non-subscribing millionaire would soon find the great ladies of his acquaintance looking at him coldly." So Dives must devote a crumb or two from his thousands to the Lazarus at his gate.

Some rich, however, it must be said, do not devote the mere crumbs to the welfare of others, nor do they give because fashion prescribes philanthropy for a well-conducted millionaire. Every man who has must be the steward of his own possessions, and it is very easy for the man who has but a comfortable amount to spend it upon himself or selfishly hoard it. But it is a fact that the great amounts devoted to charity come from the poorer class and not from the prodigally rich. The man who gives because it would not be "good form" not to do so-whether the amount be a half-crown or a thousand guineas-has had his reward. The poor soul who slips in the farthing because it is all she has, sorrowing that it is so little, will have a large account on the ledger of heaven-that is, if she does not spoil it all by advertising the farthing.

"Where Eternal Life Begins" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Where Eternal Life Begins .-It is the desire of Christians to possess, or to be possessed rather, by that perfect mind and heart which is the evidence of the indwelling within them of their Lord, that, being one with Him they may together, as He has prayed, be one with the Father. Those who are not filled and possessed with this desire, though they may be growing and developing, are not yet full-fledged Christians. It is with this complete renunciation of self that eternal life begins.

"The Promises to Israel. 'Another Day'" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

"For if Joshua had given them rest, then would He not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." Heb. iv. 8, 9.

We have seen that although not one word of God's promises to Israel failed, "the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it," (Heb. iv. 2), and that a long time after the Lord had given them rest, He set before them, through Joshua, the conditions on which they might enjoy the inheritance.

THE KINGDOM THE LORD'S

Passing over a period of more than four hundred years, during which time the history of the children of Israel is a record of apostasy and repentance and apostasy again, we come to the time of David, when the kingdom of Israel was at the height of its power. Although, in demanding a king, the children of Israel rejected God, He did not reject them. It was not God's design that Israel should ever have any other king than Himself, but they were not content to walk by faith, having a King whom they could not see. Nevertheless the kingdom still remained the Lord's, and therefore He exercised His right to appoint rulers.

Even so it is in all the world. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." "His kingdom ruleth over all." The people of the world do not recognise Him as King, and boast in the pride of their own Governments; yet "the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will." "He removeth kings, and setteth up kings." Dan. iv. 32; ii. 21. "There is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God." Rom. xiii. 1. This is why every soul ought to be subject unto "the higher powers," and is an evidence that the Lord's kingdom includes the whole earth, even though the rulers who for a season are allowed to imagine that they are holding the reins, set themselves up against Him.

STRANGERS AND SOJOURNERS IN DAVID'S TIME

So when in the providence of God David came to the throne of Israel, "and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies" (2 Sam. vii. 1), it was in his heart to build a temple to the Lord. At first the prophet Nathan, speaking his own words, said to him, "Go, do all that is in thine heart," but afterwards he spoke the word of the Lord, and said that David should not build it. At that time the Lord said to David:-

"I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any source as at the first, and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. Moreover the Lord telleth thee that He will make thee an house." 2 Sam. vii. 10, 11.

The people of Israel therefore had not yet obtained the rest and the inheritance. David was a powerful king, and had "a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth," yet when he bequeathed the kingdom, with all the material for the building of the temple, to his son Solomon, he said in his prayer to God, "We are strangers before Thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers; our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding." 1 Chron. xxix. 15.

At the time when the kingdom of Israel was as great and powerful as it ever was on this earth, the king declared himself to be as much a stranger and sojourner in the land as was Abraham, who had "none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on." David in his house of cedar, as well as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who dwelt in tents, "sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country." Not only Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but Gideon, Samson, Jephthae, David, Samuel, and the prophets, with many others, "having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise." Heb. xi. 32-39. What stronger evidence could there be that the inheritance which God promised to Abraham and his seed was never a temporal possession in "this present evil world"?

THE TEMPORAL JERUSALEM SIGNIFIES BONDAGE

Since the great king David, at the height of his power, had not received the promise, what utter folly it is to suppose that the promise to restore Israel to their own land can ever be fulfilled by any return of the Jews to old Jerusalem. Those who are building their hopes on "Jerusalem which now is," are losing all the blessedness of the Gospel. "We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear," therefore we will put no confidence in anything connected with old Jerusalem; for "Jerusalem which now is," "is in bondage with her children; but Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." Gal. iv. 25, 26. When the promise is fulfilled, and the people of Israel really possess the land, and are no more strangers and sojourners in it, their days will no more be as a shadow, but they will abide for ever.

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But "the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter iii. 9. "The longsuffering of our God is salvation." Verse 15. Even in the days of Moses, the time of the promise was at hand (Acts vii. 19), but the people would not have it. They chose this present evil world, rather than the world to come. But God had sworn by Himself that the seed of faithful Abraham should enter in, and "seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief; again, He limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; as it is said, Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Heb. iv. 6, 7.

The unbelief of man cannot make the promise of God of none effect. Rom. iii. 3. "If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself." 2 Tim. ii. 13. If not a single soul of the natural descendants of Abraham and Jacob proved themselves children of Abraham, but were all children of the devil (John viii. 39-44), God's promise to the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be fulfilled to the letter, for God is able even of the stones of the ground to "raise up children unto Abraham." Matt. iii. 19. That would simply be a repetition of what He did in the beginning, when He made man of the dust of the ground. If Joshua had given them rest, then of course there would have been no need of any further day of salvation; but the unfaithfulness of professed followers of God delays the fulfillment, and so God in His mercy grants another day, and that is "To-day." "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. vi. 2. "To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."

"TO-DAY"

Just think of it! even when David lived, it is called "after so long a time." It was indeed a "long time," fully five hundred years after the promise might have been fulfilled; and yet, after so much longer a time the Lord still offers "another day." That other day is to-day; we have not a year given us in which to accept the offer of salvation, not next month, not next week, not even to-morrow, but only to-day. That is all the time that God has given us-probation is but one day long. With how much greater force, therefore, the words come to us after so long a time, "To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." What a glorious treasure God has given us in to-day,-the opportunity of entering into the gate of righteousness. Christ is the door, and by Him all may enter in "while it is called to-day." Shall we not accept it as "the day which the Lord hath made" and "be glad and rejoice in it?" "The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous;" "for we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." "For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." Isa. xxx. 15.

This rest is announced in the Gospel, for Christ says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Matt. xi. 28-30. The people of Israel in old time failed of this rest, not because it was not offered them, but because when the Gospel was preached to them they did not believe; the Gospel that is now preached to us is the very same that was preached to them. Heb. iv. 2.

The rest is all prepared, for "we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said, As I have sworn in My wrath, If²1 they shall enter into My rest." God has sworn by Himself that the seed of Abraham-those who have his faith-should enter into rest; and that was equivalent to an oath that they who did not believe should not enter in, and therefore God did indeed sware that the faithless ones should not enter in. This was not an arbitrary decree, but a statement of fact, for it is as impossible for an unbelieving person to enter into rest as it would be for a man to live and grow strong without eating, drinking, or breathing.

The fact that "they could not enter in because of unbelief" shows that they would have entered in if they had believed; and the fact that perfect rest was all ready for them, is still further shown by the statement, "the works were finished from the foundation of the world." Heb. iv. 3. When works are finished, rest must ensue; accordingly we read that "God did rest the seventh day from all His works." Verse 4. That is what God said in one place of the seventh day; but in another place He said, "They shall not enter into My rest." Verse 5. We see, therefore, that the rest which was ready, and which the children of Israel did not enter into because of unbelief, was the rest connected with the seventh day. For it was God's rest that was offered them, and it was His rest that they failed to secure, and the seventh day is the Sabbath-rest-of the Lord; it is the only rest of which we read in connection with God-God rested on the seventh day from all His work-and that rest was ready as soon as the work of creation was completed.

GOD'S WORK AND GOD'S REST

The rest that is promised is God's rest. Rest follows labour, but not until the labour is completed. A man cannot rest from a given work until that work is finished. God's work is creation, a complete, perfect work; "God saw everything 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.

The work was perfect,-it was as good as God Himself could make it, as perfect as He is,-and it was all done; therefore the rest was also perfect. There was no taint of the curse; it was absolute, pure, unalloyed rest. God looked upon His work, and there was nothing to cause Him regret; there was nothing to induce Him to say, "If I had it to do over again-;" there was no room for alteration or amendment; He was perfectly satisfied and delighted with what He had wrought. Ah, what tongue or pen can describe, or what mind imagine, the sense of boundless

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satisfaction, the delicious peace and content that must necessarily follow work all done and well done? This earth affords no such enjoyment, for-

"Labour with what zeal we will,
Something still remains undone;
Something uncompleted still
Waits the rising of the sun;"

but all that sweet satisfaction and delicious rest God enjoyed in as much greater degree than human mind can imagine it, as God is greater than man, on that seventh day when God rested from all His work.

THE REST INTO WHICH ADAM ENTERED

This incomparable rest is what God gave man in the beginning. "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." Gen. ii. 15. "Eden" means delight, pleasure; the garden of Eden is the garden of delight; the Hebrew word which in this place is rendered "put" is a word meaning rest; it is the word from which the proper name Noah comes (for the signification, see Gen. v. 29, and margin); therefore Gen. ii. 15 may be rendered thus: "And the Lord God took the man, and caused him to rest in the garden of delight to dress it and to keep it."

Man entered into rest, because he entered into God's perfect, finished work. He was God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God had before prepared, that he should walk in them. "This is the work of God, that ye believe," (John vi. 29), and it was solely by faith that Adam could enjoy God's work and share His rest; for as soon as he disbelieved God, taking the word of Satan instead, he lost everything. He had no power in himself, for he was but dust of the ground, and he could retain his rest and his inheritance only as long as he allowed God to work in him "both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

"We which believe do enter into rest," because "this is the work of God, that ye believe." The two statements are not contradictory, but are identical in meaning, because the work of God, which is ours by faith, is completed work, and therefore to enter upon that work is to enter upon rest. God's rest, therefore, is not idleness, not laziness. Christ said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," (John v. 17), yet "the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary." Isa. xl. 28. He works by His word to uphold that which He created in the beginning; so those who have believed God, and have therefore entered into rest, are exhorted to "be careful to maintain good works;" (Titus iii. 8); but as those good works were obtained by faith, and "not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves," (verse 5), so they are to be maintained by faith; but faith gives rest, and therefore the rest of God is compatible with and necessarily accompanied by, the greatest activity.

"Life by the Resurrection" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

When Jesus said to Martha that her brother Lazarus should rise again, she replied, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." His answer to her was intended to open her mind to the understanding of the fact that as the resurrection, at the last day, was through Him, so He was able at that time to raise her brother from the grave. Lazarus was now dead, and awaiting his resurrection from the dust. Martha understood that fact. She had sat at the feet of Jesus and been taught of Him. She knew what death was.

If she had been in error, He who alone had the power of life and death was before her-of Him it was said, "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus"-and He would have told her the truth. He would have done that which was the expression of His love for them, and given the assurance that was best for them. This is what He did. If Lazarus had not been dead, but entered into a blissful immortality, Jesus, who loved them both, would have told Martha so, and explained to her how unkind an act it would be to call back the loved one to the cares and trials of the world. But He told her nothing different from that which she had said. Lazarus was dead. As to this fact, and the understanding of what death was, there is evident harmony in the thought and words of Martha and Christ. The sisters said, "Our brother is dead, come and see where we have laid him." Christ went, looked upon him in the grave where he had been laid, and said, "Lazarus, come forth." And he came, not from the heavens, a transfigured, seraphic being, but from the grave, the man Lazarus, bound with grave clothes.

"Raratongan Superstition" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

The power of superstitions about ghosts is a force that has frequently to be reckoned with at home. It is therefore not surprising that amongst more unenlightened peoples it is a more apparent evil. Ignorance of the Bible fosters these notions here, and is making the people an easy prey to the very real deceptions of Spiritualism. The same ignorance of what the Bible says of man's nature and of Satan's miracle-working power is responsible for the terrors that attend death in the minds of simple native tribes. The Medical Missionary gives the following account of common experiences which come to our Society's medical missionary in Raratonga, in the South Pacific Ocean:-

"A boy was very sick, and the doctor was sent for in the afternoon. At bedtime he called again, and the doors were tightly closed as soon as he was admitted. The family, ten or twelve in number, were assembling to sleep on the floor of the boy's room, which was only about 12 x 14 feet. The doctor remonstrated with the father, and urged him to set at least one door open; but he would not consent, saying he was afraid of the turuma (ghost), and did not dare to open the doors. 'Do you wonder,' adds Dr. Caldwell, 'that I want a house in which to care for the sick?'

"'This belief in and fear of evil spirits,' he says further, 'is not uncommon, even among church-members; though when they are questioned closely, and shown that faith in God excludes fear of devils, they seem ashamed of their fear of the turumas, and sometimes deny it.

"'When they bury their dead, they used to put into the graves the personal belongings of the deceased. I have known even the iron bedstead of the woven-wire springs to be buried in the grave with the dead. This seems to be a vestige of the heathen custom of providing for the future comfort of the spirit of the dead.'"

"Intemperant Eating" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

The veteran temperance writer, Dr. Lees, very clearly lays bare one of the weak places in this hurrying, worrying, nervous age. The boasting civilisation, in this end of the nineteenth century, can be seen to be visibly breaking down, and the perilous times of the latter days are about us. As a symptom of it, and as one of the causes contributing to the evil condition, intemperance in eating and drinking and living is plainly indicated. Dr. Lees says:-

We live in a sensational age, because the nervous stamina of our people is lessened-the very brain is going. And why? The silly cry is, "We live too fast!"-silly because it is in itself an effect. With less brain force, stronger outward appeals to excitement are necessary. Sensational play-bills, sensational amusements, sensational books, even sensational songs and sermons. What are the elements of this fast life? A fast life is a life of waste, of exhaustion, both morally and physically, and this has been going on in spite of Temperance education and shortened hours of labour.

What then, are the chief constituents in this causation which can possibly account for the terrible effects? They are not far to seek, and they are vices entailed upon the children, cursing them evermore with each generation. A tablespoonful of alcohol diluted, taken in twenty-four hours, causes 4,300 extra heart-beats, and in secondary effect narcotises the recuperative forces. Consider the effect of one hundred and thirty millions of pounds in value of this poison yearly consumed by 12,000,000 of adults; and then calculate the possible effect upon the nerve and brain of ?16,000,000 worth of narcotic tobacco consumed by another 12,000,000 of our population.

Gambling finds in these people a lowered tone of moral life and intellect which responds to the temptations of custom, example, and interest, flooding our country with corruption and crime, and filling our homes with heart-break and misery far beyond our skill to describe. Thrift is natural to the Celtic race, but the unnatural appetite for narcotics, on which brewers, wine growers, and distillers thrive and grow wealthy counteracts nature. First conquer alcohol and tobacco, and then will foresight and economy resume their happy reign of amelioration and true glory.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

-There are eighteen thousand pauper children in London.

-Of the natives in India, about 2,000,000 can now read English.

-It is said that Germany can, in twenty-four hours, raise an army of 4,000,000 disciplined men.

-It is estimated that between 1702 and 1876 7,000,000 acres of common lands in this country were enclosed.

-The terms of a religious compromise in the matter of the Manitoba school dispute have been referred to the Pope.

-According to official estimate 50,000 Armenian children under twelve years of age have been made orphans by the late massacres.

-The income of the charitable institutions having their headquarters in London will this year reach nearly ?6,000,000. There has been subscribed for hospitals no less a sum than ?700,000, for institutions for the aged over half a million, for dispensaries over ?150,000.

-About the year 1500 soldiers who used guns stood in files thirty-seven deep, and we are told that the re-loading occupied so much time that when a man had fired he passed to the rear and was not ready to fire again until the thirty-six men in front had discharged theft weapons.

-On the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1901, it will be possible to go from Dover to Vladivostock in 297 hours, or twelve and a-half days. The entire length of the railway will exceed 14,000 miles. The Trans-Siberian Railway will enable China to be reached in fourteen days, instead of thirty-sight now required for the journey yin the Suez Canal.

-The increase of population in Europe, the colonies and the United States is carefully estimated by a recent author as follows, the figures representing the per cent, of increase during the last sixty-five years; United Kingdom, 63; France, 18; Germany, 75; Russia, 92; Austria, 45; Italy, 48; other European countries, 62 ; United States, 626; British colonies, 510.

-An English traveller arriving at Brindisi from Bombay last week was sent by the authorities through Italy in a sealed carriage, and was four times disinfected on the journey through. All Continental ports in communication with Bombay are being carefully watched to guard against the plague, and Russia and Persia are guarding their Asiatic frontiers. Sanitary authorities hardly hope to be able to keep the plague from reaching Europe.

-Europe has increased its population by 62 per cent., but at the same time 80 millions of its inhabitants have emigrated to other lands. Between 1851 and 1893, 8,601,000 have emigrated from the United Kingdom, 5,360,000 from Germany, and 4,000 from Italy. The other countries contributed 8,693,000 to the immense army, making a total of 26,674,000 souls. The bulk have gone to English-speaking lands. The United States absorbed 64 per cent., South America 13, the British Colonies 11, and the rest of the world 13 per cent.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

The racial and religious enmities continue to make trouble in Crete, and a revival of violence and agitation caused the representatives of the Powers to apprehend another general outbreak in the spring.

We have received from the Calcutta branch of our Society (154, Bow Bazaar-street), a specimen packet of twenty different tracts on health and temperance subjects, which we expect will have a wide circulation in India.

The Houses of Parliament make laws legalising the drink traffic, but the Attorney-General the other day, when pressed for an opinion, declared that he had come to the conclusion that the sale of intoxicating liquors as carried on in the refreshment rooms of the House itself was illegal. Some one has well remarked that it would be well for the members as well as for the State if the sale of liquor in the House were stopped instead of being legalised by special legislation exempting the place where the laws are made from the excise laws.

The Odessa correspondent of the Chronicle says that a number of Stundists have recently arrived in Roumania from Russia, several having escaped from the penal colony of Gerusi, in Transcaucasia, near the Persian border. One of these latter bore on his body the marks of numerous wounds, some caused by burning with a hot iron, which he received at the hands of the local authorities and the priest. It was their way of arguing with a Protestant preacher. This village of Gerusi is the same to which ten or a dozen Russian members of our own Society were exiled several years ago. But the cause of the Gospel makes progress in Russia every year.

Between genuine Protestantism and Romanism there can be no truce or compromise. Rome is wise enough, after the serpent's wisdom, to know this, and every compromise which she arranges with Protestants is known to be in her favour. All along Rome has known that the professedly Protestant demand for religious instruction in state schools was actually Romish in principle, and while reprobating as strongly as possible the kind of religion taught has never objected to having religion made a department of State. Anyone can see why. Now she begins to reap where others have sown.

The Cape Times of January 13 contains a two-column report of the opening of the Claremont Medical and Surgical Sanatorium (near Cape Town), which the South African friends of our Society have had in process of construction for about two years. The description shows it to be well located and admirably fitted for the care of the sick. The building has accommodations for forty patients. The institution is under the general management of the Seventh-day Adventists Medical Missionary Association, and, as in all the similar sanatoriums, the end and aim is not financial profit in itself, but all the profits in the working of the institution are devoted to extending medical missionary operations. Thus every such institution is made a centre for the training of workers, and advancing the cause of the Gospel of health and helpfulness.

"A Good Day's Work" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

A Good Day's Work .-It is said that the British and Foreign Bible Society distributes, on an average for the year, over thirteen thousand copies of the Bible daily. And it goes out in more than three-quarters of the leading languages of the human race.

"Sunday Closing" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Sunday Closing .-Various Sunday-closing Bills are being urged upon Parliament. It seems almost unnecessary to say that bills of this kind are not in the interests of temperance but of Sunday. To sell liquor is as wrong as on Saturday or Monday as on Sunday. The sting of the adder is in the cup whenever it is taken. But when temperance workers, in the interests of Sunday, accept the principle of Sunday closing they throw a mantle of respectability and even of religion over the trade through the rest of the week. The drink curse is the greatest promoter of crime and vice and sin. There is no need to argue academically about this; for no one can live in our cities without seeing it, and the prison authorities know well what brings most of the offenders to them. The trade is an absolutely wicked one, and no one is advancing the cause of Gospel temperance by tacitly accepting the principle licensing sin.

"Fined for Praying" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Fined for Praying .-Not long ago, in Eastern Prussia, a poor widow was fined and imprisoned for reading a selection from the Bible and singing a hymn at the grave of her little child, and now again, in the same district a somewhat similar incident has taken place. It appears that at the burial of a member of a workmen's club, there being no clergyman present, the president of the club made a speech and concluded with prayer. For this he was summoned before the court and fined, on the ground that no one has the right to invite an audience to pray without a clergyman's permission-the prayer having been prefaced with the words, "Now, let us pray!" The logical development of the principle at the bottom of these cases would make it necessary, eventually, to legally define precisely the places, times, and circumstances, in which the law should permit men and women to pray, sing religious music, or read aloud from their Bibles, or their devotional books. Any authority which proposes to so regulate the forms of devotion and religious expression must necessarily claim to dictate to men in spiritual things by assumption of Divine right, and so to speak with a papal voice.

"Priestism in Power" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Priestism in Power .-It is said that the witch doctors, or Fetish priests, rule over the King of Benin, and that their influence is responsible for most of the human sacrificing and slaughtering in that country. Go where one will in the world, or look through secular history, and it will be found that wherever a priestly caste has most influence in government there has been the greatest wickedness. Many think that this is solely because it is bad religion that gets into power, and that if only good religion could be lifted to the authority in the councils of State it would be a desirable thing. But good religion asks for no authority or power from man; it rests upon the power of God and preaches a Gospel of Divine power. Whenever religion forsakes this in order to secure power in the State it becomes bad religion, and its whole influence is evil, whether among whites or blacks, civilised or uncivilised.

"Religious Coercion Is Anti-Christian" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Why is it that those who have passed under the name of Christian, and whom the world at large accounts as representative of Christianity, have, so universally, sought temporal power?

He who is really Christian follows in the footsteps of Christ, does he not? But Christ avoided even the slightest assumption of temporal authority. He even refused to be an arbitrator in a simple dispute as to the division of property, saying to the one who sought his intervention, "Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you?"

The persistent and fatal error with which so many of His personal followers were possessed was that He was about to set up an earthly kingdom. But Christ combated this error continually, taking every occasion of reproving them for their worldly ambitions, and of setting before them the contrast between the futility of all earthly things and the eternal stability of the mansions of that kingdom eternal in the heavens, which He went to prepare.

The follower of Christ must follow Him in truth, or else he is not a disciple and a follower, but a pretender and a traitor. Christ sought no temporal authority over men. He strenuously referred even the smallest opportunity for the exercise of such power. Is it then consistent with the life and example of the Master, for those who claim to be His disciples, to seek to dominate over their fellow-men?

If the example of Christ is followed, those who carry His Gospel will use no authority in religious things, other than the persuasion of the Word. Christ judges no man. He Himself said so. He permits all men to judge themselves, to choose that which they will, whether it be life or death. This being so, it is impossible for men who claim to speak for Christ, and exercise authority from Him, to coerce men into accepting and receiving eternal life. Spiritual coercion is futile. It even goes beyond futility, it defeats itself, and becomes an active agent in the opposite direction to that in which it purports to work.

The fact that this is so marks the origin of this great deception, and its masterly development to the present hour, as coming from the arch-enemy of God and mankind. When the teachings of the Word of God, and the example of Christ, are so plain, and the evidences of the destructive working of Satan's deceptions so evidently seen, it is indeed a "mystery of iniquity" that man should choose the antichristian way and call it Christian.

"Astrologers in Council" The Present Truth 13, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Astrologers in Council .-The first annual meeting of an Astrological Society was held in London last week. The chairman challenged any man to show that astrology was not true. Sooner or later it would become the religion of the world. It was practical and ruled the universe; and by it a man could rise to be a god.

That was the promise of the author of ancient astrology-that if men would only reject God's wisdom and seek for wisdom contrary to His Word they should be as gods. We know the result when Adam and Eve attempted it. The old lie is still repeated, and the ancient cults by which Satan deceived men in the days of Nineveh and Babylon are being revived in this intellectual but darkened nineteenth century.

February 11, 1897

"A Parable of the Kingdoms" The Present Truth 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

A Parable of the Kingdom .-"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 Sower Soweth the Word." -We are workers together with God, and He is the great Sower. The field is the hearts of men, and the fruit is the fruit of righteousness. A willing heart is good soil. We cannot understand "how" the seed grows. It is the mystery of life and of God. But we understand the fact that it does grow. Nicodemus was unable to understand with his head how a man could be born again, but later he understood the fact with his heart. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness."

By Automatic Power .-In describing the process the Lord uses a word which makes the subject very plain. "For the earth bringeth forth fruits of herself," literally automatically, or spontaneously, by a controlling power within. Good soil in which the seed is sown cannot help bringing forth the fruit, because the life in the seed causes it to spring up automatically. And remember that the earth, the soil, is the heart, and the seed is the Word. Just as the seed of corn causes the earth to bear the bread of our physical life, so the "incorruptible seed" of the Word must cause every heart that receives and holds it to bear fruit unto everlasting life.

Man an Instrument. -The Lord used that word, from which comes our word automatic, to describe the action of His Word in the heart. An automatic figure at a waxworks, for instance, to use a common illustration, moves its head or hand as though alive. It works automatically, by some spring or power within which controls the figure. Just so man is but helpless clay. The power of Satan has worked within, moving hands and feet and all the members as "instruments of unrighteousness." Now the great Sower sows the Word in the darkened hearts, and as it is received every word has power within itself to cause the members to move and act "as instruments of righteousness unto God."

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Man Not a Machine .-While the automaton, or wax figure, is a perfect representation of the way in which the Word works in man, in actual life the instrument is not an unconscious form. The fruits of righteousness can only be rooted in a willing heart. Man is a living free moral agent, and even God will not work in him contrary to his will. God pleads with men to share His Word, to choose life, to be willing to do His will. "He that willeth to do His will shall know the doctrine"-God will teach it to him by living it in him. Every word believed with the heart is a power to put the thing described in that word into life. All the time man is free; he must choose, he must will to do God's will continually, and as he does thus place his will on the side of righteousness God's powerful word of grace comes in. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Every man holds the decision of his salvation in his own hands, but, thanks be to God, when the choice is on the side of life, the working out of that life is by the power of God.

The Word Works .-The meaning of all the Bible criticism of which we hear so much is that Satan wants men to believe that there is no power in the Word to work in these days, when he has himself come down to work as never before, "knowing that he hath but a short time." Men see what the Bible says, but do not believe they can do what God tells them to do. When men study the Word with their hearts they readily learn what God requires, but the general impression is that what He says cannot be done. The whole point of Christian living and salvation, then, comes to just this, Has the Word that brings salvation power to work the works of God in the one who believes it? The Lord says it has. To the Thessalonians Paul said, "When ye received the Word of God. . . ye received it not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." 1 Thess. ii. 13. It worked so effectually that it turned those who received it from the way of sin and from the traditions and customs of the world to the truth of God, and it kept them, too, in the persecutions and afflictions that were brought upon them. It is still the living, working Word, calling men away from the untruths and traditions that have covered the earth with gross darkness. As you hear it, believe it, open the heart to it, and let it work. It will work nothing that is against you, but only for you.

"'The Great Change'" The Present Truth 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

AMONGST NATIONS DURING THE GENERATION

Let anyone read the words which follow from the Prime Minister and then think of the third chapter of Joel's prophecy and other portions of the Scripture predicting the preparations for war in the very last days, and it seems as though the conclusion that the perils of those days are about us must be inevitable. Lord Salisbury, speaking from his place in the House of Lords as the responsible minister of the Crown, was not talking as an alarmist. Nevertheless the very caution and counsels of statesmen are helping to "sound an alarm," even though they themselves are party to the warlike preparations.

People say truly that there has always been war. There has been ever since Satan began war in heaven. But so greatly has the spirit of militarism spread of late that it is marked as "the great change" that has come in this generation. It is not the only great change either in this generation, the people of which may see the signs of the end multiplying. The words referred to are:-

"What would you say is the great change which has passed over Europe since the older of us were young men? It is this tremendous increase in the burdens which the necessity of self-defence has cast upon every nation of the world. That burden goes on getting higher and higher; a larger and larger part of the population is devoted to military service, more and more money has to be spent in the provision of the mechanical apparatus of war, and, as the conquests of science are extended, not only are all the previous efforts determined to be obsolete and have to be thrown away and something new introduced in their place, but a larger and larger proportion of the public wealth has to be devoted to this unremunerative purpose. The burden has become so serious to nations that many men have thought that the day will come when they will rather rush into war and provoke a decision once for all than continue to groan under the sufferings which modern necessity forces upon them."

"The Promises to Israel. 'Another Day'" The Present Truth 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

[In studying this subject last week we saw that the rest promised is God's rest-the rest into which Adam entered when the Lord "caused him to rest in the garden of delight."]

It is sin that brings weariness. Adam in the Garden of Eden had work to perform, yet he had absolutely perfect rest all the time he was there, till he sinned. If he had never sinned, such a thing as weariness would never have been known on this earth. Work is no part of the curse, but fatigue is. "Because. . . thou hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground." Gen. iii. 17-19.

KEEPING THE REST

Up to this time he had enjoyed perfect rest while labouring. Why?-Because his work was simply to "keep" that perfect work which God had prepared for him and committed to him. Adam did not have to create anything. If he had been asked to create no more than one flower or a single blade of grass, he could have wearied himself to death over the task, and died leaving it unfinished; but God did the work, and placed Adam in possession of it, with directions to keep it, and this he did so long as he "kept the faith."

Note that this perfect rest was rest in the new earth, and note further that if sin had never entered, the earth would have remained new for ever. It was sin that brought a blight upon the earth, and has caused it to wax old. God's perfect rest is found only in a heavenly state, and the new earth was most decidedly "a better country, even an heavenly." That which was given to man in the beginning, when he was "crowned with glory and honour," which he lost when he "sinned, and came short of the glory of God," but which the Second Adam has in His own right, being crowned with glory and honour, because of the suffering of death, is what God has promised to Abraham and his seed, and will be given to them when the Messiah comes at "the times of restitution of all things."

A BIT OF EDEN STILL REMAINS

That perfect, new creation has disappeared-but the rest still remains. The proof that the works were finished and the rest prepared from the foundation of the world, is that "God did rest the seventh day from all His works." The Sabbath of the Lord-the seventh day-is a portion of Eden that remains amid the curse; it is a portion of the new-earth rest spanning the abyss from Eden lost till Eden restored. For as the Sabbath rounded out the creation week, and was the proof that the work was finished, it was the seal of a perfect new creation. Now a new creation is necessary, and it must be brought about by the same power as in the beginning. In Christ all things were created, and "if any man be in Christ he is a new creation;" and the seal of perfection is the same in both cases. The Sabbath therefore is the seal of perfection, of perfect righteousness.

WHAT THE SIGN SIGNIFIES

But it must be understood that Sabbath rest does not consist merely in abstaining from manual labour from sunset on Friday evening till sunset on Saturday;-that is but a sign of the rest, and like all other signs is a fraud if the thing signified is not present. The true Sabbath rest consists in complete and continuous recognition of God as the Creator and Upholder of all things, the One in whom we live, and move, and have our being, our life and our righteousness. Keeping the Sabbath is not a duty to be discharged in order to obtain the favour of God, but the keeping of the faith by which righteousness is accounted to us.

There is no room for the objection that we ought not to keep the seventh-day Sabbath because we are not saved by works; for the Sabbath is not a work, it is a rest-God's rest. "He that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His." Heb. iv. 10. True Sabbath-keeping is not justification by works, and is utterly disconnected from any idea of such a thing; it is, on the contrary, justification by faith,-it is the absolute rest that comes from perfect faith in the power of God to create a new man and to keep the soul from falling into sin.

But "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," (Rom. x. 17), so that it is idle for anybody to profess faith in God while ignoring or rejecting any word of God. Man is to live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. In every word of God there is life. If a man knew no more than one word of God, and accepted that word as God's word indeed, he would be saved by it. God has compassion on the ignorant, and does not require that men should know a certain amount before they can be saved; but wilful ignorance is a different thing. A person's ignorance may be the result of deliberately rejecting knowledge, and he who does that, rejects life. For as there is life in every word of God, and the life is one and the same in every word, whoever rejects but one word that clearly comes

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to him, thereby rejects the whole. Faith takes the Lord for all that He is,-for all that we see of Him, and for all the infinite unknown.

A GIFT TO MAN

Let it not be forgotten that the Sabbath is not a burden which God lays upon people (whoever heard of perfect rest being a burden?) but a blessing which He offers them; it is the removal of burdens. "Come unto Me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Instead of forcing it upon people, God says that it is impossible for anybody to share the Sabbath rest, if he does not believe. To the man who says, "I don't believe that it is necessary for me to keep the Sabbath," the Lord replies, "You cannot keep it; you shall not enter into My rest; you have no part nor lot in it." It is impossible for a man to keep the Sabbath of the Lord without faith, because "the just shall live by faith." The Sabbath is God's rest, God's rest is perfection, and perfection cannot be obtained except by perfect faith.

"God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." John iv. 24. His rest therefore is spiritual rest, so that mere physical rest without spiritual rest, is not Sabbath-keeping at all. Only those who are spiritual can truly keep the Sabbath of the Lord. So long as Adam was led by the Spirit, he enjoyed perfect rest, both of body and soul; but as soon as he sinned, he lost the rest. But although the curse upon the earth causes weariness of body, the Sabbath still remains from Eden, the pledge and seal of spiritual rest. The abstaining from all our own work and pleasure on the seventh day,-from everything by which we could personally profit,-is simply in recognition of God as Creator and Upholder of all things,-the one by whose power we live; but this apparent rest is but a farce if we do not really and wholly recognise Him as such, and commit ourselves fully to His keeping.

The Sabbath, therefore, is especially the poor man's friend; it appeals above all to the labouring man, for it is to the poor that the Gospel is preached. The rich will hardly listen to the Lord's call, for they are likely to feel content with their lot; they trust in their riches, and feel able to take care of themselves in the present, and as for the future, "their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever;" but to the poor man, who knows not how he is to get a living, the Sabbath comes bringing hope and joy, in that it directs his mind to God, the Creator, who is our life. It says, "Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Instead of being obliged to say, "How can I get a living if I keep the Sabbath?" the poor man may see in the Sabbath the solution of the problem of life. "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." 1 Tim. iv. 8.

THE BLESSED DAY AND THE BLESSED MAN

Bear in mind that while the Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week, the rest which the Sabbath day brings to view is continuous. Just as a day is not a man, so there is a difference between blessing a day and blessing a man. God blessed the seventh day (Gen. ii. 3), but He blesses men every day. The Sabbath is kept only by those who rest in the Lord all the time. While nobody can be a Sabbath-keeper and ignore the day upon which God has placed his blessing, it is equally true that the man who does not continually rest in the Lord does not keep the Sabbath.

Thus, rest in the Lord is found only by faith in Him; but faith saves from sin, and living faith is as continuous as the breath, for "the just shall live by faith." If now a man distrusts the Lord during the week, is doubting and fearing as to how he shall get along, perhaps fretting and worrying, is impatient, or harsh, or in any way unjust to his fellow-men, he is certainly not resting in the Lord,-he is not remembering the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; for if he really remembered the Sabbath day, he would know God's power to provide for him, and he would commit the keeping of his soul to Him in well-doing, "as unto a faithful Creator."

THE CROSS OF CHRIST

The Sabbath comes revealing Christ the Creator as the burden bearer. He bears the burdens of the whole world, with all its toil and sin and sorrow, and He bears it easily;-His burden is light. "His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes we are healed." 1 Peter ii. 24. It is in the cross of Christ that we receive life, and are made new creatures. The power of the cross, therefore, is creative power. So when on the cross Jesus cried, "It is finished," He was simply announcing that in Him, through His cross, could be obtained the perfect works of God, which were finished from the foundation of the world. Thus the Sabbath-the seventh day rest that commemorates creation completed in the beginning-is a blessed reminder of the fact that in the cross of Christ that same creative power is freely offered to deliver us from the curse, and make us in Him as complete as was everything when God saw it and pronounced it "very good." The word of life which is proclaimed to us in the Gospel is "that which was from the beginning."

He does not fail nor become impatient or discouraged; therefore we may confidently cast all our care on Him. Thus the Sabbath is indeed a delight. In the Psalm for the Sabbath day, David sang, "Thou, Lord, hast made glad through Thy work; I will triumph in the works of Thy hands." Ps. xcii. 4. The Sabbath means triumphing in the works of God's hands, not in our own works. It means victory over sin and death-everything connected with the curse-through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the worlds were made. It is a remnant of Eden before the curse came, and therefore he who keeps it indeed really begins his eternal rest,-he has the rest, the perfect rest, which the new earth alone can give.

GOD'S INVITATION TO SABBATH-KEEPING

Now we can understand why the Sabbath occupies so prominent a place in the record of God's dealings with Israel. It is not because the Sabbath was for them exclusively, any more than salvation was exclusively for them; but it is because Sabbath-keeping is the beginning of that rest which God promised His people in the land of Canaan. It is sometimes said that the Sabbath was not given to the Gentiles, but it must also be remembered that the land was not promised to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are "strangers from the covenants of promise." But it is true that the Gentiles-all the world-were called to come to Christ, the living water. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." The promise to Israel was, and is, that "nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel." Still further in the call, the Lord says:-

"Keep ye judgment, and do justice; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is

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the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hands from doing any evil. Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, "The Lord hath utterly separated me from His people. . . . Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain; and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar; for Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him beside those that are gathered to him." Isa. lvi. 1-8.

And to both these and those,-to all to whom He proclaims peace, both near and far (Isa. lvii. 19),-the Lord declares:-

A GLORIOUS PROMISE

"If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Isa. lviii. 13, 14.

Those who call the Sabbath a delight-not a burden-shall delight themselves in the Lord. Why?-Because the Sabbath of the Lord is the Lord's rest-rest that is found only in His presence, where there is "fulness of joy" and everlasting pleasure. It is the rest of Eden, for Eden is delight, pleasure; it is the rest of the new earth, for Eden belongs to the new earth. We have read that those who come to the Lord to keep His Sabbath, shall be made joyful in the house of the Lord, and of them it is said, "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures," literally, "Thy Eden." Ps. xxxvi. 8. This is the heritage of the Lord, now is the time, to-day is the day in which we may enter upon it, for He is the portion of our inheritance, and in Him we have all things.

"When the Busy Bee Takes to Drink" The Present Truth 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

The late Dr. Richardson said that the appetite of animals could be cultivated to demand alcoholic drinks as well as that of man, and the following paragraph shows that the busy bee can also lose his character for business industry and orderliness by taking to the cup. There is so good a temperance lesson in it that it may be we should print it in our temperance column instead of here:-

"Dr. Bulhoer has published an interesting report upon the experiments which he has recently carried out for the purpose of ascertaining the effects of alcohol upon working bees. By placing them on a regimen of alcoholised honey the most astonishing effects were produced. He discovered unmistakable signs that they revolted against their queen, and gave themselves entirely over to idleness and to habits of pillaging and pilfering, until they were cast out by their fellows."

"The Christmas Sacrifice" The Present Truth 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Under the title "Feasting and Mortality" a correspondent of The Echo says:-

"Judging from the returns as published in the papers week by week, the Registrar-General's report of the annual rate of mortality in 33 great towns, with Dublin, Edinburgh, and Glasgow added, it would seem that Christmas feasting is deadly in its effects. In Christmas week, commencing 27th, there were 1,136 deaths; in the three subsequent weeks, there were 722, 724, 738-i. e., 33 per 1,000 in the Christmas week, and 20 per 1,000 in the three following weeks. ln some towns the death-rate was most striking in the time of feasting:-Newcastle-on-Tyne, 33; Wolverhampton, 40; Derby, 41; Huddersfield, 11; Gateshead, 51; Norwich, 62; Bristol, 65; Halifax, 72; Oldham, 73; Dublin, 31; Preston, 92, per 1,000."

It has always been the religious festivals of heathendom which have been credited with demanding the sacrifice of human life,-but here is the evidence of official statistics, which cannot be denied, proving conclusively that our Christmas festivities will scarcely bear favourable comparison, in the matter of the destruction of human life, with the ancient Juggernaut festivals of India. It certainly cannot properly be called a Christian festival which produces such results as this.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

-There are said to be one million of men under arms in the British service.

-There is an organised native effort in China to abolish the custom of foot-binding.

-The world's population is said to average 109 women to every 100 men, while eight-ninths of the sudden deaths are of males.

-The world is crowded only in spots. There are still 20,000,000 square miles of the earth's surface that have not been explored.

-During the discussion of the women's suffrage Bill a Member of Parliament stated that there were 1,200,000 more women than men in the United Kingdom.

-The Japanese officers who took part in the war with China have memorialised their government to erect a monument to the horses which perished in the campaign.

-It is estimated that the recent bog flow in Kerry displaced about 6,000,000 cubic yards of bog. There are records of eighteen similar occurrences in Ireland the pest century.

-Three Irish centenarians died on January 21, Martin Walsh, of Tipperary, aged 102, leaving a widow 95; Hersh Hanley, Limerick, 104; Anne McLoughlin, Londonderry, 112.

-According to the compiler of the Stock Ex-change Year Book there has, during the last three years, been a balance advance in the value of securities to the amount of nearly ?500,000,000.

-A Bill to give women the vote passed its second reading in the Commons last week. It is generally thought that other measures will crowd it out, and that it will not get into the committee stage.

-There were more National Exhibitions last year than ever before. Those of Berlin, Nishui, Novgorod, Buda-Pesth, and Geneva all made financial losses. The Exhibition of arts and industry at Dresden was alone profitable.

-An unlooked-for effect of the plague and famine in India has been to flood the Leaden market with pearls. One firm of importers has acquired such a stock that, it is estimated, if offered for immediate sale there would be a break of twenty-five per cent in prices.

-The alphabets of the different nations contain the following number of letters: English 26, French 28, Italian 20, Spanish 27, German 26, Solavonian 27, Russian 41, Latin 22, Greek 24, Hebrew 22, Arabic 28, Persian 32, Turkish 33, Sanscrit 50, Chinese 214.

-Repent statistics prove that the danger of navigation has been lessened considerably since the general introduction of steamers in place of sailing vessels. Of 50,095 sailors employed on sailing vessels, 928 were drowned during last year, or 1 in 60. During the same period only 617 men out of 162,169 employed on steamships lost their lives by drowning, which is but 1 in 241, or just about one-fourth of the fatalities on sailing vessels. Navigation Journal.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

The London popular memorial of the Queen's long reign could surely have taken no more appropriate forms than the proposed fund for supplying further regular support for the hospitals. Of the one hundred and twenty-two hospitals in the metropolis, all, or nearly all, are working beyond their incomes.

By a concordat with Portugal the Vatican secures the recognition by that country of "the advantages it derives from the Catholic missions, and has agreed to aid them by a liberal subvention annually." Thus in Portuguese colonial possessions the missionary is but the agent of the Government. Such agreements make it more difficult for Protestant missionaries to enter these colonies, but no covenant to keep out the light of truth has ever yet succeeded.

"Wasting His Time" The Present Truth 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Wasting His Time .-There is often deep philosophy in the sayings of childhood. The other night a little four-year-old told the Lord in her prayer that she knew that Satan was trying to get her to do wrong all the time, and she wanted the Lord to help her to waste his time. The trouble is that the devil's time is not wasted as much as it ought to be. Older people know by sad experience only too well that very often his time, from his standpoint, is very well spent. But God can frustrate his every effort. The one who hides in the Lord is saved, and the enemy is only wasting his time in trying to carry the fortress by assault.

"Man-made Religion" The Present Truth 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Man-made Religion .-Religion which is enforced by human law, as a part of the governmental structure which man has built, is a religion which has been developed in the minds of men. It must, necessarily, be no better than the men who made it. Such laws must mirror the minds and hearts of those who made them, and contain a composite picture of their character, and characteristics. The average character of men as we know it by experience, and as we learn it from the teachings of the Bible regarding the natural man, does not warrant us in accepting any religion which emanates from any man or body of men, whatever their intellectual ability or moral worth may seem to be. We may be thankful that we do not need to receive the religious beliefs or theories of any man. God has given to man the science of true religion in His Word, from His own mouth,-and Christ came to this world and made it an applied science. So none need fail for lack of either precept or example.

"Livingstone's Influence" The Present Truth 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Livingstone's Influence .-In reporting to the Royal Geographical Society on an expedition which he conducted into the Barotse country, north of the Zambezi, Captain Gibbons bears witness to the powerful influence of a life unselfishly devoted to the service of savage tribes. He found that the name and fame of Livingstone was, after these years, still a power in those regions, and the fact that he was a countryman of the missionary secured him the greatest courtesy and kindness from the natives. He attributes his success in making treaties to this admiration of Livingstone, who, single-handed and with no authority but that of a loving heart, won a power over tribes which our explorers find a protection for their expeditions. If there had been more missionaries like Livingstone in the heart of Africa and fewer armed expeditions, Darkest Africa would be much lighter.

"Enthroning a Bishop" The Present Truth 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Enthroning a Bishop .-The one work of the minister of Christ is to lift Him up. He is the One to be seen. This is where Ritualism, with its vestments and elaborate ceremonies is altogether wrong. It calls attention to the minister and not to Christ. One has only to try to fancy the apostles or the Lord Himself posturing and processioning about in the manner of the modern sacerdotalist to see how foreign all these additions are to the Gospel that teaches that Christianity is a life to be put into men and not a garment to be put upon the outside. The papers describe the "effects" produced by the groupings of colours worn by the ecclesiastics in enthroning the Bishop of London, and the processions, and the enthronement of the Bishop by the Archdeacon, "causing him to sit down" on his throne. All this can have no very cheering effect on Protestants in the Church of England, or on any who know that all of these things come from the time when the church joined the world and the dignitaries of the fallen church adapted the ways and even some of the garments of the civic magistrates of Rome, and had thrones and commanded obedience. Simple Christians may well wait for that enthronement when the overcomer will sit down with Christ on His throne (Rev. iii. 21), clad in no vestments borrowed from the pagan church or Roman State, but in the "white raiment" that is the righteousness of the saints.

"Principals and Practice" The Present Truth 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Principals and Practice .-A magazine writer who has lived in Turkey says some things about the Mohammedan view of Christ's teachings which ought to make Christians think. He says that many intelligent Mohammedans claim that it must be that some false prophet has followed Christ-Issa ben Mirjam, "Jesus the Son of Mary"-and Christianity has been led by the false prophet to depart from the principles of Christ.

The simple-minded Mussulman says, for example: "Issa ben Mirjam tells them: "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." But did you ever see a Christian do so? A Greek, or a Catholic Armenian? Or an English missionary? Or any European consul or ambassador?-No! not within the memory of man. . . . Again: Issa ben Mirjam says: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you." But the other, the false prophet says: "To forgive is a weakness; you must avenge and punish. Whoever forgives makes himself contemptible, dishonourable and ridiculous."

There is no doubt that the simple Oriental mind finds a difficulty in reconciling profession to follow Christian principle with the common practice. The occasions are not wanting which show that when they have seen conduct consistent with the profession many are ready to respect such consistency.

February 18, 1897

"Rome's Boldness" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Rome's Boldness .-Her success in recent years and the general tendency among Protestants to mix religion and politics have caused Rome to adopt a less apologetic tone in regard to her past record. Why should she apologise when the demand for religious legislation and a religious State-at the root of all the religio-political controversy and of the Sunday laws-is but the same thing that led to the Inquisition, and is now leading toward its revival?

Defending the Inquisition .-A few months ago a Roman Catholic writer in the Catholic Mirror, Cardinal Gibbon's official organ, expressly justified the Inquisition and the rack. Of the times when heretics were punished, he says:-

King and subject, prince and peasant, rich and poor, priest and people, all believed her doctrines not only to be true, but incapable of being false. . . . And so, quite naturally, it seemed to all who lived in such surroundings, and rightly too, that anyone who sought to destroy the faith of a nation, which is at all times its most priceless treasure, was as great an enemy to the State as one who contrived to undermine its civil institutions. . . . The State then, as it should now, protected and defended her holy bride from danger and persecution: the church softened the might and impetuosity of her sterner companion with gentleness and mercy. The State made enactments and laws for the government of its citizens; the church inspired and seasoned them with justice and wisdom. All the laws then, had a tinge of Catholicity, and they were carried out in a manner savouring of the principle of that universal religion. Consequently, it is evident, that one who was a heretic then, was by that very fact in opposition to the spirit of the laws and customs of his country-in other words, a disturber of the public peace, and an underminer of civil society.

On the same grounds multitudes of professed Protestants defend religious legislation now.

"Converting" by the Rack .-The writer says, "The Roman Inquisition was formally established to bring to trial the Cathari," the Albigenses, early Protestants of southern France, but it was not fully established "until in 1248, Innocent IV. took the tribunal out of the hands of the seculars, and turned it over to the Dominicans, who had done great work in converting the Cathari."

But aside from the question of civil society, was the Church justified in punishing heretics for that reason alone? Most assuredly. The Church is the Divinely appointed guardian of the revelations of Jesus Christ, and consequently has the right to rebuke those who, in any way, attack the purity of that faith. . . . It was not only not unjust but even obligatory and praiseworthy for the Catholic Church, which has been entrusted with the teachings of the Spirit of Truth, to exclude from within her sacred fold the wolves who sought to prey upon the innocent lambs, which she sheltered and guarded therein.

Thus Rome to-day justifies torture by the cruellest means that devils can suggest to human minds in order to bring men into what holds itself forth as the fold of Christ. Of the Spanish Inquisition this writer says:-

"In fact, the Inquisition was a very merciful tribunal, I repeat it, almost a compassionate tribunal. Very few of those condemned were sentenced to death; and a man was only allowed to be racked once, which no one can deny was a most wonderful leniency in those times.

"The Promises to Israel. Again in Captivity" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Although the children of Israel sang the song of deliverance by the Red Sea, and with good reason, too, it was not until they had crossed the Jordan that they were really free from Egypt. They did not hold the beginning of their confidence steadfast unto the end, but "in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us." Acts vii. 39, 40. When they crossed the Jordan, however, and came into the land of Canaan, they had the testimony from God that the reproach of Egypt was rolled away from them. Then they had rest, and were free in the Lord.

But this freedom was not long retained; murmuring, distrust, and apostasy soon appeared among God's people. They desired a king, that they might be like the heathen about them, and their desire was granted to the full. They "mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served their idols, which were a snare unto them, Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood." Ps. cvi. 35-38. Thus they became literally like the heathen round them.

A little glance at the history of some of the kings of Israel and Judah will show how completely the children of Israel, in getting a king, had the fulfilment of their wish to be like the heathen. To Saul, the first king, the prophet of God said, "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king." 1 Sam. xv. 22, 23.

Solomon took many strange wives from among the heathen and "it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites." 1 Kings xi. 4, 5.

Under Rehoboam, Solomon's son, "Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also built them high places, and images, and groves,³1 on every high hill, and under every green tree. And there were also Sodomites in the land; and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel." 1 Kings xiv. 22-24.

The same thing is recorded of Ahaz (2 Kings xvi. 1-4), and although "the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord," yet "in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord; this is that king Ahaz. For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him; and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel." 2 Chron. xxviii. 19-23.

"WORSE THAN THE HEATHEN"

Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, "did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. . . . And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son, in this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put My name for ever; neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them. But they hearkened not; and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel." "Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." 2 Kings xxi. 1-9; 16.

Amon succeeded Manasseh, "but he did that which was evil in the sight of the

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Lord, as did Manasseh his father; for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them." 2 Chron. xxxiii. 22.

IN THE NORTHERN KINGDOM

If we take the kings that reigned over the northern portion of Israel after the kingdom was divided upon the death of Solomon, we find a worse record still. There were some righteous kings in Jerusalem; but beginning with Jeroboam, "who did sin, and who made Israel to sin" (1 Kings xiv. 16), each successive king over the rest of Israel was worse than the one before him. Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, "did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin." 1 Kings xv. 26. Baasha "did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin." Verse 34. Omri, who built Samaria, "wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him. For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities." 1 Kings xvi. 25, 26. Yet bad as Omri was, "Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him;" "and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." Verses 30, 33.

These matters went on until the Lord could say by the prophet Jeremiah, "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh truth." Jer. v. 1. Such a man was hard to find; "For among My people are found wicked men; they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore are they become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine; yea, they overpass the deeds of the heathen." Verses 26-28.

Inasmuch as God drove the heathen out of the land, because of their abominable idolatry, it is very evident that the children of Israel could have no real inheritance in it when they were just like the heathen, and even worse. The fact that those who call themselves by the name of the Lord, adopt heathen customs and manners, does not make these customs one bit more acceptable to God. The fact that heathenism is in the church, does not recommend it. On the contrary, a high profession only makes the evil practice more heinous. The children of Israel were therefore not really in possession of the land of Canaan while they were following the ways of the heathen; nay, since the reproach of the bondage in Egypt was the sin into which they had fallen, it is evident that even while boasting of their freedom in the land of Canaan they were actually in the worst kind of bondage. When at a later date the Jews boastingly said, "We be Abraham's seed, and have never yet been in bondage to any man," Jesus repeated, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin. And the bondservant abideth not in the house for ever; the Son abideth ever." John viii. 33-35.

GOD'S FAITHFULNESS

Yet there were wondrous possibilities all the time within reach of the people. At any time they might have repented and turned to the Lord, and they would have found Him ready to fulfil His promise to them to the uttermost. Although "all the chief of the priests and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen," still "the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place." 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14, 15. Many wonderful deliverances, when the Israelites were oppressed by their enemies, and humbly sought the Lord, showed that the same God who delivered their fathers from Egypt, was ready and waiting to exert the same power in their behalf, in order to perfect that for which He had brought them into the promised land.

One remarkable instance of the working of God for those who trust Him, and of the victory of faith, is found in the history of Jehoshapat. (2 Chron. xx.) It is specially valuable to us, for it shows us how to gain victories; and it also shows us again, what we have so many times noted, that the real victories of Israel were gained by faith in God, and not by the use of the sword. The story in brief is this:-

The Moabites and the Ammonites, together with other people, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Their numbers were vastly in excess of those of the Israelites, and in their "Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord."

Jehoshaphat's prayer on that occasion is a model. He said, "O Lord God of our fathers, art not Thou God in Heaven? and rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in Thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee? Art Thou not our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend for ever? . . . And now, behold the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, . . . how they reward us, to come to cast us out of Thy possession, which Thou hast given us to inherit. O Lord our God, wilt Thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon Thee."

First he recognised God as God in heaven, and therefore having all power. Next he claimed all this power as his own by claiming God as his own God. Then he was ready to make known his need, and to prefer his request, with full assurance of faith. To one who prays in that way, all things are possible. Too many offer prayer to God, without any just sense of His existence, as though they were praying to an abstract name, and not to a living, personal Saviour, and of course they receive nothing, for they do not really expect anything. Every one who prays should first contemplate God, before thinking of himself and his own needs. It is doubtless the case that most people when they pray think more about themselves than they do of God; instead of that, they should become lost in contemplation of God's greatness and His kindness; then it is not difficult to believe that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. As the Psalmist said, "They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee; for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee." Ps. ix. 10.

While the people were still gathered to pray, the prophet of God came, and said, "Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed, for the battle is not yours, but God's." "Ye shall not need to fight in this battle; set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem;

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fear not, nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them; for the Lord will be with you."

The people believed this message, "and they rose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood, and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord: for His mercy endureth for ever."

"WHEN THEY BEGAN TO SING"

A strange way that, to go out to battle. It reminds us somewhat of the march round Jericho, and the shout of victory. As a general thing, people getting such a promise as they did at that time, that God would fight for them, would think that they showed great faith in going out at all against the enemy. They would say, "God has promised to help us, but we must do our part;" and so they would make every preparation for fighting. But these people at that time were just simple enough to take the Lord at His word; they knew that they must indeed do their part, but they knew that their part was to believe, and to go forward as though they did really believe. And they did believe. So strong was their faith, that they sang. It was no forced song that was heard, weakly issuing from trembling lips, but a full, deep, spontaneous, hearty song of joy and victory, and all this while the enemy was before them in overwhelming numbers. And what was the result?

"And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped."

As soon as they began to sing, the enemy was overthrown. A panic seized the host of Ammonites and Moabites, and they beat down one another. It may well be that, when they heard the songs and shouts of joy, they thought that Israel had received reinforcements, and such was the case. The people of Israel had such reinforcements that they did not need to do any fighting themselves. Their faith was their victory, and their singing was the evidence of their faith.

This is a lesson for us in our conflicts with our adversaries-principalities and powers and wicked spirits. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you;" but we are to "resist steadfast in the faith." Only such resistance will cause him to flee, for he knows that he is stronger than we; but when he is resisted in the faith of Jesus, he must flee, for he knows that he has no strength at all against Christ. And so we learn again that "the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion." In such experiences as that just considered, the Lord was showing Israel how they should overcome, and that He was always waiting and anxious to complete the promise made to the fathers.

(To be Continued.)

"Politics and Religion" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Why is it that a society which considers itself cultivated the two tabooed subjects are "religion" and "politics?" No doubt because so many people, who are admitted even to the best society, are unable to control their tempers, or speak with calmness and moderation respecting subjects in which their personal interests are involved, or concerning which their personal prejudices are crossed. In discussing politics it certainly is quite natural that there should be heat and rancour. Here individual prejudices are likely to hold sway and to govern more or less the language and demeanour of those who indulge in political conversation. But in the realm of true religion, the religion of Jesus Christ, prejudice has no place.

There must be, it is true, assured and fixed conviction. But that is quite a different thing from prejudice. Conviction is indeed the natural foe and conqueror of prejudice. Two persons whose hearts are filled with the conviction of the eternal truths of true religion pure and undefiled, may talk together of the hope that is in them with joy and delight. Nothing in word, or act, or look, would pass between them which could mar the amenities of any social gathering. In their hearts prejudices do not exist,-they have been driven out by the conviction and acceptance of religious truth.

Politics cannot exist without prejudice. Indeed it is nothing else than the personal and individual interests, desires, and feelings, of different men and bodies of men, countries and sections of countries, brought into activity and antagonism. It is unavoidable that the partisanship here should be intense. But in the realm of true religion there is no room for partisanship, there can be no selfish interests or desires. Politics, it is evident, cannot be otherwise than disturbing in its tendency, it is inevitable from its very nature. But the very contrary is the fact in the case of true religion from its very nature.

What then is the trouble? Why should these two things, direct opposites-the one which makes the most for war, and the one which makes the most for peace-be classed together as the two greatest elements of disturbance, and equally denied admittance to the drawing room? The one, it is true, contains every uncomfortable and disagreeable possibility, but the other contains none. The reason of this strange and ill-assorted companionship in exile is that true religion is utterly misapprehended. That which is thought to be religion, and discussed as religion, is not the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but the visionary politics of an unknown future.

"Lifeless Forms" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

A writer in the Spectator comments on the power of ritual to hold people to the forms of religious service. One who knows India intimately says, for example:-

A Brahmin who has lost all faith in the supernatural, will yet stand neck-deep in the Ganges water twice a day, going through an elaborate ceremonial, not that his neighbour may see, but because it is his habit.

One need not go to India to see the same truth illustrated. A great mass of professors make of Christianity but a round of ritual, having an idea that the religion of Christ is a life of right doing. There is the habit of church-going, the habit of performing this or that religious ceremony, and as a door swings open its hinges, they follow the forms which training and habit have made a part of their lives, without ever giving intelligent earnest thought as to whether they really mean anything by it, or whether there is any actual life and power in the service.

In order to hold men's minds in this state of apathy and yet to satisfy man's

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naturally religious nature, Satan has always led to the manufacture of ritual and form by which to hide the simplicity of the Gospel. But it is at the same time true that the great danger is that multitudes who reject these importations, and would hold only the truth as it is revealed in the Word, may yet hold only the form and theory of the truth and miss its life. This is to fail as grievously as the other class who hold only the forms of error and superstition. "Having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof"-is the description of the condition from which the Apostle Paul warns us to turn. The only way to turn from it is by taking Jesus Christ, the life and power which alone can work righteousness in human flesh.

"A General Conference in the Far West" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, which meets every two years, is now in session in America, attended by delegates representing the work of our Society in Europe, the British Colonies, the various State conference organisations in the United States, and other fields. The session, which continues into March, is devoted to conferences for Bible study and to business connected with all the various lines of work by which the attention of the people is being called to the "Gospel of the kingdom." The message of that Gospel, calling men to "the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Rev. xiv. 12), gathers volume and strength as it goes, for the one work is to turn the minds of the people to the Word that they may decide for themselves what the Christ-life is that is the preparation to stand in the trying times that are before the world ere the coming of Christ in glory. The conference this year is held in the State of Nebraska, in the village of College View, a suburb of Lincoln, the capital city of the State. At this place is located Union College, established a few years ago to meet the needs-as regards education and religious training-of the youth amongst Seventh-day Adventists in the middle-western States, who had formerly to travel some hundreds of miles to attend other of our Society's schools. We give a picture of the main building of this school.

"Fighting Fire with Fire" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Fighting Fire with Fire. -It is not the business of the church to substitute lesser for the grosser evils in order to win men. An illustration of the futility of fighting fire with fire, or of trying to fight the devil with his own weapons is thus reported by a newspaper: "A clergyman owns a beer-shop near Hayward's Heath which he claims to keep open, not with a view to profit, but to put a stop to the local drunkenness. The manager of the house has just committed suicide, according to the coroner's jury, as the result of intemperance." It is the lesser evil that leads to the greater. The encouragement of moderate drinking manufactures the drunkard. "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink" is a word that shuts every Christian out of any contact with the traffic in intoxicants.

"The Roman Pontiffs" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

The Roman Pontiffs. -"Two hundred and ninety-three Popes have succeeded each other," says a newspaper (and very likely the list begins, as usual, with Peter), "and only eleven of them, including the present Pope, have reigned more than 17 years. Leo XIII. has reigned 19 years. Pius IX. reigned 32 years, thereby stultifying the popular superstition that no Pope would reign more than 25 years. Leo owes his astonishing powers of work, fine health, and clear, bright eyes, in old age, firstly, of course, to his frugal up-bringing in the Italian hills, and in the next place

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to his regularity and life-long abstemiousness. He lives on less than five francs a day." Notwithstanding the constant rumours to the contrary, the Pope apparently has still a fair degree of strength, and preparations are being made to celebrate the twentieth year of his accession in March. But whether the reign of any one Pope is long or short, the Papacy continues the same, following the traditions of centuries, guided by cunning intelligence and singleness of purpose, the very masterpiece of human wisdom.

"Above Proof by Argument" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

A man may know that to be true which it would be utterly impossible for him to prove beyond the possibility of a doubt, by the accepted methods of human reasoning. The converted man knows that he is the child of God. He does not need to stop to prove it, or to reason about it, any more than his own toddling baby boy who throws himself into his arms with joyous shout. Let him think of the little fellow, in broken baby talk, gravely expressing all the doubts and questions about himself, which he is often wont to raise about his heavenly Father,-then appreciate the strange, pathetic ludicrousness of all his scepticism.

"Progress in Eastern Europe" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

The work of our Society, by preaching and book distribution, makes encouraging progress amongst the mixed nationalities of Eastern Europe, where, naturally, it has been difficult for our workers to get a foothold, owing to the barriers of language and the restrictions of repressive laws. A recent report of the work in this part of Europe says:-

"An encouraging feature in this field is that, as the truth spreads, the way is preparing for its proclamation in the various tongues of this field. Already there are labourers in the Polish, Livonian, Bohemian, Hungarian, Russian, Rumanian, and Bulgarian tongues. There are from fifty to sixty Polish members; and news is just received from Prague, that some Bohemians await baptism. Thus the light of the message is shining in the land where Waldensian missionaries wrought so extensively, and where the early dawn of the great Reformation broke forth.

"In Russia the doors are closed to the truth as tightly as the government can close them; but, like the Master, the truth appears, though the doors be shut. At present, labourers are stationed at five points in the west, south, and east, and members are constantly being added. Nearly all our publications, German as well as Russian, are now excluded. Recently, a copy of 'His Glorious Appearing' was returned by the censors, with the objectionable passages marked. The marks showed that it had been thoroughly examined. All passages referring to the second advent were indicated as inadmissible; and finally the words of Scripture, 'Even so, come, Lord Jesus,' were underlined as objectionable. Yet in various ways, publications on the message find their way into the country, and are silently doing their work. The work is the Lord's, and cannot be stopped."

"Relics of Old Palestine" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

The spade of the antiquarian has turned up many records of ancient times in Eastern lands, and those which relate to Bible times are especially interesting to us. Not that the Scripture requires any confirmation. The Word is the test and proof of all else, not a thing that can be proved true by any human testimony. A writer in the Sunday Magazine gives the following account of the "finds" of Dr. Bliss, who, a few years ago, dug down into old Tarshish, the library town of Palestine in the days of Moses and the Exodus.

"Before us compelled the mound to yield up that secret, Dr. Bliss was rewarded with many 'finds.' He unearthed many jars, and all sorts of implements, a wine-press, heaps of burnt barley, idols, etc. He also laid bare a hot-blast furnace, containing iron ore and slag. It seems that, 1400 or 1500 years before Christ, the Amorites knew how to use the hot air-blast instead of cold air; and that they anticipated the modern improvement in iron manufacture due to Nelson, and patented in 1828! On May 14, 1892, he found, in a great ashbed, a coffee-coloured stone with wedge-shaped inscriptions on both sides. This tablet contained letters from the governor of Lachish to the Pharaohs of Egypt, and there is no doubt about the exact date. In 1887 a peasant woman discovered similar tablets at Tell-el-Amama in Egypt. These tablets contained 170 letters from Palestine, and the names of kings who were contemporary with Joshua.

"Some of the letters in the TeIl-el-Amarna tablets are from Lachish, and, both in style and contents, they agree with the tablet discovered by Dr. Bliss. The two sides of the tally have thus been brought together, and the veracity and date of both have been established. This double discovery created a great sensation among the learned, and the story of it claims a foremost place in the romance of exploration. The Lachish tablet is the first written record of pre-Israelite times that has yet been found on the soil of Palestine. The Lachish letters are in entire harmony with the measureless egotism and vanity which are revealed, by picture, scripture, hieroglyph, upon miles of surviving Egyptian monuments. They show that Pharaoh demanded even from his chief rulers the most abject and preposterous flattery. Zimridi, the governor of Lachish, thus addresses his over-lord of Epypt:-

"To the king, my lord, my god, my sun-god, the sun-god who from heaven, thus writes Zimridi, the governor of the city of Lachish, thy servant, at the feet, my lord, the sun-god from heaven, bows himself seven times seven. I have very diligently listened to the words of the messenger whom the king, my lord has sent to me, etc.

"Many passages in these letters read like extracts from the Book of Genesis. The writing is perfect in its kind, and very beautiful. It reveals a high degree of literary culture. These tablets, have upset some theories in Biblical criticism. In solving antiquarian and Biblical problems, the spade has often proved mightier than the pen. Some critics of the School of Wellhausen used to maintain that the books of Moses could not have been written at the dates assigned, as writing was not known in Palestine till the eighth or ninth century before Christ. It is not possible to hold such a theory, as it has been demonstrated that the Israelites, both in Egypt and in Canaan, were surrounded by literary nations, who had carried the art of writing to a surprising perfection."

"Masticating the Food" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Hasty eating is one of the commonest causes of indigestion. The best of food, hastily swallowed, must fail to properly nourish the body, as digestion begins with the action of the saliva upon the food in the mouth. A recent writer, Dr. Taft, calls attention to this. He says:-

"I have often asked dentists how much they urge their patients to masticate properly? Some of them say they never speak to their patients about it, and very rarely have I heard one say that he gave any special information or urged his patients to masticate thoroughly. It is not only the mastication, but the thorough insalivation, that is required. Those persons who masticate their food most thoroughly have the best health. They have the least dyspepsia and the best nourished tissues in the body all through, and are better able to withstand all attacks of disease than those who do not masticate thoroughly. I know from observation that the majority do not masticate their food in anything like an adequate degree.

"I have noticed in this village a number of dentists, and I have observed that they take their meals in a few moments' time, the food not being thoroughly masticated nor thoroughly insalivated. I believe if the dentist can impress upon his patient the importance and the necessity of thorough mastication, that he has done one of the greatest services for his patient that is within his power. It is better than treating the diseases and conditions which we so frequently meet. It is hygiene of the mouth and teeth, and it is for the benefit of the entire organisation of the patient as well as of the teeth. The mother, the father, the nurse, and anybody in care of a child should notice it as early as three years of age, and teach it to masticate thoroughly and properly. The habit will stay with it through life, and prevent many of the ills and distresses that assail us."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

-A tramway is soon to be built from Cairo to the Pyramids. The distance is out about eight miles.

-A saw-mill in California, U.S.A., which outs 50,000 ft. of boards daily, is run entirely by electricity.

-The new Hamburg-American liner, Pennsylvania, built at Belfast, is the largest vessel is the world. Its carrying capacity is 20,000 tons of freight, and 3,300 persons.

-The reports from the famine stricken districts of India show that the calamity increases week by week. It is said to be "the record famine of the century," and the loss of life must be tremendous.

-An auction of an unusual kind was held in Carlow last week. The county of Carlow having decided that a county gaol was unnecessary, the gaol was sold at auction by order of the grand jury.

-At an electric light station, in Paris, recently, a mouse gnawed off the insulation of one of the high tension wires, and at the instant his tooth touched the wire was electrocuted and burned to a crisp.

-The 200 Roman Catholic students in the gymnasium at Liban were ordered recently by the local Russian education authorities to say their opening prayers in Russian instead of Latin. The priest in charge of the gymnasium demurred to this, whereupon prayers were forbidden altogether.

-Edinburgh, with its numerous schools of medicine and surgery, appears to possess more doctors than any other town in the United Kingdom in proportion to population, the rate in the Scottish capital being one to every 500 inhabitants. Glasgow, on the other hand, has about the same relative number as London-one in 850.

-According to Sir Henry Mance there are to-day no fewer than 1,300 submarine cables in existence, their length being not less than 162,000 nautical miles. They represent a total expenditure of about 40,000,000 sterling, of which 75 per cent. has been contributed by English capital. To effect repairs forty-one telegraph ships are maintained.

-The English steam mercantile navy contains 7,300 steamers, besides sailing ships. Germany's trading steamers count a little over nine hundred. Of the ships that pass annually through the Suez Canal, Britain has, in round numbers, 80 percent. Germany has a little less than 6 per cent., but she is moving upward. Finally, Britain's total commercial tonnage is 13,000,000, as against 11,000,000 for the rest of the world.

-A Jewish society was recently formed in New York City for the protection and advancement of the interests of the Orthodox Hebrew congregations. The society applied for a certificate of incorporation. The time stated for holding its regular annual meeting was stated in its by-laws to be the second Sunday in each year, The Justice of the Supreme Court, before whom the application came, denied it on the ground that the corporation was not a religious but a civil one, and ought not to hold its business meetings on Sunday.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

One should strive always to have the best word, and willingly let others have the last word.

Those who will possess the most of the power of God will be those who are best acquainted with Him, and they will be those who are most intimate with Him, because they are most alone with Him.

Where there is true religion in the homes of the congregation there will be true piety in the church, and it will not lack for expression in the prayer meeting and the gatherings for social devotion. But no amount of the surface display of formal piety in the church will make up for the lack of genuine religion at home.

Reports from the United States indicate a greater amount of suffering than usual amongst the poor in the great cities, owing to the hard times and severe weather. But at the same time our newspapers have been supplied by correspondents with news of the vulgar display of extravagance which characterises fashionable society in the New World. Last week a ball in New York was attended by those who represented half of the wealth of the whole city, and was estimated to have cost half a million dollars. There was wide and influential protest against such a display at a time when there is so much social discontent, but the folly of fashion was deaf to the protests. Every element that entered into the making of the French Revolution of a century ago is working in the United States, and very likely most of those who scorned the protests of serious society will live to see history repeating itself in a reign of terror.

It is not recorded of Christ that He ever attended a funeral. Where He was death could not come, until He submitted Himself to its power on the cross. Martha said, "Lord, hadst Thou been here my brother had not died." But Lazarus rose from the grave at the call of Jesus, as will all who love Him at His coming. For in the resurrection of Jesus is the certainty of the resurrection of all, according to His promise. Well, therefore, may the apostle have exclaimed in exultation, "O grave, where is thy victory!"

"How the Famine Fund Might be Increased" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

How the Famine Fund Might be Increased. -The country is showing a lively interest in contributing to the Lord Mayor's Fund to help suffering India. It is hoped that the fund will grow to a million sterling. More than that the most sanguine do not expect, and it will take some months to reach that sum. But if the United Kingdom ceased to use alcoholic drinks and tobacco for one week only, and devoted the amount saved to giving bread to the famishing provinces, nearly three million pounds would be available.

"Does It Mean Anything to You" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Does It Mean Anything to You? -Such figures show how wicked it is to spend money for that which is only harmful and demoralising while the cry of multitudes goes up for bread. The piteous cry of hunger appeals to all alike who have hearts of flesh. But to Christians whose ears are unstopped, the cry comes not merely from millions calling for bread, but from the many millions who are perishing without a knowledge of God. How can any Christian who is not a disgrace to the name of Christ selfishly and wastefully use the means God commits to him when the Lord asks him to be the keeper of all his brother sinners who are ignorant of the great salvation? To be a living Christian means something very practical, and every day the needs of the cause of God enforce the injunction, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

"Militarism" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Militarism .-"It is a startling fact," says the London Echo, "that at the end of the century the military spirit in England is more pronounced than it has been since the great struggle with France a hundred years ago." And from the point of view of the world it needs to be so as the spirit of militarism is equally in evidence everywhere. All this din of preparation for war means that those who do not wish to be of the world and its lusts must hasten forth in the Lord's work with their feet "shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace."

"The Eastern Question" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

The Eastern Question .-The reign of anarchy in Crete-this time "Christians" seeming to do most of the killing-brings the great Powers face to face with the always-open Eastern Question. The serious thing about every such outbreak in Turkey is that the Powers are so distrustful and jealous that the least thing is sufficient to bring them to the verge of hostilities before which the record of blood in Turkey itself would become insignificant. As a morning paper says:-

The lesson of the situation remains the old one; the "Concert of the Powers," with the colossal forces it contains, is helpless in the face of the most insignificant outbreak. A thousand of ships and twenty millions of men cannot keep the peace in an island which you can hardly find on a small-scale map.

Yet the same journal urges the Cretans on in "the sacred cause of insurrection;" and rallies religious people to support its position. It is not the trumpet of war or of insurrection that Christians will be sounding. God says, "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." Who believes it?-let him sound it.

"'Universal Conflagration'" The Present Truth 13, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

"Universal Conflagration." -The military spirit, by which Satan is gathering all the nations together in alliances and combinations for the battle of the great day (Rev. xvi. 14), has converted the world into a veritable magazine of explosives, and every spark that is set going in one part endangers the whole mass. A great morning paper says that if the Powers allow a struggle between Greece and Turkey they will simply have paved the way for the universal conflagration in which the Ottoman Power will go down.

It will surely be a world-wide conflagration when that power goes down, for prophecy shows that when the power which occupies the territory of the "king of the North" of Daniel's eleventh chapter does come to his end," then will come "a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation."

February 25, 1897

"The Same Old Voice" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

ROME'S LATEST UTTERANCE

The Pope has just issued an "Apostolic Constitution" defining anew the rule of the Church of Rome which regulates the reading of books. It has the same brand of hatred for the truth that characterised papal utterances of the long ago.

Rome has good reason to fear the Word of God and shows a fine discrimination when she classes it with "bad books," which are prohibited to her followers. The plain Word, without human additions and corruptions, is indirectly declared to be "terrible poison." The seventh rule of this un-Apostolic Constitution reads:-

Since experience has proved that, on account of men's boldness, more evil than good arises if the Sacred Books are allowed to all without check in the vulgar tongue: wherefore all versions in the vernacular, even though made by Catholics, are entirely forbidden unless approved by the Holy See or issued under the care of Bishops, with notes taken from the holy Fathers of the Church and from learned Catholic writers.

God Himself speaks; but it is not safe to let the people hear what He says unless some man who knows how to explain what the Speaker means is in attendance! It is well to have the actual position of Rome thus publicly and boldly re-affirmed, as the idea that Romanism is more tolerant of the Bible than formerly has obtained to a considerable extent. It is well enough known that it is not a question of translations. This thing is the Word itself in such shape that the people can get at it without the "check" of human tradition and explanations purposely designed to "make the Word of God of none effect." With the Book alone "more evil than good arises"-it requires human authority to supplement God's effort to give the news of salvation in order to make that effort of any avail whatever. This is nothing new, but the same old voice "speaking great words against the Most High." The Word that predicts the rise and lawless career of the Papacy, and that brings men face to face with Jesus as

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sole Mediator, is not in favour at Rome unless hidden by human gloss.

The new document "especially" condemns the work of Bible Societies, and in the preface to the rules the Pope cites the record of history to show "how vigilantly the Roman Pontiffs have guarded against her radical writings creeping in." They "pinned down" the "pestilent books" of such men as Wycliffe and Huss, and in his praise of their energetic zeal Leo XIII. does not stop to express regret that often they burnt the authors along with their books. Indeed, he seemed to regret that the failure of the civil power to wholly support the Church by the sword now precludes him from imitating his vigilant predecessor; for he says:-

And what is sadder still is that amid this great evil the public laws are not only conniving, but allowing great licence. Hence, on the one hand, the minds of so many are loosed from religion, and on the other such perfect impunity of reading without restraint whatever issues from the Press.

Happily the influence of the Bible, which the Reformation set free amongst the people, has deprived Rome of its old power; but as it was the Word that did it, nothing is surer than that neglect of the Word will undo it.

Rome has as good a right to make a creed and lay down human rules and prohibitions as any body of men. They stand by their creed because they made it, and are pleased with it. The only creed worth standing by, however, is not "made in Rome" or made in England, but in heaven. Any body of men who think to put truth into human words and definitions to press upon men are but leading the way to Rome. It is not men's opinions about the truth, or men's definitions of the truth that concern Christians; it is God's own statement of the truth. His words alone have life in them. He desires everyone who has an ear to hear His voice. That is why Rome has burned so many Bibles. It is why men have shut away the Word by covering it with human traditions. It matters little which of the two ways is followed. It was of a people who read the Scriptures methodically that Christ said, "For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heall them." It requires more than merely the possession of the Word in a book. It must be in the heart. When the heart waxed gross the ears were dull of hearing. More is revealed to the warm heart than to the keen head in Bible study, and it is the Word in the heart that makes Rome tremble and the devil rage. Rome is increasing in power and arrogance, and the Word is not thought so much of in the Protestant world as when it was unsafe to read it; but thank God for the promise that there is present power in it to keep every soul who lives by it.

"We Would See Jesus" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

In the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of John it is narrated, "And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: the same can therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus." There would seem to have been a world of significance in this incident to the mind of Jesus.

To the human mind it would seem to point to a broadening of His influence and a spread of His teachings, suggestive of the necessity of greater efforts in a wider sphere of activity. But when Andrew and Philip come to Him with the request of these Greeks for an audience with Him, Jesus utters immediately the prescient words, "The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified." And then He illustrated to them, from the familiar processes of nature, how, as the grain of wheat yields up its individual existence that it may produce itself anew in multiplied numbers, each grain of which shall bear its characteristics, so must He submit to death that His ministry might go on.

Human philosophy would have taught no such necessity. Quite the contrary,-it would have said that this was the critical moment, when first impressions were being made upon men belonging to this intelligent, cultivated nation, whose literature and art until influenced the thought of the world,-that at this time, more than ever before, the personal presence of the Master and Teacher was necessary to direct His work, and see that no error and misconception marked its beginnings among those capable of preaching His message so ably and spreading it so widely among mankind. But how evident it is in this, as in all else, that God's thoughts are not man's thoughts! These men, representing the highest and most cultivated intellectuality of the world, came humbly saying, "Sir, we would see Jesus." And Jesus saw in this event the sure precursor of His own crucifixion and death. "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me."

How far from the thought of any mere man with all this have been! His followers, at that time, were utterly unable to comprehend the significance of all this. But it is evident He, looking through the centuries, sought the gathering of the faithful from every nation, town and people. At the coming of these first-fruits from among the Gentiles,-their hearts filled with the earnest desire, "We would see Jesus,"-He saw all the harvest which was to follow, and He pictured to His disciples, there, the seedtime which must precede that harvest. And by His own words, spoken in audible voice that men might hear, God the Father Himself expressed His approval.

Most momentous indeed, for others as well as themselves, were the events surrounding this simple request of the inquiring Greeks, "Sir, we would see Jesus."

"A Hard Service" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

The struggle for worldly power and applause, even when successful, has little in it in the way of even temporal reward. Some time ago Prince Bismarck told an interviewer that he had known scarcely an hour of real happiness in his long and triumphant career in state-craft. And now a Dresden paper says:-

In answer to an inquiry as to his health, the Prince said, "I feel tired, but not ill. My complaint is weariness of life. I have no longer any object in life. I have no official duties now, and nothing that I see as a spectator gives me pleasure. The longer I live the more this will be the case. I feel only lonely; I have lost my wife, and my sons have their own business to attend to. Agriculture and forestry have lost their interest for me with advancing years. I seldom visit the woods and fields; I have no desire to see them now that I do not ride and shoot. Politics, too, are beginning to bore me. As I said before, weariness of life is my complaint, if I had one."

The world is a hard master to serve, unfeeling and heartless when old age or reverses come. In the infinitely higher service of the kingdom of God there is no old age forsaken of the Master to whom the life has been devoted. "Even to your old age I am He," says the Lord; "and even to hoar hairs will I carry you." Few can secure the applause of the world even for a passing triumph; but the simplest life devoted to the service of God brings the consolation of God's cheering presence even when old age or illness lays one aside from the more active service.

"The Promises to Israel. Again in Captivity" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

We know that at any time within a period of several hundred years the children of Israel might have enjoyed the fullness of the promise to Abraham,-eternal rest in the earth made new, with Christ and all the glorified saints victorious over the last enemy,-because when Moses was born the time of the promise had drawn near, and Joshua did not die until "a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel." Josh. xxiii. 1. The time when God through David offered them "another day,"-to-day,-is spoken of as "after so long a time." God was anxiously waiting for the people to take all that He had given them. How true this is may be seen by His words to them by the prophet Jeremiah.

IF THEY HAD OBEYED GOD

Even though the people were so firmly fixed in their idolatry, that the sin of Judah was written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond, the gracious Lord made the following promise:-

"Thus saith the Lord unto Me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem: and say unto them, Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates, thus saith the Lord: Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction. And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein; then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princess sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever. And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifice, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the Lord." Jer. xvii. 19-26.

It is not for us to speculate as to how this promise would have been fulfilled; it is enough for us to know that God said it, and He is able to make every promise good. To build up the old city, and make it new would certainly have been as easy as to "change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body" (Phil. iii. 21), or to make an entirely new city to take the place of the old one.

PROMISES OF RESTORATION WHICH WERE REJECTED

Bear in mind that this promise by Jeremiah was in the very last days of the kingdom of Judah, for Jeremiah did not begin to prophesy till "the days of Josiah the son of Amon" (Jer. i. 2), in the thirteenth year of his reign, only twenty-one years before the beginning of the Babylonian captivity. Before Jeremiah began to prophesy, nearly all the prophets had finished their labours, and passed away. The prophecies of Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Micah, and others,-all the principal prophets-were in the hands of the people before Jeremiah was born. This is a fact that should by no means be overlooked, for it is most important. In those prophecies are many promises of the restoration of Jerusalem, all of which might have been fulfilled if the people had given heed. But like all God's promises, they were in Christ; they pertained, like the one before us, to eternity, and not simply to time. But since the people of those days did not accept them they remain equally fresh for us. They could be fulfilled only by the coming of the Lord, for whom we are now looking.Those prophecies contain the Gospel for this time, just as surely as do the books of Matthew and John and the Epistles.

ALWAYS THE TEST

Notice further that the keeping of the Sabbath is made the test, to all to whom that truth is revealed. If they kept the Sabbath, then they and their city would endure for ever. Why was this?-Recall what we have studied about God's rest, and you have the answer. The Sabbath is the seal of creation finished and perfect. As such it reveals God as Creator and Sanctifier (Eze. xx. 12, 20), as Sanctifier by His creative power. The Sabbath is not a work, by which we may vainly try to win the favour of God, but it is rest,-rest in the everlasting arms. It is the sign and memorial of God's eternal power; and the keeping of it is the seal of that perfection which God alone can work out, and which He freely bestows upon all who trust Him. It means full and perfect trust in the Lord, that He can and will save us by the same power by which He made all things in the beginning. Therefore we see that since the same promise is left us, that was given to ancient Israel, it must necessarily be that the Sabbath also should be made specially prominent in

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our day, more especially as the day of Christ's coming approaches.

THE JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED

But there was an alternative, in case the people refused to rest in the Lord. The prophet was commissioned to say still further:-

"But if ye will not hearken unto Me, to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering into the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." Jer. xvii. 27.

And so it was; although God was faithful and longsuffering in sending messages of warning to His people, "they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy. Therefore He brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age; He gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia; to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years." 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16-21.

THE KING OF BABYLON RULER IN JERUSALEM

The last king in Jerusalem was Zedekiah, but he was not an independent king. Several years before he came to the throne, Nebuchadnezzar had besieged Jerusalem, and the Lord had given the city to him. Dan. i. 1, 2. Although Jehoiakim was overcome, he was allowed to reign in Jerusalem as a tributary prince, which he did for eight years. At his death his son Jehoiachin succeeded him, but he reigned only three months before Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem again, and conquered it, and carried the king and his family and all the craftsmen and smiths away to Babylon; "none remained save the poorest sort of the people of the land." 2 Kings xxiv. 8-16.

Still there was a king left in Jerusalem, for Nebuchadnezzar made Mattaniah king, changing his name to Zedekiah. Verse 17. The word Zedekiah means "the righteousness of Jehovah," and was given to the new-made king because Nebuchadnezzar "made him swear by God" (2 Chron. xxxvi. 13) that he would not rebel against his authority. That Nebuchadnezzar had a right to demand this, is shown by the following:-

"In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Thus saith the Lord to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah: And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters: I have 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 the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. And it shall come to pass that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord; and they shall till it, and dwell therein." Jer. xxvii. 1-11.

Nebuchadnezzar, therefore, had as much right to rule in Jerusalem as any of the kings of Israel had ever had. His kingdom, moreover, was more extensive than that over which any king of Israel had ruled; and, more than all, after much instruction from the Lord, he used his opportunity to spread throughout all the world the knowledge of the true God. See Daniel iv. Therefore when Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, he was wickedly setting himself against the Lord, who had given Israel into the power of Nebuchadnezzar, as a punishment for their sins. In the following words we have a graphic description of the movement of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem, and how God guided the action of the heathen king even while he was using divination:-

"Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city. Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced. For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver. At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort. And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear: because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand."

THE END OF ISRAEL'S INDEPENDENT, TEMPORAL DOMINION

Then follow the fateful words addressed to Zedekiah:-

"And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is: and I will give it Him." Eze. xxi. 19-27.

Zedekiah was profane and wicked, because to all his abominable idolatry he added the sin of perjury, breaking a solemn

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oath. Therefore the kingdom was utterly removed. The diadem passed from the descendants of David, and was placed on the head of a Chaldean, and the kingdom of Babylon is before us. Of its extent we have already read, and we have further the words of the prophet Daniel in explanation of the great image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream given him by the God of heaven:-

"Thou, O king, art a king of kings; for 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. Thou art this head of gold." Dan. ii. 37, 38.

In this we trace the dominion which in the beginning was given to man (see Gen. i. 26), although the glory and power were greatly diminished. But we see that God still had His eye upon it, and was working towards its restoration, according to the promise to Abraham.

FROM BABYLON TO THE SETTING UP OF THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM

Very little time is devoted in the Bible to descriptions of human grandeur, and the prophet hastens to the end. Three overturnings or revolutions are foretold in Eze. xxi. 27, following the passing of the dominion of the whole earth into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. As his kingdom was world-wide, the revolutions foretold must also be the overthrow and establishment of universal empire. So the prophet Daniel, continuing his explanation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, said:-

"And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth." Dan. ii. 39.

The kingdom that succeeded the Babylonian is shown in Daniel v. to have been that of Medo-Persia; and in Dan. viii. 1-8, 20, 21 we learn that the third kingdom, the successor of Medo-Persia in universal worldly dominion, was that of Grecia. Thus briefly have we outlined before us the history of the world for several hundred years. The first two overturnings of Eze. xxi. 29 are made clear; Babylon was followed by Medo-Persia, and that in turn by the Grecian empire.

The last of this earth's universal kingdoms, following the third great revolution, is not directly named, but it is clearly enough indicated. The birth of Christ took place in the days of C?sar Augustus, who issued a decree that all the world should be taxed or enrolled. Luke ii. 1. Therefore we are warranted in naming Rome as the product of the third great world revolution. In fact, we are shut up to that empire, for there is none other known to history that could take its place. Thus Babylon ruled the world; in its days three revolutions were foretold, bringing three successive empires in its stead; Medo-Persia and Greece are expressly named in the line of succession, and then we have the emperor of Rome named as ruling the world. This is strictly Scriptural evidence; corroborative evidence, or rather, evidence testifying to the exactness of the sacred record, may be found without limit in secular history.

But the revolution that resulted in giving the rulership of the world to Rome, was the last general revolution that shall take place in this world "until He come whose right it is." Many men since Rome fell have dreamed of world-wide dominion, but their dreams have come to naught.

Christ was on earth, it is true, but it was as a stranger, like Abraham, with no place of His own where He could lay His head. He came, however, "to proclaim liberty to the captives," and announced that whoever would abide in His word should know the truth, and be made free by it. Day by day and year after year as the centuries have rolled by, the proclamation of freedom has been sounding, and weary captives have been set free from the power of darkness. It is not for us to know the times and the seasons which the Father has put in His own power; but we know that when all the professed church of Christ shall consent to be filled with His Spirit, the whole world will soon hear the Gospel message in the fulness of its power, and the end will come, when the groaning creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glory of the liberty of the children of God.

"'All Scripture'" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

It is coming to be more common to find those who give away nearly all Scripture to other people or to past times, and thus shut away from their ears the living voice which speaks life. They forget that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable," and that "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Most frequently this class draw the line at the Old Testament. They ignore the fact that the Scripture which the Apostles preached in demonstration of the Spirit and of power as they went out to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified was at the first none other than what we call the Old Testament. To-day it is the living Word of God, given by inspiration of the Spirit of Christ, and He who shuts away the voice of Jesus through "Moses and the prophets" refuses to hear the voice of Jesus who is risen from the dead. Of the practical effect of this false distinction which men draw when they judge the Word the editor of the Christian recently said:-

"We also knew a Christian brother who had accepted the idea that much of the New Testament, as well as nearly all the Old, was Jewish. Matthew was essentially Jewish, the other Gospels and the Acts had a Judaic character. Hebrews, James, Peter, and the Revelation, all entirely Jewish. We said to him in those days that all that was left for us who were only Jews inwardly could almost be contained in one of the Bible Society 'Portions.' Last week we heard of that dear brother's death. He died in darkness. He had given away his Bible to the Jew-its good tidings of great joy, the word of the kingdom, the exceeding great and precious

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promises-he had nothing left. For, while an unlettered man may find the essence of all Scripture in a single verse he who knows it all, and by a false exegesis puts the greater part away from him, finds that it is such an organic whole that if he gives away the body the life goes with it."

"'While Ye Have the Light'" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

When, as told in the twelfth chapter of John, Christ foretold His crucifixion, He, being so lifted up in the sight of all men, would draw them unto Him, "The people answered Him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest though, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?" Then Christ replied,-making no direct answer to their question, but assuming that it was already answered,-"Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light." And when He had said this He "departed, and did hide Himself from them."

The people profess a knowledge of the law, but because their knowledge of it is only in accordance with their own interpretation, it is so superficial as to become ignorance, yes, even more dangerous than complete ignorance. This is so because they know it only by their own fallacious interpretation. Because they were thus standing in their own shadow, and obscuring the light from themselves, and Christ warned them that although they had the Light of the world then personally present with them, it was not for long, and exhorted them while they had the light to walk in it, and believe in it and become the children of light. But for all this, and "though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him," and so Jesus went away, and hid Himself from them.

How different are men now from what they were then? They depend now upon their own interpretation of the Word and the law, as they did then. They disregard to-day the daily miracle of their own existence, and the wonders which God does continually before their eyes, as did the people then the many miracles which Jesus did before them. All existing things testify of God, and of His Son by the Word of whose mouth they came into being, they testify of Him without ceasing, and by day and by night the heavens and the earth show forth His handiwork, and yet men still either ignore, or refuse to accept, this plain testimony, than which nothing more overwhelming could possibly be.

The Light of the world as it shines from the multitudinous miracles of created nature, and from His Word, is preached by the voices of His servants throughout, now, nearly the whole earth, is still with the people. But it is certain, by the sure word of prophecy, that the day will soon come in which this light also will be hidden from men, and then indeed complete darkness will come upon them and they will walk in this darkness, which they have chosen and made for themselves, being without God and without hope in the world. Thus, having rejected the light of the Word, it is this which will judge them at the last. And all men and angels, even they themselves, will acknowledge the righteousness of that judgment. Then why not acknowledge it now, and thus escape this penalty, for accepting the freely offered light and grace which is still before the world?

"Greek Saint-worship" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

It was at Athens that Paul was so stirred as he saw the idolatry of the Greeks. Those were pagan Greeks, but the modern Greek inherits a large legacy of idolatry from his pagan forebears, professedly Christian though he be, and ready to draw the sword against Moslems in defence of what he calls Christianity. A writer in the Sunday at Home, Reverend Fred Hastings, tells what he recently saw in the island of Corfu, and it is altogether probable that even the apostle in ancient Athens saw no more revolting idolatry than is here described. One can plainly see in that the survival of Catholicism of the ancient heathen worship and invocation of the dead against which God so repeatedly warned His people of Israel. Mr. Hastings says:-

"It is the island where is preserved the body of that redoubtable old Bishop Spiridion. He is now the patron saint of the island, and I chance to be present at the annual festival in his honour. The people crowded in from various villages on that day, dressed in their best. A procession was formed, and in it the authorities, soldiers, and volunteers, civil servants, as well as many priests, took their part. The body of Spiridion was carried through the town, and then deposited in its place in the church. Three times a year this body of the saint, in its case of glass and wrought gold, is carried round Corfu. The sick are at these times brought out, and laid in such a position that the shadow of the body of the saint may at least pass over them. They believe that they will be healed thereby. I saw no such cures, although I saw many seek them.

"When the glass coffin was brought back to the church, it was placed in an upright position in the chancel, on one side of the screen. Thence the dark, shrivelled, hollow, mouldering face of the corpse looked out, with sightless eyes, on the assembled multitudes. The deadly effect was heightened by the very robes of cloth and gold with which the body was arrayed. The hands were just visible. The feet, encased in richly ornamented slippers, were not only seen, but exposed, projecting at the end of the case to receive the kiss of the faithful. I saw numbers of people pass up between the lines of soldiers, and, bending to the ground, salute the feet of the saint.

"But there is a shriek! It comes from some poor child, compelled by its father or its mother to kiss the feet of the corpse. One child cried bitterly at the sight of the corpse. Its mother could not get the child to go near, but a priest took it out of the mother's hands, and compelled it to kneel to give the customary kiss. I saw a man, who appeared to be suffering from rheumatism, come up, in a lame staggering manner, leaning on a friend and a crutch. He went away after kissing the slippers certainly with less embarrassment than before. He was a well-dressed man of the middle-class, so that I was more surprised at his superstition. The priests are great gainers during the saint's festival. But they do not pocket all of the proceeds. A great part of the money goes to the real proprietor of the money. It belongs to a certain nobleman of the island, who is said to be descended from the man who saved the mummy from destruction when Constantinople was sacked."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

-A farmer in Japan who has ten acres of land is looked upon as a monopolist.

-Turkey can put nearly 800,000 trained troops into the field. Her navy is reported to be practically useless in war.

-There are more than the normal number of strikes and rumours of strikes, particularly in the North of England, just now.

-The German Emperor's four sons hold commissions in the army, the youngest, aged ten, having just put on military uniform.

-During the last five years the population of Germany has increased 2,851,000, while France, during that time, has added to her number but 133,000.

-According to the "Year Book of the Church," the number of communicants of the Church of England for the year 1895-96 is 1,840,351,-an increase of some 62,000 over the figures of the preceding year.

-Most of the railroad stations in Russia are, it is said, about two miles from the towns which they respectively serve. This is a precaution against fire, as many of the Russian dwellings are thatched with straw.

-The army of Greece, on a peace footing, is 66,000 strong. Military service in Greece is universal, though exemption may be purchased. In case all the reserves were called out it is said over 250,000 men could be put in the field.

-The natives of Bide are said to welcome the British rule, as they have been practically in slavery to their Fatah rulers, who have for many years held the country. There are said to be many schools in Bida, and many natives road and write, and there is an institution for the blind where they are taught to make ropes.

-In the heart of Paris is a small piece of ground, belonging to the Government, for which the sum of ?280,000 was paid more than twenty years ago. This ground has never been utilised except to raise a small crop of cabbages, averaging twenty-three yearly. The annual interest on the purchase price of the land makes these cabbages cost the French Government about ?600 each. Without question these are the most costly cabbages in the world.

-It is said that caste proves an enormous hindrance in the distribution of famine relief in India. Those who go on the relief works are mostly low caste. Proud Hindus as well as Mohammedans often refuse assistance when suffering the pangs of hunger. Many such are helped by furnishing some nominal work, such as copying, for which they are paid. Others are visited by night, and under cover of darkness accept help that would be proudly refused by day. Many formerly prosperous families have sold about all they possess and now are destitute. Photographs show children and adults with gaunt bodies, and in the last stages of starvation.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

It has been said that a good sermon is half preacher's brain and half listeners ears,-rather is it all the grace of God overflowing from one man's heart and filling the hearts of his listeners.

Catholic journals announce with satisfaction that the recent German census shows that, whereas in 1890 there were sixty-six Catholics in every hundred inhabitants, now there are sixty-seven in every hundred.

Germany last week celebrated the 400th anniversary of the birth of Melancthon, the associate of Luther in the great German Reformation. It is one thing to glorify reforms of centuries ago; it is quite another to walk in the light that shines from the Word at the present time.

It is Christ who is the light of the world, and where two or three are gathered together among them. But if those who are gathered have not received Him in their hearts and do not desire His presence, then they have shut out from themselves the light of the world which is the life of man, and there is darkness among them indeed, and death.

"Shutting Their Eyes" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

Shutting Their Eyes .-One of the results of the strict rules prohibiting Roman Catholics from reading anything not issued by Rome, is to make it very difficult to work amongst Romanists. But the very fact that the doctrines of Rome have to be held upon the people by such restrictions, will open the eyes of many as time goes on. The Word must yet go with power through Catholic lands where the priests will not enter in, nor suffer those who would to enter the Kingdom. The very large percentage of illiterate people in those countries is itself a tremendous bar to working by the printed page. But the turnings and overturnings and the waking up of men as the judgments of God increase in the world will arouse the spirit of inquiry, and in God's own time thousands of honest Romanists must soon hear and receive the Word.

"Cut Loose" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

Cut Loose .-We have seen an inflated balloon struggling at its fastenings, ambitious to explore the blue heights which draw it upwards, and impatient to be gone, yet unable to break away because of the cables of steel which hold it to earth. We have seen a great sea-going ship, pulled by the tide and the current, and pushed by the winds, yet swinging in an idle circle because it is anchored deep in the oozy mud of the harbour. So it is with many men, they have bound themselves to the earth more firmly than the captive balloon or the anchored ship.

"War Clouds" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

War Clouds .-It has been an anxious week for statesmen, who have been unable to tell what a day might bring forth. To those who look on as Christians, thinking of the work of the Lord and the needs of the people who would be involved did general war break upon Europe, it is a time for prayer and earnest effort. Whether the storm breaks now, or whether it will be held back yet a little longer, the one work is to sound the warning of the everlasting Gospel. The world sees only a question as to the political independence of an island or a province, and the overthrow of a hated empire. The Church of Christ must see in it the question of the lives that will go out in darkness, and of the multitudes to whom war will bring distress and terror. The end of all things is at hand; and instead of preparing to meet God the world is preparing to fill the earth with violence.

"Preachers and Politicians" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

Preachers and Politicians .-A great meeting was held last week in London to encourage Greece and Crete to strike for the independence of the Cretans. The subject lent itself to rhetoric and poetry, and the speeches of politicians and preachers denouncing the Turk and urging on the Greeks stirred the meeting to the wildest enthusiasm. It was natural enough; but what a strange sight to see preachers who have made their reputation in the work of the church standing side by side with politicians denouncing human beings as unworthy to live on the one hand, and encouraging others in the name of God to kill their enemies! What does it mean? It means that Christendom is almost wholly pagan, and that Jesus Christ is not recognised as the leader of Christians, nor the Gospel as the message that Christians have for sinners. Preachers literally shouting for war, and invoking the tradition of Marathon and Thermopyl? to put the spirit of war into the hearts of flag-waving crowds, when the Word says that the one business of Christians is to let the peace of God rule their hearts and to lay down their lives for their enemies! The preachers and the politicians spoke the same language of human nature.

"Elementary Christianity" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

Elementary Christianity .-Those who are wildly shouting for war in order to obtain for any people political liberty are honest enough. Political independence of any country has always been bought by blood and maintained by blood. It is the way of the world. "Every battle of the warrior," says Isaiah, "is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood." But all that is foreign to the Gospel of Christ. It was because Christ did not fall in with the demands of the Jewish nation for a leader who would help them to throw off the galling Roman yoke that they crucified Him. The liberty that He preached,-yes, gave even to slaves of Roman tyranny-was of a different kind altogether from that which the world applauds (when self-interest does not lead it to denounce), and which men fight for with carnal weapons. Now the world needs that same Gospel that Christ preached; but it is as ready as ever were the Jews to violently put away a Gospel which does not minister to selfish ambition. "As He is, so are we in this world. He that saith He abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked." These are the elementary principles of the Christian life; but so foreign are they to the popular religion of the day, that as a new revelation of the Gospel to the worldly church it must be insisted upon again that Christians must follow Christ.

"The Microbe of Death" The Present Truth 13, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

The Microbe of Death .-A scientist has announced that he is trying to discover the microbe of death. The scientific medical world is turning its attention now to the study of the germs of disease, and this man thinks of attempting to get at the root of the matter. But it would puzzle him to know how to put to death the microbe of death. It is a problem beyond the science of the world, but it is a problem worked out in the science of heaven. Jesus Christ died "that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil."

March 4, 1897

"Independence" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

The feeling of independence is inherent in human nature. The first declaration of independence against God was made by Lucifer, in the courts of heaven, and next, at his instigation, by man in the garden of Eden, when he set about to make himself equal to God, and thus independent of His authority. The first marked feature to manifest itself in the infant is the disposition to have its own way, and unless this disposition is checked it grows stronger with years until even in early youth he declares his determination to have his own way, regardless of what anybody else may say or think.

Who Shall Rule? -This is easily answered in the case of the infant. That the child is of right subject to the parent, is so self-evident as to need no special argument. The child is not independent of its parents. Why not?-Simply because it is not. It cannot be. It depends upon them for its existence in this world, and after it sees the light of day it is as dependent as before. It is absolutely impossible for it to maintain an independent existence. Then of course it must be subject to those who provide for it, because,

Dependence Means Subjection .-He who provides a thing has a right to say how that thing shall be used. To partake of one's bounty,-to be absolutely dependent on it,-and at the same time to rail against him, and to use all one's power against him, is the basest ingratitude. Whoever does that is by common consent regarded as lost to all sense of justice. So long as one is absolutely dependent on another that other must of right, have the controlling voice in the dependent one's affairs.

Who Is Independent? -Who is there that is indebted to "no one for his existence?-Not one; as already seen, every child is of right subject to its parents. But the parents themselves,-whence do they derive their support, their life itself?-God that made the world and all things therein, . . . giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; . . . for in Him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 24-28. The parents of every child, yea; every person in the world, is as absolutely dependent on God for existence and its continuation, as the infant is upon its parents. The strongest and wisest man in the world is far more helpless compared with God, than the new-born infant is compared with him. When Peter stepped out upon the water at the word of Jesus he was conscious of the fact that he was dependent upon Jesus for support. But he was just as much dependent on that support when walking on the land.

God, the One Ruler .-Those who are nearest to God, beholding His power and glory, and who themselves occupy the highest position of all created beings, do humble reverence to God, saying, "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory, and the honour, and the power, for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they were, and were created." Rev. iv. 11. "Know ye that the Lord He is God; it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture." Ps. c. 3. Therefore; just as the child is of right subject to its parents, because dependent on them for existence, so all men are of right subject to God, absolutely dependent on Him for life, and breath, and all things; and this is the very lesson that God would have both parents and children (and that includes everybody) learn from the relation of parent and child. The child is dependent on its parents, in order that both it and they may see their common dependence upon God; and the child is by the nature of things compelled to be dependent on its parents until it comes to years of discretion, in order that, in the proper order of things, it may learn the lesson of dependence, and pass from the recognition of dependence upon its parents to the recognition of its dependence upon God; nay, more, long before it ceases to be dependent upon its parents, it should learn the lesson that it is subject to them for the reason that all are subject to God.

130

The Responsibility of the Independent One. -We speak now of the one who chafes under proper restrain, and who imagines himself to be independent, for God alone is independent. Well, since God alone is independent, from Him alone may we learn the responsibility that one really assumes when he asserts his independence. God is self-existent; His name is I AM; no other being in the universe contributes the slightest particle to His support. Therefore He has a right to do as He will , and none can question Him and say, "What doest Thou?" "Our God is in the heavens; He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased" (Ps. cxv. 3) and none have ever been able to withstand Him; for the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it; and His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" He who would stay the Lord in any of His purposes, must be one who has first given to Him; but there are none such.

The one therefore who assumes that he is independent, and who asserts his independence, takes upon himself the responsibility of maintaining his own existence. When the headstrong youth desires his independence of his father's control, the father sometimes allows him to carry his declaration to its legitimate conclusion, and attempt to provide for his own support. Now it may be that the youth from that time is able to live without his father, although but for his previous dependence he could not now be seemingly independent, but it is impossible for him to be independent of God. He goes out into the world in his boastful pride, declaring himself to be independent even of God. He blasphemes the name of God. He will not be dependent on any being, not he. But wait! He is breathing, yes, even, breathing out defiance to God. Where did you get your breath, my friend? Did you make it?-No, you didn't have anything to do with it. You found it ready made and used it, and the supply is kept up while you are asleep. Now no matter who made it, it is certain that you did not, and therefore if you are determined to be independent, you must at once cease using it. Of course no other man made it, any more than you did; God alone made it. Now the only way for you to be independent of God is for you to provide your own air, and use no other. Everybody who declares independence against God, puts himself under obligation to make his own air. You cannot do it? No, of course you cannot. If you cease using God's air you will immediately die. Whose life are you using then? Why, God's and His only. Certainly then it is nothing more than common fairness that He be allowed to direct His own life. Every man who breathes is by that very act under obligation to devote His life to the Lord, for Him to control.

We have said that sometimes an earthly father tells his rebellious son that he may look out for himself if he will not acknowledge parental authority; but this God does not do. "His mercy endureth for ever." "He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good; and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Matt. v: 45. "He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." Luke vi. 35. This is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. If men would only acknowledge the truth that is evident in every breath, the very drawing of their breath would draw them to God. How easy is it to believe God?-Just as easy as it is to breathe. Then "let everything that hath breath praise the Lord," and thus prepare the way for God to show them His salvation.

"The Pure Metal" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

Oftentimes rock which is rich in the precious metals shows no superficial evidence of the fact to the casual observer. An expert will show you a dull-coloured, uninteresting-looking bit of broken stone, with the remark, that if you possessed but a small hill of that rock, it would make you richer than Cr?sus ever dreamed of being. You turn the piece of stone over and over examining it rather sceptically, though quite carefully, but you can see nothing about it which would be likely to make you wish to own a mountain of such rock. Perhaps you even apply a magnifying glass, and search the whole surface of the stone with the utmost care, yet nowhere does the slightest hint of the presence of anything valuable show itself to the eye. You are confident that it is nothing but a bit of rusty quartz. But the mining expert will put that evidently worthless stone under his blow-pipe, and tell you to watch. Presently, under the compelling effect of the intense heat you will see this apparently worthless rock seemingly sweat with minute drops of pure gold. It was the burning heat that brought out the hidden value.

Your friend shows you, in his cabinet of curiosities, a dish of sand. It is clear, clean sand to you nothing more. He tells you that if you owned a large sand bank like that it might be possible to utilise it greatly to the benefit of your purse. You cannot see why,-it is merely clean sand, nothing more. It would be utterly useless as soil, nothing would grow in it. You inspect the sand closely, and pass your fingers through and through it, but uncover nothing valuable. Then he takes from another shelf a magnet and runs it into the sand,-then, as he withdraws the magnet you see that it is covered with particles of iron. Your eyes and your fingers would not have found them. It was the magnet that drew the metal.

As with the quartz and the sand, so with men. It may not be possible to distinguish the true metal by any human observation; but when God's furnaces begin to work, the pure gold may often appear where least expected, and it is the heat of trial and affliction which brings it out. And it is God's love which acts as the magnet, or the flux, and draws to itself, and amalgamates with itself the true, pure metal, separating it from the dross which disappears in the furnace fires.

Of infinite comfort is it to the tried one to know that it is the Lord Himself who sits "as a refiner and purifier." "When He hath tried me," said Job, "I shall come forth as gold."

"How God will Fight for Us" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

When a hungry and ravenous beast has his prey in his clutches and has tasted blood he will fight desperately to retain his booty. Often he will cling to it even to death rather than let go his hold. It is in this persistence and unyielding determination of the blood-intoxicated beast that the Lord sees an illustration of the strength of His own love for sinners which ought to make every half-discouraged one glad. "Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself, for the voice of them: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hills thereof." Isa. xxxi. 4. "God is no respecter of persons," and He has set His love upon sinners. Let any sinner deliver himself into the hands of the Lord, and He will fight for him though all the hosts of evil try to terrify. The Lord cannot be terrified, and He is the One who will hold the willing prey, snatched from the enemy.

"The Promises to Israel. Again in Captivity." The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

(Concluded.)

Boast as they will of their freedom and independence, men in love slavery, and would rather be in bondage than be free. This is demonstrated by facts.

REJECTING LIBERTY

The God of the universe has made a proclamation of freedom to all mankind; He has even given liberty to all; yet but few will take advantage of it. The experience of ancient Israel is but the experience of the human heart. Twice the Lord made it very plain to Abraham that his seed should be free,-once when He said that his servant Eliezer should not be his heir, and again when He told him that the son of a bondwoman could not be heir.

Later He delivered Israel from the bondage of Egypt, that they might enjoy freedom, even the freedom of obedience to the perfect law of liberty, but they murmured, and "in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us." Acts vii. 39, 40.

Forty years later God rolled away from them the reproach of Egypt, yet they afterward desired to be like the heathen round them, by having a king, who, as they were assured, would make them slaves. And so it proved; for they not only learned the ways of the heathen, but "overpassed" them. "The Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place; but mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people till there was no remedy" (2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, 16) and He fulfilled His threat to carry them away beyond Babylon. Amos v. 25-27; Acts vii. 43.

SLAVES OF SIN

This Babylonian captivity was only the visible expression of the bondage in which the people had already voluntarily placed themselves. They had flattered themselves that they were free, while they were "the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage." 2 Peter ii. 19. "Whosoever comitteth sin is the bondservant of sin." John viii. 34. Physical slavery is a small matter compared with soul-bondage, and but for the latter, the former never could have been known.

The carrying of Israel to the city of Babylon was strikingly fitting. It was not an accident that they were taken there rather than anywhere else. Babylon-Babel-means confusion, but confusion because of self-exaltation and pride; "for where envying and strife is, them is confusion and every evil work." James iii. 16. The origin of the name Babylon was on this wise:-

THE BUILDERS OF BABEL

"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. And they said to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth." Gen. xi. 1-9.

DEFYING GOD

Those people had the idea that they could build a city so great and a tower so high that they could defy the judgments of God. They really thought themselves greater than God. The same idea possessed Lucifer, of whom we read:-

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations! or thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of he clouds; I will be like the Most High." Isa. xiv. 12-14.

It will be clearly seen that the spirit that was in Lucifer was identical with that which was in the builders of Babel, and the reason or this is that it was Satan himself-Lucifer fallen-who prompted hat work. He is "the prince of this world" (John xiv. 30), "the spirit hat now worketh in the children of disobedience." Eph. ii. 2. Now let is go back to the beginning of the chapter from which the preceding paragraph was quoted, and see the relation of fallen Lucifer to Babylon, noting in passing that the thirteenth chapter of Isaiah tells of the destruction to come upon Babylon.

THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD

That proud city shall be utterly destroyed,-

"For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel and set them in their own land; and the strangers shall be joined them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids; and they shall take them captive whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from thy hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger persecuted, and none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet, they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at they coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols; the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee." Isa. xiv. 1-11.

Then follows the direct address by the Lord, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning," etc., as previously quoted, stating that his fall is because of his self-exaltation, continuing thus:-

"Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit: They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider the saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people; the seed of evil doers shall never be renowned." Verses 15-20.

THE DIVINE PURPOSEóTHE DESTRUCTION OF THE OPPRESSOR

So much of direct address to this wonderful tyrant. Then follows he continuation of the narrative concerning him:-

"Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand; that I will break the Assyrians in My land, and upon My mountains tread him under foot; then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders." Verses 21-25.

And now come the striking words, summing up the whole matter:-

"THIS IS THE PURPOSE UPON THE WHOLE EARTH; AND THIS IS THE HAND THAT STRETCHED OUT UPON ALL THE NATIONS. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" Verses 26, 27.

THE PRIDE OF EARTHLY DOMINION

The reader cannot have failed to notice that the complete and final deliverance of all Israel is coincident with the utter destruction of the king of Babylon; and further that this king of Babylon is on, who rules over all the earth; his destruction gives the whole earth rest. It must also have been noted that this king of Babylon is also addressed as Lucifer, the one who thought to dispute the dominion of the world with God. The fact is, therefore, that whoever was that nominal, visible ruler of Babylon, Satan was its real king. This is evident also from the fact that Babylon was a heathen kingdom and "the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God." 1 Cor. 10:20. He is "the god of this world." That spirit of self-exaltation is radically opposed to the Spirit of God whose meekness and gentleness constitute His greatness; it is that spirit of antichrist "who opposeth and exalteth himself above al: that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 2 Thess. ii. 4 This spirit was pre-eminently characteristic of Babylon, except in the brief space when Nebuchadnezzar came to his senses. In his pride he said, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for that house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" Dan. iv. 30. Belshazzar used the vessels of the house of God, and drank wine out of them, together with his wives and his concubines, "and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass of iron, of wood, and of stone" (Dan. v. 3, 4), thus boasting that the gods which he had made were greater than the God of Israel.

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Of Babylon it was said, "Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me." Isa. xlvii. 10.

WHAT DELIVERANCE FROM BABYLON IS

It was this same spirit that actuated the Jewish people. When they insisted on having a king, that they might be like the heathen round them, they rejected God, because they thought they could manage things better themselves. "Hath a nation changed their gods which are yet no gods? but My people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Jer. ii. 11-13. "Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say My people, We are lords; we will come no more unto Thee?" Verse 31. Therefore when the children of Israel were taken to Babylon, that city of pride and boasting, it was hut a striking and visible manifestation of the condition in which they had long been. They were carried to Babylon because they did not keep the Sabbath, as we read in Jer. vii. 27, and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 20, 21. We have already learned that Sabbath-keeping is resting in God; it means the perfect recognition of Him as supreme and rightful ruler. Therefore we must understand that the complete deliverance from Babylon is the deliverance from the bondage of self, to absolute trust in God, and obedience to Him.

THE SEVENTY YEARS FULFILLED

Just as God had named a definite time when He would deliver His people from Egypt, so He named the exact time of the captivity of Israel in the city of Babylon. "For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you, and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken m to you. And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord; and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive." Jer. xxvix. 10-14.

Exactly as in the first instance, so in the second, everything came to pass according to the Word of God. The captivity began in B.C. 606, and sixty-eight years later, in B.C. 538 the city of Babylon fell into the hands of the Medes and Persians. See Dan v. Of that time we read, "In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes." Dan. ix. 1-3. Here was at least one man seeking God with his whole heart. We do not know if there were others who sought the Lord as Daniel did, there were certainly not many, but God nevertheless fulfilled His part to the letter. Two years after Daniel's prayer, in the year B.C. 536 just seventy years after the beginning of Israel's captivity in the city of Babylon, Cyrus, king of Persia, issued a proclamation which is thus recorded:-

"Now 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 alI 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 God), which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem." Ezra i. 1-4.

The number of those who went back to Jerusalem as the result of this proclamation is set down as "forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore, beside their servants and their maids, whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven; and there were among them two hundred singing men and singing women." "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." Ezra ii. 64, 65, 70.

THE LESSON STILL UNLEARNED

Not all the people went back to Jerusalem, but all might have gone. If all Israel had learned the lesson designed by the captivity, the long-deferred fulfilment of the promise might speedily have taken place; for up to the time of the beginning of the captivity the only definite line of prophecy was the period of seventy years. But just as the people were really in Babylonian captivity, that is, the bondage of pride and self-confidence before the carrying away by Nebuchadnezzar, even so they remained in the same captivity after the close of the seventy years. God foresaw that this would be the case, and so toward the close of that period He gave Daniel a vision, in which another time was fixed.

Of this great prophetic period and the events to which it brings us-the final call to come out of Babylon-we shall study next week.

"The Light that Gives Life" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

The warmth of the sunny spring days melts the snow of winter, and the solid ice breaks, and the hard clods in the fields are gradually pulverised and spread over the soil, and all the earth made moist, and warm, and fertile, for the reception of the seed, that it may grow and produce a bounteous harvest. So is the action of God's grace on a frozen and unfruitful heart. There are so many wintry lives; in order that they may become fruitful they must be melted and broken as the ice and snow and frozen earth melts, and breaks, and disintegrates, under the influence of the sun in the springtime. In both instances it is from Him, the Light of the World, that this influence, which brings forth a renewed and resurrected life, proceeds.

"What Papal Arrogance Aims to Do in Spain" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

A French journal says that at a meeting of Roman Catholic bishops lately held at Lugo, in Spain, a formal demand was made upon the Spanish government: 1. That the building of Churches or public chapels by dissenters be forbidden; 2. That teachers who show hostility to the Roman Catholic, Apostlic religion be dismissed; 3. That the opening of Protestant schools be forbidden altogether.

Such measures as these are sweeping, yet thoroughly in accord with the ideas advanced by the Roman Catholic priesthood everywhere. They obtain outspoken expression in Spain because there the church influence dominates. Yet these same ideas and purposes often masquerade under quite other names among peoples who express much antagonism to Roman Catholicism. But the principle is the same, and as dangerous, by whatever name its supporters call themselves, and whether they be found at home or abroad.

"Arbitrate, Repudiate, or Fight" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

The discussion of the probabilities of war goes on in the press of all the world, and everywhere observant men are looking anxiously into the future. The New York Observer, a prominent religious journal of the United States, says in its issue of Jan. 14, while speaking of the efforts made by European nations to surpass one another in preparations for war and defence:-

"So the struggle goes on, every nation having a lurking fear that it is approaching the end of its resources, yet so oppressed with jealousy and fear that it is unwilling to lighten in any particular the crushing burden of armour it carries. There is not a government that has any confidence in its neighbours, or any feeling of security, though armoured to the toes, and so each continues its preparations as if war were only a question of to-morrow and was certainly one of next year. Every one of them knows that but for jealousies, which are not policies upon the maintenance of which their existence depended, but only vulgar jealousies, they might save annually hundreds of millions of money, and release two millions of men for the arts of peace; but not one of them is willing to trust the other."

These words have a striking support in the following paragraph from the London Echo, of Feb. 23:-

"No one, we think, can read with equanimity Mr. Arnold Foster's article in this month's Cosmopolis, on 'The New French Naval Programme.' He proves absolutely that France has entered on a serious rivalry with England in naval armaments. She is about to increase her present Budget by ?10,000,000, for the construction of new ships; and it is equally certain, from the recent debate in the Chamber and from other evidence, that these great efforts have England in view. M. Kerjegu, the reporter of the Budget, says explicitly:-

No country is better situated than France for the purpose of destroying English commerce and bringing England to her knees. The English coast defence is notoriously weak, and British commerce should be our objective in war.

"Mr. Foster then proceeds to quote from a Review article written by a French Minister of Marine, in which he refers to the facility of destroying our merchant navy. It is written in such a spirit that we hesitate to reproduce it, for we have no wish to heighten international animosities. What we desire to do is to call attention to the inevitable result which must follow in England when these facts are known. They will inevitably become the basis of fresh demands for British expenditure; and Mr. Foster says frankly, 'If a loan of a hundred millions were necessary for the strengthening and consolidation of our defences, it would meet with general approval!'"

The Echo points out that in the last twelve years our own naval and military expenditure have increased from twenty-eight to forty millions sterling, and that there will come a time when this increasing burden can be carried no longer and the nations must fall under the weight of their own armour.

Yet again, however, the Daily Chronicle, of February 24, has this:-

"Captain Mahan, the American naval officer who has retired in order the better to devote himself to naval history, and whose writings have done so much to rouse the feeling of the British people to the fact that the Navy is the chief factor in the preservation of the Realm and the Empire, had written a most interesting article for the March number of Harper's Magazine. The short point, as the lawyers say, is that the United States is virtually an island. Mexico is not worth reckoning with, and Canada is not aggressive,

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nor likely to be so. Therefore, says Captain Mahan, the United States need not bother about a big army, but its defence must be in its fleet. He therefore urges the perpetuation of the remarkable interest lately shown by the United States, in common with England, in her Navy. And, we cannot help saying, from our own point of view, what a mighty power for the good of the world would be a great United States Navy combined in the interests of civilisation, with the great Navy of England."

So it becomes daily more and more apparent that soon the nations must either disarm and arbitrate, or become bankrupt, or fight. That they will fight is in accordance with the logic of history, and is supported by prophecy. They will fight even if they have to go to war to maintain peace, which the Chronicle bitterly deprecates in the case of the bombarding of the Cretans by the combined Powers, and yet it upholds the principle in its support of the idea of a naval combination between England and the United States.

"About Coca Wine" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

Very many of the popular drug preparations, so much advertised, depend upon the large per cent. of alcohol or similar poison in them for their popularity. The indiscriminate swallowing of patent medicines is without doubt ruining the health of many. The British Medical Journal prints the following warning about coca wine:-

"There is no doubt that the steadily increasing consumption of coca wine is a subject which calls for comment and investigation. Originally coca wine was made from coca leaves, but it is now commonly a solution of the alkaloid in a sweet and usually strong alcoholic wine. Not long ago a physician reported that he had experienced considerable inconvenience from taking a glass of standardised coca wine which he had mistaken for an innocuous beverage. Still more recently we have been furnished with details of the case of a man who, thinking to abjure the use of alcoholic stimulants, drank coca wine so freely that he died of delirium tremens. School mistresses as a rule have a deep-rooted belief in the efficacy of the popular drug, and give it to their pupils on the slightest provocation, in complete ignorance of the fact that they are establishing a liking not only for alcohol but for the far more insidious and pernicious poison cocaine. The mania for taking narcotic stimulants is widespread, and is a distinct source of danger to the national health. It is difficult to say at present what steps should be taken, but it is obvious that at no distant date some restriction will have to be placed on the sale of coca wine and its congeners."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

-There are now published in the United Kingdom 2,896 newspapers.

-Greece expected last year 78,200 tons of currants; of these England took 41,608 tons to convert into plum cake and plum pudding.

-Plans have been laid to drive a tunnel under the Straits of Messina, uniting Italy with Sicily. The straits are two miles wide at the narrowest, and this project, if carried out, will rank among the greatest engineering achievements in the world.

-The Queen's daily income is said to be ?1,600. The Emperor of Germany gets ?2,000 a day. The King of Italy receives ?1,600 daily. Austria's Emperor accepts every day ?2,500. The Czar of Russia delights in the sum of ?6,000 every twenty-four hours.

-During the latter part of February the highest tides ever known were experienced in and along the Thames. The riverside roads in many places have been deep under water, and residents along the river bank sometimes unable to go to and from their homes.

-A medical examination of twenty-four bicycle riders, who had just ridden thirty-two miles in two hours, developing the unexpected fact that they were almost all active in the sense of hearing then became normal.

-Brazil is building a new capital city on the high table-land of the interior. The Presidential Palace, as well as other public buildings, is well towards completion. Customers have been readily found for most of the sites for private residences. It is not often that a city can be thus planned, cut out, and made, of whole cloth as it were.

-The first normal gauge electric railway in Europe has now been in operation about one year. The line is 2ï8 miles long, and connects Meckenbeuren and Tettnang in Wurtemberg. There are twenty-six regular trains daily, and with a train weighing forty-six tons the speed attained is fourteen miles an hour on gradients of one in 500.

-The rains in Lincolnshire have been productive of serious consequences. As late as the end of February there were still 12,000 acres of land under water, and the water courses still overflowing. It is believed that much of this land will not be fit for tillage until too late for grain crops, involving those of the whole of this year's harvest. Many small farmers will be completely ruined.

-Champions of the Spanish bull-fighting are proud of the fact that their "sport" is under the patronage of the Church and of the "saints." It is said that the arena becomes more popular every year. The most famous fighters get from ?100 to ?150 for each fight. During the past bull-fight season, according to official returns, there were 478 bull-fights in Spain. In the arena the victims of the carnage amounted to 1,218 bulls, valued at ?60,000, and 5,730 horses, valued at ?40,000. The higher death-rate among the horses is readily understood, when the state of their aboslute defencelessness is considered.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

If you are on God's side you will always see the silver linings of the clouds. No cloud can then stead in your light any more than does your own shadow.

It is impossible to follow; in a weekly paper the political situation in the near East, where any hour may bring changes of tremendous importance to Europe and to the world.

The lesson in the Concert of Europe, which the world ought to learn-but which it will not-is that the enmity amongst the nations is such that only the holding back of the winds of strife by the power of God-by influencing diplomacy or in spite of diplomacy-prevents the most desolating war of all history. All Europe's bound lines way at any time again be "drawn afresh in blood." God grant that it may be held off yet longer.

All South-Eastern Europe, where the danger of war centres, and where the fire will smoulder even though it be covered over at this time, is a dark region. So far little has been done for it. Greek and Roman Catholics fight each other, but unite to keep out the truth. Our own Society's work has begun to show signs of progress in Austro-Hungary and in the Balkans. Other agencies are scattering the Word. But altogether the sound of the Gospel reaches few ears. Instead of doing one thing to set the sickle of death in motion in these regions, Christians will be praying the Lord of the heavenly harvest to send more labourers into the needy fields.

When there is love in the heart that heart then becomes the soil in which the seeds of self-denial and self-sacrifice are ever germinating, growing, developing fruit, and bearing perennial harvest.

It is not likely, is it, that a man will love his neighbour as himself, and hate Christ; but it is certain that a man cannot hate his neighbour, and love Christ. Therefore one may reasonably feel that the nearer a man is to loving his neighbour as himself, the nearer he is to Christ.

"Already Working" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

Already Working .-A noteworthy revival of Spiritualism is going on in France. It is being popularised on the stage and in literature, and the study of the occult proceeds with ardour; it is said that multitudes formerly denying the supernatural are now enthusiastic over their discovery of supernatural power through spiritualistic agencies. Some hail this as a victory for religion, and are ready to welcome the agency as one powerful to convince sceptics of the future life. But the Word says that it is only through the Gospel that "life and immortality" are brought to light. These spiritualistic manifestations are evidences only of the fact that Satan is working "with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10.

"Trustworthy Promises" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

Trustworthy Promises .-Roman Catholic journals have been printing an advertisement which begins thus:-

ST. FRANCIS XAVIER PROMISED

That "Whoever would make a Novena in his honour from the 4th to the 12th of March should obtain whatever favour they asked, if it were according to the Divine Will."

We have the promise of God Himself that, "If we ask anything according to His will He heareth us." 1 John v. 14. But God's promise is insufficient, apparently, and we are asked to pay special honours to Xavier, and he promises to see that God keeps His promise, at any rate from the 4th to the 12th of March. It is perfectly consistent with the papal system, which is founded on the principle of exalting the human "above all that is called God or that is worshipped." No doubt Roman Catholics feel much surer now that Xavier has added his guarantee of God's promises.

"Can He Be Trusted?" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

Can He Be Trusted? -It is not to exhibit Catholic superstition that we quote this advertisement indicating more confidence in a man's promise than in God's. The lesson is as good for Protestants as for Catholics. The papal system is founded on human nature, and human nature always trusts man more than God. How many people there are trusting more in their own ability to get a living or in the good faith of their employers than in the living God. For instance, many a man who is convinced that he ought to serve God is kept back by the fear of losing his means of support. God makes promises to stand by the man who trusts Him, even to the death-but then God seems a long way off. If now some man of responsibility would promise a good situation it would be very easy to give up the old one and serve the Lord. It is human nature again depending upon a human guarantee of the Lord's faithfulness in keeping the promises made to those who "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." Thousands are in just that position over the question of keeping God's Sabbath. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." Jer. xvii. 7.

"Great Words" The Present Truth 13, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

Great Words .-The Pope closes his decree prohibiting Catholics from reading certain books by warning all who disobey him that they will surely "incur the displeasure of Almighty God and the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul." Inasmuch as it is God's own Word that the Pope forbids men to read without his permission, he speaks without authority, for the Lord says, "Blessed is he that readeth." The apostles are dead, but in words that still live by inspiration of God Peter, in both of his epistles, especially exhorts the people to be "mindful of" and to desire the "sincere milk of the Word." And Paul, warning of the very apostasy which developed into the Papacy, commended the brethren "to God and to the Word of His grace."

Rome, One and Indivisible. -Rome never tires of boasting of its unity, the Roman church standing to the same thing in every country and clime. For the sake of pointing the lesson we grant that there is uniformity. But if Rome does stand for the same principles everywhere, how, we ask English Romanists, are we to understand the fact that in Spain, where Rome is powerful, the Church is calling for the suppression of Protestant schools and even of Protestant public worship? One can see the same thing in every country where Rome rules supreme, and is not afraid to avow its sentiments. The Roman boast of unity means nothing less than that those who are now in this country demanding a share from the public purse for religious schools would, if they possessed sufficient power, take the very position here that their brethren arrogate to themselves in Spain and elsewhere.

March 11, 1897

"God's Handiwork" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

The winter has past and the brightening, warming sun gives promise in its enlivening beams of the vernal joys of bud, and bloom, and fresh green leaves, and singing birds, which are near.

Yet, while the springtime and the summer are beautiful, and show forth to us daily in bewildering multitudes the marvels of God's handiwork, the winter-time is no less wonderful in its beauty, and at the same time no less beautiful in its wonders.

Consider for a moment just one of the accompaniments of the wintry winter, the snow. In the still, small voice of the softly-falling snow, the expression of Divine creative power, and supremacy of authority, may be realised even more than in the startling insistence of the thunders of the summer showers. Job's friend, Elihu, felt this when he said, extolling the greatness and power of God (Job xxxvii. 5, 6), "Great things doeth He which we cannot comprehend. For He saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth" etc. "By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened."

But man's understanding of the wonders of snow and ice is so small, and his view so narrow, that God said in reply (Job xxxviii. 22, 23), "Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?"

So this beautiful, gentle snow, and no less marvellous thing, ice and hail, commend themselves to our attention even more than by their beauty, and the natural marvel of their production. There are treasures of these frozen forms stored up for use as part of the terrors of the time of trouble, in the last days,-which no man has seen, and of which there is no thought among men.

But what is the snow? This anomalous thing which, falling, makes the day dark with its solid whiteness, and the darkness of the night brilliant with its brightness, though it hides all familiar things from our sight? How softly and gently it robes the earth in its pure mantle, warmly and lovingly protecting from cold and death the life which mother earth carries in her bosom, yet relentless in its chilling cold to him who braves its trackless wastes.

Beautiful, yet terrible; soft and light and tender and beneficent, yet hard and stern and fierce and deadly; protecting and preserving the life of the coming summer, yet remorselessly chilling away the warm life that is exposed to it. The cold breath of the snow hardens the earth and the water till the whole surface of the earth is as unimpressionable as the primeval rock; yet this is, that, purified of its grossness and poisons, both earth and water may return again to the use of man more fit than before.

How delicately soft a thing a snowflake is, as it lightly treads its airy stairway down to earth,-the most pure and angel-like product of the mystery of the skies. Whence did it arise? how came it there? how came it here?-questions as unanswerable to-day, outside of the Word of God, as in the days of Elihu and Job. With all man's scientific research, in which he has followed, step by step, the processes of God's creative and upholding power, as far as they are open to his eyes, he, in reality, after it all, only knows that God said, "Let it be so!" and it was so, and still is so. When God said, "Let there be a firmament," and divided the waters beneath from the clouds above, then first became possible the wonder of the falling snow. But when the airy home and pathway of the snowflake was made, only the same potency of Omnipotence could make the snowflake itself.

Did you ever examine closely a new-fallen snow flake, so fragile and weak, and both the marvel and beauty of its symmetrical crystallic forms,-and do you know that to put, and hold, in those shapes, so much of this frail substance as you will gather in your hands to make a snow-ball, requires a force as great as the power which Etna puts

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forth, when it heaves lava and gigantic rocks to the skies? Only the potency of Omnipotence could do it. And all man's achievements are possible only through the use of the potencies of the Almighty which He has prepared for man and granted him the privilege of utilising, that he may learn the power and goodness of the Creator.

In the beauty and wonder of the snow, except he be blind, spiritually blind, every man, and every child, may see an expression of the power of the Creator, and know God.

But now the winter is past, the snow is gone, and the wonder of the growing things, the beauty of the blooming flowers, and the joy of the singing birds is with us. Truly, "day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge" of God,-and, of all these wonders which He has made, "there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard."

"Jesuits in Madagascar" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

The Jesuits are still the pioneers of Romanism, and wherever political situations favour old-time methods of "conversion" they are as ready as ever to take advantage of their opportunities. Owing to their influence the Protestant missionaries in Madagascar have had a hard time since the French occupation. The London Missionary Society has prepared a statement, of which the following paragraph is a summary:-

"The French Government professed, and still professes, to concede full religious liberty; but, especially in outlying districts; a system of terrorism prevails. The Jesuit missionaries are the moving force, and in many cases they are backed by the Government officials, who depend upon them as interpreters. A favourite course is to claim a Protestant chapel as communal-to get a majority of the people in their favour, and then to oust the Protestants and open it as a Catholic place of worship. At least a score of chapels have thus been taken possession of by the Catholics. The fact is that these chapels were not built by the communes as such, but by the united gifts of the inhabitants. The Jesuits gain their majority by denouncing the Protestants as friends of the English, and as enemies of France. The terrified people believe that they will be shot, and to save their lives go over in hundreds to the Catholics."

"Present Blessings" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesus met Martha and Mary, after the death of Lazarus, each of them in reproachful sorrow, "Lord, if hadst been here, my brother had not died." Martha, however, did not allow regret for the past to shut out all comfort for the present, as she added, "But I know that even now, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee." It was a confession of faith for a present blessing, though even then she was hardly prepared to believe that Jesus would immediately raise Lazarus to life, and found it easier to believe for the future-that in the resurrection of the last day her brother should rise again. The Lord had comfort for them just then and gave them their brother risen from the dead. But the lesson of Martha's confession is for all time. It is natural enough to regret the past; to feel that if only this or that had not occurred, or if only the Lord had interposed and ordered differently, we could now have faith and courage. But whatever the past, there is blessing from the Lord for every one just now. He has present comfort for those who sorrow under bereavement, and present forgiveness and good cheer for those who sorrow over past failures and misfortunes. God lives to bless and comfort and work in the eternal present.

"The Popularity of War" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

At the farewell banquet to the American Ambassador last week, Lord Salisbury, speaking of the influences which make for war between peoples, said:-

Of this I feel certain, that it is not in the traditions of Governments or the tendencies of official persons that the danger, if any such there be, to good relations exists. If you will keep the unofficial people in order I will promise you the official people will never make war.

It would be too much to accept this as absolutely true, as statesmen are but of the same flesh and blood as the unofficial people, but no one can fail to see that kings and rulers do not make war nowadays against the will of their peoples as much as in past days. Rather is it popular passion forcing the hands of statesmen. What the passion for war is every Christian knows who knows his Bible. "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts?" That is what the Word says, and everybody knows it is true, however much people may glorify war. It is the working out of the natural brute in man.

"The Promises to Israel. The Time of the Promise at Hand" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

In closing our study of the Babylonian captivity last week we saw that if Israel had learned the lesson of trust in God and had not continued still in the bondage of pride and self-confidence, the seventy years of Babylonian captivity would have brought them to a point where the long-deferred promise of an everlasting inheritance might speedily have been fulfilled; for, as already stated, up to the time of the beginning of the captivity in Babylon the only definite time of prophecy was the period of seventy years. But God foresaw before this time ended that the lesson had not been learned; and so, toward the close of that period He gave the prophet Daniel a vision in which another and longer time was fixed. The prophecy is briefly this:-

THE VISION OF DANIEL VIII

Daniel saw in vision a ram with the peculiarity that one horn was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. He "saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great." Dan. viii. 3, 4.

Next he saw a goat coming furiously from the west, having one notable horn between his eyes. "And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him; and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. Therefore the he goat waxed very great; and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host," etc. Dan viii. 5-11.

After giving some further details concerning this wonderful little horn, the prophet thus concludes the account of the vision:-

"Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spoke, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Verses 13, 14.

THE ANGEL'S INTERPRETATION

It is not the design to enter into the details of the prophecy, but simply to give the barest outline, so that we may be able to trace the history of the promise. An angel was commissioned to explain the vision to Daniel, which he proceeded to do as follows:-

"The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia; and the great horn between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many; he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. And the vision of the evening and the morning is true." Dan. viii. 20-26.

Two universal kingdoms that were to follow Babylon are named, and the other one is so clearly indicated, that we can readily name it. The power that acquired the lordship of the world as the result of the third revolution spoken of by Ezekiel was Rome, here plainly indicated by its work of standing up against the Prince of princes. After the death of Alexander, king of Greece, his kingdom was divided into four parts, and it was by the conquest of Macedonia, one of these four divisions, in B.C. 68, that Rome acquired such strength that it could dictate to the world. Hence it is said to come forth from one of them.

A LONG PROPHETIC PERIOD

But there was a period of time connected with this vision, which the angel did not explain with the rest of the vision. It was the twenty-three hundred days, or, literally, twenty-three hundred evenings and mornings. That these are not literal days may be known from this: This is a prophecy of symbols, in which short-lived animals are used to represent kingdoms that existed during hundreds of years; it is perfectly in keeping with the method of symbolic prophecy to use days in connection with the symbols, but it is evident that they must represent a longer period, in the interpretation, since two thousand three hundred days-a little more than six years-would scarcely be the beginning of the first kingdom. So we are warranted in concluding that each day stands for a year, as in Eze. iv. 6, where the Lord uses days in symbolising years.

Later on the same angel came back, as the result of Daniel's prayer, to make known the remainder of the vision, namely, about the days. See Dan. ix. 20-23. Beginning where he left off, as though not a moment had intervened, the angel said, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people," etc. Verse 24.

Seventy weeks, four hundred and ninety years, were determined or cut off from the two thousand three hundred years, upon the Jewish people. They were to begin from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem. This commandment full and complete we find in Ezra vii. 11-26, and it was given in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, which was B.C. 457. Beginning in the year 457 B.C., four hundred and ninety years would end in the year 34 A.D.

But the last one of these prophetic weeks was divided. Sixty-nine of them-483 years-reaching to the year 27 A.D., marked the time of the revelation of the Messiah, or the Anointed One, the time when Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost at His baptism.

In the middle of the last week of years, namely three and one-half years after the baptism of Jesus, Messiah was "cut off, but not for Himself." During the entire week, or seven years, the covenant was confirmed.

The whole period of two thousand three hundred years, which can readily be calculated, reaches to the year 1844 A.D., which is in the past. Thus the longest prophetic period given in the Bible has expired, so that now indeed "the time of the promise" must be very near. When the Lord will come to restore all things, no one can tell, for "of that day and hour knoweth no man."

THE KINGDOM OF GOD TAKEN FROM THE JEWISH PEOPLE

But let us note further for a moment that period of four hundred and ninety years 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 long-suffering 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 ones around whom the kingdom of Israel, the fifth and last universal kingdom, should centre, they ceased to have any distinctive place in the promise. Individuals of the race may be saved by believing the Gospel, just the

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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 for ever gone, because they did not appreciate it. They knew not the time of their visitation.

THE FINAL CALL FROM BABYLON

And now what remains?-Only this, that God's people hear and obey the call to come out of Babylon, lest by remaining they receive of her plagues. For although the city on the Euphrates was destroyed many hundred years ago, even several hundred years before Christ, yet nearly one hundred years after Christ the prophet John was by the Spirit moved to repeat the very threats uttered by Isaiah against Babylon, and in almost the identical words:-

"How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her; for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine." Rev. xviii. 7, 8. Compare Isa. xlvii. 7-10.

Babylon was a heathen city, exalting itself above God. As shown in Belshazzar's feast (Dan. v.), it represented a religion that defied God. The same spirit exists to-day, not simply in a certain society, but wherever men choose their own way in religion, rather than submit to every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. God in His longsuffering and tender mercy is but waiting until His people, coming out of Babylon, and humbling themselves to walk with Him, shall preach this Gospel of the kingdom, with all the power of the kingdom, even the power of the world to come, "in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come."

That "end" will be the destruction of Babylon, just as spoken through Jeremiah; but as Babylon of old was a universal kingdom, and its real king, as shown in Isa. xiv., was Satan, the god of this world, so the destruction of Babylon is nothing less than the judgment of God on the whole earth, when He delivers His people. For now read the words which "Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations," when he prophesied about the end of the Babylonian captivity:-

GOD'S CONTROVERSY WITH THE NATIONS

"For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

"Then took I the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the Lord had sent me: to wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Askelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon, and all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea, Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners, and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert, and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

"Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts.

"Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall mightily roar upon His habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground." Jer. xxv. 15-33.

This is the fearful doom to which all the nations of the earth are rushing. For that great battle they are all arming. Many of them are dreaming of federation and of universal dominion; but God has said of universal dominion on this earth, "It shall be no more, till He come whose right it is, and I will give it Him." Eze. xxi. 27. 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." 2 Cor. x. 4, 5.

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?

"Where Do You Live?" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

Where Do You Live? -Every day, and every hour, as we grow from childhood to maturity and old age, we are building, and furnishing, mansions and palaces of thought for our souls to dwell in, not creations of fancy, or "Castles in Spain," but veritable abodes for the soul. And every one, however humble, however poor, may, if he will, live in "The House Beautiful." But these homes of the soul are as varied as the grave, the prison, the castle, the palace, and the home; and there are

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those which are a foretaste of the mansion which He has gone to prepare.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

-The Dutch people consume more tobacco per head than the people of any other country.

-One of the largest ships of war ever built on the Thames was completed for Japan last week.

-There are four hundred and eighty poisons to the square mile in England, and seventeen to the square mile in the United States.

-The damage to life and property wrought by the high wind last week was said to be almost unparalleled at this time of the year in England.

-On every shilling turned out the Mint makes a profit of nearly threepence. On every ton of penny-pieces taken out from the Mint there is a profit of ?362.

-The Benin and the Niger expeditions have been completed and the British authority established over immense territory. Both campaigns were fighting ones, and much blood was shed.

-Over three million of people are now being relieved by the Government relief works in India The Mansion House Fund, which is used in supplementary relief, is now nearing the half-million pounds.

-The situation in Europe is so critical that little thought is given to political upheavals elsewhere. But last week the Spanish forces defeated the insurgents in the Philippines, slaying, it is said, 2,000 of them.

-"Captain Boycott-who has given both a noun and a verb to the language-says that to-day, so far from being the most hated man in Mayo, he is one of the most popular. It is he who was originally 'boycotted' sixteen years ago."

-Crete has been under Turkish rule since 1669. There have been periodic revolts ever since. It is a very rough and mountainous island, and in some of the rocky wilds it is said there have always been some who have never been conquered or subjected.

-The Pope has purchased a large estate adjoining the Vatican gardens, being assured that Italy will treat it as the Vatican, granting rights of extra-territoriality, that is, as territory beyond the jurisdiction of the ordinary processes of government. Thus the Pope is actually sovereign of a considerable area, which pleases his vanity immensely, although he wants all Rome to be his.

-The Chinese Empire has been surrounded by officials whose aim has been to keep him from becoming contaminated by too much knowledge of the world outside of the Middle Kingdom. For long it was unpatriotic to allow that there was any world not ruled by the Court of Peking. But the young man is asserting himself and evidently means to learn. He called for a French teacher, and one Li was provided. But the Emperor soon found that Li knew no more of French than him-self, and ordered him under arrest, to be detained until he acquired the language which he was reputed to be able to teach. The Emperor will doubtless learn French.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

The very men who most have cried, "Peace and safety," are invariably foremost in giving vent to the sentiments which make for war when crises come.

Any observer can see that there is no real peace in the nations. The only sentiments which draw them together in combinations are mutual selfishness and mutual hatred. There is no peace where selfishness is, and selfishness exists wherever Christ is not enthroned in men's hearts.

The newspapers frequently speak of the Armageddon which they see drawing near. They use the phrase as a convient one to denote the general upheaval which all expect. But if they really believed what the Bible says about Armageddon their leading articles would read very differently. That great gathering to battle is plainly preparing, and what then? Then the voice cries, "It is done;" and the earth shakes and "the cities of the nations" fall, and the end comes. Rev. xvi. 14-31.

The Drink Bill of the United Kingdom for 1896 has just been published. The expenditure for the twelve months was ?146,972,230. This is six and a half millions over the preceding year. What a fearful record this is when misery and want and famine abound in so many parts. And the drink is the direct cause of a great proportion of the misery at home.

Solomon expressed with great simplicity and clearness the facts in reference to the courses of the great air currents which generations of scientific observation and research have at last noted, and mapped, and reduced to a certainty, when he said: "The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whistleth about continually, and the wind returneth again to his circuits." Solomon was taught by God; that is the reason why he was in advance of his age as a scientific man. If other men had been willing to receive knowledge from the same source the world need never have been ignorant either of material or spiritual things.

"What Christ Says" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

What Christ Says .-The head of the Greek Church in Greece appealed "in the name of Christ" to the ecclesiastical heads of the English and Russian churches to pronounce in favour of the Cretans; who are declared to be fighting for their liberty and the Christian religion. But Christ's explicit word to all Christians is, "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." But of course those who counsel war, fighting for liberty, insurrection, or whatever name may be given to it, do not believe Christ's words, nor will they admit that Christ's life is the example for Christians.

"'As He Walked'" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

"As He Walked." -Christ had ample provocation from men if there had been any root of evil in Him to respond to the evil without. He to whom all power in heaven and in earth was committed suffered every ignominy, and never contended for His own. Suppose; when the people took Him to the brow of the hill to cast Him over, that He had begun to fight them, or when they took up stones to cast at Him that He had retaliated in kind! No one who knows the life of Christ could imagine such a thing. We say that wouId have been utterly unlike Christ. He trusted God, and Divine power preserved His life until His hour was come, and then He died praying for His enemies, not cursing them. That was Jesus Christ. "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked." 1 John ii. 6. This for ever shuts every Christian away from war and from the spirit of this world which leads to fighting.

"The Unwisdom of War" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

The Unwisdom of War .-The man whom God granted to be the wisest of men said, " Wisdom is better than weapons of war." Is it that there are so few wise men among the nations that they put so great trust in navies, armaments, and battalions? If in proportion to their lack of wisdom men put trust in these things, how lamentably little wisdom there must be in the world at the present time. There never was a time in which men put greater confidence in "heavy battalions" than at the present. So, when at last these forces are put in motion, those who have trusted in them most will meet with bitterest reverses. It is not given to those who are, from the human point of view, the swift and strong, to win in the final contests.

"Bondmen and Freemen" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

Bondmen and Freemen .-Men talk as though the gaining of political liberty were the one great and noble aim of a people-always excepting any people whom the majority represented by those who thus talk may desire to deprive of full political liberty. Even religious teachers talk as though fighting for political independence were a Christian thing to do. But they do this because they imperfectly understand the liberty which Christ proclaimed. It was liberty for the soul from sin, for the bondman as well as for the freeman; and so sweet was the draught of liberty from the everlasting fountain of God's free life that it made bondmen patient to bear injustice and servitude. When the great event comes toward which these very struggles for political changes are fast forcing the world, it will matter little to the men who have filled the earth with violence whether they happen to be free of not. "The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and every bondman and every freeman" will vainly call for the rocks to fall upon them to hide them from the face of the Lord. Rev. vi. 15. Yes, there is a liberty infinitely more important than civil liberty which men must hasten to learn if they would not be in the company described.

"Is the Bible Heretical?" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

Is the Bible Heretical? -"Books of apostates, heretics, schismatics, and all other writers which defend heresy or schism, or in any way tend to overthrow the basis of religion are absolutely forbidden." Thus the Popes decrees. But the same decree forbids the Bible in the tongue of the people without the explanations of the Church. Granting the creed of Rome to be the standard of orthodoxy, the Bible is truly the most heretical book extant.

"Two Paths" The Present Truth 13, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

Two Paths .-It was of that just and righteous man who had received into his heart and life the Light of the world, that Solomon thought when he said: "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," and placed in contrast the pathway of him in whom there is no light: "The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble." Therefore he urges: "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the path of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away."

March 18, 1897

"A Lesson in Ruling" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler of Israel." Micah v. 2.

Compare this with Matt. ii. 6, where it is quoted, and note the margin which is closer to the original: "Thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Juda; for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall feed My people Israel."

This is the Holy Spirit's definition of the work of a true ruler or governor. We find it not in the nations of earth, nor in the apostate church, where the princes of the people "exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority over them," but we do find it amongst the real followers of Christ, where greatness is according to the amount of service.

The Danish version, following the original Matt. ii. more closely than the English, has it: "out of thee shall go a Prince who shall be My people Israel's Shepherd." This agrees with the marginal reading of our common version, for the duty of a shepherd is to feed the flock. But mark this, that the Ruler of Israel is the Shepherd of Israel; His work as Ruler of the people is to feed them.

See how beautifully this thought of a Shepherd-King is expressed in Isa. xl. 10, 11: "Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young."

This is the only kind of ruling that the Lord sanctions in His church. In Heb. xiii.17 we read the exhortation, "Obey them that have the rule over you," but here again we may learn from the margin

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that these rulers are guides-those who direct the people in the right way, as a shepherd. Christ is "the Prince of princes" the Ruler over all, He leads His people, however, and does not drive them. He leads them where they will find food and safety.

This thought is emphasised by the fact that Christ as Ruler comes out of Bethlehem. Bethlehem, literally, is the "House of Bread." Out of the house of bread comes the Ruler, whose work is to feed the people. How significant! More than this, He Himself is the Bread of Life. In the house of God there is always an abundance of "the hidden manna," enough and to spare. Here is a lesson for all who are in positions of authority in the church. Their work is to take the Bread of Life from the House of Bread, to feed upon it themselves, and then feed the people with it. When they do this their authority will be recognised by the people, even if questioned by the scribes and Pharisees.

"The Nightmare of Europe" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Mr. Henry Norman, the Chroncle's Commissioner in Greece, and a well-known authority on Eastern affairs, says that Macedonia is "the nightmare of Europe." The nightmare consists rather in the events which Macedonia may have power to precipitate, and is the horrid reality of jealous Powers and excitable races armed to the teeth ready to shed blood in torrents. Mr. Norman says:-

"When I went through the Balkans a year ago one question was put to me above all other's. Prince Nicolas in Montenegro, Prince Ferdinand and Dr. Stoiloff in Bulgaria, M. Stourdza in Roumania, M. Ristitch and M. Novakovitch in Servia, M. de Kallay in Bosnia, all asked the same thing: 'Have you heard anything about Macedonia?' In that strange and almost unknown land Greeks and Bulgarians and Serbs and Roumanians and Turks wait for the signal. Almost anybody may give it, and instantly five armies will march, and omnipotence itself could not hold back the mighty forces of Europe as soon as the stampede for the spoil has begun.

"Austria wants Salonica, Montenegro wants Albania, Servia wants 'Old Servia,' Roumania wants what she can get, Bulgaria wants the sea, Greece wants Epirus and much more. Russia wants to control it all. For more than a year the Secret Committee has been working in Athens. Nobody knows who is at the head of it. It has almost unlimited funds, subscribed in Athens, in Constantinople, in Paris, in Smyrna, in Egypt, in Vienna, in London, in Liverpool. It has volunteers as many as it asks for, and Martini rifles and cartridges for them all. For a year its agents have gone backwards and forwards across Macedonia. Everything is ready. Let the word be given in Athens, let a force sally out of the passes of Thessaly, and Macedonia will explode from one end to the other. Armageddon-'when the trees bud'? We all pray not."

It is precisely because Omnipotence can bold back the mighty forces of evil that the universal crash does not come. Europe may be involved in general war, gusts of fury may bIow here and there, but the "four winds"-the world-wide tempests that will end in the Armageddon of the last day-are held back that God's work of saving men may go forward. He says so in Rev. vii. 1-3. Politicians take little or no account of this side of the question, but it is nevertheless the fact that but one thing holds back the "time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation," and that is the urgency of God's message urging men to come out of the world and prepare to meet Him. "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. The most blessed work anyone can have to do with in these times is to preach that Gospel by word and works.

"Words of Good Cheer from the Throne" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

In a review of the life of Sir George Grey, the Colonial Administrator, it is remarked how often, when his plans and efforts were not appreciated by the shifting ministries at home, he was cheered and encouraged by messages of appreciation and sympathy from Queen Victoria.

The reviewer recounts many other like cases, and it is a matter of common knowledge that the Queen has always been watchful and tactful to speak the cheering word. Many builders of the empire have been cheered by the knowledge that, though far away, and but small figures in the great empire, yet there was a personality representing it who was not blind to their sacrifices nor forgetful of their endeavours.

If such recognition is cheering to the man of the world engaged in building up a kingdom that must soon perish, how much more should the Christian worker find good cheer in the thought that from the very Throne of the Heavens Jesus sends the message of sympathy and courage. Though but an atom in the universe God's care is over him, and He speaks not once or twice but constantly by His Word, in which every promise is assured to every believer. Not the fall of a sparrow escapes His watchful eye, and even the faintest call He hears and answers from His throne.

"The Beginning and End of Knowledge" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

It is the beginning of knowledge to fear the Lord. Is that a statement of fact, or not? Solomon said it was a fact, only he reversed the terms of the expression and so made it more rhetorically impressive by the form in which he stated it,-"To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

Solomon was, without question, a wise man. There have been found those who could prate most amusingly and eloquently about the "mistakes of Moses," and so, had it but occurred to them, they might have had a still wider field for their riotous wit in the "foolishness of Solomon." But where Moses made mistakes, and where Solomon was foolish, was where they forgot for the time the very rudiments of knowledge, and failed to base their thought and act upon the foundation of reverent remembrance of God; then they made mistakes, and then they were foolish.

There can be no more conclusive evidence that the beginning of knowledge is really the fear of the Lord than these same mistakes of the great Israelitish leader, and the follies of the wise man. They both paid the penalty of their mistakes and their follies. Except for the errors into which he fell, Moses might not only have led his people into the promised land, but then, having fulfilled his mission, have been, like Elijah, translated, while his vigour was yet unimpaired and his vision undimmed.

Solomon, after his plunge into folly, was filled with the sad reflections that he to whom had been granted the greatest blessings of this world, and the noblest possibilities, had profited nothing by them, but had so used them that they were only a weariness of the flesh and vanity of vanities-all vanity.

Yet the embers of the Divine fire, stiff burning within him, impelled him to urge upon others that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and that the young should remember their Creator in the days of their youth; for the conclusion

163

of the whole matter was that it was the entire duty of man to "fear God, and keep His commandments." And although he had so misused the wondrous gifts of God himself that now he hated life, and hated all the labour that he had taken under the sun, yet he knew, and taught, that "God giveth to a man, that is good in His sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy,"-and knew that had he been good in the sight of the Lord the joy that he had lacked would have continued his.

There can be no more striking testimony than the life and death of Solomon, of the utter futility of mere knowledge and worldly power in comparison with that wisdom which, having its beginning in the fear of the Lord, builds through life on the same rock, and so cannot, in old age, be overthrown.

"'The Passion for War'" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

The Spectator is not a religious journal, neither is it an advocate for peace principles; but, applying itself to an analysis of the passion for war which takes possession of peoples, it very plainly, and from a merely worldly point of view, shows the really ignoble and contemptible nature of the war spirit.

"Why" it asks, "do nations suddenly feel, as they undoubtedly do, the stirring of an appetite for war? Philanthropists argue always that peace of itself always produces a desire for peace, that if a nation can abstain from war for a generation it will lose the desire for war, just as a man who has "sworn off" for a long time, loses the desire for drink; but that experience by no means warrants their conclusions. On the contrary, history seems to suggest that war cools the desire for war, and that peace generates it again. . . . It is after a long peace, when a generation has grown up which knows nothing of actual battle, that a nation begins to grow restless, to recall the pleasures instead of the pains of battle, to feel the desire of glory, and to display a readiness to quarrel which covers a secret desire for war.

"A generation without experience is, in many respects, like a young man, who, even if he has work to do, begins after a few years to resent the monotony of life; to be impatient of humdrum even if profitable; to feel in his veins, without conscious volition, the desire for a larger arena, for deeper excitement, for adventure, even if it should bring both danger and pain. In a man the craving is often satisfied by love; but a nation cannot love; the one excitement which soars its blood to the adequate degree, which carries it out of itself, and out of its wearisome sameness of existence, is battle-a struggle with equals which involves both danger and the chance of gain.

"'War, with its happy chances,' said Napoleon III. It has often been said by historians that the French in 1848 were positively sick of the tameness in which their lives had been passed for thirty-two years, and especially of the last sixteen, during which the nation had flourished, commercially and intellectually, as it never flourished before, but had never enjoyed either a great adventure or an enlivening thrill of alarm. You can see the same signs of restlestness in all the nations now, [this was written several months ago] extending even to Great Britain, where the thirst is in part kept down by the incessant drawing off of the wilder spirits of each generation to search for success and careers in the wilder life of India and the great Colonies, and showing itself most visible in America, where in the absence of enemies the desire for peace ought to be perpetual.

"There is a certain fear of war everywhere, due to a perception of the vast scale on which it must be fought, and the terrible reduction in the chance of escape which the new weapons will ensure, but nevertheless there is hardly a nation which is without the feeling that if war came life would be brighter, more vivid, more like the dreams which fill the brains of youth. The sudden passion which fills music-halls and makes all newspapers pugnacious, is not altogether either vapour or a mere product of vanity, but has its roots in a spirit which, bad or good-and we are not judging it just now-has its origins in some permanent constituent of human nature. Philosophers say that this constituent is the actual love of fighting, the survival of the animal in man; but we do not feel quite sure, for we notice that it is as strong or stronger in those who do not intend to fight, that writers in prose and poetry grow especially bloodthirsty, and that women, though they will suffer most and enjoy least from battle, are often readier than men to declare that battle ought to be risked. We incline rather to believe, though it is a disheartening thought, that the impelling force, often unconscious, is rather a thirst for the deepest of all excitements, that of the arena. No more dangerous thirst can be conceived, but that it can be developed as it were of itself in periods of profound peace we feel as certain as we do that neither the philosophers nor the theologians have yet discovered any remedy for it, or any prophylactic.

There is but one remedy and that is the Gospel. The Gospel takes all the fight out of the heart by freeing men from the power of the god of this world who is the author of war. But this is a remedy which the world in general refuses to accept, and so the war clouds hang heavily over the nations continually.

"Evangelising in Turkey" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

The brother in charge of our Society's work in Turkey reports his first tour in the provinces since the rising in Constantinople. He says:-

"The last revolutionary movement of the Armenians against the Turkish Government so changed the internal condition of the country that it has become impossible for an Armenian to travel as he pleases. The important ports were taken under close watching. A special court was arranged to investigate all Armenians who wanted to leave the country. As I am an Armenian, I had first to appeal to this court. I am glad that God gave me favour before the council. When they learned that I was a Sabbath-keeper, they took this question under consideration, and I was permitted to visit Cilicia."

Meetings were held in Adana and Tarsus, and in both places a number were baptized. "Protestants stood afar from us" he says, "but (Catholic) Armenians, especially young people, were stirred to study. Some Protestants consulted together to put me into the hands of the Government, but God brought their plans to naught." It is the old story over again: those who have a little light and do not appreciate it nor live up to it, fight bitterly against the light which shows their transgressions and invites to a higher life, while those poor souls who feel their poverty rejoice when the Word comes to them.

"For Pious Purposes" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

For Pious Purposes .-Whenever one wants to do a wicked thing he can do it with far more enthusiasm if he can persuade himself that it is for a pious or philanthropic purpose. No wars are so cruel and bloody as those in which men mingle religious feeling with political aims. It nerves them to acts of which they would be incapable did they not consider themselves the instruments of Divine vengeance. They think God is animated by the same hatred that fills their own hearts. Thus they make God like unto themselves, which is the way of all heathenism. In the name also of civilisation, and even "Christian civilisation," adventurers can perpetrate upon weak races crimes which even the most heartless would shrink from if they merely considered the atrocity itself. It is the devil's way of making men think they do God's service when they are swayed by the very spirit of Satan.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

-The King of Siam is expected to visit England this year.

-It is proposed in the United States to employ convicts in making Turkish rugs.

-The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs is an Irishman, Charles O'Donnell by name.

-The boy King of Spain speaks English fluently, and he is described as being a bright, mischievous, wilful child.

-A steamer has been put upon the Jordan, and makes the journey from Jericho to Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, in five hours.

-The Greek and Turkish citizens throughout the world, subject to military duty, are being summoned by their respective governments to return home.

-The expenditure proposed for ship building during the coming year, by the German naval estimates, is nearly seven times that of the normal average expenditure.

-A new source of tree gutta percha, capable of adding largely to the world's supply, is reported to have lately been found in a creeping plant in the French Soudan.

-Great preparations are being made for the celebration of the Queen's Jubilee Day, June 22. The procession, representing Britain and the Colonies, is to be a mile long, and it is expected that 26,000 troops will be paraded along the route.

-A Japanese scientist believes that he has evidence that the cause of the tidal wave which devastated the coast of Japan last June, was a volcanic outburst at the bottom of the ocean, about two hundred leagues at sea.

-What is said to be the most expensive book to the world is now being published by the Government of the United States, at a total cost of nearly ?600,000. The book is an official history of the American Civil War, and consists of 112 volumes.

-The British and Foreign Bible Society has just celebrated the ninety-third anniversary of its organisation. Nearly 4,000,000 Bibles, Testaments, and extracts, have been distributed the past year. The entire output of the Society to the present date has been 147,366,669 copies of the Bible.

-Twice in one week the X rays were used in Leeds Infirmary for the extraction of coins swallowed by children. In one instance a half-penny was accidentally swallowed five months ago. Under the rays the coin was at once loosed, the requisite operation being speedily and successfully performed.

-A "Sunday Steamer Association" proposes to run a steamer on the Clyde the coming summer. The Dunoon Commissioners have expressed themselves unwilling to open the pier on Sundays. Legal authorities are of the opinion that a pier cannot be closed against a steamer on any day. So a battle at law seems imminent.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

"If you love Me, keep My commandments," love and obedience are inseparable. Those who refuse to keep His commandments do so because they do not love Him. In that heart wherein the commandments of God are written, love and faith will both abide.

The fashion is to glorify the culture and philosophy of the ancient Greeks. But it is not realised by those who do this that the Apostle Paul, in the first chapter of Romans, describes by inspiration the true character of that heathen culture which put God out of the knowledge of men and was unspeakably vile.

"The Medical Side of the Drink Question" (Ideal Publishing Union, Memorial Hall, Farringdon-street), is an excellent compilation from the writings of the late Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson. It is a large pamphlet (78 pp.) at the very low price of 1d. May it do much good, for the increasing consumption of drink is due very much to ignorance of the poisonous nature of alcohol.

How foolish that rich man is who thinks he can save his wealth by depositing it in the bank and safety vault of the devil, instead of laying it up where moth and rust can never corrupt, and where there are no thieves to break through and steal.

"Not Protestant" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Not Protestant .-The Anglican Archbishops have replied to the Papal Bull on Anglican Orders, and their reply is ample proof that if the highest officials of the English Church speak for the majority, the majority of the Church of England totally repudiates Protestantism. They address the Pope as their "venerable brother," and the argument throughout is that the Church of England has a sacrificing priesthood whose "orders" are every whit as sound as the Roman Catholic.

"Sowing the Wind" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Sowing the Wind .-When preachers justify resort to war to gain political independence, and a great hall filled with rebellious people, rings with cheers for those who-let us say-fight for their rights against oppression, it is impossible not to think of an equally noisy meeting, held in the same great hall a little time ago, when an audience distinctly irreligious in its sympathies cheered men who counselled the overthrow of the present colonial system in England. At the recent meeting speakers evoked repeated "groans" by violently denouncing a foreign ruler, the German Emperor. At the other meeting there were groans for the British Government and hisses for the aged Queen. Of course it will be said that the meeting in behalf of the Greek cause was more representative, and that the other meeting represented only a few malcontents. But the point is that when religious people justify resort to bloodshed to overthrow Governments and to secure rights they are losing their influence for peace and encouraging elements of discontent which are increasing year by year. They are sowing the wind and will yet reap the whirlwind.

"Suffering In Rhodesia" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Suffering In Rhodesia .-Following the native war and the rinderpest, the newly opened country of Matabeleland is suffering famine. We have frequently printed reports from our Society's mission there, showing the great needs of the natives. The situation, according to the last report, was increasing in gravity. One of the missionaries writes:-

When I last wrote, I could chronicle the fact that many who were mere skeletons had been seen, and that deaths were reported from adjoining neighbourhoods. Now we can say they are no longer at a distance, but have become a reality at our door. The dead from hunger is all round us, and human skeletons are walking about on every side, begging for a morsel to eat; but even this has often to be denied them. The road to Buluwayo has been for a few weeks dotted here and there with the bodies of those who have gone as far as they could in search of food: but strength failing, they perished by the way.

"The Cry of the Children" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

The Cry of the Children .-The report further tells of a boy who was caught trying to steal a fowl, who led his captor to a place where a little three-year-old was buried in a hole by a layer of brushwood and soil. The little one was taken out and makes progress toward recovery.

Yesterday a native told my wife that many are disposing of their children by thrusting them into holes, and covering them with whatever is at hand; then placing their fingers in ears to drown their cries, they run from the place as fast as they can go. Oh, that we could take all these helpless ones, and feed them, and teach them of Jesus and a life beyond! We have taken thirty of these needy ones to feed and clothe and teach, and have appealed to the Government in behalf of the many we are unable to help. We hope attention will be given to this appeal. Dear brethren, do we fully appreciate the plenty the Lord has granted us? I am sure I have not in the past, and now our daily desire is that we might have some of that plenty that we have so lightly appreciated in the past, that we might be of service to this distressed people.

"Come Quickly" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Come Quickly .-When one contemplates the increase or suffering in the earth due to disease and crime and injustice, and sees the drink evil extending at home and abroad, and the passion for war continually preparing to add to the volume of misery by the wholesale butchery of the battle-field, one can only consecrate his all to the work of saving souls from the ruin and find refuge in the promise, "Surely I come quickly," and respond, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." There is much to be done before this Gospel of the kingdom can be said to have been preached as a witness to all nations. But the Lord is in haste to end the reign of ruin, and "He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make in the earth." The "wars and rumours of wars" and the "famines and pestilences" which constitute so sorrowful a spectacle are themselves signs which Jesus said would portend His second coming.

"Adding Fuel to the Flames" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Adding Fuel to the Flames .-In its column, "Books and Authors," the Echo remarks that, "the growing popularity of books on navies and armies, of biographies of admirals and generals, is one of the most striking features of the book market." And among them all that which is "full of fighting from first to last, is the most successful and the most popular." As flying straws show the direction of the wind, so the output of current literature shows the bent of the popular mind. Preparation for war, on land and sea, is now the engrossing pursuit of all the nations of the world. It is natural that the literature of war should find a ready market. The fact that this is so makes it all the more needful that the literature of peace,-the Bible, should be distributed even more freely, and God's message of peace-the Gospel-be more faithfully preached than ever before.

"The Eastern Question" The Present Truth 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

The Eastern Question .-The first edition of our pamphlet on this question having been exhausted, a second edition (of 10,000 copies) is now being printed. It is a study of the Eastern Question in the light of the "sure word of prophecy," which shows how much its solution means to all the world. Price 1d.

March 24, 1897

"Armies and Fighting" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Several youths were one day actively demonstrating their right to be called men, by each vigorously sucking one end of a roll of tobacco, and seeing who could bring his nose most nearly into the likeness of a chimney-pot. One of them didn't seem quite contented with his "comforter," and said, "There's something about this cigar that doesn't taste good." "I know what it is," exclaimed a small boy, "it's terbaccer." That was it, exactly. We were reminded of this story by the remarks made by one of the Members of Parliament, concerning the difficulty of getting recruits for the army. He said that there was "evidently something, if not very wrong, at least very unsatisfactory in a system which failed to attract the best portion of the working classes." Yes, there is something very wrong about it, and one knows what it is: It's the army itself, and war. People could get along with almost any "system" in the world, if there were no armies and no fighting.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Woman of Canaan. Matt. xv. 21-31" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

A full understanding of the lesson intended to be taught in the experience recorded in this scripture, can be had only by remembering that the Jews regarded the Canaanites with the utmost contempt, even refusing to speak with them, and that even the disciples of Jesus had not wholly cast aside this wicked prejudice. They had not yet comprehended the fact that "the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world."

The woman knew that Jesus was a Jew and recognised Him as one, in addressing Him as a "son of David," and she well knew how the Jews regarded her nation, but she had heard of the compassion shown by Jesus to those who were in trouble, and resting her hope upon His character rather than upon His nationality, she presented her case to Him, saying, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, thou son of David; for my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." She well knew that she had nothing in herself upon which to base a claim for help, for was she not "a woman of Canaan"? From the standpoint of the Jews, here was a double reason for answering her "not a word;" for on another occasion even the disciples "marvelled that He was speaking with a woman" (John iv. 27, R.V.), and she was not simply "a woman," but she was "a woman of Canaan." But her plea for help was not put upon the ground of her worthiness but of her need. It was the same old cry of the soul, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble." "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, according to Thy lovingkindness."

Seeing that Jesus made no immediate response to her request, the disciples gave expression to their feelings of prejudice and said, "Send her away." This openly declared attitude of the disciples toward the woman and her request gave force to the very lesson which Jesus intended to teach them by His own answer to her cry for help. How would they be ready to go "into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," if they were not taught, by an almost extreme example as well as by precept, that "there is no difference"? And yet the reply of Jesus to them would seem, as interpreted by them, to strengthen their position. "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Yes, so they thought; and why therefore should He not send away this "woman of Canaan"? They were yet to learn that "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. 8. The Scriptures were full of this teaching: "In that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentile seek." Isa. xi. 10. "Behold My Servant, whom I uphold: Mine elect, in whom the My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." Isa. xli. 1. "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. But then, as now, the plainest scriptures, when read in the light of a prejudice, are not permitted to convey the truth to the heart. It is often necessary to ask, as did Jesus, "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" Luke x. 26. "Whoever sought the Saviour, ready to believe on Him when He should be manifested to them, were of the lost sheep whom He had come to gather in His fold."

In response to the woman's second petition, "Lord, help me," Jesus made His first direct reply to her urgent entreaty: "It is not meet to take the children's bread [loaf], and cast it to dogs." The woman's answer gained her request: "Yes, Lord, you speak truly and I accept your statement of the case; but I do not ask for the loaf: I only ask for the crumbs, and you say that they do belong to the dogs. I am utterly unworthy, but the thing which I ask is such a little thing to you, and yet it is a question of life to me." It is enough. The feelings of the disciples have been expressed, so that the contrast between their attitude and His may sharply appear, and the faith of the woman has stood the test put upon it. "Then Jesus answered and said under her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." Thus did Jesus show that this poor woman, and every other needy one desiring help, was one of the "lost sheep of the house of Israel."

In the closing part of the lesson we have the results of sin and the saving power of the Gospel set before us in marked contrast. God gave man legs with which to walk, eyes with which to see, a tongue with which to speak, and a perfect physical frame in which to reveal a well-balanced mind. But sin has changed all this and "great multitudes" then, as now, were "lame, blind, dumb, maimed." Thus was sin made visible, for any defect in the works of God is due to sin. "As for God, His way is perfect," "and God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Tares have been sown, and "the enemy that sowed them is the devil," "for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." 1 John iii. 8. And this He does, not simply by removing the outward appearances or results of sin, by healing diseases, but by getting to the very root of the trouble and taking away the cause, the sin itself.

This was the Gospel which He encouraged people to believe by showing to them His power over disease. This was the Gospel which He preached when He healed the withered hand, "and it was restored whole, like as the other." It is the Gospel of a complete restoration for every one who will believe it. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases." Ps. ciii. 2, 3. Jesus "healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Matt. viii. 16, 17. They brought those who were needy of help "and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and He healed them." They were lacking in life-power, but being brought into touch with Him with whom "is the fountain of life," such a change took place "that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing." (R.V.)

The same opportunity is offered unto us to-day. The fountain "for sin and uncleanness" is still open and the invitation is still extended:-

"Come to the fountain so rich and sweet;
Cast thy poor soul at the Saviour's feet;
Plunge in to-day and be made complete;
Glory to His name."

The manner of Christ's working is an example for all His followers. Although wonderful works were wrought, so that the people were led to exclaimed, "We never saw it on this fashion," yet Jesus never drew attention to Himself or led the people to give Him the glory. "They glorified the God of Israel." Thus was His practice in harmony with the teaching which He had already given when He said: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt. v. 16. So when Jesus had finished His work He was able to say: "I have glorified thee on the earth." John xvii. 4. If this principle had been followed by the teachers in the church in later times, all the evils of the great apostasy would have been avoided. It was because men arose in the church "speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them," that there was developed "the man of sin, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 1 Thess. ii. 4. This is the papacy. But the principle is the same, whatever the name of the church, and there are daughters of Babylon. When man and his words are put in the place of God and His Word, God is dishonoured, and the salvation of souls is imperiled. "Fear God and give glory to Him." Rev. xiv. 7. That is the Gospel message for this time.

"The Sabbath a Universal Good" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

The following is an extract from a Prize Sermon by Rev. W. H. Lockley, a Methodist New Connexion, Huddersfield, published as Tract No. XIX. by the Sabbath Observance Society, Edinburgh. The fact that the writer was an observer of the first day of the week, does not detract from the force of the statements as upholding the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day of the week; for everybody knows that the Sabbath that was "co-existent with Paradise and the estate of our first parents," was the seventh day of the week, and not Sunday. The writer must himself attend to the matter of the inconsistency of upholding one day in keeping another; but the fact cannot be gainsaid that everything that follows concerning the Sabbath is directly opposed to the Sunday. We heartily recommend it as a clear statement of facts concerning the Sabbath.

It has been common with some to nationalise and localise the Sabbath by pleading, that it is no broader in application than a mere Jewish institution. Now, how can that be merely Jewish which was co-existent with Paradise and the estate of our first parents? How can that be merely Jewish which was instituted long before the call of Abraham, and "the oldest of memorials and the earliest of types," coeval with creation and the crown of it, for, "on the seventh day God finished the work which He had made. . . and God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." And, on any other supposition than that the Sabbath is an original institution; and, therefore, appointed for the observance of man generically or in the aggregate, it is impossible to account for the mention of weeks, and the division of time in the periods of seven days.

Our Lord gave full expression to this universal note when He said, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath"-FOR MAN, not for the Jew only, the nation only, but for man generically, for universal man. In these words, the Sabbath stands out in sharp contrast with all institutions of a local or temporary kind. The ceremonial law was not given to man generically, but only to the Jews in particular, and for a particular purpose, and when that purpose had been accomplished the law vanished-the shadow gave place to the substance. But the Sabbath was given to man as man, without distinction without limit, for man in every age and in every clime; and must continue in force so long as the race endures. . . .

Even from the very nature of the Sabbath law, it is in force still, and absolutely binding upon all who have in any considerable measure the good of humanity at heart. But when we recollect that it is enshrined in the heart of the moral law, and re-enforced by the Saviour who proclaimed Himself "the Lord of the Sabbath," no man can afford to make light of it, or be indifferent to it.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

It is not the will of men, but their won't, that stands in the way of their salvation. God can use a strong will; the difficulty is that men will not come to Him, that they might have life.

The Archbishop of Breslau, Cardinal Kopp, has gone to Rome, charged with a confidential mission to the Pope from the German Emperor.

The Cardinal has come to discuss the question of Catholic missions in China, and to arrange for concessions, which the Centre in the German Parliament claims as compensation for its support of the navy proposals. It is believed that these concessions include the return of Jesuits to Germany.

France, not to be behindhand in securing a share of China, which now seems doomed to be divided up among the "Powers," has made emphatic demands for privileges in Southern China. These demands are regarded as seriously complicating the situation, since they appear to be directly incompatible with British interests.

In the Landtag of Lower Austria a few days ago one of the members moved a resolution withdrawing the franchise from all Jews, baptized Jews, and Christians who marry Jewesses. He stated that the anti-Semites desire to make social and commercial intercourse with Jews a criminal offence, and eventually to exterminate the whole Jewish population.

At the recent meeting of the National Free Church Federation, M. Paul Guignard, President of the Evangelisation Committee of the Free Evangelical Church of France, related the following incident, as showing the ignorance that prevails about the Bible where Catholicism is a popular religion:-

Inquiry was recently made in a bookseller's shop in a town of 50,000 people for a copy of the New Testament. The bookseller, utterly ignorant of the sacred writings, said the book was not yet out, but he would write to Paris to order an early copy.

This is by no means an isolated case. Last summer a young man tried to purchase a Bible in one of the principal cities of Germany,-think of it, the Germany of Luther,-and although he visited many shops, he could not find a copy. Of course it was a Catholic city. But then, not to have a Bible is really no worse than to have one and not read it; and to be ignorant of the sacred Book is not materially worse than to know about it, but to be totally ignorant of its contents.

The uncertainty of life was never more markedly manifested than last week, when the Liverpool barque British Princess collided off Lowestoft with an unknown steamer, with the result that the latter immediately went down with all on board. The captain of the barque says:-

The steamer which had run into us went out of sight like a breath of air. She simply dropped out of our vision within the briefest space of time. I heard just one voice, a sort of murmur, and that was all.

Some people have thought that we were very harsh and uncharitable because we have repeatedly said that there is not a Christian country in the world, and that there never has been one. Now they can turn their reproaches against the Bishop of London. He says:-

There is no Christian country in the world. Because a certain number of persons are Christians, it does not follow that the country deserves the title.

And then he particularises, saying, "England is not a Christian country." When we give utterance to these truths, it is not for the purpose of casting any reproach upon this or any other country, but to save people from false ideas of Christianity.

In answer to a question concerning the flood, the following appears in a well-known religious journal:-

The more common modern opinion regards the Flood of Noah as partial and local, although the universality seems to be distinctly implied in the Biblical description.

But why believe that there ever was any flood at all, or that Noah ever lived, or that there ever was an ark built? The only authority for the occurrence of the flood, or the existence of such a man as Noah, or the building of the ark, is the Bible, which also says that the flood was over all the earth. If one rejects what the Bible says as to the extent of the flood, why accept what it says as to there having been any such thing? And if one rejects what the Bible says about this, why accept what it says about anything? There is a great deal of unconscious infidelity among those who profess to believe the Bible. To amend the Bible narrative, or to reject portions of it, is just as real infidelity as to reject whole Book.

When it comes to the matter of the observance of the Sabbath, a good many people seem suddenly to find difficulty in counting the days of the week, so as to determine which day is "the Sabbath day according to the commandment." We can now refer all such to the Christian, which in its issue of March 17 says:-

No one will dispute that the first day of the week is Sunday in the civil calendar.

Very good. We hope for the truth's sake, and for their own sakes, that no one ever will. And now let each one remember that there are but seven days in the week, and that the seventh day is necessarily the day immediately preceding Sunday, and then let him read these words in the law, of which Jesus said not one jot or tittle should ever pass away. "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt 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."

The Daily Chronicle of March 12, has the following item concerning foreign bathing:-

How far the benefit-if any-derive from treatment at foreign spas is due to the regimen enforced and how far to the waters has always been a matter of controversy. Judging, however, from a discussion at the British Balneological and Climatological Society the waters have very little to do with it. Dr. Heron cleared that it was a matter of indifference whether the bath water were supplied at a German spa or by the Middlesex Waterworks Company. Dr. Kingscote confessed that natural carbonic acid gas was invigorating, but he declared that he had obtained nearly the same results by the use of compressed air. Finally Dr. Louis Blanc, from Aix-les-Bains, admitted that he did not claim any special action for the baths at that resort. What good was obtained was the result of the method practised.

It may be set down as a fact that the best thing in the world for drinking, bathing, or cooking purposes is pure water; and the purer it is the better it is. The good that people receive at mineral springs is not due to the mineral in the water, no matter what the mineral may be, but to the fact that they bathe oftener, and more according to knowledge, drink more water and live more regularly than at home.

March 25, 1897

"A Pernicious Fallacy" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

VOX POPULI, VOX DEI.-"The voice of the people is the voice of God,"-is a very popular saying. This might be expected from the very nature of the case; for anything which tends to give the people a good opinion of themselves is sure to be popular.

At the same time, no saying was ever invented that was farther from the truth. It is one of the most dangerous of Satan's lies. Its effect is to lead people to ignore the plain commandments of God, which are revealed in His Word, and to put themselves in the place of God.

It is taken for granted that what "the people" say and do must be right, even though there may be a command of God to the contrary. And thus this mischievous saying leads "the people" to exalt themselves above God, by making them think that by their united action they can change the decrees of God.

Men ought to be able to learn something from history; if they do not, history is written in vain. The lessons which we learn from the history of the past are equivalent to lessons concerning the future, for, "The thing that hath been," said Solomon, "it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done." This is true because human nature is the same among all people, and in all ages. Let us recall a few of the things that have been.

Within a thousand years after the creation, God saw that "the people" had corrupted their way on the earth, and so nearly universal was the downward tendency, that only one man was found who followed the expressed commandment of the Lord. Yet, although the people were so nearly unanimous in their choice of evil, it did not cease to be evil, neither did they change the mind of God. Every man who followed the way that was "right in his own eyes" was destroyed by the flood.

It was "the people" who, shortly after the flood, thought to make a name for themselves by building a city and a tower whose top should reach to heaven; but God frustrated their plan to exalt themselves above Him, and their city was destroyed and they were scattered.

Coming down to later times, we find that when God would have a people for Himself, who should honour Him and keep the knowledge of His will alive in the earth, He found only one man, Abraham, whom He could select as the father of His people. And when that people had become great and were being conducted to the land which God had given to them, they were told, "The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people." Deut. vii. 7. The majority of "the people" ignored God, and did as they pleased. Surely, if it were true that "the voice of the people is the voice of God," God would not have rejected the bulk of mankind for a comparatively insignificant race.

Leaving out the great world who had rejected God, and had in consequence been rejected by Him, we find that "the people" whom God chose as His own peculiar people were, as a people, more often in opposition to God than in harmony with Him. It was "the people" who said to Aaron, "Make us gods, which shall go before us;" and when the golden calf was made, "the people" worshipped it. It was "the people" who said, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into

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Egypt;" and it was "the people" who time and again murmured against the Lord's chosen prophet, and were often on the point of stoning him to death.

In the days when Christ was on earth, it was His own people to whom He came, who rejected Him. When He was accused before the Roman governor, it was "the people" of Israel-God's own chosen people-who cried, "Crucify Him!"

Still later, when the disciples of Christ were many thousands in number in Jerusalem, they were still a poor, despised sect, and so few in number in comparison with "the people" who constituted the Church, that they were compelled to flee for their lives. Then Herod the king stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the church. And he killed James with the sword; and when he saw that "the people" were pleased, he proceeded to take Peter also. This same Herod it was who a short time afterwards made an oration to a vast concourse who had assembled to do him honour, "And 'the people' gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man." In this case "the voice of the people" was immediately shown to be not the voice of God for God rebuked their impiety, and caused the vile creature, whom they called a god, to die a loathsome death.

Still later we find that "the people" whom God had taken out from among the Gentiles, became so great that they were deemed worthy of State recognition. In the great empire of Rome, which filled the world, the "Christians" were so numerous that the crafty and worldly-wise Constantine saw that it would be greatly to his advantage to favour them rather than his pagan subjects. So "the church" was "recognised" by the civil power. Thus the sect, which in the days of Paul was "everywhere spoken against," now sat in the high places of the earth, and all nations were flowing unto it. See Isa. ii. 2, 3.

Surely now the voice of the people must have been the voice of God, because Rome, which was then only a synonym for "the world," was a "Christian nation." This had not been brought about by a mere legal enactment without the concurrence of "the people," but Christianity was exalted to the throne of the world because the majority so willed it.

Constantine was too wise a ruler to make laws that would not receive the commendation of the majority of his subjects. The voice of the people was to him the voice of God, and when Christianity became the religion of the empire, it was simply the recognition of the prevailing sentiment.

But was the voice of the people in that case really the voice of God? Far from it. This expression of the will of "the people"-the church-was only the last step but one in that great apostasy of which Paul had written (2 Thess. ii. 1-8), and which culminated in the establishment of the Papacy, that "man of sin," "the son of perdition," who opposed and exalted himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he as God sat in the temple of God, showing himself to be God. This was the practical working of the adage, "The voice of the people is the voice of God." The falsity of that claim is shown by the fact that "the people" who have impiously exalted themselves above God by claiming that their voice is His, are to be consumed with the spirit of the Lord's mouth, and destroyed with the brightness of His coming.

God's word to every man is, "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." The multitude walk in the broad way, but to follow Jesus Christ one must turn the feet into the narrow way that leads to life. We need not ask, How many walk in this way? but, Is this the way in which He walked? It is natural for the natural heart to trust in numbers, and men fancy that before they can do right they must get others to agree to do right also. The spirit of confederation is abroad in the world. The Powers bind themselves together in alliances, labour unions are opposed by capitalistic associations, and in the religious world organisations are multiplying to effect this or that purpose by the use of legislative power. Amidst all this the Lord desires men to understand that every man must decide for himself in things pertaining to faith and morals, and that man who knows the way is responsible to God alone to walk in His ways and not in the way of the multitude. "For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread." Isa. viii. 11-13.

"His Greatest Discovery" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Sir James Simpson, the great Scottish physician, whose life has only recently been published, was the discoverer of the an?sthetic properties of chloroform, and an original investigator who developed many new ideas and methods. One can now hardly realise what the operating room was in the old days, before the discovery of the uses of chloroform and ether in surgery. One day a worldly friend asked Dr. Simpson what he considered his greatest discovery. The answer at once, and with earnestness that showed that he was not speaking merely a pretty sentiment, was, "That I have a personal Saviour." He was scientific enough to know that all the wide realm of human knowledge could not be compared in importance to the simple but wider and Divine knowledge of a way of salvation from sin.

"A Masquerading Paganism" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

The book reviewer of the Echo, in noticing a small work in which the personal characteristics of different classes in certain portions of the East, to which the attention of the world, is now drawn, are quite minutely described, says:-

Western Europeans are too ready to jump to the conclusion that an Eastern community, just because it is labeled Christian, must be better than its neighbours. The Abyssinians are Christians, but they are as cruel, and as treacherous, and as disagreeable in their habits, and as arrant slave-owners as any African heathens. The political talk about Christianity is mostly cant.

All this is unfortunately too true. When the titles "Christian" and "Turk" become the rallying cries for mass meetings and political factions there is no true religious significance in it, other than the conflict of two paganisms. Intelligent men should understand this, which most sadly they do not. Which is more reprehensible, to falsify all the principles of true Christianity and while acting directly contrary to all its teachings, profess its name, or, to be consistent, and deny it in both act and profession? Political and State Christianity, both East and West, is nothing more nor less than a highly civilised paganism hypocritically, or ignorantly, masquerading for its own profit under an assumed guise and a false name.

"The Review and the Forecast" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Les Signes des Temps, our Society's organ in Switzerland, quotes from another French Swiss paper, with comments as follows:-

"In its review of the political events of the past year the Journal Religieux, of French Switzerland, expresses itself in these terms:-

We are compelled to say that there is scarcely a country on the globe which is to-day in a normal condition and which one can speak of as being fortunately situated. Some have been recently, or are now, visited by natural calamities: pestilence, famine, earthquake; others are the theatre of civil discord, serious labour difficulties, political complications; yet others are embarrassed by financial difficulties or colonial wars.

"However dark this picture may be one must necessarily acknowledge that it is faithful. But although it may say nothing to the man of the world, or the indifferent Christian, it has a language most eloquent for that one who has learned in the school of the prophetic word what those evidences are which are the precursors of the return of our Lord. Each of those signs mentioned say to him: Watch, pray; and fix your regards on high, for your Saviour is near, He is at the door."

It is interesting to note from year to year, how, in their annual reviews of the previous twelve months, the public prints almost universally bear witness, unconsciously, to the fulfilment of prophecy in the events of these days, crowded with calamity, tumult and anxiety and showing at the same time that they are not only impressed with the gravity of that which has happened, but that they are looking forward with anxiety to those things which they cannot avoid feeling are about to come upon the world.

Now is the accepted time in which to learn in the school of prophecy, for no man knows how soon the books will be closed. Now is the time to listen, learn, watch, pray, work, and wait.

"'I Have Redeemed Thee'" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Redeemed! A slave set free. It requires no great stretch of imagination to see how a slave, scourged, and bound, would feel with his fetters removed, and his freedom given to him. He would not receive the news of freedom stoically, and with a long face-not if he believed the message. His heart would be so full that he would leap for joy. The Lord wants us to rejoice, not because we think we ought to rejoice, but because we have so vivid a sense of His redemption that we know it to be a fact. We have been captives of a cruel master, and now we are redeemed. We know it because the Lord says so. He has bought us, and given us His own life.

"The School Question in Canada" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

The following in reference to the contest over the school question in Canada is from an editorial paragraph in the Daily Chronicle:-

Mr. Laurier is waging a stern fight in Canada for unsectarian education and liberty of conscience in religious matters. The whole power of the local Hierarchy is against him, and the Conservative party watch the struggle with an eagerness to assist in crushing political independence of ecclesiastical control which does little credit to their principles. How stern the fight is may be judged, from the latest news from Quebec. The Roman Catholic bishop of the diocese in which the by-election of Bonaventure is pending has, we are told, "offered the Liberal candidate to sign a declaration that he will not support the Laurier-Greenway schools settlement." He has, of course, refused. Only the other day an influential French-Canadian journal had to suspend publication because, having supported the compromise, it was denounced to the faithful from the Roman Catholic pulpits of the province. So active, indeed, has clerical influence become that the Government is now thinking of taking the serious step of refusing to issue a writ for the election in Champlain county on the ground that there is no hope of a fair and untrammelled election.

The incident of the forced suspension of the journal will carry the matter into the courts for adjudication. The proprietor of the boycotted paper has brought action for damages against the responsible authority in the church, who directed the attack to be made upon him.

It must be said that the long standing religious feuds between Catholic and Protestant factions in Canada show few signs of nearing any satisfactory, serviceable settlement.

It has always been the settled policy of the Roman Catholic Church to let pass no opportunity of inculcating its principles into the minds of the young. It will never change this policy. Consequently there will never come a time when the schools of any country will be safe from the encroachments of Catholic doctrine, influence, and control.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

-Another steamer was wrecked off Ushant last week, with the supposed loss of 100 lives. The boat was a Dutch liner.

-Dr. Jameson, it is said, is to return to Africa in charge of an expedition to put up a telegraph line across the continent, by way of Lake Tanganyika, putting Cape Town into direct communication with Cairo.

-The disease called "Beri Berl," which has heretofore been considered a product of tropical filth, seems to have domesticated itself in Dublin. In the Richmond-Lunatic Asylum, of that city, there have been 113 cases of this disease the past year.

-It is reported that the "Black Death" has made its appearance in Bombay. This is the plague which decimated the world in the 14th century, and in which one-third to one-half of the population of England perished. It is an aggravated and virulent form of the bubonic plague which has been prevailing in India, with certain characteristic variations.

-The wars which Spain is carrying on in Cuba and the Philippine Islands are draining the country of men and money, and the result is wide-spread destitution and misery at home. Factories are being closed, and the people without money and without work are in a fit condition to be excited, act the government by revolutionary agent are working among them.

-A lecturer before the London Chamber of Commerce last week advocated the storing of large quantities of grain by the Government for use in case of war. He said the country grows less than one-quarter of the supply necessary. As to meat, he said that in London alone there were sixteen foreign meat stores, capable of holding 1,089,000 carcases, while in other ports there were ten stores whose combined room could store 629,000 carcases, giving a total storage capacity of 1,718,000 carcases, or nearly four months' supply at the present rate of consumption.

-A chemist has recently examined the covers of a Bible used in a court of law, which had been kissed by many on taking the oath. While he found no germs of typhoid or tuberculosis, he found several varieties, some of which, he said, under favourable conditions, might produce harmful results. The kissing of the Bible is a disgusting practice from the sanitary point of view, and aenselest and profane from the religious point of view when forced upon people who have no faith to look.

-The average price of a seat to view the service outside St. Paul's Cathedral on Jubilee Day, says a newspaper, will be ?5. There is a great demand for windows by speculators, who wish to sub-let them at a large profit. A millionaire offered ?1,000 for a window at Ludgate-circus, which was refused. On Ludgate ?3 has been offered for each seat at windows. Not only are tradesmen insuring the Queen's life to save them from loss in the event of her death before Commemoration Day, but intending sightseers who have bought seats are insuring against disappointment in the event of the route to St. Paul's being changed.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Official figures show that the number of people who left Bombay because of the plague, up to the end of February, was over 400,000. Such an exodus to escape a pestilence has not been seen in modern times.

A Roman correspondent of a newspaper writes that the reply of the Anglican Archbishops to the Pope's Bull is taken in Rome as a sign of the times indicating that "that day of rabid antagonism and of reckless misrepresentation with regard to Rome is obviously passing away."

With what wondering pity must the angels look upon the armaments of the nations and the defences of their fortified cities, who know so well that, "Except the Lord build the house they labour in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

The recent elections in Austria show that the Antisemite party increases in strength. It is founded on hatred of the Jew, who represents the money power. "At this moment," says the British Review, "the trade of Vienna is practically a monopoly in the hand of the Jews; the native traders are retiring, beaten and ruined from the contest." Thus religious prejudice combines with commercial rivalry to stir up the passions of the people in Austria, and also in Germany, where the same movement is a new disturbing factor in politics.

In war there is no side for Christians to choose. They can only preach peace to both sides. So that in viewing the quarrels that arise between nations it is impossible for Christians to take sides. Strife is wicked, and the part of Christians is to declare the wickedness of it by showing what Christianity is. The earth was filled with violence in the days of Noah, but as a "preacher of righteousness" it was not his duty to take sides in the strife of wicked men, but to warn all that the world was soon to be destroyed because of its wickedness. The work of Christians today is the same.

Upon what evil times has that word Christian fallen. As the world uses it, it means absolutely nothing in common with Christ. Thus in assuring a correspondent that neither of the factions in Crete desired autonomy or self-government, the Archbishop of Retimo said:-

"I assure you that autonomy will bring about the entire extermination of the Turkish Cretans by the Christians." The same I was told, says the correspondent, by six Cretan chiefs whom I interviewed.

And this passes, for genuine Christianity, and the whole of professed Christendom, save those who separate from the world-spirit, is represented by the Cretan ecclesiastic and chiefs. Is it any wonder that "Christian" Powers watch one another in distrust?

One of the magazines prints from a statesman's diary some notes on the Czar Nicholas, who visited the Queen in 1844. To an attendant who had served him he said:-

"I suppose you think I am a happy man because I am what people call a great man, but I will show you wherein my happiness consists." So saying, the Emperor opened a travelling desk, and showed so the page miniature portraits of the Empress and the Princesses. "There," said he, "there are the sources of all my happiness-my wife and children."

Speaking of the recent successful campaigns in West Africa, the Review of Reviews, which very generally confounds civilisation with Christianity, says, "The Maxim gun, that sceptre of modern civilisation, displayed its usual potency." The words suggest the Scripture, "A sceptre of righteousness of His kingdom."

When you see simplicity taking possession of a worldly man, and expressing itself in his heart and mind and life, you may know that the power of the Gospel is working within him. Christ's words, "Except ye become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven," are not intended to state a theory, but to describe the life which is necessary to an inheritance of eternity. This human existence is the childhood of the heirs of the kingdom. So it is that the childlikeness of God's children within finds natural expression in simplicity without.

Instead of a slackening in the race of armaments there is a constant increase in the pace. As other Powers add to their naval forces Britain increases so as to hold first place against any probable hostile combination. "Ten years ago," says a newspaper, "there were 63,000 men and boys in the Navy. Thirty thousand have been added since then, and this strength is to be raised to 150,000 with the least possible delay."

"Taking the Kingdom" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Taking the Kingdom .-The South American republics are famous for revolutions, but Brazil is dealing with one now which seems a novelty. The insurgents whom the newspapers report as fanatics, conceived the idea that they are the saints, and as "the saints shall take the kingdom" they proceeded by fire and sword to appropriate what they could. The leader is doubtless some insane fanatic, but it is entirely probable that his following is made up of those who are just covetous enough to wish to be of that kind of saints. But calculated as this movement is to appeal to no very high or intelligent grade of civilisation, it is not in Brazilian wilds alone that religious people have been possessed by the notion that it is the business of the saints to run this world and compel men to do right-that is, what those assuming the role of saints consider right. But the kingdom that the saints will take, is "not of this world," hence Christ's servants do not fight. The prayer, "Thy kingdom come," is not answered by political methods.

"'The Empires of the Bible'" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Empires of the Bible." -This book, which our publishers are now able to supply, is a very useful one to the student of Bible history. It follows the story of Scripture from the dispersion of the sons of Noah to the days of Babylon, filling in the Bible narrative from the records of profane history. This is exactly what many have desired, something showing, in chronological order and without confusing detail, just the points of contact between the inspired and the human record. The early chapters on the peopling of the earth, showing the migrations of the tribes and the origins of existing nations, are especially interesting. The author (whose name, A. T. Jones, is familiar to our regular readers) merely pieces together, from the best authorities, the records of the past; but in doing this, and weaving it into the Bible record, he has produced a most helpful book. 410 pages. Price 6s.

March 31, 1897

"'Out of the Depths'" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

"Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord."

Surely it is from the depths that one needs to cry unto the Lord, if from any place. The time to call for help is when one is in the greatest need; yet that is just the time that many feel that it is of no use to call. "I have sinned too greatly, and that too in the face of light, for the Lord to pay any attention to me," is too often the discouraged wail of the sinner. That is a great mistake. "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Prov. xvii. 17. How much more must this be true of the Father of all.

A striking instance in point is the case of Jonah. He was going directly contrary to the commandment of the Lord, running away from Him, trying to get entirely out of His sight, when the Lord arrested him and threw him into the sea, where he was swallowed by a fish. Now indeed he was in the depths. "Then Jonah cried unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said:-

"I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For Thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about; all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. . . . The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever." Jonah ii. 2-6.

It would scarcely be possible for one to be in a worse situation than this. It was most literally from the depths that Jonah cried unto the Lord, and he was heard. And he was in the depths entirely through his own fault, too. Now to see that Jonah was not an exceptional case, but

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that God just as readily hears all who are in the depths because of their folly, let us read the following words to His praise:-

"He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High; therefore He brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder." Ps. cvii. 9-14.

That is just like the Lord, for "the Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works." "The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all that be bowed down." Ps. cxlv. 9, 14.

But we haven't yet done with Jonah in the depths. Here comes one who always sees the difficulties of the situation, and asks, "How could a man live and preserve his consciousness, and be able to pray in the belly of a fish? If that thing really happened, it must have been an exceptional case, and the Lord must have wrought a miracle to keep him alive."

Most certainly the Lord wrought a miracle in this case, which was just as real as yours is, and it was not an exceptional one by any means. It was written for our sakes, in order that we might have comfort and hope in similar circumstances. It shows us that God does not forsake us even in the depths, and when we are there as the direct result of sinning against Him. He even works a miracle to keep us alive in the depths, that we may call on Him. What a blessing that story is to the one who believes it.

It shows us that no man can get away from the presence of the Lord. Thank God for that. We have all tried it, haven't you? And are you not glad that you did not succeed? Perhaps you think that you have succeeded all too well, and are now sorrowing over it, imagining that you are lost. Don't believe in it for a moment. Listen to one who knows: "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, 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, and thy right hand shall hold me." Ps. cxxxix. 7-10.

No; we cannot get away from the presence of the Lord, even by plunging into the depths. "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. 24. Christ has ascended into the heavens, "not to appear in the presence of God for us;" but "now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the Lord parts of the earth?" Eph. iv. 9. You get down into the very lowest place, and there you find Christ Jesus the Lord, waiting to lift you up and save you,

"For Him no depths can drown."

"For the Lord will not cast off ever." Lam. iii. 31. "But He cast Jonah into the sea, into the depths." Indeed, He did, but it was in order that Jonah might find Him; for bear in mind that God was there first. It was He that delivered up His only begotten Son, casting Him into the depths, yet not casting Him. He sent Him there, in order that he might be recovered. Then we can with good confidence cry unto Him out of the depths. "In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is His also." Ps. xcv. 4. Every atom of matter even in the lowest parts of the earth is charged with force, which is nothing else than the power of the living Christ, "who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God" for our offences. Go then even into the lowest depths, in your mad attempt to flee from the presence of the Lord, and there you will find the cross of Him who is "mighty to save."

And He is not there as a detective, on the hunt for evil, and magnifying the smallest thing into the greatest, in order that He may make out a case. "If Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared." "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." 2 Cor. v. 19. Therefore "let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plenteous redemption." Remember it is hope, not presumption. We must not presume on His mercy, to allow us to continue in sin with impunity; but we must hope in it, that it will deliver us from all our iniquities. "Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee."

"But I don't know how to pray; I can't express myself." Of course not. The Lord knows that. It is He who has told us that "we know not what we should pray for as we ought." Our wants are too great for us to be able to express them, and His gifts too great for us to be able to comprehend them.

"What then shall we do?"

Well, what ought one to do in a case where he does not know anything?

"Evidently the best thing for him to do is to keep still, and listen to some one who does know."

Exactly that. Therefore the best thing for men to do in the matter of praying is to keep still.

"What! do you mean to say that a man should never open his mouth in prayer, and that his voice should never be heard?"

Not by any means. The Lord says, "Take with you words, and turn to the Lord." Hosea xiv. 2. By all means use words, nevertheless keep still." The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him." Hab. ii. 20. He says, "Be still, and know that I am God."

"Be still." What for? To know that the Lord is God. But if we come to the knowledge that He is God, what will we know about Him?-Just this, that He fills heaven and earth; that there is no place where His spirit is not. The trouble with us is that we do not keep still long enough to find this out. When we do, then we shall continue to keep still before Him, realising that since He is everything, we are nothing. "God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few."

Yes; let your words be few; the fewer the better. Use His words. He says, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." Keep silence before Him, until you realise that He is "above all, and through all, and in all." Let Him fill you with a

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sense of His greatness, and thereby with a sense of your own needs. Then allow the Spirit to help your infirmity, making intercession for you. When He thus fills you, your utterance will be but the breathing of the Spirit in you. Why should not your prayers, and everybody's prayers, be inspired of the Holy Spirit, just as much as were the prayers of David? Indeed they ought to be, for we are told, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God." 1 Peter iv. 11. "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." Then you will always have all confidence in calling upon Him, because "He cannot deny Himself."

"It Stands Sure" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Many of our readers have doubtless seen advertisements of the "Polychrome Bible," which is the name of the newest translation of the Bible. It is so called because it is printed in several different colours (the word "polychrome" meaning "many colours"), to indicate the opinions or fancies of the so-called "higher critics" as to the different persons who had a hand in putting the Bible together. Having examined with care two of the three parts that have been issued, namely Isaiah and the Psalms, we would like to say a few words for the benefit of those who are troubled over the fact of there being so many different translations of the Bible, as well as of those who may feel downcast because the excessively high price of this latest translation makes it practically a prohibited work to the great majority of Bible readers. Some idea of what the Old Testament alone will cost may be gathered from the fact that it is to be complete in twenty volumes, and that the two volumes, Isaiah and Psalms, are 10s. 6d. Each volume is copiously furnished with notes, and nearly as much space being devoted to them as to the text.

As for the translation itself, it is in the main most excellent. No regard has been paid to any previous translation, the work having been done solely from the Hebrew text by some of the best sholars in the world. It is rendered in excellent modern English, and reads very smoothly. It is really a delight to read the book of Psalms in this translation, even if for nothing more than the rhythmical language. One cannot say as much for the Book of Isaiah, for while the translation is equally good, the translator has so pulled the book to pieces, and rearranged the parts, that one does not know where to turn to find any wished-for passage. Whole chapters have been transposed, while single verses have been gathered out by handfuls and strewn through the text, just as driftwood is left scattered through the fields after a flood. To one who is familiar with the book as it has stood from the beginning, and who reads for comfort, and not for criticism, the effect is most bewildering and annoying. To try to find the different fragments, and to read them in their consecutive order as in the old, familiar versions, is a work to make as dizzy, and is a well-nigh hopeless task. It is like trying to collect the scattered ruins of a house after a cyclone. An index, however, enables one to find any portion desired. But when one can light upon any considerable portion in the old, familiar position, it is delightful reading. We shall later give a few specimens. One thing we must not fail to give the translators credit for, and that is that whenever they have made any "conjectural emendations," they have indicated the facts so plainly that no one need be misled into thinking that they belong to the sacred writings.

It has been aptly said that in this "Polychrome Bible" the "higher criticism" appears in its true colours. One cannot read the "Notes" without seeing that the "higher criticism" does not fear God nor regard man. To these critics the Bible is simply literature, nothing more. It may be that they do not find personal help in its pages; but one will search the notes in vain to find any indication that they regard it as other than a collection of ancient-Jewish political documents and narratives of doubtful historical value. In the notes to the Psalms there are, however, a few exceptions to this statement. In this work the "higher criticism" has put itself on record in a way that cannot be affected by all its professed love for the Bible. As Dr. Parker once said with reference to the work of the "higher critics," and their claim that was prompted by love for the Bible: "We never knew a mother to have some much love for her child that she wanted to dissected." People usually the dissect things that are dead; and this dissection of the Bible by the "higher critics" shows that they do not regard it as the living Word of God. Or, if perchance they do regard it as having life, then there dissection of it living, that is vivisection, shows the utter disregard of its life. It is to them like the rabbit to the vivisector, simply a subject for "scientific" investigation.

And now to the point of all this. We have not written this article for the sake of calling attention to the shortcomings of the "higher critics." Their unbelief and lack of appreciation for the spiritual realities of the Bible is their own affair, and we have no desire to spend time casting stones at them. What we wish to call attention to is the incalculable service they have rendered the cause of truth by this translation,-a service that could not possibly be rendered by any devout believer.

Here we have a translation as nearly unbiassed as it is possible to have done. With no reverence for the Bible, and no prejudice against it, their only objective has been to give the meaning of the Hebrew text as accurately as scholarship could do it. And what is the result?-One cannot read the new translation without been struck with its essential likeness to the best translations already existing. Aside from the greater clearness in certain passages, arising from the use of more modern English than in the old version or the Revision, and a different way of expressing the same thing, that must necessarily appear in different independent translations, the difference is very slight. All may therefore rest assured that in the familiar renderings so easily procurable by everybody, they have the Bible as it has come to us from the holy men who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. If in addition to the translation of 1611 and the Revision, one is sufficiently master of one are two modern languages to be able to compare the rendering of the Bible into those tongues, he has practically everything that he can get in the newest translation.

And so the foundation of God stands sure. We gladly welcome every new translation of the Bible, that is really a translation, for every turning over of the Word reveals new duties and allows increased light to shine forth; and we most earnestly advise our readers to procure as many different translations as possible, and to read them in unison. No other commentary is needed. The Revision is so cheap that there is scarcely any excuse for any person's not having at least that to read in connection with the old. But whoever has only the one may rest assured that nothing is lacking that is essential to make him wise unto salvation.

Last year the British and Foreign Bible Society circulated over 4,000,000 Bibles. Since it started, it has circulated over 150,000,000 copies.

"For ever Thy Word is settled in Heaven."

"The Epistle to the Galatians. The Adoption of Sons" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

It is absolutely impossible to exhaust any portion of Scripture. The more one studies it, the more one sees in it, and not only that, but the more one becomes conscious of the fact that there is much more in it than appears to view. The Word of God, like Himself, is absolutely unfathomable. It cannot therefore be wearisome if in this study we frequently review that which we have previously passed over. Indeed one's understanding of any given portion of the Scripture depends on the thoroughness of his knowledge of that which precedes it. Let us, therefore, give a little further attention to that portion of the third chapter of this Epistle which treats of

THE SEED

First of all, it must be borne in mind that Christ is the Seed. That is plainly stated. But Christ did not live for Himself, and He is not heir simply for Himself. He has won an inheritance, not for Himself, but for His brethren. God's purpose is to "gather together in one all things in Christ." He will finally put an end to divisions of every kind, and He does it now in those who accept Him. In Christ there are no distinctions of nationality, and no classes and ranks. No Christian thinks of any other man as English, German, French, Russian, Turk, Chinese, or African, but simply as a man, and, therefore, a possible heir of God through Christ. If that other man, no matter what his race or nation, be also a Christian, then the bond becomes mutual, and, therefore, still stronger. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." It is for this reason that it is impossible for a Christian to engage in war. He knows no distinction of nationality, but regards all men as his brothers. But the chief reason why he can not engage in warfare is that the life of Christ is his life, for he is one with Christ; and it would be as impossible for him to fight as it would be for Christ to seize a sword and wield it in self-defence.

But we are not now engaged in discussing war. We are not now engaged in discussing war, but are merely showing the absolute unity of believers in Christ. They are one. There is, therefore, but one seed, and that is Christ; for, however many millions of true believers there may be, they are only one in Christ. Each man has his own individuality, but it is in every case only the manifestation of some phase of the individuality of Christ. In a human body there are many members, and all members have not the same office, but differ in their individuality; yet there is absolute unity and harmony in every healthy body. With those who have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him, "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all." Col. iii. 11.

In Christ's explanation of the parable of the tares and the wheat, we are told that "the good seed are the children of the kingdom." Matt. xiii. 38. The man would not allow the tares to be pulled out of the wheat, because in the early stage it would be difficult to distinguish in every case between the wheat and the tares, and some of the wheat would be destroyed. So he said, "Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." It is in the harvest that the seed is gathered. Everybody knows that. But what the parable especially shows is that it is in the harvest that the seed is fully manifested; in short, that the seed comes at harvest time. But "the harvest is the end of the world." So the time when "the seed should come to whom the promise was made," is the end of the world, when the time comes for the promise of the new earth to be fulfilled. Indeed, the seed can not possibly be said to come before that time, since the end of the world will come just as soon as the last person who can be induced to accept Christ has done so; and the seed is not complete as long as there is one grain lacking.

Read now, in the nineteenth verse of the third chapter, that the law was spoken because of transgression, "till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." What do we learn from that?-Simply this, that the law as spoken from Sinai, without the change of a single letter, is an integral part of the Gospel, and must be presented in the Gospel until the second coming of Christ, at the end of the world. "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law." And what of the time when heaven and earth pass, and the new heaven and the new earth come?-Then the law will not be needed written in a book, for men to preach to sinners, showing them their sins, for it will be in the heart of every man. Heb. viii. 10, 11. Done away? Not by any means; but indelibly engraved in the heart of every individual, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.

With the truth concerning the seed before us, and the parable of the wheat and the tares fresh in our minds, let us proceed in our study.

THE TEXT FOR STUDY

"But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a bond-servant, though he is lord of all; but is under guardians and stewards until the term appointed of the father. So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world; but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them which were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God." Gal. iv. 1-7, R.V.

A Statement of Fact. -The first two verses explain themselves. They are a simple statement of fact. Although a child may be heir to a vast estate, he has no more to do with it until he is of age, than a servant has. If he should never come of age, then he would never actually enter upon his inheritance. He would have lived all his life as a servant, so far as any share in the inheritance is concerned. Now for

The Application. -"So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage

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under the rudiments of the world." If we look ahead to the fifth verse, we shall see that the state here known as "children" is that before we receive "the adoption of sons." It represents the condition before we were redeemed from the curse of the law, that is, before we were converted. It does not therefore mean children of God, as distinguished from worldlings, but the "children" of whom the apostle speaks in Eph. iv. 14, "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." In short, it refers to us in our unconverted state, when we "were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."

The Bondage. -When we were children we were in bondage under the rudiments of the world. No one who has the slightest acquaintance with the Lord needs to be told that the rudiments of the world is "not after Christ." Col. ii. 8. It is "after the tradition of men," wholly fleshly, the life of the natural man who receives not the things of the Spirit of God, neither knows them. It is the same bondage that is described in Gal. iii. 22-24, before faith came, when we were under the law, "under sin." It is the condition of men "without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Eph. ii. 12. "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." 1 John ii. 16, 17.

All Men Possible Heirs. -It may be asked, "If such is the condition of those here referred to as 'children,' how can they be spoken of as heirs?" The answer is plain. It is on the principle that it is not manifest who constitute the seed, until the harvest. God has not cast off the human race; therefore, since the first man created was called "the son of God," it follows that all men are heirs in the sense that they are in their minority. As already learned, "before faith came," although all were wanderers from God, we were kept under the law, guarded by a severe master, "shut up," in order that we might be led to accept the promise. What a blessed thing it is that God counts even the ungodly, those who are in the bondage of sin, as His children. Wandering, prodigal sons, but still children. This probationary life is given us for the purpose of giving us a chance to acknowledge Him as Father, and to become sons indeed.

"The Fulness of the Time." -Christ came in the fulness of time. A parallel statement to this is found in Rom. v. 6: "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." But the death of Christ serves for those who live now and for those who lived before He was manifested in the flesh in Judea, just as well as for the men who lived at that time. His death made no more change eighteen hundred years ago than it did four thousand years ago. It had no more effect on the men of that generation than on the men of any other generation. It is once for all, and, therefore, has an equal effect on every age. "The fulness of time" was the time foretold in prophecy, when the Messiah should be revealed; but the redemption was for all men in all ages. If it had been God's plan that He should have been revealed in this century, or even not until the last year before the close of time, it would have made no difference with the Gospel. "He ever liveth," and He ever has lived, "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever."

"Born of a Woman." -God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, and, therefore, a veritable man. He lived an average lifetime on this earth in the flesh, and suffered all the ills and troubles that fall to the lot of "man that is born of woman."

"Born under the Law." -Being born of a woman, Christ was necessarily born under the law, for such is the condition of all mankind, and "in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Heb. ii. 17. He takes everything on Himself. "He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." "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." He redeems us by coming into our place literally, and taking our load off our shoulders. "Him who knew no sin He made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. v. 21, R.V. In the fullest sense of the word, and to a degree that is seldom thought of when the expression is used, He became man's substitute. That is, He permeates our being, identifying Himself so fully with us that everything that touches or affects us touches and affects Him. If we will but recognise and acknowledge the fact, then we drop out entirely, so that it is "not I, but Christ." Thus we cast our cares on Him, not by picking them up and with an effort throwing them on Him, but by humbling ourselves into the nothingness that we are, so that we leave the burden resting on Him alone. Thus we see already how it is that He came

"To Redeem Them That Were under the Law." -He does it in the most practical and real way. Whom does He redeem?-"Them that were under the law." We can not refrain from referring for a moment to the idea that some have that this expression, "to redeem them that were under the law," has a mere local application. They would have it that it means that Christ freed the Jews from the necessity of offering sacrifices, or from any further obligation to keep the commandments. Well, suppose we take it as referring only to the Jews, and especially to those who lived at the time of His first advent; what then? Simply this, that we shut ourselves off from any place in the plan of redemption. If it was only the Jews that were under the law, then it was only the Jews that Christ came to redeem. Ah, we do not like to be left out, when it comes to the matter of redemption; then we must acknowledge that we are, or were before we believed, "under the law;" for Christ came to redeem none but those who were under the law . "Under the law," as we have already seen, means condemned by the law as transgressors. But the law condemns none but those who are amenable to it, and who ought to keep it. Therefore, since Christ redeems us from the law,-from its condemnation, it follows that He redeems us to a life of obedience to it.

"That We Might Receive the Adoption of Sons." -"Beloved, now are we the sons of God." 1 John iii. 2. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." John i. 12. This is an altogether different state from that described in the third verse as "children." In that state we were "a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord." Is. xxx. 9. Believing on Jesus, and receiving the adoption of sons, we are described "as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance." 1 Peter i. 14. Christ said, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea,

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Thy law is within My heart." Ps. xl. 8. Therefore, since He becomes our substitute, as described in the last paragraph but one, literally taking our place, not instead of us, but coming into us, and living our life in us and for us, it necessarily follows that the same law must be within our hearts when we receive the adoption of sons.

The Spirit the Badge of Sonship. -Christ as the only-begotten Son of God was filled with the Spirit. If we yield to the same Spirit, then we are His brethren indeed; for the Spirit is the life; "forv there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one." Then if we have the Spirit, we have the blood; and if we have the same blood, then we are blood relations-sons of God.

"If a Son, Then an Heir." -When the prodigal son was wandering from the father's house, he differed nothing from a servant, because he was a servant, doing the most menial drudgery. In that condition he came back to the old homestead, feeling that he deserved no better place than that of a servant. But the father saw him while he was yet a long way off, and ran and met him, and received him as a son, and therefore as an heir, although he had forfeited all right to heirship. So we have forfeited our right to be called sons, and have squandered away the inheritance; yet God receives us in Christ as sons indeed, and gives us the same rights and privileges that Christ has. "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." He is doubly "our Father." "And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

"The world is full of rumours, some of them inflammatory and others sinister," says the Chronicle.

Severe storms have raged round the British coast and over all the region of the North Sea, in the last week. Many wrecks are reported, with much loss of life. Forty-five fishermen were drowned off Lofoten.

While there are rumours of wars among the great Powers, the actual wars are going on with those peoples that are not "Powers." Reports from West Africa tell of the burning of ten towns in Quiah, and the killing of sixty natives.

At a meeting in the Mansion House last week, on behalf of the London City Mission, the Rev. Prebendary Webb-Peploe said that "most probably four and a-half millions of our London population never entered a place of worship."

The P. & O. steamer China went ashore in the night of March 24 on the Island of Perim, in the Straits of Bab-el Mandeb. The passengers, numbering 403, and the mails, were saved, but the vessel it is thought will be a total wreck.

It is reported that the Board of Inquiry concerning the U.S. warship Maine, that was blown up in the harbour of Havana, has found that it was due to external causes, although the responsibility for the disaster is not fixed. The relations between the United States and Spain are decidedly "strained," and war preparations are being rapidly pushed forward.

Notwithstanding assurances to the contrary, Russia has taken final possession of Port Arthur as a fortified naval station, which will become the terminus of the Siberian Railway. This makes northern China virtually a Russian province, and is generally regarded as a severe blow to the prestige and trade of Great Britain. What will be done is uncertain, but the Government has previously stated its determination to keep China open even if at the cost of war. It is significant that all the British warships at Hong Kong are taking in full supplies of coal and ammunition, and have been ordered to prepare immediately for sea.

The following little story very aptly illustrates the condition of many people with regard to the Lord:-

An appeal was once made to a minister by an inquirer who was in great distress through the perpetual conflict between his own will and the will of God. After some conversation the minister asked: "Why don't you pray about it?" "Pray?" replied the man in astonishment, "why, that would be to yield the whole matter!"

That is the secret of the trouble with many. They talk about the difficulty of overcoming their sins, and yet they are all the time so afraid that God will take those sins away from them, that they will not give Him the least opportunity to do so. Who of us has not at some time had this experience?

"'Before Honour Is Humility'" The Present Truth 13, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

"And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto Him, saying, Master, we would that Thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we desire. And He said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto Him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left, in Thy glory."

"And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you; but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister; and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." Mark x. 35-45.

What a natural and familiar request James and John made. "Give us the best places in the Government." "Let us have the offices of greatest honour and authority." That is human nature. In the world their request would then as well as to-day be considered a mark of energetic forethought. They were enterprising young men. Alas, such an enterprise is too often considered perfectly in place even in the church.

The ten were very naturally indignant. Why should these two seek a monopoly of the good positions? "Selfish fellows! we want some of the good places ourselves." The easiest kind of humility is that which consists in declaiming against the pretensions of others.

But the kingdom of God is in every respect the opposite of earthly kingdoms. The lowest place is the highest place. "He that abaseth himself shall be exalted." Yes, the exaltation is in the humiliation. It is utterly impossible to explain this, for it is so contrary to the natural understanding. No matter how much experience we have had in the Christian life, when we depend on our reason we cannot possibly see how we are going to get forward by keeping in the background, and pushing somebody else ahead.

Lowly service is the mark of greatness in the kingdom of God. Christ is greatest, because He has done the greatest service. He has the highest position, because He is the most lowly in heart. The great things in the kingdom of God are not the things that are talked about, and published in the newspapers, and applauded in reports of religious work. Ah, it is so easy to do great service when everybody looks on and appreciates. But to do humble service, that is not noticed, or if regarded is only despised, that is not so attractive.

We cannot possibly bring ourselves to this kind of service. We begin to efface ourselves because we know that this is the way to exaltation; but since we have exaltation in view, we inevitably and unconsciously collide into what seems to be the most direct and natural way to exaltation, that is, self-advancement. No; the only way it can be done is by being filled with and controlled by the Spirit of Christ. He is pre-eminently "The Servant." When He serves in us, the service will be perfect, because worldly methods will be entirely obliterated.

"Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not."

April 1, 1897

"The Crisis in the East" The Present Truth 13, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

"The thing that has been, it is that which shall be," and so it is that the same earth hunger and pride of dominion which has kept the world in greater or less turmoil since Nimrod's first empire are still stirring up the hearts of men. And now the earth has become so small that trouble in the most obscure and out-of-the-way corner threatens to involve the whole mass of mankind. In olden times there was more room for rival peoples; but now jealous powers are elbowing one another nearly every time they move. Gusty currents of hateful strife blow here and there around the circumference of the earth, but plainly the storm centre is the Near East.

That has been the pivotal point in the wars of empires ever since the conquests of Alexander "disturbed the world's balance" and gave to the West the dominion which had been held by the East. So important were to be the events centring in this region that the Lord gave the prophet Daniel (in his eleventh chapter) an outline of them over 2,500 years ago; and it is written for our learning upon whom the ends of the world are come because the crisis in the whole long history of the fight for supremacy is just before us and is involved in this Eastern Question that fills our newspapers from day to day. We will pass hastily over the eleventh chapter of Daniel, merely noting a few of the principal way-marks concerning the present with the times long past. Two hundred years before Alexander's conquest the angel said:-

"Behold there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all; and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia." Verse 2.

The fourth was Xerxes, who did stir up all against Grecia. Forty-nine nations served in his Grecian campaign. Never before or since has so many men joined in one great army. But he failed, and his great failure sealed the doom of Persia. The empire lingered for a century and a half, and then Alexander, at the head of the Greeks and Macedonians, added all the East to Grecia.

"And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity,

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nor according to his dominion which he ruled." Verses 3, 4.

ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE DIVIDED

Alexander stood up and ruled with great dominion. His genius seemed to promise the realisation of his great scheme of consolidating the East and the West, but at the height of his power he died, in Babylon. His posterity, and all of the royal house, perished in the intrigues that followed. Antigonus, the commander-in-chief of the army in Asia tried to reunite the satrapies and thus to continue as one the empire that had passed from Babylon to Medo-Persia, and then to Grecia. "But Ptolemy of Egypt [south] Lysimachus of Thrace [north], and Seleucus of Babylon [east], combined with Cassander of Macedon [west], against him," says the "Encyclopaedia Bitannica," "and he fell (301 B.C.) at the battle of Ipsus, in Phrygia. This decided the final break up of the empire." It had been "divided to the four winds of heaven" as the angel of the Lord had said.

TERRITORY OF THE KING OF THE NORTH

The king of the South, Egypt, was strong, but Seleucus, who ruled Syria, was "strong above him" (Verse 5) and defeated Lysimachus in the North, whose kingdom was Thrace on the European side, and Asia Minor on the Asiatic side. Thus Seleucus became the king of the North also. He had removed the seat of his government from the capital he first built on the Tigris, near Babylon, to Antioch, in northern Syria, and the kingdom which he founded continued the dominant power in that region between the Tigris and the ?gean Sea which now constitutes the principal part of Turkey.

The verses following refer to the wars which were waged between Egypt, kings of the North and South. "Palestine was as of old," says the "Encyclop?dia Britannica" of these times, "the battle-field for the king of the North and the king of the South."

THE ROMAN POWER INTRODUCED

Verse 14 introduces the Roman power (robbers or breakers of Daniel's people, the Jews). Rome began to interfere in the affairs of the Near East. Antiochus the Great, of the dynasty of Seleucus, was defeated by the Romans in Greece and then in Asia Minor, and finally, Pompey's Eastern campaign reduced Syria and also Palestine. Verse 16 had said of this power, "None shall stand before him and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed." And so it was utterly consumed by the Romans a little over a century later.

But verse 17 seems to bring us down a few years further to C?sar's Egyptian campaign, where he met that "daughter of women" whose arts were to have so much influence on the policy of Rome. In verse 19 it is said that he was to "stumble and fall," and even so the greatest of the Romans fell beneath the daggers of his false friends.

THE DAYS OF IMPERIAL ROME

Antony and Octavius followed Julius C?sar, but Antony's relations with Cleopatra estranged him from Rome, and the battle of Actium was fought between the two rivals. It was a naval engagement just at the entrance of the Gulf of Arta, in western Greece, where now Greek and Turkish forces are watching each other across the narrow entrance. After Octavius' victory he invaded Egypt; and thus the territory of the king of the South became finally a Roman province. The victory of Actium, B.C. 31, gave Octavius the place which Julius C?sar had gained when he was assassinated, that of sole dictator. He took the name of Augustus, and with his rule the historians drop the story of the republic, and begin the story of Imperial Rome. Of him the prophet had said:-

"Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom." Verse 20.

With this agree the words of Luke, "And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from C?sar Augustus that all the world should be taxed." Luke ii. 1. His reign was what the world calls a glorious one and is known as the Augustan Age. The truly glorious event of his reign; however, was the birth of Jesus, unnoticed by the great of Rome who were glorying in the work of their own hands and the might of their empire.

The angel told Daniel that this ruler was to die "neither in anger, nor in battle'" (verse 30). Augustus died a natural death, an end sufficiently extraordinary in the history of Roman rulers to make it worthy of mention; for an historian says:-

Of the sixty-two emperors from C?sar to Constantine, forty-two were murdered, three committed suicide, two abdicated or were forced to abdicate, one was killed in a rebellion, one was drowned, one died in war, one died it is not known how, and no more than eleven died in the way of nature.

THE CRUCIFIXION

Then there stood up in his estate "a vile person" (verse 21). Tiberius succeeded Augustus. His infamous orgies in the island of Capr? have given him a name in history with the vilest of the vile. The next verse said that in his reign the "Prince of the covenant" should be broken. And so it was that in the reign of Tiberius C?sar (Luke ii. 1) Jesus began His public ministry and in the same reign and by the sentence of Pilate the servant of Tiberius, He was broken sealing the covenant with His blood.

Thus the prophetic outline has brought us to the crucifixion.

THE TIME OF PAPAL PERSECUTION

With verse 23 the prophet seems to begin again to sketch the manner of the rise of this Roman power to greatness, and from verses 31-35 to describe the change that came in with the setting up of the Papacy and the terrible persecutions that followed. This time of persecution was "for a time appointed." The only such time appointed is the time of Dan. vii. 25; the 1260 prophetic days or years of papal supremacy, mentioned also in Rev. xii. 6, 14, and xiii. 5. Beginning with the full establishment of the Papacy in 538 this period of 1260 years expired in 1798. In that year the arms of France entered Rome, removed the Pope and abolished the papal college. It was a heavy blow to mark the end of that period which began when the arms of the Roman emperor established the Papacy in Rome; supreme over all the churches. It was a deadly wound but it has been or is being healed, and both Daniel and John represent the Papacy as still fighting the truth even to the end of time.

"THE TIME OF THE END"

This ending of the "time appointed" is said (in this 35th verse) to mark also the beginning of "the time of the end." Hence from this point-almost in our own century-the events recorded hasten on toward the end. Verse 40 takes up the story where verse 35 ends-with "the time of the end"-but first the intervening record (verses 36-39) describes the nations of a power, atheistical in character; which was to "divide the land for gain." It was in the last decade that revolutionary France exactly met these specifications. As the writer of a paper in Blackwood's Magazine once said:-

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France stands apart in the world's history as the single state which, by the decree of her legislative assembly, pronounced that there was no God.

And to furnish the revolutionary government with funds the lands were "divided for gain," the great estates were confiscated and sold in allotments by the State, which was able to raise by this means nearly a thousand million sterling. Other detail's in these verses of Scripture may easily be identified in the history of this period of the French Revolution. But this passed, and, as we have seen, the arms of France, directed by Napoleon, were free to strike the blow at the Papacy in 1793, the beginning of the time of the end. And now we read:-

THE KING OF THE NORTH AGAIN

"And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind."

Now again the kings of the south and the north are before us. Egypt was the territory of the king of the south. The king of the north, in the division of Alexander's empire and the conquests of the Seleucid?, was the dominant power along the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, and in Asia Minor and Syria. It is the territory of Turkey. The Turkish Empire has for generations filled the dominions of the original king of the north.

"At the time of the end" in that very 1798, Napoleon entered Egypt. The Mameluke rulers vainly "pushed" at the French, and Egypt was quickly subdued. Then Napoleon marched northward into Syria, led by the same ambition which had so often made that region the battling ground of nations. Guizot says:-

In his secret thoughts, powerful and chimerical, he nursed the hopes of pushing forward to Constantinople, seizing that city, and making himself master of Europe by attacking it from its eastern side. It was to the conquest of the world that he marched in advancing against Jaffa.

But Turkey, the king of the north, came at him, as the text says, "like a whirlwind," and, reinforced on land and sea by the English and Russian alliance, drove the French back, and eventually, as stated in verses 41-43, overflowed all the land into Egypt, which again became tributary to Turkey.

This alliance with England and Russia "was the beginning of the new politics of the Mohammedans in Europe, the beginning of the end for them," says the "Encyclop?dia Britannica." From this time the Ottoman Empire, which had been able about sixty years before to fight single-handed against both Austria and Russia and dictate favourable terms of peace, began that breaking up process which all along the statesmen of the world are now watching. All along the question has been, Who shall secure Constantinople?-the prize at which Napoleon aimed in his dream of sovereignty over Europe and Asia. Again and again Turkey has fought to maintain its European dominion. The angel had said:-

"Tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many." Verse 43.

It is a good description of the Turkish attack on Russia in 1853, which led to the Crimean War, in which France and England helped the Turk to stand. Again in 1878, English intervention kept Russia out of Constantinople.

THE PRESENT CRISIS IN THE EAST

Since then the jealousies of the Powers and the desire of each to seize the chief part of the spoil have led one and then another to help Turkey to stand. But "the king of the North'" is threatened in the north and in the east, and in European politics it is an accepted doctrine that every such crisis as Turkey has been passing through of late is hastening the final fall of the Ottoman Power in Europe. Then perforce he must remove his seat of government into Syria. The angel said of this move:-

"And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end and none shall help him." Verse 45.

Again the scene of conflict becomes the land of Palestine. It is here that the battle of the last day, of Armageddon, is to be fought, and more than one prophet has described the gathering of the nations to the final conflict here. And in this the "king of the North" is to come to his end, and none shall help him.

"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." Dan. xii. 1.

It is to warn the world of what is just before us now, that this long prophetic history was given. The events in the Near East are full of a significance which politicians do not appreciate. They fear the trouble that they see hovering over the world, ready to fall when the dissolution of Turkey comes. The Powers know that they are ready to fill the earth with violence in order to advance their interests. But dreaming of empire none of them believe what God says, and they are only rushing headlong to destruction. Christendom rings with the din of war preparations, and many call for the overthrow of the Turk, little thinking that they are hastening the world into that time of trouble which will witness the plagues of the last day and the destruction of the wicked by the consuming glory of Christ's second coming.

This story of the struggle for empire and dominion given by the angel to Daniel over 2500 years ago is full of details, and we have here only sketched the outline, but truly it shows that we are Iiving in serious times. One lesson in it for us is that all through the centuries prophecy has been the one sure thing, and we may know that he who builds upon the Word and lets the Word build him up will be kept safely. Christ's promise is for us now, and we shall need it in the times that are before us, "Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold I come quickly."

"Wars and Rumours of Wars" The Present Truth 13, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Under the head, "Wars and Rumors of Wars," the Review of Reviews says:-

In the periodicals for March there is quite a glut of articles discussing the prospects of war and peace.

Several of these articles are then summarised.

In a reported lecture by Lord Wolseley on "War and Preparations for War" he claimed that war was a good thing for the soldier, a good thing for civilisation, a good thing for humanity, a good thing for morality, and that the army is "the most excellent of all the public training colleges."

Another article is a report of a lecture, and the following discussion, on "A Scheme for the Defence of London." In the course of the discussion it was said:-

You want to teach the children in your Board Schools, your National Schools, and even in your Voluntary Schools, from the age of ten, to shoot with the Morris Tube, so that there shall be no doubt that any man going into the field, with one hundred cartridges, carries seventy lives in his pouch. These are the points to which your attention should be directed.

A further article considers the whole Government scheme of national defence.

Again in another magazine the question is asked, and answered at length, "Is France at England's Mercy;" while a second writer in the same periodical discusses

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with faithful minuteness the problem "Could Spain Thrash the United States."

In a late issue the Daily Mail says:-

Every year seems to make it more probable that the close of the nineteenth century will mark an epoch in the history of the world. The thoughts of the nations have for some time now been turned to the subject of war; and incredible though it may seem, in the event of a general call to arms, nearly 40,000,000 of men could be placed in the field.

The available military forces of the world are thus summarised: United States of America, 7,500,000 men; France, 4,350,000; Germany, 3,000,000; Russia, 2,600,000; Italy, 3,030,000; Great Britain, 715,683; Spain, 1,084,000; Switzerland, 483,200; Austro-Hungary, 4,000,000;-twenty-five other nationalities are enumerated with armies of from a million to a few thousand, and the article concludes with this paragraph:-

It is a terrible reflection that the will of one man, or a mistake of diplomacy, may bring these armies of the world into collision. After the first shot is fired no one can say when and where the sacrifice will end, and the contemplation that 40,000,000 of men are armed against each other, even in the interests of "peace," is not soothing when rumours of war are so rife. It means that all over the globe one man in every forty of the population is ready for the fray.

It is scarcely possible that there could be stronger evidences of the rapid fulfilment of prophecy than such indications as these. But while there are a few who understand the significance of these "wars and rumours of wars," and the vast preparations which are being made, and watch, and wait, and pray, it is true of the nations at large that they are waiting for the fray, ready to burst forth at the voice of that ruler who shall first cry, "Havoc! and let loose the dogs of war."

"A Serious Question" The Present Truth 13, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

The effect of the license in religious thought and belief, which was the result of the teaching at the "World's Parliament of Religions," has combined with the so-called "Higher Criticism," to draw many of the intellectual leaders in popular religion farther and farther from the Bible, and the truth.

This has found vent of late in open attacks from the pulpit, in various parts of the world, upon the inspiration of the Bible as a whole, and also in thinly veiled ridicule of certain portions of the Biblical writings, such as the attack, not long since upon the Song of Solomon, by a preacher of repute who had previously excited his congregation to laughter by his humorous treatment of the miracle of Jonah and the whale. Another clergyman, of high repute for ability, and with a large following, has yielded to the contagion and expressed to his congregation his disbelief in the fact that the prophet Balaam was reproved by his ass, in the manner described by the Biblical narrative.

These incidents together with numerous others have led the Roman Catholic journals to call attention to "the Bible smashing," as they term it, which those who call themselves Protestants are now engaged in.

In this they are putting the strongest kind of a weapon into the hands of Roman Catholicism; which in good time will be used most effectually. There is no foundation for true religion except upon the Bible as God's Word. If its validity is questioned there is no foundation for those who question except the opinions and the teachings of men. The strongest and greatest of all these is Roman Catholicism, that overmastering deception which will eventually rule all who depart in the least from the pure and unadulterated Word of God. This, Roman Catholicism knows, and it bides its time, not making the use yet, which it well might, of the fact that many of the most noted of the Protestant ministry of the present day have reasoned themselves completely round the circle, and are again in fact, though not in profession, in the arms of the Roman Catholic Church.

There is a strangely ludicrous inconsistency in the result achieved by these "Bible smashers" who are unable to believe the miracles attested by God's Word, in that they play directly into the hands of a false religious power which demands of all its followers, and votaries, an unreasoning credulousness which amounts in the end to the attainment of a genius for gullibility.

The miracles which God has worked, related in His Word, and corroborated by the wonders which He still works, during every moment of time, before the eyes and in the experience of every man, they cannot believe; but they are getting ready to accept, if they do not already, the Satanic delusions of Spiritualism and the allied deceptions of Roman Catholic saint worship and wonder working. Whom do these men, and those who are influenced by them, really worship, and in whom do they actually believe? That is a serious question for them.

As Paul pointed out to the pagan Athenians the God whom they ignorantly worshipped; so there should another Paul arise, in these times, to point out to these learned Bible critics the Satan whom they are ignorantly worshipping.

"The Message of Comfort" The Present Truth 13, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

The fortieth chapter of Isaiah is wholly a message of comfort. It begins, "Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God." Then follows an assurance of forgiveness, and then the special message is given by the voice of one crying in the wilderness. That message is the power of the Word of God, as contrasted with the weakness of man.

"The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever." Isa. xl. 1-8.

Then follow illustrations of the power of the word. The facts of creation are referred to, and the power of God is contrasted with the weakness of men. Then comes this beautiful passage. "To whom then will ye liken Me, that I should be equal to him? saith the Holy One. 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. 25, 26, R.V.

Here again we are referred to the fact that God is the upholder of the heavens; that it is His power that keeps the heavenly bodies in their places. But for His direct interposition there would be chaos. In the following verses this fact is offered to the people of God for their special encouragement. "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over 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.

What a lesson of trust is here! "God hath spoken; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God." Ps. lxii. 11. That power is the power that upholds the heavens, and causes the stars

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and planets to hold their courses. It is this power that He gives to the faint, and to those who have no might, if they will but trust Him. Let a despondent soul but spend a little time in contemplation of the heavens, thinking the while of this passage, and he will be better able than ever before to realise what the apostle means when he says, "Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience, and longsuffering, with joyfulness." Col. i. 11.

But what is all this intended to show? The power of the word; for it is by the word of His power that all things are upheld. It is the word of the Lord that has created all things. That word is brought to our attention in the first part of the chapter, in contrast with all flesh, as the word that abideth for ever. Read now the fortieth chapter of Isaiah entire, especially verses 6-8, and 26, and then read the Apostle Peter's comment:-

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever." 1 Peter i. 23-25. Here we have the quotation from the fortieth of Isaiah concerning the word of God, which creates and upholds all things. It is the living word, which is the life and strength of all things. Take this all in, and then read the closing words of the apostle: "And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you."

The Gospel, then, is simply the creative power of God applied to men. Any Gospel that leaves creation out, or which does not preach the creative power of God, as seen in the things that He has made, and which does not comfort men by that power, calling upon them ever to keep it in mind as their only source of strength, is "another gospel," which is simply no gospel at all, since there can be no other.

This, then, is the lesson to be learned "in the beginning." He who has learned it is a new creature in Christ, and is ready to learn that which follows, namely, the lesson of growth. With these wonderful facts in mind, how worse than useless do the fears seem which some express: "I am afraid that if I begin the Christian life I shall not be able to hold out." Of course, you wouldn't be able to hold out. You are without strength; but help has been laid upon One that is mighty. He is able to make you stand, and to keep you to the end. "Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." Therefore,

"Now unto Him that 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 ever. Amen." Jude 24, 25.

"How Solomon Got His Wisdom" The Present Truth 13, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Solomon was the wisest man that the world ever saw. There was none like him before or after. How did he get his wisdom?-God gave it to him. Did he go to bed one night, and wake up next morning a wise man? He himself has told us how he got his wisdom, and how we may get it. Solomon was a king and he has given us the royal way to wisdom. And this is not simply Solomon's opinion. It is the Spirit of God speaking through Solomon, and what the Spirit of God spoke to Solomon, He speaks to us:-

"My son, if thou wilt receive My words, and hide My commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous."

How did Solomon get his understanding? He dug for it. He cried for it day and night. That is the way men seek silver and gold. That is the way the millionaires get their money. They put their minds on that one thing to the exclusion of every other thing day and night; because they would rather have money than anything else. Now, we would rather have wisdom than anything else, because the wisdom of God is salvation, and the salvation of God is everything. Solomon studied, and the Lord gave him light. He studied God's Word, "for the Lord giveth wisdom, out of His mouth cometh understanding." We desire wisdom, too. How shall we get it?-"If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." But let him be watchful about one thing. "Let him ask in faith." How does faith come?-By hearing. Hearing what?-The Word of God. Rom. x. 17. Let him ask, then, according to the Word of God.

"Rome's Tactics in Australia" The Present Truth 13, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

A long time ago, when the Pope definitely put his approval upon what he called free and popular government, he urged that Roman Catholics should be watchful and ready to enter politics and influence legislation in every possible way, in order to bring the laws of popular governments into harmony with Catholic principles. It is the new crusade, and the dream of the modern Papacy is to dominate the masses and work through peoples as in the old times, before constitutional government, it worked through kings and princes.

The policy is well under way and has made greater progress than most people think. Rome may well be astonished to see Protestants so earnestly building up the shattered edifice of Catholicism by pushing religious controversy into politics. She will meet them and further her own aims. The last Australian mail brings news of development there. Our Society's Melbourne organ, the Bible Echo, says:-

Friday, Feb. 5, a deputation said to have included "gentlemen of all shades of religious and political opinion," waited on Cardinal Moran to request him to allow himself to be nominated as a candidate to the Federal Convention. In response the Cardinal read a lengthy reply, previously prepared for the occasion, in which he signified his willingness to comply with the "very flattering invitation." After calling attention to the question of a constitution for the proposed Australian Commonwealth, almost the first thing in this reply the Cardinal says:-

"I would wish to see inserted in the preamble to the Constitution some such clause as the following: 'Religion is the basis of our Australian Commonwealth and of its laws; and in accordance with the spirit of religion, genuine liberty of conscience is the birthright of every Australian citizen, and full and free religious worship, so far as may be consistent with public order and public morality, shall be accorded to all.'"-Melbourne Age, Feb. 6, 1897.

This proposition is worthy of consideration. To many it may seem a praiseworthy thing. But we cannot so regard it, and for the following reasons:-

Whenever religion has been made the basis of civil laws and civil legislation in the past, the result invariably has been to trammel the "full and free exercise

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of divine worship," and interfere with "genuine liberty of conscience." History tells but one story along this line.

Furthermore, according to both the spirit of the religion of Jesus Christ and Christ's own teaching, civil governments can of right have nothing to do with religion. That is a matter quite apart from their proper jurisdiction. Men are accountable to God alone for their faith and practice in this respect. Said Christ: "Render unto C?sar the things that are C?sar's and unto God the things that are God's." But religion does not belong to C?sar, and C?sar, therefore, has no right to assume jurisdiction over it. Religion pertains to man's relation and moral accountability to God, not to the Government. The Papacy has ever sought to make religion the basis of civil governments, and the Dark Ages, with their martyrdoms on the rack, at the stake, in the dungeon and before the tribunals of the Inquisition, testify to the awful results of her successes in this direction.

If men would but look beneath the surface, they could see in this proposed preamble a proposition for taking a first and long step in the backward direction. It is so worded that many doubtless will not see in it what is really there. On the face of it, it may look like a very innocent, harmless, and even laudable affair. But it contains a "dead fly" which spoils the otherwise good ointment. It declares for "genuine liberty of conscience" and "full and free exercise of worship so far as may be consistent with public order and public morality." But that spoils it all. That puts liberty of conscience and freedom of worship on a variable and treacherous foundation. It makes them the servants of the whims and the caprice of men. It jeopardises their very existence at the outset. "Public order" in Roman Catholic countries may require that every man shall uncover his head while the "host" or the "crucifix" is being carried by in a procession. "Public morality" even in Australia may demand that all shall observe Sunday as the Sabbath, while God says the seventh day shall be thus observed. Public order and public morality are often at low ebb and of very inferior quality. They are not the standard of order and morality for the true follower of Christ. He looks to God and His Word, and not to the public, for directions in determining what are his duties and limits in religious matters, and he is bound to follow what God says, regardless of what the public may do, say, or think.

Let none be deceived. The Papacy never has declared, and the Papacy never will declare, for the right of the individual to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. This would destroy the whole papal system at one stroke. It will never do it.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

-Marine insurance companies report that there have been an extraordinary number of wrecks at sea this spring.

-The Russian Government is credited with the policy of uniting the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea by a camel.

-A motion for reduction in taxation of clerical incomes passed the House of Commons by a considerable majority on March 23.

-It is said that in Germany cattle and sheep are fed on treacle for the purpose of fattening them and that during one year no less than 100,000 tons of treacle have been used in this way.

-The United States Senate has so amended the treaty of arbitration between this country and that that it is considered that the treaty is wrecked. The opposition to it is attributed to the "Jingo" spirit in the Senate.

-The London County Council has decided to take no action as to the restriction of Sunday music in the various halls. Some time ago a petition was presented by the "Lord's Day Rest Association" asking that this should be done, and s renewal of the petition has resulted in this refusal of the Council to act.

-The Board of Trade report of the state of the labour market in February shows that during that month sixty-six fresh disputes arose, involving 23,671 people, eighteen of which were wholly successful from the point of view of the workers. Changes in the rates of wages affected nearly 50,000 people, of whom all except 300 received increases.

-Menelik of Abyssinia, who claims to be a descendant of the Queen of Sheba, has arranged for the coinage of a large quantity of money at the French Mint. On one side of the coins will appear the effigy of the Negus, surrounded by a Greek cross, and inscribed "John Menelik II., King of Kings of Ethiopia." On the reverse side will be engraved the conquering lion of the tribe of Judah, with the words "Ethiopia holds out the hand to no one but God."

-It is said to be still cold in Thessaly and Macedonia, and snow lies upon the mountains. But this month will bring the spring forward, and then it will be seen whether or not the mountaineers of Macedonia will rise against the Turkish rule. In olden times in these regions spring brought these men out to raid and plunder, and newspaper correspondents intimate that the old love of fighting is stirring the blood of the peasantry, who will be disappointed if they do not get a chance at somebody.

-War is a Satanic thing anyway, and doubtless it is quite consistent for fighters to make their weapons as cruelly effective as possible. There has been much complaint that the new Lee-Metford bullet did not shatter the flesh and bones sufficiently to at once disable a man. It is said that on the recent Benin expedition the troops filed off the tops of their bullets with the result that a shattering wound was inflicted. It is gruesome to think of men sitting down to devise ways of mutilating their enemies, but it is a necessary part of war.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

When the Psalmist said, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy," he had in his heart a foretaste of the words of the Master, "Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted."

The South African Sentinel, organ of our Society in Cape Town, says that their newly-opened Sanatorium is full, and our friends have had to secure the lease of a large private house adjoining the institution.

It is estimated that of the 200,000,000 Africans, 50,000,000 are slaves. The great army of slaves is recruited not only by the Arab slave raiders, but in many parts debtors and criminals are sold by the tribes, and parents sell their children to the dealers in human flesh.

Bishop Tucker, of Uganda, says that while in 1890 the C.M.S. had only one church in that region, now they had 320, with congregations numbering 25,000. The native teachers are supported entirely by the converts. They have the Scriptures and the "Pilgrim's Progress" in the native tongue.

The War Office is about to test a new Hotchkiss gun which it is expected will prove to be the deadliest of all the automatic machines yet constructed. This gun can be easily transported, weighing only thirty-three pounds. It fires 1,000 shots in two minutes, three seconds, and when once set in motion continues to discharge its hailstorm of lead until the ammunition runs out, or it is stopped by the gunner.

If this new implement of destruction should prove as efficient as it promises, there will be no doubt a great desire among the "Christian nations" to possess it, or at least each will deem it necessary to have some implement of war equally as murderous. Is it not surprising that among those people who profess national Christianity there should be the greatest emulation as to which should be able to break the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," in the most wholesale way?

The craze for making the people religious by law has made such progress in America that a bill has actually been introduced in the legislature of a Western State providing for the enforcement of the Ten Commandments under penalties. It will no doubt be at once thrown out, but the fact that it is introduced is significant of the tendency of religious life in the United States.

How many there are who see in the temporal needs of their families, in the struggle for the "daily bread," an apparently insurmountable barrier in the way of obeying God's commandments. But really, whether obeying or disobeying, all are absolutely dependent upon God's grace for life and strength and daily food. God's mercy sends these temporal benefits upon the just and the unjust. But the only promise there is that God will see that we have "these things" is to those who seek "first" the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

One of our Society's missionaries on the Gold Coast tells of God's grace upon him in a recent illness which had reduced him to the verge of death. He says:-

As we could not understand what had caused the sickness, and everything we did was of no use, I called my wife to the bedside, and told her I knew nothing else to do except to pray to God, the source of all strength. She then led in prayer, and I followed, asking the Lord to forgive if we had sinned a sin of ignorance; and if it was to His glory, to hear and heal. I was healed from that hour. Brethren, the Lord is in Africa, and there is a great work to be done here. We know we are not doing it alone; for your prayers are helping us.

The patience of the saints and the faith of Jesus are the attributes which are inseparable. Where the one exists the other must also be. They are the handmaids of heaven. Those who possess their souls in patience in this life will find eternal life the possession of their souls hereafter.

"Jesuits in Madagascar" The Present Truth 13, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesuits in Madagascar .-Freedom of religious belief and worship in Madagascar has found a champion in the person of a former governor of French Indo-China, who, writing in reference to the course which is being pursued in Madagascar, declares that

A colonial policy favouring the introduction of religious animosities, and conducted by a militarism which claims the right to impose a form of worship in the natives can only be a cause of ruin and of shame for the Republic and France.

If the facts as regards the management of affairs in this island are such as this sentence presupposes, it would seem that the intolerance which was supposed to have been scotched at home has survived to make itself felt in France's latest acquired colony.

"Education in War" The Present Truth 13, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Education in War .-The public schools' volunteers have had their field day at Aldershot. These infants in arms, twenty-two corps strong, armed with rifles and blank cartridges, man?uvred and fought sham battles for a whole day, and returned to their homes filled with the martial spirit which the doings of the day were intended to inspire. "As the twig is bent, the tree is inclined," so it is said. If the youth are brought up to war, is it natural to expect peace when they are grown? The day will come when those parents, in their helpless age will look to see these boys return from some field where they will not meet blank cartridges, and they will not return.

War is a transgression of God's laws, and the way of the transgressor, and of those who aid and educate him to transgress, is hard. Those who take the sword shall perish with the sword.

"Power of Custom" The Present Truth 13, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

Power of Custom .-Bosnia is peopled by a mixture of races and religions, and in describing some of their characteristics a newspaper says:-

But the most curious community, from the religious point of view, is that of a sect of Roman Catholics who in their worship go through the genuflexions, prostrations, and other attitudes practised by the Moslems in the mosques close by. The custom is doubtless a survival of the time when Christians, to save their lives, pretended to be Mohammedans. Yet these Roman Catholics would fight to the death for the preservation of their Moslem ceremonies.

"The Blessed Hope" The Present Truth 13, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

The Blessed Hope .-When Jesus was about to leave His disciples He said: "Let not your heart be troubled . . . I will come again." When, therefore, the thought of Christ's soon coming troubles people something is wrong. Many shut their eyes to the evidences that the end is near, and are startled when the doctrine of the Second Advent is presented. What is needed is such an entire surrender of the heart and such a turning to God in the obedience of faith that the thought of the coming of the Saviour in power and glory will be a precious one. It is to those that "love His appearing" that He will give the crown of life "in that day."

April 7, 1897

"'I Am'" The Present Truth 13, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesus was walking on the stormy sea, coming to the aid of His disciples, whom He had seen "toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them;" "but they, when they saw Him walking on the sea, supposed that it was an apparition, and cried out; for they saw Him, and were troubled. But He straightway spake with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." Mark vi. 48-50, R.V.

These were comforting words to the disciples, and they have comforted many disciples since that night on the sea; but the disciples at that time did not derive all the comfort from them they ought, "for their heart was hardened;" and very few of the disciples since that day have seen in the words as they read them all that the Saviour really said.

The words rendered, "It is I," meant far more than a simple assurance that it was their Teacher, a real person, who was coming to them, and not an apparition. They included that, which was certainly re-assuring; but if the hearts of the twelve had not been hardened, they would have found not merely relief from their childish fears, but eternal comfort; for the words that Jesus uttered, literally translated, were, "Be of good cheer; I am."

Here we see that Jesus identified Himself with the "I AM" who sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt. Ex. iii. 14. "I AM THAT I AM." That expresses infinity of existence,-the One "who is, and was, and who is to come, the Almighty." Of God alone can it be said that "He is." That means that He is the Source of all existence, for everything that exists, exists solely in Him. "I Am" is the power that creates and upholds. In Jesus is the name of God, "for in Him were all things created."

The words that Jesus spoke that night on the sea, were used by Him several times, but only once do they appear in our translation, namely, in John viii. 58, "Before Abraham was, I am." But twice more in the same chapter He declares Himself to be the "I am," and points us to the cross as proof of the fact. Thus: "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am." Verse 18. From John xii. 32, 33, we know that the lifting up of Christ is His crucifixion. There is no salvation except by the cross of Christ; and the cross, as we have seen, is the proof, He is the "I Am," the Creator; therefore He said, "If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins." John viii. 24.

"I AM" signifies eternal power,-self-existent, independent power. It is the name of Him who is "from everlasting to everlasting," and who is the dwelling-place of all mankind,-the One in whom "we live, and move, and have our being."

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"In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, and He made it; and His hands formed the dry land." Ps. xcv. 4, 5. So when Jesus said to His disciples, "Be of good cheer; I am" He really assured them that in Him was the power that made the sea, and that could therefore rule its raging, and that could save them, not only from momentary danger, but from eternal death.

In that name, "I am," there is everlasting strength. And it is all our hope. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that seek after Him." Heb. xi. 6, R.V. To us, as well as to the disciples on the sea, He says, "Be of good cheer; I am." He is always present, with all power in heaven and on earth. Simply believe that He is, and continue believing, and you have eternal salvation. "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of death." How boundless are those words, "I am."

"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." "To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts," as did the twelve, and thus lose the infinite comfort and strength that lies in the assurance, "I am." When in deep trouble or temptation, fix your mind upon the fact that He is. Listen to His voice saying, "I am," and let your soul be swallowed up in contemplation of it, and you will be lost to everything else. Trouble will be light as air, and temptation will lose its power. The tempter will flee from you. What cannot one endure, who knows not only that Christ is near, but that His presence creates, upholds, and saves! Let Him be to you the "I am," and you will find that in Him you have everything that is. For "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?" Let this be your confidence, and soon you will see Him as "He is."

"British Bible Society" The Present Truth 13, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

When the British and Foreign Bible Society began operations, in the early part of this century, a Bible could be purchased for less than five shillings, nor a copy of the New Testament for less than eighteen pence. Now the New Testament can be purchased for a penny, and a few pennies will enable one to buy the entire Bible.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. Bondservants and Freemen" The Present Truth 13, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

The fifth chapter of Galatians contains a great deal of personal matter which is interesting as showing the apostle Paul's zeal and tenderness, but which for the purpose of our study may be summarized in a few words. The thirteenth verse lets us know that he was in great bodily affliction when he first preached the Gospel to the Galatians, and the fifteenth verse seems to indicate that his eyes were specially affected. His deep affliction may have had much to do with the vigor with which he preached the Gospel to them, causing them to see Christ crucified; for he tells us: "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong." 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10. We see that the brethren had conceived a deep love for him, because of the blessedness which they experienced through his preaching, and to this he appeals. He assures them that in their departure from the faith they have not injured him at all; he is not troubled over their disaffection towards him, but over their falling away from Christ.

With this introduction we may proceed with the study, beginning with verse 7, the one with which we closed our last week's lesson, and skipping from verse 11 to verse 21.

THE SCRIPTURE

"Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. . . . Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory; for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Gal. iv. 7-31; v. 1.

Heathen Bondage. -"At that time, not knowing God, ye were in bondage to them which by nature are no gods." Verse 8, R.V. The Galatians had been heathen, worshiping idols, in bondage to horrible and degrading superstitions. Bear in mind that this bondage is the same as that which is spoken of in the preceding chapter,-

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they were "shut up" under the law. It was the very same bondage in which all unconverted persons are, for in the second and third chapters of Romans we are told that "there is no difference; for all have sinned." The Jews themselves, who did not know the Lord by personal experience, were in the same bondage,-the bondage of sin. "Every one that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin." John viii. 34. And "he that committeth sin is of the devil." 1 John iii. 8. "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God." 1 Cor. x. 20. But ourselves once walked "according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2), and we "were aforetime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another." Titus iii. 3. So we also were "in bondage to them which by nature are no gods." The meaner the master, the worse the bondage. What language can depict the horror of being in bondage to corruption itself?

In Love with Bondage. -"Now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known of God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again?" Is it not strange that men should be in love with chains? Christ has proclaimed "liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound" (Is. lxi. 1), saying to the prisoners, "Go forth," and to them that are in darkness, "Show yourselves" (Is. xlix. 9); yet men who have heard these words, and have come forth, and have seen the light of "the Sun of Righteousness," and have tasted the sweets of liberty, actually turn round and go back into their prison, submit to be bound with their old chains, even fondling them, and labor away at the hard treadmill of sin. Who has not had something of that experience? It is no fancy picture. It is a fact that men can come to love the most revolting things, even death itself; for Wisdom says, "All they that hate Me love death." Prov. viii. 36. In reading the Epistle to the Galatians, we are reading a perfectly human experience. Would that to every reader it might be his own experience to the end of the book. Let us not stop here.

Observing Heathen Customs. -"Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years." This was an evidence of their bondage. "Ah," says some one, "they had gone back to the old Jewish Sabbath; that was the bondage against which Paul would warn us." How strange it is that men have such an insane hatred of the Sabbath, which the Lord Himself gave to the Jews, in common with all other people on the earth, that they will seize upon every word that they think they can turn against it, although in order to do so they must shut their eyes to all the words that are around it. Anybody who reads the Epistle to the Galatians, and thinks as he reads, must know that the Galatians were not Jews. They had been converted from heathenism. Therefore, previous to their conversion they had never had anything to do with any religious custom that was practiced by the Jews. They had nothing whatever in common with the Jews. Consequently, when they turned again to the "weak and beggarly elements" to which they were willing again to be in bondage, it is evident that they were not going back to any Jewish practice. They were going back to their old heathen customs. "But were not the men who were perverting them Jews?" Yes, they were. But remember this one thing, when you seek to turn a man away from Christ to some substitute for Christ, you can not tell where he will end. You cannot make him stop just where you want him to. If a converted drunkard loses faith in Christ, he will take up his drinking habits as surely as he lives, even though the Lord may have taken the appetite away from him. So when these "false brethren"-Jewish opposers of "the truth of the Gospel" as it is in Christ-succeeded in seducing the Galatians from Christ, they could not get them to stop with Jewish ceremonies. No; they inevitably drifted back to their old heathen superstitions.

Forbidden Practices. -Read the tenth verse again, and then read Deut. xviii. 10: "There shall not be found among you any one 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." Now read what the Lord says to the heathen who would shield themselves from just judgment that is about to come upon them: "Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee." Is. xlvii. 13. Here we see that the very things to which the Galatians were returning, were forbidden by the Lord when He brought Israel out of Egypt. Now we might as well say that when God forbade these things He was warning the Israelites against keeping the Sabbath, as to say that Paul was upbraiding the Galatians for keeping it, or that he had any reference to it whatever. God forbade these things at the very time when He gave the commandment concerning Sabbath-keeping. So far back into their old ways had the Galatians gone that Paul was afraid lest all his labour on them had been in vain.

Desiring to be Under the Law. -"Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?" After what we have already had, there will be no one to come with the objection that to be under the law can not be a very deplorable condition, else the Galatians would not have desired to be under it. Ah, "there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. xiv. 25. How many there are who love ways that everybody except themselves can see are leading them direct to death; yes, there are many who, with their eyes wide open to the consequences of their course, will persist in it, deliberately choosing "the pleasures of sin for a season," rather than length of days. To be "under the law" of God is to be condemned by it as a sinner chained and doomed to death, yet many millions besides the Galatians have

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loved the condition, and still love it. Ah, if they would only hear what it says! "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

"What Saith the Law?" -It saith, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." To what place shall the wicked bond-servant be cast out?-"Into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Therefore, "Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments." Mal. iv. 1, 4. All who are under the law, whether they be called Jews or Gentiles, Christians or Mohammedans, are in bondage to Satan,-in the bondage of transgression and sin,-and are to be cast out. "Every one that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin. And the bond-servant abideth not in the house forever; the son abideth forever." Thank God, then, for "the adoption of sons."

"Two Sons." -Those false teachers would persuade the brethren that in turning from whole-hearted faith in Christ and trusting to works which they themselves could do, they would become children of Abraham, and so heirs of the promises. They forgot that Abraham had two sons. I myself have talked with a Jew according to the flesh, who did not know that Abraham had more than one son; and there are many Christians who seem to think that to be descended from Abraham, after the flesh, is all-sufficient to insure one a share in the promised inheritance. "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. 8. Now of the two sons of Abraham, one was born after the flesh, and the other was by promise, born of the Spirit. "By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed when she was past age, since she counted Him faithful who had promised." Heb. xi. 11, R.V. Hagar was an Egyptian slave. The children of a slave woman are always slaves, even though their father be a freeman; and so Hagar could bring forth children only to bondage. But long before Ishmael was born, the Lord had plainly signified to Abraham, who wished that his servant Eliezer might be his heir, that it was not a bond-servant, even though born in his house, that He had promised him, but a free-born son,-a son born of a freewoman.

"These Are the Two Covenants." -What are the two covenants?-The two women, Hagar and Sarah; for we read that Hagar is Mount Sinai, "which gendereth to bondage." That is, just as Hagar could not bring forth any other kind of children than slaves, so the law, even the law that God spoke from Sinai, can not beget free men. It can do nothing but hold them in bondage. "For by the law is the knowledge of sin." The same is true of the covenant from Sinai, for it consisted merely of the promise of the people to keep that law, and had therefore no more power to make them free than the law itself had. Nay, rather, it "gendered to bondage," since their making it was simply a promise to make themselves righteous by their own works, and man in himself is "without strength."

"Then did not God Himself lead them into bondage?" Not by any means; since He did not induce them to make that covenant at Sinai. Four hundred and thirty years before that time He had made a covenant with Abraham, which was sufficient for all purposes. That covenant was confirmed in Christ, and, therefore, was a covenant from above. See John viii. 23. It promised righteousness as a free gift of God through faith, and it included all nations. All the miracles that God had wrought in delivering the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage were but demonstrations of His power to deliver them and us from the bondage of sin. Yes, the deliverance from Egypt was itself a demonstration not only of God's power, but also of His desire to lead them from the bondage of sin, that bondage in which the covenant from Sinai holds men, because Hagar, who is the covenant from Sinai, was an Egyptian. So when the people came to Sinai, God simply referred them to what He had already done, and then said, "Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine." Ex. xix. 5. To what covenant did He refer?-Evidently to the one already in existence, His covenant with Abraham. If they would simply keep God's covenant, that is, God's promise, they would be a peculiar treasure unto God, for God, as the possessor of all the earth, was able to do with them all that He had promised. The fact that they in their self-sufficiency rashly took the whole responsibility upon themselves, does not prove that God led them into making that covenant, but the contrary. He was leading them out of bondage, not into it, and the apostle plainly tells us that covenant from Sinai was nothing but bondage.

Note the statement which the apostle makes when speaking of the two women, Hagar and Sarah: "These are the two covenants." So then the two covenants existed in every essential particular in the days of Abraham. Even so they do to-day; for the Scripture says now as well as then, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son." We see then that the two covenants are not matters of time, but of condition. Let no one flatter himself that he can not be under the old covenant, because the time for that is passed. The time for that is passed only in the sense that "the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries." 1 Peter iv. 3.

Difference Between the Two. -The difference is just the difference between a freewoman and a slave. Hagar's children, no matter how many she might have had, would have been slaves, while those of Sarah would necessarily be free. So the covenant from Sinai holds all who adhere to it in bondage "under the law;" while the covenant from above gives freedom, not freedom from obedience to the law, but freedom from disobedience to it. The freedom is not found away from the law, but in the law. Christ redeems from the curse, which is the transgression of the law. He redeems us from the curse, that the blessing may come on us; and the blessing is obedience to the law. "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord." Ps. cxix. 1. This blessedness is freedom. "I will walk at liberty; for I seek Thy precepts." Ps. cxix. 45.

The difference between the two covenants may be put briefly thus: In the covenant from Sinai we ourselves have to do with the law alone, while in the covenant from above, we have the law in Christ. In the first instance it is death to us, since the law is sharper than any two-edged sword, and we are not able to handle

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it without fatal results; but in the second instance we have the law "in the hand of a Mediator." In the one case it is what we can do; in the other case it is what the Spirit of God can do. Bear in mind that there is not the slightest question in the whole Epistle to the Galatians as to whether or not the law should be kept. The only question is, How shall it be done? Is it to be our own doing, so that the reward shall not be of grace but of debt? or is it to be God working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure?

The Freedom of the Spirit. -Sarah answers to the covenant which is from above, because she is free. But the freedom which that covenant gives is the freedom of the Spirit, for Isaac was born of the Spirit. See Gal. iv. 29. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Cor. iii. 17. "If ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law." Gal. v. 18. But this does not mean that the Spirit gives one license to break the law; for "the law is spiritual." Rom. vii. 14. There is no liberty in sin, and "sin is the transgression of the law." So the liberty of the covenant from above is that perfect liberty that belongs alone to those who are law-abiding. We become law-abiding only by having the law written in our hearts by the Spirit.

"Stand Fast, There." -Stand where?-"In the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." And what freedom is that?-It is the freedom of Christ Himself, whose delight was in the law of the Lord, because it was in His heart. Ps. xl. 8. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Rom. viii. 2. We stand only by faith.

Let it not be imagined that there is any trace of bondage in this freedom. It is liberty of soul, liberty of thought, as well as liberty of action. It is not that we are simply given the ability to keep the law, but we are given the mind that finds delight in doing it. It is not that we comply with the law because we see no other way of escape from punishment; that would be galling bondage. It is from such bondage that God's covenant releases us. No; the promise of God, when accepted, puts the mind of the Spirit into us, so that we find the highest pleasure in obedience to all the precepts of God's Word. The soul is as free as a bird soaring above the mountain-tops. It is the glorious liberty of the children of God, who have the full range of "the breadth, and length, and depth, and height" of God's universe. It is the liberty of those who do not have to be watched, but who can be trusted anywhere, since their every step is but the movement of God's own holy law. Why be content with bondage, when such limitless freedom is yours? The prison doors are open; walk out into God's freedom.

"Out of my shameful failure and loss,
Jesus, I come. Jesus, I come.
Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of earth's sorrows, into Thy balm,
Out of life's storm, and into Thy calm,
Out of distress to jubilant psalm,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

"Out of unrest and arrogant pride,
Jesus, I come! Jesus, I come!
Into Thy blessed will to abide,
Jesus, I come to Thee!
Out of myself to dwell in thy love,
Out of despair into raptures above,
Upward for aye on wings like a dove,
Jesus, I come to Thee!"

"Cigarette Smoking Among Women" The Present Truth 13, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

The Tobacco Trade Review says:-

There is no doubt that the number of women who indulge in the cigarette is largely on the increase, and it is no longer true to say that the only ladies who smoke are Bohemians. There could be no better proof of the vogue which the cigarette is enjoying among womenkind than the fact that various branches of trade have started to cater for women smokers. All the smoking implements are constructed in the costliest and prettiest fashion. The cigarettes are made up in satin cases, with puffed sides, which might be used as jewel caskets when empty. Cigarettes, if often used, leave a tell-tale stain on the thumb, so to protect my lady's pink fingers cigarette-tongs of the prettiest description are manufactured.

Heretofore men who did not defile themselves with the filthy weed could sometimes be shielded from its obnoxious fumes by the fact that ladies were present; but when it becomes a regular thing for ladies to smoke, the chance for fresh air in a crowded compartment will be very slim.

Since the foregoing was put into type, there has been a flood of matter in one of the morning dailies on the subject of women smokers. On the 9th ult., the following letter from Miss Edith M. Vance, Secretary of the National Secular Society, and a prominent woman suffrage worker, appeared in the Daily Mail:-

Since the London daily Press are again bringing up the vexed question of women smokers, may I point out a sad fact often overlooked, and its remedy? It is that men make us hypocrites. Quite 30 per cent. of women workers smoke, but they dare not do so openly. It would be "fast," or "bad form." Therefore-I regret to give away my sex's secret-we indignantly deny that we are smokers, and light our cigarettes in the back-garden or in our bed-rooms!

What is wanted is facility to indulge in a harmless and soothing habit when we most need it-at our work, on top of the bus, in the railway carriage. If women would come forward and form a League of Women Smokers, we might approach the railway companies on the question of providing smoking carriages for women, and restaurant keepers on permitting women to smoke after dinner-a right arbitrarily and illegally denied them.

Other women have not been ashamed to acknowledge in print, over their own signatures, that they smoke, one saying that she would put the percentage of women smokers at quite fifty. One woman says:-

I, for one, look forward to the not far distant day when smoking shall be as general among women as among men. Already it has ceased to be considered "shocking" among the best people, and many of my friends who are married women indulge in it with the free sanction of their husbands.

One gentleman, an Oxonian, says: "My wife smokes her after-dinner cigarette in my study to my great delight." Another woman, who gives her address, and signs

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her name with the title "B.A." expresses her pleasure that so many are in favour of smoking publicly, and adds:-

Permit me to warn my sisters that cigarette-smoking tends in the long run to bring about a degree of myopia or short-sight, which may make the wearing of spectacles a sine qua non. To those who cannot afford a decent cigar, smoke a good briar with pure tobacco. The twist is the cause of much dyspepsia among women smokers.

Fortunately for the generations yet unborn, the women who smoke are mostly of a class not disposed to follow the apostolic advice to "marry, bear children, guide the house." But if the habit of smoking among women becomes as common as it now is among men, anyone with ordinary vision can discern the signs of the times. The world would necessarily come to an end with the present generation, because the next generation, if born, would not have strength to reproduce itself. In this development we have one more indication of the fact that God does nothing arbitrarily. He will not harvest the earth until it is ripe. He knows when the end will come, but whatever be the time that He has fixed, it will not be until the race has reached that stage where by wars and vices it would speedily exterminate itself if left alone.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Transfiguration. Matt. xvii. 1-9" The Present Truth 13, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

APRIL 17

THE COMING AND KINGDOM OF CHRIST

We find the key to the proper understanding of this lesson in the last verse of the preceding chapter. "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom." This experience gave to the disciples, "Peter, James, and John his brother," and a right understanding of the record of it will give to us, a view of the Son of man coming in His kingdom.

From Luke's record it appears that Jesus went up into the mountain to pray. "And as He was praying, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment became white and dazzling." Luke iv. 28, 29, R.V. Then Moses and Elijah "appeared in glory" and talked with Him. In this brief record we are to see "the kingdom of God come with power." Mark ix. 1. We may then properly inquire, What are the essential things for a kingdom? Evidently they are territory, king, and subjects. And how are they brought before us in the narrative? Let us consider.

THE TERRITORY

Jesus brought the disciples "up into an high mountain." But what did that signify? Let the scripture answer. In the song of Moses, which will be sung by those who "stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God" (Rev. xv. 2, 3), when "the kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ" Rev. xi. 15, R.V., we read of God's purpose concerning His people: "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, Lord, which Thy hands have established." Ex. xv. 17.

That this means the establishment of the kingdom of God is shown by the following verse, which says: "The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." Again we read: "But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Micah iv. 1, 2.

With this should also be read the words of the prophet Zechariah: "Behold the day of the Lord cometh. . . 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 the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee. . . . And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. . . . And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction [curse R.V.]; but Jerusalem shall abide." Zech. xiv. 1-11. This is "New Jerusalem," the capital of God's kingdom, which John saw "coming down from God out of heaven," and which will come down upon the mount of Olives, and so it will cover the very place where the cross was set up and the mount from which our Saviour ascended.

Thus the very fact that they were upon the "high mountain," viewed in the light of these scriptures, teaches that through the cross of Jesus the world would be won for the territory of the "King of glory," of which New Jerusalem upon the mount of Olives would be the capital.

THE KING

It was "the Son of man" who was to be seen "coming in His kingdom," and

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although He was, and always will be, "the Son of man," yet to express the truth that "He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels" (Luke ix. 26) He "was transfigured [or transformed] before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." Here is the king, of whom the Lord has spoken:

"Is it not I who My king have established
On Zion, holy Mountain of Mine?"
-Psalm ii. 6.

And the time was near at hand when in His triumphal entry, as "He was come at night, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God. . . saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord." Luke xix. 37, 38.

THE SUBJECTS

When the Son of man shall come in His kingdom there will be but one class of subjects as to character, for "Thy people also shall be all righteous" (Isa. lx. 21); but there will be two classes as to experience, for "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." 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. That is to say, some will pass through the grave while others will be translated without seeing death.

This is taught in the brief statement that "there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him." Of Moses we read: "And so Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word Lord. And He [the Lord] 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. Now it was not an intangible, shadowy spirit (if there be such a thing) which appeared on the mount of transfiguration, but it was "Moses," and Moses in his own body too, raised from the dead by Him whose servant he was. Of the experience in bringing him forth from the domain of the enemy we have a glimpse in Jude 9: "Yet Michael the Archangel [whose voice raises all the dead; 1 Thess. iv. 16; John v. 28], 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." Can anyone doubt as to the result of the dispute "about the body of Moses?" Did Christ ever fail in any struggle with the devil? And so Moses was there as the representative of that "great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," who "shall be raised incorruptible" and "shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven."

But some will not come under the power of the grave, for "we shall not all sleep." Those of the last generation who "fear God and give glory to Him" and so gain "the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name," will "be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." The Elijah, who passed directly from earth to heaven without seeing death, was there on the mount as the representative of all these. The record of his experience is found in 2 Kings ii. 1-11: "And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah in the heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. . . . And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."

And so we have the picture complete. It is a view of "the Son of man coming in His kingdom." The territory will be the "new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." The King will be the Son of man who will be acknowledge as "King of kings and Lord of lords." The subjects will be those who have been redeemed from the earth, some of whom will be brought forth from their graves, as Moses was; others of whom will go directly from earth to heaven without seeing corruption, as Elijah did; but all of whom will appear "in glory," as did both Moses and Elijah. Luke ix. 31. Col. iii. 4.

TRANSFIGURED BY BEHOLDING

Having noted the main teaching of the lesson, we may call attention to some of the details. Much is suggested in the fact that it was "as He was praying was praying" that He was transfigured or transformed. The Holy Spirit instructs us: "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." But it is by beholding that we "are changed into the same image from glory to glory," and this is that heart communion with God which is the very essence of true prayer. So it was as our representative and as an example to us that He was transformed while praying.

That "His face did shine as the sun" was the result of the removal for the moment of the veil by which His glory was hidden in His humanity. When He shines forth undimmed as "the Sun of righteousness," "the sun shall no more be thy light. . . . but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." Isa. lx. 19.

"HEAR YE HIM"

This is the second occasion upon which the Father testified with an audible voice to the work of the Son among men. "Hear ye Him" is the command now given. He did not come to destroy God's law, or to make any change in "the eternal purpose," or to introduce any new element into the plan for the salvation of man, but He who was the Word "in the beginning" and who had always been the expression of the thought of God in all God's relation to everything outside of Himself, had now come in the flesh to live the Word among men and for men. It is the Son, of whom it is written, "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered" (Heb. v. 8), who prayed in the face of the cross, "Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt," whose example we are to follow. And it is only in this way that we shall obey the injunction, "Hear ye Him." "Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth them" is the "wise man" who builds "upon the rock."

"Something About Laughing" The Present Truth 13, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

All laughter is not condemned, for there is a kind that is the direct result of the salvation of God. "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, . . . then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing; then said they among the heathen. The Lord hath done great things for them." Ps. cxxvi. 1, 2. God said to Abraham, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called," and Isaac means laughter, or laughing; so that they who are born of the Spirit may laugh. Yea, they must rejoice.

Unfortunately, such laughter is very rare. There is another kind of laughter, which is likened to "the crackling of thorns under a pot." This is so common, so almost universal, that we were almost tempted to head this article, "Don't Laugh." That, however, would be too sweeping, for "there is a time to laugh," and to laugh heartily, but that time is not all the time or on every occasion.

We have often been pained at religious meetings to see the readiness with which the congregation would burst out into a hoarse laugh. It is true that some speakers deliberately seek to make their

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hearers laugh; in order to keep up their interest in what would otherwise be a dull discourse; but too often the fault is wholly on the part of the congregation, who seem to be looking for a chance to laugh.

There lies before me a report of a recent gathering on an important occasion, when several ministers addressed the assembly. One of them, in speaking about "Consecrated Intellect," said that there was nothing he dreaded so much as the witty and ingenious preacher who bristled with nice little stories, made his audience laugh once or twice in every sermon, and sent them away with the delightful feeling that they had been to an entertainment instead of listening to the solemn voice of God.

That was well said, yet within two minutes he was interrupted by a "loud laughter." On the single page of the report, we find in addition to "applause," and "loud applause," no less than sixteen instances of "laughter" and "loud laughter." Of course one who was not present cannot tell how the remarks sounded, but very few of the statements that are punctuated with "(laughter)" seemed very funny in print.

We call attention to this, not specially for the sake of the comparatively few public speakers, but for the benefit of the thousands who listen-and laugh. Any earnest speaker would rather be encouraged by bright, eager, earnest attention, and a half unconscious smile that indicates the reception of a new idea, than by laughter. Or, if the preacher desires to create laughter, he may be corrected by the people. "The witty and ingenious preacher" who bristles with nice little stories to make the congregation laugh, would soon find his occupation gone if his out-of-place witticisms were received in silence.

Too much laughter indicates absence of thought, and the increasing readiness to laugh on the slightest provocation, or on no provocation at all, shows that people are using their thinking power less and less, and are anxious to be simply tickled. This they cannot afford; so we write in hope that some may be led to think more, and to laugh only when, with all the faculties that God has given them in full activity, they cannot help laughing.

"Romanism as It Is" The Present Truth 13, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

The following from an American Missionary in Mexico, Rev. Francis F. Borton, to the Christian Endeavour World, shows that where Roman Catholicism is free to develop unhindered, it differs not a bit from the Romanism of Tetzel, which aroused the righteous indignation of Luther:-

Yesterday in a Roman Catholic Church in Mexico, I read the following notice:-"Raffle for souls. At the last raffle for souls the following numbers obtained a prize, and the lucky holders may be assured that their loved ones are for ever released from the flames of Purgatory: Ticket 841. The soul of the lawyer, James Vasquey, is released from Purgatory, and ushered in the heavenly joys. Ticket 41. The soul of Madame Calderon is made happy for ever. Tickets 762. The soul of the aged widow, Francesca de Parras, is for ever released from the flames of Purgatory.

"Another raffle for souls will be held at the same blessed Church of the Redeemer on January 1, at which four bleeding and tortured souls will be released from Purgatory, according to the four highest tickets in this most holy lottery. Tickets, one dollar. To be had of the father-in-charge. Will you, for the poor sum of one dollar, leave your dear ones to burn in Purgatory for ages?"

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

An earthquake in California on the 30th ult. damaged the Navy Yard to the amount of ?100,000.

There were 978 deaths from plague in Bombay last week. The death rate in the city was nearly 121 per 1,000.

Both of the men who recently made an attempt on the life of King George of Greece, have been condemned to death.

It is said that the members of the Red Cross Society are in possession of figures showing that 125,000 Cubans have died of starvation.

The Russians are proceeding to fortify Port Arthur, heavy fortress guns having already arrived. At last reports, thirty thousand troops were under arms at Vladivostock, waiting to embark.

The national revenue of the past year amounts to ?116,016,314, an increase of ?3,817,767 over the preceding year, and more than was ever before collected in one year.

The Court of Cassation has allowed M. Zola's appeal, and has quashed the convictions. But the military god has demonstrated its complete supremacy in France, and that is all that was desired by the trial of Zola.

The Catholic Times says:-

The Pope must be sovereign and supreme. He can be the subject of no man. Independence is the breath of his nostrils.

This shows that popery is but the manifestation of human nature. Independence, both of God and man, is that of which every unconverted man boasts, or at least strives to attain. But all such striving for independence and supremacy will prove fruitless in the end, for the Master has said: "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."

The minor clergy of the Church of England are now quite freely criticising the bishops for their short-comings and their lordly dispositions, and one man writes:-

We have a population of 3,000 and a stately church dating from the thirteenth century; but no bishop has preached here since the days of the Reformation. Our bishop is so busy in the House of Lords that he hasn't time to preach in the House of God.

How often we read with reference to something pertaining to the Bible and religion, "Dr. -- thinks that this is," etc., and what the Doctor thinks is then by many considered as final, until he "thinks" again, or until somebody else "thinks" something else.

"Then you would have us ignore the opinions and ideas of other men, and each one simply follow his own thoughts." Not by any means; our own thoughts are no better than other peoples, and often not so good. I would have you follow, not what you or somebody thinks, but what you know. When you absolutely know a certain thing, you accept it not on anybody's authority, but for its own sake. Then you are sure of where you stand.

"Ah, but what conceit for man to assume that he knows the truth in a case where more learned men confess their ignorance." Yes, indeed it is, if you assume and that you know the truth. Don't assume anything, and when you are not sure that you know, don't be ashamed to say that you don't know. But what is there strange in a person's knowing what the Lord tells him, and in being sure that he knows it? In such a case it is sin not to know. Jesus says: "If ye continue in My Word, . . . ye shall know the truth." The Word of God is sure, and whoever believes it may be sure.

Ladies are sometimes assured by milliners that "ospreys," and "aigrettes," and feathers of various kinds are manufactured, and are not the plumage of birds. Such assertions ease the consciences of really tenderhearted women, who would be troubled at the thought that their decoration was the result of "slaughter of the innocents." But Sir William Flower, Director of the Natural History Department of the British Museum, has stated in a letter to the Times that the assertion that the feathers are manufactured, and not real, is "a monstrous fiction."

It would seem that war is inevitable at the present time in more than one part of the world, yet all this excitement may be but the better to prepare the nations for the great conflict that is sooner or later coming. Satan, the destroyer, whose sole delight is in death, and who is the greatest military leader, is urging the nations on to destruction; but he cannot take a step beyond what is permitted from above. But for the restraining power of God, the clash of universal war would ere this have been heard. But earth's iniquity is not yet full, and there are many souls yet to be turned to the Lord; and not till these things have been accomplished will the destruction that is "determined upon the whole earth" be allowed to take place.

"Artificial Natural History" The Present Truth 13, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

Artificial Natural History .-An exchange says:-

The science of zoology, both for the extent in difficulty of terminology, makes the greatest demand on the memory. As illustration, there are over 5,000 known species of lizards, each with its distinguishing name. Here are four as samples: Crytoblepharus psecilopleurus, Tracheloptychus petersip, Cordylosaurus Trivittatus.

This is called "Natural Science," when as a matter of fact it is not natural of all, but wholly artificial; neither is it science, for the knowledge of it is not the knowledge of truth. Let no one get disheartened at these long names. The animals are not born with them, neither do they carry them about. A person may know all that any man can know of an animal, without ever having heard of these yard-long names; and one may have them all at his tongue's end without knowing the real truth about a single animal. It is true that it is possible for a person have his mind crammed with artificial classification of jaw-breaking names, and at the same time to know the things themselves; but the chances are all against it. Remember that there is a vast difference between knowing the truth concerning a thing, that is, knowing the thing itself, and knowing the name that somebody has devised for that thing.

April 14, 1897

"Front Page" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

"Every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it." Matt. vii. 26, 27.

The Apostle James gives us another likeness of the one who hears the Word and does it not: "If any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." James i. 23, 24.

This lets us into the secret of why one is a hearer and not a doer. This man beholdeth himself, and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth. Now read further, and see how to do it. "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein. . . . that man shall be blessed in his deed." Whoever steadfastly continues to look and to hear, will be a doer; for the Lord says, "Hear, and your soul shall live;" and live means activity. There's life in looking into the law of liberty.

The Word of God is living and active; for it is nothing other than the life of God, as manifested in Christ. He is the Rock, the sure foundation, "in whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." It is the Word itself that builds us up. Acts xx. 32. So then, if we but meditate in that Word day and night, we shall not be mere idle hearers, but shall do and prosper. Ps. i. 1-3.

God's Word works. Jesus said: "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself; but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." John xiv. 10. In all the miracles of Jesus, as well as in the creation, we see how the Word works. Therefore "let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom," and the works of the Word will surely manifest themselves.

We are "created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before prepared," that we should walk in them.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. Christ-Given Freedom" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Gal. v. 1. Although we included this verse in our study last week, it contains quite enough for our entire study this week, and even more. In order that we may see how Christ makes free, we will consider

A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE

in His earthly ministry.

"And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in nowise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God." Luke xiii. 10-13.

Then when the hypocritical ruler of the synagogue complained because Jesus did this miracle on the Sabbath, He referred to how each one would loose his ox or ass from the stall, and lead him to water, and then said:-

"And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?"

A PARALLEL

Note these two points about this woman: She was bound by Satan; and she had a spirit of infirmity, or lack of strength.

Now note how accurately this describes our condition before we meet Christ.

1. We are bound by Satan, "taken captive by him at his will." "Every one that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin" (John viii. 34), and "he that committeth sin is of the devil" (1 John iii. 8). "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins." Prov. v. 22. Sin is the cord with which Satan binds us.

2. We have a spirit of infirmity, and can in nowise lift ourselves up, or free ourselves from the chains that bind us. It was when we were "without strength" that Christ died for us. Rom. v. 6. Now these two words, "without strength," are translated from the very same word that is rendered "infirmity" in the account of the woman whom Jesus healed. She was "without strength." To be without strength means to have no strength at all. That is our condition.

WHAT JESUS DOES FOR US

What now does Jesus do for us? He takes the weakness, and gives us in return His strength. "We have not an High Priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." Heb. iv. 15. "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Matt. viii. 17. He becomes all that we are, in order that we may become all that He is. He was "born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." He hath delivered us from the curse, being made a curse for us, that the blessing might come to us. Although He knew no sin, He was made to be sin for us, "that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. v. 21.

WHY HE DOES IT

Why did Jesus make that woman free from her infirmity?-In order that she might walk at liberty. Certainly it was not in order that she might continue of her own free will to do that which before she was obliged to do. And why does He make us free from sin?-In order that we may live free from sin.

What is sin?-"Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John iii. 4. To be a bond-servant of sin, therefore, and in nowise able to lift ourselves up, on account of infirmity, is to be unable to keep from transgressing the law. That is, it is to be unable to keep it. Why does Christ make us free? Only in order that we may walk in the law blameless. "For 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." Rom. viii. 3, 4. He certainly does not deliver us in order that we may go on transgressing the law.

FREE FROM THE LAW

"But," some one will object, "it says somewhere that we are delivered from the law." Yes, it does; and that is just what we are talking about. It is what we have been studying in the third and fourth chapters of Galatians. Christ was made under the law. Before faith came, we were under the law, shut up in prison. The law was our jailer; for "the strength of sin is the law." 1 Cor. xv. 56. "The law worketh wrath; for where no law is, there is no transgression." Rom. iv. 15. The law is our accuser before God. It charges us with having transgressed its holy precepts, and shut us up in prison, criminals condemned to death. How only can we get free from its condemnation?-Only by being able to show that we have the righteousness which it demands. This we get in the life of Christ. He covers us with the robe of righteousness. He puts righteousness not only on us, but in us, so that the law can find no fault in us, because in Christ there is no fault. Then the law lets us go free from prison. Now we are on good terms with the law. That which before was our accuser, is now our friend; it witnesses to our righteousness in Christ.

But we shall have more of this at another time; what we wish now to consider a little further is how wondrously and how really Christ makes us free from the spirit of infirmity that keeps us from walking uprightly, according to the law of God. We can't tell how He does it; He alone knows how it is done, because He alone has the power; but we may know the reality of it.

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We have already read that it is Satan that binds us with the cords of sin. Now read further: "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." 1 John iii. 8. "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.

THE MEANS USED

By what means is it done?-By His word and touch. He said, "Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity," and laid His hand on her; and immediately she was straight. Faith in His Word makes the glorious freedom a reality to us. We must know also that He touches us. It is true, whether we know it or not; for He is touched with the feeling of our infirmity. Mark, He is now, even while He is High Priest in heaven, touched with the feeling of our weakness. He feels what we feel. Therefore He must be in the closest touch with us.

THE FREEDOM ALREADY OURS

Pay special attention to the words of Jesus to the woman, uttered while she was yet bound down, and unable to lift herself up: "Thou art loosed from thine infirmity." "Thou art loosed," present tense. That is just what He says to us. To every captive He has proclaimed deliverance. "The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down." Ps. cxlv. 14. There is not a single soul that is bowed down with the weight of sin which Satan hath bound on him, whom Christ does not lift up. Let the message be sounded far and wide. Let every soul hear it, that Christ has given deliverance to every captive. Thousands will rejoice at the news.

FAITH GRASPS FACTS

Does anybody doubt it? Let me prove it to you. You will agree that we are made free by faith. When faith comes, we are no longer in prison. That is what we have learned in the third chapter of Galatians. But we can not believe a thing that is not so. Faith lays hold of acts, things actually accomplished, and nothing else. Faith does not make facts, it only believes them. We do not make a thing so by believing it; we believe it, or at least ought to, because it is so. If it were not so before we are called upon to believe it, there would be nothing for us to believe. Therefore the fact that we get freedom in Christ by faith, and that anybody can have the same freedom by faith, proves that the freedom is already given to all. They have only to grasp it, and walk at liberty. Our part is to say with the psalmist, "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; . . . Thou hast loosed my bonds." Ps. cxvi. 16. Don't go to arguing with the Lord, and saying that you can not walk straight. He says that you are loosed, and that is enough. Hold fast to His words in the face of the devil, and you will find that they will never fail you. The Word which says, "Thou art free," is the Word that keeps you free. Don't let it go from your mind.

THE WAY, THE LIFE

Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." John xiv. 6. There is no other way, except the way that leads to death, and that we do not care to have anything to do with. Now read the words of the Lord by the psalmist: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the 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. 1-3. What, then, is the way of the Lord? It is the law of God, for the law is His life. Broken, it is death to us; kept, as it can be only in Christ, it is life and peace. It is "the perfect law of liberty." In Christ, it is "the law of the spirit of life." Rom. viii. 2. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Sin, transgression of the law, is bondage; righteousness, which we find in Christ, who is the perfection of the law, is life, liberty, and peace.

"The Enthronement of Christ" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

A minister speaking at a large gathering of ministers and Christian workers, recently said that the work of the Free Churches was "nothing else than to enthrone the Lord Christ."

This is a very common statement. The idea that they have to place Christ on His throne seems to have quite taken possession of the large number of Christian workers, and it is this idea that is leading them to seek a controlling influence in politics. But no graver mistake could be made. God says: "Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion." Ps. ii. 6. And this He does, not by the help of man, but in spite of the opposition of kings and rulers. Yes, Christ shall yet be King over all the earth. "Of the increase of His Government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice form henceforth even for ever." But mark this fact: "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." Isa. ix. 7. God asks no help of man to make Christ King. He will be King whether they wish it or not. All He asks of any man or of all men, is to acknowledge Him as ruler, and to submit to Him.

"'Where Is the Wise?'" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Just as the "higher critics" are putting their theories of the Bible and the time when it was written, not simply in black and white, but in red, green, blue, purple, etc., comes Professor Sayce with the account of the discovery of a tablet containing the story of the flood, dating form the days of Abraham, and bearing traces of being a copy of a much earlier document. The interesting feature is its complete overturning of the fanciful speculations of the "higher critics" as to Genesis. They claim, it will be remembered, not only that Moses did not write it, but that it is a composite book, a combination of the narratives of two writers whom they designate as "Elohist" and "Yahvist," by a third person, the editor. Further, they claim that at least one of these two writers was not earlier than the seventh century B.C. Yet here we have a document from more than two thousand years B.C., and what is most striking is the fact that

"The discovery shows the minute care and accuracy with which the literature of the extreme past was handed down. Edition after edition had been publishing the Story of the Deluge, and yet the facts of the Abrahamic age and that of the seventh century B.C. agree even to the spelling of the words."

Thus it is that God "turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish," and "confirmeth the word of His servant." "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity," and sometimes He lets the fact appear.

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One paper says, in view of this early record, that "it is clear that many of the hasty conclusions of scholars will have to be revised." It is to be hoped that some of them at least will not revise their opinions, but throw them away, and learn that the Bible is not for men to speculate over, but to believe. "Every word of God is pure; He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him."

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. A Lesson in Forgiveness. Matt. xviii. 21-35" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

APRIL 21

In this lesson the two things which are to be especially emphasised are first, the Lord's willingness to forgive us; and second, how we can avail ourselves of that willingness. When Jesus said to Peter, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven," He was not setting up a standard for man which was in any way different from that which the Lord Himself follows in dealing with us. In fact His instruction to Peter grew out of His own spirit of compassion, for He was "full of grace," and in this respect He was simply revealing the character of God, who is "merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin."

FORGIVENESS EASY

It is not hard for God to forgive those who wrong Him. There is no struggle in the Divine mind between the desire to punish and an inclination to forgive. "God is love," and "the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord." "The work of destruction is a 'strange work' to Him who is infinite in love." "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John i. 9.

THE GROUND OF PARDON

The fulness and the freeness of this spirit of forgiveness are clearly revealed in this case of "a certain king which would take account of his servants." The great debt was acknowledged as due, but when the servant simply asked for some consideration, "Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt." When putting it in His own words, He said, "I forgave thee that debt, because thou desiredst me." There was no ground for this action except in the spirit of compassion felt by the lord of that servant. There was no dispute about the fact of the debt and it was a very large one, "ten thousand talents." But "the lord of that servant was moved with compassion." This is to reveal to us the character of the Lord whose "throne is in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all." It is the same view that is given to us in the dealings of the Lord with the children of Israel. "For their heart was not right with Him, and neither were they steadfast in His covenant. But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned He His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath." Ps. lxxviii. 37, 38.

These things are written for our encouragement, "that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. "The Lord is the same to-day as of old. "I am the Lord, I change not." "But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared. . . . Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption." Ps. cxxx. 4-7. Let no one forget that the Lord is willing, and more than willing to forgive. If we were only as willing to confess our sins as He is to forgive them, the whole debt would be cancelled without delay.

WHAT SIN IS

Sin is in its very nature treason against the government of God. "Sin is the transgression of the law," and it is such a transgression against the fundamental law of God's kingdom that it involves the very dethronement of God Himself, and the putting of self in the place of God. No other ruler, except "the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God," could offer a free pardon to all who had rebelled against Him (and that means all the inhabitants of this world), without endangering the stability of His government; but in the plan of salvation for sinners through the gift of His only begotten Son, "mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Thus God is "just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Thus the forgiveness which is so freely offered is not the reckless act of an irresponsible monarch who endangers the very existence of its own kingdom by the extreme exercise of the pardoning power. Such a revelation of love as is given in the cross of Jesus has won the hearts of the universe, unrepentant man only excepted, in an eternal allegiance to "the King of glory." "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all unto Me." "Bless the Lord, O my soul, . . . Who forgiveth all thine iniquities."

HOW TO RECEIVE THE PARDON

But we must also note the further teaching of this lesson with reference to the way in which this forgiveness can be received by us. The forgiven debtor went out and straightway became an unforgiving creditor. Then his lord said unto him, "Thou wicked servant, shouldest not thou also have had mercy on thy fellow-servant, even as I had mercy on thee?" R.V. As the result of this unforgiving spirit the servant lost the benefit of the compassion which had been extended toward him, for "his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due him." And then comes the application of the lesson: "So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." The same terrible fact is thus stated in another place: "He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy." James ii. 13.

But this does not grow out of any arbitrary refusal on the part of God to show mercy, as a punishment on a specially wicked class, but it is because in showing the unforgiving spirit we cut ourselves off from forgiveness. "Jesus teaches that we can receive forgiveness from God, only as we forgive others. It is the love of God that draws us unto Him, and that love cannot touch our hearts without creating love for our brethren. To cherish an unmerciful spirit toward others, is to close the heart against the mercy of God toward ourselves. As if this above all others was the sin that His followers needed to be warned against, the one for which they were in the greatest danger of shutting from their hearts the light and love and peace of heaven, Jesus after completing the

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Lord's prayer added, 'If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.' He who is unforgiving, cuts off the very channel through which alone he can receive mercy from God."

FORGIVENESS MEANS CLEANSING

But even this is full of encouragement, when we stop to consider it, for it shows that "God's forgiveness is not merely a judicial act by which He sets us free from condemnation. It is not only forgiveness for sin, but reclaiming from sin. It is the outflow of redeeming love that transforms the heart. "This comes to us through the gift of Jesus" whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." Rom. iii. 25. But the love of God is His own life, the power of His own presence, and this cannot be accepted simply for ourselves. From its very nature it must flow out to others, for it is an overflowing love, and it is only by serving as a channel for it that we can receive it at all.

God does not want reservoirs to hold His love, but channels through which it may freely flow to others. But "no one can give place in his own heart and life for the stream of God's blessing to flow to others, without receiving in himself a rich reward. The hillsides and plains that furnish a channel for the mountain streams to reach the sea, suffer no loss thereby. That which they give is repaid a hundredfold. For stream that goes singing on its way, leaves behind its gift of verdure and fruitfulness." Such is the law of the kingdom: "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: give and it shall be given unto you." Luke vi. 37, 38.

"Perilous Times. The War Spirit" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

No one, whether a reader of the newspapers or not, can have failed to note the war spirit that is prevailing, and has prevailed for many months. Never in the history of the world has there been so general preparation for war; and the case is the more striking from the fact that there is no avowed purpose of war. Indeed, it is undoubtedly the fact that, with very few exceptions at least, the men who occupy the positions of authority in the various nations of the world, and upon whom the responsibilities of government rest, are desirous for peace rather than for war.

In referring to a question put to the leader of the House the other day, with reference to the affairs in the Far East, the Chronicle says that "Mr. Balfour's reply reflected the anxious fear for peace that prevails throughout Europe, and the desire of every Government to preserve the peace by any means." Yet the war preparations go steadily on, each nation vying with all the others in the attempt to have the most complete armament; and the wonder is how long the crash which all feel must come can be averted. It is well worth our while to give this matter careful consideration.

WHY MEN FIGHT

In the first place, what is the real cause of war, and of the desire to fight? The answer is concisely given in the Bible: "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not." James iv. 1, 2.

Trade and commerce-the desire to have-are at the bottom of all wars, and with very few, if any exceptions, of all the wars that have ever been waged. Selfishness, greed, the desire to grasp all that one can, and no matter what cost to anybody else, is what leads to fighting, whether on the part of individuals or of nations.

It will be noticed that in the scripture quoted, the statement, "ye have not, because ye ask not," refers to asking from God, who alone can give real and lasting possessions. If men recognise God as sole ruler and possessor of all things, and the one from whom all things are to be received, and to whose will all are to be subject, there would be no fighting, and everybody would have all things; for "all things" are promised to the overcomer, and the overcomer is the one who trusts and obeys the Lord.

Men flattered themselves that they will gain by fighting, and point to the victories that have been gained in the past, and the conquests that have been made. Well, take Alexander as an instance of one who gained as much by conquest as anyone, and say how much he really gained. How much has he of all that he thought he gained by fighting? He replied, "Nothing." Then what did he gain? What is the good in getting a thing that you cannot keep? What profit is there in labouring and fighting for that which you must give up as soon as you have seized it? No one really has anything that does not come from God; and all that comes from God comes as a gift, and cannot be had by fighting. In contrast with the testimony of the Apostle James, is the assurance that "the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." Ps. xxxvii. 11.

PROPERTY AGAINST HUMAN LIVES

It is a sad but incontrovertible fact, that human lives count for but little when somebody's possessions are at stake. "Your money or your life," is the cry not only of the professional highway robber, but of mankind in general, when engaged

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in the struggle for gain. Out of abundance of evidence, we will quote only two or three items to show that this is not a rash statement.

The Daily Mail, in an editorial on the probability of war between the United States and Spain, said:-

Of one thing we may be sure, and that is, that America will not lightly be made to fight. Although happily sure of victory, the war would be a costly affair to her, and for our sake, as well as for hers, it is to be hoped that Spain may find a way out that will save the fall in prices and loss of trade that war would bring.

This is stated in the most matter of course manner, with never a reference to the loss of human life. That is not once thought of. In all that has been written about the prospect of war, no deprecation of it as the cause of the loss of thousands of lives, and the wrecking of families, has come under our notice. The money question predominates everything.

The Daily Chronicle's Washington correspondent says:-

The editor of a prominent newspaper, who has just been traveling through the Western and Middle States, assures me that the farmers as a mass for obvious reasons strongly favour war.

What are these obvious reasons? Nobody asks, because everybody knows that a war would raise the price of produce. But it would not mean a rise in prices all around. Where one nation or class would gain pecuinarily, another nation or class would lose; and that is why there is a hesitation to fight.

MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL AND WAR

The worst feature of all is that this prevailing sentiment, that there is nothing else to do but to fight when there is property at stake, is acquiesced in and fostered by ministers of the Gospel of peace. The following appeared several weeks ago, when the encroachment of the French upon some territory in Africa, that is claimed by England as her own trading ground, was the burning question. As you read it, remember that it appeared in a religious paper edited by a very prominent minister of one of the leading denominations, who is also a vice-president of the Peace Society! Here is his utterance:-

We very much fear that The Spectator is right in its dread that France is so profoundly ignorant of the real state of opinion in this country that she imagines that by an obstinate refusal to observe international law she will be able to frighten us into allowing her to occupy a considerable area of our own territory in West Africa. She has not a particle of claim to the district of Bonssa, which by every accepted principle of international law is ours, and the attempt to force us to surrender that part of the empire by simply taking physical possession of it will, if she persists, end in war. On this point England is absolutely unanimous.

If judicial arbitration had taken the place of war, we should all greatly rejoice, but so long as armies and fleets exist, France can no more be tolerated there than in Kent. England has treated France of late years with the utmost consideration, making every kind of possible concession and sacrifice to her. At this moment she is in danger of carrying her unfriendly and inequitable policy just one step too far. Can no one bring her to her sober senses before she commits herself to an irrevocable attitude of mind which may result in her disappearing from the list of Great Powers altogether. All Englishmen have the greatest desire to live on friendly terms with France, but we cannot submit to be insulted and robbed.

In this connection we might quote the recent utterance of the editor of religious paper in America, which bears the word "Christian" as a principal feature of its title. We give it entire, that the reader may see the sentiment:-

Once there was a stern pedagogue who soundly thrashed a pupil for an alleged offence, and then discovered, shortly afterward, that the victim of his wrath was innocent of the misdemeanour. Calling the boy to him, he said, "My lad, I have discovered that you were not guilty of the wrong for which I whipped you. You have done so many other things, however, for which you should have been thrashed, that we will just call it square." We feel that way about Spain. Possibly she is innocent of the destruction of the Maine, but she has been guilty of so many other offences, that a thrashing would not be amiss. Certain it is that the people of the United States are anxious to see Spain whipped off this hemisphere. The common expression is, "I am only afraid there won't be a fight." Not only Johnny, but other youths are getting their guns, and are preparing to spill Spanish gore. "War's hell," as General Sherman once tersely remarked, but other things are even more so, and we confess that we believe that the best thing that can happen in the interests of humanity and right and ultimate peace, is war.

The next Sunday after the blowing up of the Maine, when few thought that war would be delayed so long as it has been, the ministers as a general thing prayed the Lord that the American flag might be victorious in the contest.

On the other side it is just the same. A newspaper correspondent writing from Madrid says:-

The clergy, too, are a powerful patriotic lever. The pastoral of Cardinal Cascajares, Archbishop of Valladolid, has been followed by one from the Archbishop of Granada, in which he exhorts the people "to group around the banner of the faith, which is always that of the Spanish motherland, and forgetting all discord to form one single body for the common defence."

The dispatches from Madrid last Sunday contained this item:-

In all the churches of Madrid this morning the priests read from the pulpit a letter from the bishop of the diocese ordering prayers for the success of the Spanish arms, as he considered that war was imminent.

We are not at all concerned with any question between any two countries on earth. What we are concerned with is the prevailing sentiment for war, and the growing opinion that war is right and necessary. Therefore we must quote a statement from a letter written from Uganda, Africa, by a missionary of the Church Missionary Society. After having stated that "we most of us sleep with loaded firearms and cartridges ready, since it is not right to neglect obvious precautions," he adds:-

Bishop Haniou wrote that people at home might say unkind things about missionaries fighting, but he knew how in this crisis it was absolutely necessary for every European to stand shoulder to shoulder. . . . When Pilkington and I went off, followed by Lloyd, Wilson, and Fletcher, the Archdeacon wrote to Bishop Tucker, saying the reasons which made it necessary for missionaries to fight were too long to go into, but he might rest assured that it was no isolated opinion, but the unanimous consent of the whole body of missionaries here.

So much the worse, then, for the whole body of missionaries there. Dr. Livingstone was in Africa for years, and never found it necessary to take the life of a single native. Dr. Paton was in the midst of fierce savages in the New Hebrides, who were daily threatening his life, brandishing knives and levelling muskets at him, or endeavouring to burn him out, yet he never found it necessary to take up a weapon in self-defence. Why do these missionaries find it necessary to do so? Simply because they cannot forget that they are Englishmen, and have associated the evangelisation of the country with the progress of the commercial interests of the country from which they went out.

WHOLESALE LAWLESSNESS

Enough has been cited, not only from the Bible but from current writings, to show that the "desire to have"-greed of gain-is at the bottom of all the war spirit on earth. Now let us analyse it. In order to see what the thing is, we must take a single individual. Suppose now that a man, exasperated by the fact that his neighbour was getting more custom than he was; or, to make the case still more in point, suppose that his neighbour had actually used unfair means to keep customers away from his shop, and to attract them to his own; suppose, we say, that the aggrieved party should seize a knife and slaughter his rival's entire family. Would not the whole community be shocked? Would not the paper set forth the awfulness of the crime in the most burning language at their command? And with the criminal's plea that he gave his rival fair warning, and only seized his weapon when expostulation failed, he

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considered as any warrant whatever for his act? Well, then, how was the case bettered by being done on a larger scale? Does a wicked deed become righteous by being multiplied by a hundred thousand or a million? Let each one answer this honestly before God.

It is a horrible fact, but none the less a fact, that ministers of the Gospel are actually upholding that which is nothing but wholesale murder, and what is more, murder for the soul's sake of acquiring or holding fast a little paltry gain! When professed ministers of the Gospel of peace, and those who in addition are leaders of the "Peace Society," encourage war, what prospect is there for peace? So far as men have to do with the matter, the only reason why war does not take place, is that it is not considered profitable pecuniarily; and the worst is that nearly everybody seems to take the sentiments as the natural thing. It is in the spirit that the danger lies. It is this which is prompting all these war preparations.

But God still has something to say in the affairs of this world. He has a people, not merely among those who profess to be Christian, but among those who make no profession. There are many who are yet susceptible to the influence of the Holy Spirit. These must be gathered out from the world, and made free from all the defilement of the world. When this has been done, then will the mass that is left be free to rush to their own destruction. Until then they cannot engage in wholesale war, however much they burn for it.

THE CAUSE OF PERIL

"In the last days perilous time shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, . . . trucebreakers, . . . fierce." 2 Tim. iii. 1-3.

We have already seen how that selfishness is the root of war; and it is not necessary to recount how fully armed and equipped the nations are, waiting, they know not why, to respond to the popular cry for war. Now we are not raising any cry of alarm over the readiness of war. We are quite ready to believe that there will be no serious fighting for a little time to come, at least. But the fact that this war spirit possesses the people so generally is a cause for alarm. It shows the presence of a fierceness which is only fed by the preparations that are made. The possession of a thing leads to the desire to use it. A boy cannot long see and handle a revolver or a gun without having a desire to fire it off. He wants to hit something with it. So the possession of the means wherewith to fight is itself an incentive to war.

With the whole world in the state of preparation that it now is, and possessed with the spirit that now possesses it, a very small spark will be sufficient to set the whole world ablaze, and it will truly be "set on fire of hell." Then, as in the days before the flood, while the earth be "filled with violence." War itself is violence; it sets every law of God at defiance, and involves the violation of every commandment. When nations set trade and property above human life, individuals will inevitably do the same. In fact, when the whole earth becomes a vast military camp, and war is in progress, there will be nothing else but violence in the land.

THE PLACE OF SAFETY

Safety from what? from the danger of being killed in the general onslaught? Yes, from that, and from a far greater danger, that of being possessed with the spirit of war. For the possession of that spirit is fatal to one, even though one never engages in conflict. It is utterly opposed to the spirit of the kingdom of peace, and will cost one his eternal salvation. It is of little use to decry war, and at the same time to cherish bitter feelings toward even a single individual. To allow one's spirit to be stirred up to anger over a sense of wrong, even though the wrong be real, is the very spirit that leads nations to war. It can be avoided only by letting self completely die, and allowing Christ, the Prince of Peace, to dwell personally in us.

Christians must remember that their citizenship is in heaven, not on this earth. This must be something more than a form of words. They must be so completely in love with their heavenly inheritance that not a shade of a ruffled feeling, or of siding with one party or nation, as against any other, will have a moment's place with them. Their only feeling should be one of grief that lives are sacrificed, no matter of what nation, and of desire to help every man of every nation in every way possible. Their interests and feelings will be for humanity, and not for nations or parties.

The command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," is unlimited. No one has any right to the name Christian who is not guided by it; and those who are guided by it will have just as much zeal for the welfare, both temporal and eternal, of the men who live on the opposite side of the national boundary, as for those who live on their side.

The place of safety, then, not only from personal danger, but also from the temptation or the desire to do evil to others, is to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

"Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high. . . . Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty." Isa. xxxiv. 14, 17.

"Something for Oyster Eaters" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

On the 30th ult. "a large and influential deputation waited upon Mr. Chaplin at the Local Government Board Office, in order to impress upon him the need for legislation in order to put a stop to the poisoning of the public by oysters and other shell fish cultivated in close proximity to, or actually under, discharges of sewage."

The movement originated in Brighton, and the deputation was headed by the leading citizens of that town. That which has specially stirred them up to action is the fact that the reputation of Brighton as a health resort is suffering, and is likely to be entirely destroyed, because of the increase of disease there that is due to the eating of contaminated oysters.

That it is no light matter, is shown by the statement of Dr. Newsholme, the local medical officer, who has instituted special inquiries as to the origin of numerous cases of typhoid fever, "with results that he found a popular consumption of sewage-contaminated oysters to be largely responsible for them."

"Sir John Blaker, Mayor of Brighton, said his corporation had received the active support of twenty-seven large towns in this matter, and the London County Council had passed a resolution approving their action. At Brighton it was felt that the number of deaths was much larger than it should be, and the medical officer found that one death of every three from that disease was due to the contaminated oysters. That was an astounding statement, but it was absolutely true. It was not suggested that the position was peculiar to Brighton, but that town had taken the lead in this movement, on account of the local discovery."

"Dr. Newsholme said besides the known cases of typhoid at Brighton from oyster eating, it was believed that many visitors went home to die from the same cause. This was a matter which concerned the poor as well as the rich, because if the former were not very large consumers of oysters, they certainly were of mussels, cockles, and periwinkles in enormous quantities, and these humble kinds of shell fish were as capable of spreading disease and death as contaminated oysters. In London the consumption of all sorts of molluses was very large. He might add that he had received letters from Sir William Broadbent and other eminent medical men quite confirming his own views. . . . Moreover, the danger was all the greater because oysters swarming with typhoid germs might appear quite sound to the naked eye."

"Dr. Hope, a medical officer of Liverpool, said that it was incontrovertible that much of the shell fish sold there was impregnated with sewage."

"Dr. Niven (Manchester) said that one-tenth of the cases of typhoid in that city were traceable to such food."

"Dr. Collingridge, the medical officer for the Port of London, confirmed what had been said as to the danger to the poor classes from the consumption of contaminated cockles, mussels, periwinkles," and spoke of the vast number that were consumed in London, and frequently in a raw state.

The Chronicle, from whose report the foregoing items are taken, says editorially that the oyster "actually thrives at the mouths of sewers, provided the sewage is somewhat diluted with salt or brackish water. It is certain that hundreds of thousands, which are as deadly as a cup of sewage, are consumed unsuspiciously all over the country."

We have quoted thus at length, because the matter is a serious one, and one that concerns the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in England. The names and positions of the men who made the statements are sufficient guarantee that the danger is real. If the case were not very serious, it is certain that these men would not talk so much about their own towns, and ask for legislation.

What we wish especially to call attention to in this connection is the promptness with which men will call upon the Government to do what they could do for themselves infinitely better than the Government could. In fact, the matter can be remedied in no other way than by individual action. Goldsmith well said,

"How small of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure;
Still to ourselves and every place consigned,
Our own felicity we make or find."

And he could with equal truth, if not with equal beauty of expression, have said bodies and souls as well as hearts.

As call for legislation to prevent the danger from eating oysters and other shell fish, is a striking example, men will deliberately violate the law of God, and then ask the Government to save them from the consequences. For any person who would refrain from eating oysters, mussels, etc., could go to Brighton or any other place with no danger whatever from typhoid fever, even though all the shell fish were deliberately fed on sewage.

"But think what a loss it would be if people were deprived of such a rich food supply as shell fish!" some one will say. Such a loss would be a great gain. No one would suffer from lack of food, for the Almighty has richly provided food that is wholesome, and from which there is no possible danger of contamination. "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man; that he may bring forth food out of the earth."

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Ps. civ. 14. In the beginning God appointed to man his food, stating expressly that it was "every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of the tree yielding seed." Gen. i. 29. And notwithstanding the curse has diminished the productiveness of the ground, and has caused many poisonous plants to grow, the earth yet brings forth far more than enough of the most delicious and wholesome food to supply the utmost wants of every creature on it.

Afterward, for the same reason that He allowed polygamy, namely, the hardness of men's hearts, God allowed men to use flesh as food; but out of regard for their welfare He set certain safeguards, to diminish the evil as much as possible. Of water creatures, He said, "All that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you." Lev. xi. 11. If people would heed this plain precept, they would not be in the slightest danger, even though all the shell fish in the world were full of typhoid germs.

The real trouble is one that cannot possibly be reached by legislation, even supposing that the Government succeeded in securing the removal all oyster beds from the immediate presence of open sewers. Why not?-For the reason that is unconsciously suggested by the Chronicle, in the statement that the oyster "actually thrives at the mouths of sewers." And why so?-For the very same reason that a buzzard would thrive on the offal from a slaughterhouse; because it is a scavenger.

If the oyster were removed from access to sewage, it would live on what refuse matter it could find elsewhere. Even allowing all that is claimed by the advocates of a flesh diet, the oyster is no more fit to be eaten than is the buzzard or the hyena.

We might remark on the advantage which the buzzard and the hyena have over the oyster as an article of food, in that if the former were eaten, only certain parts of the animal would be devoured, whereas the oyster is swallowed entire; but we leave that phase of the subject for the reader's own meditation. Enough has been said to show that if those learned physicians and influential men would turn their attention and strength to teaching the people to obey the laws of God, they would accomplish far more for their welfare than all the legislatures in Christendom can do.

God's laws are not arbitrary, but they are for the good of mankind. There is reason in them. He gave man only the products of the ground as his diet, because that was and is altogether the best for him; and when man persisted in eating that which was not designed for him, then God mercifully indicated what could be eaten with the greatest impunity, and what was absolutely harmful. If men would be warned by His commandments, they would find that "in keeping of them there is great reward." Ps. xix. 11.

Hear the words of Wisdom: "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 and to those that find them, and health to all their flesh." Prov. iv. 20-22.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

The University of Calcutta is said to be the largest educational corporation in the world, not less than 10,000 students being examined annually.

A fine example of heroic devotion to duty was set by the crew of the Aldeburgh lifeboat off Harwich in saving lives during the recent storm. They were in active service for over one hundred hours.

The statement is made that "thirty years ago about five-sixths of the convict prison population did not return to prison again. At the present time about a third of the convict prison population go back to habits of crime."

The following item in a despatch from the Soudan shows the overwhelming advantage of "civilisation:"-

Two squadrons of our cavalry charged a body of the enemy's horsemen and got home, inflicting considerable loss. We had six men killed in this charge. Capt. Persse was wounded in left forearm by a bullet. No bones were broken. Our other casualties were ten men wounded. Dervish losses are estimated at about 200, principally due to Maxim fire.

"There is grand news from the Soudan." That is the way the editorial begins. What is the grand news?-This, that on Good Friday a battle was fought in which 2,000 Dervishes were killed. Incidently, also, the British army had some "casualties," which means that about three hundred men lost their lives. Ah, yes, it was grand!

The actual loss of life in battle, great as it may be, is really only a small part of the horrors of war; yet some idea of what war means may be gather from the statistics of the Franco-Prussian War, which lasted only two months. France lost 136,000 men, of whom 80,000 were killed in battle, 36,000 died of sickness, accident, etc., and 20,000 died in prison. It is estimated that there were 138,000 Frenchmen wounded, who recovered, and about 340,000 recovered from sickness or accidents on the march, making nearly 478,000 men directly suffering from the war. To this must be added the thousands left at home without support, and the grief and pain that cannot be calculated.

Thou shalt not steal. In Shakespeare's age 'twas called "conveyance" by the sage. But nowadays, when Germans squeeze the China orange, 'tis "a lease;" and when the China pigeon's plucked by Russians, it is "usufruct;" while France, a Thais, showers her roses on Alexander, our new Moses, and England, like a gaping frog, accepts the modern decalogue.-Daily Chronicle.

In a lecture on "Protestantism," delivered last week in his church in Hampstead, Dr. R. F. Horton said that the other day, a friend of his, "a curate in the Established Church, spoke from his pulpit in praise of Martin Luther. For this he was actually reproved by his vicar and the churchwardens, and reported to the bishop, as a result of which he was refused priest's orders." And yet there are those who would have us believe that Rome is losing ground.

From the report of a sermon preached last week by Canon Scott-Holland, we take the following extract, which fits in very aptly with the article in the other part of this paper, on "the War Spirit:"-

The outlook in Europe never presented so wholly and un-Christian spectacle since the days of Constantine. Even in medi?val days, peace, and not war, was regarded as the normal condition of men. Now nations were watching one another like wild beasts in a jungle, and Christian Europe had armed itself in defiance of everything which Christ came to teach. Blood and iron rule; huge camps and seas, crowded with horrible ships of war, met the eye at every turn. Men scrambled for land, and the question was who should be first in the race. Are we to be swept away in the Pagan scramble?

The most valuable and most important thing in this world is man,-the individual. "Society," Government, have no worth whatever except that of the individuals composing them. Once in a while this is recognised, as, for instance, by Canon Barnet, who says: "The curse of modern philanthropy is the ambition to deal with the masses and not with individuals." We hear much about "carrying the Gospel to the masses," and the best way to reach the masses. The Lord does not save men in masses, but individually, and he who can successfully carry the Gospel to a single person, and then to another, has solved the whole problem of evangelising the world.

The spectacle of the great Western nations competing with each other in naval and military armaments is sad indeed; yet these peoples, armed to the teeth, profess to be Christian nations!

What a burlesque it is of the good news the angels of the olden time proclaimed. Where does the Christianity these empires acknowledge really take effect? It does not seem to restrain the war spirit in any appreciable degree. Millions of treasure are expended in the production of war materials and firearms, intended for the deliberate destruction of human life. Surely it can never be in harmony with the Gospel which Christ lived and died to expound. Is there not an urgent need that the "Gospel of peace" should find voice sometimes in the teaching of those who profess to be followers of Him who once said, "Blessed are the peace-makers"?-The Christian.

Russia has the most rapidly increasing population of any country in the world. The growth during the last 100 years has been a fraction less than 1,000,000 annually.

"The Anglican Confessional" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

The Anglican Confessional .-The Church Times thus indicates the growth of one Catholic custom in the Church of England:-

Amidst many disappointments which have come to us in the course of the great Catholic Revival, which has so transformed the practice of the established Church during the last sixty years, there is at least one solid ground for satisfaction. And that is in the firm footing which confession has won for itself, not merely as theoretically a portion of our Catholic heritage, but as an integral part of the ordinary life of a Churchman. It is difficult to believe that anything, unless it be faithlessness on the part of those who are set to guard it, can ever again relegate this unspeakable privilege to the position which it held in the days of Puritan deadness and practical unbelief.

It is not merely the fact that the Catholic confessional is being so firmly established, but also the satisfaction which one of the leading Church organs expresses over that fact, that is significant as showing the spread of Romanism. And simply because it isn't labelled "Papal Rome," people think that the Pope's religion is making no progress in England. It was while men slept, that the enemy sowed tares.

April 15, 1897

"'Put Not Your Trust in Princes'" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Some time since the Daily Mail, in publishing a special article on All Saints, Margaret-street, with a description of the highly Roman service at "the High Celebration on Sunday morning," remarked that "the Prince and Princess of Wales are frequent worshippers at All Saints."

Commenting upon this the English Churchman says: "That which is seen and taught every Sunday in this church is decidedly opposed to that 'Protestant religion' which the Prince of Wales may some day be called upon to swear to support."

Why should a ruler be called upon to swear to support any pecuniary form of religion, and what is the value of such an oath? It is perfectly evident it can have no spiritual value. There is certainly no salvation to himself in any such oath, or in any action which he may take under it. Neither is his oath the means of spiritual regeneration to others. The highest effect which it can possibly have is purely material. He swears to preserve to a certain organised religious body its loaves and fishes. Thenceforth, therefore, this organisation looks to the ruler, who has sworn to support it, for its loaves and fishes, instead of to Him who will provide for those who trust Him. Then it follows that the organisation which calls itself the Church is putting its trust in princes rather than in its God.

"The State Against the Gospel" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Twenty years ago, writing in the Contemporary Review, Mr. A. Taylor Innes said:-

There is probably nothing which so excites the loathing of mankind as when the State persecutes for a faith which it is already beginning to lose. And yet, obviously, that is precisely the time when it happens. . . . There are laws which are invalid because they strike against the basis of all law. . . . Christianity was incompatible with the Roman public law, and that not merely because its contents were different from those of the old religion of Rome, but because its claim to universal individual acceptance and public confession conflicted with the unlimited and unbalanced sovereignty of the Roman State. And on these very points that law came into conflict with the Author of Christianity.

All will acknowledge that these statements as regards the relations between Christ, and His Gospel, and the Roman government are true.

But how many will acknowledge that, with a difference, the relations between Christ, and His Gospel, and the dominating governmental powers of the world to-day are practically the same as in the days of the Roman supremacy? Yet it is true that they are, and the difference is in the favour of the old Roman. Then Christianity was not professed as a national religion. Now it is, and under the cloak of a professed Christianity governments coerce their subjects into those things which are contrary to the teachings and precepts of the Author of Christianity.

Note as examples of this, in Roman Catholic countries, the laws enforcing respect for images, holy days, the host, etc., and in all so-called Christian lands the Sunday laws, and the military laws. On all these points human law has come "into conflict with the Author of Christianity." And if He were again to-day personally upon earth, the courts of law, or the courts martial, would condemn Him upon any of these counts with less reluctance even than did the Roman governor, and though the prison cell, or the rifle bullet, would be substituted for the cross, the result would be the same.

Is it not the first requisite of all legislation that it should be within the jurisdiction of the legislators and the courts which are to enforce it? And should not the basis of all law be the best good of mankind? If these basic principles were held in view in all legislation, would human laws ever come into conflict with the Author of Christianity? Certainly they would not. But is it not true that all laws which traverse these principles are, in reality, "invalid because they strike against the basis of all law"? Again nothing can be more obvious than that when a State which professes Christianity begins to persecute, it has already lost the Christianity which it professed.

It is impossible that laws upon religious subjects should exist without their enforcement becoming persecution. All nations have enacted religious laws. All civilised nations are dominated to-day by the military idea. What becomes then of the Christianity which the nations profess?

They who condemn the just are equally an abomination in the sight of the Lord with them who justify the wicked. How will those who enforce the laws and control the affairs of the nations of the world escape this condemnation?

"Islam and the Russian Church" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Russia has a large Mohammedan population now in the Caucasian provinces, which has been a great perplexity to the "Holy Synod," engaged in the work of persuading or dragooning dissenters into the State Church. The Mohammedan regards the Greek Churchman, with his images and pictures, as a rank idolater. And according to a German journal Islam makes converts from the Russian Church in this region.

"The coercive means," says the Danziger Zeitung, by which the conversion of the Catholics is brought about is ineffective with the Mohammedans. On the other hand, the propaganda of Islamism is steadily advancing in the Eastern provinces. Education has done much to bring this about, especially among the Tartars. Since they have learned to read, they are influenced by printed and written tracts. A secret organisation serves the interests of Mohammedanism in Russia, and the clergy keep up a lively intercourse with such centres of Mohammedan learning as China, Bucharia, and Cairo. The Mecca pilgrims also exercise much influence, both over their co-religionists

228

and such members of the Orthodox Church asreveal discontent with their faith. The Mecca pilgrims have brought to Russia the doctrine of a future Messiah, a Mahdi who will be stronger than even the Czar."

"Peace Amidst Trouble" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you." To whom?-To everybody; and He has given it to us.

There are some people that do not believe He has given it, and they do not take it, and there are some people who do not want it; but the fact remains that God has given His peace.

But what about that peace-"My peace,"-the peace of God, which passeth all understanding? Read further: "Not as the world giveth; give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Do not worry. What was the characteristic of Christ's peace? Some think that peace is a sort of happy-go-lucky feeling of complacence, an easy, lazy feeling, because one has nothing to disturb the even tenor of life; everything is prosperous with him, and he has peace,-nothing to do, nothing to worry him.

That is what men think of peace, but that is not the way of Christ. From the cradle to the grave, the devil was seeking every possible opportunity to take His life.

The scribes and Pharisees were continually nagging Him, criticising every word He uttered. He had lies told about Him. They said, He has a devil; He is mad; He is a fanatic; He deceives the people; He is leading them astray.

And those things He had to endure. Not only His enemies, but even His brethren did not believe on Him.

And so wherever He went He found trouble always;-something to oppose Him, something to come upon Him. He was always in turmoil, He was always in trouble; but He was never troubled. He said, "I will put My trust in Him," and the Father never failed Him.

"In the world ye shall have tribulation," but do not be troubled. "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Christ's gift is of such a nature that a man can have trouble, and not be troubled; he can have affliction and sorrow, and not be sorrowful; he can have heaviness, and yet rejoice; he can have warfare, and be at peace. That is the peace that Christ gives. It cannot be manufactured; but whoever receives Jesus Christ into the life-receives the peace of God, "the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."

No one was allowed to make any oil like the oil with which the priests were anointed. What do we learn from that? It was not merely an arbitrary prohibition. This is the lesson: Do not try to manufacture an artificial joy. It was to show that it could not be done that this prohibition was made. Just receive the free grace of God.

"'Therefore Be Ye also Ready'" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Why are men so deceived in reference to the facts of religious truth? The Word of the Lord, on all vital points, is very clear. It is a very important thing, indeed it is vital, to look for, wait for, and love the coming of the Lord,-and so to understand and know when and how He is to come, so far as He has told us.

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew He enumerated the signs which should precede His second coming, and said, "When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." To be at the very door is surely being near. But He speaks even more definitely than that,-He tells them who listened, and us, that not all the generation which sees these signs shall have passed out of existence before He will come again: "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

Yet He warns us that it is not possible for any man to fix the exact date: "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only." "Watch, therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

Nothing can possibly be more clear than that He will come within one generation from the fulfilment of the signs which He has named, and that no one knows, other than God Himself, what date within that generation will be the day of His coming.

But He warned us all to beware of deception: "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chamber; believe it not."

And then He told them, very plainly indeed, just what His coming would be like: "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."

And this was supplemented by the words of the angels to those who stood and gazed after Him as He disappeared from their sight in the heavens. "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. 11.

What more explicit than this is needed to protect men from delusions? The generation in which He will come is pointed out to those who will take the trouble to inform themselves. The manner of His coming is so definitely described that none need mistake any counterfeit for the real advent. Is it not strange, then, that so many are ignorant or deceived? Not so surprising as it might appear. When an ocean-going ship is lost, and an investigation is had, it is always asked, Had the captain made his observations, and consulted his chart? If the answer is, "No; he had done neither of these; he had not even studied his course," then all would say it is not surprising that he lost his ship. It would have been remarkable had he not been wrecked.

But men undertake this life, ignorant of their course and the dangers which beset it, and not only that but either uncertain or unaware of their destination; yes, even scouting the idea of there being any possible approximate knowledge of when they will reach port.

It is not strange, then, that men are deluded and deceived. That which is strange is that they do not inform themselves, and when delusions arise-believe them not.

"The Evil Servant" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

The Evil Servant. -He is the one who says in his heart, "My Lord delayeth His coming." He has not sufficient courage to say it openly, it may be, but the language of his heart is expressed in his conduct: Upon him the Lord will come in a day when he looketh not for Him." Matt. xxiv. 48-50.

"Hold Fast That Which Is Good" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

It is characteristic of a wise man to enjoy the good things of this world wisely. It is the part of wisdom to know what things are good, and then to make such use of them that they may give their greatest value.

There are many good things in this world. God made the world, and everything in it. When He had finished His work He considered it, and it was all good. Everything, then, which is as it came direct from the hand of God, is good. If the devil has interfered with it since, we may know that to just that extent it has become worthless if not harmful or deadly.

All things which God made were full of life,-there was no death in them. Through the devil came death into the world. Fermentation is a process of decay and death. Therefore those who eat and drink foods and liquids before decay and fermentation has begun while yet full of that wholesome life which God gave them, still untainted by the growing seeds of death which the enemy has sown, are partaking of the good things which the beneficent Creator gave them for their enjoyment. While those who eat and drink the products of decay and fermentation, are eating the devil's food and drinking the devil's broth.

If there is any truth in the accepted adage-"He who drinks beer thinks beer;" and according to what men eat and drink so they think; then, as we know positively that, "as a man thinketh so is he," therefore, he who eats and drinks decay and death becomes himself a walking death, a galvanised corpse.

We see such often, even in public places, and we sometimes say of them that they are the "image of death."

They have continually taken into their bodies more and more of death and less and less of life, until now they begin to resemble the death upon which they have fed. They have at last so incorporated these deadly elements with their own frames that they cannot by any means, short of the miraculous, recreating word of God, be delivered from the body of this physical death, to which the little life that remains in them is hopelessly chained.

These things are true of the material body and of this life; they are just as true, on the other hand, of the spiritual life. The food which we consume makes our bodies what they are, and our lives are governed accordingly. The spiritual food with which we feed our hearts and minds determines the character of our spiritual growth, and whether it is to life or death.

Truly it is the part of a wise man to hold fast, and use, only that which is good.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Statistics show that out of 15,083 cases treated in Liverpool dispensaries nearly 8,000 were those of persons injured while in a drunken state.

Statistics show an enormous increase in the consumption of tobacco in France. In the year 1896 the French Government received 12,000,000 francs more from the use of tobacco by its citizens than during the preceding year.

-The amount raised for India by all the funds in this country and Canada Is about ?800,000.

-The Penrhyn quarry strike has lasted over seven mouths and has caused a loss of over ?200,000 in wages.

-Practically half of the sea-going tonnage of the world is owned in the United Kingdom, and over half sails under the British flag.

-The Portuguese have a serious native riving on their hands la the Delagoa Bay country. About 25,000 natives are rebelling. The locality of the rising is near the Transvaal border.

-The French Minister of Marine has offered a bill authorising an expenditure of eighty millions of francs for new vessels. The intent is to place France on an equal naval footing with other powers.

-An English mining expert is negotiating with the Chinese Government for gold mining in China. It is thought that rich deposits can be found. China will soon have an "Outlanders" question if gold is discovered.

-During the financial years 1897-98 the number of British war vessels either building or completing will be fourteen battleships, seventeen cruisers, fifty-two torpedo boat destroyers, and fourteen other crafts of various kinds.

-There has just died in the Basque Provinces a man aged one hundred and forty-eight pare six months and nine days. His widow has attained her one hundred and thirty-filth birthday, one daughter is aged one hundred and two, whilst two eons are respectively eighty-six and ninety-seven.

-During a review in honour of the new governor of Beyrout last week a "Christian" filled a police officer baton the eyes of the assembled force, and afterwards two "Christians" were assassinated by Mussulmans in revenge. It is this temper of the people in Syria that loads to trouble continually and threatens to cause widespread disturbance.

-On both sides of the Greco-Turkish frontier the troops have long been shouting for war, the Greeks especially seeming anxious for it. There is no doubt that the training which soldiers receive makes them fighting machines by working upon the naturally brutal love of fighing, and the thousands of men facing one another say they will be bitterly disappointed if not allowed to cut one another's throats.

-Last week the Sultan of Zanzibar proclaimed the abolition of slavery in his territory. Compensation is to be given masters of slaves. The proclamation was quietly received, due it is said to compensation being more than expected by the proprietors, and also because the recent bombarding of the former Sultan's palace had subdued the natives. As in America and elsewhere, so in Zanzibar it may be expected that the curse of slavery will still rest upon the Workers, but at any rate it will give them a chance to escape from masters whom they are unwilling to serve. But the forced labour system in Rhodesia and other petite of Africa is little better, if not worse in some cases, than legalised slavery.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

The total native population of Africa can be estimated, but some idea of its immensity may be formed from the estimate that there are 50,000,000 under British rule alone.

The cables bring the message that New South Wales is suffering from so severe a drought that the Government have proclaimed the sixteen of this month to be observed as a day of humiliation and of prayer for rain.

The "Golden Rose" is the Pope's annual gift to the person whom he most delights to honour. It is reported that he intends presenting it to the Queen this year, but it seems altogether improbable that she could consent to receive it. The Church Association, however, has sent a protest against it to the Prime Minister.

An authority on law says: "It is a settled principle of what is called "International Law' that sovereign nations will disregard treaty stipulations whenever in their judgment their own interests require that they should do so. The only remedy the other parties to the treaty have, is to thrash the violator into a different opinion." All the nations are founded on the principle of force and selfishness, and therefore there can be no real peace in this world.

Each year sees more attention paid to Lent, and "Holy Week" and the Catholic festivals generally amongst non-Romanists. God has made holy but one day, "the Sabbath of the Lord," "the seventh day," but just to the degree in which the religious world tramples upon that it exalts the times which God never commanded. It says to God, "You made a day holy and blessed and sanctified it, and gave it to man, but we don't care for it; we will make holy days and times ourselves." It is the very spirit that exalts itself "above all that is called God or that is worshipped." It is an insult thrown in God's face continually.

To the family of Spiritualism belong the different theosophical cults. The natural superstition of the heart that does not know God leaves it a prey to the deceptions of Satan, who is clearly reviving the accompaniments of the ancient pagan worships. For instance, a modern follower of the magical arts told an interviewer a little time ago:-

It is a common mistake that only servant girls and ignorant people want their fortunes told. Among my clients are some of the best-educated and most cultivated people in London. A well-known politician comes always during a political crisis or situation.

"Are the educated as much impressed as are the ignorant?"

Education and training are only skin-deep. Prick the surface and the natural man appears. If I were only enough of a humbug I could make my fortune out of love-philtres and charms, for which I am constantly asked.

The world lies in darkness and only those who walk in the light of Christ's life are safe against the multiform deceptions that increase on every side.

The sixpenny book on "Sunday: the Origin of its Observance" deals fully with the question to which we devote considerable space this week. It quotes very largely from Protestant historians. All should read it, as the question is most important. It is the question, Shall we follow Jesus Christ or the Papacy?

"One Day's Fruits" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

One Day's Fruits .-Some organisation, desiring to secure statistics of one day's fruits of the drink traffic, procured a copy of every newspaper in England for a certain day. From the police reports it was estimated that every day there are from 8,000 to 10,000 cases brought before magistrates in which drink is a contributory cause of the offending. The offences range from murder to the common "drunk and incapable."

"Jesuits in Germany" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesuits in Germany .-The attempt to keep the Jesuits out of Germany by legislation has been a failure all along, but it has hindered their organised workings in some ways, and so their friends are ceaseless in their efforts to repeal the law. Recently, for the fifth time, the Reichstag has voted for repeal, but so far the higher authorities have not yielded. Now the Federal Council wishes to pass naval budgets which the Reichstag has thrown out. With the support of the Catholic party the Government could pass their bill. Now it is said that support may be purchased by surrender on the Anti-Jesuit laws. Catholic influence grows apace in Germany, and doubtless those who have tried to fight Romanism by Rome's weapon, the civil law, will soon find the weapon turned against themselves.

"Deplorable Ignorance" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

Deplorable Ignorance .-Speakers at the recent meeting of the society calling itself the "Workingmen's Lord's Day Rest Association," bewailed the ignorance regarding the question of Sunday observance, and, as Lord Kinnaird said, they felt that "our Lord's commands with regard to the observance of Sunday" should be impressed upon the people. Considering the fact that our Lord's commands relate altogether to another day, the seventh instead of the first, it is evident that the ignorance on this question, so much deplored, is not confined to the masses of the people.

"The Bond of Confederacy" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

The Bond of Confederacy .-The Association pronounced for stricter Sunday laws (to supply the lack of Divine authority) and a London County Councillor urged that candidates for election to the Council should be pledged to support Sunday statutes. Mr. R. W. Perks, M.P., the Chairman of the meeting, said that in pursuit of these aims-the promotion and enforcement of Sunday observance,-

Churchmen might join with Salvationist, Methodist with Baptist, the Welsh Dissenter with the strictest Anglican Ecclesiastic, and Presbyterian with Plymouth Brother.

He omitted the Roman Catholic, but it may be taken for granted that Rome will rally to the help of these who are blindly working to force the world into observing this mark of Rome's authority.

"A Thousand Years Ago" The Present Truth 13, 15.

E. J. Waggoner

A Thousand Years Ago .-Mr. G. F. Chambers, F.R.A.S., one of the speakers, cited old Acts of Parliament, and declared that in striving to uphold the Sunday they were simply maintaining the common law "during the last thousand years." Of course; and everybody knows that a thousand years ago out-and-out Roman Catholics made the laws of England. There were then no great churches in England professedly Protestant to unite with Rome in moulding legislation to uphold Roman tradition and strike at the Sabbath of the Lord. It is a mark of sad apostasy when Protestant churches are now rallied together in a confederacy to maintain the wicked laws enacted in the days of Rome's supremacy in England. A thousand years ago England and Europe were in the Dark Ages, and it is back to the Dark Ages that the champions of Sunday laws would lead the world.

April 21, 1897

"The Counsel of God" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

What a wonderful assurance is this: "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me into glory." It shows us that the counsel of God will, if followed, lead one to glory. God's purpose for men is that they shall be glorified.

One may say, "I thought that God's purpose was that He Himself should be glorified." Yes; but when we are told to give glory to God, it is only that we shall give Him the glory or honour that is due Him. We cannot add anything to His glory; for all glory is His. Matt. vi. 13. He is "the God of glory;" "the King of glory." All glory comes from Him, and He desires us to give Him glory, or render Him homage, only that we ourselves may be glorified. God gave Himself to us in Christ, in order that He might bring "many sons unto glory." Heb. ii. 10.

And how will He do this?-By His counsel. That which distinguishes the Lord above all others, is His skill as Counsellor. The name of the Lord is "Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God" (Isa. ix. 6), and therefore He is "wonderful in counsel." Isa. xxviii. 29. The council of the heathen will come to nothing, but "the counsel of the Lord shall stand for ever; the thoughts of His heart to all generations." Ps. xxxiii. 11.

The Lord says: "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure." Isa. xlvi. 10. Whatever He hath promised, He is able also to perform, for even as He is "great in counsel," He is "mighty in work." Jer. xxxii. 19. He "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. i. 11). How comforting, then, for us to be assured that His counsel is to bring us to glory. His thoughts toward us are "thoughts of peace, and not of evil," to give us hope in our latter end. Jer. xxix. 11, R.V.

There is no chance for doubt in this matter, for God is made has it as sure as the sun in the heavens. "When God made promise to Abraham," which promise is what we depend on when we flee for refuge to Christ, "because He could swear

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by no greater, He sware by Himself." Being "willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel," He "confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope that before us." Heb. vi. 13-18.

God "hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion." Jer. x. 12. The same power and wisdom that created all things, still upholds them; therefore the existence of the earth and the heavens is positive proof to us of the steadfastness of the counsel of God. We can see it with our own eyes.

Lord says to us: "I will instruct thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will counsel thee with Mine eye upon thee." Ps. xxxii. 8, R.V. He takes the responsibility upon Himself; He leads us in the way that we should go. He will ensure are going in the right way, and having success here and hereafter, provided we will but submit to His counsel. Is it not well? Can we not trust Him, since He has placed such testimony to His faithfulness before us in plain sight?

In contrast to the counsel of the Lord, is the counsel of the ungodly. What about that? It comes to nothing, for the ungodly are themselves "like the chaff, which the wind driveth away." The counsel which proceeds from such ones, no matter how plausible it seems, is nothing but deception. But God is "from everlasting to everlasting," and His counsel is as enduring as Himself; therefore all who abide in His counsel will live for ever, and live in prosperity.

Where shall we find this counsel?-In His Word, for that is but the expression of His thought toward us. He says: "Have I not written unto thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge; to make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mayest carry back words of truth to them that send thee?" Prov. xxii. 20, 21, R.V. Let us therefore say in sincerity: "Thy testimonies also are my delight, and the men of my counsel." Ps. cxix. 24, margin.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. 'Faith Which Works by Love'" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

Since the last two lessons have included quite a general review of what has been passed over, we will proceed at once with

THE LESSON FOR THE WEEK

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded; but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off which trouble you. For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." Gal. v. 1-13.

There is nothing in this portion of Scripture that is difficult for one who has followed the study of the Epistle closely from the beginning. Therefore the whole of this study will really be little more than a review. Let us consider some of the supposedly difficult expressions.

CIRCUMCISION OPPOSED TO CHRIST

When the Apostle says that Christ is no profit to those who are circumcised, it is easy to understand that he is not referring to the mere fact that one had been circumcised, for he himself had undergone that rite. Moreover, he preached Christ to the Jews as well as to the Gentiles. We must recall the circumstances which called out this Epistle. There were those who were persuading the new converts that belief in Christ was not sufficient for salvation, but that they could not be saved if they were not also circumcised. This, it will be seen, was in reality a rejection of Christ; for if Christ be not accepted as a complete Redeemer, He is not accepted at all. That is to say, if Christ be not accepted for what He is, He is rejected. He cannot be other than what He is. Christ is not divided; and He does not share with any other person or thing the honor of being Saviour. Therefore it is easy to see that if any one were circumcised with a view to receiving salvation thereby, that would show absence of faith in Christ as the only and the all-sufficient Saviour of mankind.

From the statement that Christ is of no profit to those who are circumcised, we see that it means a rejection of Him; for Christ is always the same, and is always a perfect Saviour. The only ones in the world to whom He is nothing are those who do not accept Him. So, then, what the apostle really says is this: If you are circumcised for salvation, you reject Christ and His salvation.

WHAT CIRCUMCISION MEANS

This has been stated in the language of the Scripture so many times that we will do no more here than merely to refer to the passages. Read again Rom. 2:25-29; 4:11, where it appears very plainly that circumcision means the righteousness of the law. As God gave it to Abraham, it

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was a sign that he already had righteousness through faith in Christ; but as it became perverted by the Jews, it came to signify in their minds the fact that they themselves were doers of the law. And finally it came to be considered as a substitute for the doing of the law, or as conferring the righteousness of the law. God gave it as a sign of faith in Christ; they perverted it into a substitute for faith. So when a Jew boasted in his circumcision, he was boasting of his own righteousness. This is shown by Gal. v. 4: "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." This is no disparagement of the law, but of man's ability to keep the law. It is the glory of the law that it is so holy, and its requirements are so great, that no man is able to attain to the perfection of it. Only in Christ is the righteousness of the law ours; and true circumcision is to worship God in Spirit, to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and to put no confidence in the flesh. Phil. iii. 3.

A DEBTOR TO THE LAW

"I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law."

"There!" exclaims some one, "that shows that the law is a thing to be avoided; for Paul says that those who are circumcised have got to do the whole law; and he warns them not to be circumcised.

Not quite so hasty, my friend. Stick a little more closely to the text. Read it again, and you will see that the bad thing is not the law, nor the doing of the law, but that the thing to be avoided is being a debtor to the law. Is there not a vast difference? It is a good thing to have food to eat and clothes to wear, but it is a sorrowful thing to be in debt for these necessary things. Sadder yet is it to be in debt for them, and yet to lack them.

"The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Rom. vii. 12.

What does one understand by "a debtor?"-One who owes something. Then one who is in debt to the law, owes the law righteousness and holiness. But what one owes, is what he ought to pay. Therefore this Scripture teaches us that one ought to do the law. No one ought to be in debt to it; but the only way we can avoid being in debt to it is to do it.

If one is debtor to do the whole law, that shows that while he ought to do it all, he has not done any portion of it. So then we are forcibly taught by this scripture that whoever seeks righteousness by his own efforts, and not by Christ, has no righteousness at all. But the fact that by rejection of Christ one is a debtor to do the whole law, shows that by acceptance of Christ one yields to the law all that it demands, and satisfies it in very particular.

"THE RAGS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS"

"For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith."

Don't pass this verse by without reading it more than once, or you will think that it says something that it does not say. And as you read it, think of what you have already learned about the promise of the Spirit.

Don't imagine that this verse teaches that, having the Spirit, we must wait for righteousness. Not by any means; the Spirit brings righteousness. When He is come, He will convince the world of sin and of righteousness. John xvi. 8. Whoever, therefore, receives the Spirit, has the conviction of sin, and has also the righteousness which the Spirit shows him that he lacks, and which the Spirit alone can bring.

What is the righteousness which the Spirit brings?-It is the righteousness of the law; this we know, "for we know that the law is spiritual." Rom. vii. 14.

What then about the "hope of righteousness," for which we wait through the Spirit? Notice that it does not say that we through the Spirit hope for righteousness, but that we wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, that is, the hope which the possession of righteousness brings. Let us briefly go over this matter in detail. It will not take long, for we have already studied it, and all that we have to do is to refresh our minds.

1. The Spirit of God is "the Holy Spirit of promise." Not the Spirit promised, but the Spirit the possession of whom insures to us the promise of God.

2. That which God has promised to us, as children of Abraham, is an inheritance. The Holy Spirit is the earnest or pledge of this inheritance, until the purchased possession is redeemed and bestowed upon us. Eph. i. 13, 14.

3. This inheritance that is promised is the new heavens and the new earth, "wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter iii. 13.

4. The Spirit brings righteousness; for the Spirit is Christ's representative, the means by which Christ Himself, who is our righteousness, comes to dwell in our hearts. John xiv. 16-18.

5. Therefore the hope which the Spirit brings is the hope which the possession of righteousness brings, namely, the hope of an inheritance in the kingdom of God, the earth made new.

6. The righteousness which the Spirit brings to us is the righteousness of the law of God, which by the Spirit is written in our hearts, instead of on tables of stone. Rom. ii. 29; 2 Cor. iii. 3.

7. The sum of the whole matter, therefore, is this, that if we will wholly distrust ourselves, and will acknowledge that in us there dwelleth no good thing, and that consequently no good thing can come from us; and so instead of thinking ourselves so powerful that we can do the law, will allow the Holy Spirit to fill us, that thus we may be filled with the righteousness of the law, we shall have living hope dwelling in us. The hope of the Spirit-the hope of righteousness by faith-has no element of uncertainty in it; it is positive assurance.

WORKING FAITH

"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love."

The word here rendered "availeth" is the same word that is rendered "able" in Luke xiii. 24; Acts xv. 10; 6:10. In Phil. iv. 13 it is rendered "can do." The statement, therefore, amounts to this: Circumcision is not able to do anything, neither is uncircumcision; but faith alone, which works by love, can do anything. This faith which works by love is found only in Christ Jesus.

But what is it that there is talk about doing?-Nothing else than the law of God. No man can do it, whatever his state or condition. One may boast of his circumcision, and another may boast of his uncircumcision, but both are alike vain. By the law of faith boasting is excluded (Rom. iii. 27); for since the faith of Christ alone can keep the righteousness of the law, there is no chance for us to tell what we have done.

"All to Christ I owe."

LIBERTY TO SERVE, NOT TO SIN

"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh; but by love serve one another."

The two preceding chapters tell about bondage, imprisonment. Before faith

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comes, we are shut up under sin, debtors to the law. The faith of Christ sets us free, but as we are set at liberty, the admonition is given us, "Go, and sin no more." We have been set at liberty from sin, not at liberty to sin. How many make a mistake here! Many sincere people imagine that in Christ we are at liberty to ignore the law, and to set it at defiance, forgetting that the transgression of the law is sin. 1 John iii. 4. To serve the flesh is to commit sin, "because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. viii. 7. So when the apostle exhorts us not to use our liberty for an occasion of the flesh, he simply warns us not to misuse the liberty which Christ gives us, and to bring ourselves into bondage again by transgressing the law. Instead of this, we should by love serve one another; for, as we shall learn in our next lesson, "all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

The substance of the whole exhortation is, Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Not dead in sin, but dead to sin and alive unto righteousness.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Triumphal Entry. Matt. xxi. 6-16" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

MAY 1

Every incident in the life of Jesus while here upon earth is of far-reaching significance. Even in the apparently common-place experiences of His daily life there is a depth of meaning, each one having its place in revealing the great scheme of redemption for fallen man. Much more then may we expect that such an event as His entry into Jerusalem, described in the lesson for this week, will be full of meaning.

FULFILLING THE SCRIPTURE

The public ministry of our Lord was now drawing to its close, and with His disciples He was on the way to Jerusalem to the last Passover. The prophecies concerning the Messiah, marking out the course of His life with great definiteness, had found their fulfilment in Him. He was the Word made flesh, and naturally we read "that it might be fulfilled" and "as it was written" as the key notes to all His experiences. So it is in this case. Jesus had so carefully studied "in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself," and had found His own mission and work so plainly set forth in them, that His every act was guided by them. So He sent His disciples for the ass and the colt, and "all this was done that it might be fulfiled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." Verses 4, 5.

A ROYAL PROCESSION

So it was as "King" that He entered Jerusalem. His disciples and those who had witnessed His works had long desired that He should take the throne, and on one occasion Jesus "perceived that they would come and take Him by force, to make Him a king," but He had hitherto firmly restrained any such tendency. Now however the hopes of the disciples were raised to the highest pitch, for He had allowed them to put their own garments under Him (see 2 Kings ix. 11-13), "and a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way." Moreover they see that Jesus does not attempt to quiet the multitude as they shout with one accord, "Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest." Surely, thought they, the time of deliverance has come, and He is about to set up the throne. And this was true, but not as they were anticipating. It was an infinitely greater deliverance than from the Roman yoke that He was about to make sure for them, even "from the power of darkness;" and while the Scripture was now to be fulfilled, "and the Lord shall give unto Him the throne of His father David," yet that throne was in the New Jerusalem above, and not in old Jerusalem below. And they did not understand that the way to the throne was by the cross of Calvary.

And so the procession moved on. And "much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet Him," and they also joined in the cry, "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." John xii. 12, 13. "And when He was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?" So great was the stir that when the priest blew the trumpets to call the people to the temple at the time of the evening sacrifice, there was not one to answer to their call to worship, and they, stirred to envy, said, "Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after Him." John xii. 19.

THE TROPHIES OF VICTORY

But let us take a closer look at the procession which attends Jesus in His triumphal march into the city. Who are these who are thus raising their voices in honour of "the Son of David"? And what is the significance of their presence in His train? The record speaks of "a very great multitude," and of "the multitudes that went before, and that followed," but who are they? The closing part of the twentieth chapter will indicate the answer to this question. There were "two blind men sitting by the way," and they cried, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened." And when their request was granted, "they followed Him." And so it was that His followers were largely those whom He had relieved from disease, or affliction of some kind. And among the rest was Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead, for some had come "not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom He had raised from the dead." John xii. 9.

In the days of Rome, when some leader had been especially successful in conquest, it was customary for the Senate to grant him a triumph, and in the triumphal procession there would often be led some captives brought from the conquered province as evidences of the victory gained. Now it was the mission of Jesus to this world "to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound," and to wrest this world from the hands of the enemy by His death on the cross. And as evidence of His Messiahship, Jesus told His inquiring disciples, "Go and show John again those things which you do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the

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poor have the Gospel preached to them." Matt. xi. 4, 5.

Thus Jesus, in proof of the success of His mission, was attended in His triumphal entry by those whom He had released from the power of His and their enemy. There was Lazarus, who had been rescued "from the power of the grave," leading on the way; there were those who had been dumb, now using their tongues to shout His praise; there were those who had been deaf, who now hear their own voices calling the chorus of shouts; there were those who had been blind, looking with gratitude upon their benefactor; there were those who had been lame, now conspicuous among those "that went before." This is a triumphal procession indeed, and the evidences of victory are abundant. No such triumphs as this had ever been accorded to any Roman consul, since no such victory could be gained by force of arms. Infinite love had gained the victory and it was Love's triumph.

But after all, this triumphal entry into old Jerusalem is but typical of that triumphal entry into the New Jerusalem which was then so near. It was when He ascended up on high, after His resurrection, that he "led a multitude of captives" (Eph. iv. 8, margin) who had been raised from the dead at His crucifixion and resurrection (Matt. xxvii. 52, 53), and then as He neared the gates of the heavenly city, the cry was raised, "Who is this King of glory?" And the answer was given, "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." This was the same Jesus who rode into Jerusalem "meek, and sitting upon an ass." His meekness was a genuine meekness of true greatness.

CLEANSING THE TEMPLE

At the beginning of His ministry Jesus had cleansed the temple (John ii. 13-16) and had said, "Make not My Father's house an house of merchandise," but the same practices had continued, and had grown worse in the face of His divinely attested rebuke, and so He now declares, "It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but ye make or [are making] it a den of robbers." R.V. The profits in the sales in the temple precincts were very large, and the priests permitted the traffic to go on because they were given a share of the profits. If Jesus should visit the modern church bazaar, what would He say? Would He approve of such a method of bringing money into the Lord's (?) treasury? Is there any need for one to appear now who shall say, "Make not My Father's house an house of merchandise?" The principles which Jesus taught are for all time.

THE ARGUMENT OF PRAISE

In speaking of His relation to the Father Jesus could say, "I do always those things that please Him," but this did not make His course acceptable even to those who claimed to be the religious leaders of His time, for "when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were sore displeased." Evidently that which "displeased" them was that more attention was being directed to Jesus than to themselves. In His reply to their objection Jesus uses those words which they have heard before, "Have ye never read?" and then He quotes the scripture which was being fulfilled in the happy shouts of the children: "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou established strength [perfected praise], because of thine adversaries, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." Ps. viii. 2, R.V. And so on that day the children glorified God with their shouts of hosanna, while those who have enjoyed much light and many privileges grew only the more determined

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in their purpose to destroy Him who came to bring them life. "If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness." Matt. vi. 23.

A MORE MAGNIFICENT TRIUMPH

The final triumph is near, "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 to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Are we prepared to join the "great multitude" who shall raise their voices in that grand chorus, "Hallelujah: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth"?

"'Not Guilty.'ó'Discharged'" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

In the March number of Tongues of Fire, the organ of the "Pentecostal League," there appeared a question which interested us very much, since it was concerning the Sabbath, and we know that more than one member of the League is seriously considering whether perfect holiness can be found outside of the law which "is holy, and just, and good." The question was this:-

"Ought Christians to keep holy the first day or the seventh day of the week? Can we be holy if we break the fourth commandment?"

The answer that was given to this question was in part as follows:-

"The seventh day Sabbath is apart of the Mosaic law. The Christian has become dead to this law (Rom. vii. 4), and is discharge from the law. Rom. vii. 6, R.V.

This is all right in its self, but unfortunately the editor means it as a proof that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment ought not to be kept. Since there are readers of Tongues of Fire who are also readers of PRESENT TRUTH, we take the liberty to call their attention to the real meaning of the Scriptural answer which the leader of the League has given. This we do, not in the way of criticism, but in the same spirit in which we would come to the help of a man on the road, if we heard him ask the way, and the one of whom he made inquiry had unwittingly misdirected him.

It is true that the seventh day Sabbath is a part of the Mosaic law.

It is also true that in a prophecy which warns us against the fire of the last day, in which the proud, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, and shall be consumed, we are commanded by the Lord, "Remember ye the law of Moses My servant;" and as we are nearing "the great and dreadful day of the Lord," (Mal. iv.) this warning and commandment are specially directed to us.

It is further true, according to the scriptures quoted, that Christians are dead to the law, and discharge from it.

But it is not at all true that because they are discharged from it, they are therefore at liberty to violate it, and treat it with contempt. Notice how obvious this truth is.

AN ILLUSTRATIVE CASE

The editor of Tongues of Fire is an eminent lawyer, and therefore we will address him personally, and ask his counsel. We will suppose that I have been charged with a violation of one of the laws of the land, and I retain him as my advocate. He conducts my case skilfully, and shows to the perfect satisfaction of the court that I am innocent. The jury have returned a verdict of "Not Guilty," and the judge has declared that I am "discharged." Now as my learned counsellor, "Does the judge's declaration that I am discharged mean that I am at liberty to violate the law at pleasure? Can I now go out and ignore the law with impunity? I was charged with breaking the law forbidding theft; now that I am discharged, can I freely and with impunity take anything I choose, no matter to whom it belongs?"

The reader will see that this is an important matter. Well, we will suppose that my counsel is consistent, and that he deals with the law of the land just as he does with the law of God, and tells me that I do not any longer need to regard the law that forbids stealing. We will suppose that I believe him, and as I am in need of some better clothing than I have at present, I take the first pair of trousers that I see displayed in a shop. What will be the result? Anybody can tell me that it will be disastrous to me, and that this time when I am brought into court, I will not be discharged. Yes, and if I can succeed in proving that my learned counsel has by his advice led me into this crime, the result will doubtless be somewhat unpleasant for him as well. He may be condemned to share my punishment, and will most likely be disqualified from practising, or rather, perverting, the law any more.

THE APPLICATION

I have been charged with violation of the law of God, or, as it is sometimes called, since Moses had so much to do with recording it and teaching it, "the law of Moses." What is more, I have been convicted, and declared guilty. Sentence of death has been pronounced upon all violators of God's law, and therefore it falls upon me. "I consent unto the law that is good," and meekly submit to death. But since I meekly submit to the law, I received my sentence in Christ, "who loved me, and gave Himself for me." I die with Him, and am "baptized into His death." Rom. vi. 3. But it is not possible that the grave should hold the Lord Jesus, and therefore I rise with Him, "to walk in newness of life."

DECLARED INNOCENT, AND DISCHARGED

Now then "I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Gal. ii. 19, 20. I am dead to the law, although alive: for the law, having executed the death penalty upon me, has released its grasp upon me. In the case above supposed, I was discharged from the law, because I was innocent; in this real case I am discharged from the law because I have received the penalty. But I am alive, although I have died, because I died in Christ, "who ever liveth," and in Him I am as innocent as though I had never violated the law. Thanks be unto God "who justifieth the ungodly."

"WHAT SHALL WE SAY, THEN?"

What now? Shall I ignore the law, because I am discharged from it? Nay verily, for transgression of the law is sin; and "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Rom. vi. 1, 2. That is to say, How shall we, who are discharged from the law, transgress the law? Why did I die to the law?-Solely in order that I might keep it perfectly. To use the exact language of the apostle, which has already been referred to, "But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were holden; so that we may serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in oldness of the letter." Rom. vii. 6, R.V.

This, and this alone, is "holiness, without which no man shall see God." How can we expect to perfect holiness in the

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fear of God, if we trample on the law, which "is holy, and just, and good"? If we would be holy, we must mind spiritual things, and "the law is spiritual." What a glorious thing that holiness is possible, because Christ, in whose heart is the law of God, has given Himself for us, to dwell in us, and to be our life.

THE WORK OF GOD'S SERVANT

In this connection it will be of interest to read what the Father has said of the Son, His servant, who is our model of what a servant should be, and who will serve in us if we will allow Him to serve in His own way. We quote Isa. xlii. 1-4, in the vivid language of the latest translation:-

"Behold, My servant whom I uphold;
My Chosen, in whom My soul delights;
I have put My Spirit upon Him,
He will set forth the law to the nations.

"He will not cry aloud, nor roar as a lion,
Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
A cracked reed He will not break,
And a dimly burning wick He will not
quench.

"Faithfully will He set forth the law;
He will not burn dimly nor be crushed in
Spirit,
Till He have set the law in the earth,
And for His instruction the far countries
wait."

THE POWER THAT SANCTIFIES

One more thing should be said with reference to the question as to whether we should keep the first day or the seventh day holy. The question is easily answered: Keep the day holy, which is already holy. In the beginning God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it, or made it holy. In the fourth commandment He says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." The seventh day of the week is the only day of which there is any record that it has been made holy. Therefore it is the only day that can possibly be kept holy.

God alone is holy, and He alone can create. Therefore He alone can make a thing holy. We have no power whatever to make anything, not even ourselves, holy. All we can do is through the Spirit to keep holy that which God has made holy, and thereby be made holy ourselves.

He who has the power to make the day holy, has likewise the power to make us holy. If we had the power to make a day holy, we should also have the power to make ourselves holy. Now it is a fact that the first day of the week has never been made holy by the Lord. All the holiness it has is that which man has presumed himself able to put upon it. But the assumption of ability to make one thing holy, makes the assumption of ability to make everything holy. Therefore it follows as a self-evident truth, that the setting apart of the first day of the week,-commonly known as Sunday,-as a sabbath, instead of the seventh day, which God Himself set apart as the Sabbath, and which He made holy, is the mark of self-righteousness. The Sunday is the sign of the rejection of Christ as the sanctifier, and the setting up of self as the sanctifier of self. If one could keep a day holy, which God has never made holy, then he could keep himself holy without any help from the Lord, and even in spite of the Lord. It is this self-assertion, of which Sunday is the sign.

Let it be understood that the utterance of the self-evident truth is not designed as a charge against any person or persons. We know that there is a system of religion-the Papacy-which is the deliberate and systematic rejection of Christ, and the setting up of man in His stead; but we by no means believe that the mass, even of those who honour the Pope, have wilfully or even consciously rejected Christ. They have simply followed what has been taught them from infancy, without thinking of the possibility of its being error. Of course this sincerity of purpose must likewise be attributed, even in larger measure, to those who do not admit the claims of Papacy. So our words are not condemnation, but warning. If all were wilfully rejecting the truth, then there would be no use in saying anything. But there are many of those who have not heard the Lord's call, who will yet gladly accept Him; and there are many of those who have accepted Him, who have not realised that the Word which was in the beginning with God, and which was God, cannot possibly be opposed to or out of harmony with any word that God has spoken. To them we appeal, not to cast away the experience that they had, but to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." We thank the Lord that there are thousands now keeping Sunday, who are among those whom God hath from the beginning chosen unto salvation "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2 Thess. ii. 13), not of a part merely, but of every true word that has proceeded out of the mouth of God.

"Rejoicing Because Believing" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

Of the gaoler at Philippi, who was witness to God's wonderful care for His servants, and who asked and found a way of life, and was baptized after Paul and Silas had preached Jesus to him and his house, it is said:-

"And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." Acts xvi. 34.

Instead of the present participle in the case of the word rendered "believing," the Greek has the perfect, so that the Revised Version has it more exactly thus:-

"And he brought them up into his house, and set meat before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his house, having believed in God."

The participle, whether present or perfect, is often used to indicate cause, as in the sentence, "Having been present, I can speak with authority." That is, I can speak with positiveness, because I was there. Or this, "Having suffered the same thing, I could not help sympathising with him." Or this again, "Being a child, he was naturally fond of play." In each of these cases everybody understands that the participle indicates the cause of that which is afterward stated.

Now read again what is said of the gaoler: He rejoiced greatly, having believed in God. It is easy to see that the reason why he rejoiced was because he had believed or was believing in God. Several translations which I have give this rendering plainly.

Well, that was only natural, because joy is the consequence of believing on the Lord. Jesus indicated the same thing when He said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." John xv 11. Fulness of joy comes with belief of the words of Christ. So Paul wrote, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Rom. xv. 13.

The peace of God passes all understanding, because it is not such as the world gives, as well as because of its infinite fulness. It does not depend on circumstances. Men of the world feel joyful when they have prosperity, and everything goes well with them; but when adversity comes, then they are cast down. But the joy and peace which come with real belief of the words of the Lord, is as unchanged by the coming of adversity and affliction, as the

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torrent of Niagara is by the coming of winter.

Affliction or trials in manifold forms will come, and we may at first be overwhelmed by the shock, and may fall into despondency for the moment, but as soon as the words of the Lord are given place in our hearts, the cloud disperses like the mist before the bright shining of the sun: yet the affliction or trial may remain. This is not imagination, but fact. It is not imagination that gives one relief when a soothing poultice is applied to a boil, but it is the grateful warmth. It is the healing power of the living words of Christ, that gives joy in the midst of sorrow and pain. The religion of Jesus is not a mere formula to be assented to. It is not a mere passport to ensure one a safe entrance into another world; but it is an all-powerful, living force, that in the present time lifts the believer out of this world into the joy and power of the world to come. Its reality cannot be described, for "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." 1 Cor. ii. 9. Human language cannot describe it and there is nothing in human experience with which it can be compared. Nevertheless God hath revealed it unto us by His Spirit. Receive ye therefore the Holy Spirit,-"the oil of gladness," which is given to all who believe,-and you will begin to experience the joy of the Lord.

"For the Children. Beautiful Garments" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

Have you read what we told you last week, about little children being plants in the Lord's garden? If so, you will remember that it is the light which makes the plants grow strong and bear fruit. Now let us see something else that the light will do for us.

Do you know what it is that gives the flowers all their different colours, and makes them so beautiful? Jesus tells us to "consider the lilies," and says: "I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Then He says that it is God who so clothes the grass of the field. Each little flower of the field has a garment, not made by its own toiling and spinning, but given to it by its Creator who clothes it with beauty.

Although the flowers look so different one from another, and wear so many beautiful shades and tints of colour, yet their garments are all made from exactly the same material. And now you can tell what this is?

It is the light, the beautiful sunlight, with which each little flower is clothed. The light which looks white to us is made up of all the colours of the rainbow. The flowers, like the rainbow, reflect these different colours, and shows how beautiful the light really is.

Some things swallow up a part of the colour, and reflect, or give back, the rest, and it is what they give back that gives them their colour. Those things which swallow up all the light, and do not give back any, are black, like coal. But that which gives back all, and swallows up none, is pure white, like the snow.

This is how the flowers get their colours. Some swallow up all but the red colours, and give that back, like the red rose; some, like the forget-me-not, give back only the blue; and others, like the pure white lily, reflect all the light which shines upon them.

Of course the flowers can reflect these colours only when the light is shining. At night, when the sun goes down and the light is withdrawn, their beautiful garments are put off for a time, until the light returns and clothes them again.

Jesus says, "I am the Light." The sun is not the light, but only a light-bearer. It reflects to this world the glory which shines upon it from the face of Jesus Christ, who is the true "Light of the world." And so the flowers that show the beautiful colours that are in the light, are really revealing to us the beauty of the Lord, and are clothed with His glory.

You will now see that the Book of nature, about which you will perhaps remember that we talked a little while ago, is a great mirror, into which we may look, and "behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord." All the beautiful things with which He has filled the earth, are the reflection of God Himself. Many cannot see Him in His works, because sin has put a veil on their hearts and blinded their eyes. But Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Dear children, ask Jesus to cleanse your hearts from all sin, and to open your eyes to see Him in all the things that He has made. Then as you look into His Word and works, the light of His countenance will shine out upon you, and as you reflect or give out this light to others, you too will be clothed with the glory of the Lord, "the beauty of holiness."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

The bells of a Protestant church have just been heard in Jerusalem, to the surprise of the residents. For several centuries the use of bells by Christians in Palestine or elsewhere within the Ottoman Empire, was forbidden by the Sultan. It has now been conceded to his friend the Kaiser for use in connection with the new German church.

In reply to the inquiry of a correspondent, Dr. R. F. Horton, in a letter printed in the Church Times, says that the report of his lecture on "Protestantism," as given in the Daily Chronicle, from which we quoted a paragraph last week, "is certainly inaccurate." He does not say whether the inaccuracy extends to the particular statement which we quoted.

During the past week several important steps have been taken in the Hispano-American situation, and everyone points toward war. The United States Congress has passed a resolution favouring armed intervention in Cuba, and by the time these lines are read, war may have actually begun. There is a widespread apprehension that war between Spain and America may involve other nations. A prominent French statesman is reported as saying: "This will only be the opening of the ball of famous European wars so long expected." M. Guido Baccelli, the eminent Italian scientist and statesman, in an interview "spoke of war as inevitable, and said it would have far-reaching results and establish important precedents." It is a good time to remember the gracious promise: "The Lord will bless His people with peace."

Mr. John Kensit, the publisher, of Patternoster Row, has been tried for wilfully disturbing the congregation of St. Cuthbert's Church, Philbeach Gardens, Kensington, on Good Friday, during the service of the veneration of the Cross. The principal witness, one of the regular worshippers, was asked whether this particular service was found in the Common Prayer Book. His reply was: "No, no doubt it is part of the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church." Mr. Kensit was found guilty of a fine of ?3 imposed. In default of payment he was sentenced to be imprisoned for seven days. The defendant elected to go to gaol.

There was a very significant passage in Mr. Balfour's recent speech in the House of Commons, announcing the policy of the Government in relation to China. He said, "The History of the world presented no such spectacle as that which China presented at this moment, an empire with a people possessing many of the qualities which went to make great nations, which was yet wholly unable to repel almost the feeblest form of attack."

That tells the secret of the partition of China, and shows the standard of honour among the so-called Christian nations of earth. China cannot resist attack, therefore she is good spoil. "Why do you beat that poor fellow?" "Why shouldn't I? He can't defend itself." That seems to be the policy of the nations. By the way, it is some little time since we heard anyone say that nations no more wage wars of conquest. That saying will doubtless be off duty for a while, until there is no specially desirable bit of country open to capture.

The foundation of true peace is found in righteousness. "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked." And so He who is "The Lord our Righteousness" is also "our peace."

Amid all the strife and violence which will prevail during these last days, the believer in Jesus is to live in peace. This is because "the peace of God" rules in his heart. It is the privilege of the Christian to be surrounded by trouble and yet not be troubled. "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me." "Let not your heart be troubled."

The Gospel is the "Gospel of peace" because it is "the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth." To be saved from sin is to be brought into the enjoyment of peace. It is primarily "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," but as a result of this comes at peace with all men: for "when a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." This is the peace which the world cannot give, neither can it take away. It is a gift from "the God of peace."

The time prophesied of by our Lord is upon us. The daily record shows it. "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 upon the earth." And yet the promise is, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because He trusteth in Thee."

"Peace! Perfect peace! in this dark world of sin?
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within."

"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." "Wherefore, beloved. . . . be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace."

"Straining OutóWhat?" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

Religion "after the commandments and doctrines of men," often leads its devotees into awkward, not to say inconsistent situations. An amusing instance is furnished by the case of the will of the late Mr. Lenox, of New York, concerning his library. This library is to be added to the Astor Library, but by the terms of the will, it must not be used on Sundays, while the Astor Library is open to public every day. How the committee dealt with the matter, is thus told by the New York Sun:-

To the committee in charge of the consolidated library this fact has been not a little disconcerting. The Lenox collection was too valuable either to leave out altogether or to shut from view on a certain day of the week. Some one at length suggested that the difficulty could be solved by applying the rule only to those books which had belonged personally to Mr. Lenox. This it was decided to do, and a sub-committee was appointed to look into the matter. But when this sub-committee made its investigations it found that, of all the collection, those volumes possessed individually by Mr. Lenox consisted of a number of Bibles. These were accordingly set aside as coming under the law of the bequest, and on coming Sundays when the public throngs the new library, the only books that will be hidden from its view will be a number of Bibles.

So the users of the library will show their reverence for Sunday by refraining from reading the Bible on that day! Why not? Sunday and the Bible have nothing in common. This will be an object lesson.

April 22, 1897

"Possible by Faith" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

The great sea-eagle of the tropics, and sub-tropics, has so strong and swift a flight, that, it is said, it can follow the sun from continent to continent, and, high in the purity of the upper air, cross the oceans from land to land by the light of day, if it so choose.

No one who has watched this bird from the vessel's deck, in tropical seas, can but have marvelled at the wondrous ease with which, sweeping in vast and widening circles, it is supported, apparently without effort, on seemingly motionless pinions. Its home is the air, it lives and abides in the air. So, as this bird lives in the air, surrounded by it, supported by it, itself buoyant with it, the very bone and marrow, and every quill of its wide-stretched wings, filled with it, so must we live and abide in Christ, and He in us.

Then, as this wonderful bird soars with ease the ethereal heights, and views unmoved the turmoil of the seas, and the storm and war-swept continents, beneath him, so may we, in peace, from the spiritual heights to which Christ will up-bear us, look upon the terrors of this sin-cursed world, unmoved by any aIarms, and untouched by any taint. And so the Apostle said, "As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk ye in Him." Col. ii. 6.

Then, as this marvellous bird, from its vantage ground in the upper air, marks the coming storm and rises above the clouds into the eternal quiet of the calm deeps of the heavens, so we, surrounded by the atmosphere of Divine love and care, may dwell in eternal peace. The only requisite is that we keep His commandments and so abide in the atmosphere of His love. "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." John xv. 10.

Above the dark and troubled clouds the bird wings its lofty and untroubled flight ever in the unveiled view of the eye of day,-thus it is given to those who abide in Him, and He in them, to walk always in the Light of the world. "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.

This is no theory or fanciful fiction, it is fact. It is the daily experience of the Christian life, just as the aerial abode of the bird, with all its majestic grandeur and wonder, and beauty, is part of its daily experience. It is true that science cannot demonstrate it, but faith does daily. Had mankind never seen the problem of flight practically demonstrated by the bird in the air, the scientists would smile at the idea as a notion no less wild than that of perpetual motion. But the bird, untroubled by doubt, obedient to the Word which created it, commits itself, in faith, to the air, and rises to the sky on swift and easy wing. The obedience and trust of the bird is the same as the faith and confidence of the little child, and Christ has said that without that we cannot enter the kingdom above; but with that childlike, loving obedience and faith all, things are possible.

"Current Literature" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

Current Literature .-Drawing his conclusion from the current literature of France, Germany, Italy, and Scandinavia, a popular writer thinks that if the character of their literature indicates the opinion of the educated on the subject of religion, then, "one would say that religion, in the old sense, had almost died out of Europe." If this is true it is because the Bible, overwhelmed in a mass of commentaries and criticisms, has became ancient literature, and is no longer current. But the Bible, whether it be current among the so-called educated or not, is in fact ever modern and up to date, deaIing with current events, and those who give to it and its prophecies the most intelligent, faithful, and prayerful study will be the ones who will not be taken by surprise in any of the world crises which the nations must soon meet.

"Protestants and Politics" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

When the Protestant missionaries are persecuted by Jesuit influences in Madagascar they appeal to the British Government which announces that it is making representations to the French Government. No surer way could be taken to defeat the cause of Protestantism than to identify it with political interests. It is because of this action on the part of missionaries that the cause of foreign mission is not the moral force it was a few years ago.

"A Lesson that Man Needs to Learn. What Is Man?" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him."

Thus spoke the Psalmist, and thus must every one feel who has any just sense of the works of God. It is common for men to have a high opinion of themselves and of their merits; so much so that they forget their dependence upon God.

FOOLISH VANITY

The drift of men's minds is aptly described by the historian Gibbon when he says of the ancient philosophers, that in the sublime inquiry concerning human nature their reason had been often guided by their imagination, and that their imagination had been prompted by their vanity. When they viewed with complacency the extent of their own mental powers; when they exercised the various faculties of memory, of fancy, and of judgment, in the most profound speculations, or the most important labours; and when they reflected upon the desire of fame, which transported them into future ages, far beyond the bounds of death and of the grave, they were unwilling to confound themselves with the beasts of the field, or to suppose that a being for whose dignity they entertained the most sincere admiration could be limited to a spot of earth, and to a few years of duration.

Even so are they described by the Apostle Paul, "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." Such was their pride and self-conceit that "they did not like to retain God in their knowledge." Rom. i. 21-28.

Far different is that disposition of one who is truly wise. King David also carried on some investigations in human nature, but from a different point of view. His desire was to know what God would say of him. "My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is that I may know how frail I am. Behold, Thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before Thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity." Ps. xxxix. 3-5.

Again, considering the pit which the heathen had made for themselves, and into which they had sunk; and how they were boasting against God; he prayed, "Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men." Ps. ix. 20. Just think of it! "But men!" The nations would make their boast in the fact that they were men, and would consider themselves competent to dispense with God altogether; but God's Word says that they are only men. Man is nothing in himself, and can be; nothing only as God gives him opportunity and power.

MAN'S ORIGIN

Let us read what the Scripture says of the origin of man. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our Iikeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." Gen. i. 26, 27. "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 [living creature]." Gen. ii. 7.

Like the beasts, he was taken from the ground. He is but "dust and ashes." He cannot boast at all, not even over the beasts that are placed under him; for it is simply by the power of God, who made of the same clay a vessel unto honour and one unto dishonour, that he is any different from them. The earth is the source whence all animate all animate creatures spring. "All are of the dust, to dust again." Eccl. iii. 20. After death and decomposition the dust of the prince cannot be distinguished from the dust of the pauper, nor even from that of his dog. If at last he does not share the fate of beasts, and go into oblivion, it is only because he has had humility enough to accept the wisdom that comes from God; for "man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish." Ps. xlix. 20. "Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?"

THE BREATH OF LIFE

Man is made from the dust, that he may remember that he is nothing in himself; but also in the image of God, that he may know the infinite possibilities before him-association with God Himself; of himself, having no more might than the dust upon which he walks, but capable of the greatest things through the power and goodness of God. And, strange as it may seem, his capabilities are the greaest when he is most sensible of his weakness. "When I am weak, then am I strong." 2 Cor. xii. 10.

"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." Not even here can men claim superiority. The beasts of the field breathe the same air that he does, the same "breath of the spirit of life." Gen. vii. 22, margin. Every living creature is "a living soul." Rev. xvi. 3. It is also to them, the same as to him, the gift of God. Indeed, the very fact that his breath is in his nostrils is a proof of his frailty. "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Isa. ii. 22. It is the breath of life which God has given him, but how feeble a hold he has of it. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James iv. 14.

How can this be, since the life was given him from God? It is not that life from God is a slight thing, but because man has so slight a tenure of it. In the hand of God is the breath of every living thing, and at His pleasure He can take it

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to Himself. "If He set His heart upon man, if He gather unto Himself his spirit and his breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust." Job xxxiv. 14, 16. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Eccl. xii. 7. Not yet have we found anything in which man can boast.

How natural it is for men in extremity to turn for help to some other man, or to human power. And yet no man on earth has the power to make any change in his own physical condition. He cannot change the colour of his hair, nor add an inch to his stature. "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." Ps. xlix. 6, 7. Therefore the exhortation comes, "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.

"WHO ONLY HATH IMMORTALITY"

1 TIMOTHY VI. 16

There is no life but from God. "For with Thee is the fountain of life." Ps. xxvi. 9. But life is righteousness; "for to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Rom. viii. 6. Sin is death, and is from Satan, and the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Sin is at last to be utterly blotted from the universe, and of necessity those whose lives are still sin must be blotted out with it. If they cling to their sinful lives they must be destroyed with sin. Christ is the righteousness of God; for God alone is good, and in Christ is all the fulness of God. Therefore only those who have Christ can have any hope of life hereafter. In fact, they have no real life now. "This is the record, that 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. Nay, more than this: "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life." John i. 36.

It is true that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust, but only the righteous will be raised to life; they that have done evil come forth from their graves to the resurrection of damnation. John v. 28, 29. Their lot will be to "be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." 2 Thess. i. 9. Since they have not the righteousness which alone is life, there is nothing by which their existence can be continued.

A LESSON OF ENCOURAGEMENT

All this is to teach men that there is hope only in God; that He is supreme, and that power belongs alone to Him. Not only a single man, but "all nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity." Isa. xl. 17. But while this should make man humble, it should in no wise discourage him. Indeed, it is for our encouragement, that God made the universe from nothing, and so He can take the man who trusts Him, and make of him what He will. To the end "that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus; who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 1 Cor. i. 29-31. Surely man should not be ashamed to acknowledge his lowly origin, since through Christ he may do all things.

One more lesson of encouragement may be learned from the frailty of man, which shows that only in humility is true exaltation found. Since all things come from God, man can be at his highest state only when he gladly acknowledges that he is nothing, and yields to the loving power of God. The fortieth chapter of Isaiah contains the message which is to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord in glory. It is a message of comfort, because it tells of the power of God. Here is the message:-

"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, 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. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever." Isa. xl. 1-8.

That which is to prepare men for the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ when He comes to reward every man according as his work shall be, is the full acceptance of the message that man is nothing, and that God is everything. His alone is the power, and His word works effectually for every one that believeth. The works that will stand that test of the judgment are the works that are wrought in God.

"All flesh is grass;" but the power of God is most wonderfully, shown in the grass. It was the word of God that said, "Let the earth bring forth grass," and it is the word which liveth and abideth for ever, and which is by the Gospel preached unto us. The power of that word causes the tiny blade of grass to push its way to the surface and the light, in spite of the heavy clods that would hold it down. Infinite power is exhibited in the frail thing. Even so does the word of power work in those who heartily believe it. He who acknowledges himself to be nothing-frail and helpless-as the grass will be strengthened to do mighty deeds, and will be lifted above the clods of earth, into the sunlight of the presence of God.

"Christ's Letters to Young Men" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

The instruction of Paul to Timothy is the highest model of the advice and counsel of an able, noble-hearted, Christian man to a youth who is very dear to him. Timothy had been known to Paul from his childhood. It is evident that his mother and his grandmother had been personal friends of Paul's, for he knew, and testifies, of the good spirit that dwelt first in them, and which he looks to see renewed in this young man, the child of many prayers. He thanks God that Timothy possesses this same "unfeigned faith." Because of this he desires continually to put him in remembrance that he should stir up to activity and use the gift of God which is in him.

The testimony of the Lord, given him to present to men, is a great thing and nothing to be ashamed of, for it is not a spirit of fear which God has given to His servants, but, the spirit of power coupled with a sound mind.

Calm judgment and sober sound-mindedness, intellectual vigour and a strong manliness, these were qualities which Paul appreciated and desired that this young man whom he loved, and for whom he prayed night and day, might possess. That thus being filled with these gifts, and with faith, he might not only be able to hold fast the sound words of teaching which he had heard, but be able to give

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them to others who should be able to teach others also.

It is very evident that this Timothy was a young man of promise. He had gifts; Paul urges him more than once to make the most of them, neglecting none. The Apostle hoped and believed that upon this youthful disciple was to fall his mantle. So, out of his love and his hope, and his enthusiasm for the ministry of his Master, which he was about to lay down, and which he looked to Timothy to take up and carry on in the same spirit which had characterised himself, these two letters to Timothy were written.

These are the grandest, noblest, most loving letters that ever were written. It could not well be otherwise considering to whom they were written, and from whom, and their purpose, and by whose inspiration.

How favoured was this young man Timothy to have received two letters from God, through his most noble servant and Apostle Paul! But these letters were not written alone to Timothy. They are personally addressed to every young man who professes the truth of God.

Let every man study them, thinking how they must have appealed to Timothy when he first read them, and as he continued to study them and draw instruction and inspiration from them for his life work, and so realise now the force and value to-day of every word of information, counsel, exhortation. Though written by Paul to Timothy, they are in reality Christ's letters to young men.

"Islam's Wealth" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

Islam's Wealth .-"The glorious mosque of St. Sophia in Constantinople is," says a newspaper; "the richest in the world-richer than St. Peter's. The richest clergy in the world are the Turkish Mohammedans. More accurately speaking, they would be the richest that ever existed if only their lands, forests, house and other property were cared for and brought up to the market value which it would reach in ordinary circumstances in Western Europe. It is estimated that a full third of the land of the Turkish Empire is the property of the Church, or, let us say, of the mosques, because in Turkey there is no Church and no clergy, in the European sense of the words. In fact there is a remarkable resemblance between the territorial riches and decay of the Mohammedan Church and those of the monasteries in England just before the dissolution."

"Mingling Darkness with Light. The Easter Festival" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

The Roman Church has always charged Protestants with inconsistency in choosing to follow some of the traditions of the Catholic Church whilst rejecting others. Thus, in asserting that Rome's authority alone has established the Sunday in preference to the Sabbath, the "Catholic Christian Instructed," an authorised Catholic Catechism, says:-

Therefore those who pretend to be so religious observers of the Sunday, whilst they take no notice of other festivals ordained by the same church authority; show that they act by humour, and not by reason and religion; since Sundays and holy days all stand upon the same foundation, viz., the ordinance of the Church.

But the Romanists have reason for their expressions of hopefulness in the attitude of a large portion of the Protestant world at the present time. Every year there is more attention paid to these other festivals, and the Easter festival, specially, has become a high day amongst Protestants. Pagan influence in the church at a very early period is shown by this festival, since it was in the second century that the celebrated controversy concerning it occurred.

Of the name itself and the origin of the festival a London daily paper-the Echo-very truly observed the other day:-

The name Easter is derived from the heathen goddess Eostre, to whom our forefathers, and those of other Northern nations, sacrificed in the month of April. This season of the year has always been signalised by a festival among all the peoples of the earth, in all ages. The Persians, Egyptians, Chaldeans were all sun worshippers, and in April celebrated the entrance of the sun into that division of the Zodiac known as Aries, and sacred to the Eastern goddess Astarte.

It is not the continuation of the Jewish Passover, and has no manner of connection with that feast. In Acts xii. 4, the translators of our common version have given us the word Easter instead of Passover, but it is correctly rendered in the Revised Version. The word Easter is not found in the Bible. The controversy concerning this festival was on this wise:-

In the East we find the churches in the second century keeping a festival which corresponded in point of time to the Jewish Passover. It is supposed that this was in memory of the death of Christ, although there was never any instruction given to the church to celebrate the death of Christ in any such way. The festival was doubtless simply a concession to the prejudices of the Jews, who were more numerous in Asia, just as where the pagans were more numerous; the church adopted pagan festivals, in order to conciliate the heathen, and to make them more willing to profess Christianity. But unity of practice was greatly desired in all the churches, and Rome's arrogance had already gone to such a length that one assumed the right to fix the standard of unity. She was the chief city and capital of the world, and why should she not set the fashion in matters of religion as well as in other things?

Now the Roman church was mostly composed of pagans, and heathen influences surrounded it. Consequently it had no care to conciliate the Jews. But found it expedient to lean towards paganism; and the pagans had a festival which they celebrated in honour of the return of spring, about the time of the vernal equinox. This was adopted by the church of Rome and the churches which it influenced. The Bishop of Rome commanded the Eastern churches to celebrate their spring festival at the same time that he did. They refused. But Jewish influence could not prevail against the great body of pagans, and at the Council of Nice, A.D. 325, the Roman custom was made universal. Easter was henceforth celebrated by all the churches. The time was fixed, as now, to the first Sunday after the full moon which followed the twenty-first of March.

Dr. Schaff is very free to note the adoption of heathen festivals by the church because he does not think that the practice is to be condemned. He says ("Church History"):-

The English Easter, Anglo-Saxon Oster. German Ostern, is at all events connected with East and sunrise, and is akin to eos oriens, aurora. The

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comparison of sunrise and the natural spring with the new moral creation in the resurrection of Chrirst, and the transfer of the celebration of Ostara, the old German divinity of the rising health-bringing light, to the Christian Easter festival, was the easier, because all nature is a symbol of spirit, and the heathen myths are dim presentiments and carnal anticipations of Christian truths.

The word Easter, from Eostre or Ostara, is by some traced to Ishtar, or Astarte, the Assyrian counterpart of Baal, the sungod, corresponding to the Latin Venus. Sacred eggs were connected with her worship. But whether Easter may or may not be traced to Astarte, with her licentious worship, it is certain that it is nothing but a relic of sun-worship.

All we care for in the above is the admission that Easter is only a relic of nature-worship. We do not accept the suggestion of the identity of Christianity and pagan nature-worship; but we note with sorrow that the pagan-worship of the creature rather than the Creator very early corrupted the Christian church. The reader will not fail to note that it was sun-worship, and that alone, that fixed the time of the Easter festival, and that in this concession to heathenism there was a long step taken toward the exaltation of "the venerable day of the sun,"-the weekly sun-festival, Sunday.

HOW TO CELEBRATE CHRIST'S RESURRECTION

"But," some one may ask, "do you not think that the resurrection of Christ is of sufficient importance to be celebrated? ought we not by some means to commemorate so wonderful and glorious an event?" Most certainly; and just because the resurrection of Christ is so overwhelmingly important, it is of the utmost consequence that it be properly celebrated. To profess to celebrate that grand occurrence, without once giving a thought to whether or not the celebration has any connection with the event, shows that the resurrection itself has never made any real impression on the mind and heart. If the Lord had anywhere or at any time indicated that we should keep one day in the year in memory of His resurrection, that would of course settle the matter; but the fact that He has not given even the remotest hint of such a thing is in itself sufficient reason for not keeping "Easter Sunday."

Just as truly as light has no communion with darkness, and Christ no concord with Belial, nor the temple of God any agreement with idols (2 Cor. vi. 11-16), so surely has "the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ" (2 Cor. iv. 4), not the remotest connection with the darkness of heathen. True Christianity is not indebted to paganism for anything. Christ did not place His Gospel as a patch upon pagan systems of religion, but introduced sunlight where before was darkness. Christianity does not piece out paganism, but supplants it, just as the Christian life is not the filling out of the old life of sin, but the substitution of an entirely new life.

This new life, without which there is no true Christianity, is the real celebration of the resurrection of Christ. For the resurrection of Christ is not a mere historical fact of a day, but an eternal, living reality. Those who truly believe in Jesus "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." Rom. vi. 4, 5.

In like manner also we read of those who are made "complete in Him," that they are "buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead;" and then follows the exhortation: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Col. ii. 12; iii. 1-3.

It must be evident to everybody, that nobody can really celebrate the resurrection of Christ if he does not know what the resurrection is, and what it means; and it is equally true that no one can know what the resurrection is, nor what it means, unless he himself is risen with Christ, and has thus experienced the power of the resurrection. Such and only such ones can celebrate the resurrection of Christ, by the Lord's own appointed symbol,-baptism,-and by yielding themselves to Christ, that He may live in them His resurrection life. Thus the true and only celebration of Christ's resurrection is not a thing of one day in the year, but a lifetime, beginning with one's acceptance of Christ, and continuing throughout eternity.

The promise of the Lord is, "Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings." Mal. iv. 2. Those who have this blessed experience can say, with the joy of positive knowledge, "Christ is risen;" and this glad announcement will no more be limited to one day in the year than will their breathing, for Christ is their life, and the life itself celebrates, as it demonstrates, the resurrection.

"Rome, England, and the World" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

In the Catholic Times, of April 9, the Rev. William Barry, D.D. tells the reason why the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church gave permission not only to the laity, but also to the younger clergy, to attend the English Universities. He says:-

It was felt that if we aimed at a wide diffusion of our principles and doctrines among the cultivated classes, we could not anymore stand aloof from them; we must take our place in English society, gain some experience of the men whom we desired to infuence, and no longer stay within the intrenchments that, most serviceable or necessary in their day, had still kept us at a distance from the social life of our fellow-countrymen.

A little further on in the same article comes the following frank and bold statement of Rome's aims and hopes with regard to England:-

"There are at least one hundred millions of people who speak the English tongue; some three hundred millions more fall under their influence; almost a third of the earth's surface lies within the English sphere; and, as we are proud of reminding one another, 'Britannia rules the waves.' In a letter which is now lying before me, signed by one of the most eminent dignitaries in Christendom, I find the conviction set down that 'the English speaking nations will dominate the world, and that if the Church is to exercise her proper sway in gaining the ear and the heart of the English and American people, her supremacy will be secured.' Impressive words, which carry with them a high privilege and a momentous duty!

"Instead of the imperial Romans, whom Christianity made its own fifteen hundred years ago, have come the world-subduing Britons. Their genius, literature, laws, and methods are peculiar to themselves, but have not a Iittle in common with the medi?val spirit, while they furnish an amazing contrast to the despotic, centralising, pseudo-classical, and altogether illiberal administration of modern States abroad. Rome, as it appeared to me, might well stretch out a hand to England across the deadly NapoIeonic rÈgime that, by the confession of men like M. Taine, is strangling the life out of France and Italy.

"The very fact that Leo XIII. had recognised through his Legate in America the free Constitution of the United States

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with eulogy and admiration, was to me a proof of the kinship between the old English and the Catholic way of dealing with men. Could there be anything more desirable than to encourage a genuine understanding between these two powers, one the supreme spiritual power, the other as truly progressive as conservative, and both alike opposed to anarchic revolution no less than to bureaucratic despotism? England was beginning to recover the elements of the Catholic Religion; she had turned her feet into a pathway at the end of which was the Apostles' shrine. Could not Rome hasten forth to meet her?"

The fact that Rome's agents speak out so plainly is very significant, showing that she is now sure of her ground.

"The Curse of Civilisation in West Africa" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

At a recent meeting of the Aborigines Protection Society a statesman gave some statistics of the growth of the spirit trade in West Africa and commented severely on the results of it on the native population. American traders with rum and German with their beer are the worst offenders, though the local traders and exploiters are equally responsible with those who supply the demand. It is for no good to African natives that Europe is "grabbing" up the Continent, but merely to get out of it all that they possibly can; but in their greedy haste to get rich some traders and companies are always willing to trade upon the lives and morals of the weak tribes who are in parts being slowly but surely killed off by the loathsome vices of the white man. A recent writer on West Central Africa, whose testimony is that of a missionary who has worked to save men from the scourge, he said:-

"It is impossible to exaggerate the evil results of the drink traffic on the West Coast, especially in the region of the Niger, the wretched tribes there having reached a depth of degradation that is truly appalling. Towns like Bonny and Brass are almost given over to drinking, gin and rum being sold at every few yards in the open streets. We speak with horror of the slave trade, in which our fathers played so prominent a part, but in this notorious gin trade we have something well worthy of being classed with it. It is idle to talk of civilising the negro, and introducing the blessings of European commerce, while we continue to pour into West Africa incredible quantities of gin, rum, gunpowder, and guns. It is weII nigh impossible to propagate Gospel truths among a people who are generally found in a state of semi-intoxication; and so long as the detested drink traffic exists, the Church of Christ cannot hope for the success she aims at. Commerce, too, suffers from it to a marvellous extent, for it has been found that the natives who care for gin care little for anything else, and have little to give for that which is profitable to us and themselves. Strong drink is simply swallowing up legitimate commerce."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

-To test the efficiency of the fortress of Gibraltar an unexpected alarm signal was fired. Within hell an hour 4,000 gunners and infantry were at their poets.

-The decrease of several hundred thousand in the number of persons on famine relief works In India would seem to indicate that the distress is not quite so great as a few months ago.

-Spain is suffering severely from the drain of men and resources to Cuba and the Philippines. In manufacturing districts mills are closed or working half time, and distress prevails.

-In Mongolia and Siberia tea is often used as currency. It is ground and pressed into hard cubes, and these are steeped for a beverage and used as money when some form of exchange is needed and metal currency runs abort.

-It is said that a large proportion of the quarry-men of Bethesda, who are striking against Lord Penrhyn, have now found employment in other places. The strike has continued about eight months, and there are no signs of the opening of the Peurhyn quarries.

-At the trial of the new Hotchkiss gun last week it deported itself very favourably. It requires only to have its trigger pressed back and, as a reporter says, "a continuous expectoration of nickel-plated bullets leaves the muzzle to the number of 600 a minute."

-The use of horse-flesh for human food is increasing in Belgium. In Antwerp alone nearly 4,000 horses were killed last year for food. Why dogs and oats should not follow the hog and the horse would be difficult to say. All are unclean according to the Scriptures.

-A shipping journal says that a German steamer arrived a Lorenzo Marques last week with 1,650 cases of war material for the Transvaal, including a battery of heavy guns for Pretoria. There is anything but peaceful talk on both sides in the South African trouble.

-Italy's dream of conquering Abyssinia, as other nations have conquered African provinces just because they were strong enough to kill those who held them, cost her ?20,000,000 and 8,000 men. And before this expedition Italy was so impoverished that the only hope of thousands was in immigration to the Americas.

-An "advertisement pillar" has been unearthed in the excavations at Pompeii. It is covered with bills one over another relating to theatrical performances, programmes of the arena, and forthcoming Senatorial elections. The "season" was doubtless promising to the pleasure-seekers when the lava and ashes of Vesuvius buried the city and its awful wickedness out of sight.

-A recent lecturer on the British Empire compared it to a world-wide Venice with the sea for streets. The population of the empire is 350,000,000, comprising many races and more religions. The toted area is 11,000,000 square miles, the colonies and dependencies being twenty-seven times larger than the Mother Country. The empire under the Colonial Office comprised forty-two distinct and independent Governments.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

Spiritualism, it is stated, "is advancing by leaps and bounds in Paris."

An authority on Indian statistics calculates that from 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 people in India scarcely ever lose the sensation of hunger.

"Every New Year," says a Roman journal, speaking of the friendly relations between England and the Vatican, "Leo XIII. writes a letter to the Queen with his own hand, to which he as regularly receives an autographic reply."

Since the discussion on Anglican "orders" a number of Anglican clergymen have gone over to Rome in profession as they had already been Romanist at heart. From the Catholic Witness it appears that others have secretly joined, but are still working in the English Church. The journal says:-

Over and above those clergymen whose names have been announced in the Press from time to time, several who have entered the Church have begged their names should, at all events for the present, not be made public.

So they are filling Anglican pulpits as before. Doubtless many who listen to their teaching would be horrified if they knew the teacher was actually a Romanist, but the formal going over to Rome really matters nothing. They preached papal doctrine before, now they do the same; and so long as it is not called Roman their thoughtless hearers are content.

The partition of Africa, which is now almost as prolific a source of friction between great powers as Europe itself, by no means exhausts the territories waiting to be seized. Baron von Luttwitz, a German military and naval authority, tells why Germany needs a great navy:-

In the last century we were too late to partake of the general partition. But a second partition is forthcoming. We need only consider the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the isolation of China-that new India of the Far East-the unstable condition of many South American States, to see what rich opportunities await us. In order not to miss them this time we require a fleet.

This spirit of Imperialism, which is now the dominant feature of international politics, can only result in filling the earth with violence.

Every week that passes makes it more apparent that when once Churchmen, Roman Catholics, and Nonconformists have decided that the State must teach religion there is no rest in the struggle to see whose religion shall receive most patronage. There are said to be 8,000 parishes in England where the only free schools are Church of England schools, assisted or supported by grants. Now a champion of Nonconformity suggests in the Fortnightly Review that Nonconformists combine to establish schools in these parishes and apply for grants. The Christian World says that there is a strong feeling that such a plan should be set going.

The Greek irregulars prefaced their raid into Macedonia to kill Turks by what the correspondents called "a solemn religious service," and called on their kinsmen to rise and lift the standard of revolt against their enemies "in the name of Christ." It was in quite another spirit that Paul the apostle of Christ went into Macedonia to lift up the banner of Christ. This difference is just the difference between the Christianity of Christ and the "Christianity" of warlike Christendom, which is but heathenism.

The Catholic Times characterises as pure inventions the stories of the burning of the Bibles in South America, told by a correspondent of a Protestant journal. But only recently one of our own colporteurs had his books burned by enraged Catholics in Brazil. These people are not to be denounced; they know no better. But the spirit that is in the whole system of the Papacy is responsible for developing just such a spirit as obtains in parts of South America where Rome rules the hearts of the people.

"'The Way of Peace They Have Not Known'" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Way of Peace They Have Not Known." -The Arbitration Treaty between Great Britain and the United States, which was to be the beginning of universal peace, does not prosper as such a thing should among peaceably inclined people. In the hands of the United States Senate, the treaty that was to submit all difficulties between the two nations to arbitration, has been toned down so that it reads:-

Any difference which, in the judgment of either party, materially affects its honour or its domestic or foreign policy, shall not be referred to arbitration under this treaty except by special agreement, nor shall any question as to the continuance in force of any treaty which has previously been made. It is further explicitly specified and agreed that all agreements entered into by the contracting parties under this treaty shall be signed by the President of the United States and receive the approval of the Senate by a two-third vote before it becomes binding upon Great Britain or the United States.

To this the New York Independent ironically, yet very pertinently, suggests the following amendment,-

Provided that in the remote contingency that any case under this treaty is decided against the United States by an arbitral tribunal, such decision shall be null and void.

If this treaty were indeed amended, and adopted in accordance with this suggestion, it would have as much force in preserving the peace as it could possibly have in any other form; for no treaty was ever any stronger than the parchment on which it was written. The nation never has existed, and never will exist on this earth, that paid the slightest regard to a treaty of peace when it stood in the way of its self-interest. In this respect nations are as good as the wild beasts by which they are represented in prophecy, they never fight unless they are hungry or are provoked.

"Evangelisation of the World" The Present Truth 13, 16.

E. J. Waggoner

Evangelisation of the World .-The Executive and Secretaries of the Students' Volunteer Missionary Union send an appeal to the churches of Britain to recognise God's call to the evangelisation of the world. In urging the possibility of accomplishing so great a work in this generation they truly add:-

But before the testimony of the Cross can be everywhere accompanied with the Holy Spirit's power, God must be given complete sovereignty over the lives of His children, that so the promise may be fulfilled: "The nations shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eye."

It is the Lord's word, and He has power to fulfil it. But God also tells us what is the sign of His sanctifying power. "Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." At the very beginning of the work which so much needs to be done lies the duty of surrendering the life to God and taking hold of His Sabbath.

April 29, 1897

"'Himself He Cannot Save'" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

When Jesus hung upon the cross, the priests and scribes and elders said in mocking contempt, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save." Matt. xxvii. 42. And in these words there was a truth far beyond what the Jews had any thought of,-a truth that even the followers of Jesus do not appreciate. Whoever grasps the full meaning of the statement, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save," and who allows it to apply to himself, has salvation, for it contains the whole of the Gospel.

"He saved others." The Jews acknowledged this, yet they crucified Him. He whose only offence was that "He went about doing good," was hanged as a malefactor, and He lifted no hand in self-defence, nor uttered a word of reproach against His persecutors. "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth." Isa. liii. 7. He saved others, and even while hanging on the cross, "a reproach of men, and despised of the people," He showed His power to save, in the case of the penitent thief; but Himself He could not save.

And this was the secret of His power to save others. It was not simply that He would not save Himself,-not alone that He unselfishly forgot Himself,-but He could not save Himself. To have saved Himself would have been the destruction of all others; for if He had planned to save Himself, He would have stayed in heaven, and never exposed Himself to reproach and cruelty. But such a thing was impossible; He could not thus save Himself, for such a saving of self would have been selfishness, and there was no selfishness in Him. He absolutely could not remain in heaven and leave man to perish. But He could not save men, while keeping Himself in safety apart from them and their troubles. So "He gave Himself for us." Titus ii. 14.

Thus we see that the Gospel has the origin and perfection in giving. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." John iii. 16. "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,"-not to be served, but to serve,-and to give His life a ransom for many." Matt. xx. 28. "For ye know that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." 2 Cor. viii. 9. He had everything, and we had nothing; so He gave up everything, and He kept nothing, in order that we might have everything.

Most clearly is this set forth in Phil. ii. 7, but in the rendering of the Revised Version, where we are told that when Jesus had everything, He did not count it a thing to be desired to hold it, "but emptied Himself." The Greek word from which this is translated has the sense of "to drain out." In a sense He annihilated Himself, threw Himself away, in order that He might save those who were lost, and in danger of annihilation. He took no thought for Himself; He did not defend Himself against attacks that were made upon Him; utterly regardless, reckless of self, He was lost in solicitude for others.

This neglect of self was not a momentary enthusiasm, as when one under a strong impulse saves another from the impending death at the expense of his own life. On the contrary, it was a deliberate, settled purpose. Calmly and deliberately, looking over the whole situation, and counting the cost, He laid down His life, that is, He placed it from Him, gave it up to the service of others, and when that was done, the moment of death was but an incident in a long career of the same giving. His life was just as truly laid down for the sheep before He came to earth, and while He walked and talked and suffered in Judea and Galilee, as when with His expiring breath He cried, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit."

In all this history of self-sacrifice there is a lesson for us. We are not simply to admire the example of devotion, but to follow it. In it alone is there salvation. Jesus seemingly threw Himself away, yes, that is what He actually did, for He "poured out His soul unto death" (Isa. liii. 12), "emptied Himself," drained the last drop; "wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a

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name that is above every name." Phil. ii. 9. His humiliation was His exaltation; His casting away of self was His salvation. And that was the only possible way of salvation; for, as before stated, to have sought to have saved Himself would have been to deny Himself, that is, to prove false to His nature. Since God is love, unselfishness, the only way that He can preserve His own existence is to give Himself away.

"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." 1 John iii. 16. "The brethren" for whom we are to give ourselves are the sons of Adam, for all who are children of Adam must be brethren. Of course those who give themselves for their brethren in Adam, will without question give themselves for their brethren in Christ, who Himself counts even those who do not know the name of God as His brethren, saying, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren." Heb. ii. 12. "We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Let no one say or think, "My life is so commonplace and uneventful that I have no occasion to lay down my life for anybody; no great opportunities come to me." It is not in dying on some great occasion, that laying down one's life consists; the laying down of life consists in not counting it our own, reckoning ourselves as dead, deliberately putting our life from us, and forgetting all about it in thoughts of others. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."

The lesson, in short, is that nobody can be saved by trying to be saved. Salvation is too great a thing to be accomplished by human efforts. Strange as it may seem, we can be saved only as we cease all efforts to save ourselves, and lose all thought of self in efforts to save others. Only so do we enter into full sympathy with Christ, and become labourers together with God. But that casting away of self is our salvation, for while we are concerning ourselves for others, Christ, who is also concerning Himself for others, is as a matter of course caring for us. "God turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends." Job xlii. 10.

Freedom from anxiety is thus assured to us. How easy to cast all our care upon Him, when we know He cares for us. And when we know that He cares for us, what need have we to care for ourselves? Thus we experience the truth that the Lord's yoke is easy, and His burden light.

One thing more. Paul said, "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians, both to the wise, and to the unwise." Rom. i. 14. That which was true of Paul, is equally true of us. Why was he debtor?-The answer is plain, when we once stop to think; it is simply this, that Paul had received the whole of that which was given for the world. Christ gave His life for the world. He "tasted death for every man." But Christ is not divided; every soul gets the whole of Him. "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Eph. iv. 7. His life is light; and a light that shines for me, shines equally bright for all. He is the "Sun of righteousness;" but the sun shines for all; each one gets all the benefit of the sun, and no one could get any more, even if he were the only person on earth. So each person gets the whole of the life of Christ, which is given to the world. Now it is very evident that if I get the whole of something that is given to all the world, that I am debtor to the world; and the same is true of every soul. The only difference between the most of us and the Apostle Paul is that he realised that to him was the fulness of Christ given, and he accepted and appropriated the gift, while we are too often content with but a little of the Divine life. We selfishly think to take just enough for our own use, and put a part away from us, not realising that we must have the whole; and so we fail to realise that we are debtors. May God grant that we all may have the eyes of our understanding enlightened by the Holy Spirit, so that we may know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and may not reject that portion of the life of Christ which to the natural man seems disagreeable, but may allow His perfectly unselfish life to abide in us, so that we, not alone with our lips, but by the glad offering of ourselves for others, may truly render thanks unto God for His unspeakable gift.

"Job's Examination" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

In the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth chapters of the Book of Job the Creator Himself recounts the wonders of created nature, which He has made, and demands of Job a definite answer as to his knowledge of them.

It is a long and searching examination-a half a hundred questions at least-and Job fails utterly, he cannot answer one.

But Job understood his failure, and said, "What shall I answer Thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer; yes, twice; but I will proceed no further."

But, again, from out the whirlwind, the Lord speaks to Job, and questions him further, until at length, overcome with the grandeur of the view of Almighty power and omnipotent wisdom presented to him, Job breaks forth:-

"I know that Thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of Thee, and declare Thou unto me. I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now Mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repentant in dust and ashes."

Job acknowledges that his previous knowledge of God had been by hearsay, but now he saw and knew Him and the wonder of His works. In his previous ignorance, knowing God only by hearsay,-by criticism and commentary, as it were,-he had uttered many things that he understood not, and had attempted things too wonderful for him, which he knew not.

Now, however, he had determined to accept the word of hearsay no longer, but to go to God direct for knowledge and wisdom: "Hear I beseech Thee, and I will speak: I will demand of Thee, and declare Thou unto me." Then the Lord heard Job, accepted him fully, and blessed him.

"A God of Love" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

The difference between the ideas of God expressed in the Bible and those of many theologians is very wide indeed. It is very strange indeed that anyone who had ever read the Bible-and believed it in the least-could have a conception of God as distant and far withdrawn from His creatures, when He tells us explicitly that He is "not far from every one of us," that He is always within hearing distance, yes, even always within reach.

How many there have been,-and indeed how many there are, who think of God as a stern and unrelenting Judge, as much a god of bloodshed and war as Mars, or the idol Juggernaut! Very different was the conception of King David when he wrote the one hundred and thirty-sixth Psalm, beginning, "O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever." Throughout the whole twenty-six verses that is the refrain of each-"for His mercy endureth for ever."

"Mingling Darkness with Light. The Bishop's Miter" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

FIRST SINCE THE REFORMATION

The new Bishop of London has worn his mitre in St. Paul's and thus established a record as the first to wear such a head-piece in St. Paul's since the Reformation. Now, apparently, nothing is lacking in the great cathedral, as its services have long been so "high" that only the fact that they are not in Latin indicated to the casual observer that he was not in a Roman Catholic place of worship. A writer in the Edinburg Review some time ago gave some examples to show how "paganism revenged its defeat by adulterating the Christian creed," when the "falling away" from the purity of the faith came. He said of the miter:-

The miter which Clement of Alexandria mentions as a pagan dress took its name apparently from Mithra. The initiate refused the wreath offered to him in those curious mysteries, and exclaimed, "My crown is Mithra." It is the head-dress of the Persian priests, and of the Mithra-worshippers of Commagene on statues of the early Roman period. This is by no means the only instance in which pagan vestments came to be used by Christian priests. The robes of the flamens were adopted by cardinals; the alb is an Egyptian sacred dress; the dalmatic, a short-sleeved shirt, was worn by Commodus and Elagabalus, the emperor who was priest of the sun god symbolised by the black stone brought from Emesa, in Syria, to Rome.

Except that the paganism which these things symbolise is a living leavening curse in religious life, the milinery worn by the clergy would be of little interest to anyone. But as it is, they are the marks and trappings of apostasy which is leading the religious world away from God and back into the corruptions of old pagan times. And, strange to say, there are multitudes of professed Protestants who object to these extreme points of ritual who nevertheless defend clerical dress of a special style in order to distinguish between "clergy" and "laity," a distinction which is absolutely unscriptural and at the root of all this extreme sacerdotalism and ritualism.

The Bishop of London has also made another record, as the first in his office to adopt the Eastward Position in St. Paul's since the Reformation. The Eastward Position has long been adopted in the cathedral, but now the choir and chapter have a bishop to join them. This is another contribution from the sun-worshiping East. In the eighth of Ezekiel the Lord plainly tells what he thinks of it. Is there not need for the message, "Come out of her, My people"?

"And the Reformation Is Not Ended Yet" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

The late Mr. C. H. Spurgeon once graphically described the process by which the early church was paganised. He said:-

"The greatest curse, perhaps, that ever visited the world came upon it in this way. Certain vain-glorious preachers desired to convert the world at a stroke, and to make converts without the work of the Spirit. This saw the people worshipping their gods, and they thought that if they could call these by the names of saints and martyrs the people would not mind the change, and so they would be converted. The idea was to Christianise heathenism.

"They virtually said to idolaters, 'Now, good people, you may keep on with your worship, and yet you can be Christians at the same time. This image of the Queen of Heaven at your door need not be moved. Light the lamp still; only call the image "our Lady" and "the Blessed Virgin." Here is another image; don't pull it down, but change its name from Jupiter to Peter.' Thus with a mere change of names they perpetuated idolatry; they set up their altars in the groves, and upon every high hill, and the people were converted without knowing it-converted to a baser heathenism than their own. The wanted priests, and lo! there they were, robed like those who served at the altars of Jove. The people saw the same altars and sniffed at the same incense, kept the same holy days and observed the same carnivals as aforetime, and called everything by Christian names.

"Hence came what is now called the Roman Catholic religion, which is simply fearing God and certain other gods. Every village has its own peculiar saint, and often its own particular black or white image of the Virgin, with miracles and wonders to sanctify the shrine. This evil wrought so universally that Christianity seemed in danger of extinction from the prevalence of idolatry, and it would have utterly expired had it not been of God, and had He not therefore once more put forth His hand and raised up reformers, who cried out: 'There is but one God, and one Mediator between God and man.' Brave voices called the church back to her allegiance and to the purity of her faith. As for any of you who are trying to link good and evil, truth and falsehood together, beware of the monstrous birth which will, of such an alliance: it will bring on a curse from the Most High."

"Benighted Christendom" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

In the current Century Magazine there is a description (by the editor) of the scenes of Easter time in Jerusalem, when the rivalries of the various sects wax bitterest. There is so great a confounding of the religion of Greek, Latin, and Armenian Catholics with Christianity in the minds of most people that it is needful to point out that it is not Christianity at all. The confusion arises from the fact that popular notions of Christianity leave out the religion of Christ almost altogether and substitute man-made religion for Divine life.

Describing the state of mind of the partisans of "Christianity" in Jerusalem the writer says that "doubt, suspicion, and murder in religion's name, are in the air now as they were of old."

Any of the sacred places themselves may be scenes of violence at any moment. Not long ago the Dalmatian Cavass in charge of some Russian tourists who were visiting in the Grotto at Bethlehem resented the interference of the sacristan monk who was clearing the way before the Latin procession, drew his revolver, and shot him dead on the spot; after that, firing four shots wildly at the procession, he wounded a priest in the arm and rib.

It is like the story of many an unprovoked murder, but the point is that had this man been treated as a murderer by the Muslim authorities, doubtless Russia, who is a protector of the Greek religion in the Ottoman Empire, would have come to the rescue. It is this kind of religion that the great churches of Christendom have exhibited to Mohammedans; and now Christendom rings with denunciations of the Turk, and multitudes of pulpits demand his extinction in the name of Christianity. The only conclusion possible is that the pulpits so doing know no more of

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the Gospel than their "fellow religionist" of the East.

THE "HOLY FIRE"

"Now," says the writer, "the time of miracle approaches." For hours the crowd in the church has been fighting and yelling. "As a preliminary to the sacred manifestation there is a new, wild outburst of cries and screams." Jerusalem worshippers beat with their fists the men from Jaffa to get their places. "The noise is frightful." "Men standing on the shoulders of the crowd screech words of religious greeting,-

This is the tomb of Christ, darting a finger at the tomb itself with every repetition. "Then when the patriarch within the tomb strikes a fire-which the ignorant believe comes down from heaven-and passes it out, the crowds armed with candles catch it and run." On and on sounds the clangour and the shouting; men, women and children are mad." A kindly patriarch said the intelligent Greeks understood that the fire is produced by the patriarch, but that anyone who should tell the frenzied rabble so "would be torn to pieces."

At the height of the frenzy, as the flame leaped through the rotunda and lighted the encircling chapels, making more rich and glittering the altars, the gorgeous vestments, the whole ecclesiastical paraphernalia, the arms and uniforms of the troops, and the many-coloured costumes of the mad and motley crowd, the thought flashed upon me: Was ever anything in all Christendom so beautiful and so blasphemous?

And when such blasphemy is made religion, and when religion itself instead of inspiring kindness and love is the inspirer of every hateful feeling and the cloak of violence and lawlessness, what must the end be? And now the same spirit is spreading in the West and multitudes whose profession of advanced Christianity should lead them to a desire to carry the Gospel to these benighted peoples, and show to Mohammedans as well what the Christ-life actually is, are blindly encouraging war against Mohammedans in the sacred name of Jesus, and are persuaded that they have embarked in a righteous cause.

"Easter Celebrations" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

A daily paper had a column-"Playing at War; Scenes at the Easter Man?uvers." In rain and cold, hailstorms and wintry winds, the "invaders" and "defenders" scurried from hill to hill, or crouched wet and shivering behind stone walls and hedges in the man?uvers of mimic war. All this celebration of Easter time was going on at home, in the Macedonian mountains gruesome war was, in reality, being enacted. Of this a correspondent telegraphs his paper:-

This afternoon I paid a flying visit to the field hospital in the rear. The sight was very distressing, as the wounded tossed on their beds, screaming with agony or babbling in their delirium. Others with feverish hands were tearing the coverlets of their beds into pieces, and in some instances as I pass along the poor fellows would invite me to look at their wounds.

These are the practical realities, while the sensuous scenes of beauty and melody which fill the churches are the theory. Why is it that the theory and practice differ so widely? It is because religion has been made a theory and not a practical life. The very Easter day and time, as indeed the name itself shows, is pagan and not Christian. If, then, the theory is pagan, it is natural that the practice should be pagan also, and so it is. There is not the contradiction that there seems to be. But the contradiction is between allied pagan sensuous theory and sensual practical violence on the one hand, and the religion of the Prince of Peace on the other.

"Pitcairn Island" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

We give a picture of this rocky island, famed as the retreat of the mutineers of the ship "Bounty." Their descendants on this island down number somewhat less than two hundred souls. A Sabbath-keeping brother visited them eleven years ago, and since then the islanders have been actively in sympathy with our work. It was their earnest call for teachers and a school that led to the building of the missionary ship "Pitcairn" which is employed in our work among the islands of the Pacific Ocean.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

-Bread riots are reported from Spain.

-There are three habitual criminals in London to every two policemen.

-The annual taxes of the world aggregate the enormous sum of ?1,087,500,000.

-In Italy there are more theatres in proportion to the population than in any other country.

-Sixty-one British vessels were totally wrecked during the month of March, with a Ioss of 172 lives.

-The war preparations in South Africa on the part of both the Transvaal and the Colonial authorities give rise to much anxiety.

-More than 45 per cent. of English people could not write their names when the Queen ascended the throne. The proportion of illiterates has now been reduced to 6 per cent.

-French papers express the hope that in case Germany and Great Britain fall out over the Transvaal question France may gain advantages. The "Concert of the Powers" is not a peace concert.

-The spirit of gambling dominates all classes in Russia. Recent official statistics show that more than 2,000,000 roubles (about ?330,000) are each year spent on playing cards in Russia in Europe.

-Bishop Tucker says that the decree abolishing slavery in Zanzibar will not release the great mass of female slaves, who are retained as the wives of their owners, who are permitted to hold as many as they please in bondage.

-The credit of having the smallest circulation of any newspaper is the world belongs to the Imperial Gazette of Berlin, of which two copies are printed daily. This exclusive publication is intended for the perusal of the Emperor alone.

-The Forth Bridge is constantly being repainted; in fact, no sooner have the painters reached one end than they have to commence again at the other. It takes fifty tons of paint to give it one coat, and the area dealt with is something like 120 acres.

-According to the Army and Navy Gazette, experiments in the utilisation of kites for observation purposes, in time of war, are being so persistently and successfully carried on that there can he no doubt that eventually they will be found more practical than balloons. Before long, says the Gazette, "Kites will take their place as part of the equipment of war."

-The National Union of Teachers met in Swansea last week, over a thousand delegates being present. It was stated that 5,826,000 children are on the rolls of the Board and Voluntary schools, of whom a million are daily absent. Of the whole, four millions end their school education at the age of eleven, just at the time when, as the President said, they are at an age to begin to appreciate educational advantages.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

The official visit of the Archbishop of York to Russia has been the occasion of much talk of closer relations between the Church of England and the Russian church.

Agents of the London Missionary Society in Madagascar report that members of the chapels have been forcibly taken possession of by the Jesuits, who feel secure in the favour of the Government.

The Te Torsa, a Rarotongan newspaper just received, contains an account of the closing of the winter term of the Arorangi public school which some of our missionaries have been conducting. The school and its work are highly spoken of. The same paper shows that Romanism is making rapid progress in the South Pacific islands.

A correspondent with the Turkish troops says:-

The longer the soldiers fight the keener their lust of battle seems to become.

One with the Greeks describes the same spirit, which he says amounts really to a mania. It is the fury of devil-possessed men. They delight in killing because controlled by Satan, who "was a murderer from the beginning."

"The Quality of Mercy" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

The Quality of Mercy .-The Daily Chronicle has made an appeal to its readers, "in the name of humanity, to contribute to a fund on behalf of the Greeks wounded in the war." It also adds "a most earnest appeal to Christian ministers throughout the country on behalf of the sufferers." It is a worthy object, and it is not supposeable that anybody can be found so hard-hearted as to refuse aid and sympathy to poor, wounded men. But when we are told that this fund is "one of pure mercy," we cannot help wondering if the prompters have forgotten that

The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth like the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath.

or the instruction of Him from whom Shakespeare learned that sentiment, namely,

"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

The God of mercy lets the sun shine in Turkey as brightly as in Greece, and with His rain waters the vineyards of the Turks as well as those of the Greeks. Let it even be granted that the Turks are very bad and the Greeks are very good, yet "pure mercy" will as quickly and as tenderly bind up the wounds of the one as of the other. We have no opinion to express as to the relative merits of the two parties to the war, only of war itself, that it is wicked, and no matter by whom conducted nor by whom it is encouraged; but we are sure that when "pure mercy," and not political partisanship, starts a fund for the relief wounded and suffering men, it will be applied impartially wherever such men are found, without questioning whether they are Greeks or Turks. Certainly the Christian ministers who respond to the appeal will take this view of the matter.

"Lawless Violence" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

Lawless Violence .-On Thursday, April 22, an attempt was made to assassinate King Humbert of Italy, in precisely the same manner as that by which President Carnot, of France, lost his life. The attempt happily failed, and the would-be assassin was taken into custody. It is stated that "he is without accomplices, and made the attempt merely as a hostile demonstration against the head of the State, because of the bad condition of the country." It may be that only the one person is directly concerned in this crime, yet the fact is that the man has thousands of backers, and that not only among lawless men who boldly advocate such methods of improving the condition of things. When law-abiding citizens, forgetting

How small, of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws and kings can cause or cure,

proclaim that the business depression, the poverty, and the misery that abounds at any time are due to this or that political party, and that the retirement of this man and the promotion of that man would clear away the troubles, they are unconsciously stimulating those who know no law but force and violence, to just such rash measures to better the condition of things. Only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is there any prospect of real help to the poor and oppressed, and that gives sure promise not only of improvement, but of the absolute and eternal extinction of all oppression, poverty, and suffering. Get acquainted with it, and proclaim it.

"A Strong Delusion" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

A Strong Delusion .-Spiritualists are preparing to celebrate the Jubilee of Modern Spiritualism next year. One of their journals declares that since its rise in 1846 it has exercised "widespread and revolutionary influence upon the thoughts of the age," and has been "the leader of the past half-century, effectually leavening the whole lump." As an evidence of this it points not only to the millions of avowed Spiritualists, but to the recognition of the principles of Spiritualism in the religious world at large. "Its phenomena are familiar," it is said, "in every royal household in Europe." It is Satan working "with all power and signs and lying wonders."

"To the Pit" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

To the Pit .-A striking story told by Josiah W. Leeds of how one young man was broken of theatre-going. Having made an appointment to meet one of his friends at a theatre entrance, he was so struck by the usher's repetition of the words, "This way to the pit! This way to the pit!" that he hastily left the place, and never afterward visited a theatre. The Judgment will reveal the fact that many thousands have found their way to the bottomless pit through the theatre entrance.

"What the World Praises" The Present Truth 13, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

What the World Praises .-One of the war correspondents says,-

When among Greeks one might really image it would be a disappointment and almost a disgrace, for those who fight not to get killed.

This disregard of life is what makes "good soldiers," that is those who will fight desperately, and not be dismayed when the odds are against them. It is the true "war spirit," and is shown not only by those who fight, but by the wives and mothers who are dependent on them, and whose support is cut off by their death. We do not remember having ever seen any expression of horror at such recklessness; yet those who think it nothing strange and who even admire it, are shocked whenever a man merely gives us a situation that he cannot hold and at the same time serve the Lord fully. He is accounted foolish, even mad, say, almost inhuman in his disregard for the welfare of his family, although he has the sure promise of life; while the man who lightly leaves his family to go to certain death, is praised. What a strange distortion of vision the devil has afflicted people with.

May 6, 1897

"The Wisdom of Jesus" The Present Truth 13, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

"Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. . . .

"And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers." Luke ii. 40-47.

Of one thing each reader of this narrative should rest assured from the very beginning, and that is that Jesus was not, as we sometimes see it stated, "Disputing with the Doctors." He was not doing anything that would be unbecoming in a child of twelve years. He was not putting Himself forward, nor "showing off." He was not presuming to teach those learned doctors of the law, nor showing the least disrespect to them. He was listening to their instruction, and asking them questions on what they were teaching, just as every listener was expected to do. He was seeking knowledge; more wisdom may sometimes be revealed in the questions of a learner than in the instruction of a teacher. The questions of the child Jesus, asked for the purpose of gaining information, showed that He already had a marvellous perception and grasp of truth, greater perhaps than had the doctors.

Later in life, when He was engaged in public labour, "the multitudes were astonished at His teaching; for He taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes." Matt. vii. 28, 29, R.V. "And when He was come into His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?" Matt. xii. 54.

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The true answer to this question is scarcely understood even by the followers of Jesus. If it were, there would be more of the same wisdom among them; for just as truly as Christ "emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men" (Phil. ii. 7, R.V.); so that "it behoved Him in all things to be make like unto His brethren" (Heb. ii. 17), so truly did He possess no advantages over His brethren, and had access to no sources of wisdom that are not open to all.

MADE IN ALL THINGS LIKE UNTO HIS BRETHREN

The common idea concerning Jesus is that He was born with special wisdom; that as an infant He possessed knowledge superior to that of most men; and that He did not need to learn as other folks do, but that His wisdom was inherited, so that He knew everything without any effort. Such an idea not only makes Him a monstrosity, but it places a great gulf between Him and us, so that we have nothing in common with Him, and derive, no help from Him. All our hope and consolation in Jesus rests in the fact that, as partaker of flesh and blood, He was subject to the same infirmities that we are, as weak and helpless in Himself as we are, yet without sin, and by the Divine life dwelling in Him made "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." He came to earth to let men know what God can do in human flesh; and just to the extent that we imagine Him to have "natural" abilities superior to ours, do we deprive ourselves of the grace that is brought to us in Him.

The fact that Jesus was not born with greater knowledge than possessed by other infants, is indicated by the statement that He "increased in wisdom and stature and favour with God and men." Luke ii. 52. It would have been as incongruous for Him to be born with perfect wisdom, as to be born with full stature. He increased in wisdom as He grew in age and stature, just as other children are expected to.

In the fifth chapter of Isaiah we have the Lord's own statement of how He obtained the wisdom that made Him the greatest teacher the world has ever seen. That this chapter contains the words of the Lord Jesus, is shown by verse 6, "I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting." Now read verse 4: "The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of them that are taught, that I should know how to sustain with words him that is weary; He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as they that are taught," or "as disciples." Christ was Himself, a disciple, a learner from the Father, thus showing that only they who are learners can be apt teachers.

Jesus made no claims to be the possessor of a special gift. He said, "I can of Mine own self to nothing." John v. 30. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do." Verse 19. These are not the expressions of false modesty, for Jesus spoke only truth, as He is the Truth; therefore as no man can be any weaker than not to be able to do anything of himself, or more ignorant and not to know anything without being taught, even so there is no person in the world who does not possess the same advantages that Jesus did.

Hear Him again: "Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then ye shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things." John viii. 28. To Moses God said concerning Jesus, "I will raise, a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and I will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him." Deut. xviii. 18.

THE PROMISES TO ALL BELIEVERS

All this is promised to all believers as well as to Jesus. "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." James i. 5. To "the captive exile" the Lord says, "I have put My words in thy mouth." Isa. li. 14-16. As "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself," even so He has "put in us the word of reconciliation, so that He beseeches by us." 2 Cor. v. 19, 20. If it is given to us to pray "in Christ's stead, Be ye reconciled to God," then of course the same grace, and the same gifts by grace, are bestowed upon us that were bestowed upon Him. "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Eph. iv. 7.

All this knowledge of Jesus came solely from the Word of God, through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. He asked wisdom and received it just as we may. But we must not suppose that we are to ask for wisdom, and then go to sleep and wake up wise. We are to ask in faith, and that means according to God's promise, which is this: "My son, if thou wilt receive My words, and hide My commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." "Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path." Prov. ii. 1-6, 9.

To the simple, even to fools and scorners, God says, "Turn you at My reproof; behold, I will pour out My Spirit unto you, I will make known My words unto you." Prov. i. 23. Jesus needed no reproof, for He did not turn aside from the way. He said, "I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within My heart." Ps. xl. 8. We have sinned, as He did not; but if we will turn at the reproof of the Lord, He will make known to us the same words of wisdom that He did to Christ; for Christ is made unto us wisdom, as well as righteousness. 1 Cor. i. 3.

How little we have realised the wonderful depths and heights and breadth of wisdom that is contained in the Word of God, to be freely bestowed on all who will humbly, patiently, and prayerfully study them. Both Solomon and He who is "greater than Solomon" derived all their wisdom from this source alone, as we have learned by the inspired testimony of Solomon. God, who through Solomon said, "My son, if thou wilt receive My words," "then shalt thou understand," was speaking to His Son Jesus, and also to us, whom He accepts as sons equally with Jesus. Jesus listened and learned. He says, "The Lord God hath opened Mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back." Isa. l. 5. He has said to us that if any man willeth to do His will, he shall know. John vii. 17.

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This wonderful knowledge is not hidden from children. Nay, the things that are hidden from the worldly wise and prudent are revealed unto babes. "I have more understanding than all my teachers; for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients,"-the old man,-"because I keep Thy precepts." Ps. cxix. 99, 100. This is not to the praise of the child, but of the Word, which any child, as well as Timothy and Jesus, may know.

One thing must not be forgotten, and that is that such wisdom accompanies only true humility. The simplicity of real childhood must be maintained. We must always, even with the knowledge which the Word gives, confess that we know nothing except as we are taught. Natural pride, stubbornness, and willingness to acknowledge that we have nothing and are nothing, are the hindrances to the acquirement of true knowledge; but we have the assurance that the same God whose power bestows upon us the wisdom of Christ is able also to give us His meekness. Let us then be not rebellious, but submissive to the Word of wisdom.

"A Statement on Paper" The Present Truth 13, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

A report of the annual meeting of the Catholic Truth Society, lately held at the Archbishop's House, Westminster, and presided over by Cardinal Vaughan, contains the following paragraphs:-

The Bishop of Clifton (Mgr. Brownlow), in proposing the re-election of the officers of the society, commented on a paragraph in the report, which regretted that as yet little had been done towards supplying suitable literature for reaching Nonconformists. He felt that he was expected to write something, and he would do so if someone would supply him with a book telling him what Nonconformists really did believe. It was very difficult to ascertain this.

Father Breen observed that the two great Nonconformist bodies, the Congregationalists and the Presbyterians, had at all events a pretty clear statement on paper of what they were supposed believe.

This last suggestion covers the difficulty; it is the attempted statement on paper which creates all the ambiguity and multiplicity of creed. If those who call themselves Protestants were really Protestants and professed and knew no creed but the Bible, and the Bible only, then the confession that Roman Catholics did not understand their language would be self-conviction indeed.

But practically, what business has any Christian with a statement of his belief on paper, outside of the Bible? No Christian certainly desirous to take away from, or add to, the Bible. Then if it is all there, why not say so, and attempt to go no further. "Preach the Word." Refer the Bishop of Clifton to the Bible. If he cannot understand that no one else is responsible but himself.

"All for Us" The Present Truth 13, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

Notice how constantly the thoughts of Jesus were for His children. When His disciples were troubled because He had said He was about to leave them, He assured them, "It is expedient for you that I go away." He was not thinking of Himself, of getting away from this cruel world and back again into the heavenly city. For us He went away. "I go to prepare a place for you." His thoughts are with us now and His work for us. Now He appears "in the presence of God for us." And when He comes again it is for His people. "I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there ye may be also." From first to last the Lord's plans and thoughts were for the interests of His children, and so are they still. God Himself is "for us," and "if God be for us, who can be against us?"

"Patience" The Present Truth 13, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

The virtue of patience is much insisted upon in the Bible. It is the attribute which especially characterises those who are at last victorious-the "patience of the saints."

It is through faith and patience that we are to inherit the promises of God; so Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrews, exhorts to patient endurance, without slothfulness, that the promises may be obtained.

When Christ was narrating to His disciples of troubles and persecutions which should befall them, His especial injunction was, "In your patience possess ye your souls." In these very tribulations Paul gloried because they developed patience, as the athlete in training delights in his exercises and the laborious task and trials to which his strength is put, because it is through them that his strength and endurance grow,-for the Apostle said, "We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience."

It is these very tribulations, which try the faith of God's people, that develop the patience of the saints. And although it is but a little while, far less now than when the apostle said it was but a little time before He that shall come will come, and not tarry, yet even greater is the need of patience, that, after having done the will of God, the promise may be received.

God Himself is the God of patience, and has promised to protect in the hour of temptation those who have "kept the word of My patience." Then it will be that patience will have had her perfect work, and those who have possessed their souls in patience will be examples of the patience of the saints, "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." They will then have overcome, and Christ says, in Revelation, "Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out."

"Burmese Mendicant Orders" The Present Truth 13, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

The religious order of mendicants was an idea borrowed, like so many others, which came into the church in early centuries, from Oriental religions. The monkish mendicants of Latinism have their fellows in Buddhism. A writer in the Temple Magazine describes the mendicant order in Burma as follows:-

"The priest does not preach or conduct any religious meeting, and in fact has scarcely any priestly duties to perform. He gives the male children of the village an elementary education, and makes them commit to memory the prayers and legends of Gautama. Every morning, bareheaded and barefooted, with his begging bowl slung round his neck, the priest moves on his round to collect food. He does not ask for gifts; but with downcast eye stands silently in front of some hut until the person who lives there hurries out and pours food into his bowl. Without, uttering a word of thanks, or acknowledging the gift in any way, the priest, moves on and halts at another house. When he has collected sufficient food for the day he retraces his steps to the monastery. All the people give willingly, and great excitement is caused when a priest inverts his begging bowl and refuses to collect from his usual supporters. It is a sign that they have displeased him by committing some sin or neglecting to perform some religious duty. They are never satisfied until they have atoned for their sin; and the priest signifies his forgiveness by once more collecting from them."

"A Negative Religion" The Present Truth 13, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

There are many people whose religion consists mainly in denying-not themselves, but what other folks say and teach. If they hear a sermon, no matter how good it is, they seem to see only something that at least has the appearance of unsoundness. They never hear anything but that they are ready with an objection. If they presume to teach, they use the time largely in combating what they deem to be error. Their Gospel is negative-simple unbelief; they get no good from anything themselves, and they never do anybody else any good, for nobody can possibly be helped by hearing what somebody else does not believe.

Read the Scriptures through, and you will not find the words, "I don't believe." No Bible writer ever fooled away time telling what he didn't believe, or how he didn't agree with somebody else. They had something to say. "I believed, therefore have I spoken," said David (Ps. cxvi. 10); "We also believe, and therefore speak," said Paul, with "the same spirit of faith." 2 Cor. iv. 13. Only positive teaching can edify. The teacher of the Gospel has only to buildup. There are thousands of things that no Christian can believe; but there are enough things he can and ought to believe, to keep him occupied to all eternity in, telling them.

"Ecclesiastical Blindness" The Present Truth 13, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

Ecclesiastical Blindness .-In a letter to the Abbe Louis Picard of the Primaval Church at Lyons, acknowledging the receipt of his recent work "ChrÈtien on Agnostiqne," Mr. Gladstone says:-

The Controversy with the Roman Church depends for us on the question whether our Convocation or National Synods lost their place in the Catholic Church by disowning, not communion with the Latin Church, but the jurisdiction of the Pope in England, or by any other portion of the system finally established by the Church and the State in 1661; or by the loss of valid consecrations, as the Pope Leo XIII. has, unhappily as it seems to me, for the Latin Church, rather than for us, recently declared.

This is the same as saying that the difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome is not radical, but only technical. When the burden of Churchmen is that the Church of England is just as good as the Church of Rome, and that their orders are just as valid as those of Romanism, it can readily be seen that the matter of complete union rests solely with the Church of Rome, and that it is therefore only a question of time. It will come whenever the ends of Rome will be best served by it.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

The London Vegetarian Society lately banqueted the clergy, and took the occasion to urge upon them the claims of vegetarianism and abstinence from alcoholic liquors. It was said that in ten years the advocates of vegetarianism increased in London some twenty-fold.

-It is expected that every navy in the world will be represented in the naval review at Spithead on June 26.

-The plague in Bombay is steadily decreasing, and hopes are entertained that it will soon have disappeared. It appears, however, in various parts of India.

-At the Surgical Congress in Berlin a surgeon presented a patient who had been stabbed in the heart. The wounded heart was freely exposed and the edges of the wound sewed together, with the result that the patient recovered.

--A Reuter's telegram states that forty-one persons have been killed in a hailstorm in Mexico. Some of the hailstones are said to have weighed three pounds each. Disastrous floods are also reported in the southwestern United States.

-A Parliamentary committee of twelve members has been appointed "to conduct an inquiry, from the point of view of the British farmer, into the proposals which have been made for the storage of wheat in elevators as a part of a system of national defence."

-The Lapps are said to be rapidly disappearing as a people, the reason given being the decrease in their herds of reindeer, upon which they depend for subsistence, and the use of intoxicating liquors. At the present rate of decrease the race will not last more than fifty years.

-The Provincial Legislature of British Columbia has imitated the United States in forbidding Mongolian immigration. The Act absolutely forbids, also, the employment of any Chinese or Japanese on any undertakings aided by grant of state charters from the Legislature.

-There are 6,410 daily newspapers published in the world. The total number of newspapers of all kinds is 42,800, of these the United States publishes 19,760; Great Britain is next on the list with 8,050; while Persia has the smallest number, 8. Eighty-one different languages are represented.

-Mr. Bottomley, who was connected with a syndicate that failed for a large amount a few years ago, last week set aside ?250,000 as a gift for shareholders who have suffered by the lord. His action in the matter is so contrary to usual commercial methods that no little excitement was caused by it.

-According to the Statistical Society the savings of the United Kingdom, laid up in the various savings bank friendly societies, co-operative societies, . . . societies, etc., amount to the sum of 277 billions of pounds, and are increasing at the rate of eleven millions yearly. The collective savings of the civilised world are estimated at ?1,400,000,000.

-The dangers of window cleaning from the outside are emphasised by the fact shown by official statistics that in one year 1,895 out of 930,000,000 passengers carried by the railways of the United Kingdom but 386 lost their lives by accident, and 140 lives were lost by street accidents in London during the same period, but during that time there were 586 deaths recorded as caused by failing from windows and from buildings.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

"Three-fifths of the national income," says a London newspaper, "is now spent on the killing departments," that is on army and navy and payments on war debts.

"The Word of God is living and powerful." God says so. When we come to His Word, then, we come into the presence of the living God. When we read the Word God is talking to us. When we pray we are talking to God.

"During the last year, said the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget speech last week, our people have smoked and drank more, they have earned more money, paid more income tax, and, last but not least, have paid more death duties than in preceding years."

The Australian correspondent of the Western Daily Mercury sends an interesting account of an interview with a ship captain who was recently becalmed off Pitcairn Island. He said that the people appeared to be "a happy, healthy lot," and he learned that they were Seventh-day Adventists, interested in doing missionary work.

A series of earthquakes was reported from the West Indies this week, attended by great destruction. "Earthquakes in divers places" are heard of nowadays very frequently; in fact, their increasing frequency leads the world to think less of their significance. In these days of "wars and rumours of wars" occasioned by covetousness and racial hatreds, the shaking earth ought to teach men that they would better be employed in building on some more substantial and enduring foundation than earthly ambitions.

At the recent anniversary meetings of the great missionary societies many missionaries from different parts have testified to the awful power that witchcraft places in the hands of heathen priests. It is a world-wide curse by which Satan keeps myriads in bondage. The same accursed influence is in Spiritualism, the principles of which are finding their way into the ranks in the religious world. The little pamphlet, "The Sin of Witchcraft" (2nd), which we have prepared on this subject, shows what the Scripture says of the delusion.

"Waking Up" The Present Truth 13, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

Waking Up .-"There is a crisis in the history of China," said Mr. Bruce, of North China, at a missionary meeting the other day. "We hear of coming changes, of railways, of armies to be reorganised and armed with weapons made in Germany, of a new navy. With me, hope for China does not lie in these things. I dread the spread of civilisation without the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

"Man Cannot Reverse It" The Present Truth 13, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

Man Cannot Reverse It .-When Balaam had tried to curse Israel and failed he had the candour to say, "He hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it." Now God has blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, making it His holy Sabbath. Men may try to evade it, to curse it, and trample upon it. But God has blessed, and no man can reverse it. The blessing is still there every week. That is why God says, "Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it." Isa. Ivi. 2.

"What War Is" The Present Truth 13, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

It is a most singular thing, yet it is a fact, that the loudest calls for war that have been heard within the last two or three years, have come from the ministers of the Gospel. From thousands of pulpits appeals have been made for any or all of the Powers to proceed to annihilate the Turks, in the interest of the Armenians; later, the Cretans have been encouraged in their efforts to throw off Turkish rule, and Greece has been applauded for taking the part of Crete in order that she might get the whole; while many of the same preachers unsparingly berated the English Government for not joining the Greeks in their war with Turkey.

What a strange spectacle,-professed ministers of the Gospel of peace, to say nothing of thousands of church members, clamouring for war! Do they know what war is? Let us just take the barest glance at it, as it really is. One of the war correspondents with the Turkish army, in the course of his description of the battle of Mati, says:-

The guns were already clouded in smoke and dust. Now and again a dot came travelling up toward us with painful slowness-a wounded artilleryman; now moaning convulsively; now silent, and swallowing an invisible lump, with twitching eyes.

Who cannot see the picture of the strong man striving to repress any expression of the pain that was nevertheless overmastering him? Later on, the correspondent says:-

The ambulance drove forward to pick up our wounded, and Edhem Pasha pushed on behind his victorious troops. I passed a Turkish soldier who lay with both legs broken, sobbing piteously with pain. And then I hated war.

And who would not? For war means those same scenes magnified, and multiplied a thousand times. It means men helpless and suffering with wounds, lying in some spot for hours and even days in the heat and cold, famishing for water. In short, it means wholesale murder, aggravated by the fact that many of the victims are not killed outright.

We are charitable enough to believe that most of this call for war, from the lips of professed Christians, would cease if those who do the calling could be placed for a season in the front ranks. Not that they are cowards, but that they do not stop to think what they are talking about. The fact is, that every man who shouts for war is simply an aider and abettor of murder. One famous general declared that "war is hell," and it is fact that the spirit of war is the spirit of Satan. An officer in the Franco-Prussian war said that if he had led a regiment of angels into the battle they would have come back devils. How can Christians be in any way whatever accessories to such fiendish work?

It is for the purpose of warning, not of condemning, that we write. We know that there are thousands of sincere Christians who "know not what manner of spirit they are of" when they call for war, to avenge wounded honour or even outrage, and some with whom we have talked have been shocked, on having their attention called to the matter, to find that they were unconsciously being inspired by the spirit of the devil, for it is the spirits of devils, that go about to stir up war. See Rev. xvi. 14. The man who shouts for and applauds murder is at heart a murderer. In this time when the nations are preparing war, "great plainness of speech" is necessary, in only that some at least may be awakened to their danger, and may for ever break loose from the fierce, murderous, Satanic spirit that is benumbing the senses of the world's millions, and carrying them to everlasting destruction.

May 13, 1897

"'Greater Works than These'" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father." John xiv. 12.

The first question that almost invariably arises whenever this is read, is, "What greater works can anybody possibly do than the Lord did?" or, "How can anybody do greater works than He did?" To this the hearer is obliged to answer, "I don't know." But the fact that we do not know, and cannot form any conception of the thing, has no effect upon it. Jesus has said it in the most positive manner, and that is sufficient.

Let it be remembered that it is only those who believe, that can do these great works; and certainly no one who is not able to do the works, can be expected to know anything about the matter. But the very asking of the questions, "What?" and "How?" imply more or less unbelief. The person may not realise it, but there is at least a shade of doubt underlying those questions; there is a trace of the notion that we will not believe what we cannot understand. Now if there is unbelief even in the slightest degree, then it is certain that no works at all will be done; for "this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 29. But if there is unbelief, there cannot possibly be belief. Therefore the one who questions this matter need not expect ever to know anything about it.

"But it is not unbelief that prompts my questioning," some will say; "it is only a real desire to know what the works are, and how they are to be done." In other words, it is curiosity. Well, of one thing we may be sure, and that is that whatever good works one has come from God; for that which was true of Christ must most certainly be true of us, "I can of Mine own self do nothing." John v. 30. "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." John xiv. 10. Since "it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phil. ii. 13), it is not necessary for us to know how. Our part is simply to yield ourselves as instruments of righteousness. The instrument does not need to know what the one who handles it is doing, nor how he is able to do it. Nay, the instrument cannot know how, else he would not longer be the instrument. "Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord?" Ps. cvi. 2.

Finally, it is useless to ask how we can do greater works than those which Christ did, for those who do them will be unconscious of them. When at the last day the Lord says to the faithful ones, "Come ye blessed of My Father," and enumerates the good works that they have done, they will wonderingly ask, "Lord, when did we ever do these things?" They will have been so yielded to the Lord that His mighty power will have wrought them in the most natural and unobtrusive way, just as it does through the growing plant. It is well that we are thus ignorant. If it were possible that the mighty works of God could be wrought through self-conscious folks, it would be most uncomfortable for those who were obliged to live with them. If we thought that we were doing greater works than Christ did; we should become so conceited and overbearing that nobody could live with us. Let us be content, yea, we may even rejoice, that we are weak and ignorant, since our Father is almighty and all-wise, and He is ours.

"Discovering Truth" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

The astronomer does not make celestial bodies which his telescope reveals; they were in existence before he saw them, and all that he has done is to look steadily and patiently at some particular portion of the heavens, until the new light suddenly dawned upon his vision.

Even so with a man searching for hid treasure or for something that is lost. He digs faithfully, or patiently searches for it, until he finds it; but when he has found it he cannot take any credit to himself for

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its existence. He did not manufacture it: he simply had the patience to keep looking until he found the right place, or till his eyes became accustomed to the light, and could distinguish objects. Then he had only to look and see that which was plainly visible.

It is exactly the same way in the study of Divine truth. Truth and wisdom come from God alone. He is the Author of truth, because He is the truth. No man can manufacture or invent truth, for it exists from eternity. All that anybody can do is to open his eyes and see it. One reason why more people do not know and have the truth is that they think that to acquire it requires special qualifications and a sort of genius, whereas all that is necessary is open eyes. The natural man wishes to "work out" theories, so that he may have the credit of being wonderfully clever; but truth comes only to him who acknowledges his ignorance, and does not desire to gain applause for wisdom which does not and cannot originate with him. If our sight is defective, we have only to pray to the Lord to anoint our eyes with eyesalve, and open them, that we may behold wonderful things in His law. Rev. iii. 18; Ps. cxix. 18.

"'A Poor Untutored Savage' and His Bible" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

A religious journal gives the following story told by a missionary among the Indians of Western America:-

"An Indian boy, one of the converts in a mission school in the far West, surprised his teacher one day by rushing into the room where she sat, and throwing his Bible into her lap.

"'Take Bible!' he said, in a voice of great excitement. 'Can't be a Christian any more; want to fight!' And he began to make fierce gestures with his arms and head.

"The teacher spoke calmly to him, and tried to impress upon his mind the necessity of sticking to his religion, no matter how much he might be tempted to give it up.

"'I can't!' he exclaimed; 'want to fight? Must fight; can't have. Bible, can't be Christian any more. Big Indian steal Winona's corn. Winona fight big Indian. Can't love God and hate his mother, laying his hand upon his heart.

"It took a great deal of reasoning and explaining to make him understand that it was the 'fight' that was in him, and not the 'Christian' that he must give up; but at last he was convinced that the teacher was right, and, taking his Bible, he went back to the big Indian and read the passage the teacher had pointed out: 'Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.'

"What a lesson might many professing Christians learn from this poor, untutored savage! They seem to love their Bibles and prize them above everything else."

Yes, indeed they might. Is it not grotesque that the churches send missionaries to savage tribes to teach them that it is wicked to fight and kill, while yet at home these same churches and professors of Christianity regard it as quite in keeping with Christianity to engage in civilised warfare? Chaplains are provided to encourage the soldier and look after his religions interests, and not a few cases are on record where a chaplain has achieved a reputation by fighting with his men. Why not? He is there to put the approval of religion upon killing. Why should we not kill and mutilate as well as preach? It is an awful thing-a horrible apostasy-that in these days, so far from being for peace, the churches of Christendom, by teaching that it is not contrary to Christianity to fight and kill, are actually forces making for war. If the churches and those who profess Christianity could learn from this poor untutored savage, the war-lords of the world wouId have to alter their plans.

"A Present Help in Trouble" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

The following paragraph from the London Echo, is most suggestive. They are not few who follow the calling which this young Italian professed. Every land has always its army of the hungry and discontented:-

There is a significant and pathetic, undertone in an account. of Pietro Acciarito, who made the attempt upon King Humbert; which is published in the Roman Messaggero. When he was asked at his examination, "What is your calling?" he replied, "A sufferer of hunger." "But that is no calling," said the magistrate." "It is nowadays in Italy," answered the young man. "I know many suppose that it is their calling to be carpenters, or painters, or masons, or locksmiths, and so forth; but there is not one of them who can get bread enough to fill his belly by following his supposed calling. Hence, they are all . . . , as I have done, that they are really called to suffer hunger." When Acciarito was further asked what he could say to justify himself for making an attempt upon the life of the King he answered, "I never thought of doing it; but when I saw carriage after carriage rolling by filled with well-dressed and well-fed people, and was told that the King himself had given a sum of 24,000 lire as a prize at the races, I wondered why so many should be hungry when there was money in the land, and all the more as so many do nothing to earn their money. Then I quite lost my head, as I remembered that I worked so hard, and cannot even earn a crust of bread." The half-insane assassin, and the learned professors of economy in half the universities, are puzzled by exactly the same problem of our modern social life.

Yet it is believed by many that Acciarito was the tool of an organized band of Anarchists, and that it is not the expression of an individual or local feeling which found vent in the attempt upon the life of King Humbert.

The Daily Mail, in the course of an article concerning the recent explosion on the underground railway, says:-

One factor in the case which seems significant is that the outrage follows hard upon the attempt on the King of Italy's life. It is a principle of Anarchism-at any rate the Anarchists assert it-that society should be terrorized at a number of different places simultaneously; in fact, that outrages should have an international character. If the Anarchists really work up to this principle, then the conjecture is legitimate that the one explosion is the work of one of their band.

This supposition may or may not have any foundation of fact in the present case, but it is most suggestive that there exists this principle of action, both expressed and tacit, among these apostles of the cult of destruction; and that this is known and exerts its influence upon the world. Such a fact, at this time, is very suggestive of the accumulated reasons for fear and anxiety which the passing years are rapidly heaping up for those whose hopes are based on temporal things. There are certainly many wars and continued rumours of wars, while at the same time those things are steadily increasing which are likely to cause men's hearts to fail them for fear of those things which are coming on the earth.

There is a place of safety, and there is but one. David appreciated that when he wrote the eighteenth psalm: "The Lord is my rock and fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust." "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear. . . . God shall help, and that right early. . . . The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. . . . He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth: He breaketh the bow, and cuteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our refuge." Ps. xlvi.

"Trust the promise, and God will make good the performance."

"The Promises to Israel. The Lost Tribes of Israel" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

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 prevail, we shall not now stop to enquire, 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 at Samaria. This northern kingdom it was that was first carried captive, and the tribes that composed it are the ones supposed to be lost.

The misconception is that the term "Jews" 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 theory 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 embraced 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 and unbelieving people may be, they must be Israelites simply because they are a 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, instead of through individual faith and righteousness.

BIBLE TERMS THAT OVERTHROW UNFOUNDED DISTINCTIONS

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.

The reader can readily see the naturalness of this, when he remembers that all the twelve tribes were descended from one man, Jacob, or Israel. The term "Israel" is therefore applicable to any or all the 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 that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter;

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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, Turk, or Chinese.

NONE OF THE TRIBES "LOST"

Now as to the "lost tribes." 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 two 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 own land. But the majority of all the 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 heart of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a royal 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 Exra 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."

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.

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 turned 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." Luke xix. 10. He declared, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. xv. 24), 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.

Here at last we have located the lost tribes of Israel. Not ten only, but all of the tribes 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, which we shall next consider.

"The Pope's Army" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

The Pope's kingdom, unlike Christ's, is altogether of this world, and hence do his servants fight. An Italian paper says that he has just reorganised his personal forces. The worst of it is that his influence is able sometimes to set greater armies in motion than this little one which guards the Vatican and keeps up the semblance of his temporal sovereignty. This alone, however, ought to teach his followers that the Papacy is an anti-Christian power. An evening paper, quoting from the Italian Catholic journal, thus describes the army:-

"It is divided into five separate bodies, which are known as the Noble Guard, the Swiss Guard, the Palatine Guard, the Gendarmes, and the Fire Brigade. The first of these, that is, the Noble Guard, is commanded by Prince Altieri, and is composed of fifty young members of the Roman nobility. Each member of the corps receives from three to four hundred lire a month, and a special club is maintained for their use and amusement. The Swiss Guard numbers one hundred strong, and the men are specifically selected for their youth and strength. Their duty is to

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guard the doors and entrances to the Vatican, and they are armed with the Remington rifle. As under the old regulations they will still carry the halberd while on parade. The Palatine Guard is divided into two companies, commanded by General Erostarosa, who has under him a staff of two majors and four captains. This corps raised from among the citizens of Rome, is called out only on special occasions. The gendarmes number one hundred, under the command of Colonel Taglifletri, and are recruited from ex-soldiers of the Italian army, specially recommended by Italian Bishops for their religious fidelity and fervour. The firemen, or pompiers, number thirty, and are always in the Vatican."

"Abstemious Living" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

Abstemious Living. -The advantage of living temperately is often strikingly shown in hospitals by the rapidity with which those who have thus lived recover from wounds. Many a man who has lived grossly and thought he was in good health, has found in case of some trifling accident that his vital forces were actually low, regarding the healing process. A despatch from the Larissa hospital illustrates this. A war correspondent speaks of the wonderful vitality of the Turk, and says:-

"The doctors also remark upon the extreme rapidity with which their patients recover from their wounds, and attribute it to the abstemious lives they lead, drinking no wine, and eating very little meat."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

-Over-three and a quarter millions in India are still receiving famine relief.

-The Emperor of Germany stands twenty-first in the direct line of succession to the British throne.

-The Papal Ablegate to Canada has gone to Winnipeg to give his personal attention to the Manitoba school question.

-The most extensive cemetery in the world is that of Rome, in which over 6,000,000 human beings have been interred.

-The Queen has now seventy descendants-seven children, thirty-three grandchildren, and thirty great-grandchildren.

-The Blackwell tunnel, under the Thames, will be opened, with appropriate ceremonies, by the Prince of Wales, on May 22.

-Turkey is proposing to call out more troops, and will soon have half a million men under arms, most of them in European Turkey.

-Australian frozen meat exporters have advised their London agents that they are shipping 20,000 carcases of mutton to be distributed among London poor during the Jubilee celebrations.

-During the Queen's reign the revenue of the Kingdom has doubled, but the expense of army and navy has increased threefold. And next year ?700,906 is to be added to the normal coat.

-The Anglo-American Arbitration Treaty has been rejected in the United States Senate. A two-thirds majority was neccesary for its passage, this it failed to receive, though only by two votes.

-Both the Transvaal and the British Government are making ready for war in South Africa at a rate which bodes anything but good for peace. All round Africa there is strife and preparation for it.

-There are said to be over twenty million widows in India, a fourth of whom are under twelve years of age. They number about one in every five females in India, while only about one male in twenty is a widower.

-Dr. Koch's specific against the rinderpest in South Africa has failed, and it is now conceded that nothing in human calculations can delay the progress of the pestilence to the Cape. Thousands of cattle were inoculated, but one-third died of the pest.

-At the late annual meeting of the Society for the Liberation of Religion from State Patronage and Control it was said that the Nonconformist places of worship now furnish seating room for nearly a million more listeners than the Church of England.

-The plague which has been subsiding in Bombay is raging in other parts. In Portuguese India it is very virulent. Several thousand natives from this district who tried to enter British India to escape the infected districts were driven back by the authorities.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

"I do not love God, and it does not seem as though I ever could; how can I learn to love Him?"

Thus writes an inquiring soul. The only answer is, Get acquainted with God. The trouble with our friend is a lack of acquaintance with God; for "he that loveth not knoweth not God." 1 John iv. 8. "And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee; for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee." Ps. ix. 10.

Don't trouble yourself about "trying to love God." Love doesn't come in that way. Love is a spontaneous growth springing from acquaintance with one who is loving and lovable. Get acquainted with God, and you can't help loving Him. The god whom you are trying to love, is not the true God.

"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Rom. v. 5), and we are taught (Luke xi. 13) that God is more ready to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, than a parent is to give good things to his children. The Spirit has, indeed, been poured out upon all flesh (Acts ii. 16, 17), so that the gift of love has been bestowed upon us even before we ask it. Air and water, the first essentials to life, and the freest of the gifts of God, are the best representations of the measureless gift of the Spirit, and so of the infinity of God's gift of everlasting love.

"But how can I get acquainted with God?" Oh, that is not difficult. He is "not far from every one of us" (Acts xvii. 27), and is very accessible, for He invites everybody to come to Him. Through Christ all men of every class and nation "have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Eph. ii. 18. Begin to hold conversations with Him. Do not be afraid of intruding, or of putting yourself forward; for when you speak to the Lord you are only replying to the words that He has already spoken to you. If you consider what He has said to you, you will be at no loss to know what to say to Him. You cannot expect to love one with whom you are not acquainted; but what is more natural than the growth of love between persons who frequently converse together.

We get acquainted with God also through His works. "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord." Ps. xxxiii. 5. All His works praise Him. The evidences of His love and loveliness are stamped upon every leaf and flower; they descend with the rain, and flow with the streams; they shine in the sunbeams, and are diffused in the air. "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him;" for unto you who believe "He is precious."

"The Birmingham gun trade has not," says the Daily Mail, "been so busy as it is now since 1870. In this opinion all the leading gun-makers of the Midland city concur. It is significant that Birmingham should always be busiest on the eve of a war."

Buddhism is said to be making considerable progress in America, specially in Boston, the centre of New England culture. It means, doubtless, no acceptance of a new religion, but the cultured triflers with moral truth have merely found a name for their irreligion.

"Individual Work" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

Individual Work .-It is interesting to note that Mr. Charles Booth (no relative of the "General"), who probably knows more about the condition of the people of London than any other man, finds as the result of his studies that "almost every social and economic question . . . derives its ultimate practical importance from a more widely spread and more human care for the individual," and that the hope of uplifting the fallen lies not in State enterprise or Collectivism, but in "the reform of the individual by the individual." God saves men, not in bulk, but as individuals; Christ died for the world, but only in that He tasted death "for every man;" therefore all who would join Him in His work, must labour individually for individuals.

"Inciting to War" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

Inciting to War .-It does not augur well for the prospects of peace, when leading church teachers declare that the three conditions of justifiable warfare are, the command of the prince, a just cause, and a good intention-and that the first cause "relieves the individual soldier from all moral responsibility for his military action;" that "it is lawful for Christian men at the command of the magistrate to wear weapons and to serve in the wars;" and, even worse still, that "in war men have the opportunity of rising to higher levels of virtue than they would have thought possible of attainment." Such teaching is not calculated to make men acquainted with God as the One who "maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth." He who "hath the power of death, that is the devil," has, by means of his skill in passing himself off as an angel of Iight, attained to a very prominent position as a religious teacher, so that counsels of war and death are largely supposed to be a part of the Gospel of life and peace.

"Reunion" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

Reunion .-The Moscow correspondent of the Standard, in a recent issue of that paper, writes as follows concerning the Archbishop of York's visit to Russia:-

The visit of Dr. Maclagan has aroused among all classes of society in Moscow an interest amounting to enthusiasm. One of the most popular local papers remarks that, rightly understood, the visit means more for the Orthodox Russians than even the Greco-Turkish war. The union of the Greek and Anglican churches has been the constant topic of conversation of late, and whatever be the practical result of such a movement, no doubt such a union has been advanced a step by the cordial reception given everywhere to the Archbishop of York.

"In Russia" The Present Truth 13, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

In Russia .-The work of Sabbath reform goes on in Russia. From a recent report we learn that it has obtained a foothold in St. Petersburg. "While the difficulties in this great field are rather increasing than lessening," says the report, "the Lord is mightier than all, and in spite of prison and exile the truth advances. One active worker has recently been exiled, only to carry the truth there." A few weeks ago the London newspapers reported the escape from the Caucasus of a band of exiled Protestants, who had suffered much at the hands of inquisitorial priests. Among them, it appears, was one of our Seventh-day Adventist brethren. They escaped into Roumania. "But they had hardly set foot in a freer land, and mentioned the glad tidings in a Russian settlement there," says the report from one of our Society's workers, "ere a Russian priest had our brother arrested on the charge of being a Russian spy."

May 27, 1897

"The Gathering of Israel. The Everlasting Covenant Complete" The Present Truth 13, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the Acts xv. 18.

"And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before 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." Acts iii. 20, 21.

"To Him give all the prophets witness." Acts x. 43.

The final gathering of God's people, and their establishment in the earth restored, has been the theme of the prophets ever since the fall; and as a necessary consequence they have all borne witness that all who believe in Christ shall receive remission of sins, since it is only through the remission of sins that the gathering and restoration takes place. Let us then look at a few of these prophecies that tell of these things, and they will serve as representatives of all the others. We take first the eleventh of Isaiah.

"And there shall come forth a rod (shoot, R.V) out of the stem (stock) of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall he slay the wicked. (Compare 2 Thess. 2:8.)

"And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; 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 child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Verses 1-9.

THE GOSPEL HISTORY IN OUTLINE

Here we have an outline of the entire Gospel history, including the blotting out of sin and sinners, and the establishing of the righteous in the earth made new, when "the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." Ps. xxxvii.11, together with verses 9, 10.

Having given the whole story as already read, the prophet goes a little more into detail. Going back to the point where he began, he proceeds:-

"And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people, to it shall the Gentiles seek, and His rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day; that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of ludah from the four comers of the earth." Verses 10-12.

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Of this gathering of the elect from the four corners of the earth, we read also in Matt. xxiv. 31. The power by which this gathering is to be accomplished will be no less than that which was manifested when the Lord set His hand the first time to gather His people; for we read: "There shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." Isa. xi. 16.

"BEHOLD YOUR GOD!"

Of this gathering, first and last, we read also in the fortieth of Isaiah. The preaching of the Gospel, including the forgiveness of sins, the giving of the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, the setting forth of God as the only Power in the universe, the Creator and Preserver, and the announcement of the coming of the Lord in glory, is all found there. Then in the message, "Behold your God," we read:-

"Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him (compare Rev. xxii. 12), and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm; and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." Verses 10, 11.

We have before read about the gathering of the lost sheep of the house of Israel into one fold, so that there shall be "one fold and one Shepherd;" here we see that that gathering is begun by the preaching of the Gospel, and is completed only by the coming of the Lord in glory, with His angels; and further, that the power and glory of the coming of the Lord are identical with the power that must accompany the preaching of the Gospel.

THE LOST SHEEP UNDER THE APOSTASY

In the following verses we read the condition of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and how the unfaithful shepherds scatter the sheep instead of gathering them:-

"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you: with the wool, ye kill them that are fed; but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have we sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there was no shepherd and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill; yea, My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

"Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; As I live saith the Lord God, surely, because My flock became a prey, and My flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not My flock; therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against the shepherds; and I will require My flock at their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out My sheep, and deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places in the country." (Compare Rom. 4:18.)

"And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David; He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David a Prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land (compare Isa. xi. 6-9); and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid." Eze. xxxiv. 1-13, 23-28.

GATHERED BY THE RESURRECTION

Exactly how this final gathering is to be accomplished, we are told in chapter xxxvii:-

"The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about; and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And He said unto me, Son of man can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, Thou knowest.

"Again He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. (Compare John 5:25-29.) Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live; and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

"So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind prophesy Son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their few an exceeding great army.

"Then He said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say Our bones are dried, and our hop, is lost; we are cut off for our parts ("clean cut off," R.V.). Therefore, prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up

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out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And 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 ye shall live, and I shall place you in your land; then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord." Verses 1-14.

"THE WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL"

Thus we see that the promise of the Lord to David, that He would appoint a place for His people Israel, and plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more, and no more be afflicted (2 Sam. vii. 10), is to be fulfilled by the resurrection from the dead. And this gathering of Israel, the only one that has ever been promised, and it is enough, embraces all the faithful ones of all ages; for when the Lord speaks, "all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth."

We have seen that this gathering is to be of "the whole house of Israel;" the verses following show that at that time there will be no division of the kingdom, but only "one fold and one shepherd:"-

"The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel and his companions; and join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these? Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in Mine hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one King shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into kingdoms any more at all; neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them; so shall they be My people, and I will be their God. And David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one Shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto lacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever; and My servant David shall be their prince for ever." Eze. xxxvii.15-25.

Now note particularly what follows:-

"Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Compare Rev. xxi. 1-3.) And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore." Verses 26-28.

GOD'S JUDGMENT UPON ALL NATIONS

That the deliverance of Israel is not a mere local affair, is plain in shown in the punishment threatened upon Babylon, in the twenty-fifth chapter of Jeremiah. It was at the close of the seventy years captivity that God purposed to bring this punishment; but, as we have already seen, Israel was not fully ready to be gathered at that time. From that day to this, many of God's people have been in Babylon, so that the word comes in these latter days, as well as then, "Come out of her My people." Jer. li. 45; Rev. xviii. 4. Nevertheless, God began the punishment of Babylon at that time, and the following verses will show that the promises to Israel, and the threats of punishment upon their oppressors, concern the whole earth:-

"Thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me: Take the wine cup of this fury at My hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it. (Compare Ps. lxxv. 8; Rev. xiv. 9, 10.) And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the Lord had sent me; to wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day; Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants, and all his people; and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world which are upon the face of the

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earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

"Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Ye shall certainly drink. For lo, I begin to bring evil upon the city that is called by My name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore prophesy against them these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth, for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with ill flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground. Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter, and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock shall be heard; for the Lord bath spoiled their pasture." Jer. xxv. 15-84.

THE TIME OF DELIVERANCE

Notice that this is at the time of the punishment of the false shepherds, as prophesied in Ezekiel xxxiv., when Israel shall be gathered, and a covenant of peace made with them. Of the nature of this covenant and the time of the making of it, we have the clearest information in the book of Jeremiah, especially when read in connection with the scriptures already quoted. A brief sketch of two chapters will suffice to make the story complete, so far as our present study is concerned.

We begin with chapter xxz.:-

"The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying. Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it." Verses 1-3.

Here we are on familiar ground. These verses mark the time when the things later spoken of shall take place when God brings His people back to their own land. So we proceed:-

"And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him; but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David My servant, whom I will raise up unto them." Verses 4-9.

Compare with this Daniel xii. 1: "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 he delivered, every one that shall be found a written in the book." Although God's people are to be delivered in the time of trouble that immediately precedes the coming of the Lord, so that no evil shall befall them, nor any plague come nigh their dwelling (Ps. xci.), yet it is impossible that they should behold and see the reward of the wicked without themselves being filled with fear and trembling; for it is no small thing when God arises. Therefore He says:-

"Fear thou not, O My servant Jacob, saith the Lord: neither be dismayed, O Israel; for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee; though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, but will I not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished." Jer. xxx. 10, 11.

"Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be builded on her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving, and the voice of them that make merry; and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before Ma, and I will punish all that oppress them. And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governors shall, proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto Me; for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto Me? saith the Lord. And ye shall be My people, and I will be your God. Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind (a sweeping tempest, R.V.); it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return until He have done it, and until He have performed the intents of His heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it." Verses 18-24.

RANSOMED FROM THE GRAVE

"At, the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people. Thus saith the Lord, the people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to eat. The Lord hath appeared of old unto Me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Jer. xxxi. 1-3.

"Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles, afar off, and say; He that scattered Israel shall gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath ransomed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat; and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd, and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they

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shall not sorrow any more at all." Verses 10-13.

"Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord: Refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border." Verses 15-17.

Here we have another sure guide as to where we are, or rather, as to the time with which the prophecy deals. We know that this prophecy was partly fulfilled when Herod slew the babes of Bethlehem. Matt. ii. 16-18. But the Lord says to the mourners, that the last ones shall come from the land of the enemy (See 1 Cor. xv. 36) to their own border. Thus we see again that it is only by the resurrection of the dead that Israel's captivity is to be turned, and they be gathered to their own land; and we note that, the time of which we are now reading in Jeremiah is the time when God turns the captivity of His people. So, speaking of this same period, the prophet continues:-

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the sped of man, and with the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to destroy, and to afflict: so will I watch over them to build and to plant, saith the Lord. In these days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall. be set, on edge." Verses 27-30.

THE NEW COVENANT

From the connection, there cannot be the slightest doubt as to what time is here referred to; it is the time of the punishment of the wicked, and the reward of the righteous; the time when God's people are to be for ever delivered from all wickedness and oppression, and to be established in the land, to possess it to all eternity in peace and righteousness. So, still speaking of that same time, the prophet proceeds:-

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is His name: If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever. Thus saith the Lord: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed or Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord." Jer. xxxi. 31-37.

Here we have the conclusion of the whole matter. With the making of the new covenant, the days of exile and captivity are ended, and God's people dwell in His unveiled presence for evermore. That covenant remains yet to be made; yet by living faith all its blessings may now be enjoyed, even as the power of the resurrection, by which God's people are finally established in their own land, is the power by which they are prepared for that glorious day.

THE OLD AND THE NEW COVENANTS

We have long since in this study of the Promises to Israel seen why, and under what circumstances, the old covenant was made, when Israel stood at the base of Sinai. That is called the first or, old covenant, not because there was no covenant that preceded it, but because it was, the first that was made "with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah"-with the whole house of Israel as such. The covenant with Abraham was more than four hundred years earlier, and it embraced everything that God can possibly bestow upon any people. It is by virtue of that covenant with Abraham, confirmed by God's oath, that we now come with boldness to the throne of grace, and find strong consolation in all our trials. Heb. vi. 18-20. All the faithful are children of Abraham.

But Israel of old proved unfaithful, and forgot or despised the everlasting covenant made with Abraham. They wished to walk by sight, and not by faith. They trusted in themselves, rather than in God. In the test, when God reminded them of His covenant with Abraham, and as a help to their faith in the power of His promise, reminded them of what He had already done for them, they presumptuously took upon themselves the responsibility of their own salvation and entered into a covenant from which nothing but bondage and death could come. God, however, who abides faithful, even though men believe not, used even this as an object lesson. From the shadow they could learn of the reality; even their bondage should contain a prophecy and promise of freedom.

WHEN THE NEW COVENANT WILL BE ENTERED INTO

God does not leave His people in the place where their own folly has placed them. So He promised a new covenant. Not that anything was lacking in the covenant made with Abraham, but He would make the same covenant with the whole people of Israel, as a nation. This promise of the new covenant still holds good, for by the oath of God, and by His own sacrifice has Jesus been made "surety of a better covenant." Heb. vii. 22. So surely as Jesus died and rose again, and by the power of that death and resurrection, will all Israel be gathered, and the new, the everlasting covenant be established with them, the righteous nation that keepeth the truth. The covenant will be made with none but Israel, yet none need be left out, for whoever will, may come.

When the first covenant was made with all Israel, God came with all the angels; the trumpet of God sounded, and His voice shook the earth as the law was spoken. So when the new covenant shall be made, all Israel will be present, there will be none who are not gathered,-"Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence" (Pet. i. 3); "the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with

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the trump of God" (1 Thess. iv. 16), "in the glory of His Father, and all the holy angels with Him." Matt. xvi. 2; xxv. 31. His voice shook the earth, but this time it will shake not only this earth, but heaven also. Thus will the whole universe be a partaker in this grand consummation, and the Israel of God all thus be joined to "the whole family in heaven." By the cross of Christ, "the blood of the everlasting covenant," is God's throne established; and that which saves the lost of earth is the pledge of the eternal safety of the unfallen beings.

THE FIRST DOMINION RESTORED

One lesson that must be pointed out in closing is that the new covenant brings in nothing new, except the new earth, and that is that which was from the beginning. The men with whom it is made will have already been made new in Christ. The first dominion will be restored. Let no one therefore think to excuse himself from keeping the commandments of God, by saying that he is under the new covenant. No, if he is in Christ, then is he in (not under) the covenant with Abraham, and as a child of Abraham, an heir with Christ, he has hope in the new covenant, of which Christ is surety. Whoever does not acknowledge himself to be of the generation of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in fellowship with Moses, David, and the prophets, has no ground for hope in the new covenant. And whoever rejoices in the promises of the new covenant, the blessings of which the Holy Spirit even now makes real, must remember that it is the virtue of the new covenant that the law of God is put into our hearts. The old covenant brought nobody to the obedience of that law, but the new covenant makes it universal, so that the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Therefore,

"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!"

"For of Him and through Him, and, to Him are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen."

"Still Out in the Cold" The Present Truth 13, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

After suffering the rebuff at the hands of Rome, the Anglican Catholics decided to cover their failure by making friends with Russia. "As Paul turned from the unbelieving Jews to the receptive Gentiles, so we," said the Church Times, "shall turn from the unsympathetic Roman to the Greek. So the Archbishop of York has been visiting Russia as the official representative of the Church of England. Moscow papers have described how the Archbishop "reverently adored the relics of the Moscow saints," crossed himself, and otherwise showed that Anglicanism could be as pagan as the intolerant and persecuting Greek Church. But, alas for reunionist dreams, it is said that the efforts to establish ecclesiastical brotherhood have failed. "The Russian official organ of the Holy Synod has published a significant manifesto, in which full concurrence is expressed with the Papal decision, against the validity of Anglican orders."

"Political Religion" The Present Truth 13, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

The use made of religion by Governments which have a department of religion was illustrated a few weeks ago in connection with the Gr?co-Turkish war. At a time when the Porte had its hands full in forcing the passes into Thessaly, Bulgaria suddenly demanded permission to appoint several bishops in Macedonia, threatening to mobilise her army in case of refusal. Bulgaria has well known political designs on Macedonia, which now bars her way to the sea. This great interest in the religious condition of the Slavs of a few political agents, who should be working for Bulgarian interests to serve the master that appoints them, and they usually do so.

"Melody that Heaven Hears" The Present Truth 13, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

The higher degree of excellence that may be obtained in music the better, as ability to produce melody and the ear to recognise it are gifts of God, to be cultivated and used in His service. Therefore the heart must be in it; or it becomes but a travesty of sacred things. The song of praise to God that does not come from the heart is as much a mockery as the prayer that is spoken merely with the lips to be heard of men. The melody that Heaven hears is made in the heart. Eph. v. 19. This in nowise belittles the importance of being able to express melody by the lips, but it is an encouragement to those of us who have no special gift of musical ability, or have to repent of the lack of it through failure to cultivate it. The "new song" is learned by heart experiences, and God hears the melody of heart praise even when the lips make no sound. The following old monkish legend has a lesson for these days when church music so frequently strains after theatrical effect:-

"There was once a band of poor men who had good voices but no idea of music, and so they were filled with regret because their service was so imperfect. One day there came to them one who had spent his whole life with music and musicians, one who understood all possible variations of tones and the relations between them. He pointed out to these humble monks the imperfections in their musical service, and he made them ashamed. They asked him to sing for them, and he sang, and it seemed to them that they had never heard anything so grand. But that night a voice asked the abbott why they had forgotten their evening song. The old man replied that they had not forgotten it; on the contrary, they had had a most magnificent service. 'Magnificent it may have been,' said the voice, 'but not one sound of worship has entered heaven this night.'"

"The Wailing Place" The Present Truth 13, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

What is said to be a portion of the old foundation wall of the Temple at Jerusalem, is still standing. A writer in the Daily Mail describes the scene to be witnessed alongside this relic of ancient glory and memorial of the final apostasy of the Jewish nation. What these people now need is the Gospel of the Jerusalem which is above, to which Abraham, the father of God's true Israel looked. Too many of those who are trying to help the Jews are, like them, looking to the Jerusalem below for the fulfilment of the promise to the fathers. This writer says:-

A narrow lane, scarcely more than 10 ft. wide, runs at the base of the old wall, and here, for a space of about 200 ft., come the Jews to wail over the loss of their holy city on Fridays, and upon days just preceding any of their great feasts or fasts, as for instance, the Passover or the Feast of Tabernacles. Nominally they come to lament and pray, and read their religious books, and many of them do all these things; but many more of them come for quite a different purpose, and think less of the loss of Jerusalem than of gain to themselves, the time being mostly devoted to barter and sale, and retailing the latest gossip of the quarter.

Imagine a long stretch of wall, 50 ft. high, composed of great grey stones, each many feet in length, and evidently of great thickness; grass and weeds growing between the chinks at the top, and the lower portions worn smooth by the long continued

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pressing of hands and lips to its once hard and rough surface. Close to this wall with their faces almost touching, stand men and women closely packed together in a long line, praying and wailing, their faces anxious, their eyes filled with tears. Old men and youths, grey-beards and striplings, young girls and shriveled old women, crowd each other and for hours this singular ceremony continues.

Moving about among the mourners and keeping a particular look-out for strangers, whom they regard as their legitimate prey, are beggars-the lame, the halt, and the blind-some with an excuse for asking alms and others with none, except that it was the easiest way to make a living. There are, however, 6,000 professional beggars in Jerusalem, and the field is so crowded that it is no longer possible for any one to make a decent living by begging in the holy city.

The long, high wall, the groups of picturesque men and women, the life, the motion, the shifting colour, the many changes of the scene will always be remembered, but only as a show; never as a religious ceremonial to impress the mind and heart with its recollection, for long habit has taken away what seriousness the custom might once have had.

"A Nauseous Intoxicant" The Present Truth 13, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

It is not the taste or the palate that calls for intoxicants. The craving is that of the nerves which have been enslaved and which rule over the will and the man. When once the drink habit is established it may be satisfied by that which would be altogether nauseous to the taste of a man who was free and in his right mind. The disgusting fruits of the stimulant habit may be seen in the ways which are taken in some quarters to supply a cheap intoxicant. The British Medical Journal says:-

"Attention has recently been drawn to the fact that much of the drunkenness amongst the extremely poor inhabitants of Edinburgh is caused by the consumption of a mixture of methylated spirit with paraffin oil. It appears that a certain proportion of the newly distilled whisky kept in bond undergoes decomposition, and it is thus rendered unfit for consumption. This material is treated with methyl, removed from bond, and is sold by retail dealers for use in furniture polishing and other similar occupations.

"It was found, however, that the addition of methyl did not deter the poorer workmen from drinking the spirit, and consequently the authorities decided to add a small quantity of naphtha or paraffin oil. In spite of its nauseating character, however, this mixture, popularly known as 'dynamite,' is very widely consumed, and in the poor closes of the city one may see, in the words of the report, 'groups of men and women, in a more or less hopelessly intoxicated condition, a bottle of "dynamite" in one hand and a corn-beef can in the other from which they continued to drink the liquid diluted with water from a neighbouring well.'

"It can hardly be supposed that the liquor is relished, or that any amount of indulgence would lead to an acquired taste; the object is simply to get drunk, and the compound enables this end to be attained quickly and cheaply, for it is six or eight times less expensive than whisky. The injurious effects arising from this pernicious habit are not dwelt upon, but although the small quantities of methyl and naphtha may give rise to no discomfort to those accustomed to their use, yet the impure and raw spirit which is the basis of the compound must eventually work havoc, especially upon the nervous system. It will be remembered that ether drunkenness has become very prevalent in Tyrone and the North of Ireland, but our detailed exposure of the widespread practice, and the discovery that it was a fraud on the Revenue, led to its prompt suppression at the instance of the Treasury. A similar intervention might be equally useful here."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

-There are thirty-two Roman Catholic peers.

-It is said that 70,000 men are at work on the great Siberian railway, which is expected to be completed in four years.

-A deadly fever is reported to be raging in parts of the Transvaal, and the natives of Gouthansberg are said to be dying "like flies" from famine.

-Only seventy years have elapsed since the first railway in the world was finished. During that comparatively brief period 400,000 miles have been constructed.

-The new Russian census gives the total population of the empire as 129,911,000, of whom 64,616,280 are men. St. Petersburg has a population of 1,267,000.

-A work in one hundred volumes, containing the names of all animals known and described, is soon to be published in Germany. There are 980,000 animals known.

-The Salvation Army collection during their self-denial week this year has yielded ?25,000 in the United Kingdom. They expect the returns from abroad will be as much more.

-The largest pin factory in the world is in Birmingham. 97,000,000 pins are made there every working day. About 10,003,000 of pins are made daily by other factories in England.

-The bicycle has something to its credit if the complaints of publishers of novels in Francis are well-founded. They say that so many people now spend their leisure in cycling that novel-reading is decreasing.

-In the discussion in the House of Lords of the prevalence of vice-produced disease in the Indian army the War Secretary said that of 70,000 British soldiers in India In 1894, 20,000 had been affected by this disease. And of 19,000 men who returned annually from India to this country only about 6,000 were altogether oleos from disease.

-In all countries it is estimated that there are 1,000,000 blind people. The number is highest in proportion to the population in Russia and Egypt. In Egypt this is ascribed to the irritation of the eyes by drifting sand, and in northern Russia, where the number of blind is most numerous, it is thought to be due to badly ventilated huts of the peasantry and to the flat aspect of the country.

-A missionary lately returned from the Upper Congo tells stories of the most revolting cruelty habitually practised upon the natives by the directors of the Congo Free State. Natives of cannibal tribes are set over districts with orders to kill or cut off the hands of natives who fail to bring in sufficient rubber. The missionary himself had seen these things going on. He says, "These things are not altogether the fault of the officers; they are due to the iniquitous system. The curse of the Congo is its forced labour and its inevitable accompaniments. The system of trade authorised by the Government is simply one of wholesale robbery, extortion, slavery, and murder."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

A French colonial paper says that it is expected that the ex-Queen of Madagascar will soon be received into the Catholic Church. She is said to hope in this way to regain favour with the French Government.

Not even the correspondents whose business it is to describe war dare attempt to tell its horrors. "The scene in the temporary hospital at Domoko," said Reuter's Correspondent last week, after the final battle, "was almost beyond description, and had better be left undescribed; and the sum of agony endured by the wounded in their conveyance across the Furka and Lamia Passes can only be reckoned by the recording angel."

It is customary for religious newspapers and even pulpits to devote considerable time to literary criticisms. Perhaps it is this that has led to much criticism of the Apostle Paul of late, because he showed "no appreciation of art" and a meagre knowledge of Greek literature and philosophy it is not strange that the apostle had only warnings to give concerning them. He knew that the immoral lives of the cultured of the day were but the fruits of their philosophy, which is even to-day studied in the colleges as "moral philosophy." But aside from this, think of the Apostle Paul who knew God, had seen the Lord Jesus and the paradise of God, stopping to pass criticisms on current art and literature! While the Holy Spirit wrote the Word, it was by men who knew the Lord. The Word is written for sinners who need a Saviour from sin and wrath to come. The Gospel is not something to interest people, but to save them. The Apostle Paul's message for the last days, when people with itching ears demand pastors who can tickle their ears with "philosophy and vain deceit," is, "Preach the Word."

It is to be hoped that none will feel like complaining because there is so much quoted from the Bible in the article this week in "The Gathering of Israel." If any feel so inclined, let them reflect that it is an indication that they prefer the word of man to the word of God. If all people were as willing to read God's own Word as they ought to be; there would be no need of such papers as PRESENT TRUTH, whose only object is to preach the Word. There are doubtless very many professed Christians who talk about the blessings and privileges of the new covenant, and who boast of being under it, who have never read the Scriptures in connection with which it is promised. Aside from the help in the subject immediately before us, we hope that this article may be an object lesson, showing the value of carefully connected reading of the Bible.

This century has been the century of missions; and especially during the last sixty years-a period often mentioned in the recent annual meetings of missionary societies, in this Jubilee year-Protestant missions have scattered the Word abroad. This is a significant development in this time when prophecy shows the coming of the Lord to be at hand, for the word of the Lord is, "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." Whatever scatters abroad the Word is preparing the way for the coming of Christ.

When protest on principle is made against war, people often say, "But how would governments maintain themselves without fighting?" Of course they cannot exist without warring, for Satan is "the god of this world" and where he is there will always be envy and strife and every evil work. The children of this world will fight in the quarrels of the kingdoms of this world, because swayed in their sympathies by the spirit of the god of this world. But the Christian belongs to the Lord's service. His kingdom is not of this world, and hence His servants do not fight.

"'Haven't Time'" The Present Truth 13, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

"Haven't Time." -Have you no time to think of God, to seek Him, to study His Word, and to learn of Him?" "Are there not twelve hours in the a day"-yes, in your day? Is it not as long as any other person's day? "From him that hath not," said the Saviour, "shall be taken away even that which he hath." If you have no time now, you will have none hereafter. None are so short of time as those who have no time to prepare for eternity.

"Power, But Whose Power" The Present Truth 13, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

Power, But Whose Power? -The Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom. i. 16. The introduction or substitution of any other power is a perversion of the Gospel. Power is necessary, but it must be Divine and not human power. There is no Gospel where there is no power to save, and there is in man no power to save. Therefore the connection of religion with earthly powers is the destruction of the Gospel. The life is in the power, and so, although a body of men may hold the Gospel in its purity and perfection, the moment they attempt to unite that with secular power, that moment the vitality leaves it, for there is no power in man. "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 costly, and it must be let alone for ever." Ps. xlix. 6-8, R.V. "Power belongeth unto God." Ps. lxii. 11. Therefore it is that only to Him belongeth the Gospel. Even the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Cor. i. 25. Concerning His Gospel God says to all earthly powers "Hands off!" It "must be let alone for ever." God alone can redeem.

"Darkest Christendom" The Present Truth 13, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

Darkest Christendom .-Some journals which, before the war, were enthusiastic in praise of the fighting spirit of the Greek troops and their preparedness for war, now that disaster has followed the Greek arms call the Turks "hereditary man slayers." They are so. Mohammedanism, like its author, was a murderer from the beginning. But if the victory had been on the other side, and the slaughtering had been done by Greek troops, how different would have been the comments. Skill in slaying would not have been considered a reproach. Of a truth Christendom considers that "Christians" have the best right to kill. Missionaries go to heathen tribes to teach them to stop fighting one another and to follow Christ. Then as soon as they are converted they must learn that it is perfectly proper to fight and kill if only they do it in a civilised and "Christian" way. Verily there is need of preaching the Gospel to Christendom in order that men may know what Christianity is.

June 3, 1897

"Proper Sabbath Observance" The Present Truth 13, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

"And it came to pass, that He went through the corn fields on the Sabbath day; and His disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungered, he, and they that were with him? How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the showbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Mark ii. 23-28. And He said, "If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless." Matt. xii. 7.

This statement about the Sabbath and its purpose is from Him who made the Sabbath; for in Christ were all things created (Col. i. 16, 17), and without Him was not one single thing made, of that which exists (John i. 1-3); and the Sabbath is the rest of the Creator. Gen. ii. 1-3. The Creator, He who made the Sabbath for man, is the only one who can tell us what it is for, and how to keep it. All statements by men, to the effect that this thing must not be done on the Sabbath, are Pharisaical and Popish additions to God's Word, which, inasmuch as they are mere human ordinances, are always sure to be wrong. The Word of God alone is to be the guide under all circumstances; whoever holds fast to the Word, and is taught of God cannot go wrong.

"The Sabbath was made for man," and is therefore not something that is against him, a hard requirement,-something to hold, him down,-but a thing calculated to help him in every way. But it is for man; that is, it is a blessing to a man only when he keeps it. When a man rejects that which is good, he has only the evil; so a blessing spurned leaves only a man helpless. Therefore when it is said that all human additions to the Sabbath, and interpretations of the commandment are of no value, it must not be understood that anybody, in the world has any license to break the Sabbath. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," is as valid a commandment as it was the day it was spoken from Sinai.

Notice that the Saviour did not excuse the disciples for breaking the Sabbath, but He declared that they had not broken it; they were guiltless. God is not like the gods that the heathen worship who must

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be propitiated by human suffering. He has no delight in seeing people suffer, but only in seeing them happy. Fasting is right in its place, and acceptable to God; but, when it is done as a penance, when one makes a virtue of it, then it is an abomination to the Lord. Jesus said that the disciples, in quietly satisfying their hunger on the Sabbath day, were guiltless. They did that which was "not lawful," only according to the traditions of the Pharisees, but not according, to the law of God. "It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days," said Jesus (Matt. xii. 12), and He it is who by obedience to the law of God magnified the law and made it houourable. Isa. xlii. 21.

In these words, "It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days," and, "The Sabbath was made for man," we have the explanation of many of the acts of Christ. The first of these statements is found in Matthew's account of the healing the man with a withered hand (Matt. xii.), which occurs in immediate connection with that of the disciples eating the corn. Indeed, they went from the corn-field direct to the synagogue, where Jesus performed this miracle. The Pharisees knowing how ready and anxious Jesus was to relieve the afflicted, watched Him to see if He would heal the man on the Sabbath. He asked them, "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or, to do evil? to save life, or to kill?" But they held their peace. Mark iii. 4. "But when He had looked round about, on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, He saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out; and his hand was restored whole as the other." Mark iii. 5.

The Sabbath, therefore, is connected with well-doing, and stands for well-doing, since it was made for man, for his benefit. The Scribes and Pharisees had made it a burden for the people; and it was to show its real nature, that Jesus performed so many miracles on the Sabbath day. Let us look at three typical miracles, besides the one already noted, that were done on the Sabbath.

In the fifth chapter of John we have the account of the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda, who had an infirmity that had made him unable to walk for thirty-eight years. "When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered Him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked; and on the same day was the Sabbath." John v. 6-9. "Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day." Verse 16.

Although Jesus knew how the Pharisees felt about such things, He still continued to go about doing good, no less on the Sabbath days than on other days. He said, "I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day." As He passed by, "He saw a man which was blind from his birth." Having said that He must do the works of God, and that He was the light of the world, "He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing." "And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes." And again there was a strife among the Jews over the matter. See John ix.

On another occasion Jesus "was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And He laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work; in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed; and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him." Luke xiii. 10-17.

One noticeable thing about all these cases is that none of them were what might be called urgent cases. There was no immediate danger of death in any of them, unless possibly the case of the man at the pool of Bethesda, and one day more could certainly not have made much difference in his case. The blind man would never have known the difference if Jesus on seeing him had said to Himself, "To-morrow, or as soon as the Sabbath is past, I will come and heal that man." Eight or ten days even would have made no great difference so far as the man was concerned, for his life was in no danger, and he had no expectation of seeing. The same thing is true of the woman that was bowed down, and of the man with the withered hand. They would not have suffered materially if Jesus had waited a day or two longer before healing them, especially as they were not expecting to be healed. But Jesus did not wait, when He saw people in affliction, but gave them the blessing of health and strength at once, no matter what the day. Even when He knew that the Jews were watching Him, and that they would seek to kill Him for His Sabbath miracles, He did not put off the good work.

We cannot read the record of these cases without seeing that it was not mere accident that they were healed on the Sabbath day. When the persons' lives were in no danger, and they had as it were become accustomed to their infirmity, and had not asked nor expected to be healed, and when Jesus knew that the healing of them on the Sabbath would increase the enmity of the rulers of the Jews against Him, and that they were watching Him, we can easily see that there was design in the performance of these miracles on the Sabbath day. Jesus wished to teach the people and their rulers a lesson that they needed to know.

Of one thing, however, we may be sure, the design of Jesus was not to spite the Jews, or to show contempt for the rulers. It was not any defiance of danger, or desire to assert His rights, that led Him thus to act contrary to the cherished traditions of the elders. We know that He often went away to another part rather than stir up the animosity of the rulers, and that He

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did not court publicity. No; His one desire was to do good, and to show the people that the Sabbath was meant to be a blessing, and not a burden. His work was "to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised" (Luke iv. 18), not alone in body, but in soul and spirit. The physical blindness and bondage and infirmity which the people suffered was only an evidence and a consequence of the spiritual blindness and bondage and infirmity that afflict mankind; and the power of Jesus over the one was simply an evidence of His power over the other. He came to represent the Father, and to declare His name, who is, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7. The healing of the body was only a sign to show the reality of the blessed work of forgiving sins and cleansing from all unrighteousness. See Matt. ix. 5, 6.

Now the object of the Sabbath is to cause people to know the Lord as the God who sanctifies. Eze. xx. 12. The Sabbath is God's rest, the rest which He graciously shares with all who believe Him. Ex. xx. 8, 9; Heb. iv. 3, 4. It stands for complete deliverance from sin in the present time, and is the pledge and assurance of the final redemption of the body and of the whole creation from every trace of the curse. Those who cease from profaning it, and who call it a delight, and not a burden, and by the proper observance of it honour God as Creator with all power in heaven and earth, have the promise that through it they shall delight themselves in the Lord, and be made to ride on the high places of the earth. Isa. lviii. 13, 14. It was to show all the people, including us, that the Sabbath means freedom from sin and . . . and fulness of joy in the Lord, that Jesus performed those miracles. Let it be particularly noticed that the effect of them was to cause the people to rejoice and to glorify God.

It may be noted, in closing, that there was never any controversy or question as to which day is the Sabbath. The commandment settles that for all time, and the Bible gives no ground for any controversy over the matter. "The seventh day is the Sabbath," and the Pharisees and Jesus were agreed on that, since there was no room for difference. Jesus did not once intimate that the seventh day was not the Sabbath, or that He had come to change it, or that it no longer needed to be observed as strictly as formerly. He expressly stated that He had not come to destroy the law, or any portion of it, but instead to fulfil it and show how it should be observed. His works of love and mercy, never performed for His own profit or benefit, but only for the good of others, even to His own loss, were done, not to show disrespect of the Sabbath day, but were on the contrary, the highest possible honour that could be shown it, in that they presented it as the sign of the greatest blessing that God has it in His power to bestow. Who will accept it as such, and in glorifying God find himself sanctified and glorified?

"A Significant Movement in Australia" The Present Truth 13, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

DEMANDING A NATIONAL CREED

The Australian colonies are drawing together to unite under one commonwealth, and a Federal Convention has been meeting to frame a constitution. Cardinal Moran tried to get into the Convention, but was defeated, as the Protestant churches feared Roman influence. But no sooner had the Convention met than the same churches began an effort to secure the control of it in the interests of political religion. Our Society's Melbourne organ, the Bible Echo, just received, says:-

Nearly every day last week numerous petitions from various Protestant churches, praying for a formal recognition of God in the Federal Constitution, were introduced in the Federal Convention now in session at Adelaide. The prime movers of these petitions are not satisfied with those recognising God who believe in Him; they want a document which speaks for all the people,-believers and unbelievers, infidels, atheists, Jews, Christians, Mahometans, Mormons, Buddhists, Spiritualists, Theosophists, and agnostics,-to say that all recognise God as Supreme Ruler, etc., whether they do or not. In other words, they want the Federal Constitution to say that which is not true.

The reason why they wish to make the State profess a formal recognition of God is that the way may be opened for religious legislation. As the Adelaide Church News, a Church of England organ, says, it will be the setting forth of a "national creed," and naturally it expresses the belief that "our Roman Catholic brethren" will approve of it. As our Society's organ truly says:-

The Roman Catholic Church endorsed that principle over a thousand years ago. Upon that the whole system of the Papacy was built, and out of it grew all the evils and horrors and bitter persecutions of the Dark Ages. When the Papacy approves of that principle she approves of her own; and when professed Protestants approve of it, and ask her to approve of it, they are both denying the fundamental principles of true Protestantism and clasping hands with that church, whose history for twelve long centuries is written in the blood of the saints.

The Convention has adjourned, but during the interval the agitation in the colonies will go on, and it seems extremely probable that the churches will get their way. It is the tendency of the times in all the world.

"Turkey's Revival" The Present Truth 13, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

The fighting spirit of the Turks has been aroused by his successes in Greece, and Europe has been surprised by the vitality of Turkey as a fighting power. Instead, however, of deferring the solution of the Eastern Question, the Turkish revival will most likely have the effect of hastening events in the East which statesmen dread, and which, in the light of prophesy, mean the ushering in of the great day of the Lord. A well-informed writer, recently returned from Turkey, said last week:-

"The truth of it is, that the whole war has been used by Turkey as a medium to assert her new position among European nations. Long after it became apparent that the Greeks had no resisting power, Turkey continued to pour men into Macedonia and Thessaly. She added 60,000 men to her army even when it was beyond doubt that that army could beat the Greeks. And even to-day the whole route between Salonika and Domokos is simply blue with men in uniform; one enormous procession of reinforcements, who will number 300,000 when all reach the field. In addition to these, 200,000 more Reservists are held in readiness to proceed to the front at once, if necessary. This extensive mobilisation completely throws the war in its shadow. It means readiness for a greater war.

"Frankly speaking, this is the most serious situation that Europe has had to face for nearly thirty years. It may yet pass off harmlessly enough if the personal timidity of the Sultan leads him to dismiss his present advisers; but from close observation it seemed to me that the temper of most men belonging to the ruling class is altogether in sympathy with this newly-developed spirit of independence and pugnacity on the part of their country. On every side I have heard Turkish army officers boasting that they meant to keep the land bought with Turkish blood. Again, those Europeans who have relations with the Ottoman Government told me that Turkey was simply crazed by the new power which she feels thrilling in her veins, and that she means to assert her new relation toward the rest of Europe."

"The Leaven of Paganism" The Present Truth 13, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

In a work just published, Professor Karl Pearson, F.R.S., speaks as follows of the corrupting influence of pagan nature and demon worship on the merely nominal Christianity which Rome gave to Europe:-

The missionaries brought their religion, and sought to force it on the German people; they branded as devilish all the old heathen festivals, the religious dances, and the ancient marriage rites, thus unwittingly creating all the deep medi?val feeling as to witchcraft. But the folk-spirit was not to be thus repressed; it danced into the churches; it took Christianity out of the hands of the priests; it moulded it to its own ideas, and shaped it to that wonderful artistic polytheism of which the nominal Founder never dreamed, and which would have been sternly repudiated by the early Christian teachers.

Of course it would have been repudiated; for Christ has no concord with Satan, nor can there be any admixture of paganism with the Gospel. The influence of this nature worship left so great a mark upon nominal Christianity that Professor Pearson speaks of Western Christianity as "a product neither of Jewish nor Greek minds, but of the Teutonic folk-spirit." He makes the usual mistake of those who record the growth of these influences, in calling Christian that fraudulent substitute for Christianity developed by the Roman apostasy, and in thinking that any human influence, East or West, Jewish or Greek, left any mark whatever upon the religion of Jesus Christ. But these writers only call attention to what every Bible believer who thinks at all of the subject must see for himself, that Christendom is full of practices and errors which originated in out-and-out paganism, and which have leavened the whole mass. Now that the Lord's coming is drawing near, He again sends forth the Gospel of His kingdom calling men to the standard of His Word. The Reformation began by setting free the Word. People now have it in their hands. All who believe it will live by it.

"The Live Coal from God's Altar" The Present Truth 13, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

When Isaiah saw the vision of the Lord in His temple, "high and lifted up," he cried, "Woe is me! for I am undone." He saw his own poverty and nakedness as never before. The Lord wanted someone to go with the message to sinners; but he was "a man of unclean lips."

Then flew a seraph to him, with a live coal from off the altar of the Lord, and touched his mouth, saying, "Lo, this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." Isaiah believed the words, and when he heard the call, "Who will go? he answered, "Here am I; send me." And the commission came, "Go."

"Is not My word like as a fire? saith the Lord." "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." It was with the living word of God that the prophet's lips were touched. As he believed the word it was his cleansing, and he was ready to go to sinners with it. The very word which the Spirit uses to convict of sin has power in it to burn away the sin. Thank God for it, and believe it, and hold the life to the Word for constant correction and cleansing. When it is a burning coal direct from God's altar to your lips, you may daily say, "Here Lord, send me," and the Lord's answer will be, "Go." But He sends us to speak only His words. "He that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. Is not My word like as a fire?" Jer. xxiii. 28, 29.

"No Boasting" The Present Truth 13, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

"Where is boasting then? It is excluded." Rom. iii. 27. Since righteousness is a free gift of God through Jesus Christ, it is evident that no one can justly boast of any righteousness that he has. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. ii. 8, 9. "Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?

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now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?" 1 Cor. i. 4.

The result of boasting in heaven is seen in the case of Satan. Once he was one of the covering cherubs above the throne of God. But he began to contemplate his own glory and goodness, and his fall was the consequence. "Thou hast sinned; therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." Eze. xxviii. 16, 17.

If the saints after their translation should begin to boast of their sinlessness, they would be as bad as they ever were. But that will never be. All who are admitted to heaven will have fully learned the lesson that God is all and in all. There will not be a voice or a heart silent in the song of praise, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

-Thirty miles of warships are to take part in the great naval review at Spithead arranged for Jubilee week.

-The oyster is one of the strongest creatures on earth. The force required to open its shell is more than 900 times its weight.

-In both Spain and Austria political differences in the legislative chambers have led to scenes of violence unprecedented in recent years.

-In Zululand, when the moon is at the full, objects are distinctly visible at as greet a distance as seven miles. By starlight one can see to read print with ease.

-Someone says; "If all the tobacco smoked in the British Empire last year were rolled into a rope an inch in diameter it would form a snake-like roll which, following the line of the equator, would go thirty times round the earth."

-An ancient custom was last week revived in Herts. Hitchin clergymen, in surplices, and attended by a choir, made a tour in procession of the cornfields and farm yards, where prayers were offered up for a blessing on the young crops.

-A young man, who confessed to having got his desire for infamous fame out of novels, was arrested in St. Petersburg last week for waiting about the Imperial palace, armed with pistol and dagger, with which he designed making an attack upon the Czar.

-Her Majesty has approved the proposal to flash a Royal message all over the Empire during the open-air service at St. Paul's. The most distant colonies, by arrangements now being made, will receive the Queen's communication within ninety seconds after Her Majesty gives the signal.

-The Greek Government has disbanded most of the irregulars with the army, as their presence was a source of weakness, outrage attending their progress. Large numbers of the Italian volunteers were also hastened back to Italy, as they were largely Anarchists, whose presence in Greece was a danger to public peace.

-Since the introduction of cycles into the armies of Europe, military men have been considering how best to guard against the enemies' scouts on the wheel. The German authorities are training dogs to attack cyclists who are clad in French and Russian uniform. German, Austrian, and Italian uniforms are recognised by the dogs as friendly tokens, but they rush upon riders in the two hostile uniforms and overthrow them.

-Reporting fruit prospects, a trade journal says: "It is now clear that we shall have a heavy plum crop in spite of the large quantity of imperfectly set fruit that has fallen. The bleak currant crop will be medium; in some places it is bad. Gooseberries are plentiful, but much has fallen. White and red currants show indications of heavy crops generally. Apples will be exceedingly heavy, heavier than has been the case for years; while cherries will be plentiful, especially Morellos. Pears will be medium only. Strawberries will be very plentiful."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

"Within the last five years," says a missionary journal, "no less than fifty-two new versions have been added to the list of languages and dialects in which some portions of the Bible are printed."

We are just bringing out the ninth edition of that helpful little work, "Steps to Christ," this edition completing 25,000 copies of the book. An edition has also been published in the Welsh language.

The Pope has given information that his letter to the Queen on the occasion of the Jubilee "will be written in very affectionate and sympathetic terms." He will be represented at the Jubilee celebrations by a special envoy.

The only advocacy of peace principles which can be depended upon is that which springs from appreciation of the Gospel of peace. Thus a great morning paper, which has led in the talk of international arbitration and peace, says that, as the Greeks have shown that they are made of "excellent fighting stuff," "it must be their business now to organise it and train it. The end of all things is not yet."

"To avert the battle of Armageddon is," says a writer in Biackwood's Magazine, "the aim of the European Concert, and we hardly know what else can avert it." It is a vain hope. But when men of the world see the crisis that is coming, how much more clearly ought believers to see the tremendous importance of the time. It is God who is holding back the winds of universal strife (Rev. vii. 1-8), and in order that the closing work of the Gospel may be accomplished.

The canonisation ceremonies in St. Peter's last Thursday were, it is said, the most gorgeous witnessed in Rome since the Papacy lost its temporal power. There were the glittering uniforms of soldier guards, robes of the clergy, jewelled mitres, waving banners, and swinging censors, all fitting accompaniments of the ceremony which blasphemously professes to exalt the dead to be objects of devotion.

"Statistics show," says an American journal, "that the people of the United States spend five times as much for intoxicating liquors as for education. They spend ?40,000,000 for education, but the drink bill of the nation is ?200,600,060."

Both Anglicans and Romanists are to celebrate the landing of Augustine and his monks in England, thirteen centuries ago, this month.

There are many Chinese in the Sandwich Islands, and our friends there have for some time conducted a day school for them. The school has grown so that additional teachers have recently been secured, and the Chinese are requesting further extension of schools amongst them. This opens the way for teaching them Gospel truth.

The master of a large Union workhouse in London, who has frequently requested parcels of back numbers of our paper writes: "I ought to say that since your publications have been distributed amongst our inmates, I have observed a great change in the demeanour of many of them. One man who was a furious blasphemer of Jesus, is now a meek and humble believer in Him, and helps us in the distribution of copies of the PRESENT TRUTH, the Holy Scriptures, etc."

By occasional reports of our Society's work in Germany we learn that the Gospel of Sabbath reform makes good progress there, by the preaching of the Word and by the sale of publications. Fifty colporteurs are engaged in this latter line of work. The Word which, under God, Luther set free in Germany is still the power of reformation of life.

Jesus said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." It was not merely as a teacher and a healer that Jesus worked, but for many years He laboured as a carpenter. Even in that He was revealing the character of the Father to men. Whoever, therefore, is ashamed to labour would be ashamed of the company of God the Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles." But that is such a task that any who seriously undertake it will be driven to pray with the Psalmist, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips."

"Seeking to the Dead" The Present Truth 13, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

Seeking to the Dead .-Before declaring the two new papal saints, to whom petitions may be addressed, the Pope, according to the formula, twice deferred granting the request for canonisation in order to consult with the Lord. If he had really listened to the Lord's voice, he would have heard this: "Should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and to the testimony!" "Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the river decayeth and drieth up; so man lieth down and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep."

"A View of God's Power" The Present Truth 13, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

A View of God's Power .-Moses saw the power of God manifested in Egypt and at the Red Sea, at Sinai, and for forty years in the wilderness. No man ever saw more. But the more he saw, the more he realised how little he had seen. Just before his death he prayed, "O Lord God, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness, and Thy mighty hand." Deut. iii. 24. There is a good lesson in this prayer for those who are inclined to limit God's power and distrust it, or to think by the little they have learned that they know most that is to be known. Moses knew enough to know that he had only begun to see the power and goodness of the Lord. And all "the exceeding greatness of His power" is "to us-ward who believe."

"Unwise Caution" The Present Truth 13, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

Unwise Caution .-There is such a thing as being too cautious. This is the case when men hesitate to act upon the word of the Lord. How often it happens that people will acknowledge the clearness of the Word of God, and still will hestitate to let themselves rest upon it. "I know that the Bible says so, but I believe in being cautious. I do not believe in moving too hastily." Such caution is sin. It is simply unbelief. How differently Mary did when the angel announced to her the birth of a son. "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word." And the Holy Ghost by the mouth of Elizabeth, pronounced a blessing upon her for her ready belief. See Luke i. 45.

June 10, 1897

"'He Hath Blinded Their Eyes'" The Present Truth 13, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

"Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again; He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart; and be converted, and I should heal them." John xii. 39, 40.

Many people are more inclined to find doubt and despair in the Bible, than to find hope and comfort, although the Bible contains none of the former, and is full of the latter; so when they read the words of the prophet Isaiah, they at once begin to complain against God, and to say that He is unjust and partial, and they will feel sure that they cannot believe, because God has made it impossible.

Now the Bible claims to be the Word of God. It exists for the sole purpose of revealing God to men, that they may see in Him the One altogether worthy of worship and affection. Everybody knows that this is the object of the Bible, whether they believe what it says or not. That being the case, how can it be supposed that anything can be found in the Bible that would tend to depreciate God in the estimation of men? Considered from a human standpoint, and as a merely human production, no one would be so foolish as to write things derogatory to his hero, in a book published for the sole purpose of honouring him. We may therefore be sure that none of the men who had to do with the production of the Bible saw in such statements as the one first quoted anything except such goodness and mercy as is consistent with the character of an all-merciful God, a God who not only loves, but who is love.

That there is comfort in even such texts as that quoted from Isaiah, and that they were written for the sole purpose of producing hope and comfort, is proved by Rom. xv. 4: "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and, comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." And that the words of the prophet Isaiah do not teach that there are some who cannot be saved even though they wish to is shown by the inspired words of Peter, concerning Christ: "To Him give all the

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prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." Acts x. 43.

When we read that God has hardened the heart of any person, then we should read the story of Pharaoh. God hardened his heart; but everyone who reads the account carefully, will see that it was only by the manifestation of kindness and mercy that He did it. When God sent judgments upon Pharaoh and his land, he humbled himself, and confessed his sin, promising repentance; but as soon as God showed him favour and prosperity came again; then his heart was hardened. It was because Pharaoh hated truth and righteousness, that as soon as special mercy was manifested toward him he took advantage of it to sin yet more. "Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord." Isa. xxvi. 10.

Read the verses in connection with John xii. 39, 40, together with the eleventh chapter, and you will see that the way the Lord blinded the eyes of the people was by sending great light to them, which was not according to their previous experience. Jesus declared Himself to be the Light, and His mighty works had showed how great was the Light. But the greater the work that He did, the more the people hated Him and His teaching. Everybody knows the effect that great light has upon the eyes of those who are not accustomed to it; it blinds them, or causes them to close their eyes. The more they have accustomed themselves to live in the darkness, the more does the light blind them.

The Jews, like all the rest of the world, sat in darkness; but their blindness was even greater than that of the rest of mankind, because they had had great light; and everybody knows that the darkness is much more intense to one who goes out of the light into it, than to one who has always been in the dark. But while others came to the light that shone in the darkness when Jesus came, the Pharisees and the principal part of the Jews rejected Him. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." John i. 11. For 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 made manifest, that they are wrought in God." John iii. 20, 21. The Jews had loved darkness, and persisted in walking in darkness so long that the light was much more blinding to them than the darkness itself.

The very same statement by the Prophet Isaiah we find thus quoted in Matt. xiii. 13-15: "They seeing not; and hearing they hear not neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." The same Spirit of truth prompted Matthew to make this quotation from Isaiah, that moved Isaiah to write the words in the first place; therefore, we know that what we read in Matthew, is the exact meaning of what we read in Isaiah. God blinded the eyes of men, only by sending them wonderful light.

Is it therefore God's fault that they cannot see?-Not by any means. How can it be? If men complain because God shows mercy, what would they say if He manifested wrath? If they reject the love and mercy of God, what can He do for them? Shall we complain of God for sending light that caused men to close their eyes? Shall we say that if He had not sent light, they would not have closed their eyes? Well, what then? is it better to have one's eyes open in the pitchy darkness, where there is not a ray of light, than to have them shut in the sunshine? The last condition of the man is just the same as the first, and his possibilities are infinitely greater; for nobody can possibly see in the darkness, but all can see in the light if they will accustom their eyes to it. Let us open our eyes, and praise the Lord for bringing us "out of darkness into His marvellous light."

"Only a Shadow" The Present Truth 13, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

Every shadow of darkness, every cloud of gloom, every fear of whatever kind is simply the shadow of death and of the devil. He has cast his hellish shadow over the world. Now, as Zacharias prophesied by the Holy Ghost at the birth of his son, the Lord has visited us and delivered us out of the hand of our enemies that we "might serve Him without fear."

He has delivered us from every tremor of fear, and hath sent the Dayspring from on high "to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." If you have His life you have His light. What is there to be afraid of? To the one in Christ death itself is only a shadow. The sting is gone. Satan can cast the shadow over him, but there is nothing in a shadow to be afraid of. He is delivered from the power of darkness. He is going through an enemy's land, whose weapons are all broken. He is going into a nest of scorpions, whose stings have been removed. He is going into a prison house, the key of which is held by One who loves him.

"Lords Many and Gods Many" The Present Truth 13, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

The heathen are subject to gods many and lords many. In the ancient religions of Europe and the East, nearly every profession or pursuit, either of business or pleasure, was under the patronage of special deities, at whose shrines the superstitious offered their devotions. When the Gospel was preached it had power to turn those who received it "from idols to serve the living and true God." But when the falling away came, instead of turning the heathen from their idols, the church of the apostasy invented the doctrine of the invocation of saints, and substituted deified dead men and women for the gods of the heathen.

Thus it comes that in Romanism there are now patron saints, whose aid the superstitious invoke, and who are supposed to have special callings over which to exercise care. The elasticity of the Catholic calendar of saints is shown by the recent selection in France of a patron for cyclists. The Catholic Times says:-

"St. Catherine of Alexandria is the saint upon whom the choice of Catholics appears to have fallen, a preference suggested by the time-honoured custom of representing her in sacred art in association with the wheel which was intended for her torture, but which was miraculously used against her persecutors. The Croix, which warmly advocates the choice of St. Catherine makes the following reflections on the subject: 'As the saint stands leaning upon her wheel she makes us think of a bicyclist in repose. The cyclist travels upon a wheel and the saint who, escaped so miraculously from suffering and danger will protect those who invoke her aid with faith.'"

"A Papal Mission that Failed" The Present Truth 13, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

After Italy's defeat, and failure to negotiate the release of prisoners held by the Abyssinians, the Pope sent a mission. Being overmuch elated by the first friendly reception of the papal envoy, the organs of the Vatican boasted of the success of the Pope where the Italian Government had failed. It was but a few weeks, however, before the boasting was turned to chagrin by the utter failure of the papal mission. The story of the failure just now comes through the Daily Mail's correspondent in Abyssinia, who received it as follows from a young Frenchman resident in the country:-

"Look at Mgr. Macarius," he said, "sent by the Pope to obtain good treatment for, and, if possible, the release of the Italian prisoners. Menelik was quite willing to hand many of them over-those born in what were the Pontifical States, at least. But how did the Papal delegate behave? He was invited to visit his brother prelate, the Abuna, the head of the Abyssinian Church, and one of the most influential of the Emperor's counsellors, a man who could have secured the success of the mission. But his Beatitude haughtily declined to go, unless he was received by 150 priests in full canonicals, afoot, while he rode on his mule." "A touch of Cardinal Wolsey about this," I observed. "And what was the result? Failure-utter failure."

Before the Abyssinians demonstrated their fighting powers, they were regarded as but a part of barbarian Africa, and Europe considered it proper for Italy to take their land and kill them off, if necessary, in the interests of "Christian civilisation." The Pope specially blessed the arms of Italy, and it was understood that priests would follow the army to establish the papal authority over the conquered provinces. But now rival missions from European States are fairly racing with one another to the Emperor's court. He understands the situation perfectly. He says: "When the Italians were threatening me with invasion, and I wrote to all the European sovereigns asking their help and influence to intercede for peace-even offering to give up my territory in Erythrea-did a single one deign to answer? Not one!-neither Queen Victoria, the Czar, the Pope, nor any of the rest. Now, seeing that I have successfully defended myself, they all send their missions."

"Three Great Mistakes" The Present Truth 13, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

Notice three great mistakes made by different parties in connection with the trial of Jesus, each having its special lesson.

1. Peter's self-confidence made a coward of him when he came to the test. Knowing the Lord and loving Him, he yet denied the truth because the flesh failed him.

2. The prejudices of the priests and rulers made them blind to all truth and honour, and while their attitude was in itself a confession that they were wrong, they so deceived themselves that they knew not what they did.

3. Pilate's love of office and position led him to yield to the clamour of prejudice, although he knew what he ought to have done. He knew Jesus was a just man, and half feared that He might be more than man, but he would endanger his position if he did right.

Here are lessons (1) for followers of the Lord who trust in their own ability and knowledge of the form of the truth, (2) for those whose prejudices refuse to let them investigate the truth with open hearts, (3) and for any whose positions may appear to stand in the way of right doing.

Jesus triumphed in it all because, as even His enemies said, "He trusted in God."

"Joy in Believing" The Present Truth 13, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

Joy in Believing .-Of the Philippian jailer it is said that he rejoiced "believing in God." Acts xvi. 34. The Norwegian version has it that he rejoiced "because he believed in God." That is reason enough for rejoicing. He who really believes in the Lord must rejoice. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. v. 1, 2, 11. "Now the God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Rom. xv. 13. He who does not rejoice does not believe.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

-Another tunnel under the Thames is decided upon, a footway only, to connect Greenwich and the Isle of Doge.

-The late Matabele campaign, although the rising lasted but eight months, cost the Chartered Company a quarter of a million sterling.

-300,000,000 is the estimated population of the British Empire at the present time. This is one-fifth of the total population of the world.

-A bicycle-maker says there are 12,000,000 wheels in actual use in the world, and were they to be placed in single file they would reach right round the earth.

-The forces of the Congo Free State have defeated a detachment of the Mahdiste. On the north, the Egyptian expedition is preparing for an early advance against the Mahdist centre on the Nile.

-The German town of Orb, in the Speizart Mountains, with 3,300 inhabitants, has no taxes except dog tax. All expenses are defrayed by proceeds of public saline baths, forests, and a fund of ?120,000.

-When the telephone wires are overland the speed of transmission is at the rate of 16,000 miles a second; where the wires are through cables under the sea the speed is not more than 6,020 miles a second.

-In all circles in Turkey there is said to be a determination not to give up Thessaly. The Powers are hastening on the settlement in order not to give Turkey time to settle down in the captured province.

-In Crete the civil war is being resumed, Moslems attacking "Christians," and the latter attacking the former. The old love of fighting and religious hatred make a combination that defies all attempts at restoring order.

-All along the route of the Jubilee procession stands are being erected. One stand being built at enormous expense in St. Paul's Churchyard is expected to seat 2,000 people, and at the advertised price for seats will bring in ?42,000 if filled.

-The Greek Crown Prince is to be a guest of the Queen at the Jubilee. It is openly said that the invitation was given because of the out-cry of the Greek populace against him, as commander of the army. The crowd that shouted for war, and forced the King into it, naturally turns against him and his dynasty when defeat comes. The situation in Greece is still considered extremely critical.

-The King of Siam, who is on his way to England, is said to be the only reigning Buddhist. As such, he was received with great honours at the head centre of Buddhism in Ceylon, but on being refused permission to touch some relics considered specially sacred, he left in anger. In Siam the religious orders keep very firm control of the King, and when the Crown Prince arrives at a certain age he is compelled to serve six months novitiate in a monastery, after which he is recognised as heir to the throne.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

The six Powers forming what is called the Concert of Europe spend annually ?300,000,000 in armaments.

All slaves in the Niger Company's territory are to be freed at Jubilee time by statute, which will be declared officially at the various parts of the dominions.

It is announced that, by invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, a high Russian ecclesiastic, chosen by the Czar, will attend the religious services connected with the Queen's Jubilee, and represent the Russian Church in the Lambeth Conference. The High Church clergy are greatly pleased.

"There never was a time," said a London physician the other day, "when London was fuller of superstition than at the present time. We have palmistry, crystal-globe reading, Spiritualism, and fortune-telling, flourishing in our very midst, and frequently amongst the best educated."

One of our Society's evangelists in Brazil, who has been visiting isolated believers in the interior, tells of one little company, who had had no call from a minister for more than a year, but who had been so faithful in letting their light shine that he found twenty-three persons awaiting baptism.

At the annual meeting of the English Church Union, held last week, Lord Halifax expressed the desire of the Union to see closer relations between Canterbury and Rome, and between Nonconformists and Catholics, and declared:-

The changes that had taken place in England in all that concerns the general aspect and conditions of religion during the last sixty years are so great that almost everything seems possible even in no very remote future.

There is all too good ground for the hopes of reunionists. Not that corporate reunion, of the kind that Anglican Catholics desire to see, appears to be in sight, but there is apparent a receding from Reformation principles and a turning from the Word which is dragging the Protestant world over to the side of papal tradition.

One of our American organs brings a good word concerning the progress of Sabbath reform in Chile. Just over eighteen months ago an evangelist with his family, sailed from Liverpool for Chile, the first of our Society's missionaries to go to that South American State. He now reports that between seventy-five and eighty persons are keeping the Lord's Sabbath, among them some who are labouring acceptably in extending work. Rome has long ruled with a high hand in South America, and a compromised Protestantism cannot give the trumpet a certain sound. The Gospel of Sabbath reform appeals to Protestant and Romanists alike to come out from tradition and take their stand upon the living Word of the living God, and worship Him alone.

The Gospel can be propagated only by free gifts. Christ gave Himself, not in payment of a debt, but for those who had no claim upon Him. Those who receive the Gospel in the spirit in which it is given, will also give freely, not as payment for what they have received, or may receive, but for the benefit of others.

"Columba, of lona" The Present Truth 13, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

Columba, of lona .-It is said that the celebration of the thirteenth centenary of the death of Columba, June 15, may lead to some rivalry in Scotland. The Roman Catholics propose a pilgrimage, likewise the Scottish Episcopalians and the Presbyterians. It is not possible to say with which party Columba would choose to identify himself were he alive. Certainly he would be accounted a bad Catholic, as the influence of his teaching made trouble for the Romanists when they tried to bring the early British churches under subjection. Nor is it likely the other churches would be pleased with him, for to his influence Mr. Skene, in his "Celtic Scotland," attributes the fact that, till the eleventh century, the Scots rested on the seventh day, and worked on the Sunday. Queen Margaret succeeded in putting an end to this un-Catholic practice by use of her authority and the command of "the blessed Pope Gregory."

"The Only Question" The Present Truth 13, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

The Only Question .-There is no question whatever in religion as to who is right or who is wrong. God alone is right, and there is no question about it. Unquestionably we are to believe what He says. The only question is, What does He say? Here it is not a question as to what this or that man, or one party or another, says that He says, but, What does He say? Every man must listen for himself, as only those who hear His voice can receive life from it. Men may preach the Word, but only God Himself can make it audible to the soul. God is talking to you in His Word. "Hear, and your soul shall life."

It has ever been the work of Satan to bear false witness against God, "He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar and the father of it." John vii. 44. It must be Satan, therefore, that has made so many people believe that God is harsh, and stern, and unapproachable, for the truth is that "God is love." 1 John iv. 8. So approachable is He that we may "come boldly unto the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. iv. 16.

"Sacrifice" The Present Truth 13, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

Sacrifice .-"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." Ps. li. 17. A broken and contrite heart is one that is broken in pieces and ground up. Not of much worth, is it? What is it good for? Nothing. And that is why it appropriates Christ, who is of infinite worth, a sacrifice that is always acceptable to God. Having nothing in itself, but trust wholly in Christ. He is the surety of the new covenant, and so when He comes He will say, "Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice." Ps. i. 5.

June 17, 1897

"Concerning Prayer" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

"Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." Ps. l. 15.

Thus saith the Lord; and what He says in this place is repeated many times in the Scriptures. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Matt. vii. 7.

Immediately following this statement, we find a striking illustration of God's willingness, nay, His anxiety, to answer prayer. "What man is there of you, when if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?" There can be but one answer; no real father would deal so heartlessly with his child. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?"

This is something that parents especially can appreciate. Whenever anyone who is a parent feels despondent, and thinks that God does not care for him, let him ask himself, Why should I think myself better than God? I would not think of refusing my children any good thing that lay in my power to bestow; but I am selfish even at the best, and even my best wishes for my children are limited by my lack of resources; God, on the contrary, is infinite love and compassion, and has power to perform whatever His love prompts; therefore as surely as I live I know that God does hear my prayers.

Think further of the illustration here given. The parent is not only willing to supply the child's needs, but provides for them beforehand. The child never thinks of food until it is hungry. Suppose now that the parents likewise had not thought about providing food, until the child's request brought it to their attention; then

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the child would be obliged to wait, and would suffer hunger. But such is never the case. Long before the child thought of eating, the parents were at work providing something against the time of need. This is the work of parents, to look ahead, and provide for their children's wants. Even so it is with God. He knows what we need, so that, as the child to the parent, we come to Him, not to let Him know that we are in need, but to take what He has before prepared for us. Our asking is not to make Him willing to give, but to show our willingness to receive.

God wishes that we should be saved from sin, that we should receive eternal life; and, as the greater includes the less, He also wishes that we should have all things necessary for this life. "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." 1 Tim. iv. 8. In His Word God has made known His will. The commandments show that it is God's will that we should live righteously, that we should love Him supremely, and our neighbour as ourselves.

But how can we attain to all this?-The question is easily answered. "This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him." 1 John v. 14, 15. We cannot begin or continue our own lives, either in this world or the world to come; but God can, and it is His pleasure to do so; if therefore we are willing to accept God's good gifts, then we may know without any shadow of doubt, that we have them whenever we ask for them; and if we "pray without ceasing," then we are always in possession of every good gift.

"Well, isn't it tiresome continually to be asking for what we need?"-That depends on whom we ask. The parable of the unjust judge (Luke xviii. 1-8) was given to teach us that "men ought always to pray, and not to faint." The judge feared not God, neither regarded man, and so when a widow asked redress for her wrongs he paid no attention to her for a while. But afterwards he thought that his ease might be disturbed much more by her repeated requests than by complying with them, and so he granted them.

If we read no further, we should not be encouraged to pray always and not to faint; for even if we did not become discouraged after a few unheeded petitions, and give up without receiving the thing desired, we would at least say, "I will not ask any oftener than I am absolutely obliged to." But God is "faithful and just" (1 John i. 9), not unjust; He cares for us (1 Peter v. 7), and desires our welfare far more than we do. What then?-"And shall not God avenge His elect, which cry to Him day and night, and He is longsuffering over them? I say unto you, that He will avenge them speedily." R.V.

The parable is a contrast. If the unjust judge, who had no regard whatever for men, would grant a request simply that he might not be further disturbed, how much more will God grant the request of His chosen ones, with whose failings He is so long-suffering. He will not keep them waiting; nay, "He will avenge them speedily." "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" In spite of the fact that everything, not only in the Bible, but in God's open book of nature, speaks of God's readiness and parental anxiety to give good gifts, it is a rare thing to find people with faith enough to continue asking and receiving.

"But why continue to ask, if God is so ready to give?" unbelief asks. "What means that statement that God's elect cry day and night to Him, if He is so willing to give?" How ready and seemingly anxious people are to make God out unfeeling, and the way of life hard! God's people cry day and night to Him, for the very reason that He answers them so speedily, not even waiting till they have done speaking. "I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live." Ps. cxvi. 1, 2. Because He inclines His ear to us, bending over toward us, so as not to miss the faintest whisper, and even anticipates our words, because He reads the heart's desire, and knows what we would ask for far better than we know how to express it, we are encouraged to keep calling on Him continually. This is why we can always pray and not faint: God does not weary us by keeping us waiting.

But when we go no further in the consideration of prayer than to agree that God answers prayer, although that is a good thing to know, it is far from a true realisation of what prayer really is. We speak now, of course, of sincere prayer. We speak about God's hearing us, when the question really turns on whether or not we hear God. In our ordinary thought and talk about prayer, we seem to have the idea that we speak first, and that our part is to call God's attention to us. That is a step in the direction of the heathen idea, that they must awaken their god, so that he may be conscious of their presence. It is this idea, more or less fully developed, which holds many people back from God. They fear to approach Him; they fear that they will be intruding on His time and patience, and they have no courage to ask an audience with Him, regarding Him much as they would an earthly autocrat, only infinitely greater and therefore proportionally unapproachable. If it were indeed the case that we must approach the throne alone, and ask to gain an audience with God on our own account,-if we had to take the initiative-then it would indeed be presumptuous for us to think of it, and we might well shrink from the trial. But the fact is, God has spoken first; He has called us to Him, and therefore instead of its being presumption for us to approach and speak to Him, it is rudeness in the highest degree if we turn away and say nothing. Common civility demands that we reply to a fellow-man when he speaks to us; how much more should we give heed and reply when God speaks to us.

God speaks to us, and offers us forgiveness, righteousness, everlasting riches. When we come to Him in prayer, it is only because He has called us to Him; it is only to take what He has already said He freely gives us. The question is not, therefore, whether God will hear us, but whether we will hear God; and true prayer consists more in listening than in talking. Therefore it is that Christ tells us not to use vain repetitions, or an overflow of words, as the heathen who think that they shall be heard for their much speaking; "for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him." Matt. vi. 7, 8. God has called us to Him to receive rich gifts, and He says: "Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live." Isa. lv. 3. But since it is a fact that God has spoken first, that He has made known His will to us, and that true prayer is our response to His offer, with thanksgiving for what He has given, it necessarily follows that a study of God's will as revealed in His

371

Word is necessary to prayer. He who is best acquainted with God's will, can pray best.

But what if we should ask too much? Is there not danger of presuming on God's generosity, overtaxing it?-No fear whatsoever. He is able, and therefore willing, "to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." Eph. iii. 20. And when we hear His voice, that offers us so many good things, and come to Him, and receive them at His hands, what shall we give in return? That is just what the Psalmist asked, after God's readiness to hear had made him determined to call upon the Lord as long as he lived. "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?" Ps. cxvi. 12. That is a most natural question, and the inspired answer immediately follows: "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." Verse 13. How shall I pay the Lord for what He has given me?-By taking more. That is the only way. "But then I will owe Him more than before!" Certainly, and so are you under obligation to take more than before; and as you are in duty bound to pay your debt by taking twice as much as before, so you make your debt four times as large, and in order to pay it you must now take eight times as much as before, and so on in endless progression. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

"Papal Lutheranism" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

The Norwegian constitution has had an article to this effect:-

The Evangelical-Lutheran Religion is and condemns the Public Religion of the State. The citizens, who profess the same, are obliged to see that their children are educated in it. Jesuits, and orders of monks and nuns are not to be tolerated.

The other day the Norwegian Storthing discussed an amendment proposing to expunge the last clause. The debate resulted in striking out all of the clause save the declaration that Jesuits are not to be tolerated. As these pioneers of Rome are accustomed to working in secret the clause will not shut them out. The pity of it is that the Storthing did not see that the first clauses only establish a papal system under another name.

Wherever the Lutheran Church is established, as in Scandinavia and Germany, it differs very little in the spirit from the Roman Church. The Word which Luther preached was the power of the Reformation. In harmony with the Gospel, Luther declared:-

It is by the Word that we must fight; by the Word overturn and destroy what has been established by violence. I am unwilling to employ force against the superstitious and unbelieving. Let him who believes approach. Let him who believes not stand aloof. None ought to be constrained. Liberty is of the essence of faith.

After the initial victory of the Reformation had been won by the power of the Word, Luther was persuaded to depart somewhat from these principles, and the work of reform ceased in the hands of his followers. Religion was put into a creed, and supported by the sword of the prince. So it comes that Lutheranism now is not reformed, and is an opponent of the very Gospel by which the great Reformer shook the foundations of the Papacy.

"The Fulfilling Word" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

The very things that caused the disciples of Jesus dismay and confusion in the hour of His trial and crucifixion, would but have strengthened their faith had they believed the prophets and the words of Christ. We can understand how Jesus Himself saw prophecy fulfilling at every step of the way, from the betrayal to the trial by the chief priests, the delivering to Pilate the shameful insults and spitting, and all the details of the crucifixion. And how His faith must have rested upon those scriptures, carrying assurance of power to endure all faithfully. "I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help Me; therefore shall I not be confounded." Isa. l. 6, 7.

That was the hour of the power of darkness. To those who had not the Word every light seemed to be put out. But Jesus had the Scripture as a lamp unto His feet. Now, the "more sure Word of prophecy" is still "a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn." As the dawning of the day of the Lord draws near, the power of darkness will again make special efforts to overthrow all faith; yes, is even now doing so. Perilous times have come. They will increase until men's hearts shall fail them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. But as perils increase, and as the wrath of Satan is more violently manifested against the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, those who follow Christ's example in trial will see in these things the fulfilment of the Word, and find their faith grow stronger. "Because thou hast kept the Word of My patience," says Jesus, "I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly."

"How to Find the Truth" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

Paul was in prison, expecting any day to be led out to martyrdom. Already the working of the mystery of lawlessness had begun. Strivings about words and human speculations had increased "unto more ungodliness," and the faith of some had been overthrown by teachers who had perverted the doctrine of Christ. It was a time of confusion, and no doubt many simple ones, distrusting their power to discriminate between truth and the clever perversions of it, felt sorely troubled and anxious. For the encouragement of these, and as a lesson for all time, the apostle wrote:-

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 2 Tim. ii. 19.

When one feels confused and perplexed as to where truth lies, this is the way to find it. Put away iniquity, confess sin, cast the soul upon God. The learning of the truth is an experience of heart and life, not a merely intellectual review of theories. When the heart is not surrendered, and iniquity or sin is harboured, it is impossible to have clear perceptions of the truth. That is why the babe in intellect, whose heart is open to let the Lord in, may see truth that is hid from the worldly-wise and prudent.

"Armaments a Menace" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

Sometimes it is said that the great armaments of the Powers are to maintain the peace; but the direct contrary is the fact, for when men have a great force drilled for war there is always an itching to use it. They feel like the Goorkha who commands the army of the Maharaja of Nepal. This impatient warrior, we are told, once asked Lady Roberts when the Russians were coming, "I wish," he said, "they would make haste. We have forty thousand soldiers in Nepal ready for war, and there is no one to fight."

"Easter in Abyssinia" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

A newspaper correspondent in Abyssinia gives a description of Easter time in that country, which shows that there too is need of the Gospel of Christ to redeem nominal Christians from actual heathenism:-

"The Ras begs that you will not go far from the town without an escort of soldiers for the next few days," say my Abyssinian balderabba [or friend at court] yesterday.

It seemed a funny sort of petition, till I gathered that the countryside, after a Paschal vigil rigidly maintained for five and fifty days, was liable to welcome the advent of the period that ends with Whitsuntide by getting unlimitedly drunk. In which state they are apt to light their battle o'er again, should a stray European happen along. Easter in Abyssinia is a very critical time. Should a servant be sent to buy anything he will return empty-handed, and plead that at this season such things are not. Would you see the Ras-the "head" in literal Arabic-you have that he is at church, whatever the hour almost. With all the officials the case is the same. Two hundred and sixty half-days per annum, plus extra dues imposed individually as penance, seems a half-allowance, but from all accounts the people make up for it on the feast-days. From Holy Thursday midnight [according to their calendar] until Sunday morning, no one is supposed to touch food of any kind-church-going and mortification is the order of those two days and nights-but then pandemonium is let loose, and the stranger, if he is wise, stays indoors till the guns have ceased going off in the streets, and the national spree draws to a close.

"Overeating" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

Half the people we know, says a medical journal, have attacks of indigestion because they will persist in eating hearty meals when in an exhausted condition. They seem never willing or able to realise that there are times when the system is in no fit state to grapple with a full meal.

They come in tired and hungry, almost ravenous, not thinking that may be a good deal of what they consider hunger is gastric irritation, then sit down to a table covered with the substantials of life, and deliberately go to work to overtax the already overstrained vital powers.

No person should ever eat heartily when very tired. The wisest thing to do is to drink a cup of hot water with three tea-spoonfuls of milk in it, sit down for five minutes, and then begin slowly to eat, masticating thoroughly. In a little while the vigour of the stomach will come back, and all will be well.

If this course were followed, there would not be one case of dyspepsia where now there are a dozen. It seems to be the most difficult of all things properly to control the appetite. It seems to be the master. It requires will power to get it under control. When once mastered, something important has been accomplished in self-discipline.

"Fruits for the Table" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

All fruit with skins on, says a health journal, should be washed and peeled, before eating-especially fruits exposed on the streets, and where dust and flies can have access to them. Few are aware of the danger of food contamination by flies. They are great scavengers, and are not at all choice as to what they eat nor where they step. They pass at one bound from an infectious carcass, a foul ulcer, or a mass of diseased sputum or reeking filth, to the apple, pear, or peach, and with dirty feet and dirty proboscis run over it and contaminate it. Hence all such fruit should be first washed and dried and then pared if possible. Even food to be cooked ought, for cleanliness' sake, to be washed if cooked with the skin on. Fruit is rich in acids that are grateful to the stomach, stimulate the salivary secretion, are grateful to the taste, and aid in digestion.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

The tobacco bill of the United Kingdom is ?32,500,000 yearly, while the wheat consumed costs but half a million more. This country consumes two pounds of tobacco per head of population. In Holland the number is seven; Austria, nearly four; Germany, three; United States, four and a-half.

Custard should never cook a moment after it is solid, as it then begins to turn watery.

Last year Ireland spent in intoxicants ?12,806,841, at the rate of ?33,087 every day. She spent in poor relief ?1,049,700.

The most wholesome way of cooking a potato is to bake it. A small piece of the skin should be cut from the ends before putting the potatoes in to bake.

-The private estates of the Czar cover 100,000 square miles.

-The German War Office is trying a new pistol said to fire ninety shots a minute.

-The total wealth of Great Britain, with all her possessions, is estimated at ?8,000,000,000.

-Discontent in America and Hungary has manifested itself in several serious outbreaks of rioting.

-Although on the verge of financial ruin owing to its Abyssinian raid and defeat, Italy is building nine cruisers.

-A cloud burst in France destroyed about a hundred factories and mills, and devastated villages and crops.

-It is known that there were men practising the profession of dentistry in Egypt at least two thousand years ago.

-The British Isles comprise 1,000 separate islands and islets, without counting more jutting rocks or isolated pinnacles.

-There are nearly a quarter of a million more men than women in Australia, and in New Zealand also women are in a minority.

-The Admiralty commissioned ten war vessels last week, four of which are just from the dockyards. These four cost ?3,600,000.

-The special engagements of the Jubilee celebrations will extend over ten days. The chief events are the procession in London and the great naval reviews at Spithead.

-Communication is to be established between the island of Sark and Guernsey by means of the new system of telegraphy without wires, the invention of an Italian, which the Post Office is putting into practical use.

-The annual congress of the Co-operative societies of Great Britain was held in Scotland last week. The societies are said to have a membership of nearly one-seventh of the population of the country, and do a trade of ?80,000,000 a year.

-The Secretary for Agriculture at the Cape announces that shooting of infected cattle has been stopped, as it is useless to attempt to stay the progress of the rhuderpest by any method now known. He sees nothing to prevent the disease spreading among the cattle of Cape Colony.

-Greece and Turkey are both bankrupt. Greece with a population of 2,000,000 has a debt of ?38,000,000. In 1894, the last year of which returns are published, Greece paid only 30 per cent. of the interest due on gold loans. These Bonds are held principally in England and Germany. The expenditure since the war began has been greatly in excess of the revenue. Turkey is worse off financially, but infinitely better off politically, for her creditors dare not, as things go now, allow her to suffer. She owes a debt of ?250,000,000 and this does not include the indemnity levied by Russia at the close of the Russo-Turkish war, and payable in fifty years.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

There have been significant demonstrations in Egypt and India of Moslem sympathy with Turkey.

Added now to the troubles caused by famine in India, the Government has another frontier war on its hands.

The chief thought in London now is of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations to mark the record reign of Queen Victoria. June 22 will be the great field day of the Empire. Not the length of the reign, but the character of it, and the material progress made in the Victorian Era will be celebrated with enthusiasm.

The material progress is remarkable. The area of the Empire has been increased by one-half, and the lion's share of the world owns the sway of Great Britain. Estimates place the population of the Roman Empire in its palmist days at 100,000,000. The present population of the British Empire is over three times that-the greatest number ever gathered under one imperial empire. It is fitting enough that the military and naval ideas should dominate the celebrations, as the Empire, like every other power of earth, has been built up by the sword, and is guarded and maintained by the sword. It is a hard saying, when patriotism runs high, that "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." But it is the word of the Lord, and it is the story of empire from the founding of the first.

It is easy for every generation to glorify its own achievements, and vote itself the superior of every other. The complacent temper which patriotism engenders is illustrated by the following from the Montreal Star:-

It is with the utmost difficulty that we can give even a patient hearing to the pessimists who tell us that like the civilisation of Assyria and Egypt, of Greece and Rome, the British Empire too will pass. Its foundations are too broad to be uprooted by a dozen wars. There is no force outside of it anywhere on the planet that is strong enough to tear it down, as ancient Rome was, by sheer weight of numbers.

It is sufficient to recall the fact, attested by history, that each of these great empires felt this same confidence. But patriotism, which is self-love, is always blind. Men think they can build something abiding. "Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations." The record of ruin of these very empires of antiquity is written to teach men and nations a lesson in these days, but pride and selfishness make bad students of men.

Every generation that has lived in a time of crisis in the history of God's dealings with men has been impatient at hearing anything but smooth things. All the great nations to-day are full of the Imperial Idea, and the lust for dominion is bringing them together in the sharpest rivalry. All the world is now apprehensive, and preparing for a conflict. The "more sure Word of prophecy," which has left witness of its truth in the ruin of ancient empires, now shows that the gathering of the nations is for the battle of the last great day. The world scoffs at the idea of disaster coming when it has such plans of progress and prosperity for the future. "There shall come in the last days scoffers." They say, "Peace and safety," but when men so cry "sudden destruction" is to come upon them. Just before this boastful generation is "the time of trouble" for the nations, "such as never was." Instead of responding to the call, "Prophesy unto us smooth things," instead of putting the sanction of religion upon pride and self-glorification, it is for the Church of Christ to "sound an alarm," for "the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand."

"The Coronation Oath" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

The Coronation Oath .-The Protestant Alliance publishes as a Protestant document a copy of an historic picture representing the Queen taking the Coronation Oath, clad in full ecclesiastical vestments. While indulging in a little pleasantry at this, the Church Times incidentally gives the High Church interpretation of the oath. It says:-

It is true that the Queen swore to maintain "the Protestant Reformed Religion," which even a Roman Catholic Sovereign-if we had one-might be required to do in the interests of certain sections of his subjects. But it is worth remembering that in Malta the Queen maintains the Roman Catholic religion, and in India the native creeds. It will not do to press too much meaning into the Coronation Oath; but the alb and the dalmatic and the armils and the altar-what has the Protestant Alliance to say to them?

Notwithstanding the ease with which the Churchman can explain away language, the Coronation Oath is a grievous offence to Anglican Catholics, who repudiate and detest the name Protestant. They and the Roman Catholics mean to have it altered yet.

"Not Protestant" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

Not Protestant. -However much the words of this Oath may offend Catholics, it is far from being Protestant. The very essence of Protestantism is a protest against any interference of the civil power with religion. It is a protest against human authority intruding itself in the realm of religion, where only Divine authority can bear sway, and is an affirmation of the Gospel truth that the faith of Jesus stands not in the power of men "but in the power of God." When, therefore any prince or ruler makes an oath to maintain the Protestant religion, and any people seek to establish such religion by their authority, the only result must be a papal religion. Thus even during the sixty years of the Queen's reign the Roman revival within the Church of England has made rapid progress. It is pitiful to see Protestants putting confidence in a meaningless oath prescribed by statute, and appealing vainly to a Parliament to withstand apostasy from Bible Protestantism. The Protestant is the one who believes the Word and has it. The faith of Jesus establishes the religion of Jesus, not in statute books, but in the lives of men.

"The Papal Head" The Present Truth 13, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

The Papal Head. -The King of Siam, the only reigning Buddhist, visited the Pope the other day. He is "the first non-Christian monarch," it is said, "who has been received at the Vatican. The Pope expressed great satisfaction at the fact that the King knelt and kissed his hand." The Papacy stands for the human in place of Divine authority, for man in the place of God; hence the Pope is the natural head of all false religion, which is an effort at self-salvation, as opposed to salvation only by the faith of Jesus. The Buddhist monarch may have meant no more than to be polite to an aged man in a place of power, but his act of submission symbolises the papal headship over all the world. "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Rev. xii. 8.

This is why believing the Word of God makes an entire change in the life; "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."

June 24, 1897

"Front Page" The Present Truth 13, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

There is much controversy about the "primitive faith," and the writings of the "Fathers" and the declarations of the councils are freely quoted to establish this or that doctrine or practice as of the primitive faith.

Nothing is simpler than finding what the primitive faith was. The Scripture says that there is but "one Lord" there is also but "one faith." Anything other than that must be no faith at all.

The trouble is men want human definitions of the faith instead of the faith itself. But nothing human can enter into the composition of the faith. It is not what any man or body of men may think about the Lord. It is what He Himself says, and the life that He lives. "The faith of Jesus," is the one faith.

Jesus, who was the Word, as our example of life and teaching lived "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." His faith came by "hearing. . . the Word of God." "Morning by morning, He awakeneth Mine ear to hear. . . . And I was not rebellious." "The word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me." "I came not to do Mine own will." "I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart." "I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." This is the primitive faith. It is a life of obedience that Jesus now lives over again in every one that accepts Him.

"War From Trifles" The Present Truth 13, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

A morning paper prints the following to show what trivial incidents have often led to fearful wars. Rather, they have been the excuse for war, the real reason being the lusts and hatreds which only waited for some excuse for giving vent to passion. The nations are now angry and facing one another in hostile mood because the people who compose them are so generally "living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another." From all this the Gospel delivers every believer. But when one considers how small a thing is sufficient to deluge the laud in blood, one may well cease not to pray to God "for kings and for all that are in authority" that national hatreds may be restrained yet a little longer, that there may be opportunity of still further preaching the Gospel of the kingdom amongst peoples in time of comparative peace. Here is the story of a few wars:-

"Cicero said that the natural state of man is war. Certainly, whether savage or civilised he lets very few opportunities pass, as is proved by the trifles which have produced many terrible conflicts between nations. The Franco-German War, in which the loss of life was over 100,000, and the loss of money very nearly ?1,000,000,000, resulted from a little bit of Royal rematch-making. Spain had a marriageable princess, and the German House of Hohenzollern a marriageable prince. Both were, apparently, anxious to join fortunes, but France objected. The King of Prussia generously agreed not to press the matter, but France, to make sure that a German should never rule the country on her south-western frontier, insisted on getting a promise that the proposal of marriage should not be renewed at any future time. Naturally Prussia declined to humiliate itself, and, unfortunately for herself, France thereupon declared war.

"Perhaps our influence at Constantinople is of great importance, though some argue that it is el very little moment. Either way, it has cost us heavily, both in lives and money. That war of the Crimea, by the way, began in an absurdly trifling event. The cupola of the church of the Holy Sepulchre was out of repair. The Greek monks claimed the right of putting it in order. The Roman Catholic monks disputed their right. Russia supported one party, France the other. The monks came to blows; the diplomatists lost their heads. And then followed the war, with its frightful consequences.

"England's two wars with China have had admirable results, but the causes of them were really very trifling. The first one, in 1840, was about whether John Chinaman should be permitted to smoke Indian opium or not; and the second, that of 1856, resulted from the seizure of a villainous pirate by an armed Chinese vessel. The pirate was Chinese, and he sailed in a Chinese ship, but he cunningly hoisted the Union Jack. Under these circumstances, the pirate's capture was held to be an insult to England, and China's refusal to apologise led to hostilities.

"We all know that the Red Indians fought for the love of the thing, but we must have been pretty fond of it ourselves in days gone by, for we fought France 272 times between 1110 and 1815, and the cause in most instances was nothing more than revenge."

"All Truth Essential" The Present Truth 13, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

It is a very common thing for people to regard truth as of two kinds-essential and non-essential, important and unimportant. This is a great mistake. All truth is one, and cannot be divided into classes. Every point of truth is of equal importance with every other point. Truth is of God, for Jesus Christ whom He has sent is the Truth. But the riches of Christ are unsearchable. He is infinite, therefore the truth is infinite. But there can be no comparison of infinities. To the human mind, at least, all infinities are equal. So the only thing necessary to he determined is whether or not a thing is true. If it is, then no matter how unimportant it may seem to human understanding, we may be sure that it cannot be ignored without sin.

ln a perfect machine the smallest bolt is as important and necessary as the largest shaft, for the reason that without the bolt the shalt would be useless. So in God's perfect Word the smallest matter is as important as what are called the great things. God has not wasted His time on non-essentials. He does not speak that which is of no importance. "Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him. Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." Prov. xxx. 6, 7.

"What the Righteousness of God Is" The Present Truth 13, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Matt. vii. 38.

The righteousness of God, says Jesus, is the one thing to be sought in this life. Food and clothing are minor matters in comparison with it. God will supply them, as a matter of course, so that anxious care and worriment need not be depended on them; but to secure God's kingdom and His righteousness should be the only object of life.

In 1 Cor. i. 30 we are told that Christ is made unto us righteousness as well as wisdom; and since Christ is the wisdom of God, and in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, it is evident that the righteousness which life is made to us is the righteousness of God. let us see what this righteousness is.

In Ps. cxix. 172 the Psalmist thus addresses the Lord: "My tongue shall speak of Thy Word; for all Thy commandments are righteousness." The commandments are righteousness, not simply in the abstract, but they are the righteousness of God. For proof read the following:-

"Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings." Isa. li. 6, 7.

What do we learn from this? That they who know the righteousness of God are those in whose heart is His law, and therefore that the law of God is the righteousness of God.

This may be proved again, as follows: "All unrighteousness is sin." 1 John v. 17. "Whosoever commiteth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John iii. 4. Sin is the transgression of the law, and it is also unrighteousness; therefore sin and unrighteousness are identical. But if unrighteousness is transgression of the law, righteousness must be obedience to the law. Or, to put the proposition into mathematical form:-

Unrighteousness-sin. John v. 17.

Transgression of the law-sin. 1 John iii. 4.

Therefore, as two things that are equal to the same thing are equal to each other, we have:-

Unrighteousness-transgression of the law.

which is a negative equation. The same thing, stated in positive terms, would be:-

Righteousness-obedience to the law.

Now what law is it obedience to which is righteousness and disobedience to which is sin? It is that law which says, "Thou shalt not covet;" for the Apostle Paul tells us that this law convinced him of sin. Rom. vii. 7. The law of ten commandments, then, is the measure of the righteousness of God. Since it is the law of God and is righteousness, it must be the righteousness of God. There is, indeed no other righteousness.

Since the law is the righteousness of God-a transcript of His character-it is easy to see that to fear God and keep His commandments is the whole duty of man. Eccl. xii. 13. Let no one think that his duty will be circumscribed if confined to the ten commandments, for they are "exceeding broad." "The law is spiritual," and comprehends a great deal more than can be discerned by an ordinary reader. "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." 1 Cor. ii. 14. The exceeding breadth of the law of God can be realised only by those who prayerfully meditate upon it.

This righteousness can be "fulfiled in us" only by the power of the indwelling Christ. By faith Christ dwells in the heart (Eph. iv. 17), and thus faith establishes the law in the life (Rom. iii. 31). This righteousness is the first thing to be sought for. It is the one object of Christ's work to bring men to the obedience of faith. His name is called Jesus Saviour, for "He shall save His people from their sins." When men traduce the law of God, therefore, and, refuse to acknowledge it as the standard of righteousness, they cast reproach upon the character of God, and frustrate the Gospel of Christ.

"Sunday Laws and the Bible in Court" The Present Truth 13, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

During recent years there have been in the United States numerous cases of prosecution of Sabbath-keepers for not regarding the Sunday. In England and the colonies, as well as in Europe, cases have also occurred, showing that one spirit is operating in the revival of the enforcement of religious law in all the world. But the church in the United States have been foremost in seeking to control legislation so that human laws might be used to maintain the Sunday. God says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord," men say it shall be the first, and the question in all these cases is, Shall the Word of God or the word of man be obeyed?

The Sentinel of New York, reports the recent trial of two of our Sabbath-keeping brethren in Delaware for not observing Sunday. A portion of the report brings out the real issue very clearly:-

Munce: "Mr. John Qurney, you say you saw me digging up . . . on the Sabbath day."

Witness: "Yes, I did."

Munce: "John, can you tell us which day is the Sabbath day?"

Witness (confused): "Well, I did, we take Sunday; I went on the 10th of April."

Justice: "That won't do, it is contempt of court. We take the first day for the Sabbath, and, it is induced by the laws of this State, and the United States and the civilised world over as the Sabbath. So your argument won't do."

Munce: "Squire, you say that Sunday is the first day of the week."

Justice. "Yes."

Munce: "The Bible says the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."

Justice: "Stop, we don't want the Bible, that won't do, and if you don't stop, I will fine you for contempt of court. The Bible is not what we want, it is the law."

Munce: "Well Squire, can't you allow the evidence of the Bible in the matter?"

Justice: "No, the Bible is not the thing, it is the law we want."

Munce: "Is not that a Bible you swore the witnesses on?"

Justice: "Yes."

Munce: "Why is it, Squire, you will not take the testimony of these witnesses unless they swear by God's Word that what they say is truth? So they can be allowed those oaths by God's Word, why not accept my testimony concerning the Sabbath as God's Word?"

Justice: "That will do. I don't want any more. You have got to stop."

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The extract shows the easy unconventionality of a petty country court, but the justice in his blunt way only stated the case as it is. No matter where these prosecutions have come up, in effect the case of the prosecution has been, "The Bible is not what we want, it is the law." It is the attitude of those who are calling for Sunday enforcement. Few realise the true issue. Those who are enthusiastic to reform society by law think they are working in a good cause, just as the churches in the early centuries thought to accomplish great things by political power. Those churches, however, had turned from the power of the Word and of the Gospel else they would not have sought human power, and Satan worked out his own lawless purposes by them. The result was the Papacy. Now the result will be an image of the Papacy.

The two brethren on trial were convicted and sentenced to short terms of imprisonment. For what?-For living by the Word, for following the example of Jesus Christ. Not in courts alone, but to every soul of man in every place comes the question every week, Do I want the Bible? The Bible and the Sabbath go together. Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth" (John xvii. 17), and the Sabbath, blessed and sanctified, is God's sign of His power to sanctify us (Eze. xx. 12). Of course we want the Bible. We want the Lord Jesus and His salvation. The Lord wants everybody to have it, and at the time when His salvation is near to come and His righteousness to be revealed, He says, "Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." Isa. lvi. 2.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

-A German mechanic has invented a sewing machine which will sew either backward or forward.

-During the Queen's reign the population of Canada has risen from one million to six million; of Australasia from 175,00 to four million and a half.

-The false Messiah and his followers in Brasil, who had several times defeated Government troops, have at last been defeated and his following almost annihilated, it is said.

The United States Government is preparing, it is said, to annex the Hawaiian Islands. They seem to have been hastened in their consideration of the step by Japanese designs on this group.

-A wealthy old lady died recently at Madrid, after willing the whole of her fortune to the Church. She ordered one hundred and fourteen thousand masses to be read for her soul's welfare. Her next-of-kin are contesting the will.

-It is reported that the plague has broken out amongst the Mohammedan pilgrims to Mecca, having been brought from India. Every effort is being made to keep it in quarantine, as if it spreads generally amongst the pilgrims, it may be carried to many parts, even to Europe.

-It is said that Russia is managing Korea altogether, and the Japanese have practically no influence in the country which they wrested from China. The Korean King lives in the Russian legation, the army is under Russian officers, and Russian syndicates are exploiting the commerce of the country.

-A writer shows that when France makes up her army to 4,300,000 men, she has a reserve of but 400,000 left in the country, while Germany, with the same body in the field, could call up a reserve of 2,900,000 untrained men. And while France has increased her population by 175,000 in five years, Germany has increased hers by nearly three millions.

-It is reported that the post-office in Chittagong, India, was swallowed up by the opening earth during the earthquake a few days ago. In Calcutta and over wide extent of territory houses have been damaged and thousands of the poor are unable to find shelter. After the earthquake the highest temperature ever recorded was experienced in some parts. Altogether it is realised to be a great calamity, and added to other troubles in India. It may well cause terror to the people.

-France has the largest national debt account ever reached by a nation. It is 1,241 million pounds. Next to France comes her ally, Russia, with 728 millions. But while France has been over two centuries building up the mountain of debt, Russia has contracted all of hers within this century. Next after these comes the United Kingdom. Statistics for the last five years, however, show that while the debts of all the other Powers have been growing, the debt of the United Kingdom has been decreasing.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

"The prejudice against confession," says Prebendary Villiers, of the English Church Union, "is rapidly dying out."

Our missionaries in the Fiji Islands now have a small boat for their work amongst the eighty inhabited islands of that group.

The Argentine branch of our Society is preparing to begin the publication of a paper in the Spanish language next month.

We go to press before the 22nd, and so can only report that London-at least in the City-seems wholly given up to thoughts for the festivities of Jubilee Day, and the days following.

The programme of the Queen's procession was arranged alphabetically, as regards representatives of foreign powers. The Pope's envoy-extraordinary was placed under the letter H, as he represents the "Holy See."

It is very common to regard religion as a passport into heaven when men die, and the church as a society to insure that the passport shall be properly indorsed. They are nothing of the kind. The religion of Christ saves men from sin, from disobedience to God's law. Religion that doesn't save men from sin now cannot pass them into heaven. And the church is merely the company of those who are saved from their sins, not a corporation that can save others.

The promise to the man who seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, in the perils of the last days: "He shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty."

Religion is becoming a very hot-house of Romanism, according to the figures given in the following newspaper paragraph:-

In 1814 there were in Belgium 132 convents for men containing 2,051 monks, and 649 convents for women containing 2,217 nuns. The wealth of the men's convents was valued at ?7,920,000 and that of the women's convents at ?20,480,000. On the 31st of December, 1886, the convents for men had increased to 244 with 4,306 monks, and the wealth to ?24,500,000. At the same date the convents for women had reached 1,498, housing 20,288 nuns, while the total revenue of these convents was ?44,788,000.

"Politics are very warm in the South African Republic, President Kruger's domain," says President Clark, of the Christian Endeavour Society, "and the outlook is warlike; but Dutch and English churches alike are forming Christian Endeavour societies, and perhaps this may be one of the ties that will bind in Christian love the hearts of these discordant races." Everything Christian will certainly make for peace, and keep the peace itself, whatever comes. But there are already the churches. Are they not Christian? Are they not giving the Gospel message so clearly that every one understands that no member of the Church of Christ make for war, to say nothing of war itself?

The fact is, that churches seem to be powerless to restrain when popular passion is roused. The reason is clearly shown in the study, begun in this week's number, of the relations between the churches and the State in Constantine's day. The churches then made themselves parties to national politics, and the State made itself party to religious controversies. This condition has been maintained ever since. Only lately the Christian Endeavour movement has added a "Christian citizenship" department to its work, and the whole force of the society is being turned into political channels. The world is to be reformed by politics, and patriotism and flag-waving characterises the great conventions of the order. It can only result in evil, only by the preaching of the Word alone is the Gospel advanced. The effort to reconcile patriotism and Christianity fails, because they are opposed to one another. Patriotism is the love of one's country, which is but self-love. Christianity is the expression of God's love, not for a ballot box, but for "the world."

India is suffering from the three scourges of famine, pestilence, and earthquake. The earthquake which caused great ruin and suffering over an area of many thousand square miles, was an experience unprecedented in modern India. Those who scoff at the idea that the judgments of God are abroad in the earth repeat the cry, "All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." But meanwhile those calamities do increase. Some will learn the lesson from them, others will not. "When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness," says the prophet. Yet he is compelled to add: "Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness."

The Scottish correspondent of a London journal says: "Analysis shows that in Scotland there are proportionately more Ritualistic churches in the Episcopal Church than in England. While in England there are about 23,000 Episcopal churches according to Whitaker, and 7,062 of them claimed by the E.C.T., leaving 15,138 Low Church; in Scotland, out of 236 registered in these lists, only twenty-three are Low, leaving the great majority, 243, Ritualistic and claimed by the E.C.U. as in sympathy with them. Scotland has thus made remarkable progress in this retrograde progress to Rome, and people have not marked it."

Already preparations are being made for another round of religious controversy over the London School Board choice next November. The leader of the Anglican Catholics, Mr. Riley, urges electors to return a majority pledged to the introduction of the "Apostles' Creed," and the Church Times declares that "the schools are the real battle ground of religion." Nonconformists generally may be trusted to work as earnestly to capture the schools for the kind of religious teaching which they approve.

"Earth's Jubilee" The Present Truth 13, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

Earth's Jubilee. -Reading of the preparations for the festivities of Jubilee Week, which will see money poured out like water by the wealthy in dress and entertainments, and drinking to the genius of empire, one can only think of that other jubilee, earth's time of release, so soon to be ushered in by the coming of the Lord. By fairs and other celebrations all nations are continually glorifying their achievements. Yet God has weighed them all, and found them wanting. "All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her (Babylon's) fornication," and the time is almost at hand when their judgment will fall.

July 1, 1897

"Front Page" The Present Truth 13, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

"Every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes." Luke vi. 43.

That is one of the simplest propositions to be found in the whole Bible; yet there is probably not a text in the Bible that is more misunderstood. Nearly every one who reads it imagines that it means that he must indure everybody else and measure every other person's deeds; when it teaches exactly the opposite.

Notice: "Every tree is known by his own fruit." Very well; but who is it that knows the fruit? Is it the tree itself?-No; not by any means. Is it another tree that stands in the same row? or any other tree in the garden?-Impossible; no tree in the garden is, or can be, the judge of any other tree's fruit. All that any tree can do is to bear fruit; it is not fitted for anything else, and if it should attempt anything else, then it would be of no use at all, except to cut up for firewood. See Matt. iii. 10. The gardener is the one to judge of the fruit, not only of one tree, but of all.

The trouble with those who read these words of Christ, is that each one thinks of everybody else as a tree, whose fruit is to be proved, and forgets that he himself is also a tree. It is as though each tree in a garden should imagine itself to be the gardener. In that case there would not be much fruit of any kind. The only tree that would be of any value would be the one that was content to be simply a tree, neither trying to bear the fruit of another tree, nor to train another tree to bear its kind of fruit.

Read the connection, and you will see that the whole is a warning against judging another. "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit, neither doth a corrupt

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tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his 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; for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh." Luke vi. 41-45.

God is the husbandman. It is He who has planted the trees, that by their fruit He might be glorified (John xv. 8), and it is He who alone can judge of the fruit. "And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear" (1 Peter i. 17), and not in boastfully judging another's work. Let us be content to bear fruit, and leave to God the work of deciding as to its quality. Let not us, who are but plants, imagine that we are the gardener.

"Acceptance with God" The Present Truth 13, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

Many people hesitate to make a start to serve the Lord, because they fear that God will not accept them; and thousands who have been professed followers of Christ for years are still doubting their acceptance with God. For the benefit of such I write, and I would not bewilder their minds with speculations, but will endeavour to give them the simple assurance of God's Word.

A PURCHASED POSSESSION

"Will the Lord receive me?" I reply by another question: Will a man receive that which he has bought? If you go to the store and make a purchase, will you receive the goods when they are delivered? Of course you will; there is no room for any question about it. The fact that you bought the goods, and paid your money for them, is sufficient proof, not only that you are willing, but that you are anxious, to receive them. If you did not want them, you would not have bought them. Moreover, the more you paid for them the more anxious you are to receive them. If the price that you paid was great, and you had almost given your life to earn it, then there can be no question but that you will accept the purchase when it is delivered. Your great anxiety is lest there should be some failure to deliver it.

Now let us apply this simple, natural illustration to the case of the sinner coming to Christ. In the first place, He has bought us. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price." 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.

The price that was paid for us was His own blood-His life. Paul said to the elders of Ephesus: "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." Acts xx. 28. "For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation [manner of life] received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." 1 Peter i. 18, 19. He "gave Himself for us." Titus ii. 14. He "gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." Gal. i. 4.

He bought not a certain class, but the whole world of sinners. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." John iii. 16. Jesus said, "The bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." John vi. 51. "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. v. 6, 8.

The price paid was infinite, therefore we know that He very much desired that which He bought. He had His heart set on obtaining it. He could not be satisfied without it. See Phil. ii. 6-8; Heb. xii. 2; Isa. liii. 11.

IT WAS HIS BARGAIN

"But I am not worthy." That means that you are not worth the price paid, and therefore you fear to come lest Christ will repudiate the purchase. Now you might have some fear on that score if the bargain were not sealed, and the price were not already paid. If He should refuse to accept you, on the ground that you are not worth the price, He would not only lose you, but also the amount paid. Even though the goods for which you have paid are not worth what you gave for them, you yourself would not be so foolish as to throw them away. You would rather get some return for your money than get nothing.

But, further, you have nothing to do with the question of worth. When Christ was on earth in the interest of the purchase, He "needed not that any should testify of man; for He knew what was in man." John ii. 25. He made the purchase with His eyes open, and He knew the exact value of that which He bought. He is not at all disappointed when you come to Him and He finds that you are worthless. You have not to worry over the question of worth; if He, with His perfect knowledge of the case, was satisfied to make the bargain, you should be the last one to complain.

For, most wonderful truth of all, He bought you for the very reason that you were not worthy. His practised eye saw in you great possibilities, and He bought you, not for what you were then or are now worth, but for what He could make of you. He says: "I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake." Isa. xliii. 25. We have no righteousness, therefore He bought us, "that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Says Paul: "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power." Col. ii. 9, 10.

HOW CHRIST GETS GLORY

Here is the whole process:-

"We all. . . 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 ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 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. 3-10.

We are to be "to the praise of the glory of His grace." This we could not be if we were originally worth all He paid for us. There would in that case be no glory to Him in the transaction. He could not, in the ages to come, show in us the riches of His grace. But when He takes us, worth nothing, and at the last presents us faultless before the throne, it will be to His everlasting glory, and then there will not be any to ascribe worthiness to themselves. Throughout eternity, the sanctified hosts will unite in saying to Christ: "Thou art worthy. . . for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God

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kings and priests." "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." Rev. v. 9, 10, 12.

THE DOUBTING "BUT"

Surely all doubt as to acceptance with God ought to be set at rest. But it is not. The evil heart of unbelief still suggests doubts. "I believe all this, but-." There, stop right there; if you believed you wouldn't say "but." When people add "but" to the statement that they believe, they really mean, "I believe, but I don't believe." But you continue: "Perhaps you are right, but hear me out. What I was going to say is, I believe the Scripture statements that you have quoted, but the Bible says that if we are children of God we shall have the witness of the Spirit, and will have the witness in ourselves; and I don't feel any such witness, therefore I can't believe that I am Christ's. I believe His Word, but I haven't the witness." I understand your difficulty; let me see if it cannot be removed.

As to your being Christ's, you yourself can settle that. You have seen what He gave for you. Now the question is, Have you delivered yourself to Him? If you have, you may be sure that He has accepted you. If you are not His, it is solely because you have refused to deliver to Him that which He has bought. You are defrauding Him. He says, "All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." Rom. x. 21. He begs you to give Him that which He has bought and paid for, yet you refuse, and charge Him with not being willing to receive you. But if from the heart you have yielded yourself to Him to be His child, you may be assured that He has received you.

Now as to your believing His words, yet doubting if He accepts you, because you don't feel the witness in your heart, I still insist that you don't believe. If you did, you would have the witness. Listen to His Word: "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son." 1 John v. 10. To believe in the Son is simply to believe His Word and the record concerning Him.

And "he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." You can't have the witness until you believe; and as soon as you do believe, you have the witness. How is that? Because your belief in God's Word is the witness. God says so: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Heb. xi. 1.

If you should hear God say with an audible voice that you are His child, you would consider that sufficient witness. Well, when God speaks in His Word, it is the same as though He spoke with an audible voice; and your faith is the evidence that you hear and believe.

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Rom. vii. 16. How is the witness given? By the Word. There the witness is written, and the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance the words recorded.

This assurance does not warrant us in relaxing our diligence and settling down contentedly, as though we had gained perfection. We must remember that Christ accepts us not for our sake, but for His own sake; not because we are perfect, but that in Him we may go on unto perfection. He blesses us, not because we have been so good that we have deserved a blessing, but in order that in the strength of the blessing we may turn away from our iniquities. Acts iii. 26. To every one that believes in Christ, the power-right or privilege-is given to become the sons of God. John i. 12., margin. It is by the "exceeding great and precious promises" of God through Christ that we are "made partakers of the Divine nature." 2 Peter i. 4.

"Rome in Australia" The Present Truth 13, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

The Roman Catholic press has been advertising the progress of Romanism in the Empire during the Queen's reign. It is freely said that not less by the numerical increase in her ranks than by the spread of her principles amongst Protestants she estimates her gains. The following paragraph shows how extensive a propaganda of Rome Protestants must face in Australia:-

"When her Majesty ascended the throne sixty years ago, there was only one Bishop in all the vast Australian colonies. He bore the title of Vicar-Apostolic of New Holland and Van Dieman's Land and the adjacent islands, and with him were associated half-a-dozen priests ministering to twenty thousand faithful. There were as yet but a few humble sacred edifices; no institutions of Catholic charity, no religious schools. How different from the rude outlines of such a picture is the grand religious spectacle to be contemplated in the Australian Church of to-day. Including New Zealand, there are twenty-eight Arch-bishops and Bishops, with 900 priests and more than 800,000 faithful. In 1837 there was not a single nun in Australasia; there are at present considerably more than 3,000 engaged in their marvellous mission on charity and mercy. Such is the review which Cardinal Moran has been making in replying to congratulations and addresses on the occasion of the silver jubilee of his episcopate, and it will be readily admitted that the pleasant retrospect was a fitting subject of thought in these Jubilee days."

"A Singular Fact" The Present Truth 13, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

Curiously enough, says the Century Magazine, neither the birth, baptism, nor confirmation of Queen Victoria is a matter of official public record. One might suppose that, filed away in its appointed place among the State archives, there could be found a document formally setting forth the birth of the child who, though not heir presumptive to the throne at the time of her birth, was removed from it by only three degrees. But such is not the case. With regard to her birth, all that was deemed necessary was its announcement by the State officials whose duty it was to be personally cognisant of the fact.

In the huge Public Records Building in Chancery Lane, wherein are jealously guarded the muniments of ancient lauded titles and the records of royal treaties, one may see the marvelously well-preserved Doomsday Book, which is the beginning of all things to the English conveyancer; the solemn compacts of cardinals, enjoys, ambassadors, and ministers; the priceless records of royal prerogatives side by side with the grants wrung from unwilling monarchs to the growing power of the people. There, also, are preserved, and with equal care, a multitude of writings which have no other interest, despite their antiquity, than that which comes from the fact that they have to do with the trivial details of the most common incidents in the lives of the kings and queens of England. But among them all there can be found no official or other record of the coming into existence of a certain child, one Alexandrina Victoria, who was destined to become the first empress that ever sat upon an English throne, to rule over a wider extent of country than ever before comprised the dominion of a sovereign, to count among her willing subjects a greater number of people and a wider diversity of races than has ever acknowledge a common scepter, and who has, finally, in the closing decade of the nineteenth century, completed a longer term of continuous reign than has been allotted to a queen in the world's history.

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Among these records there is guarded, as if it had a special pious virtue, a discoloured parchment which, in Elizabeth's time, was the patent by the authority of which a certain dean was made the instructor of the queen in the rights and ceremonials of the Church. But there is no note, formal or informal, among these records of how or where or when Queen Victoria, this first empress, and the most illustrious of English sovereigns, was received into that Church of which she is now the temporal head. Even the circumstance that, since the time of Charles II., every English sovereign, upon his accession to the throne, has been required by law to make a declaration which precludes the possibility of its occupant being of any faith save that of the Established Church, is hardly sufficient to account for the omission from the records of the baptism and confirmation of the present head of the Church. But this being the case, and the birth of the Queen being accepted as a matter of officially demonstrable proof, and her baptism as a matter of inference, her coronation becomes, in point of time and importance, the first event with which the public records concern themselves.

"Boy Smokers" The Present Truth 13, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

So great evil has followed the use of tobacco by young boys that physicians and statesmen in many lands are making strong efforts to keep tobacco away from them. Cases of death and of insanity among boys have been reported lately as the result of cigarette smoking. Let boys beware of following a nasty practice, which will surely injure their health. Many a boy who smokes thinks no one knows it, but his friends can often tell it by the change in his looks. A public school-master recently said: "I can go through this school and put my hand on every boy that uses tobacco, for he shows it in his face, and if I am in doubt, I can prove my surmise by looking at his recitation cards." It ruins the health, dulls the mind for good and noble thinking, and very generally leads boys to deceive their parents. It is one of Satan's favourite ways of preventing the young from being manly and useful in the Lord's service. For your own sake, boys, and for Christ's sake, don't smoke.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

-The Powers find it difficult to select the Governor for Crete. The insurgents there are comparatively quiet, waiting for the announcement of the war between Greece and Turkey.

-Official figures give the deaths from the earthquake in India as 360. Villages are ruined, and, railway lines in some districts are twisted out of shape for miles.

-It is estimated that four millions of people watched the Royal procession on Jubilee Day. The freedom from any serious incidents attending it is a good testimony to the orderliness of London crowds.

-The war in Cuba goes on savagely. The Spanish authorities having declared the Cubans traitors and not to be treated as prisoners of war when captured, the insurgents have declared their intention to shoot all Spaniards taken in arms.

-The fanaticism of the Brahmins has been roused by the steps taken to stamp out the plague in India. They regard the visit; of the sanitary officers to houses and temples, and interference with burials, as sacrilege, and on Jubilee Day three officials were shot by natives.

-A comparison of prices of common household articles in the years 1887 and 1897 shows how things have cheapened. Sugar cost from 3rd. to 1s. when the Queen came to the throne; now it is 1d. to 2? d. Butter is less than half the price, soap less than a third, and so also raisins and currants.

-Between 500,000 and 400,000 are estimated to have participated in the free dinners to the London poor last Thursday, initiated by the Princess of Wales, and mainly paid for by Mr. Lipton, a successful provision merchant, who contributed ?25,000 for the purpose.

-Sixty years ago the revenues of the British Empire amounted to about ?75,000,000-the United Kingdom ?50,000,000, India and the Colonies ?25,000,000, of which India's share was ?20,000,000. To-day the gross public revenue of the Empire is about three times this amount, or ?335,000,000.

-American Socialists are preparing to found a colony in the Far West on Socialist lines. They assert that half a million men will join the colony before the end of the year. They purpose forming a new political party opposed to the money power. The poor men who dream dreams of an ideal commonwealth will, of course, be disappointed.

-Japan has entered serious protest against American annexation of Hawaii. The United States may very easily get into trouble at its first step toward annexing island territory. The Hawaiian Islands are thirteen in number, with a population of 107,000, of whom 23,000 are whites. The whites who govern the islands overthrew the native monarchy in 18114, making it a republic.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all."

"Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word."

"Bless ye the Lord, all ye His hosts; ye ministers of His, that do His pleasure. Bless the Lord all His works in all places of His dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul." Ps. ciii. 19-22.

This is the Lord's call to all to recognise in sovereignty. From the angels that excel in strength to the humblest soul in His dominion, all have reason to bless Him and serve Him. And only service can honour Him. His will is to be done in earth even as the angels do it in heaven.

The one part of God's dominion where His will is not done is this rebellious earth, under the temporary rule of "the prince of this world." Out from this rebellion God is calling men by His Gospel. They are called to join the angels in doing His commandments and hearkening to the voice of His Word. The world likes not to listen to that voice. It does not minister to ambition and pomp and pride. And yet it calls to fellowship with God and the angels!

The worldling counts it a great thing to be a part of the machinery of this world's government. The recent pageant, representing the greatest of empires, stirred the enthusiasm of the multitudes who watched it because, as one distinguished journalist said,

Each one of us-you and I, and that man in his shirt-sleeves at the corner-is a working part of this world-shaping force.

It is a tremendous force, as the world goes, and those elated with the idea of being important factors in it think they have too important work on hand to wait in the attitude of the angels, hearkening for the voice of the Lord. But the greatest thing in this world to-day is the Lord's work in the earth, and there are none so lofty and none so lowly but that the most important thing to them is to be a part of that work.

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory 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. Little children, it is the last hour." 1 John ii. 16-18, R.V.

The Archbishops and Bishops in charge of the religious service at St. Paul's on Jubilee Day seized the occasion to show that the official religion of the realm is Sacerdotalism. High Church papers are eloquent in describing the gorgeous appearance of the sacerdotal vestments, glittering with gold and silver embroidery.

As the Queen started in the procession last week she touched the button that sent her message to the Empire: "From my heart I thank my beloved people. May God bless them." During the few minutes following the message was flying under seas and over continents to the ends of the earth, and by the time the Queen's carriage returned to her palace loyal replies were in waiting. Distance counts little if only proper connections are established and open. Sometimes people wonder how the Lord's message is to be carried to every creature in the world, before He comes in the clouds of heaven, all the angelic hosts uniting to make it the greatest triumphal procession of the universe. They forget that God has established connections with every creature. "He sendeth forth His commandment upon earth: His Word runneth very swiftly."

Twenty-five miles of British war ships were reviewed at Spithead, the heaviest naval fighting force ever assembled. Nearly as many more are on their stations in various waters abroad. Yet this is not enough. If the wave of Imperialism passing over the Empire does not result in at once greatly increasing the navy, says a Government organ, "the Jubilee itself will be a mockery, a delusion, and a snare."

We are glad to learn that the sanatorium established by our Society just over a year ago in Basel, Switzerland, makes progress. The health magazine published in connection with it, Le Vulgarisaleur, has a circulation of 8,000 copies monthly.

"Earthly Empire at its Best" The Present Truth 13, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

Earthly Empire at its Best .-At various crises it is well known that the Queen's influence has been to restrain warlike feelings. The high character of her domestic life has raised the standard of the court far above its predecessors. It has been an era of constitutional development. But no kingdom of this world can be maintained save by the price of blood, and for the reason that it has been an era of expansion of the Empire it has been an era of almost continuous war in some part.

"Labouring for the Fire" The Present Truth 13, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

Labouring for the Fire .-Because all nations dream of similar expansion, the world is now making war preparations on a scale never before attempted. Empire building is the international passion of the hour, and it has became a proverb of statesmen that "you cannot make omelette without breaking eggs." You cannot build empires without giving life and taking life. They think it pays. But God says that they are labouring for vanity-nothing-building for the fires of the last day that is now hastening on. Over every nation to-day hangs the woe of the prophet: "Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity! Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?"

"'Thy Kingdom Come'" The Present Truth 13, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thy Kingdom Come." -"Since that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the elements 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." Then again all His works will bless Him "in all places of His dominion."

"A Mind at Rest" The Present Truth 13, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

A Mind at Rest .-The one who shuts the Lord out of his life, in order that his mind may not be troubled with questions of duty and conscience, little realises that God alone can keep the mind at rest. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee."

July 8, 1897

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. The Voice of God" The Present Truth 13, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus."

Under this heading it is proposed to call the attention of the readers of the PRESENT TRUTH week by week to a portion of the Epistle to the Hebrews and to other portions of Scripture that are naturally suggested by it. The study will be somewhat similar to that which appeared on the Book of Romans two or three years ago, although we do not propose, at present at least, to make a study of the entire Epistle, but only of the first four or five chapters. The design is to fix the words of the text as firmly as possible not simply in the memory but in the mind of the reader, that the Holy Spirit may open them to the understanding. When this is done, the treasures of the Word will be seen, and the possessor will have within him a constant source of joy and strength.

The object of Bible study is to find out what God says; for it is not alone those who never read the Scriptures, who are ignorant in this respect. Many read the Bible regularly, and still have very little idea of what God actually says to them. All the meaning of the words of the Lord does not lie on the surface; the business of the Bible teacher is to make this deeper meaning appear; for the true Bible teacher simply follows the leading of the Spirit of God, "for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." There is all the difference in the world between this kind of Bible study and that (miscalled) study that consists in putting a meaning into the text, and saying dogmatically, "This means so and so." In this case the individual follows his own mind or fancy, and not the mind of the Spirit. The difference between the two methods of teaching may be seen in this, that where the teacher puts a construction on the text, giving his opinions and ideas, arbitrarily saying that it means thus and so, the student who accepts his guidance must always keep his words in mind; for since the interpreted meaning is not actually in the text, but is put upon it, it is very evident that the reader cannot see it in the words of the text, but must look through the words of the teacher; in the other case, if the teacher is indeed only an instrument of the Holy Spirit, the student sees in the very words of the Bible a meaning that he did not see before, but which he can clearly see is actually there; and he sees it now so plainly that he wonders why he did not see it before. The Spirit of faith may thus be likened to a magnifying glass, or a telescope, that enables us to see realities that are hidden from the unaided sight.

Knowing that this epistle is the Word of the Lord, we shall spend no time trying to prove that it was written by Paul, or speculating over the question whether it might not nave been written by Apollos, or some one else. "What then is Paul? and what is Apollos?-Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him. 1 Cor. iii. 5, R.V. With prayer to God for the blessing and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, let us devote ourselves to meditation upon the very words of this epistle so wondrously rich in doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.

THE VOICE OF GOD

"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." Heb. i. 1, 2.

Let us question the test for a few minutes, to be sure that we know just

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what it says. We will let it answer in its own words.

To whom are we introduced in the very beginning of this epistle?

"God."

"What has God done?"

God spake.

When did God speak?

"God spake in time past."

To whom did God speak in time past?

"God dpake in time past unto the fathers."

Through whom did God speak in time past?

"God spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets."

Did God speak more than once?

"God spake at sundry times."

How did He speak?

"In divers manners."

Has God spoken in later times?

"God hath in these last days spoken."

To whom has God spoken in these last days?

"God hath in these last days spoken unto us."

Through whom does He speak to us?

"By His Son."

Nevertheless who is it that speaks first and last, by whatever agent and in whatever manner?

"God."

What has God done for His Son, by whom He speaks to us?

"God hath appointed (Him) heir of all things."

Of how much is the Son heir?

"Of all things."

What force is there to the words which God has spoken to us by His Son?

"God has spoken unto us by His Son, by whom also He made the worlds."

What two things are said of God in these two verses?

"God spake," and "He made the worlds."

"In the beginning, God." -Here we may pause. When that has been said, everything has been said and done; "for of Him, and through him, and to Him, are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen." Rom. xi. 36. It is a striking and significant fact that the first word in this epistle brings us face to face with God, and that the text could not possibly be put into good English without having "God" as the first word. And, moreover, when we read the text, we are forced by the very nature of the construction, to pause after the utterance of that title. It is as though designed to make us see that God is, and that that simple, grand fact comprises everything. We are compelled to stop and think that His name is "I AM." Ex. iii. 14. "I am the Lord (Jehovah); that is My name." Isa. xlii. 5. "Before Me there was no god formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside Me there is no Saviour." Isa. xliii. 10, 11.

"God Is." -To believe that God is, sums up all that is necessary to salvation. Enoch pleased God and was translated to heaven, because he believed. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Heb. xi. 6. There are fewer people who believe that God is, than is generally supposed. He is-what?-Life, love, strength, righteousness. He is good. Now many persons believe that God has strength, and life, and love, and goodness; but that is not believing that He is. For to believe that He is, means to believe that He is just what He is. "I AM that I AM." God is goodness itself, and life, and strength. There is no goodness, no life, no strength, that does not come directly from Him. Do you believe this? Do you believe that He is-all that is worth being? If so, then you acknowledge your complete dependence on Him, and allow Him to use His strength in you after His own will, to His own glory. And that is salvation. God is-where?-There is "one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all." Eph. iv. 6. R.V. "Whither shall I go from Thy presence? or whither shall I flee from Thy Spirit? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, 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, and Thy right hand shall hold me." Ps. cxxxix. 7-10. Truly, God is. If that one fact were ever before us, the object of our contemplation, it would completely transform our whole lives. We should then appreciate what power there is in the name. As we proceed in our study, let us not forget that we stand in the presence of God, and that He is.

Silence! -"The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him." Hab. ii. 20. Why keep silent?-Because He seaks, and we need to hear. "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken." Isa. i. 2. "Be still, and know that I am God." Ps. xlvi. 10. There is a good reason why people as a general thing find it so difficult to understand the Word of the Lord, and that is, that they do not keep still long enough to hear what He says. If when a teacher began to speak, all his hearers should at once fall to disputing with one another, and to questioning and contradicting him, no one would wonder at their not understanding him; and none would be warranted in saying that he spoke so indistinctly or in so obscure a manner that he could not be understood. If they should make this complaint, they would merit the retort, "If you would but keep still, and listen, you would have no difficulty in understanding." This is exactly the way it is when the Lord speaks. No sooner is a word uttered, than people begin to clamour; without giving quiet consideration to His Word, or even waiting to hear what He has to say, they begin, "I don't see how that can be; "yes, but then how about this?" "That doesn't harmonise with the other statement;" "what do you think of that?" "what's your opinion about this matter?" "It can't mean that;" "this is what it means;" and so on without limit. No wonder they don't understand. If a learned professor should begin to speak upon his special subject, all sensible persons would respectfully and attentively listen, because they would consider that the only wise thing to do is to listen when one wiser than they speaks; and they would strain their ears not to miss a word, so that they might understand. Should we not much more silently listen when the Lord of the universe, "the only wise God,"speaks?

God's Voice .-God has many ways of speaking. He spoke in old time "in divers manners." "God thundereth marvelously with His voice; great things doeth He, which we cannot comprehend." Job xxxvii. 5. There is power when He speaks, "For He saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of His strength;" and so it is. "When He uttereth His voice there is a multitude of waters in the heavens." Jer. x. 13. "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thundereth; the Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; the Lord breaketh

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the cedars of Lebanon." "The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness." Ps. xxix. 3-5, 7, 8. Yet the Lord also speaks with "a still, small voice" (1 Kings xix. 9), and that voice is just as powerful as when He thunders. It is in this tone that He most commonly speaks to men, because our ears could not endure constant thunder; and therefore it is the more necessary that we keep silent before Him, in order that we may hear.

God Still Speaks .-"The word of God is living and active." Heb. iv. 12. The word of God "liveth and abideth forever." 1 Peter i. 23. The word that was spoken by the Lord six thousand years ago is just as fresh and active and as full of life today as it was then. Therefore every word that God has ever spoken, He still speaks. We have the statement that in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son, which brings the word direct to us; but that is not all, for "whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning" (Rom. xv. 4), and as the word is living, ever fresh and new, we have it all directly addressed to us. What a wonderful thought! God speaks! Who speaks?-God speaks. What does God do?-He SPEAKS. What does He say?-Listen, and you will know. "Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live." Isa. Iv. 3. Truly, if men only believed the fact that God speaks,-is still speaking,-they would involuntarily listen; and when they did that, they would see His word and hear His voice in everything that He has made. The mighty power that there is in the thought that God speaks to us, must be experienced, for it cannot be described.

Recognising the Voice .-Once when Jesus was giving instruction, He uttered a prayer to the Father, which was immediately and audibly answered from heaven. "The people, therefore, that stood by, and heard, said that it thundered; others said, An angel spake to Him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes." John xii. 29, 30. To Jesus, the voice from heaven conveyed a distinct message,-there were articulate words,-but to the others it was only meaningless thunder. Why?-Because Jesus was acquainted with the voice of the Lord, and the others were not. If they had accustomed themselves to the Lord's voice, they would have found comfort in the message from heaven. In the eighty-ninth Psalm, where we have the glorious throne of God set before us (verses i-14),-that throne from which proceed "lightnings and thunderings and voices" (Rev. iv. 5),-we are told, "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 day, and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted." If we get acquainted with God we shall rejoice to hear His voice, even though He thunders. When God thundered from Sinai, the people "removed, and stood afar off," but "Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was." Ex. xx. 18-22. The people had no reason to fear, and if they had but believed, they might also have drawn near, and found in those thundered commandments infinite promises. God commands His servants in the last days to proclaim the message of comfort from a high mountain, with a loud voice (Isa. vl. 9); and He Himself set the example. The greater the thunder tones of God's voice, the greater assurance of the power of the promise. The voice that sounded from Sinai was the same that still says, "Come unto Me, all Me that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28. When God says, "Thou shalt," knowing as He does that we are utterly powerless, His command is an assurance that He Himself will work in us "both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Therefore when we learn that God's voice is "a joyful sound" no less when it thunders than when it whispers, we shall find rest and delight and peace in His commandments.

How Do We Know? -It is a question that is often asked, "How do you know that God speaks? How do you know that the Bible is the Word of God?"-In the most natural way possible: by listening. If my friend speaks to me, I shall be unconscious of it if I am so occupied with my own thoughts that I pay no heed; but when I listen, and hear his voice, and distinguish the words, then I need nobody else to tell me that he is speaking to me. We know that the Bible is the Word of God, because we hear Him speaking to us personally. Nobody in the world can prove to another that the Bible is the Word of God, but everybody in the world has the means of knowing for himself. Stop and listen; get apart from men, and even from your own thoughts, alone with the One who speaks, and you will know that it is God who speaks.

In the Prophets; In the Son .-From the Revised Version we see that God spoke to the fathers "in the prophets," and hath now spoken unto us "in His Son." "God was in Christ." 2 Cor. v. 19. His name is Emanuel, God with us. "Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me." John xiv. 11. Wherever the Son is, there is the Father also. Therefore we see that it was God speaking in the prophets, when we read that "the Spirit of Christ which was in them" (1 Peter i. 11) was testifying. "For no prophecy ever came by the will of man; but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter i. 21, R.V. Therefore when we read the Bible we may drop every thought of man from our minds, and listen to God alone. It is when we thus listen that we find blessing. "We also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God." 1 Thess. ii. 13, R.V.

The Spoken Word .-Do not lose sight of the fact that God speaks. The word is living, and does not consist of mere printed letters arranged in the form of words. This is not said to disparage the Bible, but that we may appreciate it the more, and find the more power in it. The words that we see printed are but the form, the picture of the real words. A word is a living thing, formed of the very breath of life. A man may read the Bible, and read very critically, and derive no real good from it, because he sees only cold, dead print. He sees thoughts, ideas, it is true, but they are crystallised, inanimate. At the best he gets only the empty honeycomb, but none of the honey. The living word is that which the eye cannot see nor the ear hear, but which is revealed to the heart by the Spirit of God. There cannot be in this any opposition between the letter and the Spirit, although the letter kills and the Spirit gives life; for while the letter alone kills, since it is itself dead, the Spirit that makes alive does not contradict the letter, since it is but the reality of that which the letter presents in form.

"These Last Days." -In the second verse the Revised Version has, "at the end of these days," instead of "in these last days." But a comparison of all the other places in which the same Greek words occur which are found here, shows that we may very well read it as in the common version, "in these last days." It

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is thus rendered in many other translations. But that there may be no doubt that it was in the last days when Jesus spoke in Judea and Galilee, we read in both the old and the revised versions in Acts ii. 17, that it is "in the last days" that the Spirit is poured out on all flesh, which was fulfilled at Pentecost. No apology is needed, therefore, and no explanation, further than a reference to the Scriptures, for saying most emphatically that we are living "in the last days."

"Heir of All Things." -God has appointed the Son heir of all things. But "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God," "and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together." Rom. viii. 14, 17. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things." Rev. xxi. 7. Glorious inheritance! But we must not forget that suffering is a part of this inheritance, for those who suffer with Him are glorified with Him. That, however, need not discourage us: for God does not say that the suffering precedes the glory, but that it precedes the revelation of the glory. Jesus when on earth had "the glory as of the only begotten of the, Father" (John i. 14), but men did not perceive it because it was in the form of "grace and truth," which they rejected. He says that he has given His disciples the same glory that the Father gave Him. John xvii. 2. All things are even now in Christ, for "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." Col. i. 17, R.V. Therefore even though we may seem to have all reproach and suffering, we have all the power and glory of heaven given us to enable us to bear it; for "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. 33. Here is the assurance: "All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." 1 Cor. iii. 21-23. What blessed things God speaks.

Guilty Ignorance .-"If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it, and He that keepeth the soul, doth not He know it?"

"The Dust of a Pharaoh" The Present Truth 13, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

When Moses chose to suffer affliction with the Israelitish people rather than to accept the throne of Egypt, the popular verdict, we can well understand, was that the young man had thrown, himself away. His name must have been a by-word in the court for all that was foolish and fanatical. But the Scripture says that "he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." His choice was not a blind one. He weighed both sides, and decided that the honour of being a Pharaoh was not to be compared with the glory of sharing the reproach of Christ.

After his death, Moses was raised to life, and he appeared with Christ in glory on the mount of transfiguration. We know, therefore, that he now lives in the City of God, amidst glories that human eyes have never seen. What about the Pharaohs, amongst whom he might have ranked for a few years? They are but dust. Some have been discovered in recent years, and may be seen in museums for a small entrance fee. An incident that occurred several years ago is thus related:-

"Brugsch Bey, the famous explorer of the tombs of ancient Egypt, who discovered the mummy believed to be that of the Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites, recently found another mummy, on the coffin of which was the royal cartouche, indicating that the body was that of one of the Pharaohs. He was delighted with his discovery, and with great care packed it up for conveyance to Cairo. On arriving at the railway station, he was directed to have his 'luggage' put in the luggage-van. The Bey was concerned about its safety and insisted on its going in the carriage with him. The officials consented on the condition that the fare was paid as for a living passenger. Brugsch Bey accordingly paid Pharaoh's fare, and the mummy went in the passenger coach. At the custom-house of Cairo a new difficulty arose. The custom officers demanded duty. The Bey explained that the package was the mummy of a Pharaoh, and that no duty could he levied upon it. But the officers were convinced that it might be made dutiable under some category, and they searched their list for a suitable class. Finally, they decided to charge for it as dried fish, on which a duty is imposed. The Bey scorned to contend about the small charge involved, and the mummy having been weighed and the duty paid, the dead body of Pharaoh entered the capital of Egypt as a package of dried fish. With such contempt did they treat the body of a potentate, who, in his lifetime, doubtless received the homage of all who came into his presence. In his case with startling force were the words of the prophet fulfilled that the terrible ones shall be despised and shall become as chaff. Isa. xxix. 9."

"Other Gospels" The Present Truth 13, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

In a series of specially written papers on various phases of British history during the Queen's reign, the Daily Chronicle includes one paper on the history of Religious Thought, by Mr. William Clarke. He gives an interesting survey of the period, the Anglican Catholic and the Roman Catholic revivals, and the long struggle of Dissent for political rights-which, he says, has "necessarily made it more 'worldly' and political in tone" than it was in the old days of the back-lane meeting houses. The general tendency toward a social and political gospel is very clearly stated, and the author shows that this course in religion runs parallel with the increased rage for money-making and pleasure. The Gospel of God with its power to reform the man from within is the only Gospel that call have reformatory power. But as in the fourth century so now there is an idea abroad that there is an easier way of reforming the world than by preaching the Word. Mr. Clarke says:-

"Social reforms are demanded in the name of Christian ethics; Churchman and Nonconformist alike seem disposed to take the kingdom of heaven by violence; Christian Socialists urge its introduction by the easy machinery of the ballot-box. But, on the other hard, there are not a few signs that all this is or may be surface work. A deep-rooted scepticism prevents men of culture from joining in action. The theory of evolution as presented by Darwin and his successors is not easy to reconcile in all its parts with the fabric of theology and belief built up through many centuries, even when mutual compromises are offered on both sides.

"There is good reason to suspect that undue devotion to ritual and to authority is often used to cover a very real scepticism beneath. A chaos of opinion prevails wherever cultivated men who are not afraid to talk find themselves together. The substitution of ethical sermons and discourses on social reform for the old doctrinal essays may mean that a wise insistence should be laid on aspects of life that have been neglected; but it may also mean mental bewilderment on the part of the preacher, but the most manifest sign which hints to us that the outward religious activity may not be correspondent to inner facts is to be found in the dominating power of money-making and the rage for amusements. These things appear to produce a certain overmastering materialism of life and thought which, whatever we may say of it as a part of the general evolution of mankind, seems entirely out of touch with the distinctive Christian ideal of life."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

-Over 16,000 miners are out on strike in Belgium.

-A great strike of tin-plate workers, of Dean Forest, has closed seventeen mills. About a thousand hands are idle.

-Last year the Imperial revenue showed general business prosperity, and returns for the first quarter of this year indicate still an increase of commercial prosperity.

-While many caterers for the public in London made money by the Jubilee, very many lost. The great crowds were kept away, it is said, by the fear of crush and accidents.

-It is said that the Khalifs has 80,000 troops gathered at Omdurman, his capital, to resist the British force soon to start up the Nile to retake the tipper Nile province.

-Much is being said of Colonial representation in an Imperial Parliament in England. The Jubilee and the visit of Colonial premiers has drawn the Empire closer together.

-While the conference to arrange terms of peace between Turkey and Greece makes slow progress, Turkey is said to be continually strengthening her hold on Thessaly.

-The Queen remarked to a friend during the Jubilee: "This Jubilee means one thing. It means that I am a very old woman." Yet she has surprised all by the vitality she has shown in all the celebrations.

-Greece is so hard pressed financially that economy is necessary. But it is surely bad economy that begins on education. The national schools are closed for a time. It would save something if the army were disbanded.

-Extraordinary hailstorms in Essex have destroyed much of the fruit in that county. Many of the fruit farmers are nearly ruined. It is said to have been the most disastrous season ever experienced, as far as fruit is concerned.

-Very grave news has been coming from India. The native press in Poona is accused of preaching sedition, and the attacks on civil servants are not regarded as the work of a few discontented ones only, but to be symptoms of very general disloyalty. Soldiers have been quartered upon the city, and the inhabitants are to pay a large indemnity. The disorder in Poona has been followed by riot in Calcutta.

-Considerable sensation was caused by the announcement in the Commons that run-away slaves in East Africa were being caught by British officers, and returned to their masters. Missionary stations had been called upon to deliver up slaves who had fled from districts where slavery was legal. The Government have promised that this shall be stopped, though the anti-Slavery Society say that good-faith has not been kept in the matter of the abolition of slavery in Zanzibar. They are determined to press matters until in no protectorate of Great Britain a slave can be held to a master whom he wishes to leave. It is said that slavery in Africa now costs 2,000,000 of lives yearly. For one slave reaching the coast nine are said to die on the journey.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

"Grace means unmerited mercy and undeserving favour. If a man can prove that he is not worthy of salvation, I can prove that there is salvation for him."

Speaking of laws against Romanists still on the statute books of Great Britain, although obsolete, a Roman Catholic says: "All the religious orders, and thousands of Dominican and Franciscan Tertiaries now in this country are liable to summary expulsion from their native land at any time."

The gravity of the situation in India is generally recognised. It is a time for specially remembering the spiritual needs of that great empire in prayer before the Lord. Missionaries will need special wisdom and power in order that it may be clearly manifested that the Gospel is not a theory of religion identified with any earthly power, but a message of love and salvation from Heaven.

From Belgium, Italy, and the United States come news of great strikes. In the latter country the extent of the, labour troubles is very large, and the situation is a grave one. And as we go to press, it seems an assured thing that a great struggle between masters and men has begun in the engineering trade in England. It is predicted that, if no compromise is effected, it will be the severest industrial war in recent times.

The increase of strikes and of discontent in the labour world is one of the most disquieting signs of the times to men of the world. Many are the schemes propounded to remedy matters. There is but one remedy, according to the Word, and that is the coming of the Lord. The fifth chapter of James is the Lord's pronouncement on the industrial question. The Lord warns the rich against oppression and the poor He exhorts to patience. But because few of either class will hear the Lord, there will be increased trouble and violence. The message to all who will hear is: "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. . . . Stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."

The various funds organised for the purpose of giving the children of the slums and congested districts a trip to the country in summer are doing a good work. The other day a newspaper reported a touching incident in connection with this work. A little fellow from East London, set free in the open fields amidst the wild flowers, dropped on his knees and kissed the upturned face of a daisy. The Lord spoke to his little heart by that emblem of sweetness and purity of life:-

"Into most women's faces has crept a pathetic care-worn look," said the writer of the Society column of a morning paper last Friday. What gave such concern? It was the question whether "they would look their best" in the costumes ordered for the great ball that evening. The description of the extravagant dresses and the "bushels of jewels" which figured at the function will not tend to lessen the discontent of the toilers of the world, who say that their labours pay for these luxurious displays, and whose wives' faces wear a pathetic care-worn look for reasons very different.

Between the foolish rich who use their wealth for personal pleasure, and the restless and discontented poor who are made more discontented by seeing these displays, there is another class who covet not the wealth and who share not in the discontent. They are "the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom." They know that God who clothes the grass of the field has promised raiment to those who seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. There is something more important than bodily apparel. "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. . . . Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Rom. xiii. 12-14.

A sad story that recalls the plot of Haman against the Jews in the days of Esther, consort of the Persian King, Ahasuerus, reaches the Daily Chronicle from a correspondent in official position at Teheran. A Moslem Mollah, or priest, it is said, has planned for the extermination of all the Jews in Persia who will not become Mohammedans. The fanatical movement has assumed such proportions that the Persian Government are almost powerless. They have ordered every Jew to wear a mark to distinguish him from the Moslems. The Jews are in fear for their lives and many have become Mohammedans to escape violence and the destruction of their property.

Jesus said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing." It was because, as He came to take our place and live our example, He continually confessed His inability to do anything, that the Father that dwelt in Him was able to do all things by Jesus. When we are weak, then are we strong, because the knowledge of helplessness leads us to trust God. The trouble is we too often think we can do something; then nothing is done but evil. Let all of self go, confess the helplessness, and then yield the members as instruments of righteousness unto God. He can work with almighty power in the one who confesses that he has no power, and that God has all power.

"Bread from Heaven" The Present Truth 13, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

Bread from Heaven .-The Catholic makes a great point of the alleged power of the priest to convert the bread of the communion into the material substance of Christ's body. Without going into the false foundation on which the Catholic claim rests, we may ask, "What of it if the bread of the communion were actually the flesh of Christ?" Jesus said, "The flesh profiteth nothing." He had told them that "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." The people, ever blind to the spiritual meaning of His words, debated among themselves as to how they could eat His flesh. The Catholic priest answers that by saying, "Here it is, in the bread of the communion." But Jesus answers, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Feeding upon the Word is partaking of Christ, the Living Bread.

From the time of His betrayal to His last moment upon the cross Jesus was thinking of others. He was not on His defence during His trial. He told Pilate, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." The secret of His calm composure which so impressed Pilate was that He was witnessing to save others, not to save or defend Himself.

July 15, 1897

"Front Page" The Present Truth 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

"And you hath He quickened [or made alive], who were dead in trespasses and sins." Eph. ii. 1.

The moral condition of the natural man is death, spiritual death. It is essential to the Christian worker to know this, so that he may not lose time in trying to talk to the dead.

The Lord Jesus sends every believer into the world to win souls from death. But as well might one go to the cemetery to talk to those who sleep in the grave, as to go with one's own words and wisdom to help unbelievers.

It requires none other than a voice the dead can hear to speak to souls dead in sin. They can hear the voice of God, because there is life in His words to give life to the very dead that they may hear. "Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Eph. v. 14. He must say it.

When the Christian worker understands his absolute inability even to speak to those who are dead in sin, he will not weaken his work by trusting in any human wisdom or ability to present the truth to the perishing. They can hear only God's voice. His words must do all the good that is done. "Which things also we speak," said the apostle, "not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth."

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. The Power that Purifies" The Present Truth 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Since we did not come so far last week as the close of the second verse, and the third and fourth verses form one sentence with the first two verse, we will for the sake of the connection read the entire four together:-

"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, set down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." Heb. i. 1-4.

"He Spake and It Was." -The story of creation runs thus: "God said, Let there be-; and it was so." Wherever His Word came, there was the thing that it named. But Christ is the Word. John i. 1. It is in Him that every thought of God is expressed. Therefore "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." Col. i. 16, R.V. By Him-in Him-God made the worlds, because in Christ He speaks, and when He speaks, the thing spoken is. There is a world, yea, a universe, of significance in the statement that God speaks to us in the One in whom all things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, were created. The word which God speaks to us in Christ is the word that creates.

He speaks peace (Ps. lxxxv. 8), even "preaching peace by Jesus Christ" (Acts x. 36), and so there is peace; for, as the Word is the thing that it names, "He

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is our peace." Eph. ii. 14. He speaks righteousness (Ps. xl. 9), and therefore the name whereby He shall be called is "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Jer. xxiii. 6. He "of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness." 1 Cor. i. 30. He is the commandment of God, as we learn by a comparison of Deut. xxx. 11-14 with Rom. x. 6-9. This is seen also from the fact that the commandment of God is life everlasting (John xii. 50) and to know Him is life everlasting. John xvii. 3. Therefore the commandments of God, all of which are spoken through Christ alone, carry with them the power of performing the things that they require. So there is rest and peace for us in the greatest and seemingly most irksome of His commandments, when we remember that nothing is spoken to us except in Christ, and that He is the Word by which the worlds were made.Thus it is that "His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3.

The Light of the World .-"Who, being the brightness of His glory." Christ is the very essence of the glory of God. As the Revision has it, "the effulgence of His glory," or as in other translations, "the shining of His glory." God is "the God of glory." Acts vii. 2. "God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all." 1 John i. 5. "The darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night sliineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee." Ps. exxxix. 12. God's Word is light (Ps. cxix. 105, 130), so that when God sent His Word into the darkness, saying "Let there be light," immediately the light shone out of darkness. 2 Cor. iv. 6.

"The heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps. xix. 1), because He has set His glory upon the heavens. Ps. viii. 1. God's glory is infinitely greater than that of the heavens, since He is the Creator, and they are infinitely less than He. In the New Jerusalem, when it comes down upon this earth, "the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine upon it," for the glory of God lightens it and "the Lamb is the light thereof." Rev. xxi. 33. All the light that shines upon this earth is but a portion of the glory of God. Christ is the shining of that glory; therefore He is most literally "the Light of the world." In every sunbeam Christ comes to us, making known His love and power. If therefore we recognise Him in the light, thanking Him for every ray of light that we receive, walking in the light as He is in the light, we shall realise that He is "the Sun of Righteousness" (Mal. iv. 2), and will rejoice in the righteousness that His word speaks. "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 day; and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted." Ps. lxxxix. 15, 16.

"The Impress of His Substance." -This is what we find in the margin of the Revised Version, for "the express image of His person," and it is more true to the original. In a vastly inferior degree we see this illustrated among men. The son is to a degree the impress of his father's being, but only to a degree, since nothing on this earth is perfect. The son inherits not only the goods of his father, but also the disposition and characteristics; and this is by far the most important inheritance. A poor man, without a foot of land, or a shilling above his daily bread, may give his son an inheritance that cannot be valued in money, while a millionaire may bequeath to his son so wretched an inheritance that it would be almost better if he had never been born. But God is perfect, and Christ is His heir. He is the living image of the Father, the very personality of God; for "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Col. ii. 9.

Joint Heirs with Christ .-"And ye are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." Col. ii. 10. If by faith we receive the Spirit of God, then we are children of God; "and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." Rom. viii. 17. "Heirs of God;" not merely of His possessions, but of Himself. "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance." Ps. xvi. 5. "As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." Rom. v. 19. We were made sinners by birth; we are made righteous by the new birth. Just as by our natural birth we inherit evil dispositions, and all the tendencies to evil that dwell in the flesh, even so by the new birth we inherit the graces of the Spirit. To doubt this, would be to say that God is less powerful as Father than man is.

But we must not forget that the new birth is accomplished by faith, and is therefore continuous, and is not the work of one instant for all time. God hears us continually, as we believe. It is by the obedience of Christ,-the present, personal obedience of Christ in us,-that we are made righteous. It is this inheritance of the character of God in Christ, that makes us heirs of all His possessions; for if we were not sons, we could not be heirs, and it is the bearing of His image that marks us as sons. "We all, with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit." 2 Cor. iii. 18. "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." 1 Cor. xv. 49. But all this is only because Christ is "the effulgence of His glory and the very impress of His substance."

"Bearing All Things." -Christ is revealed to us "upholding all things by the Word of His power." Just as we read in Col. i. 17, "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." R.V. The word that creates is the word that maintains; in Christ were all things created, and in Him they are kept. But Christ Himself is the Word, the words that He speaks are Spirit and life (John vi. 63), because they are the utterance of His own life. He speaks just what He Himself is; therefore in that He bears all things by the word of His power, He bears all things by Himself.

Think closely upon the word "upholding,'" remembering that Christ is the One who upholds. Upholding,-holding up,-holding all things up by Himself. That is, all things rest upon Him. And thus we come to see that the text really says that Christ bears all things by the Word of His power, that is, by Himself. This is the regular meaning of the Greek word, phero, which we have in the word Christopher (Christbearer) and which is the same as the Latin fero, which appears in so many compounds, as for example, coniferous (cone bearing). Other translations give us simply and plainly in Heb. i. 3, "bearing all things by the Word of His power," Here is something for us to think about for a long time.

What Christ Bears .-He bears all things. How many things?-AIl things. Are there any exceptions?-Impossible; "for in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, visible and invisible;" and in Him all things consist." Col. i. 16, 17. All that can be seen, and all that cannot be seen, rests upon Him. This includes the whole universe; but we will confine our thoughts to this earth. He bears the earth, and all that is upon it. The "all things" must

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necessarily include us,-all men. Yes, He bears us, for "in Him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 28. His life is the light of men, and it "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John i. 4, 9. But as He bears us, He must necessarily bear all that pertains to us,-all that we bear,-our sins, our sorrows, and our sufferings. As He is our life, it cannot be otherwise than that He bears all that tends to make life a burden. "Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But 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." Isa. liii. 4-6.

Purification of Sins .-We shall have this thought that Christ bears all things constantly before us as we pass along, for it is involved in what follows. The text says that He "by Himself purged our sins." The word "our" is not found in the best texts. He purged sins by Himself; not simply our sins, but all sins; for "He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world." 1 John ii. 2. How could He purge the sins of the whole world by Himself?-Because He bears the sins of the world. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John i. 39. Here the margin gives the word "beareth," which is more literal. When He hung upon the cross, when He walked by the Jordan, when He was with the Father before His revelation in the flesh, and now that He is at the right-hand of the Majesty on high," He bears the sins of the world.

Let us come a little nearer to this thought, for it has in it all strength, all righteousness. There is no life but from the Lord. "In Him we live." With Him is "the fountain of life." Ps. xxxvi. 9. A fountain continually flows, and so our life continually comes from God. Our life is not in reality our own life, but His, and therefore it is that all men owe to the Lord righteousness. The sin of the world is that men have taken the life and strength which God has loaned them, and have used them in a way utterly contrary to His will and character. The strength with which man smites and kills his fellow, is not inherent in the man, but is God's. The breath with which man blasphemes His Maker, is the breath of life from God. The very words with which man denies the existence of God, are a proof of God's long-suffering and love, in that He continues His life to rebellious men. Sin is most repugnant to God, yet He bears it in wayward men, in hope that His love and patience will draw them to an acknowledgment of Him. So He exclaims in words that should move the hearts of all who hear: "Thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities." Isa. xliii. 24. All the sins of the world have come upon the life of God, and so God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. 2 Cor. v. 19. Man has committed sin of his own free will; but since it was the life of God that was used in the commission of it, God takes the responsibility of it upon Himself, although He was not responsible for it. Sin is most distasteful and abhorrent to God, yet it is upon Him; therefore He says: "I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake." Isa. xliii. 26.

Is the participle "being," in verse 3, we have the idea of cause, thus, Christ, being the brightness of glory, etc., did so and so, that is, having that nature, He was able to do what is said of Him. In a translation before me, which follows the original very closely in this verse, we have the following, "Who, because He is the shining of His glory, and the impressed image of His being, and bears all things by the Word of His power, by Himself made purification of sins, and sat down on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens." He purged sins, because He is the shining of God's glory and the expression of His personality, and because He bears all things. Since He is all that, He is able to make reconciliation for sins. "He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him."

Take now a brief glance over the whole, that we may begin to realise what a wonderful salvation we have in Christ. All power and glory belong to God, but Christ is the power of God and the shining of His glory. God has spoken in Him, and still speaks, the word that creates. All things are upon Him. Everything that affects one of God's creatures affects God Himself, for their life is His life. The sin and the pain that afflict us, make God weary. Everything that man has done was done with God's life, and therefore comet upon God; and God has shown and still shows His willingness that it should come upon Him, by patiently continuing His life to sinful men, and not cutting them off from the face of the earth. But Christ, who bears all things, upon whose life are all sins, has given His life, and thereby made an atonement for all sin. "Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Heb. ix. 26. Now His life is clear; no one can charge, God with complicity with sin, although it was committed with His life. He hates sin, and so He destroys it in giving up His own life. Thus He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, for He bears the sins of the world. For His own sake He blots out sin, and since His life is our life, we necessarily get the benefit of the transaction.

Will all be saved, then?-No; because they will not acknowledge sin nor the life of God in them. lt is true that He bears all sin; but if we persist in hearing it as well, either by refusing to acknowledge that it is sin, or by refusing to believe that He bears it, then it necessarily follows that in the final extinction of all sin we must go out of existence also. The sacrifice has been made, and it is ample because it is the life that bears all things; therefore all men might as well be saved as not.

He bears all things, even our sins; but it makes all the difference in the world whether we acknowledge it or not. He bears us and our sins, whether we believe or not; but if we do not believe, then we continue to bear them, a most useless proceeding. Since the sin comes upon His life, it is no more burden for Him to relieve us of it, than for Him to hear us with the burden on our shoulders. More than this, it is a joy for Him to relieve us of the burden, because then our lives are saved for sin must he destroyed by His life; "He will swallow up death in victory;" and if we persist in bearing the sin ourselves, we shall be destroyed with it, and He has no pleasure in the death of any.

What joy and strength there is for all who really believe that Christ hears all things. He is come in the flesh, so that

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we have not to go and search for Him in order that we may cast our burdens on Him. They are there; the question is, Will we persist in bearing them also, or will we allow Him to relieve us of them. There is a strong temptation pressing upon you; He feels it, for He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities; believe that with all your heart, and hold to it, and you are free, for since He bears it, why need you? He can bear it so easily. He has demonstrated His power to resist evil even in the flesh, therefore we may safely trust Him with all that we have. You have a task, perhaps a daily round of toil, that worries you, and tries your patience beyond endurance; why not accept the fact that Jesus bears the burden, and that He can do it without losing patience? It is a common saying that "misery loves company," which means that people in trouble like to have a companion who can sympathise with them. It seems to divide the suffering. Well, Jesus is a companion in tribulation, who not merely divides it, but who takes it all, so that we May have fulness of joy. John xv. 11; xvi. 33. Believe it, and you will find that it is no fancy, but actual fact. In time of pain and sickness there is ease and healing in the knowledge of the fact that Jesus feels every pang. As with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, so with the heart may man believe unto health. Let Him then bear the burden in His own loving way; whatever it may be, let this truth be indelibly printed in your mind, and be upon your lips, "He bears it," and you will have so much to thank the Lord for that you will forget how to doubt, murmur, or be afraid.

Yes, He bears all things by the Word of His power, and tile Word is very near us, even in our mouth and in our heart (Rom. x. 10); therefore "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 Californian Sanatorium" The Present Truth 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

The accompanying illustration is a picture of the St. Helena Sanatorium, an institution under the direction of our Society in California. It is located among the mountains, amidst beautiful scenery, and enjoys a good patronage from those in search of health. It was founded somewhat under a score of years ago, and has done good work in caring for the sick, and as a centre for the dissemination of health and temperance principles. There is published in connection with it a monthly magazine devoted to health subjects, and in all its work the aim of the institution is to preach the Gospel. Three physicians are employed in its work, with a corps of thirty nurses. Much is hoped for from this and the other larger sanatoriums conducted by our Society in various parts, in the way of supplying trained and consecrated workers for needy mission fields abroad.

"One Evil Thing Held To" The Present Truth 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

One evil habit held to, one wrong sinful way that is not given up, will ruin the life. The Lord wants us to let Him cleanse our hearts from "all sin." However pleasant evil ways may appear to be, they surely end in sorrow, and unless repented of, in death. Here is a little parable that has in it a good lesson for us:-

"Flowers, shake off all your caterpillars," said an old elder tree.

"Why? Why?" said all the flowers.

"Because if you don't, they will eat you all up."

So they shook off all the caterpillars. But one lovely rose tree said: "This is such a beautiful caterpillar, and he is not very large! I want to keep him. Just one won't hurt me." A few days after, there was not a whole leaf on the rose tree; all her beauty was gone.

"Natural Drink" The Present Truth 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

The Welsh miners who, some years ago, were locked up for many days without access to solid food were sustained, said the late B. W. Richardson, because, fortunately, near to them, and within their reach, was a little stream which supplied them with water. And, in the absurd feats of men living without food, we find they all take water; when sometimes for even forty days, they survive. Many call this starvation, but it is really not so. The water acts as a food-not, after all, a surprising fact when we consider that the human body, including even the teeth and the skeleton, is made up pretty nearly of sixty-five per cent. of water alone.

The greatest fact, however, derived from natural history is the magnificent one that all animals except man, and all plants, demand, as a drink, nothing but water. Life, strength, activity, intelligence, are sustained on this fluid alone. Nay, if we take man, we discover that not all men, women, and children use alcohol. Millions and millions never touch it, and yet, as our modern experience shows us, they live just as well, just as industriously, just as actively, as do they who indulge in alcohol. Most convincing is it, too, that men who take alcohol take it with water. Brandy contains half water, and it has to be diluted with more before it can be tolerated; our beers and ales contain over ninety per cent. of water, our wines over eighty; so that eve the alcoholic populations are largely water-drinking communities.

The only drink for man, plant, or animal, in a natural sense is water, without which we could not live, but which many poison with this foreign substance, giving no credit to the water that is their mainstay, and deluded in supposing that it is the alcohol, or spirit, they have put into the water that renders the vital service.

"Tobacco-using Fathers" The Present Truth 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

It often occurs, and, indeed, is true as a rule, says a medical journal, that the chief effects of the use of tobacco are not seen in the man who indulges the habit, but appear in his children. Whence came such a vast army of nervous, sickly, yellow-faced young women? Inquire, and learn that their fathers were tobacco-users, and you have the secret.

A terrible inheritance of constitutional weakness, nervous debility, and general incapacity for enjoyment, does the tobacco-using father entail upon his children. Most strikingly applicable are the words of Ezekiel, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge."

With reference to the same subject, the renowned Sir Benjamin C. Brodie said, "No evils are so manifestly visited upon the third and fourth generations as the evils which spring from the use of tobacco."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

-Russia is threatened with another famine to its southern province.

-About fifty thousand workmen are said to be engaged on the great Trans-Siberian railway.

-Estimates of the damage done by the hailstorm in Essex place is at ?200,000. May persons lost all they had.

-Before a select committee of the House of Commons last week, a money-lender, who testified as to the ways of his class, confessed that he might have lent money at 4,000 per cent.

-Severe heat, with many prostrations and deaths, is reported from the United States and Canada. We have much to be thankful for in the matter of climate in these islands.

-Lisbon recently felt a shock of earthquake, and at points along the Mediterranean Sea the bed of the sea has swayed, varying several feet, so much that anchors have broken loose.

-A Socialist organ in London, which publishes a most inflammatory appeal to Indians to rise against the Government of India, says that it is sending a copy of the issue to every native newspaper of India.

-Explorers in Egypt have recently found a great quantity of ancient records. There are rolls of manuscripts, written on papyrus, dating from the second and third centuries, it is thought. Little has been translated yet, but in one of the papyri there are references to the sayings of Christ.

-The death-rate in Bombay has returned to the normal, showing that the plague is practically extinct. Figures are given showing that between September 20 and May 25 nearly 21,000 persons died of the plague in Bombay, notwithstanding the enormous exodus of the people from the plague-stricken city.

-In Algeria the Mohammedan tribes are being stirred into turbulence by Turkish successes. These far-away Moslems care nothing for Turkey as a Power, but the Sultan represents the religion of Mohammed, and every Mohammedan considers that Allah has again manifested His will that the injfidel should be overthrown wherever he is.

-It is hoped that for the present the riots in India have subsided. Native troops were employed to disperse crowds of their co-religionists near Calcutta, and their loyalty to their officers is much commented upon. However, prudent observers, and men who are acquainted with India, do not disguise the fact that the country is in a more disquieted state than at any time since the great mutiny.

-The Japanese have a large population on a small island home country and they are ever on the alert for fresh fields for their surplus people. The island of Formosa they got from China, but this is not enough. They have been coming into the Sandwich Islands until the government of that republic has become alarmed and thrown itself into the arms of the United States. They are known to be looking upon the Philippine Islands with longing eyes, and now Sydney papers are alarmed at the rate at which Japanese immigrants are coming into Australia.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Now, added to all its other troubles, India suffers from an invasion of locusts. Clouds of them are reported in northern districts.

The special Papal envoy, representing the Vatican at the Jubilee celebrations, has assured the Pope that "his mission would probably result in improved relations between England and the Vatican."

Of the envoy's reception here the Pope can have no reason to complain. The Sussex Daily News says: "Monsignor Sambucetti was the only foreign envoy whom the Queen rose from her chair to receive; and the length of audience accorded to the Archbishop was much longer than that given to the other representatives." Rome is "that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth" (Rev. xvii. 18), and the Papacy expects its representatives to rank above those of ordinary Powers.

The movement for enforcing Sunday observance makes continual progress. Last week an International Congress on Sunday Rest was held in Brussels. A member of the Belgian Government who presided, admitted that their purpose "was not attainable in Belgium on religious grounds," but thought Sunday rest "might be secured under pressure of public opinion, aided by State intervention."

The Medical Missionary Board of our Society is pushing forward its work on Mexico. A large sanatorium is under construction, as the work of the mission demanded greater facilities. In a recent appeal in behalf of funds to complete this and other enterprises, it was stated that the medical missionary operations in Mexico had met with most cordial cooperation from all save the priests, who did their best unsuccessfully to defeat the aims of the workers. President Diaz has expressed his sympathy with, and interest in, the proposed sanatorium. While all depends upon the presence and blessing of God in the work, it is but an evidence of this that open doors, rather than barriers of prejudice, meet the workers in that needy field.

A Chinese missionary tells of a young convert, the son of a wealthy man, who resisted every effort of his friends to compel or persuade him to give up his faith. At last his father was advised: "Send him to England for his education. He will soon lose his religion." It was done, and sadly enough, his life amidst the formal profession of godliness, with the denial of its power, did the work that the open opposition of heathenism could not do. He returned to China without his religion.

A little time ago a statesman who was trying to defend a course of action declared: "Whether their policy was right or wrong, there were very good grounds for it." The unconscious contradiction of terms was characteristic of human nature in the wrong. In private life people often persuade themselves that there may be good reasons for not doing right. But it is never right to do wrong, and it is dangerous to adopt the world's proverb, "Let us do evil that good may come."

The reception accorded the Russian Archbishop by Anglican clergy-men speaks volumes, when it is remembered that the Russian Church is even now bitterly persecuting all who leave its fold. When he came to London to attend the recent celebrations he passed into the station blessing a kneeling crowd of clergymen and others, and when he left the station platform was again crowded with kneeling people, amongst whom for twenty minutes he passed backwards and forwards bestowing his blessing. The medi?val spirit is growing.

Reports show that the persecution of Russian Quakers still goes on amongst the scattered remnant. All accounts show that they are a temperate and industrious people. But they refuse to bear arms or to put themselves ill training for killing their fellowmen whenever statesmen fall out and give the word. This is unpardonable in the eyes of military governments. But if the authorities really knew it, these people, and all conscientious Protestants who suffer in Russia, are the best friends the Government has. That is, at a time when internal discontent threatens the State, and observers predict that it must break out one of these days, these elements that make for righteousness are a power to hold unrighteousness in check to the extent of their influence. It is the hopeless and the malicious who are elements of disturbance. The man who follows Christ can never be other than subject to constituted authorities in all civil things, nor will he be found even in political strife.

"Firmer than Earth" The Present Truth 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Firmer than Earth .-The promise of God cannot be shaken, and the believer can rest securely upon the Everlasting Word even though the earth reels to and fro. It is the lesson to be learned from every shock, now so frequent, warning earth-dwellers that they need to build their hopes on a firmer foundation than temporal things afford. One of our workers in Calcutta speaks as follows of the late earthquake there:-

"I had been in two slight shocks before, but they were all over in less than a minute, but this one was fully five minutes so that we had ample time to view the results of the shock as they were occurring. I never can forget it so long as I live. The buildings round seemed like boats on a slightly troubled water, the ground under our feet was too unsettled to stand without stepping in order to keep from falling down. I went up on to the front terrace and looked into the street. The scene was indescribable. The terror-stricken people were running hither and thither, screaming, praying and calling on their gods. The contrast, as I went down into our yard again and saw the calm features of our little company who stood silently looking at this visible manifestation of God's power before us was marked indeed, and I said in my heart, 'Thank the Lord for the Christian's hope.' Our house is now undergoing repairs."

"Subject to God's Law" The Present Truth 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Subject to God's Law .-It is becoming very common to hear religious teachers boldly proclaiming that they do not hold themselves subject to the law of God. Even some whose church creed affirms the everlasting perpetuity of the Ten Commandments-and nearly all church creeds do so-take refuge in the no-law position when loyalty to God's law in Sabbath-keeping is preached by the Gospel. It is but a fulfilment of the Lord's words concerning the last days. "Because iniquity (literally, lawlessness) shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Matt. xxiv. 12. This claim of not being subject to God's law is a true but sad confession. "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. viii. 7. Only the one who will let God save Him from sin can be subject. The Lord Jesus died that He might destroy the carnal, fleshly mind, and our salvation is in letting Him do so.

July 22, 1897

"Going Home" The Present Truth 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Going Home .-"Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father." John xiii. 1.

For Us .-But there was no selfishness in His thought. "It is expedient for you that I go away," He told His disciples. He was soon to leave this sinful world for the Father's house, but His heart was with His children here.

His Love Constant .-"Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." Verse 1. Not the agony of the garden nor the horror of great darkness upon the cross could dim the flame of love which makes His life the light of men; it was for this love that He bore us that He endured the awful weight of sin.

In the World .-We are in the world now, and we are all His, for He "gave Himself for us." All are His by purchase. And He loves His own in this world. Weak, sinful, surrounded by evil, He knows all about it, and here, in this world, where we need the help and comfort, He tells us that He loves us, and He loves us unto the end. "And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

Power and Service .-"Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God"-knowing that all power in heaven and earth was His, He did not exact recognition of His superiority after the manner of the great and powerful of earth-but "took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded." Verses 3-5.

An Object Lesson .-How that object lesson must have appealed to the disciples after the Lord's ascension. He who sat on the throne of the Father, at the right hand of power, was "this same Jesus" whom they had seen kneeling at their feet. His whole life taught that the highest exercise of power is in service, but in this ordinance, which appealed to their senses, Jesus showed that, with full knowledge of His power and superiority, He did not hold Himself above those whom He loved. And "God was in Christ. The Creator was kneeling at the feet of the simple fishermen, performing the service to show His love and fellowship with His children, and to set them and the church for ever an example in humility.

An Example .-Jesus came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. The rule of His kingdom is self-sacrifice and service. "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them." Not the duty of service, but the happiness of service is here enjoined. The forced service, the affectation of humility, is not a following of the Lord's example, but the service prompted by the love of Christ in the heart is the means of grace and joy.

Self-Love .-Self-exaltation has been the cause of all the trouble since Lucifer said in heaven, "I will exalt my throne." He exalted himself and fell. Then he persuaded man to join him in his religion of self-conceit and rebellion. To save man, Jesus humbled Himself more than any man. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him." Phil. ii. 9. Not lifting up oneself but humbling oneself is the way of honour; not that it is possible for one to humble himself in order to win exaltation, but that God gives grace to the one who

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seeks nothing for himself but that he may serve. "Learn of Me," says Jesus, "for I am meek and lowly in heart." Vain man, in his petty pride, must learn humility of his Creator and Saviour.

There had been a controversy among the disciples as to which should be the greater. On this His last night with them before the crucifixion He taught them what He meant by that saying, "Ye know that 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." Matt. xx. 25-27. The Lord introduced this ordinance the same night that He instituted the Lord's Supper. Had its lesson been kept in mind there never could have arisen in the church that strife for the supremacy which led up to the Papacy.

And the lesson is not more for a lordly clergy, who assume authority over God's heritage, and whose movements are attended by stately pomp and ceremony, than for all the Lord's people. It is love of self that causes all the alienations and troubles among brethren. Jesus at the feet of His brethren (even of the traitor Judas, by that service making His last loving appeal to win him from his sin), is the example for the follower of the Lord. In such an attitude of mind no offence, even when intended, can cause resentment and bitter feelings. In the church of Christ self is dead, and Christ lives within the hearts of His children. He is "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Now His joy is to serve His brethren. Now he who has Christ within will be ambitious only to serve.

This spirit is not something that can be put on. It is put into the life when "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost." "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. . . . And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Eph. iv. 30, 32. "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." 1 Peter v. 15.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. Christ's Superiority to the Angels" The Present Truth 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Let us take a brief glance at what we have passed over. God has spoken, and still speaks. He speaks to us in His Son, that only begotten Son-the Lord-who was in the beginning with God, and who was God. This Son through whom God speaks to us is the heir of all things, because in Him were all things created. Moreover He is the image of the invisible God (Col. i. 15), the very impress of His substance, and the shining of His glory; and because He is all this, and because He hears in His own life all creation with the sins and the curse of the whole world, He has by Himself, and for His own sake, made a reconciliation, a cleansing, of sin, and is seated "on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

"Being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." Heb. i. 4.

"Being made so much better than the angels." How much better?-So much better as to have a seat on the right hand of the Majesty on high, a place that is infinitely higher than that occupied by the highest angel; and this place He has by right, because "He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."

The "More Excellent Name." -What is the "more excellent" name? It is a name that He has "by inheritance," and must therefore be the Father's name. God the Father Himself addresses the Son as God, saying, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." He is as much more excellent than the angels, as the Creator is above the thing created. In Christ were the angels in heaven created (Col. i. 16), so that it is impossible that any angel should ever equal the Son in rank and power. The place which He occupies He has by right of inheritance, as the only begotten Son of God.

"For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and he shall be to Me a Son?"

To this question there can be but one answer-to none of them. But God has said it to the Son. He has said it to the Son, because it is true of the Son. Angels are sons of God (Job xxxviii. 7), but not in the sense that Christ is. He stands in a relation to the Father, that the highest angel cannot attain to, because not born to it as was Christ.

We also are Sons .-But "behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God!" "Before the foundation of the world," He "predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." Eph. i. 4, 5. To us God says what He has not said to any angel, but what He has said to Christ, the only begotten

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Son: "I will receive you, and will be to you a Father, and ye shall be to Me sons and daughters." 2 Cor. vi. 16, 17, R.V.

There is nothing in this to cause any soul to feel proud and exalted, although the position promised is the highest that is in God's power to bestow. On the contrary, it produces true humility, in that it exalts the infinite love of God, and the infinite power that can take creatures of dust, and fallen creatures at that, and make them "meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." It is the inheritance only of the meek. Because Christ possessed, even while yet in heaven, the mind of humility that led Him to take the form of a servant, as He already had the character of a servant; therefore "God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name." Phil. ii. 5-9. It is only in the gentleness and humility of God, that we can be made great. But with all who humbly accept Him, Christ shares all that He inherits,-His character, His possessions, His glory, His name. See Rom. viii. 17; Rev. xxi. 7; John xvii. 22; Rev. iii. 12.

The Son of Man Exalted .-Jesus sits on the right hand of the Majesty on high-but in what capacity?-As the Son of man; for "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." Eph. iv. 9, 10. All this happened to "the Son of man." Matt. xx. 17-19. It would be no more than men would expect that God would give to His only begotten Son the place which He had by right from eternity; but here we see the Son of man exalted to that same position,-that Son of man whose "visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men" (Isa. Iii. 13, 14), so that He scarcely had the appearance of a man, and who in His utter abasement said, "I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." Ps. xxii. 6. "This Jesus hath God raised up," and by the resurrection from the dead it is demonstrated that He is the Son of God as well as the Soil of man. Rom. i. 4. He was by the resurrection declared to be the Son of God with power "according to the Spirit of holiness," because it was on account of His holiness through the Spirit, that it was impossible for the grave to hold Him. Acts ii. 24. Because Christ was marred and bruised and degraded more than any man, and yet by the Spirit of holiness shown to be the Son of God, and exalted to the throne of the Majesty on high, there is no room left to doubt that the very lowest man may through Him attain to the same position. "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 gory." 1 Sam. ii. 8.

"And again, when He bringeth in the first begotten into the world, He saith, and let all the angels of God worship Him."

God does nothing arbitrarily. Whatever He does stands fast for ever and ever, because it has in it the very substance of eternity, namely, truth. He does not, as men do, place persons in a position that is purely artificial, and demand that they shall receive homage because of their position and surroundings; but with God the character makes the position. He did not demand that all the angels should worship Christ because He had arbitrarily placed Him over them, but because Christ was worthy of worship; and the angels saw in Him that which commanded their adoration. In Christ's deepest humiliation, when haggard and worn with the burden of sin and the conflict with Satan, when battered and bruised, His face covered with shame and spitting,-even then He carried with Him kingly authority and dignity, that was felt even by those who mocked Him because of His appearance, but who would have done homage to Him if He had come with the outward pomp and trappings of a king. He was king by force of character, and therefore to Him was accorded the homage due to a king, even while arrayed as a degraded criminal. In His most humiliating position He had royal honour, to show us that in the most truly exalted position there must be humility. The truly noble does not exalt itself-it has no need to. Only in the absence of greatness is there the vaunting of names and titles, and the arrogation to one's self of position and homage. Jesus demonstrated His right to be highest over all, and to receive the adoration and homage of the universe, by the possession in the deepest poverty and abasement of a character that compelled the adoration of the highest angels of God.

"And of the angels He saith, Who maketh His angels spirits [winds, R.V.], end his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy follows. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they shall all wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou told them up, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail." Heb. i. 10-13.

God has not exalted the Son at the expense of the angels. Human pride and ambition overreaches itself, by seeking to exalt itself at the expense of others. It is a common failing with men, to depreciate others, in order that self may stand highest. When we do that, we do not think that the very fact that we must depreciate the worth of others in order that our oven may be seen, is an evidence that ours is very small, smaller than that of those whom we seek to depreciate. Only true worth can recognise worth. The chapter before us shows Christ's infinite superiority to the angels, but it does not in the least give the angels a low position. Of their greatness and work, however, we will speak in the next article. Let as now note what is said of the Son.

Christ is God .-"Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever." Who says this? God, the Father. To whom does He say it?-"Unto the Son." The Father, therefore, addresses the Son as God, thus showing that He is worthy of all worship. This is to give Him the very highest position in the universe, or, rather, to recognise His right to it, the position which He has at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

The Word of God .-It is worth while in passing to learn a lesson as to how we should read the Scriptures. The words, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever," are quoted from Ps. xlv. 6. One who reads that Psalm would naturally say that they are the words in which David addresses God. That is all true, but it is not all the truth. The truth, as we see from the first of Hebrews, is that the words are God's own words, showing us that when we read the Scriptures, we should read them, not as the words of men, but as they are in truth, the words of God, This is an illustration of the statement in the first verse: God spake in the prophets.

A Kingdom of Righteousness .-"A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom." What is a sceptre?-It is a symbol of power. It is the emblem of kingly power and authority. The fact that

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the sceptre of Christ's kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness, shows that the kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness. Christ rules in righteousness. He wins, "not by might nor by power," as men understand those terms, but by the inherent righteousness of His cause. "Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of Thy throne." Ps. lxxxix. 14, R. V. The margin of the common version has "establishment" or "foundation." God's throne-Christ's throne-is for ever and ever, because it is founded on righteousness,-it is righteousness. Whatever is right must stand for ever. In this we have a lesson to learn: We need not concern ourselves about defending ourselves and our cases; all we have to do is to leave ourselves in God's hands, that He may work His righteous will in us, and our case must stand, no matter what is said and done to overthrow it. "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." 1 John ii. 17.

Loving Righteousness-Hating Iniquity .-"Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity." Men are wont to transpose the terms, to put hating iniquity first. And then too often they forget the second term. Loving righteousness must precede hating iniquity. When that is the case, there is no danger that hating iniquity will be omitted; for the first includes the second. If one really loves righteousness, that is of itself hatred of iniquity; "for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" 2 Cor. vi. 14. Righteousness is light; unrighteousness is darkness. Light has no communion with darkness, not because it arbitrarily decides to exclude darkness from its fellowship, but because darkness cannot possibly come where light is. Where light is, there darkness cannot be. There is a way common among men, of declaiming against iniquity, in order to show one's hatred of it. It is as though a candle should continually cry out against darkness in order to show that it has no fellowship with darkness, but the fact that it must be always talking against darkness, in order to show its abhorrence of it, is proof that it itself is nothing but darkness. The man who has no way of showing his own goodness except by talking against the evil deeds of others, has not righteousness enough to be seen. Light has nothing to do but to shine; by so doing it drives darkness away, and that is far better than declamations against it.

We are not sent into the world to chase after sin,-to hunt it out, trace it to its den, investigate it, attack it, and expose it to view to be hated-and then loved. What are we their to do with sin?-Let it alone; simply love righteousness; be a positive force instead of merely negative. If one goes toward the north, he necessarily goes away from the south. So one cannot love and seek righteousness without fleeing from iniquity.

A Kingdom of Joy .-"God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows." What does anointing signify?-Separation to a special office. Priests, prophets, and kings are thus inducted into office. Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King, but above all, King, His power as Prophet and Priest is derived from His authority as King. But what is the nature of His kingdom? We have already seen that it is a kingdom of righteousness; now we see that it is a kingdom of joy, for the anointing oil shows the character of the kingdom. Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost. Acts x. 35. So the kingdom of God is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Rom. xiv. 17.

The subjects of Christ's kingdom must therefore be glad and joyful. Not, they ought to be, but they must be. Not to be joyful in God is an evidence that Christ is not acknowledged as King. He who accepts Christ, and the righteousness of God which necessarily comes in Christ, cannot be otherwise than glad in the Lord. "Thou hast loved righteousness;"-therefore God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness. Gladness accompanies righteousness just as surely as light accompanies the rising sun.

But mark; we are not to make ourselves glad. We have not to force gladness; nor to simulate it. If joy a not spontaneous, it is not joy. In the world gladness is often fictitious; it is either the result of passing events, and so but momentary, or it is put on to cover up real unhappiness. That is the way the world gives peace and joy. But Christ gives not as the world gives. He gives joy that cannot be affected by surroundings. Jesus Christ was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," and He says that His disciples shall have tribulation in the world: yet He was a man of joy, for He said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." John xv. 11. And even when saying that tribulation must come, He says, "Be of good cheer." John xvi. 33. Joy that is unaffected by tribulation and affliction is worth having. Among the many libels published against Christ, is the statement that He never smiled. As if a man of long visage and doleful countenance could ever attract children to him! No; "the joy that was set before Him" enabled Him to endure the cross. Heb. xii. 3. He had the Lord always before His face, in whose presence there is "fulness of joy;" and because He was "full of joy" from the countenance of the Father, our joy can be full in Him. God's countenance is full of joy. Compare Ps. xvi., Acts ii. 25-28; John xv. 11. Because of His anointing by the Spirit, He gives us "the oil of joy for mourning" (Isa. lxi. 1.3), so that although we may be "in heaviness through manifold temptations," yet, believing in Him, we are able to "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 1 Peter i. 5-8.

New Heavens and New Earth .-Read verses 10-12 again carefully. They tell, what we have already learned, that Christ is Creator. The Father Himself bears witness to the fact that Christ laid the foundation of the earth, and that the heavens are the work of His hands. When He made them they were as a matter of course new; and they would always have remained new, if sin had not come into the world; for righteousness is eternal and the characteristic of eternity is perpetual youth. But because of sin they have become old and threadbare, like a long used garment. So, like a garment, they shall be folded up and changed. When a garment is worn out, and therefore is changed, what follows?-A new garment. If the old garment were not to be replaced by a new one, there would be no reason for changing it. Therefore in the words, "They all shall wax old like a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed," we have the promise of the "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." The same word that in the beginning caused them to stand forth from nothingness, still abides to "create all things new."

Jesus Christ For Ever the Same .-"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." Heb. xiii. 5. "They shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they shall all wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but Thou art

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the same, and Thy years shall not fail." Glorious assurance! Everything else about us may change; we ourselves change; but He is unchangeable. Often in our changing moods we imagine that Christ has changed. Not so; we have been looking at ourselves, instead of at Christ. All the sin and misery in this world comes from putting self in the place of Christ. We rejoice for a season in the pardoning love of God; but, looking away from Christ, we fall into sin, and then we imagine that His feelings have changed towards us. Impossible! "If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself." 2 Tim. ii. 13. We wander away in sin, but we need not despair, for we cannot go so far away that we cannot find Him if we wish to. He "is not far from every one of us," and He is always the same. He loves "with an everlasting love." Jer. xxxi. 3. "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. And "this God is our God for ever." From everlasting to everlasting He is God, and in all generations He is our dwelling place. Ps. xc. 1, 2. The heavens may vanish away like smoke, and the earth may be removed, yet we may abide secure, for the eternal God is our refuge, and "underneath are the everlasting arms." Deut. xxxiii. 27. "Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail." He changes not, therefore "they that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount, Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even for ever." Ps. cxxv. 1, 2.

"Change and decay in all around I see;
O, Thou who changest not, abide with me."

"Perilous Times Have Come" The Present Truth 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

At the recent meeting of the Yorkshire Evangelical Union Canon Faucett read a paper on the "Signs of the Times," in which he said:-

"Paganism was being revived, Spiritualism and Theosophy and modern occultism were reviving the oldest forms of demonworship; the Socialistic anarchy of the day, preached not only by word but by daggar and dynamite-no God, no devil, no king, magistrate, law or capitalist. Divorces were awfully on the increase. Suicides in the United States had increased from 2,600 in 1590 to 6,500 in 1896; murders from 4,300 in 1890 to 10,600 in 1896. Science was placed above conscience, heads crammed full, hearts empty. Conformity to the world characterised all Christendom in its apostasy, even the Protestant Churches. Vanity Fair had made its head-quarters where least they would expect it. Amateur theatricals, skirt dances, comic songs, raffles, and palmistry-anything and everything to amuse the congregation and to raise money in the name of religion were practised by the people who burned Mr. Faithful. How strange it was that, when God from heaven was crying, 'Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and receive not of her plagues,' bishops, clergy, and laity were longing for union with the apostate Greek and Roman Churches. Transubstantiation, idolatry of images and icons, invocation of the Virgin Mary, angels, and saints, and the blasphemous claims of infallibility, all warned them of the doomed apostasy.

Truly the world is filling up the specifications of 2 Timothy iii. It is called pessimism to say that the course of the world is downward, but so it always has been and is to-day. Perilous times have come, and only Divine power can save men from the perils. The world says, "Prophesy unto us Smooth things," but the Lord says, "Cry aloud, spare not."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

-The bricklayer; in Buluwayo have been striking for 25s. per day.

-The Pope has been condemning female voices in church choirs, and declares that the violin is "sensual and profane."

-The heat in America has been so intense that hundreds of death, were occasioned. The shade thermometer in one place was 126 degrees.

-In Morocco, just across the Mediterranean from Europe, the slave traffic thrives, and boys and girls are regularly sold in all the cities.

-An Italian army officer has invented a new repeating rifle by which eighty shuts per minute can be fired without removing the gun from the shoulder.

-French savants who have been experimenting in the Transvaal, declare that they have found a cure for the rinderpest, where the German professor, Dr. Koch, failed.

-The report of the Parliamentary Committee on the raid into the Transvaal declares it to have been inexcusable and criminal and censures Mr. Rhodes severely, while exonerating the Colonial Office authorities from all blame in the matter.

-It is said that about 25,000 Spanish soldiers are on the sick list in Cuba. The climate has been more deadly than the battles, and while the Spanish troops suffer from it, the insurgents harry their posts and cut off supplies. The end of the struggle seems as far off as ever.

-Great excitement is reported to exist on the Pacific Coast over the discovery of rich gold deposits in Alaska. Thousands of miners are rushing to the country. The United States bought Alaska of Russia for a few million dollars, and it has proved a rich investment already in the fur harvest.

-Many M. P.s met privately at the House of Commons last week to hear statements from missionaries as to the ravages wrought in India by the famine. In a discussion a proposal in favour of an Imperial grant received much support, the Mansion House Fund of half a million having been quite inadequate.

-Greece has been heavily weighted with financial burdens, sufficient without s reckless war to keep a country on the verge of ruin. Out of a population of 500,000 adult males, 30,000 soldiers and marines have been maintained in time of peace, and there are nearly eighteen thousand Government officers in the civil service, all of whom change office with every change of ministry. Thus nearly 50,000 men out of 500,000 draw pay from the Greek State.

-Extensive works are being carried out in Gibraltar, chief of which is the construction of three naval docks capable of accommodating the largest battleships. Heretofore Malta has been the only place of repair along the Mediterranean. A harbour is being constructed, capable of sheltering the whole Mediterranean fleet. A number of years will be required to complete the works, and some officials think they will not he ready till "after the great war is over."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Russia and the Vatican have been drawing nearer together lately. The reunion movement assumes a triangular form, Roman, Greek, and Anglican.

"Be strong in the Lord." Literally, as the Revision gives it in the margin of Eph. vi. 10, it is, "Be made strong." All the Lord asks is that we shall be willing to be made strong. He supplies the strength according to His almighty power.

An Indian missionary, just arrived in London, writes to a newspaper saying that many have an idea that the famine in India is nearly over, whereas distress in some parts is increasing. It is estimated that now one hundred persons are dying of famine every hour. God hasten the day when there shall be no more the curse and blight of sin. And He is hastening it.

"Ancient Greek Papyri" The Present Truth 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Ancient Greek Papyri .-Two Oxford archaeologists last winter searched the rubbish heaps which lie beneath low mounds marking the site of the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus, on the border of the Libyan desert, 120 miles south of Cairo. It was the chief city of the region in Roman times, but since its ruin in the Arab invasion the sands of centuries have drifted over it. As the result of the recent researches, quantities of papyrus manuscripts were discovered, dating from the first to the eighth centuries. Amongst this mass, there is a portion of the Gospel of Matthew, written in a style which the editors attribute to the third century. Thus it is the oldest fragment of Bible manuscript extant, by several centuries.

"'Sayings of Our Lord'" The Present Truth 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

"Sayings of Our Lord." -The one portion of these papyri published is a mutilated leaf from a book, purporting to give some of the sayings of Christ. From the style, the writing is dated by the editors about the year 200. Scholars will discuss the genuineness of the sayings with great interest, and doubtless to no profit. It is easy to see how many sayings might pass current in early times, some inventions, some expansions, and the history of later times shows how this grew to lengths in the hands of mystics. But the Lord has not left us dependent upon human memory. It is a life and death matter, and as Jesus offered Himself through the Eternal Spirit for us, so the Holy Spirit left the record of His life and teaching. Many things Jesus did and said that were not written, but what is written by prophets and evangelists, speaking by the Holy Spirit, is sufficient to make the man of God "perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." It is that Word that will judge all in the last day. But the literary world is always more interested in discussing problems than in giving attention to the things assured.

"Some of the Alleged Sayings" The Present Truth 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Some of the Alleged Sayings .-Six are decipherable in whole or in part. The first, a fragment, . . . "and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote that is in thy brother's eye," agrees with Luke vi. 42. Another, "Jesus saith, A city built upon the top of a high hill, and stablished, can neither fall nor be hid," suggests Matt. v. 14. But the one which has caused quite a flutter in some quarters, and which the Daily News leader writer and critic declares to be "positively startling" is,-

Jesus saith, Except ye fast to the world, ye shall in no wise find the kingdom of God; and except ye keep the Sabbath, ye shall not see the Father.

"If it is to be taken literally, it cannot be genuine," decides the Christian World. "It may be a Jewish forgery," says the Daily News. "The injunction to keep the Sabbath," it adds, "may be supported from the familiar text, 'I am not come to destroy [the law], but to fulfil. It must on the other hand be contrasted with the story of the disciples who plucked the ears of corn, and with the authoritative utterance, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.'" Some religious papers, too dense to perceive their inconsistency, accept the document as genuine and hail it as a great reinforcement of their plea for Sunday laws!

"God's Holy Day" The Present Truth 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

God's Holy Day .-We would not for a moment suggest that this saying is evidence to be quoted in favour of Sabbath-keeping. That rests upon the everlasting Word, and from Genesis to Revelation there is one voice calling men to loyalty to God's law, which declares the seventh day to be His holy Sabbath, Jesus' life of obedience, and His death to sustain the eternal integrity of that law and to save man from transgression of it, is His witness. The cross of Christ is His testimony to the fact that not a jot or tittle of that law can fail, of which the Sabbath commandment is a part. The contrast suggested by the Daily News is only in the mind of the writer. Jesus did not declare that He came not to destroy so much as a jot or tittle of the law, and then proceed to transgress one commandment of it, as so many who themselves transgress it would have us suppose. The rulers made the law void by their traditions; Jesus kept it, and did only that which was "lawful." Yet men so pervert the way of the Lord that Christ is wickedly represented a making void His Father's law, while the Jewish rulers were upholding it. "The Sabbath was made for man" indeed. Then why don't men keep it? It was made for them by Jesus Himself, without whom was not anything made.

"A Good Thing" The Present Truth 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

A Good Thing .-Yes, the Word knows but one Sabbath, the Lord's own holy day, and over 130 times in the New Testament alone, the Holy Spirit gives the Lord's appointed title to the seventh day in language which Christians ought to speak. But men generally pay little attention to the language of God, and following the lawless way of the Papacy, the Protestant world has come to apply God's title to a day which He never has blessed or sanctified. But the people are getting to know that there is not one word for Sunday sacredness in all the Book. And whatever leads the religious press to discuss the question is to be welcomed. Whether it talks against the Sabbath or for it, any agitation or mention of the subject serves to call the attention of the people to the fact that all the combined efforts of the churches can produce no Scriptural reason for keeping Sunday. Many have been convinced and led to investigate and keep the Sabbath by books written and sermons preached against it. When men have had their say, God still says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," and Jesus says, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." If this little fragment which dates from a time when as yet the Sunday had not displaced the Sabbath of the Lord, sets anyone to searching to see what God says in His Word, it will not have been dug up in vain at any rate. There is a blessing on the Sabbath day for all who keep it, and all need the blessing.

July 29, 1897

"Unity and Uniformity" The Present Truth 13, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

Unity and Uniformity .-There may be the most perfect uniformity without the slightest approach to unity. 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 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 of the Father and the Son in each member of the church wilI 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

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Head of the body, the church. Eph. i. 22, 23. Col. i. 13. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all 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 have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many." 1 Cor. xii. 13-14. 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 believing 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. 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 forced by the church coming together and the majority defining the creed to be believed. The church cannot define doctrine, nor make laws for itself or anybody else. 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 one can give faith to another. "It is the gift of God."

While Day Lasts .-"The sun of Christ's Gospel remains moveless in the midst of heaven till the world's day is closed, and makes it to every sinner a day of salvation and an acceptable time." But the night cometh.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. Angels: Their Nature, Power, and Work" The Present Truth 13, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

Our last lesson from the first chapter of Hebrews was upon the power and greatness of Christ. He is infinitely superior to the angels,-seated on the right hand of the Majesty on high,-"being made so much better than the angels as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." The study of the greatness of Christ is not for intellectual amusement, but for spiritual upbuilding; for since He has given Himself for us,-for our sins,-we know that all His power and glory are put forth for our salvation. Therefore the Apostle Paul prayed,

"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 usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, 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 Head over all things to the church." Eph. i. 17-22.

All Christ's greatness and power therefore are for the benefit of the church. This is why we rejoice in His exaltation. He is far above all principality and power, so that when God brought the first begotten into the world, He said, "Let all the angels of God worship Him." Yet of these being, so infinitely inferior to Christ, we read that God "maketh His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire." Heb. i. 7.

It is astonishing what a misconception people in general have of the angels of God. There are not a few who think that they are the spirits of departed men, forgetting that angels existed before man was created. Man was made a little lower, or, for a little while lower, than the angels (Heb. ii. 7), which is sufficient evidence that angels are not dead men, and that men never become angels. When God laid the foundation of the earth, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job xxxviii. 7.

A knowledge of this simple fact would save people from much danger; for there are "angels which kept not their first estate, but left their first habitation" (Jude 6), and these busy themselves with men, so that we must needs "try the spirits (1 John iv. 1) to discern whether

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they are of God; for if "even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light" (2 Cor. xi. 14, R.V.), "it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed into ministers of righteousness." And since they have such power, it is no wonder that they fashion themselves into the form of the departed friends of those whom they would deceive. God's angels are angels of light-flames of fire; but whoever speaks not according to His Word has no light. Isa. viii. 19, 20. Now God's Word says that "the dead know not anything" (Eccl. ix. 5), and that when a man's breath goeth forth, "he returneth to his earth," and "in that very day his thoughts perish" (Ps. cxlvi. 4); therefore the very fact that spirits come professing to be departed friends or illustrious men, is in itself sufficient evidence that they are not angels of light, but are of the evil one.

But we will now consider only the angels who are God's ministers. He makes them "winds." Think what wonderful power that implies. We cannot see the wind, but we can feel it, and can see the results of its working. How the wind lashes the sea into fury, so that nothing can resist it except the barriers that God Himself has set for it, saying, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." Job. xxxviii. 11. How in its course the wind fells whole forests, uprooting giant trees as easily as a man would pluck up a blade of corn. Before the might of the wind, cities tumble into ruins, and the proudest structures erected by the art of man are as though they were made of straw.

"But do you mean to say that this is the work of God's angels?"-Not by any means. The power of the winds simply show us something of the power of those beings. Destruction and death are the work of Satan, who is "the prince of the power of the air." Eph. ii. 2. Whenever God permits him (for he cannot go beyond God's limit) he brings whirlwinds, and destruction. See Job i. 9, 19. In the destructive power of the wind, we see the power which angels possess even though fallen, and thus get an idea, although not perfect, of the power of the "angels that excel in strength" (Ps. ciii. 20), and "are greater in power and might." 2 Peter ii. 11.

"His ministers a flame of fire." The angel that came in answer to Daniel's prayer "was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass." Dan. x. 6.

At the resurrection of Christ, "there was a great earthquake; and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow; and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men." Matt. xxviii. 2-4.

Peter was in prison in an inner cell, "sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains; and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison" (Acts xii. 6, 7) and Peter was instantly freed from his chains and led forth in safety, an evidence of the fact that "the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." Ps. xxxiv. 7.

John in vision saw a "mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire." Rev. x. 1. And, more wonderful still, he saw "another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory." Rev. xviii. 1. So mighty and glorious are the angels of God, who are nevertheless far inferior to Christ, the Saviour.

These wondrous being, are "all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall he heirs of salvation" (Heb. ii. 14), or, as in the Revision, "sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation." An instance of their ministering we have already seen in the case of Peter. There was a time when the king of Syria sent a whole army to capture one man-Elisha the servant of God. "And they came by night and compassed the city about. And when the servant of the God." "And they came, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said Unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not; for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray Thee open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." 2 Kings vi. 14-18.

The result was that the one man captured the army, because he had an invisible host with him. We are not told whether Elisha saw the angels before the young man did or not. He may have seen them, and he may not; but whether he saw them or not, he knew that they were there; and we may have the same confidence, for the Word of God assures us that these messengers of tire camp round about us, being sent to do service for us. Therefore we may say with David, "Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." Ps. xxvii. 3.

On another occasion Jerusalem was threatened by the Assyrian host, whose officers, sure of their prey, mocked King Hezekiah, and ridiculed his confidence in God. See Isa xxxvi. and xxxvii. But Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, whom Sennacherib and his servants had blasphemed and derided; and He promised deliverance." Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand; and when men arose in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed." Isa. xxxvii. 36, 37. A wonderful example that, of the power of the angel of the Lord, who encamps round about His people.

Jesus was here on the earth as a man. He was "in all things" "made like unto His brethren." Heb. ii. 17. He "was in all points tempted like as we are" (Heb. iv. 15), and since it was only for our sakes that He thus suffered temptation, we may be sure that we shall have the same help in temptation that He had. He Himself gives us the assurance that the Father laves us even as He has loved Him. John xvii. 23. The fact that Christ was given for us, is proof that God loves us even as He loves His only begotten Son, and that therefore He will do as much for us as for Him. When Jesus was tempted, and by the power of the Spirit resisted the devil so that he departed from Him, "behold, angels came and ministered unto Him." Matt. iv. 11.

On that Iast night, when Jesus was betrayed, when He was tempted as never before, "there appeared an angel unto

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Him from heaven, strengthening Him." Luke xxii. 43. Later on, when the mob had surrounded Him,and Peter zealously but vainly began to defend Him, Jesus said unto him:-

"Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?" Matt. xxvi. 52, 53.

Everything that the Father would do for Jesus, He is willing to do for us, for we are sons with Him, and He loves us with the same love. Therefore in any time of need we have "more than twelve legions of angels" ready to go forth to do service for us. Jesus would not call for them to deliver Him from the hands of the mob, for He came for the express purpose of suffering what was now before Him; but we have the assurance that when we put our trust in the Lord, more than twelve legions of angels stand ready, if necessary, to preserve us from anything that is contrary to His will. Let us try to get a little idea of what this means.

A legion was composed of six thousand men. Twelve legions would therefore be seventy-two thousand. There are therefore more than seventy-two thousand angels ready to do service for every oppressed child of God. How many more we have no means of knowing; we only know that "round about the throne" of God there are "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands" of angels (Rev. v. 11), "that do His pleasure," "hearkening unto the voice of His word" (Ps. ciii. 20, 21), ready to go like the lightning to the succour of those who are in need.

Think now what a host they could withstand, even at the lowest human calculation. A single angel destroyed one hundred and eighty-five thousand men of war. At the least, then, an angel is equal to so many armed men. Of course an angel has inconceivably greater power than that, but we will take that as the standard. Seventy-two thousand angels would he therefore more than a match for over thirteen thousand million armed men; and we have "more than twelve legions of angels" waiting to do service for us. Therefore when the Lord says to us, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee" (Ps. l. 15), we know that at the very lowest calculation we have at our disposal a force more than ten times greater than all the inhabitants of this earth! Surely, "it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." Ps. cxviii. 8, 9.

But there is yet another lesson for us to learn from the angels, besides that of confidence. Think of these glorious beings going forth to be servants of those who shall be heirs of salvation. Angels of God acting as servants, helpers, to puny men, and fallen men at that! And not only are they content to do this service, but glad to do it, because it is the will of God. There is no complaining, no proud objection that such work is beneath their dignity. No; their very power and dignity, like that of their Master, comes from their humility, and their love of service. These mighty angels see the work of the Gospel committed to men, and instead of sulking because the high honour is entrusted to such inferior beings, they gladly act as servants to men, and rejoice with unaffected joy at the honours that God bestows on them. Who that contemplates this can have any other feeling than that of humility? Who can stand on his dignity and refuse to do certain kinds of work because it is "menial"? Who can refuse to do the work of a servant, even though somebody lower in position and wealth (after the world's standard) is in the place of honour? We may be unspeakably glad in the Lord for all the help He has provided for us, but when we truly appreciate it, we can never let pride hold us back from saying, "Here am I, send me," because the work is menial, and the place of service so obscure that no eye but God can see it.

"The Demands of the Australian Churches" The Present Truth 13, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

While the churches in Australia presented to the Federal Convention (met to frame a constitution for the union of the Australian colonies) a petition praying for the insertion of a religious clause, recognising God and religion, our Society there put in a petition signed numerously by all classes, setting forth the principles of Gospel liberty, and asking that the Convention might not take a step that would open the way for religious legislation and persecution and strife for political power on the part of religious factions. For it is apparent that as soon as a State professes a religion, the struggle inevitably follows to see whose and what religion it shall be.

The Convention wisely refused to meddle with religion, and introduced a clause prohibiting any colony from making religious laws. They decided that it would only make trouble if a political body interfered with religion. But the churches with one accord-although there are amongst their members very many who stand by Gospel principles in the matter-threaten to make trouble if their demands are not met. One leading Australian divine wanted to know if the churches were going to allow "a little parcel of Seventh-day Adventists" to defeat their wishes. The superintendent of our Society's work in Australia writes of the efforts now being made to reverse the decision of the Convention; and this by the very churches which here at home are supposed to be opposed to a union of Church and State.

It shows, what is very apparent at home, that a large part of the opposition to the Establishment is not because they regard such a thing as wrong in principle and contrary to a Gospel that is established only by faith in the power of God, but because they want a share in making the political religion. Every religious law is establishing religion by law. This is what our friend says:-

"The action of the Convention in rejecting the petition of the churches has greatly incensed the church leaders. In all parts of the colonies they are threatening the delegates with vengeance. In public addresses, newspaper correspondence, and in the meetings of the various organisations, the people are being called to arms. It is proposed to bring pressure to bear upon each local parliament to insert the religious clause, and then when the Convention meets for final adoption of the Constitution to bring special pressure to bear upon the delegates. To accomplish this lectures are to be delivered on the question in different parts of the country. Protestant ministers are urged to preach special sermons on this theme. Newspaper correspondence is to be carried on. Emissaries in all parts of the country are to test the members of parliament to see just where they lean, and all are to understand that any man who will not pledge himself to carry the measure proposed by the churches, will stand no chance of election to parliament."

"God's Armour" The Present Truth 13, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

"Put on the whole armour of God." The apostle says we need it because the fight is against principalities and powers and wicked spirits. When David was to fight Goliath, they put Saul's armour on him. It did not fit him, he had not "proved" it, and so he laid it off. Really he fought in the armour of God. He had proved that. Now, God's armour has been fitted to every man. "The Man Christ Jesus," was God made flesh, and He, "for every man," fought the battle against the enemy and won it. It is this armour, tried and invulnerable that Christians are to wear. Think of fighting in God's own armour! There is safety in that. And the shield of faith is "the faith of Jesus," and the sword is the Word, "the sword of the Spirit."

"Drug-Drunkenness" The Present Truth 13, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

The House of Commons Committee on the Drink Question favour giving magistrates power to order the detention of habitual drunkards. And they have consulted the Council of the British Medical Association to get a definition of "habitual drunkenness."

The medical men say that the term should include not only those enslaved to alcoholic drinks, but those who take drugs of a narcotic nature without restraint. They say that drug-drinking and taking is seriously on the increase, specially among women. It very often begins by doses to relieve sleeplessness or headaches, and the habit for the drug is quickly established.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

-Alcoholic liquors are still sold illegally in the House of Commons.

-Turkey is negotiating with German builders for the construction of new warships.

-It is stated that every year the railway servants of Great Britain get no less than ?300,000 in tips from the public.

-The Austrian army is soon to be armed throughout with a new rifle, which weighs Iess and is more effective than the old arm.

-Mullhall gives the money of the world ?2,437,000,000, of which ?846,000,000 is paper ?801,000,000 silver, and ?790,000,000 gold.

-At the beginning of the week it was estimated that about 40,000 men were idle in consequence of the engineers lock-out and strike.

-Earthquake shocks are reported from various parts of Southern Europe nearly every week. Vesuvius has been in a state of violent eruption also.

-China is preparing a vigorous railway building programme, and is to have its navy strengthened by this country and Germany, and is to have army drilled and organised after the German model.

-The Queen's Jubilee present from the British residents in the Transvsaal is in the form of a gold shield, weighing thirteen pounds. The address which runs to 260 words, is engraved thereon. It is adorned with 132 fine diamonds.

-A great strike in the telegraph department was narrowly averted this week by the intervention of members of Parliament, who have arranged a conference between the operators and the Government authorities. It is a sign of the popular of the strike when even civil servants threaten it.

-Twenty-one years ago Japan had no newspapers whatever. Now there are seventeen in Tokio, the capital city, with a circulation 40,000,000 copies per year. In all the country there are now 700 newspapers. The awakening and growth of Japan in modern arts is one of the wanders of this generation.

-According to the Registrar-General's latest returns, the proportion of Englishmen who now get married but are unable to sign their names is 4.6 per cent.; the proportion of English women, 5.4 per cent. At the beginning of the Queen's reign 38 per cent. of the men who married in England could not write, and 40 per cent, of the women.

-The find of gold in Alaska is on the Canadian side, although the gold-bearing reefs is run across the United States side. As the boundary is not definitely established there is some danger of difficulties arising. All boats going to Alaska are filled with miners, and the district is rapidly growing in population. It is so far from supplies that some predict that there will be a food famine shortly in the gold field. All food now sells at famine prices and possibly thousands will find that it costs more gold to live there than they can find in the earth. But the deposit is said to be rich, and several million dollars' worth has already be taken out.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

The Church Missionary Society is sending out eighty new missionaries to mission fields this year.

The steam locomotive has for long awakened the echoes in Palestine, and now a railway to and up Mount Sinai is being planned.

"I have kept Father's commandments," said Jesus, "and abide in His love." John xv. 10. And as for us, "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3.

"Always explaining Scripture by Scripture," said D'Aubigne, "this was the great principle of the Reformation." "Comparing spiritual things with spiritual" is the rule given in the Word itself. Not guessing, not speculating, but listening with the heart to hear what God says.

The sentiment of many correspondents of Protestant journals is that the Queen ought to use her authority to "put down Popery." On the same principle Catholics in some countries appeal to Catholic sovereigns to put down Protestantism. Why will not Protestants see that Popery is the natural religion of every heart, and that the only way to put it down is to preach the Gospel that can save both professed Protestants and Catholics from the papal spirit.

The Herold der Wahrheit, our Society's German organ, says that the general meeting of Seventh-day Adventists, just held in Berlin, was the largest and best meeting they have ever had. Representatives were present from all parts of Germany, and from Holland, Russia, Bohemia, Hungary, and Switzerland. During the year eighteen new churches were added to the German Conference, with 280 members. From the same paper we learn that our German friends are preparing to publish a monthly health journal next year.

The physician in charge of our Society's medical mission and sanatorium in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, reports that the institution "is filled to overflowing with patients, and all connected with it are kept exceedingly busy in caring for the sick who come to them for relief."

"The truth cannot be burned, beheaded or crucified. A lie on the throne is a lie still, and truth in a dungeon is still truth and the tie on the throne is on the way to defeat, and the truth in the dungeon is or the way to victory."

"Protestant Churchmen Protest" The Present Truth 13, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

Protestant Churchmen Protest .-A petition signed by nearly 40,000 persons was presented in Parliament the other day, which was to the effect that out of thirty-four bishops twenty were Ritualists, and not more than five Evangelical clergymen, of whom Lord Salisbury had nominated thirteen Ritualists and only three Evangelicals, while clergyman with Romanising tendencies were appointed in preference to others. (Cheers from the Irish Nationalists.) Very few Evangelical clergymen had received appointments. Such a method of exercising Church patronage was calculated, in the opinion of the petitioners, to seriously affect the Protestantism of the people. (Nationalist cheers.) The petitioners prayed for an inquiry by the House of Commons as to the exercise by the Prime Minister and bishops of their ecclesiastical patronage.

It shows the sorry plight to which Protestant Churchmen are reduced by their assent to the union of Church and State, If they would take their stand on the Word, and protest, as did those reformers whose protest gave the name Protestantism to the world, against any meddling of the civil power with the religion of Jesus Christ, which can be received only by faith and advanced only by preaching the Word, they might accomplish something. But when they assent to making religion a branch of politics, and thus establish a modification of the Roman Papacy, and then protest because the system grows more papal from year to year, their protest can have no lasting result.

"The Gospel of War" The Present Truth 13, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

The Gospel of War .-While Satan is busy in all the world preparing the hearts of all peoples whom he can influence for the battle of the great day (Rev. xvi. 14), he does not forget the children. The juvenile literature of fighting increases, and some of the wickedest of it goes out in the name of religion. Thus in a book for children, just published, the crosses on the flag are made to teach this philosophy:-

Our brave soldiers and sailors who go out to do battle against the enemies of England, fight and die under the banner of the Cross. . . . The Union Jack is the Crucifix of the Empire, the Cross that gleams ever resplendent in the glory of sacrifice before the glazing eyes of the heroes who, in bloody field or on stormy sea, have given their lives for England. And as Christ's death redeemed and glorified the Cross, so it can redeem and glorify your life and mine, and the lives of all men, until all that is worst and wickedest in the world becomes changed into the glory and radiance and happiness of Heaven.

Dying in battle, with the blood of human beings upon one's hands, is, according to this gospel, a way of salvation. When the author says of Nelson, "He is a kind of patron saint of our navy, the guardian angel of England," clever children will not be slow to get the idea that physical courage in battle glorifies a life of gross immorality. And this, which reflects the temper of a great part of Christendom, is in the name of the Cross of Christ, which stands for a life laid down for its enemies, and for salvation from sin, without respect of persons, race, or colour.

"Guns and Gospel" The Present Truth 13, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

Guns and Gospel .-Here is another bit from this book for children:-

The power of the fleet is great. Its machinery is wonderful. The great guns can smash everything that they come within five miles of. . . . The men are the soul of the fleet. It is because they are ready to die that the navy is able to carry the White Ensign in triumph over all the Seven Seas. And this brings us back to the first story of this little book, the Story of the Cross.

The effect of this kind of teaching in all countries can only be to make war a religion. No wonder there is more spirit of fight than of piety in Christendom. And along with this mixture of the things of the kingdom of Christ with the carnal warfare of earthly kingdoms, there comes the idea of the religious State, enforcing its religious decrees by the power of its great guns that can smash things at the five-mile range. What shall Christians do?-"Preach the Word." Nations can only maintain themselves by war, but the children of this world will fight the battles of the kingdoms of this world.

"Starlight and Sunlight" The Present Truth 13, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

Starlight and Sunlight .-"Twenty years ago," says Regions Beyond, "a traveller in Burmah left a copy of the Psalms at a house where he stayed. A native read the book, resolved to cast away his idols, learnt Psalm li., and used it as a daily prayer. At last a missionary visited his village and gave him a New Testament. The story of salvation filled him with joy. 'For twenty years,' he said 'I have walked by starlight; now I see the sun.'"

August 5, 1897

"The Voice of the Deep" The Present Truth 13, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

The Voice of the Deep .-It is impossible that anyone who is acquainted to any degree with the Lord should stand by the sea without being reminded of the mighty power of the Creator. Yet many gaze upon the sea day after day with never a thought of its Maker, and even openly defy Him.

To such the Lord says:-

"Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding: which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: Fear ye not Me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at My presence, which have 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. 21, 22.

But it is not in order to produce fright that the Lord reminds us of His mighty power that can set bounds for the sea, so that it cannot pass over in its fiercest tumult. No; it is that we may trust Him. Perfect faith and love drive fear away. So the power of God over the sea is referred to as evidence of His faithfulness.

"Oh, Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto Thee? or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, Thou stillest them." Ps. lxxxix. 8, 9.

An example of this faithfulness is given in the description of the storm at sea, when the terrified disciples awakened Jesus and He "rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. . . . And there was a great calm." This was but the manifestation of the original creative power. He who created the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that in them is, retains full control over all. In those words, "Peace, be still," we hear the same voice that said, "Let the waters under the heaven he gathered together into one place. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached to us; so we are to learn from God's power over the sea, which is His because He made it, His power over the waves of strife that surge through human hearts.

For the angry sea represents the wicked. "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." Christ is our peace. The word which He spoke to the sea of Galilee that night is the word which He speaks to us. "I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for He will speak peace unto His people, and to His saints: but let them not turn again to folly." Surely here is comfort for those who have long struggled in vain with fierce passions.

Not only is God's power over the sea a symbol of His power to save men from the tide of sin, but it is also a pledge and surety of their final complete deliverance. It also show, the power with which God is going to clothe the preaching of the Gospel message in the last struggle preceding His second coming. Read the soul-thrilling words of Isa. li. 9-16.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. The Word of Salvation" The Present Truth 13, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

Let every one, before beginning this study, read again the first chapter of Hebrews, giving careful thought to each statement. Think of the infinite contrast between Christ and the angels, a contrast that is infinite, not because the angels are insignificant beings, but because, excellent in strength as they are, Christ is infinitely greater. Then with the last words of the chapter still in mind, namely, that al! the angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them who shall be heirs of salvation, let us begin the second chapter, which stands as closely related to the first as any of the verses of the first do to each other.

THE EXHORTATION

"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For it the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs, and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will? For unto the angels hath He not put in subject the world to come, whereof we speak." Verses 1-5.

"Therefore." -Those who read the Bible simply chapter by chapter, always stopping in their reading by course at the end of a chapter, whether the subject ends or not, and who begin the next time with the next chapter, without thought of what has gone before, miss a great deal. Much that they read is to them utterly devoid of meaning. In this case the word "Therefore" is the connecting link between what follows and what precedes. Since the angels, although far inferior to Christ, are mighty in power, even as the winds and the flaming fire, and yet are but servants of God, waiting upon and ministering to men, we ought to give the more earnest heed to things which are spoken, not by angels, but by Christ.

"The Word Spoken by Angels." -"The word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward." The expressions here used indicate that "the word spoken by angels" was in the nature of a command. Every transgression of it received its just recompense. In Acts vii. 53 we have Stephen's charge against his judges, that they had "received the law by the disposition of angels," and had not kept it. In Gal. iii. 19, also, we read of the law that "it was ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator," or, as the Revision has it, "ordained through angels by the hand of a Mediator." These texts show us that the angels had an important part to act in the giving of the law, but just what they did, we have no means of knowing. Since the Lord has not told us, it is not necessary, for us to know; and it is sinful for us to speculate. It is enough for us, so far at least as our present study is concerned, to know that the word spoken by angels, whatever it was and whenever it was spoken, was steadfast as God's own word, so that every transgression of it was visited with sure punishment. "God confirmeth the word of His servant, and performeth the counsel of His messengers." Isa. xliv. 26.

Condemnation and Salvation.-"The word spoken by angels" condemned. If now such a word was fixed, and could not be altered, so that every transgression invariably received punishment, what hope can there be for those who neglect the word of salvation, that began to be spoken by the Lord Himself? The word which Christ speaks is the word of salvation. His name is salvation, His life is salvation, and the word that He speaks is life (John vi. 63),-His own life. Here is the situation: Men have transgressed the commandment, and have forfeited their lives. They are lost. But here comes the message of salvation-salvation not only from the consequences of the transgression, but from the transgression itself, so that there remains no sin to be punished. That is complete salvation. Now suppose some of these lost men refuse to hear this word of salvation, and reject all the offers of help, what hope of escape is there for them?-Manifestly none. They were lost before; a sure promise of salvation is given them, but thy reject it; if they were lost before, then they must most surely be lost now.

Begun by the Lord.-This "great salvation" "at the first began to be spoken by the Lord." Note the words, "began to be spoken." Christ finished the work that was given Him to do, and the word that He spoke was perfect, but nevertheless He only began it, leaving it to those who heard it to carry it further. Inasmuch as the word only began to be spoke by the Lord, it is evident that the same word, with the same power, must be proclaimed by those to whom He committed it. This is evident from the text, even if we read it as in the Revised Version, "

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having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard." The word spoken by them that heard is the selfsame word of salvation that Christ proclaimed.

Who Can Proclaim the Message? -The text simply tells the fact, that those who heard the word spoken by Christ, proclaimed it to others. But who have the right to proclaim the Gospel message? Nay, upon whom does the obligation rest to proclaim it? Here is the answer: "And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come." Rev. xxii. 17. The word was confirmed to us by them that heard it, and as we hear it we are to confirm it to others. All have not the same talents, nor the same circle of influence; but all who hear are to say, "Come," each in his place according to his ability. There is in the church of Christ no priestly class between God and the people; but "the Man Christ Jesus," the High Priest, "the One Mediator between God and men" (1 Tim. ii. 5), and every believer is a priest. The whole body of true believers forms a "royal priesthood" (1 Peter ii. 9), with Christ as Chief. In the church of Christ there are no ranks and classes,-pnone who are higher in position than others,-none who are specially privileged to make known the Gospel of God's grace, and to dispense to others its gifts. "To every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Eph. iv. 7. "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." 1 Cor. xii. 7. There are many diverse gifts, "but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will." Verse 11. "Let him that heareth say, Come." The case is very simple: each one who knows the Lord is to tell what He has seen and heard with the Lord.

"Ambassadors for Christ."-"If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature [or, there is a new creation]; the 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 committed unto us the word of reconciliation. We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us." 2 Cor v. 17-19, R.V.

Note the fact that the apostle is talking of any man who is in Christ, and not of a special class among Christians. God has reconciled us, that is, all believers in Christ, to Himself; and in all who are thus reconciled to God, has He placed the word of reconciliation, so that all true believers are "ambassadors on behalf of Christ," through whom God entreats sinners just the same as He did through Christ When He was on earth. The same work that was committed to Christ is committed to Christ's followers, and the same God that "was in Christ" to do the work, is in His followers. What a wonderful and solemn, and at the same time inspiring, thought that poor, feeble men are sent out to the world "in Christ's stead." Why do not Christians fill the place that God has assigned them?-Partly because they do not realise "the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," and partly because they are unwilling that God should fill them even as He filled Christ.

"God Bearing Witness." -Those who heard, said, "Come;" but it was God who testified. The common version has, "God bearing them witness, but the "them" is inserted, so that we have it in the Revision, "God bearing witness with them." This is what God did with the holy prophets and apostles, as we read in Acts i. 16 of that which "the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas;" and in Chap. iii. 18 of the things which "God before had showed by the mouth of all His prophets." God said to Ezekiel, "Get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with My words unto them." Eze. iii. 4. So with those who proclaimed the message that they heard from the Lord; they spoke, but only the words of the Lord. God testified through their mouth. Even so must it be with all who hear, and who obey the injunction, "Let him that heareth say, Come." It is the same message that the Spirit and the Bride utter. God says to His servants, "I have put My words in thy mouth." Isa. li. 16. "For He whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God." John iii. 34. "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God." 1 Peter iv 11. If we have indeed heard, and if we are new creatures in Christ, and so ambassadors representing Christ, it is "as though God were intreating by us." 2 Cor. v. 20.

Witnessing with Signs and Wonders.-Those who are in Christ, are sent in Christ's stead. To us the same words are uttered as to the twelve; for Jesus Said not merely of the twelve, but of all who should believe on Him through their word, "As Thou hast sent Me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world." John xvii. 18, 20. Now of Jesus it is said that He was "a man approved of God'" "by many miracles and wonder! and signs, which God did by Him." Act ii. 22. Having been anointed by the Holy Ghost and with power, He "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him." Acts x. 38. When God dwells in His people, the same power must accompany them.

But let no one long for the power to work miracles, for he will long in vain He who has such desires thereby shows that he is desirous of vainglory. Selfishness and love of applause is at the bottom of his desire; and from the case of Simon the socerer (Acts viii. 18-23) we learn that the gifts of the Holy Ghost are not bestowed on such. The power is of God, and He uses it only through such as in humility of heart realise that they are nothing. Besides, God has never promised that all His people should have the gift of working miracles. 1 Cor. xii. 8-11. Christ Himself bore witness that there had never risen greater prophet than John the Baptist (M att. xi . 11), yet "John did no miracle." John x. 41. Of this thing, however, we may be assured, namely, that those in thom the word of God dwells will have the power of the word, or of the Spirit. When they speak as the oracles of God, even though they be labourers at their daily task, the word will have the same power as that by which miracles are performed. "Behold I and the childrev whom the Lord hath given Me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion." lsa. viii. 18.

"Gifts of the Holy Ghost." -To all believers is the Holy Ghost given. Eph. i. 13. But "there are diversities of operations" while "it is the same God which worketh all in all." 1 Cor. xii. 6. God distributes the gifts of the Holy Ghost "according to His own will." "But the manifestation of the Spirit is to every man to profit withal." 2 Cor. xii. 7. To profit whom? himself?-No, but to profit others; "for none of us liveth to himself." Rom. xiv. 7. God blesses people, in order to make them a blessing.

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Gen. xii. 3. Therefore, "as every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." 1 Peter iv. 10. Wonderful calling! to minister the Spirit of God to men. Yet this is what is promised, for Christ said, "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit." John vii. 38, 39.

Not the Work of Angels.-"For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak." What has this to do with the subject? Very much, as we shall see if we note the little word "for," which shows that what follows depends on what goes before. To men has God committed the work of preaching the Gospel. God Himself bears witness and beseeches through them. The word of salvation, which began to be preached by the Lord, is continued by men, not by angels. And why not to angels?-Because "unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come." Thus we see that "the world to come" has a very close connection with the preaching of the Word, and this is what all naturally expect; but the noteworthy thing is that the preaching of the Gospel is committed to none but to those to whom the world to come has been placed in subjection, and angels are their attendants and ministers as they do their work. What the world to come is, to whom it is placed in subjection, and how and when, together with its connection with the preaching of the Gospel, must be left for later consideration.

"Official Religion" The Present Truth 13, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

"CONVERTED BY MISTAKE"

It is well known that the larger part of the population of Europe that turned from their native paganism to the papal church in early times were converted in the mass; that is, the chief of the tribe, for political or other reasons, cast in his lot with the imperial religion, and his people followed him in religion as they followed him in war. This notion of religion, which left no place for a change of heart and life, was thoroughly papal and has always been the religion of the natural man. It was against this religion of lifeless form that the Protestant Reformation lifted the standard, calling men to personal faith and to the new birth by the incorruptible word. To the survival of that old idea of religion is due the crusade in all Christendom for religion and morality by politics and religious legislation. Men whose religion is but a cloak easily conceive the idea of forcing others to wear the same cut of garment.

Apropos of this subject of official religion, the Echo has recently reminded us that a Tartar tribe in Russia was last century "converted" to Mohammedanism by an official's blunder:-

"They were converted by mistake-by a slip of the pen-in a fit of absence of mind. Up till then the Kirghiz Tartars were Shamanites-worshippers of nature, spirits, and ancestral ghosts, as all the Central Asiatic tribes were before the advent of Mohammedanism, as some of them in obscure regions still are. In communication with the Kirghiz chief, he was addressed as Mohammedan by the Russian Minister. His tribe was supposed to be Islamic, and was officially described as such. After a time the St. Petersburg officials discovered that they had made a mistake. 'You might have made Christians of them, once you were about it,' exclaimed the Head of the Orthodox faith. They might. But there the Mohammedan designation was in the official records of the Empire, and Mohammedans the Kirghiz had to be, willy nilly.

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"The spectacle presented by a Christian State persuading a nation to embrace Islamism was curious. Of course, there was no compulsion. The Kirghiz Khan, being a polite man, made no bother about the affair. He became a passable Mohammedan. And of course, his tribe gradually followed his example. They are not very strict Mohammedans. Much of their old Shamanic faith still survives.

"A still more curious example of chance in religious acceptance is that of Russia herself. When Vladimir sent envoys abroad-to Byzantium, among other places-in search of a new religion for his subjects, he was induced to become a Christian because of the splendour and the riches of the Christian capital. God must have specially favoured a State so opulent, he argued. So his heathen Muscovites were officially informed that Christians they must become. But there was another Mohammedanism which was then competing with Christianity. But abstention from strong drink was one of its commands. It is historically known that this was the Russian peasants' objection to embracing the Prophet's faith, then triumphant in Central Asia and Asia Minor."

"Meat Broths" The Present Truth 13, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

A French medical journal records a cruel experiment upon animals, which was needless to demonstrate the fact already well known, that meat broths are not nutritious. But old ideas die hard, and perhaps the record of the experiment may save some poor invalid from being cruelly starved on beef tea:-

"Some dogs fed exclusively on meat broths (500 grams) in Vulpian's laboratory, died at the nineteenth clay, while others to whom water alone had been given, survived within one day as long, dying the eighteenth day-showing the negative nutritive value of meat broths."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

-The Russian press has lately been very outspoken in urging efforts to oppose Great Britain.

-In Mashoualand and Bechuanaland there has been much fighting with natives in revolt, and the unrest has spread to German territory, where a native rising has caused trouble.

-The Indian Government has arrested a number of natives in Bombay and Poona for seditious agitation. Most of those apprehended are wealthy persons, and of the Brahmin class.

-A few weeks ago a heat wave was reported from the United States, causing great suffering. Last week a cold wave passed over the Eastern States, causing great damage to crops.

-Last week strike pay was given to 38,000 engineers and other labourers engaged in the great strike. Both masters and men claim to be gaining ground, and the end of the struggle seems a long way off.

-A fund is being started for the purpose of paying the passage of Welsh emigrant, to the Welsh colony in Patagonia. Something like 90,000 acres in the Argentine Republic will also be available to Welsh settlers.

-Another rising is reported from the Chitral frontier of India, the district which caused trouble a year ago. Camps have been attacked and thousands of tribesmen are in arms. The region is a mountainous one, lending itself to irregular warfare. The priests are the leaders in these risings.

-Last week a party of twenty-eight anarchists, exiled from Spain, were landed at Liverpool. They came on to London. Spain tried to send them to France, but that country refused them. England is the refuge for this class of agitators, and it is doubtless owing to this fact that there are few outrages perpetrated here.

-Canadian shippers are preparing to send produce to England in greater quantities than heretofore. Fruit, butter, and meats are to be chilled, and carried in cold storage ships to Liverpool, and Dominion promises to compete with Continental exporters in butter and eggs, of which England takes vast supplies.

-The rush for the gold fields in the fields in the Klondyke district, in the far north-western corner of British Columbia, continues, and as the food supply must come from southern ports, and the Alaskan ports are closed for all the long winter, it is predicted that terrible suffering must follow. Even now it is said that 2,000 skeletons line one pass over the mountains.

-Mr. R. J. Saddou, Prime Minister of New Zealand, addressing a meeting of persons interested in New Zealand mining companies reminded them that gold discoveries began in New Zealand in 1857, and that gold to the value of ?51,000,000 had since been exported, while as yet only the surface had been scratched. Improved machinery is now being erected and greater results are expected. The population is only three-fourths of a million, but last year they exported ?9,000,000 worth of produce and imported ?8,000,000 worth. They had over 20,000,000 sheep, and exported last year frozen meat to the extent of ?1,200,000.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

"My soul followeth hard after Thee," said the Psalmist. Some follow at such a distance that the path seems very dark. Jesus is the light, and He that follows hard after Him "shall not walk in darkness."

"The State may coerce," said the Pope recently, "but the Church can persuade." But the trouble has been that very often, when the "Church" failed to persuade the individual, it has persuaded the State to coerce him.

"I laid it down as a principle'" said Henry Bullinger, one of the Reformers, "to follow the Holy Scriptures alone, and reject all human tradition. I believe neither in the Fathers nor myself, but explain Scripture by Scripture."

According to French papers the ex-Queen of Madagascar "has asked to be allowed to embrace Roman Catholicism," and attends Catholic services regularly. She doubtless thinks the Roman religion will be of use to her politically, now that the French have her kingdom.

Thousands are rushing to the new gold fields in the Klondyke region, braving arctic snows and ice and blizzards to get the coveted gold. Already hundreds have left their skeletons along the mountain passes. There is a lesson in it for those who believe that the knowledge of truth is "better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold."

The recent punishment of a fentale inmate of a London Workhouse for refusing to go to church, called attention to a survival of religious penal laws, supposed to be antiquated. An apologist of the officials said that they would have to shut up the church and "sack" the parsons if they did not keep up the discipline, but a lady Guardian very rightly said that it was a disgrace to the name of religion that people should be punished for refusing its ministrations. The very essence of true religion is that it is voluntary and of the heart.

One of the little band of our Society's workers in Brazil writes: "It is just four years this month since personal labour has been put forth in spreading the message in this country. The Lord has the beginning. Over 300 persons are now keeping the Sabbath in Brazil. In many places, souls are longing for the truth; and when it comes to them, they receive it with joy."

When plague rages in heathen lands there is a beating of drums and demonstrations to attract the attention of the Deity, and to scare away the evil spirits. One of our missionaries in Brazil says that while stopping in one town recently he noticed that the bells of the Catholic church would each evening set up a clanging, and then at the same time a number of rockets would be fired. I asked what was the moaning of this, and the answer was: "They are saying mass every evening so that the yellow fever will stop in Itu." It seemed a strange way to call upon God; but these poor people have no other than the heathen idea of God, supposing that He can be appeased or persuaded to do a certain thing by saying mass, and offering Him fireworks as an entertainment.

Speaking of Pope Gregory, who sent Augustine to Britain, the Christian World says:-

One sees in him also the consummate diplomatist who knows human nature through and through. His letter to Augustine's successor, Mellitus, in which he recommends him not to destroy the heathen temples, but to use them as churches, and to observe the old heathen feasts by giving them a Christian significance, is an object-lesson in the art of dealing with a time of transition.

Thus it comes that many, in fact most of the religious festivals, still bear the earmarks of their pagan origin.

While two Dutch papers are published by our Society, one in South Africa, the other in America, we have none in Holland, where work has only recently been established. The Lord has prospered the preaching of the Word in Holland, however, and our friends there are planning shortly to start a monthly journal devoted to Bible study.

What are the characteristics of the religion of the Russian Church, with which Anglican Catholics so much desire to be united? A writer in last month's National Review says:-

In no other country do the adoration of pictures and relics and the invocation of saints form so large a part of the practices of religion. In no other country does preaching form so small a part. It is, par excellence, the land of saint-worship, pilgrimages, shrines, miracle; and ceremonies.

It is not surprising that the Anglicanism which desires union with this, busies itself with elaborating its ritual and reviving pilgrimages and medi?valism generally.

"One Sure Thing" The Present Truth 13, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

One Sure Thing .-In the book of Proverbs much is said about surety, and people are more than once warned against going surety, not only for a stranger, but even for a friend. In the eleventh chapter, verse fifteen, we read, "He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; and he that hateth suretyship is sure." In the margin we have in the place of "suretyship," "those that strike hands." That is a man cannot be safe unless he refrains from giving his hand as surety for another.

But read further, and see what is said in the twenty-first verse: "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished; but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered." Notice that the words "though" and "join" are in Italic, type, indicating that they are not in the Hebrew. The literal Hebrew, as indicated in the margin of the Revised Version, is "Hand in hand." Here, then, we find an instance of giving the hand, or, as rendered, "My hand upon it!" In two translations before me, I read, "One can give his hand for it, that the wicked shall not be unpunished; but the seed of the righteous shall escape." So sure is it that God will see that justice has its due! Men are often tempted to think, as did David, that the wicked have the best of it, and that in unrighteousness is the most prosperity to be found; but let no one be deceived in this matter. So sure is it that wickedness will be punished, and that the reward of the righteous will not be forgotten, that one may safely give his hand upon it, and be a surety for it. It is the only sure thing in this world.

"'How the Sabbath Came to Me'" The Present Truth 13, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

"How the Sabbath Came to Me." -This is the title of a little booklet recently received from America, written by Mrs. S. M. I. Henry, who is, we understand, the superintendent of the Evangelistic department of the Women's Christian Temperance Union in the United States. It is rather in the nature of a personal statement of experience and blessing, but is of general interest to all. We have some copies at this office, which may be had of our agents at 1d., by post, 1 1/2.d. The story in our Home department this week is by Mrs. Henry, who has been engaged in W.C.T.U. work for many years.

August 12, 1897

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. Subjection to the World to Come" The Present Truth 13, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

In our last study, beginning the second chapter of Hebrews, we learned that the word of salvation, "which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord," has been committed to men. Whosoever hears the message is commissioned to give it to others, telling what he has seen and heard with the Lord. This work, although committed to man, is God's work, "for he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God;" and therefore God bears them witness, or, rather, God bears witness with them, "both with signs and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will."

But why is this work committed to men, instead of to the angels, those messengers of God, whom He sends with the speed of the lightnings and the strength of the mighty winds?-The scripture before us in our present lesson gives us the answer:-

"For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower (or, "for a little while lower") than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set lum over the works of Thy hands; Thou best hut 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. 5-8.

"The World to Come." -What is "the world to come, whereof we speak?" and where has the writer of this Epistle spoken of it?-The answer to the first question is found in 2 Peter iii. 13: "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and anew earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." And again: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away." "And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." "He that over cometh shall inherit all things." Rev. xxi. 1, 5, 7. The world to come is the new earth, and we have already found a reference to it in Heb. i. 10-12, where we read that the heavens and the earth shall wax old as doth a garment, and like a vesture shall be folded up and changed, that is, replaced by new. Thus we see that "the world to come, whereof we speak," is the new heaven and the new earth, wherein the righteous shall dwell.

To Whom Made Subject? -"Unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak." But has God put the world to come in subjection to anyone?-If not, there would be no significance in specifying the angels, as those to whom it has not been made subject. Notice, however, the connection: The apostle is talking about the preaching of the Gospel, the word of salvation; it at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and is committed to those who heard Him, that is to men, because unto the angels He hath not put in subjection the world to

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come. Thus we see it clearly indicated that the reason why the preaching of the Gospel is committed to men, is that unto men the world to come has been put in subjection. But we are not left to draw conclusions about this matter, for we are told, even in the text before us, just

When It Was Done .-"One in a certain place [namely in the eighth Psalm] testified, saying, What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him." Heb. ii. 6-8. In the beginning, when God made the heavens and the earth, when they were wholly new, He 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." Gen. i. 26. And God did just as He said, as we read in verse 23, and also in Ps. viii., from which the Apostle quotes: "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea." What was it that was thus so completely put in subjection to man?-It was "the world to come, whereof we speak," that is, the new heavens and the new earth, wherein only righteousness dwells.

Perfect Dominion, Perfect Subjection .-It is not for curiosity's sake, but in order that we may know more of the power of the Gospel, and the power with which God wishes all to proclaim it, that we dwell upon the dominion which God in the beginning gave to man. Dominion was given to him; that is, he was made king, and his kingdom was the heavens and the earth that God had just made. Moreover, he was crowned with glory and honour. A crown signifies kingship, and the nature of the crown indicates the nature of the kingdom; therefore man was crowned king of glory. He was made glorious, and was set over a glorious kingdom.

The birds, the beasts, and the fishes, yea, the very earth itself was made subject to man. It is not so now, but traces of it are seen from time to time, and especially do we see it in Christ. He was alone in the desert with the wild beasts (Mark i. 13), yet they did Him no harm. The winds and the waters obeyed Him. Matt. viii. 27. The fig-tree was also obedient. Mark xi. 13, 14, 20. The unbroken colt bare Him through the crowd that shouted and waved palm-branches, as steadily as the oldest and best-trained beast could have done. Mark xi. 1-9. Elijah commanded, and the heavens withheld rain and dew, and again at his word the heavens gave abundance of rain. 1 Kings xvii. 1; James v. 17, 18. God gave the ravens commandment concerning Elijah, that they should feed him, and twice a day for many days they brought the man of God food, obeying their orders as faithfully as any man could have done. 1 Kings xvii. 1-6. God spoke to a great fish, and it came and swallowed the truant Jonah, and again at the word of the Lord it set hint on the dry land. Jonah i. 17; ii. 10. Daniel in the den of lions was as safe as in his own house. Daniel vi. 16-22. In these things we see traces of the perfect dominion that man had in the beginning.

Man God's Representative on Earth .-Some one may say that these cases that we have cited are instances of the power and dominion of the Lord. Exactly, but that does not mean that they have no application to our subject. "God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this: that power belongeth unto God." Ps. lvi. 11. "There is no power but of God." Rom. vii. 1. Although dominion over the works of God's hands was given to him, he could rule only by the power of God. God is king over all; He is "King of kings." "The kingdom is the Lord's" (Ps. xxii. 28), and our daily confession is to be, "Thine is the kingdom." He did not withdraw from this portion of the universe when He gave dominion to Adam. Far from it. It was His purpose to rule the world through man. "Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour." Isa. xlv. 15. He is "meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. xi. 29), and delights more in the welfare of others than in His own. How wonderful! Think of the Maker of the universe, "in honour preferring another," and therein finding His highest glory. And yet that is true of God" for He is everything that He expects of us. So God was pleased that in this part of His kingdom He should be represented by men. Not that man was by any means to take God's place, for that is impossible, but that God in man would rule.

The Word Made Flesh .-Christ came to "restore all things." It is impossible for us to realise the "high calling of God in Christ Jesus" unless we consider "the first man Adam, to whose condition, and even better, we are to be restored in Christ, who came to "seek and to save that which was lost." All things were made by the word of God. "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. "In Him were all things created;" "He is before all things and in Him all things consist." Col. i. 16, 17, R.V. All things come from and are upheld by His life, so that even the mountains are said to have been "brought forth'" (Ps. xc. 2), that is born, as is given in other, more literal translations. The word is life; so when God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass," it "was so;" the word became grass. And when by the same word man was made, "the word became flesh." Thus Adam was "the son of God" (Luke iii. 338), although only dust of the earth. God filled him with His spirit, and set him over the works of His hands, so that to him was all power given in heaven and earth; that is to say, all power in the heaven that pertains especially to this earth. This we see in the fact that he was to rule over the fowls of the heaven. But the power was not inherent in man, for he was only dust; the power was the power of the word of God, and a glimpse of it is given us in Elijah's control over rain. It is to this power and dominion that Christ will bring those who believe in Him; for "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. vii. 27. Unto Christ as '"the Son of man is all power in heaven and earth given, in order that He may give it to us; but this does not come within the scope of our present lesson.

"What Is Man?" -This is a question which we must not forget to answer, and the answer must be kept in mind. "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." Gen. ii. 7. Literally, He "formed man dust of the ground." So that God could say to him, "Dust thou art." God took dust, and set it over the works of His hands. In all his glory and honour, man was but dust. The power

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was God's and so was the glory. How wonderful is God's power! With a handful of dust He can rule a world! No wonder that He will not despise "a broken and a contrite heart" (Ps. li. 17), that is, a heart that is but dust,-contrite: ground together, pulverised,-and which continually acknowledges that it is nothing. God will not despise it, because nothing is small or insignificant with Him, and He can do wonders with it. His glory is in doing the greatest things with the weakest instrument. The fact that God created man dust of the earth, and crowned him with glory and honour, and set him over the work of His hands, is the joy and strength of the converted soul. In the facts of the creation of man, we learn what God can do with the contrite soul that is "a new creature" in Christ. Man is nothing, but God is everything. Whoever has learned this truth, has the key to the wisdom of the universe.

The Gospel the Power of God .-The Gospel is the power of God to salvation to everyone that believeth. Rom. i. 16. But the eternal power of God is seen in the things that He has made. Verse 30. In creation is the power of God seen, and therefore the Gospel, which is the power of God to salvation, makes new creatures, or "a new creation." But "the Gospel of your salvation" is "the word of truth." Eph. i. 13. The power of the Gospel is therefore the power of the word, but it is the power of the word that created the heavens and the earth, and gave man dominion over them. Unto men, and not to angels, is the Gospel committed. That is, the word that is given to men to proclaim, is the word that creates. "The world to come" is the world over which God gave man dominion in the beginning. That dominion is to be completely restored by the Gospel. But the second glory will exceed the first, because when Satan attempts to thwart God's plan, it only gives God opportunity to show His power in a more wonderful manner. In the beginning God ruled the world through the man who, although dust, was majestic in form, and perfect in every particular. Satan thought to show that God could not do it, and now God will show that He can do it with men who have fallen so low that they are tainted and marred and deformed so that they can scarcely be called men. "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever." Eccl. iii. 14. Therefore since God gave man dominion over the earth, He has not taken back the gift, but in pursuance of His eternal purpose, has committed to man the work of the Gospel, through which all things are to be created new. This is why the Gospel is not committed to angels: Because unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come. Men talk of the power of the Gospel to convert souls, but while they talk of it they often forget that the power that it has over souls is the measure of the power which God has given to men to proclaim it. To man is the work committed, but the power is of God. Thus He says: "I have put My words in Thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of Mine hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say tinto Zion, Thou art My people." Isa. li. 16. Unto man was the dominion over the new earth given in the beginning; the Gospel is the power by which all things are to be made new; therefore to man is given the work of preaching the Gospel, and in giving it to him, God has given him" the power of the world to come.

"In Jamaica" The Present Truth 13, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Our Society's work in the West Indies began about eight years ago, when a lady from those parts became acquainted with the Sabbath and Advent truths while in London, and returned to her home, letting the light shine, and bringing these blessed truths to others. Thus the truth has been carried to many fields. Too many think they must wait until others see the light, and when many walk in it they think they will also. But the knowledge of the truth is God's call to every One to believe, and as He called Abraham when alone and blessed him, so He will bless every soul that relies on His promise, knowing that one in the truth with God is a multitude.

Next followed preachers and book canvassers into the West Indian islands, and now in all parts of the West Indies there are Sabbath-keepers. The progress of the work has been, perhaps, most marked in Jamaica, where, as the result of several years' labour only, there are several hundreds of Seventh-day Adventist believers. We notice by one of our American exchanges that our friends in the West Indies and along the Gulf Coast of Central America and British Guiana purpose holding a general convention in Jamaica soon.

The Lord is coming, and the message of the "everlasting Gospel," of Rev. xiv. 12, which calls people to "the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus," must go to every nation and tongue to prepare men for that coming in the clouds heaven. Anyone reading the portion of Scripture referred to, and on to the end of to chapter, letting it mean just what it says, can see at once that the final Gospel message is a call to loyalty to God's eternal law which can be wrought in men only as they accept it in the faith of Christ Jesus. So the message goes, and the Lord is blessing as it is preached. "The isles shall wait for His law," the prophet says, and we are glad to call attention to the progress of the work in these island fields.

One of the brethren in Jamaica, who has been labouring in a newly entered district says in a recent communication:-

We can find work within sight of where I now sit to last us until the Lord comes. Some girls have been leading a crowd that would gather behind our tent during service and disturb the meetings. Now their names are on the covenant, and we are teaching them to read. Last right an old has drinker walked up to the table and wrote his name, and to-day he is leading a company of men in clearing off a place on which to erect a chapel. The wonder of the neighbourhood is that such a movement could be possible. Even the crowds that pass along the roads morning and evening, going and coming from the distant mountain fields, can be heard singing hymns instead of yelling fiercely as was their wont a month ago. The lame of the work has gone out a long distance, and people come many wiles to inquire concerning the message. One man walked sixteen miles last Friday to spend the

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Sabbath and Sunday with us. His brother said he would attend regularly, coming ten miles to do so. To-day we begin work on the chapel, 18 x 40 feet. We have a company here of forty-two in all. People stay and talk until 10:30 and 11 o'clock at night, and I am so exhausted that sleep does not refresh as it should; yet to see the eagerness with which some drink in the truth, and their joy at receiving it, is more than pain and exhaustion."

"The Overspreading Curse" The Present Truth 13, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

It is an intemperate age. The terrible fruits of indulgence in liquor are so evident all about us that multitudes have been led to see that the easy drinking habits of long ago can no longer be followed without making those who do so in a measure responsible for the drunkenness and crime that spring from the drink traffic. Others with a higher appreciation of the duty of eating and drinking to the glory of God have seen that in themselves intoxicating beverages are a curse and a detriment. So the temperance sentiment has grown in modern times. But on the other hand the drink habit has grown, and every year there is an increase of intemperance. The habit established by milder stimulants in one generation calls for stronger ones in the next, and so the evil grows. Let people who see the curse spreading in the earth see to it that they are clear themselves in their habits of eating and drinking, and then consistently seek to teach others the better way.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

-The Welsh language is to be taught in the Board schools of Cardiff.

-The weekly strike pay to those on strike in the Engineering lock-out is about 180,000.

-It is said that Chief Samory, the leading chief of the region back of the Gold Coast, has a regular ammunition factory, and even manufactures rifles.

-The floods in Austria have caused terrible loss of life and suffering. The Danube has overflown vast districts, and over 200 lives have been lost. It will take years for some of the agricultural districts to recover from the loss.

-The rising on the Indian frontier has been for the time being suppressed, and the fort at Chakdara relieved. Over 6,000 natives were investing it, and the 300 of the garrison were hard pressed. It is said that one of the defences of great value was a barbed-wire maze, surrounding the fort, and preventing rushes. The barbed wire, invented for fencing, is being turned to substantial use in war.

-In order to enter into closer commercial relations with Canada, the British Government has given notice to cancel the treaties of commerce between this country and Germany and Belgium. This is in pursuance of the Imperial idea, which looks toward the time when the Colonies and India will supply Great Britain's need, with their products and in return take manufactured goods thus making the Empire independent.

-It is thought that few of the miners who have started lot Klondyke will be able to reach then before winter closes the lines of travel. The greater part will have to camp through the winter and authorities on the subject predict terrible suffering. But the excitement keeps up, and companies are being formed in London, Canada, and the United States, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Canadian Premier, says that he is sure the Alaskan gold fields will rival Johannesburg. Being near the border of the United States Alaskan territory, and filling up as it is with miners from that country, it would not be surprising if an "Outlander" party did not give rise to much the same kind of trouble as has kept South Africa in a State of unrest for two years.

-The report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture says that since 1875, 2,137,000 acres which were under cultivation have been laid down to grass, and yet cattle and sheep have decreased in numbers. Rent of agricultural lands has fallen by one-half, on the average, and the capital value of land in Great Britain has fallen by over ?800,000,000. Since 1871, the number of agricultural labourers has fallen by 200,000, but on the whole the lot of the labourer has improved. But many farmers and landlords have been ruined by the fall in values and in the prices of products. Foreign competition is the cause of the decay of British agriculture. About 75 per cent. of our breadstuffs and 50 per cent. of butter and cheese come from abroad, and meat also comes largely from abroad reducing prices.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

The angels watch the church to behold fresh revelations of the wisdom of God. Eph. iii. 10. What do they learn of God's power by watching your life?

Cardinal Vaughan declares that the principles of the Roman creed have spread in Great Britain, "until even the Protestant Church has become permeated with Catholic doctrines and practices."

The Pope has some grist grinding in nearly all the mills of government. Of the visiting Colonial Premiers, two, the Canadian and the New Zealand, must needs visit Rome and be received by the Pope before returning to their homes.

We have received the first number of El Faro ("The Lighthouse"), a monthly Spanish journal, published by our Society in Buenos Ayres, South America. It presents a very creditable appearance, and is sure to accomplish good in letting the light shine in that region. In Mexico our friends publish another Spanish paper.

Believing is doing, not a substitute for doing. "This is the work of God that ye believe," and it is so because believing on Jesus Christ brings the indwelling of His power to work right doing in the believer. "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven."

The Glasgow Herald recently reported an address by Professor Stack, before a Catholic society in that place, in which he pointed out "the danger of indiscriminate Bible reading." Romanists do know the great danger to their cause attending Bible reading, and that is the very reason why Protestants should labour continually to get the people to study their Bibles.

"Not of Christ" The Present Truth 13, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Not of Christ .-It is said to be a fact that many in lands called heathen are predisposed in favour of official "Christianity," because they consider that the religion of Christ that is professed by the great Powers must be a good one, as they are such successful fighters. The poor souls cannot see that it is light turned to gross darkness that gives the great nations their skill in devising the most destructive methods of killing. It is this that gives a grim truth to the following satirical newspaper joke

TOMMY: Papa, the Chinese invented gunpowder, didn't they?

PAPA: Yes; but it never really amounted to much for killing purposes until the Christian nations took hold of it.

"The Drink Curse" The Present Truth 13, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

The Drink Curse .-Now and then the newspapers report cases where men under the influence of drink have smashed things in a public-house. Society says it is hard on the proprietor, and so it is, and he has his legal remedy. But if a man sells to another a thing that is capable of changing a man into a fighting brute, why need he be surprised if he gets an exhibition of the quality of his cups to his own damage? Most often it is the furniture at home that is smashed, and, wife or children are the victims. The traffic in intoxicants is an accursed business, for God Himself says, "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink," and there will be an awful record to face when the demon drink is brought to judgment.

"Fulness of Joy" The Present Truth 13, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Fulness of Joy. -These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." John xv. 11. There is something wonderful in these words, especially when we consider the circumstances under which they were spoken. "These things have I spoken, that My joy might remain in you." That shows us that by receiving and retaining what Jesus says to us, we receive and retain His joy. Joy comes by believing the words of the Lord, as we read, "The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing." Rom. xv.13. Notice, it is "all joy" in believing, just as Jesus says: "that your joy may be full." By receiving His words we get fulness of joy perfect joy.

But that shows us also that He had perfect joy-fulness of joy; for it is His joy that we are to receive. "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." We get fulness of joy through Jesus, simply because His joy is perfect. As men sometimes express it, His cup of joy was full. When was it that He expressed the wish that His perfect joy might remain in His disciples? The very night when He was betrayed; while He was on the way to the place where He knew that He would be delivered into the hands of cruel men, to be mocked, and beaten, and scourged, and crucified. Ah, that is joy worth having, a joy that is perfect in distress and affliction, a joy that is perfect in itself, and does not depend on circum stances. It is the possession of such joy, and that alone, that enables one to endure affliction. Jesus, because of the joy that He had continually before Him, and present with Him, "endured the cross, despising the shame." Heb. xii. 3. This joy is found, not in doubting, not in experimenting, but in trusting. There are millionaires that would give all their possessions for such joy, that delivers from painful anxiety, when the poorest man can have it by simply taking the words of the Lord and letting them work out their fulfilment in him. How can Christians be otherwise than glad, when they serve a Master who is gladness itself?

"'Behold, I Come Quickly'" The Present Truth 13, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

"Behold, I Come Quickly." -The increase of such calamities as earthquakes, famines, and pestilences says that He is coming, for these were given as signs of the second advent. The great preparations for war say that the Lord is coming, for it is when the nations are angry and gathering to battle that the Lord appears. The social and industrial conditions are becoming just such as were predicted of the last days. The growth of a determination in the Protestant and Catholic world to use civil power to build up the Sunday institution and make void the law of God is fulfilling those scriptures which show that Satan's wrath will be specially directed against the commandments of God in the days of the remnant church, as in Rev. xii. 17. And the sending forth into the world of the everlasting Gospel, calling attention to the perversion of the truth by apostasy and lifting up "the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" is a fulfilling of such scriptures as Rev. xiv. 6-14, which indicate God's final message to the world before Christ appears in the clouds of heaven in flaming fire to reap the harvest of the earth. The Lord is coming; thank God, it is true. His Word tells of the preparation needed, and His grace supplies the need. Let believers receive the Word and rejoice in the "blessed hope."

August 19, 1897

"Do You See the Glory?" The Present Truth 13, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

"In the year that King Uzziah died," says the prophet Isaiah, "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple."

The attendant seraphim veiled their faces with their wings before the glory of the Throne; it is not surprising therefore that the prophet should cry, "Woe is me . . . I am a man of unclean lips . . . for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."

The angels cried one to another in praise of the Divine Lord "lifted up" for fallen man to see. The theme of their song was not that the heavenly temple was filled with glory ineffable. "One cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory."

This is not something afar off. The whole earth-this earth where we live, over which the curse has spread, with sorrow and sin in its train-is full of the glory of God, and the angels glorify God because of it. Do you see what the angels saw? So thrilling was their cry that the thresholds of the temple moved at the voice of praise. Yet men live and die in the very presence of the glory of God, with hearts unmoved by it. Often they wonder where God is, and wish that they could see His glory, when it is manifested all about them in the things that God has made. God's power and life are made manifest in everything, even in man himself (Rom. i. 19, 20), and all creation declares His glory,-all save unbelieving men whose eyes are darkened.

At the time when Isaiah heard the angels' cry the Lord gave him the commission, "Go, and tell this people, . . . See ye indeed, but perceive not." Isa. vi. 9. And the blindness is blindness of heart. "Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed." Seeing God's glory in the earth means that the heart must confess its sins, as lsaiah confessed his undone condition. It is possible for the holiday-maker to revel in the beauties of rural scenery, and the lover of floral and landscape beauty to drink in of nature's loveliness without really getting a view of God's glory. The external beauty is an appeal to men, it is true, but unless the heart yields to it and allows the works of God's hands to teach of His love and power, the lesson is not learned. The scientist observer may delight us with his descriptions of the structure and manner of life of the created thing; but unless he goes further than that the simplest believer may see in it more than he in all his powers of observation.

It was because Jesus, the Lord, was "high and lifted up" that earth was full of His glory. The glory of God is not only His brightness and power, but first of all His character, His goodness, and mercy, and truth, and patience. This character He proclaimed before Moses whenhe asked of the Lord, "Show me Thy glory." The things of creation declaring God's glory testify to His love and care for His creatures. Away in the innermost glades of the forest, or in mountain solitudes, where men perhaps have never set foot, the flowers are strewn in profusion, and the springs run in the valleys, and the birds sing, and God gives life to the least. The whole earth is full of His glory, and He wants men to see it and trust His care, confessing their sinfulness and helplessness.

"Such pledge of love in the heart of the woods!
For the Maker of all things keeps the least,
And over the tiny floweret broods
With care that for ages has never ceased.
If He cares for this, will He not for thee-
Thee, wherever thou art to-day?
Child of an infinite Father, see;
And safe in such gentlest keeping stay."

He only is "near to nature's heart" whose heart is open to the shining of the, glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. 'We See Jesus'" The Present Truth 13, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

Our last lesson was upon "the world to come," and its relation to the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel is not committed to angels, because unto them God has not put in subjection the world to come. The Gospel is the power of God to salvation, to every one who believes; the power of God is seen in the things that He has made, for creation is the measure of God's power; the object of the Gospel is to restore what has been lost;-to create anew;-therefore its power is the same as that which created the world in the beginning. The earth was given to man in the beginning, and therefore to man is committed the work that will restore it; but as the power that restores it is the same power that was given man over it in the beginning, it follows that its power is the power of the world to come; for the world to come is the world that was in the beginning.

We considered the extent of the dominion that God gave men when He created him. All the power of God, so far as it concerned this earth, was to be exhibited through man. The birds, the beasts, the fishes, the very earth itself, all were subject to man. The dominion was complete.

"For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." Heb. ii. 8, 9.

When certain Greeks ones came to Philip, saying, "Sir, we would see Jesus," and Philip brought them to Him, 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 and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." John xii. 23, 34. This is the subject that we have before us in our present lesson, for in few words it shows us Jesus giving all and gaining all.

Our attention has been directed to man in his original glory and honour, with all things under him. But as we look at his estate we suddenly see

The Dominion Lost .-For "now we see not yet all things put under him." As we look, we see him fall, and instead of having the world under him, he has it all upon him. Instead of ruling the world, the world rules him. From the highest place, he sinks to the lowest place. We are now talking of man; whatever low place any person has been known to be in, and whatever baseness an individual descended to, is only an exhibition of how low man has fallen. It is only lack of opportunity, or better circumstances that, aside from the grace of God, hold any individuals in the world back from exhibiting the same disgusting vileness that is seen in the lowest specimens. "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. iii. 23. The dominion was one of glory and honour, because man was "crowned with glory and honour." Therefore it is plain to see that the loss of the glory, on account of sin, was in itself the loss of the dominion. From being above all, man has fallen lower than all, for men have fallen lower than the beasts.

Not Now Under Him .-The common idea is that man began with no dominion, and that he has gradually been acquiring dominion, until he has now nearly come to the fulfilment of the promise, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." But this is directly contrary to the plain teaching of the Bible. The perfect dominion was in the beginning, but has been lost, and there was never a time in the history of the world when men had so little of the original dominion as now. "See how vast territories have been opened up by explorers, and how the wild beasts have been exterminated so that the people can dwell there in safety, says one, as proof that man is gaining dominion. Ah, but the fact that the beasts are wild, and that man must arm himself against them, and destroy them before he can live in a land, shows that he has not dominion. The king who is obliged to be always on the defence against those whom he calls his subjects, and who can rule them only by killing them off, has not much to boast of in the matter of authority. Even the domestic animals must be tied, or held in with bit and bridle. They are not obedient to the word of man, as they are to God's rule as was the case in the beginning. The few wonderful instances of the obedience of animals to the word of man only serve to indicate how far man is from the first dominion.

Where We See Jesus .-Our attention has been directed to man in his first dominion, crowned with glory and honour. As we look, we see him fall, and as we continue to gaze, with our eyes fixed on the place where he fell, "we see Jesus." Where do we see Him?-Just where man fell. Jesus came "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke xiv. 10), and the only way to find a thing that is lost, is to go where it is; the only way to pick up one who he has fallen, and who cannot help himself, is to go to the very place where he fell. This is what the text tells us. If we would see Jesus, we must go where there are fallen men. In this there is an exhortation, an indication of how we should labour; but there is also comfort, and the

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comfort comes first. Wherever there are fallen men, there we may see Jesus; but we are fallen men; therefore we may see Jesus in us. "The Word is nigh thee, 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 shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Rom. x. 8, 9. The knowledge that Christ dwells in us, sinful men, is the only thing that can enable us to carry the blessed assurance of the Gospel to others.

The Curse and the Cross .-Because of sin came the curse, and the curse is death. But inasmuch as man has not life in himself, it is impossible that of himself he could endure the curse, for once having received it, that is, having died, he would have no more existence. It is not possible for man to endure death. But Christ has life in Himself (John v. 26), and can lay His life down and take it again; therefore He hath redeemed us from the curse, being made a curse for us; as it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. Gal. iii. 13. On the cross Christ bears the curse; not only man's curse, but the curse of the earth as well; for He bore our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Peter ii. 224), and He also bore the thorns, with which the earth was cursed. Compare John xix. 3; Gen. iii. 17, 13. But man lives, and the earth yields fruit, notwithstanding the curse; nothing is perfect, yet there is existence. Why?-Because Christ bears the curse, and has borne it from the beginning. If the curse had come upon man, apart from Christ, he would have died instantly, and there would have been no second generation. But the Word, which was made flesh in the beginning, continued with man when he fell. When man went down to the lowest depths, the Lord went with him. The fact that men live, proves the presence of the life of Christ. Nothing in nature is perfect; yet the fact that there is growth in spite of the curse, shows the presence of Him who alone is able to bear the curse. Wherever there is any curse, any sin, or any of the effects of sin, there is the Lord Jesus, for He hears the sins of the world. But it is Christ crucified that bears the curse; therefore we find the cross of Christ just where man fell. "We see Jesus"-where?-where man fell. How do we see Him?-Crucified, enduring fallen man's suffering. We see Him suffering death for every man. And wherever we see sin and the curse, there, if we have our eyes open, we see Jesus Christ crucified. The curse is upon all creation; Christ bears all the curse upon the cross; therefore it is true that "the cross of Christ is stamped upon every leaf of the forest." Everything proclaims the Gospel of Christ. Even ungodly men, who use their God-given strength to fight against God, and who even deny His existence, are in spite of themselves witnesses to His mercy and longsuffering.

Casting the Burden on the Lord .-In this thought there is blessed hope and courage. "How can I lay my sin, on the Lord?" Ah, that is already done; for "the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isa. liii. 8. Because Christ "is come in the flesh" (1 John iv. 3), He bears the sins of all flesh. Not that He will take them, but He has them. They are on Him as soon as they are committed. Our part is simply to confess Him,-to confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus,-that is, confess that He is come in the flesh-in our flesh. Thus He bears our sins. But He bears the curse on the cross; therefore when we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, we confess Him crucified in the flesh,-in our flesh,-and so that we are crucified with Him. And then we have only to believe in our heart-and to continue believing-that God hath raised Him from the dead, to know that He dwells in us with the resurrection power. What a blessed Gospel to believe unto salvation, and how blessed to be permitted to proclaim it to fallen men!

"A Little Lower than the Angels." -It is true that the test says that we see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, but we must not forget that it was "because of the suffering of death" (R.V.) that He was crowned with glory and honour. So that before we see Him crowned with glory and honour we must see Him "a little lower than the angels," that is, as a man, for man was made a little lower than the angels. It is as "the Son of man" that we are to see Jesus. That is the name by which He always designated Himself. Christ has identified Himself with humanity, never to be separated. It was as the Son of man that lie was crucified and buried; it was the Son of man who arose from the grave and ascended to heaven and the Son of man, now at the right hand of the Father is He whom we expect to see coming in the clouds of heaven.

"For Every Man." -By the grace of God Jesus tasted death forevery man. It was not necessary that He should come to earth for His own sake. He died, not for His own sins,-for He "knew no sin" (2 Cor. v. 21),-but for the sins of others. Whatever He suffered was for every man, and whatever He has gained is for every man, or, more strictly, for every one. Christ's sacrifice has to do with the individual, even as Christianity is an individual matter. "God so loved the world," it is true, but He loved them as individuals, because He gave His Son that whosoever believeth in Him should he saved.

"Crowned with Glory and Honour." -Note the suggestion. When God made man, He crowned him with glory and honour, and set him over the works of His hands. As already seen, the glory and the dominion were inseparable. Remember that it was man-mankind-that was thus crowned king over what God had made. But he lost the glory and the dominion. Is everything therefore eternally lost?-Not by any means. Now we see Jesus, not standing afar off, not standing where man was, and looking down at the place where he fell, and giving him counsel as to how to get up,-but we see Jesus right down where man fell, bearing him and his sin. And it is as the Son of man that we see Him crowned with glory and honour. Satan thought to overthrow God's work. He thought he would demonstrate that God could not rule His dominion through man, even when the man was free from all taint of sin and the curse; but Satan's onslaught simply gave God all opportunity to show His power in still greater measure, in that now He takes man in the lowest possible position, and exalts him to glory and honour.

How Highly Exalted .-Because Jesus "emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant," and became obedient unto death, even "the death of the cross;" therefore "God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name." Phil, ii. 7-9, R.V. Yea, when God raised Him from the dead, He "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." Eph. i. 40, 41. Think of the highest power, not merely in this world, but also in that which is to

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come, and Jesus as the Son of man is far above them all. Notice that God "hath put all things under His feet." Verse 22. So as the Son of man He has all that Adam had. The second Adam has all the dominion that the first Adam had. But as where sin abounds God's grace superabounds, and Satan's attack called out a greater manifestation of God's love and power, so the second Adam, in that He began the struggle from a lower plane than that on which the first Adam stood, has won a much higher place. Christ, the Son of man, has the highest place in the universe, nest to God the Father. See 1 Cor. xv. 27, 28.

And We Also .-When Christ was raised from the dead, He was raised to the right hand of God in the heavenly places, "far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion," "not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." "And you hath He quickened" made alive. Eph. iii. 1. For if we are "buried with Him in baptism," we are also "risen with Him through faith in the operation of God who hath raised Him from the dead." Col. ii. 13. "So many of its as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death." Rom. vi. 3. So being raised with Him, is to share the power and glory of His resurrection. So we read that God has quickened us (made us alive) together with Christ, "and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Eph. ii. 5, 6. That is, as we see Christ in the flesh, suffering our curse, so we see Him crowned with glory, and ourselves with Him, provided we really see Him. For Christ said of His disciples, "The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them." John xvii. 22. So as Christ is set over the world to come, we in Him also have in subjection to us the world to come. How much more, then, this present world. To be a Christian, although the poorest and most insignificant person in the world, is to occupy a position higher than any earthly king. The true Christian, no matter how humble and despised, is raised in Christ "far above all principality and power and might and dominion." Earthly rulers can add nothing to him, they cannot confer any favours on him, for they have nothing that he needs, and therefore he has no requests to make of them. On the contrary lie is sent with a message to them, and can offer them riches of which the world has no knowledge, even "the unsearchable riches of Christ."

"Rome on Protestant Inconsistency" The Present Truth 13, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

Ever since the Reformation raised the question of the Bible vs. Tradition, Rome has charged Protestants with inconsistency in claiming to follow the Bible, while yet keeping Sunday, which both the Bible and history show to have been introduced after Bible times and to have no authority in the Word, of late this has been pressed by Roman controversialists with increasing frequency.

The Catholic Mirror, the official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, recently printed a sermon in which Mr. O'Keefe, a Catholic priest of prominence, carefully went through the texts referring to the Sabbath and the first day of the week, showing, as any reader who looks will see, that they give not a hint of Sunday sacredness nor-of Sunday observance, while on the contrary the Bible declares the seventh day to be the Sabbath, kept by Jesus as our example. He thus, in the name of Rome, calls Protestants to the bar for inconsistency, and we hope his words may have the effect, not of drawing any still further toward Rome, but of showing many that it is only the authority of the apostate Church of Rome, that was to "think" to change God's law (Dan. vii. 25), that has set Sunday in the place of God's holy Sabbath, and deprived the world of the blessing of Sabbath rest in the Lord:-

"Christ, as their Teacher, informs them, 'If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments,' and the chief and most emphatic of these is, "Remember the Sabbath day.'

"Viewing the situation from a commonsense standpoint, it is almost incredible that men endowed with average intelligence could consent to occupy before the world, for an hour, such a self-stultifying,

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self-contradictory position as this. Professing to adore God, professing to obey His commands, yet they stand to-day before heaven and earth, with His written Word clasped to their breast, and which they profess to obey, the most pronounced Sabbath-breakers on earth.

"The Jew is rational, he obeys his teacher, the Bible, pointing to the command, Keep holy the Sabbath; the Catholic is ever rational, he obeys the teacher [the Church] appointed him by Christ; but the Protestant obeys neither God nor his teacher, the Bible. Thus I have in this sermon shown his utter abandonment of his professed teacher, the Bible, and his public apostasy from the positive injunctions of God, speaking to him through it; but he has descended to a still lower depth of degradation. Having abandoned the teachings of his Bible, and having poured out the vials of his apparently honest indignation against the Catholic Church, all his life, he is found to-day, after having consummated his apostasy from his own religious principles and teacher, knocking at the door of the Catholic Church to notify her that he is about to borrow her day; thus this traitor to his professed teacher and guide throws open the doors of his meeting-house on each Sunday with a notice overhead.

"'OPEN EVERY ROMAN SABBATH,'

'CLOSED EVERY BIBLE SABBATH.'"

"Needy Mission Fields" The Present Truth 13, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

The offerings in the Seventh day Adventist Sabbath schools in all countries are devoted to various mission fields. During the last six months of this year the contributions go to evangelistic work in countries along the Mediterranean. Brother H. P. Holser, general superintendent of our Society's work in these parts, says in a recent appeal:-

"These fields, so long the centre of the learning, riches, and power of the world, are now among the poorest nations. But this need not discourage us about sending the message to them; on the contrary it should encourage us, for it is to this class especially that the closing message of the Gospel is to go. First, in the parable of the wedding feast, the guests, the professed friends, are invited; but when they prove indifferent to the invitation, the call goes to the poorest. The message has long been sounding among the professed friends of the Lord, until many are tired of hearing about it; now the tide is turning toward the heathen, the neglected and hitherto forgotten.

"When these poor outcasts come in contact with the pure Gospel, and witness its saving power, they will heartily respond, and appreciate it the more for having been poor and oppressed. They have known little of the joys of true liberty. Many of them have been in a terrible servitude all their lives, under a sort of triple alliance of sin, an oppressive state, and a false religion. How sweet will be the joys of salvation and the perfect liberty of the Gospel to such! And it is the Lord's delight to free just such neglected, oppressed captives.

"Wherever the message has been preached in Turkey, it has been appreciated as in few other fields. Those that have received it manifest a degree of joy and devotion not often seen in more favoured lands; the people are begotten unto a lively hope; they are indeed born again, manifesting a life. But the little which has been done in Turkey is only a beginning. One or two of brethren in Turkey have gone to Egypt, and are doing what they can to spread the truth. We trust that as a result of the Sabbath-school donations, more may soon be done in this field."

"Birds as Surgeons" The Present Truth 13, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

Last "twelfth" the shooting of grouse began, and thousands of well-dressed men (and women too) who consider themselves gentle and cultured, began the wholesale slaughter over the moors and hills of the North. The grouse sell in the markets, it is said, for about two shillings, but the cost of killing them is estimated at a guinea, so that it is a lordly "sport." Saddest of all is the thought of the thousands of birds which will crawl away in the grass and thickets to die lingering and agonising deaths. Some time ago a Frenchman made some interesting observations before the Physical Society of Geneva, showing the surgical skill of birds in their efforts to repair the injuries wrought by men who consider it sport to kill them:-

"It was established that the snipe had often been observed in repairing damages. With its beak and feathers it makes a very creditable dressing, and has even been known to secure a broken limb by means of a stout ligature. On one occasion M. Patio killed a snipe which had on its chest a large dressing composed of down from other parts of the body, and securely fixed to the body by coagulated blood. Twice he had snipe with interwoven feathers strapped on to the site of a fracture of one or other limb. The most interesting example was that of a snipe both of whose legs he had unfortunately broken by a misdirected shot. He only recovered it on the following day, when be found that the wounded bird had contrived to apply dressings and a sort of splint to both limbs. In carrying out this operation some feathers had become entangled round the beak, and, not being able to use its claws to get rid of them, the poor creature was almost dead from hunger when found."

"'Vi-Cocoa'" The Present Truth 13, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

The proprietors of this article, so widely advertised, have been earnestly calling attention to the evil effects of tea and coffee-drinking. They have not overstated the evils of the habit, which have been growing so apparent that we notice more frequent warnings in medical journals and from physicians than formerly. The theine of tea and the caffeine of coffee are deadly poisons, and the tannin present specially in tea is also highly injurious. But this is what the proprietors of "Vi-Cocoa" would substitute for tea and coffee, according to their advertising circular:-

"Vi-Cocoa contains a large percentage of the wonderful African kola nut, which has extraordinary sustaining properties, enabling anyone to undergo prolonged muscular or mental exertion, without undue fatigue or after exhaustion."

"Vi-Cocoa is a nourishing beverage, containing four great restorers of vitality, cocoa, kola, hops, and malt."

"Kola contains more caffeine than coffee, more theobromine than cocoa, more theine than tea."

Instead of restoring vitality the ingredients of the kola nut mentioned must necessarily sap the vitality of anyone habitually using them in any quantity. A medical writer records some experiments with theine, the active principle of tea, in which five grains of it killed a cat and also a rabbit. The manner of death was almost the same as in poisoning by strychnia. It is a symptom of a drug-ridden age that the demand for narcotics and stimulants grows continually, and great businesses are built up in supplying the craving for such drinks. No wonder nervous diseases are increasing.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

-More anarchists are coming to this country, owing to police activity in Spain and France. Others go to America.

-Abu Hamed, the village just captured by the advance forces on the Nile, is above the cataracts, and as soon as the gunboats are brought up to this point, the ricer is open all the way to Berber and Khartoum. The Khalifa is said to be waiting in his capital with 350,000 warrior.

-In the fighting on the Indian frontier, the losses of the tribes who have risen have been very heavy. Several thousand have been killed. One shot from a cannon is said to have killed eighty. The leader of the tribe; is a Mohammedan priest called the "Mad Mullah," and he is continually seeking to stir the tribesmen into fanatical fury against the infidel.

-A London newspaper is carrying on a crusade against low-grade lamp oils, which have caused forty deaths in London during the year, and innumerable accidents. The low grade American oils which are not allowed to be sold in the United States are sent over to this country and sold freely, and it is reasonably urged that the law should be amended to prevent it.

-7,300 inquest; were held by London coroners last year, 401 being cases of suicide. Accidents caused the death of 1,149 males and 614 females. Strangest of all in the record, is the list of 279 male and 272 female children suffocated in bed by overlaying. Probably in nearly all these cases the parent suffocated the child while in drunken stupor, unable to hear its cries or struggles.

-The War Office have secured a bullet for the new Lee-Metford rifle which they regard as satisfactory. The first bullet tried did not properly disable the man who was shot but the new one is thought capable of doing him so much injury that he will not be able to go on fighting. The thing is to be tested on human bodies in the next expedition, whether in India or Africa. This is war.

-The Carlists, who are partisans of Don Carlos, claimant to the Spanish throne, are said to be ready for revolt, and have 60,000 volunteers armed and drilled. Don Carlos says he is restrained by patriotism from acting before the Cuban difficulty is settled. That struggle continues with the advantages now rather on the side of the Cubans, and Spain's resources are drained. With revolting colonies, anarchists, bread and tax riots, an active republican patty, and a rival claimant to the throne, Spain is indeed in a sorry predicament.

-The King of Benin, who has been hiding since the punitive force sent against him took his capital, has given himself up. He was so sure of his power that he murdered an expedition and defied the whole British Empire from his stockaded palace; but a few hundred soldier, have annexed his kingdom. Gradually the natives of Africa are learning that the machine gun and disciplined troops pay little attention to numbers. The white man is taking over the African wilds and the black man is powerless to turn him back. The Benin kingdom was probably the worst in all Africa, human sacrifices being the regular feature of its religious services.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

"The increasing frequency of labour disputes is," says the Textile Mercury, "a feature of social life to-day to which neither the practical man nor the student can blind himself."

Of the 199 bishops who attended the Pan-Anglican Conference, recently closed, about 140, it is said, represented nonestablished churches, in communion with the Established Church.

In the republic of Columbia, South America, where the Roman Church influences legislation, it is a misdemeanour for anyone in a newspaper, book or tract to say anything to "annoy" any archbishop or bishops in that which relates to their duties.

He who accepts Jesus becomes one "of the household of God." It is called "the whole family in heaven and earth." With God as the Head of it, and angels as the members of it in heaven, not the highest of earth can add dignity or honour by becoming members of the family, and yet it is a fact that pride keeps many from joining it.

The Spanish authorities say that they have evidence of a widespread international revival of anarchist activity. It is fearful to contemplate the ruin which it is possible for even a few maddened men to work in society. The spirit of violence and strife is all abroad, and the perilous times of the last days have come.

At the root of anarchism is the contempt for law and order. And what is to be expected when the law of God, the supreme law of the universe is made void by society generally? Only disruption and ruin can follow. And yet instead of preaching the Gospel of Christ which puts the law of God in the heart of believers, and restrains the lawless, the religious world is coining more and more to reject God's law, and to make a religion of lawlessness toward God. To this pass the Sunday, received from the Papacy, "the mystery of lawlessness," is bringing the religious world. Let Christians awake and open their Bibles, and decide whether or not Jesus is a Saviour from sin, which is the "transgression of the law."

The Christian very truly says. "More heroism is required to follow Christ in the whirl and temptation of social and business life than to wear hair shirts. What we want in place of the old martyrs is the spirit that can dare to apply the principles of our Lord's teachings to the actual conditions of the world, and take the risk of poverty and failure for His dear sake."

No one can say that the doctrine of the Sabbath is a "new doctrine." Jesus made it and blessed it at the creation, and patriarchs, prophets, and saints have kept it ever since. "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein." Jer. vi. 16. Too many make the same reply now.

The Pan-Anglican Conference of Bishop expressed its tender regard for the Russian Church and the desire for closer union with it. These efforts on the part Anglican prelates to secure union with churches which are now persecuting Bible believers to the death, show very plainly what the temper of the Bishops is. The English Churchman says of these advances toward Russia:-

The approach to the Church of Russia is an offence to all lovers of the Bible and Christ liberty. The persecuted believers in that country cry aloud, but not one word of pity or compassion for them is uttered by the English Bishops. No; they join the persecutors.

The Daily Mail's St. Petersburg correspondent says:-

In view of the growth of the Tolstoists, Stundists, and other Russian sects, the Holy Synod has convened a conference at Kasan, to discus the best means of checking the progress of these heterodox bodies. The Orthodox Church has fullest support of the authorities in this anti-sectarian campaign, since the members of most of these sects are considered politically dangerous. Special attention will be devoted at the Kasan conference to the Stundists and Tolstoists, who are the most dangerous from the orthodox point of view.

This doubtless means harsher measures against all dissent. Even Protestants who love the Word and have nothing to with political agitation, and who could be driven into insurrection or disloyalty will feel the wrath of the ecclesiastics in power. But God's Word is not bound. It will run to and fro in Russia. The spread of our own Society's work in that country is an illustration of this truth, and the great Protestant Stundist movement under which all dissent is classed, will not stop because the dragon of persecution is wroth.

"Capital and Labour" The Present Truth 13, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

Capital and Labour .-"And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee." Ruth ii. 4. There was no conflict there between capital and labour; nor will there ever be when such expressions can be used between employer and employÈs, not as a matter of form, but from the heart. When masters remember that they have a Master in heaven, who is no respecter of persons, and servants remember that they serve the Lord Christ, there can he no clashing. But only the Spirit of God in the heart can bring this about. Strikes, wars, and fightings will go on as long as evil desires reign in the human heart.

"The Eastern Question" The Present Truth 13, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

The Eastern Question .-The success of the Turkish arms in the Greek campaign seems to have fired the hearts of Moslems the world over. Several weeks ago the Standard called attention to a new thing in the history of Islamism, which, it suggested, might yet prove that the invention of quick means of communication was not an unmixed blessing. The lack of solidarity has been the weakness of Islam politically. But recently instructions have been sent out by cable and messengers to the Mohammedan lands,-Algiers and Egypt, across Persia and Afghanistan to India arid the East, calling upon all Moslems to assemble every Friday to hear what the priests might have to say. Following the exhibition of Turkish vitality in war, symptoms of unrest have been manifested in many widely separated districts, and the trouble along the North-western India frontier comes from the preaching of the priests and the idea of a "jehad," or "holy war" against the infidel. All the Moslem world of Asia is seething, and only trouble can come of it. Instead of delaying the settlement of the Eastern Question, the temporary success of Turkey is likely on to hasten the end. The Scripture shows plainly that round this problem the nations will be gathering as the coming of the Lord draws near, and the question will be settled only by the destruction of all this wicked warring world.

August 26, 1897

"Mechanical Confession" The Present Truth 13, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

One who has a true view of his sin knows that no penance can wipe out the heart-stain. But the Catholic doctrine is based on a low idea of sin, sets up an artificial standard in place of the law of God, and in the confessional further supplies an invention which fosters a purely mechanical idea of getting rid of sin. The sincere Catholic may, in spite of the system, look beyond to God and open the heart to Him; but the fact remains that the natural tendency of the system is to set men to juggling with sin, balancing off the desire to sin against the repugnance to doing penance.

A young man, until lately a Roman Catholic, tells of devices resorted to very commonly amongst clever youth in the confessional. The priest would say these devices were an abuse of the system, but back of all that is the fundamental teaching of the Catholic Church which gives the utterly false view of sin and the way of salvation.

For example, the priest asks if meat has been eaten on a Friday.

"Yes, I did eat some," confesses the penitent.

"Did you do it intentionally?" says the priest, suggesting the way out of it.

"No, I didn't think," and the artificially created offence of eating meat on Friday is covered by a falsehood.

But now how about getting rid of this actual sin? It is simple enough. At the end of the confession the number of untruths the penitent fears he may have uttered is named, and he adds one for the lie just told, and the poor fellow is deceived with the thought that by his periodic visit to the confessional he is in some way bettering his case.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. Jesus and His Brethren" The Present Truth 13, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Let us take a little review of what we have already passed over. In the first chapter we learn that God still speaks to us by His Son, who is Heir of all things, by whom all things were created, and who, because He is the shining of the Father's glory and the very image of His substance, and bears all things upon His own life, has made reconciliation for sins, and is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, having "a name that is above every name." He is better than the angels, because He is the uncreated, begotten Son, the Creator. To Him, and not to the angels, has it been said, "Sit on My right hand, until I make Thine enemies - Thy footstool." Nevertheless the angels are not insignificant beings, since they have the speed and strength of the winds, and the brightness and swiftness of the lightning. These glorious beings are content to be servants to mortals who are heirs of salvation, since it is the will of the Master.

But though the angels are so excellent in strength, to them has not been committed the work of preaching the word of salvation. That at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and by Him, is committed to them that hear. The reason why the Gospel is not committed to angels, is that "unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak," is the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, and is identical with the world that was in the beginning, when man was made king over it and all that it contained. "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever" (Eccl. iii. l4), and therefore the earth once given to man must for ever remain his. Therefore it is that to man is given the work of preaching the Gospel, by the power of which "the first dominion" is to be restored. The heavens are the heavens of the Lord; but the earth hath He given to the children of men." Ps. cxv. 16, R.V.

"But now we see not yet all things hut under him. But we see, Jesus, who was trade 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. It was not this "present evil world," blighted by the curse, that God gave to man." No; from this we are to he delivered by Christ, who gave Himself for that purpose. Gal. i. 4. This world passes away, but "the world to come" is man's everlasting possession, and the right to it has been earned by Christ's life and death and resurrection. Since the world was in the beginning given to man, to Christ has been given authority to execute judgment, "because He is the Son of man." John v. 27. Who has the right to judge, if not the King? And this right Christ has obtained for all men, since He "by the grace of God tasted death "for every man." All who accept Christ are raised to a seat with Him, and made kings and priests. "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.

"For Every Man." -This right Christ has purchased for every man. In order to prove that the poor are not excluded, but that the most miserable and despised have dominion over the world to come given them, if they will but accept it, Christ the representative Man, who is at the right hand of the Majesty on high as our Forerunner, was the poorest man that ever lived on earth. His birth was most humble, and His death most disgraceful, and all His life long His only possessions were the clothes that He wore. He had not where to lay His head, and unless shelter was given Him by some kind friend, the bare mountain was His bed. In taking this low position, Christ indicated that what He has won is for every man. "Every man"-every soul-has in Christ the right to call God "my Father."

"For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory,-to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I sing Thy praise." Heb. ii. 10-12.

Bringing Sons to Glory .-In the beginning Adam "was the son of God." Luke iii. 38. As such he was "crowned with glory and honour." But "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. iii. 23. That is the reason why we see not now "all things put under man." For the kingdom of glory is such because it is a kingdom of righteousness. But God in Christ is "bringing many sons unto glory," that is, to the dominion over the world to come. The fact that He is bringing them to glory, shows that they lack it. But glory and righteousness are inseparable, are really one and the same thing, as we saw from Rom. iii. 23, where the loss of righteousness is the loss of glory. God is bringing many sons to righteousness." Just think! He is bringing sons to glory, to righteousness! Then He acknowledges the poor, sinful, disgraced

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outcasts as His sons, whom He so lovingly longs to set over all His goods. Yes; never for one moment did the anxious father of the prodigal son cease to think of him as his son.

"Perfect Through Sufferings." -What means this expression? What did Christ lack that He should need to be made perfect?-Nothing; for His character was perfection from the beginning. He not only is, but was, "holy, harmless, undefiled." "It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell." The simple citation of a few texts will be sufficient to show us what being made perfect is. When some one told Jesus that Herod sought to slay Him, He replied, "Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to-day, and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." Luke xiii. 32. "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all that obey Him." Heb. v. 5, 9. Compare Acts ii. 32, 33. The Apostle Paul said that his one desire was to be made conformable unto Christ's death; "if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect." Phil. iii. 10-12. And of the faithful patriarchs and prophets, who died in faith, without having received the promised inheritance, but who wait the resurrection, when it shall be brought to them (1 Peter i. 3-5), he says that God has provided a better thing for us, "that they without us should not be made perfect." Heb. xi. 39, 40. They died in faith, with characters as perfect as they ever can be, for they were complete in Christ; but in a Gospel that includes "the redemption of the body," it is evident that perfection is to be found only in the resurrection, and in the change from corruptible to incorruptible. It was fitting that God should make the Man Christ Jesus, who is the Author of salvation, perfect through sufferings, because man was already in a suffering condition, and could be brought to glory in no other way than through the sufferings into which he was cast.

"All of One." -"For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one." Wonderful words, in which we are assured of Christ's oneness with the human family. In this we have the assurance of His sympathy. He is one with us, bound to us by ties that never can be broken. He is the Son of man, and as such He knows every weakness, every tendency to sin, every temptation, every pain, every sorrow, that oppress human beings. What a world of comfort in that statement that we are "all of one;" that we have exactly the same right to call God our Father that Christ has.

"His Brethren." -Because all are of one, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brethren. Who is it that He is not ashamed to call brethren?-Is it the rich, the learned, the righteous?-Ah, there would be no force in the expression if it were only that. What merit would there be in not being ashamed of people in whom there was nothing to be ashamed of? Who are they whom Jesus is not ashamed to call His brethren?-They are those to whom He declares the name of the Lord; for the proof that He is not ashamed to call them brethren, is the fact that He says, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren." Now the only ones who need to have the name of God declared to them, are those who do not know it, that is the heathen, which includes every person in every land, who does not know the Lord as his Saviour. It means all mankind before the word of salvation comes to them. Jesus, in heaven, looked down on fallen, sinful men, wandering out of the way like lost sheep, "having no hope, and without God in the world," and said to the Father, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren." As Adam was the son of God, so all his descendants are sons, though fallen. They have lost their birthright, and their right to the name, so that in Christ they must be born anew in order to be sons indeed; but He is nevertheless not ashamed to call them brethren. Here is hope for all mankind. And there is a lesson for us. If Christ is not ashamed to call the poor, the sinful, and the outcast, His brethren, why should we be? Who are we, that we should hold ourselves aloof from them? Nay, since He is not ashamed to call us brethren, how dare we be ashamed to acknowledge our kinship with all fallen humanity, and to recognise their claims on us? Perhaps when we learn the full meaning of those words, "He is not ashamed to call them brethren," we shall experience the full power of the Gospel in our efforts to save men. Nay, there is no "perhaps;" there is certainty. For notice the connection, He is not ashamed to call them brethren; He shows His oneness with them in their utter helplessness, by saying, "I will put My trust in Him;" and then follow the words: "Behold, I and the children whom Thou hast given me." The success of Christ's own work must attend the labours of those who with Christ recognise degraded sinners as their brethren, and who labour for them with the same love that fills His heart.

"The Bishops and War" The Present Truth 13, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

The committee of Bishops, appointed by the Pan-Anglican Conference to consider the subjects of war and arbitration, report that they hesitate to pronounce war "immoral," but they cannot but feel that there are deep moral principles involved in the subject.

And to fortify themselves in this not very daring suggestion, they name a number of philosophers who have recognised this. The Bishops surely need make no apologies for their mild opinion that killing human beings in war involves moral principles. To every such human being they, by their profession of Christianity, make themselves debtors to give the Gospel of Life. It surely matters whether they do so, or whether they stand by and see the life's flame put out in blood.

This hesitancy to speak out on the Satanic spirit of war comes from a confusion of mind as to what the Gospel is. It is God's power to save men from sin, without respect of persons or of nations. Christians follow Christ who came not "to destroy men's lives, but to save them," and they see in every creature a soul to be saved. But Christendom is not Christian. It makes itself a part of the wicked world, and stands by with no distinct warning message while every nation is beating its ploughshares into swords.

But the Committee of Bishops comes to the very good conclusion that to make the sense of righteousness, quietness, and brotherliness really operative in the lives of men is to do more towards peace than compiling volumes of theorising about the laws of nations.

In other words, Christians can promote peace only by preaching the Gospel, which puts righteousness, quietness, and brotherliness into the lives of men who receive it. There is no brotherly way of killing a man, no Christian way of making war. Jesus says now, "Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you." If any say that national governments cannot be managed on that principle, they are quite right. It is only another way of saying that Christ's kingdom is not of this world.

"The Australian Agitation" The Present Truth 13, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

In the series "How the Creed was Made," we have seen how the strife for civil power corrupted the churches of the early centuries and led up to the Papacy. Such an agitation as is now going on in Australia differs from this early-century struggle only in degree. The churches are straining every nerve to get the legislative bodies in the Australian colonies to put a clause in the proposed Federal Constitution recognising religion, and they threaten to "make trouble" if they do not get their way. The controversy gives occasion for our people in Australia to circulate literature on the subject of Gospel liberty. From one of the leaflets prepared for the issue, we take the following extracts, showing the grounds on which Seventh-day Adventists in Australia base their refusal to join the other churches in their demand for religion by law:-

SOME FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

Civility-or the duty to recognise and respect the natural rights of men as men-belongs to C?sar. Religion-or the duties which men owe to God as Creator and Redeemer-belongs to God, and is to be rendered to Him and to Him only. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Religion is not to be rendered to civil governments. This being so, with the subject of religion civil governments can of right have nothing to do.

Religion should be the basis of every human life. God should be recognised as supreme by every individual, as having first and highest claims to our service, for He made us and formed us men. But the effort on the part of the churches to put religion in the fundamental law of the State, though many may not at first see it, is, really, a movement to unite Church and State, and give the churches a basis for enforcing religious dogmas upon the people by law. But this means trouble and religious oppression.

GOSPEL FREEDOM

"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." "Render unto C?sar the things which are C?sar's, and unto God the-things that are God's." "If any man hear My word, and believe not, I judge him not." "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." "Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God." "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth." "So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God." "We ought to obey God rather than men."

No man, no set of men, therefore, has a right to assume the prerogatives of Deity, and by law attempt to define what men ought or ought not to believe.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

-Armenian agitators exposedd two bombs in Constantinople last week.

-An exploring expedition left Belgium fur the South Polar regions last week.

-The Rhodesian railway is expected to be completed to Buluwayo in November.

-Reports of rich finds in the Klondyke region continue to fan the flames of excitement.

-The Pope has recently suffered from fainting fits, which cause anxeity to his physicians on account of his age.

-The Woolwich Arsenal has cartridge machines capable of turning out 2,000,000 cartridges per week, and they are kept busy much of the time.

-A large body of Armenians from Persian and Russian territory crossed the Turkish frontier recently and massacred a village, men, women and children.

-The life of a sailor is becoming every year safer with the improvements in the construction of vessels. Twelve years ago one sailor in every 106 who went to sea lost his life; now only one in 256 is lost.

-A professional gambler has been allowed to pay ?1,000 for the privilege of plying his vocation on a steamer sailing from San Francisco to the Klondyke region, for one trip, there and back. He expects to win a share of the ?400,000 in the possession of miners booked for the return voyage.

-A carrier pigeon shot near North Cape had been despatched from AndrÈe's balloon, and was the bearer of the message; "82 degrees passed. Good journey northwards.- AndrÈe." Several explorers have passed the 82nd parallel, which is 500 from the Pole, and only 100 miles north of the spot from which AndrÈe started.

-The Indian frontier is all aflame, and children and ladies have left outposts for safer quartets. Tribes heretofore trusted as friendly have risen, and no one knows how far disaffection may spread into India. The tribes along the North-western border are active, warlike people, who do not take kindly to the advancing line of Indian outposts.

-A trade paper says: "A Russian chemist has discovered a most powerful anesthetic. It is several thousand times more powerful then chloroform, volatilises, most readily, and acts when freely mixed with air at great distances. Experiments are being made at St. Petersburg to see if it cannot be enclosed in bombs, which would have the extraordinary effect of anesthetising instead of wounding the enemy."

-Last year there was a rush to New Guinea owing to the reports of rich gold deposits. A Sydney paper now says: "The New Guinea gold rush is considerably cooled down in Northern Queensland. The spectacle of so many haggard, shaking, penniless wrecks coming down the coast brings many a man's ardour down to dreezing-point. And the recollection of those who don't return at all is more edifying still."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

"You don't get any joy out of your religion, eh? Well, perhaps no one else is getting any joy out of it either."

Of the religious nature of the rising on the Indian frontier, Lord Roberts says: "There is hardly a man west of the Indus who is not a Mohammedan, and they are all of them easily led by any fanatical priest. It is difficult to see any reason for the rising other than that of religion."

It is reported that Russian missionary priests, working among the Nestorians of Persia and Turkey, have persuaded them to place themselves under Russian protection, and in consequence they have gone over in a body to the Russian Church. They are said to number 300,000 in Persia, and 100,000 in Turkey.

Not a single Evangelical, it is said, holds office in St. Paul's Cathedral. It was hoped by this party that a vacant canonry might be filled by appointment from their number, but a High Churchman has just got it. Lord Salisbury and Mr. Gladstone have usually appointed Sacerdotalists to all positions of prominence, and Lord Rosebery appointed Broad Church clergymen. Protestant Churchmen complain, but what do they expect when appointments in their church are made by politicians, whom the accidents of political strife may place in power?

"One man's religion, I think," says one, "is as good as another; all who believe in a God are trying to get to the same place." It is true, there is equality, and no need for drawing any invidious distinctions. But instead of saying one man's religion is as good as another, it is truer to say that one man's religion is as bad as another. All are equally bad, for "all have sinned." There we get the equality. And now God only is right. There is no comparison to he made. The religion of God stands alone. The only thing for men to do is to take His religion, and His life, and follow Him. And His religion is not designed merely to get men into some place. It saves them from sin, from disobedience, from the evil that is in them and of them. Let no one deceive himself by trusting in any religion but the Lord's.

The mob that shouts for war neither cares for consequences nor thinks of the misery war entails, whoever wins. A writer in Blackwood's, who has been in Athens during the recent crisis in Greece, says that the populace were at first frantic with the war fever, but now that the dreadful calamity has fallen upon their country they seem "callous to death and suffering." The promenades are "daily a scene of laughter, life, and fashion, not an atom of apparent pity for the deaths and sufferings of their troops, or for the starvation of tens of thousands of refugees."

"Troubled Turkey" The Present Truth 13, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Troubled Turkey .-It will not be the fault of Armenian revolutionists if they do not again bring violence and massacre upon their people. Last week there was more bomb-throwing in Constantinople. A few weeks ago, when rumour came of disturbances on the Persian frontier of Turkey, a London newspaper, which has been most violent in championing the Armenian revolutionary party, asked, "Is it another massacre?" It turned out to be another, but this time it was the massacre of the men, women, and children, of a Kurdish village by Armenians. It is about time that those in the churches who have urged on the Armenians to a crusade of Christian against Moslem recognised the fact that Christians are men of peace, who do not go to unbelievers with fire and sword. God has wonderfully protected truly Christian and peaceable Armenians in the recent terrible times in Turkey. We know whereof we speak, as our own Society's work in Turkey has been mainly amongst Armenians.

"Bible Reading" The Present Truth 13, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Bible Reading .-Multitudes of religious people confess that they somehow cannot get interested in Bible Study. They may read it now and then or even regularly as a duty, but to sit down with it and spend time in studying it seems difficult. Yet people who are not interested in Bible study expect to go to heaven. They practically say to the Lord: "Lord, I know this is Thy Word. You are speaking to me, but somehow I am not interested in what you say. Wait till I get to heaven." But one who cannot get interested in what God says now would not be interested if he could get into heaven. If the Word is uninteresting to you, confess your neglect of it to God, and as you apply yourself to it with the heart open to the Spirit's influence it will become interesting and more than interesting.

"The Promised Inheritance" The Present Truth 13, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

The Promised Inheritance .-Let no one be deceived by talk about the return of the Jews to Palestine as a fulfilment of the promises. "To Abraham and his seed were the promises made." When fulfilled Abraham must enter into the inheritance. And the promise does not concern the little strip of land between the seas, but the whole earth. It was that Abraham should be "heir of the world." Nor have the fleshly descendants of Abraham any claim because of that. "The children of the flesh, these are not the children of God." "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." The hope of the fathers is in the coming of the Lord and the resurrection of the dead. Then the meek, the children of Abraham by Jesus Christ will "inherit the earth."

"Incidents" The Present Truth 13, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Incidents .-Revisiting a provincial district in Argentina, one of our evangelists found the number of believers had increased. "Among the converts," he says, "was a man who had tried to intimidate me a year or two ago with a revolver. The Lord touched his heart, and turned him away from his evil feeling, and now he is rejoicing in the Lord. Another man said he was not converted by preaching; but while he was ploughing in the field, he was melted to tears, and his heart was touched and drawn out to the Lord in earnest prayer and repentance."

"Buddhist Sarcasm" The Present Truth 13, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Buddhist Sarcasm .-Since its war with China, Japan has been able to treat with the leading nations on terms of equality, and the Japanese are proud of the fact that they now rank among the Great Powers. The Japanese press, however, says: "We were just as well qualified the year before the war as the year after; but we needed to assure the Christian West of our ability to organise brute force and walk knee deep in human blood, before we could be accorded the rank of a civilised nation." It is not strange that the heathen East gets a wrong impression of Christianity and blasphemes the name of Christ because of the false profession of that name by the West.

September 2, 1897

"Getting Rid of the Burden" The Present Truth 13, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" asked Job; and he replied to his own question: "Not one."

All who have ever lived have known themselves sinners, for the law of God speaks that "all the world may become guilty before God." Rom. iii. 19. Even the unevangelised heathen, without the written revelation of God, have sufficient trace of the law of God written in their hearts by nature so that they know better than they do, and their consciences bear witness to their guilt. Rom. ii. 11, 15.

How to get rid of the burden has been the problem. Paul's difficulty has been that of all who have tried to loose the burden themselves: "The law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate that I do." "How to perform that which is good I find not." Rom. vii. 14, 15, 18. He was trying to bring a clean thing out of an unclean. But when he found Jesus Christ, he found power that was able to destroy the carnal mind and work the righteousness of God in the life. And the awful burden was gone. Out of the heart renewed came the cleansed life.

Luther, toiling on his knees up the so-called holy stairs in Rome, was trying to punish sin out of his flesh; but when he heard the voice speaking, "The just shall live by faith," he began to learn of a power able to set him free. All that system of penance and punishing of the flesh that has come into Christendom with monkery is based on the idea that there is good in man, and if only he is punished sufficiently the evil will be suppressed and the good remain. True, Jesus said, "If thy hand offend thee, cut it off," but it was only a striking way of emphasising His teaching that "from within, out of the heart of men" proceeds the evil. The trouble is not with hand, or foot, or tongue, but with the heart, and only the Lord Jesus who can give a new heart can deal with the trouble. The new heart and the new life come with the free forgiveness of sin, and if any weary, heavy-laden one will but confess his helplessness, and choose the life of obedience, the gift is his by the power of God. Professing Christians who still want to be saved in sin and not front sin need this message of life and righteousness by the gift of God, and the myriad souls in darkness who know nothing of a burden-bearing, loving Saviour need it.

Rome has no monopoly of penance and self-salvation. It is the religion of human nature. The Hindu, on his pilgrimage to a distant shrine may make his way on hands and knees or rolling over and over along the rough way; but his burden rolls with him. He may hold an arm in one position until shrunken and fixed; but the guilt is in the heart still. A veteran Indian missionary recently told a story of a seeker after liberty that is typical. Many years ago, after a days' work among the villages, he returned to his tent. Near by it a venerable grey-haired Brahmin was engaged in counting his beads and performing a wearisome service before a shrine. He says:-

Much struck by his reverent demeanour and evident earnestness, we watched him through the corded meshes of our tent window; and when he had finished his devotions, and had sat down to rest, we went out and, courteously addressing him, asked him what he sought by these prayers and circumambulations.

"Oh, sirs," said he, in a tone that struck us as one of intense earnestness, "I am seeking to get rid of the burden of sin. All my life I have been seeking it; but each effort that I make is as unsuccessful as the one before, and still the burden is here. My pilgrimages and prayers and penances for sixty years have all been in vain. Alas I know not how my desire can be accomplished."

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Then, in answer to our inquiries, he gave us the story of his life. He told us how, in early life, he had been sorely troubled by the thought of his unexpiated sins; that his parents had both died when he was seventeen years of age, leaving him an only child, sole heir of their wealth; that the priests whom he consulted told him that if he would give all his property to endow a temple the burden of sin would be removed.

He gave his property, all of it. He endowed a temple; but the burden of sin was no lighter. His mind was not at peace. Obedient to further advice from the priests, his counsellors, he made the pilgrimage on foot all the long way to Benares, the holy city. He spent two years in the precincts of the temples in worship. He spent two years in bathing in the holy Ganges. "But," said he, "the Ganges water washed the foulness from my skin, not the foulness from my soul, and still the old burden was there, uneased." He told us how he had gone from thence, on foot, all the way to Rameswaram; begging his food all the two thousand miles; for he had given all his money to the temple, and thence again to Srirangam, and thence to other holy places. He told us how he had spent his whole life in these pilgrimages, and in penances, and in desert wanderings, apart from his kind, living on roots and nuts and jungle fruits, remaining for years at a time in the forest jungles, in the vain search for relief from the burden of sin.

"And now, sirs," said he, "my life is almost gone: my hair is thin and white; my eyes are dim; my teeth are gone; my cheeks are sunken; my body is wasted; I am an old, old man; and yet, sirs, the burden of sin is just as heavy as when, a young man, I started in pursuit of deliverance. Oh, sirs, does your Veda tell how I can get rid of this burden and be at peace? Our Vedas have not shown me how."

How gladly did we tell him of our gracious "Burden-bearer," and of His loving call, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." How eagerly did he listen as we told him of Jesus Christ, the God-man, the Saviourof the world, and told him what He had done for our salvation. How gladly did he pore over the Gospels we gave him, and what earnest questions did he ask during the day as to points in their teachings which he did not quite understand. During that night he left and went upon his way, taking the Gospels with him, and we never again saw him.

Though so many years have intervened, his earnest, reverent countenance remains photographed on my memory, and I shall look for him up there among the redeemed; for I believe that he was in earnest in seeking deliverance from the burden of sin; in vain, indeed, as he said, through Hinduism; I trust not in vain through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. This World and the World to Come" The Present Truth 13, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

In our study of the Book of Hebrews we have learned much about "the world to come." "Unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come," but He has put it in subjection to man; for the world to come is the new heavens and the new earth which God put in subjection to man in the beginning, when everything was very good.

All this we have had repeated several times in our studies, but we can never exhaust the truth that it contains. The earth was new and unsullied by sin, when God gave it to man. By man's disobedience he lost the dominion. Thus "the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto the against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." "Nevertheless we, according to promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter iii. 6, 7, 13. This is the "better country, that is, an heavenly," for which the patriarchs looked. Heb. xi. 16. Because they looked for that better country, confessing that they were "strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Heb. xi. 13), God was not ashamed to be called their God. All therefore who are "children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. iii. 26) and so children of Abraham, and heirs with him (Gal. iii. 7, 29), have their citizenship in heaven (Phil. iii. 30. R.V.), where God has prepared for them a city.

"If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. iii. 29. Those who are Christ's are Christians. All real Christians are therefore Abraham's seed, and with him are strangers and pilgrims on this earth, having their citizenship in heaven. What have they then to do with "this present evil world;" what is their relation to it?-they are strangers and foreigners in it, and are to be delivered from it. Gal. i. 4. Their sole business here is to keep themselves "unspotted from the world" (James i. 27), and to save as many people from it as they possibly can.

What about the prevailing idea that Christians ought to busy themselves with the government of this earth, and that they, above all others, are the ones to whom the government of this world belongs? What do we learn as to the growing idea that the church should interest itself in politics and have a controlling influence in the affairs of State? The utter fallacy of all such ideas is apparent from the fact that it is the world to come, and not this world, that God has given to His people. Instead of being the ones to rule this world, Christians are the ones above all others who should keep their hands off. They are strangers and foreigners in this world, and have no more right to meddle

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in its affairs, or to, seek to control it, than a Frenchman would have in Germany, or a German in England.

This world pertains to worldly men. "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." 1 John ii. 7. He who does the will of God abides for ever, because he is not of this world, even as Christ is not of this world; but they who link their lives to this world must necessarily pass away with it.

Satan is the God of this world, and they who possess it and rule over it, must do homage to him. He offered the kingdoms of this world to Christ on that condition, but the Saviour spurned the offer. Matt. iv. 5-10. So must every one do who will follow Christ.

When professed Christians are full of zeal for the things of this world, and seek to occupy a prominent place in its affairs, they show that they do not know what is the hope of their calling, nor the riches of the glory of the inheritance. Eph. i. 18. How can they expect to convince the world that there is anything better for mankind, when they seek for nothing but what the rest of mankind seek? If they are all absorbed in this world, how can they expect people to believe them when they talk about the surpassing riches of the world to come. Will a man who has diamonds before him, at his disposal, load his pockets with mud? Will a man who is a prince, and who has a kingdom and a palace, and riches that cannot be counted, dispute with a beggar for the possession of a crust of bread, or quarrel with the scavenger for the rags in the gutter?

This world is but a waiting place. We are expecting the Lord to come with the everlasting inheritance, and we do not know at what hour He may come. Confidently we have no time to take up a residence here, much less to seek office; and the question as to who shall occupy the offices has not the slightest interest for us, since we are to stay but for a night, and "the morning cometh." A man travelling by a night train through France, on the way from London to Geneva, would not think that he had time to engage in French polities. Even so with Christians in this world.

To Christians pertains the world to come. The word of salvation, which God puts in the mouth of His children, is the word that is to renew the heavens and the earth, as well as all people who receive it. The power of the Gospel is the power of the world to come. But if the interest of Christians is divided between this world and the world to come, their power is diminished to the extent that this world takes the place of the world to come; and thus they give the trumpet a faint and uncertain sound. Let us leave the affairs of this world to those who shut their eyes and ears to anything better, while we labour with the power of the world to come to save as many as possible from the ruin.

"'Not Ashamed'" The Present Truth 13, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

"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." Heb. ii. 11.

Who is He that sanctifieth?-It is Christ, "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption." 1 Cor. i. 30.

And they who are sanctified?-They are the ones who by faith in Christ receive the Holy Spirit of truth. See Acts xxvi. 18; 3 Thess. ii. 13.

And "God is one." Gal. iii. 20. He that sanctifieth,-Jesus,-and they who are sanctified, all who believe, are all of God. 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. "Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption."

"For which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." Who is He not ashamed to call brethren?-"They who are sanctified," of course. True enough, but this is not all. What is the evidence that He is not ashamed to call certain ones His brethren?-This, that He says, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren." But why should He declare the name of the Lord to any people?-Manifestly because they do not know it. If all knew the name of the Lord, there would he no necessity to declare His name to them; for they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee." Ps. ix. 10. In the world to come "they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord." Jer. xxxi. 34.

What is a person called, who does not know the Lord, nor His name?-A heathen. That word expresses the lowest state of mankind. Will one indicate that certain ones are very degraded, he will say that "they are regular heathens." Will one express his contempt for people, he will say, "They are miserable heathen." And truly all who do not know the Lord are in a miserable condition, and all men are or have been at some time in their lives, "without Christ, . . . having no hope, and without God in the world." Eph. ii. 12.

Therefore when Christ says, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren," He evidently means that He will declare it, first of all, to those who do not know it-to heathen. But mark, "He is not ashamed to call them brethren." That wretched sinner, despised of men, and despising even himself, covered with the filth of the gutter, Jesus is not ashamed to call a brother. Oh, what a wealth of love there is in Jesus!

Ah, but what of the statement that they are "all of one"? Does that apply to these heathen?-Certainly. Adam was the son of God (Luke iii. 38), and although he fell, God did not cast him off. So all of Adam's race are lost, wandering, prodigal sons, whom the Father has not disowned, because He is Love. He is a Father, indeed. There are men in the world, who are called fathers, who disown their children. A son becomes a spendthrift and a drunkard, and he is no more owned as a son. A daughter goes astray, and the door is locked upon her. "She is no child of mine," says the so-called father, who knows nothing of what it means to be a father. Not so with God. He says, "O Israel, return to the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity." Hosea xiv. 1. The fact that we have fallen causes Him the more to open His arms to us; the greatness of our sin only adds force to our plea." "For Thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great." Ps. xxv. 11. "For the Lord will not cast off for ever." That is, He will never cast off. "But though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies." Lam. iii. 31, 32.

Think of the circumstances. The world was lost in sin, wandering in darkness and the shadow of death. They were without hope, because they did not know the name of the Lord. Jesus, sitting with the Father upon the throne of eternal glory, with all the riches of the universe and the adoration of the angels His by right, said, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren." In His place as the honoured Son in the Father's house, He was not ashamed to call poor-fallen men His brethren. "My brothers are in great need; I will go down

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and help them." Oh, what a wonder, that He is not ashamed to call the poor, ragged beggar His brother! There is nothing on earth that we can compare it with, for such disinterested love is not found among men; but we must consider it, just as it is, without a parallel, in order that the same love for His brethren may spring up in our hearts, that we may not be ashamed to call them brethren.

Men often sing,

"I'm not ashamed to own my Lord,"

That is very good; there is no reason in the world why we should be ashamed of Him. The remarkable thing is, that He is not ashamed of us. That is the love that draws us to Him, and gives us confidence to come back to the Father's house. And that same love in us will draw men to Christ.

But it is a sad fact that many professed followers of the Lord, to say nothing of proud worldlings, are ashamed of the Lord. Every time we are ashamed to be seen in company with a poor man or woman; every time we shrink from contact with poverty, or do not wish to be recognised as belonging to the same society, we show that we are ashamed of the Lord; for He says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." Matt. xxv. 40. Likewise, when we are ashamed of any truth, which is His life (for He is the truth, John xiv. 6), because it is unpopular, then we show that we are ashamed of Him. If Christ were here to-day aside was in Judea and Galilee eighteen hundred years ago, and He would be just the same as He was then, for He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever" (Heb. xiii. 8),-what would many who now call themselves by His name do! How would they receive Him?-They would not receive Him, for "He came unto His own and His own received Him not." John i. 11. "His clothes were so shabby; He associates with such low characters, people who are not at all of our set," would be the talk. Possibly they might allow Him to labour in a "mission" in the slums, but "what a figure He would cut in our church! I am sure it is better for Him, as well as for us, to associate with people of His class, for He certainly cannot feel at home among us." Most likely. He was rich, and we were poor. For our sakes He became poor, and now the very ones for whose sake He made Himself poor are ashamed to own Him because of His poverty. What ingratitude!

"But what is that I hear? He keeps the seventh day for the Sabbath, and therefore we cannot allow Him to work even in our mission." "No; He is altogether too far behind the times; He doesn't seem to realise that more than eighteen hundred years have passed since it was popular to keep the seventh day; He is altogether out of touch with nineteenth century Christianity. This enlightened age needs something different from the old-fashioned ways." Ah, how many would be ashamed to own Him as a brother! And how many are to-day disowning Him, even while singing, "I'm not ashamed"!

He who is ashamed, shows himself to be a child of shame. Beware lest our shame at last cause Him to be ashamed. If we are not ashamed of Him, He will never be ashamed of us. "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." 1 John ii. 28. What a terrible thing to be ashamed then. They who are not ashamed of Him now in His humiliation and unpopularity, will not be ashamed before Him when He appears in His glory.

"The Jewish Rulers and Moses" The Present Truth 13, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

The Jewish rulers in the days of Jesus made their boast of Moses. That Moses against whom their fathers so often rebelled, had been exalted to the place of Deity. Professor Graetz says of this, in his "History of the Jews:"-

His memory and name were endeared to all the Judeans within and beyond Palestine. They took oaths in the name of Moses, and bestowed that name on no other man. They carried their devotion to such an extreme that he who spake against the name of Moses was treated as one who blasphemed God.

Yet Jesus said to these men: "There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me. But If ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?" John v. 41-45. They did not believe the very writings that they counted it blasphemy to speak against. Jesus showed that their profession of regard for Moses and also, on another occasion, for the prophets, was but a theological formula. Because they did not believe the Scriptures which they read through the traditions of the schools, they fulfilled them in condemning Christ.

There is a lesson in this for us. Not a theoretical belief that the Bible is from God, but a yielding of the heart and life to it is the essential thing. Multitudes, called Evangelical, are ready to fight higher critics for the inspiration of the Bible who nevertheless will not receive it, as God's voice, meaning just what He says, when the voice calls for practical reform in the life. The Bible is talked of in all Christendom, but yet Christendom is swiftly running on in the very course of apostasy that the Bible marks out and warns against.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

-The Irish potato crop is blighted in many districts.

-A dozen electric motor cabs now ply for hire in London streets.

-The President of the South American republic of Uruguay was assassinated by a young man last week.

-Speaking last week, President Kruger denied the suzerainty of Great Britain over the Transvaal Republic.

-The price of meat in South Africa has risen owing to the rinderpost, which still advances toward the Cape.

-The disturbed frontier in India is about 1,400 miles in length, and the mountainous character of it gives every advantage to small bodies of tribesmen.

-The engineering strike is seriously interfering with trade, and white both sides speak confidently of the result, much work is said to be going to Belgium and Germany.

-The strike of quarrymen in Lord Penrbyn's employ has ended, and by the settlement the men get practically all they asked far. The main point was right of combination.

-The Duke and Duchess of York have been heartily greeted by the general public in Ireland, although Nationalist politicians have officially declared that the visit of the "strangers" has no political significance.

-The United States and Canada are cooperating to keep open a mail route to Klondyke during the winter. Last winter but three mails were started from the coast, and one of these was left in the mountains by the man in charge, and has never been recovered from the snow.

-Influential French papers say that the visits of the German Emperor and the French President to the Czar indicate that France must give up its war for the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine. The talk of a Continental combination inimical to Great Britain continues.

-The Ameer of Afghanistan, whose loyalty to Great Britain is questioned in some parts, long ago likened his position to that of an earthen pot floating between two iron ones. His territory keeps British and Russian Asia apart, and whenever a collision between the two iron pots occurs the Ameer knows his possessions would likely be taken over by one or both.

-The Afridis, the most formidable of the tribe=smen who have risen on the Indian frontier, have for twenty years been receiving pay from the Indian Government for keeping open the Khyber Pass. Many of them are now in the Indian army. Some levies of these troops have gone ever to them kindred. The outposts that have fallen were not of great strength, but as matters stand at this writing, Indian authorities say that it will require great expenditure of money and life to get back the control of the Khyber Pass.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

The Pope is mourning a marked falling off in "Peter's pence" contributions.

Our missionaries in the Bay Islands, Central America, have just completed a schooner for work in the islands and along the mainlands of the Caribbean Sea.

We are glad to see that our Society in the United States is preparing to publish literature in the point-letter system for the blind. They announce a series of tracts on The Way to Christ and How to Find Him.

The International Workmen's Congress, held in Zurich last week, pronounced in favour of enforcing Sunday rest by law. Religious societies which are working toward this end will hail this support, from a convention not specially religious, as a strong argument in their favour, But it only harmonises with the Bible declaration that the spirit of the Papacy will fill all classes of society.

Several fresh cases of the prosecution of Seventh-day Adventists under the Sunday laws are reported from New Brunswick, Ontario, and the United States. The evidence in every case showed that the prosecutions were for Sabbath-keeping rather than Sunday work. In Australia and South America, and in fact in all the world there is one spirit urging on the enforcement of Sunday laws.

What is the meaning of this international revival of the papal method of enforcing religious institutions by law? It means that the Lord's coming is drawing near, and the Gospel of Christ, the everlasting Gospel, calling men to "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus," is being proclaimed, and the devil is wroth. The Sabbath is the sign of God's power to sanctify and save, and the enemy wants to hold before it the papal substitute. But the time has come when the truth is to be revealed. Not by the power of courts and prisons, but by the power of God the message of truth makes its way amongst the nations. "The Word of God is not bound," and none can stop it. To carry it forward by life and means and all is the one blessed work to which the Lord calls those who would follow Him.

A new religious sect is reported from Russia, whose central doctrine is "that while the soul is immortal the body is of the devil, and should therefore be neglected as much as possible." Its professors pay no regard to cleanliness, copying the habits of some of the early Catholic ascetic monks who supposed to add to their sanctity by neglect of their person. Russia is a very hot-bed of extravagantly fanatical movements. It is one of the prices it has to pay for its repression of free religious inquiry, resulting in keeping the peasantry in darkness and ignorance.

The Great Powers are glad to send competent military and naval instructors to Asiatic lesser powers, to drill their men and teach them war. They compete with one another to get the orders for arms and war supplies. There are said to be about two hundred German instructors in China, working to get China into a "fit" condition. Men the "Christian" West gets the heathen East well versed in the art of war, it is not difficult to see that both together will fill the earth with such war as never was.

While thus the nations are fulfilling the numerous scriptures which speak of the state of unrest and strife which is to close the history of the earth, what is the religious world doing to fulfil those scriptures which show that, before the coming of the Lord, the Gospel of His kingdom will be preached as a witness to all nations? There is something more important for all Christians than the questions of territorial extensions and political combinations which agitate men's minds. The Gospel is for sinners, no matter where they are or who they are, and the order of the Lord to every believer is that His invitation shall be taken to them. Yet Europe alone spends a thousand times as much on war as all Christendom spends on missions.

The ignorant and emotional negroes in a section of South Carolina were last week reported by the American cables to have become crazed with excitement by the announcement of some soothsaying exhorters that the devil is dead. Their wild delirium of religious frenzy, however, which has terrified the community, shows that the devil is very much alive, and knows how to adapt his deceptions to all temperaments.

The year's record of inquests held by coroners in the county of London shows that the death of 179 males and 137 females was attributable to "excessive drinking. Of course this does not include those who died in hospitals or under the care physicians, but merely the cases coming under the coroner's inquest owing to sudden death.

The man who lives only for himself is engaged in a very small business.

"A Good Rule Habitually Broken" The Present Truth 13, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

A Good Rule Habitually Broken .-"No doctrine ought to be asserted," says the Christian, "which cannot be Scripturally proved. No doctrine can be so proved which is based upon allegory or parable or symbol, and not definitely affirmed in Scripture." Applying this to the Sabbath question, it is plain that our contemporary ought to say no more of Sunday sacredness, for as Cardinal Gibbons flatly says: "Read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorising the sanctification of Sunday."

"The Great Delusion" The Present Truth 13, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

The Great Delusion .-This, according to a London Spiritualist organ, is Spiritualism's message for the world:-

Spiritualists, urged on by the angel hosts just beyond the thin and transparent curtain of the physical senses, are determined to proclaim this mighty truth that the so-called dead still love, live, move, and have their being; that they wish not to be idle, but to ca-operate with those on earth.

And what gives Spiritualism such advantage is the fact that nearly all Christendom has come to believe that the dead are not dead, but alive. "Ye shall not surely die," said Satan in the beginning, and the world believes it rather than God's word, "Unto dust shalt thou return." God promises life by the resurrection, Satan promises life in spite of God's sentence of death. In order to deceive men his angels personate the dead "the spirits of devils working miracles"-and they are going forth to lead men into the final apostasy and ruin which the Word of prophecy has foretold. If Christendom believed the Bible, Spiritualism would not be sweeping over it. It is in all the churches, and the rejected Word is the only defence.

September 9, 1897

"Front Page" The Present Truth 13, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

"For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother."

This was Jesus' reply to those who told Him that His mother and brothers were waiting to see Him. Matt. vi . 46-50. Evidently they thought that the family relationship gave them special privileges of access to Him, not enjoyed by others.

But His relationship was to the whole human family. He was made flesh, made the Son of man, in order that every man and woman in Him might become of the household of God. He took part of human flesh and blood that all flesh in Him might find a Brother. He would allow no personal considerations to obscure that truth.

This misapprehension of His relationship to man which He here corrected, was responsible, in later times, for the exaltation of Mary, as one who had special access to the Lord, and whose petitions He could not refuse. Of course Mary is dead, and will not be living until that day when those that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth, the righteous unto life; the wicked unto the "second death;" but, aside from this error, there is in the Catholic doctrine of the Virgin Mary that determination of the natural heart to worship and serve "the creature more than the Creator." So, instead of Jesus being the Mediator, "the man Christ Jesus," whose heart is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, because, as our Brother, He Himself has suffered, being tempted in all points like as we are, instead of this Saviour of men, the Catholic doctrine makes Mary the all pitiful, able to persuade reluctant Divinity to succour sinners in need.

On another occasion, when one woman of the company, considering the honour of being related in the flesh to so great a Teacher, cried out, "Blessed is the womb that bare Thee," Jesus again replied: "Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it." Luke xi. 28. He is the Saviour of all men, the Brother of all in need, and whosoever is willing to be turned from sin by His life finds in Him one closer than a brother. The high honour of blood relationship with Jesus, the Son of God and Son of man, is open to every one who is willing to be turned from disobedience unto righteousness.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. 'I Will Declare Thy Name'" The Present Truth 13, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

"I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Theo." Heb. ii. 12.

Who is it that uses these words?-It is Christ-"He that sanctifieth." And the place where we find them is Ps. xxii. 23, which we must carefully study, if we would learn all that it is intended we should learn from them. In our study thus far we have seen that the Lord's statement, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren," shows us His wonderful love and condescension; He is not ashamed to call us poor sinners brethren; now we are to learn a lesson of even greater comfort and encouragement-a lesson of how to conquer by faith, the faith of Jesus Christ. He who reads the words, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren," without considering the circumstances under which they are uttered, loses the most wonderful and precious lesson in the whole Bible. Let us therefore study the picture that is presented to us in the twenty-second Psalm.

The Psalms as a whole are the words of Christ. "David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet Psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His Word was in my tongue." 2 Sam. xxiii. 1, 2. Indeed, in the whole Bible we have the Spirit of Christ, in the prophets, testifying (1 Peter i. 10, 11), although often, as in so many of the Psalms, the writers described their own personal experiences. Thus in Inspiration we have the mystery of the Incarnation. Christ in the flesh, as Man, has all the experiences of mankind, so that no one can have suffered anything or passed through any sort of trial that Christ has not endured; nay, more, that Christ does not at that very moment share. When we read the Bible, but especially the Psalms, with this in mind, we find in them unsearchable riches of comfort.

THE TWENTY-SECOND PSALM

But this applies most especially to the twenty-second Psalm, for in that we have the most unmistakable evidence that it is a description of Christ's experience, and yet it is most intensely human. In it every soul can read his own struggles and temptations, and discouragements,-and, if he has faith, his own victories.

Before we take up the Psalm in regular order, let us note a few verses which show us that it comes as a whole right from the heart of Christ.

Verse 1: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me." Compare Matt. xxvii. 46, and the connection.

Verse 6: "But I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." Compare Isa. Iii. 14; liii. 3.

Verses 7, 8: "All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him." Compare Matt. xxvii. 39, 43.

Verse 16: "They pierced My hands and My feet." Verse 18: "They part My garments among them, and cast lots for My vesture." Compare John xix. 23, 24.

These verses show us that the Psalm is the outpouring of Christ's soul in His most trying earthly experiences. Nevertheless it is "a Psalm of David."

"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" "O My God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent."

These words show to us that the experience covers more than the few hours during which Christ hung on the cross; for here we read about crying day and night. It was not only the time that He hung upon the tree, that He felt forsaken, but there were many other times in His life when darkness and despair seemed about to overwhelm Him. This explains the nights spent in prayer.

NOT FORSAKEN-GOD IS FAITHFUL

How many persons often think that God has really forsaken them. What a blessed comfort to know that they share that feeling with Jesus; nay, more, that it is His own experience in us.

"Oh, yes," says one, "but the case is different with me, for I am a great sinner, and it is my sins that have hid His face from me."

Yes; there is nothing but sin that can make a separation between God and any soul, and it was just this that made Christ feel that God had forsaken Him; for the Lord "hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities." Isa. liii. 5, 6. It was our sins upon Him, which He bore as if they were His own, that caused His "strong crying and tears." Our sins, the very same sins that cause these feelings of despondency with which we are so well acquainted. Good! Then when these feelings come to us, we will remember that they came to Jesus, and we will let Him dispose of them, just as He did when on earth.

Now comes a ray of hope piercing through the gloom: "But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in Thee; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them. They cried unto Thee, and were delivered; they trusted in Thee, and were not confounded." Verses 3-5.

If the soul in trouble will only hold fast to

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the everlasting truth that God is holy and good, and that His mercy endures for ever, he has a sure anchor. This is that which "enters into that within the veil." But when I know that God is good, then I know that He has not forsaken me. And then comes the thought of God's goodness to men in past ages, how He delivered Noah and Lot and Joseph, and Jeremiah, and Daniel, and so many others, and that He is the same God still. Yes, truly God is good to the children of men.

A DESPERATE CASE

"But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." Verse 6.

Thus the tempter seeks to deprive us of the comfort we began to receive from the thought of God's goodness to men of old. "Yes; but they were better men than I am; God could well deliver them, for He had some material to work with; but I am but a worm, unworthy of notice." Who has not had just such thoughts? All the wealth of God's love, as manifested to the men of old is lost on us, because we feel ourselves so unworthy, because of our sins. What a comfort to know that our sins caused Jesus the same feelings of worthlessness and unworthiness; for just as surely as He gained the victory over them, so shall we in Him.

But the case is desperate. "All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him." Verse 7, 8. "Many there be which say of My soul, There is no help for Him in God." Ps. iii. 3. Despised of men, and taunted by Satan because of our sins, we are tempted to think that there is no help for us in God. But let us never forget that Jesus had the same experience.

He was esteemed as "stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." "But He had no sin to trouble His conscience," says the one who is unwilling to take the comfort of Christ. Indeed He had our sins, and they rested upon Him just as if He Himself had committed them; for Him "who knew no sin" hath God "made to be sin on our behalf." 2 Cor. v. 21, R.V. "He was tempted in all points like as we are." Heb. iv. 15. It is impossible that any man can be more oppressed and cast down because of sin than Christ was, and when we remember that it was our sins that caused it, we will allow Him, since He still liveth to make intercession for us, to carry out His own experience in us to the full.

Trouble may come from every quarter, yet the Lord holds fast to the goodness of God. "But Thou art He that took Me out of the womb; Thou didst make me to hope when I was upon My mother's breasts. I was cast upon Thee from the womb; Thou art My. God from My mother's belly." Verses 9, 10. Sinners are we, and unworthy to live? Yes; but nevertheless we do live, as it is by the power and grace of God that we have lived to this moment. "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. 32, 23. Why has the Lord allowed us to live all these years, and not simply allowed us to live, but kept us alive?-Because He desired our salvation, for "the longsuffering of our God is salvation." 2 Peter iii. 15. He who has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live" (Ezek. xxxiii. 11), has no pleasure in trouble and suffering. If He wished us to perish He would not have kept us alive till this day. He who has kept us thus far, will continue to keep us, and much more, as we recognise His presence and power. The world has a saying, "While there's life, there's hope," but few realise how much it means. Christ is the life; where there is life there is evidence of His presence; and where there is His presence there is eternal hope. All things are possible to him who desires salvation, and who trusts. "Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in Thee." Ps. xxxiii. 22.

THE CRY FOR HELP

Now comes a cry for help in the sorest need: "Be not far from Me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed Me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset all round. They gaped upon Me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws; and Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed Me; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed Me; they pierced My hands and My feet. I may tell all My bones; they look and stare upon Me. They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture. Be not far from Me, O Lord; O My strength, haste Thee to help Me. Deliver My soul from the sword; My darling from the power of the dog. Save Me from the lion's mouth; for Thou hast heard Me from the horns of the unicorns," or wild oxen. Ps. xxii. 11-21.

In these verses we have the condition of Christ, not only when He hung on the cross, but in His life before that tile, and especially when He was in the desert "with the wild beasts" (Mark i. 13), tempted by the devil. He prays to be saved from the lion's mouth, and so may we, for our "adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter v. 8. It is because of sin that beasts are wild and ferocious; and Satan is the originator of sin; all fighting and devouring, whether by man or beast, is the working of Satan. So that the fierce wild beasts that surrounded Christ in the wilderness, threatening to devour Him, were a vivid representation of the devil, who was seeking His soul's ruin.

In the desert of temptation Christ was made to suffer as no other being has ever suffered. He was weak in body, threatened by the wild beasts, and surrounded by Satan and his hosts; for "the assembly of the wicked" inclosed Him. The last clause of verse 21 shows that He was brought to the last extremity. "From the horns of the wild oxen Thou hast heard Me." Nothing could more graphically express the sorest need; one could not be exposed to greater danger; on the point of the wild oxen's horns, one would think that there was no hope for life, that he was indeed wholly forsaken; but from just such a perilous position the Lord cried for help, and was heard.

VICTORY AND PRAISE AMIDST TROUBLE

While in the miserable condition described in this chapter, seemingly utterly forsaken by the Father, surrounded by wild beasts and demons, with every ray of hope seemingly excluded, He says:-

"I will declare Thy name unto My brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee."

There is where victory lies. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower." The Lord's name is, "Merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7. If when one is in trouble, and in trouble because of sin, let him declare that name, and he will find help. Jesus said: "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John xvi. 33. How did He overcome?-By holding fast to the fact that God is everlasting love and a mighty Deliverer.

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Read now the remainder of the Psalm, and you will see that from this point there is no more darkness nor mention of trouble. All thought of trouble is lost in a song of praise. But remember that all these words of praise are uttered while in the condition described in the preceding verses. That is the secret of victory.

How wonderful these words of Christ, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren" appear, when we consider the circumstances under which they are uttered. Out of the depths of distress they come, with a force and confidence that forces the enemy to flee. And how precious are the words, when we remember that they are spoken on our behalf. It is Christ in the flesh who utters these words, and therefore they are for us to utter when in trouble.

Do you seem to be overwhelmed with trouble and temptation, and does everything look dark and forbidding, so that it seems as if hope itself were dead?-There is a sure cure: declare the name, that is, the mercy and goodness of the Lord, to others who are in need. Instead of talking about your darkness and discouragements, begin to tell how good the Lord is, and to praise Him. You can do it, for it is true, whether you feel it or not. Don't be afraid; there is no danger of overstating the facts in the case, when you sing of the mercies of the Lord. Never mind feeling; stick to facts. The sun shines even though clouds come between. Christ fails not, and is not discouraged. By faith, His courage becomes yours, and then by encouraging others your courage is always fresh.

"The First Love" The Present Truth 13, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

The Ephesians had laboured, and kept themselves from evil workers bent on sowing disaffection, and had not fainted; the pitiful Lord had seen it all. But there was one thing that had robbed them of the joy and peace in labour. "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast felt thy first love." One writer truly says:-

The only way we can retain our first love and keep that aglow which was kindled in our hearts when Jesus spoke the words to us, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," is by lighting the lamp of love in other hearts, and helping those who need help.

And the only way of doing this is to have the oil in our own life's lamp filled daily with the fresh supply of oil. The knowledge of sins forgiven must be a daily experience. All the time, as we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ is cleansing us from all sin. That is the experience all the way, and every day.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

-Canada's population in 1887 was 1,501,649. Now it is 5,100,000.

-The France-Russian Alliance has been officially notified to other Powers.

-Over 300 people lost their lives by an earthquake in Japan last weak.

-The assayers report that the gold of Klondyke is not of the finest quality.

-Last year, in the United Kingdom, 162,000 persons were committed to prison. The year before the number was 169,000.

-Indian news from day to day shows a serious situation, though the natural inability of the tribes to work together aids the British forces.

-Those who like figures may be interested in this: "The weight of the earth, according to recent experiments and calculations, is 1,256,195,670,000,000,000,000,000 tons."

-On account of the engineer's strike and lockout much work is said to he already going to the Continent. Germany is getting many orders. On the other hand the engineers declare that they are gaining, and that more firms are coming to their terms. Both sides, as always in war, are losing heavily.

-Austria is made up of various nationalities, but the German is the official language. In Bohemia, however, the Czech is the official language, and all officials must understand that as well as the German. This displeases the German-speaking population, who do not wish to learn the difficult Czech speech, and so there is constant friction and occasional riots.

-This month the Yukon river freezes, and ordinary traffic between Klondyke and the coast will cease. About 3,000 persons are said to have got through to the gold regions, and it is feared that food will tail them before spring. Other thousands are camped between the coast and the mountain passes, who if they go on, must wait through the long Arctic winter.

-At the end of the last century France represented 27 per cent, of the Great European Powers, and her language was the one spoken throughout the world. To-day, says a French writer, she lives an her past. There are 46,000,000 of people who know French from birth. Such is the number of readers that a French book could have; but the same books written in German could be read by more than 97,000,000 men; and if in English by more than 115,000,000 people.

-The Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture is the chief authority in the estimate of the world's harvest. This year they estimate the wheat supply at 573,760,000 metric hundredweights, while the present requirements for the year are placed at 655,150,000. This leaves a shortage of over 50,000,000 metric hundred weights. The yield being unusually light, the price of wheat has risen, and America, where the crops are fair, is reaping the benefits. But it is said that after all market manipulations and not the masses are profiting by it.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

"There is a movement in the Episcopal Church in America," says the Catholic Times, "towards the adoption of Catholic rites and practices. The Protestants in both England and America are evidently undoing the work of the Reformers."

How do you know, Christian that Jesus Christ has power to sinner from his sins to-day? Only as know a sinner who is saved from his to-day can you in full assurance tell another that there is actual power in the life of Christ to save him.

In the Psalmist's days there were evidently those who, as some in our day, gloried in their freedom from obedience to the law of God. To their efforts to draw him after them in transgression he made response: "Depart from me, ye evildoers; for I will keep the commandments of my God." Ps. cxix. 115.

Not the theory of the truth, but the "love of the truth" is the defence against self-deception and the overmastering delusions of the last days. 2 Thess. ii. 10, 11. Every one who has not this love in the inner sanctuary of the soul will assuredly be blinded and confused. The simple one who loves much can see the line of light more clearly than the high-minded controversialist who has seen in the truth only a form of doctrine.

Chinese officials in high places are said to be adopting a new policy, and there is promise that their influence will be for full toleration of missionaries. Their anxiety is only to reap material advantages from freer contact with other nations, but if this opens the way for freer access to the people it must hasten the evangelisation of the great Chinese empire.

Our Society's work in China and Japan is only beginning, in a small way, but we are glad to learn that schools conducted among these nationalities in various parts of the United States have developed a good number of believers, some of whom will be fitted to carry the Gospel of Christ's Sabbath and Kingdom to their countrymen. In the Hawaiian Islands schools have been established in answer to the calls of Chinese residents. Recently additional teachers were asked for, and we learn that several wealthy Chinese merchants are putting up a new school building in Honolulu, to be under the charge of our teachers, who will, of course, he perfectly free to teach the Gospel in all their school work.

The only apostolic succession that the Bible knows anything of is that of apostolic faithfulness in preaching the Word. "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." 2 Tim. ii. 2. The important thing was the teaching, and the command of the Lord was that believers should teach all things that He had commanded, even unto the end of the world. "I charge thee therefore before, God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, . . . Preach the Word." He, then, is in the apostolic succession who preaches the Word. A writer has well said:-

It certainly is very remarkable that the Anglican clergy should claim a special grace of the Holy Spirit coming to them through the worldly, tyrannous, persecuting bishops of the Romish church in the middle ages, and not through the obscure holy martyrs whom they persecuted. Surely, if there was such a line of grace, it would be found in these who were faithful unto death for the truth as it is in Jesus, rather then with those who put to torture and cruel death the saints of God.

Those who suffered at the hands of the worldly church in possession of power were, in that respect at least, in the apostolic succession; for that was the experience of the apostles of the Lord. The tradition of the church puts in the line of apostolic succession the proud prelates of church history who lorded it over God's heritage, often men of the lowest stamp of vileness and criminality; but God places there the unnamed multitudes who overcame "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."

A Roman Catholic organ, giving various quotations of prices for saying masses for the dead, which are supposed to help them through purgatory into heaven, says that "a donation of ?125 secures a monthly mass for ever." The solicitation of funds to keep up the masses "for ever" is a confession that even the promoters have no confidence in their efficacy.

When Jesus hung upon the cross the Jewish rulers gloried in the thought that at last the One whose life rebuked their dead formalism was in their power, and dying a shameful death. But, lo, the very cross, which they counted for the moment as the sure sign of their triumph, because the symbol of His eternal victory over sin. By the power of the cross men are saved, and all the ransomed will glory only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which they were crucified unto the world. How feeble and short-lived are men's efforts to frustrate the work of the Lord.

The English Churchman thus bewails the attitude of the State:-

In Imperial politics Roman Catholics are considered and consulted. In the ecclesiastical sphere Ritualists are sought and patronised. In neither are the suggestions or the appeals of Protestants valued or regarded.

It is about time that Protestants discovered that Protestantism which stands in the power of God and not of men, cannot be, established by human law.

"By the aid of the Holy Spirit," say, a Catholic writer, "the Catholic Church is the sure guide into truth.'" The Bible doesn't say so; the Spirit was to guide into all truth. But what is truth? "Thy Word is truth," said Jesus. How much has the Catholic Church ever done to lead its followers into the Word? Go to any intensely Catholic country and see how much the people know of that Word which is truth.

"Why They Cannot Let it Alone" The Present Truth 13, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

Why They Cannot Let it Alone .-An infidel lecturer was continually at his post in the park, speaking against the Bible. "If you don't believe it," said a bystander, "Why don't you go on without it and let it alone? Why talk against it all the time?" The man replied, on the spur of the moment speaking truly what was in his heart, "I don't let it alone because it won't let me alone." Exactly, it is not a dead Book. It is living and powerful, and it speaks to every heart, and every man knows that by it the Holy Spirit convicts of sin. The lecturer was a good witness. Sometimes one wonders how it is that so often one who definitely turns from the words of the Spirit of prophecy seems unable to let them alone, but must make a religion of fighting them and, warning against them. It is only the protest of the proud and carnal heart against their convicting power.

September 16, 1897

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. 'Declaring God's Name'" The Present Truth 13, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

We have not yet finished the consideration of the words of Christ, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren." We can, indeed, never come to the end, but the present article will finish our present study of the text. Let us read the connection again.

"For both He that sanctitieth and they who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren; in the midst of the church will I praise Thee. And again, I will put My trust in Him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given Me." Heb. ii. 11-13.

Already have we seen the circumstances under which these words are uttered, and that they are uttered by Christ as a man, for men. He spoke them in the deepest distress and temptation, that we also, or rather that He in us, might he able to make the same declaration. For we must always remember that it was our sins that He bore, and that the fact that He conquered is proof that we may also. To believe that Christ conquered in the flesh 1800 years ago, is to believe that He can conquer in us now in spite of our sins and weaknesses, since the sins that we have to contend with are the very same that He bears. But in spite of them, He declared the name of the Lord.

WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE LORD?

In the Bible we see that names have significance. Among us, names are merely a matter of convenience, but not so with God. Whenever He gives a person a name, that name describes the person's character. The name "Jesus" was given to the Saviour, because the word signifies Saviour, and that is just what Jesus is. He is Saviour in His very being. He is a complete Saviour, and nothing but Saviour. He saves by His life, His very existence. Rom. v. 10. His name, therefore, signifies just what He is, so that we are saved by His name. Acts iv. 12.

Jacob received his name because the word signified "supplanter," that is, one who catches another by the heels, or by the soles of the feet, and trips him up, and Jacob took his brother by the heel in birth. The name fitted him exactly, for he well understood how to take advantage of his fellow-men, and that he did; but when he gained a complete victory over his evil disposition, God gave him the name "Israel," which signifies a warrior, a prince.

So the name of God indicates just what He is-His character. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower" (Prov. xciii. 10), because the Lord Himself is a "fortress" and a "high tower." Ps. xviii. 2. With God words are things, as is indicated by the fact that in the Hebrew Bible we have but one word for the two English words "word" and "thing." The name of God

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is not a mere empty sound, but is God's own personality. Therefore when Christ says, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren" it is the same as if He had said, "I will reveal to them Thy character." The reason why people do not trust the Lord is that they do not know Him. Some will never consent to become acquainted with Him, but those who do will trust Him, for the Word says: "The Lord also will be a high tower for the oppressed, a high tower in times of trouble; and they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee; for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee." Ps. ix. 9, 10, R.V.

CHRIST, THE FATHER'S REPRESENTATIVE

"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. This is the same thing that is told in our text, "I will declare Thy name." By declaring the name of God, Christ declares God Himself. And He does because He is "the effulgence of His glory, and the very image of His substance." Heb. i. 3, R.V. Therefore it is that God said of Him, "My Name is in Him." Ex. xxiii. 21.

Before He was born into this world, Jesus received the name "Emmanuel," which being interpreted is, "God with us." Matt. i. 33. That is what He is, His presence is God with us. So that when Philip said to Him; "Lord show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," Jesus could say, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me." John xiv. 5-11. "For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell," even "all the fulness of the Godhead." Col. i. 19; ii. 9.

Because Christ came, not in His own name, but in the Father's name,-because "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself" (2 Cor. v. 19),-His words and works-His very life-were the Father's, and not His own. "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am (He), and that I do nothing of Myself; but as the Father hath taught Me, I speak these things." John viii. 28. "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself; but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." John xiv. 10. He lived by the Father, (John vi. 57), His life was but God's life in Him in its fulness, so that it could be said that God purchased the church "with His own blood." Acts xx. 25.

WE IN CHRIST'S STEAD

Jesus said, "Now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world." John xvii. 11. He also said, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Verse 14. He who recorded these words said, "As He is, so are we in this world." 1 John iv. 11. And Christ said in the same prayer just referred to, "As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." John xvii. 18.

We are therefore in the world for the same purpose that Jesus was, namely, to declare the name of God, to represent God's own character to the world. Note the similarity of John i. 18 and 1 John iv. 12, 13. The first says, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." The second is, "No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit." No one hath seen God at any time, but Christ came into the world to reveal Him. But now for "a little while" (John xvii. 17) Christ is invisible, and therefore the world must learn God's character through Christ's followers. As they abide in love, they also are "in the bosom of the Father," so that they also can declare Him.

Christ was filled with all the fulness of God, but it was as "the Son of man." It was "God with us," that is, God with man. The same thing is for us, for the Apostle Paul by direction of the Spirit, prayed for us, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might ye filled with all the fulness of God." Eph. iii. 16-19. Although Christ was here to represent God to men, He was also here as the representative Man, to show what men should be, and what by God's grace they may be.

Therefore God has given us the same word to speak that He gave to Christ. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath put in us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech (you) by us; we pray (you) in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 2 Cor. vi 19, 30. The exhortation is, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God." 1 Peter iv. 10.

Not only has God given us the same word to speak that He gave to Christ, but He has given us the same work. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on He, the works that I do shall He do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father." John xiv. 12.

Christ was, and is, the brightness of God's glory, and the very image of His substance. Heb. i. 3. But He says, "The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them." John xvii. 22. He is crowned with glory and honour, in order that He might bring "many sons to glory." In Him we "put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him." Col. iii. 10. In Christ therefore we also are to be the very image or impress of the Father's substance. In 2 Cor. iii. 17, 15, we have the image and the glory united, thus: "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit." R.V.

All this, however, is by virtue of Christ, and not of us, "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. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." 2 Cor. iv. 6, 7.

This it is to declare the name of God to represent His character to the world through the Spirit's indwelling. As He put His name in Christ, so He puts His name in us, for those who are saved have the Father's name written in their foreheads. Rev. xiv. 1. And this is true not merely of a few, but of all; for the promise is without limitation: "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God; which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God; and I will write upon him My new name." Rev. iii. 12. This is not something that is done merely at the last, but takes place now, for here and now must we overcome. Now

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it is that we are "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit," growing "unto an holy temple in the Lord," (Eph. ii. 31, 32), and Jerusalem which is above is even now our mother (Gal. iv. 26), so that even now we have her name.

What more could God do, that He has not done? Well may the apostle pray that we may have the eyes of our understanding enlightened by the Spirit, so that we may know the hope of His calling. It is no small thing that God has called us to.

God is revealed in His works, and has been ever since the creation of the world. Rom. i. 19 20. Even the "eternal power and Godhead" of God are seen in the things that He has made, in which man must be included. But man has rebelled and does his utmost to deface the image so as not to represent God. Other things, however, are obedient to God's will, so that in the changing seasons and the fruitful earth God has witnesses. Acts xiv. 17. This is not enough, however. Not only by a portion of His creation, but by the whole, must God be represented; and the witness to God's love and power and Divinity will not be complete until man, the chief of God's works, represents Him in His fulness. That this may be accomplished is the object for which Christ has a church in the world.

Because the church has not known and appreciated its calling, that is, because individual professors have not, many sincere souls are in doubt as to God's character, and even His very existence. But note again the verses with which we began, to see what is the result of this declaration of God's name in the lives, and not only by the lips, of Christ's people. God's name is declared through their putting their trust in Him, and the result is thus stated, "Behold I and the children which God hath given Me." That is, when God's professed people declare His name even as Christ did, and as He now waits to do through them by the Holy Spirit, then will the world soon be lightened with the glory of the Lord, and they can see the result of their testimony in the souls that are prepared to meet their God. May every professor so sincerely desire this time that God may be given leave to bring it speedily.

Give God your moments, and He will make your day a success.

"Not Seeking Power from on High" The Present Truth 13, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

Still reports come from Russia of agitation among the clergy for greater power from the State. Let all who favour religion by law in England-and Non-conformists are as much for Sunday laws and other varieties of legal religion as are Churchmen-reflect that the principle is no worse in Russia than in England or America. The Berlin correspondent of the Chronicle says of a recent Russian synod:-

"Numbers of new sects have recently arisen hostile to the Orthodox Church. The means at the disposal of the clergy are considered insufficient for repressing them.

"The opening of schools for "sectaries," it was urged, should be forbidden; those at present in use to be closed or assigned to other management.

"Orthodox persons are recommended not to employ 'heretical' servants.

"Numbers of the clergy in congress stated that the Stundist movement has again begun to show signs of activity. It was recommended that Stundist children should be taken from their parents to be placed under Orthodox tutelage and evangelical clergy-men. Lutherans in Stundist districts, it was suggested, should be forbidden to preach in the Russian language.

"It is evident that whatever liberal influences may be present in the councils of the Czar's secular advisers, the clergy remain as intolerant as ever."

"The Difference" The Present Truth 13, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

The Sultan's oflicial letter, expressing in terms pious and devout his thanks to God and the Prophet Mohammed for his victory in Thessaly, was treated by the press as an amusing document. It seems strange to the West to hear a Mohammedan talking so piously about his success in war. But the letter, with Mohammed's name struck out, might very readily have come from any European ruler after a successful campaign. Do not professedly Christian governments thank God for success in killing their enemies? The Sultan does so at least consistently, as his prophet's religion is Islam and the Sword; but Christians acknowledge the Prophet who said, "Put up thy sword," and "Resist not evil." Yet in the name of the religion of Jesus, guns are dedicated and victories over men wholly unprepared to die are celebrated with religious rejoicings.

"The Comfort of God" The Present Truth 13, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

True it is, our Lord is not here personally present, as He was when upon the earth; but He has not left us orphans; His Holy Spirit, the blessed Paraclete, dwells in every soul that desires the life presence of God. In the development of faith and character, it is better, it is expedient, that Christ should not he here in person.

When He was here, men limited His power to His bodily presence. "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died," was the limit of faith. It was a Roman centurion who saw the great truth which God's people could learn only by Christ's absence. "Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed."

"Poisoned" The Present Truth 13, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

The boy who learns to smoke very soon feels a craving for tobacco. That is a sure sign of diseased nerves caused by the poison. So many boys are now smoking, and the injury to their health is so plainly seen that some countries are making laws to forbid the sale of tobacco to boys. A medical journal describes the case of a boy who recently came to a hospital sick unto death with tobacco-poisoning.

"His whole body was sick; the poison in the tobacco had gone all through him. His skin was yellow, his nerves were weak, and he had to be sent to the hospital; but the doctors could not help him. He said just before he died: 'Oh, if all the boys could see me now, and see how I suffer, they would never smoke.'"

It is strange how any clever boy, who can put two and two together can think it a bold or manly thing to form a habit which injures every one and kills hundreds who are not able to bear the poison.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

-The potato crop in Ireland is said to be generally a failure.

-The Trades Congress, which met in Birmingham last week, represented 1,033,690 workers.

-Korea, over which Japan and China had their war, is now the hone of contention between Japan and Russia.

-Report comes of a French secret revolutionary society in Canada, working on lines similar to the Fenian societies.

-The war still desolates Cuba. Spanish soldiers die in large numbers in the climate, and make little headway against the Cubans.

-Crete is still under blockade of the Powers. The Moslems keep to their districts and the Cretan insurgents are in possession of the interior.

-Native Princess in India have offered the Government their services and troops in fighting the tribesmen over the frontier. This shows that they are not in sympathy with disloyal elements.

-The Ameer of Afghanistan has a working arsenal in his capital. Not long ago he sold 80,000 rifles of his own make to the tribesmen who are now resisting the British advance into their country.

-After President Faure and the Czar met to speak the fateful word "alliance," the German Emperor and the King of ltaly met to declare the integrity of the Triple Aliance. All the nations talk of peace, but all prepare for war.

-While Great Britain is pressing on from north and south in Africa to reach the Equatorial provinces and paint the map of Africa with a streak of British red from Egypt to the Cape, France is pushing on from east and west for the middle districts.

-The troops in the employ of the Congo Free state have revolted, killing over fifty Belgian officers and soldiers, and are raiding right and left. They have learned how to use weapons for the Europeans, now they use them on their own account.

-The Egyptian expedition has found that by boring in the desert water may be found in abundance. This greatly simplifies the work of railway building. A line from Berber, which the troops have just occupied, to Suakim on the Red Sea is proposed.

-The French wheat crop falls this year nearly 100,000,000 bushels below last year's harvest. And in Russia the harvests are so reduced that they fear famine must come this winter. It is not strange, therefore, that the price of the loaf goes up.

-When Baron Rothschild's yacht visited St. Petersburg the other day it was only by a special passport furnished by the Russian Ambassador in London that he was permitted to enter Russian territory. Jews not living in Russia or having connections there are prohibited. Probably a Rothschild could make trouble for the Russian financiers if he were excluded by the barbarous act against the Jews.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

"We sorrowfully express the opinion," says the Irish Daily Nation, "that since 'Black Forty-Seven' the Irish labourer never had to face a winter more full of privation." This gloomy forecast follows the report of failure of the potato crop in many districts.

The Roman Catholics are celebrating the mission of Augustine to England this week with the most elaborate ritual seen in this country since the Reformation. By the same show of banners and gowns and services savouring of the heathen mysteries the pagan Kentish king was led to favour Augustine when he landed oil these shores. The Romanists are celebrating their own triumphs, at least, and are more consistent than the Archbishops and Bishops of the Anglican Church who had an Augustine celebration a few weeks ago.

The superintendent of a Manitoba Sunday school a few months ago saw the truth in the matter of God's Sabbath and began keeping it. Recently, perhaps with the idea of showing him his error in obeying the fourth commandment, the Presbyterian minister with four of his elders appeared against the man in court on the charge of violating the Sunday law. Very naturally he was convicted. Several other similar cases are reported from Manitoba by the last American mails. The Dominion churches are waking up and resorting to that last argument of error-physical force.

In 2 Cor. xi . 24-33 the Apostle Paul gives the catalogue of his extraordinary perils and experiences of hardship. In another place he calls these things but "light afflictions." Of course he meant what he said. They were light because in the scale with them was the "eternal weight of glory." Paul's epistles are brimful of joy and courage. When one lets go of self and the world and enters the service of the Lord with the whole heart he is not walking with heavy feet a painful way; no matter what comes of hardness and affliction and weakness, he can glory in it all because the power of Christ and the joy of the Lord are more than sufficient to make the highway of holiness a delightsome one.

One of our workers in Jamaica says that in the mountains of the western part of the island he has been preaching to the most primitive people he has ever met. With a native assistant, a good work was done, and the little church of about seventy members at once began building a house of worship. The material had all to be carried up the mountains on the heads of carriers, but in forty days the house was in use. The people have come from miles away to attend the meetings. It is interesting to see the interest among those who have had little or no advantage in hearing the word. There are multitudes of such waiting for help to come to them, who hear the voice of God when He speaks. The first shall be last and the last first.

"Divine and Human" The Present Truth 13, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

Divine and Human .-The demand for Sunday laws illustrates just the difference between the Sabbath and Sunday. Sunday was made a rest day by human authority, and human authority is resorted to in order to make men keep it. The Sabbath of the Lord is the Lord's day, made the day of Sabbath rest by Divine authority. The Word maintains the Sabbath, and all the powers of earth cannot overthrow it. Of Sunday it is freely said that it is endangered if not protected by human law. Religious people testify in court that they are, disturbed if thy see some one working on Sunday, especially if he keeps the Sabbath; while one who keeps the Sabbath may enjoy perfect Sabbath rest in the Lord with all the world at work. The difference is that, between purely human religion and Divine religion. One day is God's appointed rest, and the power of the Gospel is sufficient to establish it in the hearts of all who desire it. The other day belongs to the Papacy by best right, and has to be enforced by papal methods. One is the sign of God's power to save, the other of man's assumed power to save himself. The Sabbath stands for justification by faith, the Sunday for justification by works.

"Earth Dwellers" The Present Truth 13, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

Earth Dwellers .-The Bible definition of the word heathen is that he is one who knows not God. The word means literally, in the old Anglo-Saxon, a dweller on the heath, a countryman. The word pagan has a similar signification in the Latin original. In common use this original meaning is lost in these words, but it is strictly true of the, heathen or pagan, in the Bible sense, that he is an earth-dweller. His life, his hopes, his efforts are here. The Christian is a pilgrim and a stranger here, and his citizenship is in heaven, he is not seeking to build upon an earthly foundation, but his affections are set on things above.

"A Sad Momento" The Present Truth 13, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

A Sad Momento .-Excavator in the streets of Herculaneum, which was buried along with Pompeii by the eruption of Vesuvius just over eighteen centuries ago, have recently dug out the notice board of a theatre. The bills of the plays are posted, one over another, quite after the modern style, and all goes to show that the reign of pleasure and folly was at its height when the awful doom fell upon the cities to bury them for centuries. Both history and modern excavations show that the towns were full of vileness, and the fiery destruction is a lesson like that of the fate of the cities of the plain. But the world will not learn the lesson. Still the rush for foolish pleasures goes on, and the theatres are leading a corrupt social taste still deeper into evil. As it was in the days of Noah, and as it was in the days of Lot, and, we may add, as it was in the days of Pompeii and Herculaneum, even so will it be in the day when the judgments of heaven fall upon a world in which evil men and seducers from the right way of the Lord will "wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."

"What Salvation Is" The Present Truth 13, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

What Salvation Is .-The one trouble in the world is sin, which is "the transgression of the law." The one object of Christ's Gospel is to bring men back to obedience, and He has power to do it. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." There is another gospel being industriously preached nowadays, which insists, that so far from saving men from transgressing God's law, Christ's work is actually to make them free to transgress it with impunity. This was Satan's gospel in the beginning and is characteristic of this latter time when the "man of sin," the "mystery of lawlessness" is to be revealed in all deceiving power to mislead all who receive not the love of the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. But every one who wants salvation from sin may know that the Father of our Lord Jesus has "sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." Act iii. 26.

September 23, 1897

"Irreligious Religion" The Present Truth 13, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

Irreligious Religion .-The story of the church councils shows how easy it is for men destitute of genuine religion to be zealously and even violently religious.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," says the Lord. Human nature is a collection of contradictions, and unless God rules in the heart, laying bare its perversity and renewing it, it is bound to deceive its possessor.

Here, for instance, were men discussing about the nature of Christ, and exhibiting on both sides the very nature of the devil. What was the trouble? First, it was not to become partakers of the Divine nature by partaking of the Word, that they were holding controversy; but each had opinions and definitions for which they contended, in pride and hatred demanding that others should accept, not the gracious Word of God, and the Spirit's power for practical life, or the character of the meek and lowly Jesus, but rather their definitions and views about the Lord, or about the Holy Spirit.

The Lord sent the believers, forth to "preach the Word," to speak "all the words of this life. The aim was refomnation of life by the power of God, and it was wrought, too, wherever the Word was received as the Word of life. Very soon after the days of the apostles, however, and even in their days, departure from the faith and disputings about words came in, and the result is seen in the controversies of these times, which led up to the Papacy and the supremacy of human authority over the Divine.

And as it was not to become partakers of the life and to lead into deeper holiness that debates and strifes were inaugurated and councils met to thresh out human theories, so, too, there was a second motive at work. The theory represented a cause, and it was the aim of the promoter to lift himseIf into place of power or position of honour as leader of a following. The pride of opinion and the love of power are are everywhere apparent in the whole sad story.

Human nature is the same in all ages. The natural man is a fighter. If he be a

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religious man, still unredeemed from the state of nature, he will love religious strife. Paul's two epistles to Timothy show how this element caused trouble in the apostolic church. It was the beginning of the "falling away." Of the temperament of the theological fighter the Lord said by the apostle: "He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmising, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth." Yet the typical controversialist is the one who thinks he knows, and he excuses all the strife by urging his fervour for truth. It is difficult to explain to such the difference between firmness for the truth and contentiousness about theories of truth. But it is the difference between preaching the truth to win souls to the Lord, and arguing to convince some one of the superiority of a certain view, which really means of one's own superiority.

The contentious man preaches a loud sermon on human weakness, and one of the lessons of these church councils of old time is that the heart is verily deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. If the enemy cannot altogether keep men indifferent to truth, he next endeavours to pervert the right way, or to draw away the vital godliness and the warmth of the first love, leaving only the shell and form of the truth, and setting every wind of doctrine going for men to discuss and strive about. No one is so difficult to help as the one to whom the name of Jesus suggests but a theory about His nature. Mention of conversion brings at once an abstruse definition or a special view about the new birth. So it goes, and the religious life is but a cabinet of ticketed theological specimens.

The faith of Jesus is not a cabinet of fossils but a growing garden, each plant rooted in the Word and growing up into the sunlight of God's love. Such a garden the Lord will plant in every heart surrendered unconditionally to Him. Truth in the inward parts, the law of righteousness written in the heart, the fruits of the Divine nature blossoming in the life; this is knowing God. The Father is the husbandman. Let Him do the planting and the rooting out. And "every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted," said Jesus, "shall be rooted out." And the plants of the Lord's planting cannot be tied up to the stakes of human creeds and definitions.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. 'As He Is, So Are We'" The Present Truth 13, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

The preceding studies in the first two chapters of Hebrews have shown us Jesus in His infinite power and glory, but nevertheless as Man, so that we might know that "the power of God and the wisdom of God" are given to men. In the remaining verses of chapter two (13-18) we have the same truth set forth for our comfort. After the statement that Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren, there are three quotations in proof of the fact, with the second of which we begin:-

"And again, I will put My trust in Him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given Me. 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. Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted."

Question.-What statement of Christ has already been cited, to show that He is not ashamed to call sinful men His brethren?

Answer.-"I will declare Thy name unto My brethren?"

Q.-What still further shows Him to be one with us in esperience?

A.-"I will put My trust in Him."

Q.-How does He still further identify Himself with us?

A.-"Behold I and the children whom Thou hast given He."

Q.-Of what are "the children" partakers?

A.-"Of flesh and blood."

Q.-Of what did He therefore take part?

A.-"Of the same."

Q.-Why?

A.-"That He might destroy him that had the power of death."

Q.- Who is he that had the power of death?

A.-"The devil."

Q.-And how is it that He destroy him?

A.-"Through death."

Q.-And what does He thereby do?

A.-"Deliver them, who . . . were a their lifetime subject to bondage."

Q.-What held them in this bondage?

A.-"The fear of death."

Q.-What did Christ not take on Himself?

A.-"The nature of angels."

Q.-What did He take on Himself?

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A.-"He took on him the seed of Abraham."

Q.-What was therefore fitting and necessary for Him?

A.-"Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren."

Q.-Why?

A.-"That He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God."

Q.-To do what?

A.-"To make reconciliation for the sins of the people."

Q.-How has He Himself suffered'?

A.-"He Himself hath suffered being tempted."

Q.-What is He therefore able to do?

A.-"He is able to succour them that are tempted."

"Flesh and Blood." -What is the significance of the statement that the children are partakers of flesh and blood? The connection shows clearly, but we have also a hint in 1 Cor. xv. 50: "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." Flesh and blood is corruptible, it has to do with death. The children are partakers of flesh and blood, that is, they are subject to death; therefore Christ took part of the same, and tasted death "for every man," in order that He might deliver the children from death.

"Him that had the power of death." -Who is it?-The devil. What then is the grave?-It is Satan's stronghold, his prison house. How say some, then, that death is a friend?-That I know not, for the Scripture declares that it is an enemy. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 1 Cor. xv. 26. The fact that death is the last enemy that is slain, shows that it is the greatest and strongest of all enemies. It is a hard and cruel enemy, so much so that the Bible knows no darkened room, the black funeral train, or even if these be not present, the involuntary tears, the heaving sob, the aching heart, and the void that is left where the loved one was so rudely torn away, all testify that death is an enemy, no matter what people, misled by heathen, stoic philosophy, say of it. It is a cruel, bitter enemy, with not a single redeeming attractive feature.

Death Conquered .-On one occasion, when Jesus had cast a devil out of a man, He said: "How can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his house, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house." Matt. xii. 29. The "strong man" is Satan, but Christ is the "stronger than he." Luke xi. 23. He came to deprive Satan of his power, yea, and to destroy the devil himself. The object of Christ's coming is "to seek and to save that which was lost, those whom Satan had enticed away and bound. But first he must bind the strong man. This He did, as was demonstrated in His whole life. Wherever He went, the devils had no power; but this power over Satan was the power of His righteousness. Because there was no unrighteousness in Christ, because Satan could not influence Him in the slightest degree, "it was not possible that He should be holden" of death, when He voluntarily suffered it. Acts ii. 24. He went into the grave as a conqueror and therefore He came out a conqueror. He "spoiled principalities and powers," and "made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it," that is, in His cross. Col. ii. 14, 15. Thus is Satan's armour, in which he trusted, turned against himself, and when death has swallowed him up then shall death itself be destroyed.

Deliverance .-But for all practical purposes, death is already destroyed for God's people; for its the grave had no power over Christ, so it has no power to retain those who are in Christ. Satan is the adversary, and the grave is his prison, but Christ holds the keys. "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." Rev. i, 15. Who would fear the gloomiest dungeon, when his dearest friend, who is Almighty, holds the keys? Christ bore the curse, that we might receive the blessing. Gal. iii. 13, 14. So Christ received the sting of death in Himself, that we might be delivered from its poison. Even over death "we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." Rom. viii. 35-37.

Sin and Death .-"The sting of death is sin." 1 Cor. xv. 56. Christ received the sting, because "Him who knew no sin" hath God made to be sin in our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. v. 21. So the deliverance which Christ has won for "them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage," is deliverance from sin. Sin is the only thing that can cause fear of death; the deliverance from sin frees from the fear of death. Christ's power over death, and over him that had the power of death, is but the measure of His power to free the soul from sin. And this deliverance is proclaimed to all. Jesus came with the anointing of the Holy Ghost proclaiming to the captives, Liberty. Isa lxi. 1. To every captive soul, He cries, You are free! the prison doors are open. To all the prisoners He says, "Go forth." Isa, xlii. 9. Whoever therefore now remains in bondage is there because He loves bondage more than liberty, or else be cause he does not believe the message. But the glorious truth which Christ commissions His servants to proclaim is, that Satan's cruel power is broken, and that all have their liberty. This is true religious liberty, and the only thing that has a right to the name; and this liberty is found nowhere else but in Christ.

"The Seed of Abraham." -Christ did not take on Him the nature of angels, or He did not take hold of angels. Why not? Because unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come. Christ's manifestation to this earth has nothing to do with angels, because they never had any claim on it. "But He took on Him the seed of Abraham." "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but a of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." Gal. iii. 16. Thus we see that the expression, "He took on Him the seed of Abraham" means literally that He became the seed of Abraham; that is, He became man in the fullest sense, as much man in every particular as was Isaac; for "in Isaac shall thy seed be called." In this lies the comfort of the Gospel.

The Necessary Consequence .-"Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren." Otherwise He would not be the seed of Abraham "In all things," without exception, He is associated with His brethren. He is one with them. The Lord says, "I have exalted One chosen out of the people." Ps. lxxxix. 19. And again, speaking to Moses, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee."

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Deut. xviii. 18. The Romish Church, following the tendency of human nature, has made a great gulf between Christ and man. Instead of presenting Him as He is, one of the people, it separates Him so far from them that people are made to think that some one is needed to present their petitions to Him, and to make Hint willing to save them. But the Bible presents Him as the loving Companion, who is burdened with all our weaknesses and temptations, and who thus has sympathy with us, but who at the same time has all might, so that He can show us how to overcome; nay, more, who is our Salvation.

How He Suffered .-"He suffered, being tempted." It was no play with Him. He did not come to earth merely to act out a part. Temptations did not come to Him as to one who was insensible to their attractions and power, so that they were not in reality temptations. No; He suffered. He was made to be sin for us. He took the nature of Abraham, with all its weaknesses, so that the temptation to sin was a real experience. But "He did no sin," and therefore He suffered the more. He verily "resisted unto blood, striving against sin." Sin was as much a reality in His flesh as in that of His brethren, for He was "born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them which were under the law." Gal. iv. 4, 5, R.V. In Christ as Man there is everything that is common to "man that is born of woman." But He conquered. The sinful, human nature which He took upon Him, which He became, never was allowed to get the ascendancy. He was always a conqueror, and a conqueror for our sakes, so that we might say, "Now thanks he unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ." 2 Cor. ii. 14.

He Can Succour .-Why can He succour us?-Because "He Himself hath suffered being tempted." Not simply because He was not overcome, but because He had a struggle. If there had been no struggle; if He had, so to speak, been insured beforehand against sin, so that its assaults on Him and His resistance were only a show,-a sham battle,-then He could not succour us, for our conflicts are real. But the fact that in every encounter He conquered completely, together with the fact that His temptations were as real as ours, because in all things He was made like unto His brethren, is everlasting comfort. Because He overcame, our victory is assured, nay, is already gained; for our faith is the victory "that hath overcome the world." 1 John v. 4, R.V. John xvi. 33. He suffered in our flesh. He took on Him the seed of Abraham, and if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. iii. 29. He suffered in the flesh (1 Peter iv. 1), in our flesh; therefore when we suffer temptation we suffer with Him, and if we but realise that we are really suffering with Him, and only with Him, then we are as sure of victory as we are that He has overcome. Rom. viii. 17.

The Source of His Strength .-It was this: "I will put My trust in Him." "He trusted in the Lord that He would deliver Him." Christ said: "Thou didst make Me trust when I was upon My mother's breasts." Ps. xii. 9, R.V. Again: "For the Lord God will help Me; therefore shall I not be confounded." Isa. l. 7. "I can of Mine own self do nothing." John v. 30. No man call be any more helpless than that. But He trusted in God, and was not put to shame. For what did He trust the Lord?-For everything; for wisdom and strength for every emergency; for He is "the wisdom of God and the power of God." 1 Cor. i. 24. "As He is, so are we in this world." 1 John iv. 17. The only trouble with us is that we are not as willing as He to confess that we are not nothing-"without strength." Although as the only begotten Son who was in glory with the Father before the world was, even "from the days of eternity," He possessed all power in Himself as Creator, He "emptied Himself" (Phil. ii. 7, R.V.), so that He was on this earth nothing except what He allowed the Father to put in Him. And it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell (Col. i. 19), because He put His trust in Him. And "you hath He quickened with Christ, giving us the same Spirit in equal measure with the gift of Christ (Eph. iv. 7) that being strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, Christ might dwell in the heart by faith, so that we also "might be filled with all the fullness of God." Eph. iii. 16-19. This is the comfort of the Gospel; therefore "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."

"Common Sense in Religion" The Present Truth 13, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

A member of a persuasion whose fundamental doctrine is that men are free from obedience to the ten commandments, had been arguing that, being under grace and not under the law, all were at liberty to transgress it. A few days after, talking with a friend, the person said that a relative was feeling anxious over being summoned on a case in the courts. But as he was innocent of any offence it was agreed that no anxiety need be felt. "It is when one has done wrong," the person said, "and brought oneself under the law, that he may well be fearful of being called to answer for it."

Just so, suggested the visitor, is it with the law of God. When one lives in transgression of it, he is under its condemnation, not when he obeys it. It is plain, isn't it, in ordinary affairs? The one who is free from the law of the land is the one who is obedient to it. The civil law against stealing cannot touch or trouble the man who lives honestly. He is perfectly free from it. But let a man be caught stealing and at once he is under the law. Why cannot people use the same common sense in religion? Men will even argue that one who confesses his sins and yields his life by faith to obedience to God's law has fallen from grace and is under the law; while the one who disobeys God's law is supposed to be free from it, and under grace! Was there ever a more unreasonable and wicked argument? "Sin [the transgression of the law] shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Rom. vi. 14. What does grace do? It reigns "through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ." Rom. iii. 31. "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." Rom. viii. 1. It takes man from under the law by forgiving his sins, and bringing his life into harmony with the law of righteousness.

"The Papal Court" The Present Truth 13, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

Of the one who professes to sit as the successor of Peter, the fisherman and apostle who went about preaching the Word, a newspaper paragraph says:-

The Court of Pope Leo XIII. comprises 1,000 persons. There are 20 valets, 120 chamberlains, 300 extra honorary chamberlains, 130 supernumerary chamberlains, 30 officers of the Noble Guard and 60 Guardsmen, 14 officers of the Swiss Guard and Palace Guard, seven honorary chaplains, 20 private secretaries, 10 stewards and Masters of the Horse, and 60 doorkeepers.

"His Ambition" The Present Truth 13, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

His Ambition .-Among the last words of M. Mabille, a French missionary in Africa, whose work was blessed of the Lord, were these: "You do not know all the struggles my study has witnessed. I

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have wanted to be-small-small-small; that He should take away all pride and self-love."

"Object of Sunday Laws" The Present Truth 13, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

We have frequently had occasion to remark, in commenting on various cases of the prosecution of Sabbath-keepers under the Sunday laws in America and the colonies, that the offence is not so much the Sunday work as the Sabbath rest. Not long ago one of our brethren in prison under the Sunday law was able to look out of his cell window on Sunday and see workmen engaged in the heaviest kind of labour working all day long. But they had not kept the day before, the Sabbath, holy unto the Lord.

How it is sometimes managed may be seen by the following report of evidence taken before the Grand Jury of a county in one of the American States. The churches had been disturbed by the fact that the preaching of the Gospel had led some good members to yield the same obedience to the fourth commandment that they had before yielded to the other nine. The Grand Jury was influenced to take up cases under the Sunday law, and a Mr. Armstrong, a Seventh-day Adventist, was called as a witness. He was asked if he knew of anyone working on Sunday. He replied that he did.

Grand Jury.-"Who are they?"

Armstrong.-"The 'Frisco Railway is running trains every Sunday."

G. J.-"Do you know of any others?"

A.-"Yes; the hotels of this place are open and do a full run of business on Sunday, as on other days."

G. J.-"Do you know of any others?"

A.-"Yes, sir; the drug stores and barber shops all keep open, and do business every Sunday."

G. J.-"Do you know of any others?"

A.-"Yes; the livery stables do more business on Sunday than on any day of the week."

After several repetitions of the same form of question and answer, in relation to other lines of business this question was reached:-

G. J.-"Do you know of any Seventh-day Adventists who ever work on Sunday?"

A.-"Yes, sir."

After getting from the witness the names of his brethren, indictments were found against five persons, all of whom were Seventh-day Adventists.

Now, it is wicked to try to force anybody to keep Sunday or to act religiously; the iniquity of the thing is not because those thus set upon are Christians who follow the example of Christ in Sabbath-keeping. But it is easy to see that back of this modern demand for Sunday laws is the old spirit of intolerance which aimed at setting up human authority above God's, and was determined that witnesses to the truth should be silenced.

Those doing these things do not know the origin of their hatred of the law of God and their determination to force upon the world the papal Sunday. But the Bible shows that it is but the closing part of Satan's warfare against the obedient which he began through the serpent with the woman in Eden. "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus." Rev. xii. 17. This is the spirit coming up from beneath and taking fast hold upon men. The Papacy we know as a church in alliance with the civil power, making void the law of God by its traditions. It boasts of its change of the Sabbath to the Sunday. The Protestant world is now being influenced from beneath to make an image to the papal beast of prophetic symbolism. It is against this that the everlasting Gospel warns men in this hour of God's judgment, when Christ is at the door. Rev. xiv. 6-14. Men need the warning that they may not be led in the way of lawlessness, and they need the blessing of the Lord which is found in His Sabbath rest.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

-Australia is going in for tobacco raising.

-50,000 Greek refugees are dependent on private charity.

-Guatemala Central America, is in the throes of a revolution.

-Eggs at Klondyke are said to be 4s. each. Doctors charge ?40 per visit.

-An attempt to assassinate President Diaz, of Mexico, was made last week.

-Co-operative societies and trade unions gene-rally are helping the engineers.

-A rich diamond mine has been discovered near Pretoria, in the Transvaal.

-Farmers in England are getting high prices for wheat, and the crop is said to be unusually good.

-The railway servants' union is talking about a great struggle for better wages and better conditions.

-The closing down of all the ship building works on the Clyde is threatened if the engineers strike and lock-out is not speedily settled.

-The war on the Indian frontier has been hardly contested by the tribesmen, who, however, cannot stand against discipline and artillery.

-A year ago the Thibetan lamas rebelled against China, but now the Chinese forces have subdued them, and Thibet is being organised as a Chinese province.

-A Frenchman has invented a paint which makes torpedo boats invisible in the night to the rays of the electric search-light. It has been successfully tried by French ships.

-The gunboats on the Nile patrol up and down the desert waterway dispersing the dervishes along its banks. Plentiful supplies of water are found along the railway by sinking wells.

-The reports from Cuba now credit the insurgents with some striking successes. The United States press talks of preparations far war with Spain, which may follow if the popular cry fee interference in Cuba moves the government executive.

-A Roman Catholic journal seems to think this information commendatory of the Pope. "The snuff used by the Pope is made in America. This particular snuff goes direct from Baltimore to the Vatican. It is the highest-priced snuff in the world, and its value is increased several times above the original cost after the customs duties have been paid to the Italian Government. His Holiness likes dainty, pleasant odours, and before it is packed the snuff is liberally sprinkled with attar of roses."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

"God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." He, then, who looks on the dark side of things is not looking on God's side.

Statistics show that out of every one hundred cases of insanity in England, just over thirty-one are directly attributable to drink.

"While men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares." The enemy never sleeps because he is so busy lulling men to sleep and sowing the tares of evil. "Let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch."

A Catholic prince, recently having visited Palestine, says that it made his "blood boil" to see that a Mohammedan is the armed guardian of the Sacred Sepulchre. He alone has the right to enter armed into the Church.

But this same boiling blood in the veins of Roman, Greek, and other religionists who flock to the so-called holy places makes it necessary to have armed guards of non-Christian profession to keep the peace between the rivals.

The Czar has pardoned over fifty Roman Catholic priests who, during recent years, have brought punishment upon themselves by political agitation. This clemency is expected to have political results in Poland, where the clergy have been disloyal to Russian rule. The clemency extended to these agitators does not come to those Protestant Christians who are loyal and true in all things civil, but whose offence is that the preaching of the Gospel and the life of righteousness lay bare the lifeless formalism of the State Church.

At the Leeds Sanitary Congress last week, Dr. Marsden held, with the support of other sanitarians, that the modern theatrical poster, with its frequent depicting of crimes of violence, was distinctly inimical to the moral health of communities. There is no doubt of it. And not only the pictures, which of course more people see, but plays on the stage as well must have an evil influence. A society which pays to see vice and crime enacted on the stage is one in which the same iniquities will be easily perpetrated in actual life. And the greater publicity given to all the details of crime by the newspaper press the greater the danger of increasing the number of imitators. People are not made virtuous by contemplating vicious deeds.

"A Sign of the Times" The Present Truth 13, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

A Sign of the Times .-"One of the most notable signs of the times," says the current Review of Reviews, was the action at the Zurich Socialist Labour Congress in favour of making Sunday the universal compulsory day of rest.

There were two propositions before the Congress, both insisting on one day's rest in seven, but the English Socialists objected to stipulating that this day must be Sunday. Their Continental brethren-owing largely to the influence and numbers of the Catholic Socialists-would have no other day but Sunday, and after an animated debate voted down the English opposition by a large majority.

The Catholics were only standing by the papal principle of enforced religious observances, by the institution which Rome in all her teaching claims as the mark of her authority. She boasts of having substituted Sunday for the Sabbath without Bible authority, and whatever builds up her substitute adds to her prestige.

"To Save Humanity" The Present Truth 13, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

To Save Humanity .-Mr. Stead thus commends thse Catholics for outvoting the English delegates, who seem to have stood for that freedom of choice which even God will not take from men:-

This was well done! If the rest day is to be generally observed, there must be a general agreement as to what day it shall be. That is why, from the general humanitarian point of view, the Seventh-day Adventists, etc., have always seemed to me to be among the most pernicious of Protestant sects.

If so, it is because they are the most Protestant, and the more scripturally Protestant and Christian a movement is the more pernicious will it be considered by any who stand for the papal principle of State enforced religion of human invention. This issue is of tremendous importance to humanity. What is humanity's need? It is salvation from sin. God only has power to save men from the greed and selfishness and oppression eating into the vitals of society. He only can save men from lawlessness by writing His law in their hearts. But when would-be social reformers shut away His power from men, and teach the world to reject His Word and commands, they are shutting away the only hope and Saviour of humanity. And God declares that His Sabbath is the sign of His power to save and sanctify. It is a question of loyalty to God, in which way alone is there hope for men.

"Blind Humanitarians" The Present Truth 13, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

Blind Humanitarians .-No one can rightly question the sincerity of those seeking social reform who do not acknowledge God's authority as the first step toward true reform. They merely do not know. But not to know is sinful, for men might know. When Jesus was condemned it was from this "general humanitarian" point of view. "It is expedient for us," said Caiaphas, "that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not." But their rejection of Jesus and, in that, of God's law and rulership brought swift ruin upon people and nation. Paul was denounced as a "pestilent fellow" and Christians were a sect "everywhere spoken against" because they were preaching the Gospel in a society that men were trying to bind together by universal ties of trade and common religion, enforced by civil law. But the Gospel of liberty which they preached was the only hope of society. Just so Papal Rome for many centuries tried to compel uniformity in error for the general good and peace of society. But Rome corrupted and ruined the world.

"The Two Gospels" The Present Truth 13, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

The Two Gospels .-In the beginning Satan persuaded Eve that he stood for the interests of humanity as against God's commands. All the trouble that floods the world and is hastening it to destruction was in that substitution of Satan's way for God's. the enemy has ever since posed as a humanitarian, working to persuade men that liberty and the general good are to be sought in rejecting God's authority. The result is the bondage of sin. God's Gospel calls men to liberty in Christ, which is the freedom of the obedience of love. This Sabbath question is but the test as to whether God's way or Satan's shall stand. The Sunday law advocate says that the general day of rest must not be God's Sabbath, but Sunday, and to secure it to those who wish to keep it, those who do not must be forced to observe it. God's Sabbath rest cannot be enforced by human law. Only faith establishes it. But it stands in the power of God as the sign of His power. And He will show that not only can men keep it and enjoy His rest when others do not, but that they can keep it when all the world seeks by force to compel them to reject it and accept the papal substitute.

September 30, 1897

"China's Double Bondage" The Present Truth 13, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

It is not because the power of evil is stronger than the power of good that evil makes its way so much more swiftly in the world, but because the natural inclination of men is to the wrong. Thus, of China, and the blessing and the curse which has come to it from the West, Mr. J. Hudson Taylor, of the China Inland Mission, says:-

There are in China tens of thousands of villages with small trace of Bible influence, but hardly a hamlet where the opium pipe does not reign. It does more harm in a week than all our missionaries are doing good in a year. The slave-trade was bad, the drink is bad; but the opium traffic is the sum of villainies. It debauches more families than drink, and it makes more slaves than the slave-trade.

The Gospel can save to the uttermost, and Christian missions are rescuing many from the double slavery of heathenism and the opium habit. And Christians owe a double duty to such, as it was in the name of Christian civilisation and trade that China was forced by war to receive the "flowing poison."

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. Christ's Faithfulness in God's House" The Present Truth 13, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who verily was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all His house. For this Man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he that hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some one; but He that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a Son over His house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." Heb. iii. 1-6.

In this quotation we have in two instances departed from the common version and have used the rendering of the Revised Version instead, since it is more literal, and hence clearer. In verse 4, instead of "some man," we have in the Revision "some one," which is manifestly the correct rendering. God is not a man, yet He has built a house. Also in verse 6 have we, as in the Revision, omitted the word "own" in the first line, since it is not found in the original. As we shall see, the statement is not that Christ was faithful as a Son over His own house, but that just as Moses was faithful in God's house as a servant, so was Christ faithful in God's house as a Son.

"Wherefore." -Note that there is no break between chapters two and three, any more than between one and two. Indeed, there is no break anywhere, since the entire book is a single letter, written for a special purpose, and having one single grand purpose. To begin reading the second chapter without any thought of the first, would be almost as unsatisfactory as to begin a history lesson with the question, "What happened next?" "Wherefore, consider Christ Jesus," is the sum of the first verse. Why, and in what capacity, should we consider Him? Because He has been tempted as a man; we are to consider Him as one of the brethren in all things Iike all the other brethren, only that He was in all respects faithful. No matter how highly Christ is exalted, nor how great His power and glory, if we consider Him as in any degree separated from us, and not as "the Man Christ Jesus," we to that degree deprive ourselves of the comfort of the Gospel.

Christ Compared to Moses .-Christ was faithful to Him that appointed Him as also Moses was. That is to say, Christ was as faithful as Moses. At first glance one would think that it would be more fitting to compare Moses with Christ, and say that Moses was as faithful as Christ; but that would not be true, for Moses made at least one mistake after he left Egypt, while Christ never made any. But it is perfectly true of Christ, that He was as faithful as Moses; and at the same time it is the highest commendation to Moses that an man could have. People are inclined to belittle Moses, and to speak slightingly of him and his writings; but just to the extent that they do that, they show then selves unacquainted with the Lord. When God foretold the work of Christ, He said to Moses, "I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee." Deut. xiii. 16. And Christ said, "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?" John v. 46, 47. Therefore whoever rejects or speaks slightingly of Moses treats Christ in the same manner.

Whose House? -Christ was faithful Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all His house? In who house?-Evidently in the house of Him who appointed Christ, and we do not need to take time to show that that was God. But we have the word of the Lord, Num. xii. 5-8: "And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth. And He said. Hear now My words; there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known unto him a vision, and will speak unto Him in dream. My servant Moses, is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold; wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?" When God thus appears to those who in these days speak slightly of Moses, and calls them to account, they will say, as did Aaron, "We have done foolishly." But this text makes it clear that it was in God's house that Moses was faithful.

What is God's House? -That question is easily answered. The Apostle Paul said to Timothy that he had written to him, "that thou mightest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God." 1 Timothy iii. 15. Moses therefore was faithful in the church of God, that church which He "purchased with His own blood." Stephen also, filled with the Holy Ghost, said that Moses was "in the church in the wilderness with the Angel which spake to him in the mount Sina." Acts vii. 38.

612

How Many Churches? -We have already seen that the house of God is the church of God. But the church is the body of Christ, as we are told in Eph. i. 32, 23 and Col. i. 15. There are therefore just as many houses or churches as there are bodies. In Eph. iv. 1-6 we read, "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all." Since there is but one body, and the body is the church, it follows that there is but one church which is the house of God. And so it still further follows that Moses and Christ were both workers in the same house, or in the same church. They both belonged to the same church.

The Builder .-"He that built all things is God." But by whom did He build? He "created all things by Jesus Christ." Eph. iii. 9. Christ is "the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. i. 24), and in Prov. viii. 29, 30, Christ, in the capacity of the wisdom of God says that when God marked out the foundations of the earth, "then I was by Him as a Master Workman." R.V. Thus it is that "this man"-Christ-"was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house." Christ built the house, and Moses was a part of the house, as we shall see later on.

The Christian Church .-It is quite common to date the beginning of the Christian Church at Pentecost, which is about as nearly correct as if one should date the creation of the world at Pentecost. We have already seen that there was a "church in the wilderness" in the days of Moses, and that the church is the house of God, in which Moses was faithful; else that there is but one church;-one house of God;-so that both Moses and Christ were faithful in the same house, or the same church, the one as a servant, the other as a Son. But the church in which Christ is a Son is of course the Christian Church; and as there is but one church, it is plain that "the church in the wilderness" was the Christian Church. Moses, who esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt (Heb. xi. 36), was such a Christian as anybody in those days might well be glad to be. The man who has a good Christian record as Moses had, will in no wise miss the kingdom of heaven.

What is the Church? -The word rendered "church," is from the Greek compound word ekklesia, which occurs in the English word ecclesiastical, meaning to pertain to the church. The word means "called out." The church, therefore, consists of those who are called out, and who come out. Ancient Israel was called out of Egypt, from which all God's people must come, for the word concerning Christ is, "Out of Egypt have I called My Son." Matt. ii. 15. In the Old Testament we have the word "congregation," and it would he much better if it were used in the New, instead of "church;" for those who come out in response to the call, naturally come to the One who calls them, thus con-grega-ting, flocking, or gathering together. "Congregation" is derived from two words that signify an assemblage or herd of cattle; and this idea is retained in the Church of Christ, which is His flock, over which He is Shepherd. 1 Peter v. 4; Acts xx. 28. All therefore who hear the Shepherd's voice, and follow Him, are His flock, His church. He was called out of Egypt, and those who really came out of Egypt, formed His church of old. If we hear His voice, then we are His house. But as there is but one house, it follows that all Christians must be in full fellowship with those who served God in the days of Moses.

We are His House .-Moses was faithful in God's house as a servant, but Christ as a Son; both however in the same house. "Whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." Christ is the Living Stone, and when we come to Him we also as living stones are built up a spiritual house. 1 Peter ii. 4, 5. But the same Stone, the spiritual Rock, was in the desert of Sinai,-the Rock on which Christ's church is built. The same house in which Moses served, and over which Christ is Son, is the house of which we become a part, if we accept and retain the anointing of the oil of gladness.

God does not change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. Therefore God's requirements do not change; His plans are always the same. Men despise the name of Jew, and scorn to have any connection with the people whom God brought out of Egypt. So it was in ancient times. It was a reproach to be connected with the children of Israel; but it was the reproach of Christ, and Moses found more delight in it than in all the treasures of Egypt; "for salvation is of the Jews" (John iv. 22), since Christ is King of the Jews, and as such was "despised and rejected of men."

He is Faithful .-"If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself." 2 Tim. ii. 13. He is faithful to Him that appointed Him He was faithful as a Son over God's house. But we are that house, and sons, too, if we are Christ's. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our Spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. Rom. viii. 16, 17. The same thing is referred to by Christ, where He says that if we continue in His Word we are truly His disciples, and we shall know the truth, and the truth shall make us free. John viii. 31, 32. This being made free, is being adopted as sons; for the bondservant abideth not in the house for ever; but the Son abideth ever. As sons in God's house we are to exercise the same faithfulness that Christ did, and this we can do because He gives us His own faith. "The life which I now Iive in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God." Gal. ii. 20. Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, exercises His own faith, by which He kept the Father's commandments, and abode in His love; so that it can be said: "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Rev. xiv. 12. This faith alone overcomes the world. "Wherefore, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him that appointed Him," "as a Son over His house."

We need not fear the hardness of others' hearts; our own heart is the one to fear. When fully saved ourselves, we can go to any Pharaoh.

"Uncovering Sins" The Present Truth 13, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

He that covereth his sins, says the Lord, shall not prosper. He is not genuinely repentant, and does not know the Lord, or would know that nothing can be hid from Him. The Lord wishes us to deal frankly with Him. The old Anglo-Saxon version of Mark's Gospel (i. 5) says that the people went down to John's baptism "naming their sins." That is what confession is. An evangelist tells the following story, illustrating the manner in which men sometimes try to generalise with the Lord, and so miss the blessing that comes when sin is uncovered in the light of God's countenance to be consumed in mercy:-

"A member of the church once got drunk. He sought to go back to God and get his peace restored. He could not find the Saviour, so he sought again. His minister called upon him. The minister said, 'You pray again.' They knelt down together.

"'O God, Thou knowest Thy servant in a moment of unwatchfulness was overtaken by a sin!'

"'Nonsense,' said the minister, 'tell the Lord you got drunk.'

"That was another matter; he could not bring that up. He began again: 'O Lord, thou knowest Thy servant in his weakness and frailty was overtaken by a besetment!'

"'Nonsense! tell the Lord you got drunk.'

"At last the poor fellow said, 'O God, have mercy on me; 'I got drunk!'

"Then very speedily that man was at peace with God again."

"Signs of the Times in the Business World" The Present Truth 13, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

It is an age of confederacies and "trust." The rich form them to add to their riches, and the poorer are joining together for common action against those holding the means of production. In it all, the rights of the individual are not considered, and the tendency is toward the tyranny of the combination over the individual. The Scripture foretells the troubles that will come in the last days because of the rich heaping together their riches. In the end they will be for "booties" unto the oppressed, Habakkuk warns them, and the prophet James pronounces the woe upon them for their covetousness, at the same time showing that all the Lord's people will keep clear of both sides in the controversy, and wait patiently for the coming of the Lord.

The signs of the coming struggle are apparent everywhere, but in America they are most plainly to be seen. An American correspondent of the National Review says that the commercial world is full of rumours of the creation of new trust so gigantic and so far-reaching in their cope that those trusts already in existence are mere pigmies compared to them.

One trust now controlling the oil, iron ore, and sugar industries of America, purposes adding several other businesses, having so great an income that it can easily buy the industry. Thus business and wealth in the United States are coming more and more into the hands of a few. The National Review says of this:-

It is difficult to see what the end will be an when this process of absorption will end. There are perhaps two solutions which may be looked forward to during the next quarter of a century. One is a universal trust with a few men controlling all the industrial activities of the United States, and with the bulk of the American people its employees. The other is a repetition of the French Revolution, but the revolution of 1925, if it comes, will be more terrible in its consequences and more destructive in its results than that of 1793, because to-day the people are more numerous, more determined and more intelligent, and their power to work good or evil has increased tenfold since the days of Robespierre and Danton.

The one thing that would hold in check these elements of violence, both as to the lawless greed of the capitalists and the lawless covetousness of the poor, is the Gospel. But the world does not want this generally. And too often the churches-and this is the general tendency in America-distrusting the power of the Gospel, are going in for political reform. But the more the churches enter the arena of political strife the less power of God for righteousness will they have to wield for peace. One of the signs of the Lord's coming was to be the "distress of nations, with perplexity." We see it in more directions than one, and men's hearts are alarmed as they look into the future. It is a good time to persuade men to put their trust in God. He has a care for the individual.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

-The plague is now increasing in Bombay. Harvest prospects in India are said to be very favourable.

-The yellow fever is causing consternation in the southern United States.

-About forty deaths from cycling have been reported in England this summer, and 100 persons were seriously injured.

-If the earth was equally divided between its inhabitants, about twenty-three and a-half acres, it is said, would fall to the share of each person.

-It is said that the United States pension list is a greater expense than the support of the German army. And the list increases instead of decreasing.

-The Athens mob is for defying the Powers and resuming the war with Turkey. But the authorities have found that the mob cannot be depended upon to do the fighting.

-Great discontent prevails in Greece over the award of the Powers to Turkey. Greece pays ?4,000,000, and all the strategic points on the frontier pass to Turkey.

-A cyclone in Italy last week killed forty people. These tornadoes were formerly heard of only in America, but several have been reported during the last year in Europe.

-After a millionaire in Paris had died of shock, on finding that he had lost everything but 100,000 francs, a poor relative, hearing that he had inherited the 100,000 francs, died of the shock too.

-Rumour says a war between Spain and the United States is considered inevitable in Madrid. The States intimate that they must intervene in Cuba if the Spanish do not subdue the island by November.

-The latest returns indicate that every month of the year, alike in summer and in winter, over 1,200 houses are erected in London. -Between August 1896 and August 1897 the number of houses erected was 14,591.

-A cargo of wheat arrived at Plymouth in May last from San Francisco. The owners of the ship held it for wheat to rise in price, and they have just sold the cargo for ?8,000 more than they would have received in May.

-The report of the Lunacy Commissioners shows a large and continuing increase in the number of persons in England and Wales who are known as officially insane, the total being 99,365, the year's increase being 3,000.

-The outlook for the Russian peasantry is said to be very serious, owing to agricultural depression. Multitudes have had to dispose of horses and cattle in order to live, and have no way of working their farms save to get deeper into debt to the trading class, which is getting richer as the peasantry gets poorer. Half of the land-owning nobles are also said to be impoverished to the verge of ruin.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

"More than half the total wealth of the country," says a London journal of the United States, "is in the hands of some 45,000 people."

We are glad to learn that the German organ of our Society, the Herold der Wahrheit (Herald of Truth), of Hamburg, has a circulation of 18,000 copies.

A writer in a theatrical paper remarks a change in the attitude of Nonconformity toward the stage, and says that the success of some recent plays "is owing even to Nonconformist patronage."

Of the composition of this year's Church Congress, being held at Nottingham this week, a correspondent of a Protestant paper says: "In the list of readers and speakers I am only able to find the names of seven Evangelicals; while, on the other hand, I am able to identify the names of no fewer than thirty-two High Churchmen and Ritualists." The church congresses seem every year to have less of Protestantism and more of Romanism in evidence.

The church leaders threw the apostles into prison. "Howbeit many of them which heard the Word believed," about five thousand men. The Word of God was not bound. Again, when thrown into prison when the Lord had work outside for them to do, the angel brought them out saying, "Go, stand and spealk in the temple all the words of this life." The church at Jerusalem was getting, and persecution arose and scattered the believers. Doubtless the rulers thought that they had broken the power of the movement. But wherever believers went they carried the Word, and souls were saved and the truth spread the more. No wonder the disciples asked David's question, "Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things?"

"Outside the city of Foochow, on the way to the favourite mountain summer resort called Ku-shan," says a writer in the University Magazine, "there is a small pond, like a horse-pond, under the shadow of a large banyan tree; at the foot of the tree was a stone, engraved with the words, 'Girls may not be drowned here.'"

The person applying for a position in business must possess certain qualifications, and if these are lacking he is rejected. But the Lord says, "Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." The one qualification is that it shall be acknowledged that there is no qualification.

"It is impossible for anyone," says Sir John Lubbock, to contemplate the present naval and military arrangements without the gravest forebodings. Even if they do not end in war, they will eventually end in bankruptcy and ruin. The principal countries of Europe are running deeper and deeper into debt."

"A homicidal wave seems," says the Daily Chronicle, "to be passing over the country." Newspapers have also marked the suicidal wave. The restraints of the moral law of God are being loosened, and the lawless one is making manifest the nature of his rule.

A recent German Catholic Congress which advocated the restoration of the Pope's temporal sovereignty, and demanded the repeal of the law excluding Jesuits from Germany, received the congratulations of the Pope and the German Emperor.

It was hoped a few months ago the plague in India was being stamped out, but now the cable news states that it is spreading from hamlet to hamlet, and the situation is very grave. With famine, earthquake, war, and pestilence, India has this year been sorely smitten. Who that is watching the signs of the times can fail to see in the multiplication of these calamities in the earth a sign that the judgments of the latter days are abroad?

Going about London one may see general renovating and enlarging of public houses. The bar-rooms are often fitted up gorgeously, when all about are houses in which there is apparent lack of comfort and conveniences. The crowds that fill the glittering public bars often return to cheerless homes. It is strange that they cannot see that the elegance of the bar-rooms is paid for from their own pockets. Men are ready enough to strike on some issues, but the great mass stupidly go on robbing their own houses of comforts to build gin palaces and send brewers to the House of Lords.

We are glad to see by a colonial newspaper that the sanatorium established by our friends in South Africa, near Cape Town, is compelled to enlarge its facilities. The Wynberg Times says:-

The patronage has been so great that the trustees and managers are now taking active measures towards the erection of an extensive addition to the main building, the present capacity being inadequate to accommodate the increasing number of applications. These new additions will consist of no less then thirty rooms; a large dining room, four time, the capacity of the present one; a gymnasium and other valuable rooms.

"In Earth" The Present Truth 13, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

In Earth .-The war debts of Europe have risen from ?4,000,000,000 in 1870 to ?6,000,000,000 now, representing an unthinkable sum not put into useful enterprises, but worse than thrown away. Sir John Lubbock further says:-

In fact, we never now have any real peace; we live practically in a state of war, happily without battles or bloodshed, but not without terrible sufferings. Even in our own case, one-third of our national income is spent in preparing for future wars, another third in paying for past ones, and only one-third is left for the Government of the country. Our interests at stake are enormous, and the interests of nations are so interwoven that every war now is in fact a civil war.

"In Heaven" The Present Truth 13, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

In Heaven .-The truth is, we have reached the time spoken of in Rev. xi. 18, the time when all things point to the soon coming of the Lord, and when "the hour of His judgment is come." "The nations were angry," says this text, "and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged." While the solemn court of Heaven is deciding the fate of all the dead since Adam, passing upon the warriors and great of past ages, who filled the earth with violence to satisfy the lust of conquest which is never satisfied, the nations of the present day are irritated and angry, and destroying the earth with their feuds. What a spectacle to the angels! And Christendom, that professes to be serving the Lord, is leading in the strife. The Lord calls Christians out of all this world-spirit into His kingdom of righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

October 7, 1897

"Christian Striving" The Present Truth 13, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

Christian Striving .-The Apostle Paul desired to be able to hear that the Philippians were standing fast in one spirit, "with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel." Phil. i. 37.

That "striving together" which is done "with one mind," is certainly not contention and quarrelling. The test, therefore, does not teach that they were to strive with one another, but that together they were unitedly to strive for a common object. The marginal reading in the Revised Version makes it "striving together with the faith of the Gospel."

In harmony with the desire expressed by Paul to the Philippians, the Apostle Jude exhorts us to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints." Jude 3. Therefore many think that while Christians must he at peace among themselves, they should lose no opportunity to get into a controversy with unbelieyers, in regard to the Gospel.

But again we read: "The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth." 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25. Not to controvert but to convert is the aim of the teacher of truth. The Apostle Peter says: "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.

This gives us the correct idea of the strife. It is to be conducted with God in the heart. Therefore the "one mind" with which we are exhorted to strive, is the mind of God, "which was also in Christ Jesus." Phil. ii. 5. We are to strive in the strength of God, and clothed with the Divine armour; "for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Eph. vi. 12.

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We are not to contend with men, but wicked spirits, evil angels; not with weapons of carnality, but with those which are "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. 4, 5.

The striving, therefore, is to be wholly with ourselves, with the evil thoughts and imaginations that Satan seeks to inspire us with. Those are the only things that can destroy the faith of anyone, and therefore they are the things to be fought against in contending for the faith. One man's unbelief cannot destroy another's faith. The Apostle Paul could keep the faith in Nero's court in Rome as well as with his brethren in Antioch; because God was with him. If we strive and contend with men, we do not thereby increase their faith, but we run the risk of losing our own. So "the faith" is never helped, but hindered, by laws professedly in its favour, which necessarily depend on force. The Gospel is a mystery, entirely different from things of earth. And so while it is a warfare, it is a strife of peace, and the Captain of the host is the Prince of peace.

"Veneration of Relics in a Parish Church" The Present Truth 13, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

The Times prints a letter from a Folkestone correspondent describing a service on a recent Sunday evening in the parish church. A case of human bones-the identity of which the correspondent challenges-was exhibited for the veneration of the congregation.

The Vicar of the church took his stand on one side of the relics (which, he avers, are the bones of St. Eauswythe, the patron saint of the church), the congregation going by in single file, very many of them bowing low to the earth before these mortal remains, unrebuked by their pastor.

No out-and-out Roman Catholic service could show darker depths of superstition. Prayers for the dead have long been a common feature of Anglican Sacerdotalisim, and it is but a step further to prayers to the dead and the veneration of relics of those whom the church has deified. Such exhibitions show that Ritualistic leaders in the Church of England feel sure of their strength, and they are leading the people spiritually back into the Dark Ages.

The same wind that ruins the chaff cleans the wheat.

"The Priest in the Philippines" The Present Truth 13, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

The Howard Association for the amelioration of the lot of prisoners has received a letter from a gentlan in long residence in the Philippine Islands, describing the barbarites practised upon the natives.

There, at the present day, he says, one sees the omnipotent friars reigning in all their pristine glory, asserting their preponderance over the civil power, living in debauchery, setting even the Roman Church at defiance, by means of the enormous wealth accumulated at the expense of these patient islanders. It is a state of affairs incredible to those who have not lived in the islands. During the present rebellion they have been the instigators of the bloodshed and torture of their unfortunate political prisoners, on whose sufferings these worthy disciples of Torquemada have revelled with delight.

In these out-of-the-way places one sees the spirit of the Papacy in its naked barbarity.

"Justification by Works?" The Present Truth 13, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

This heading is not designed to indicate that there actually is any such thing as justification by works, but to call attention to an evil that is alarmingly prevalent among professed Christians, and is on the increase. The danger is all the greater because the people think that they are believing and practising the Gospel. Let us first read a few plain declarations of Scripture on the subject.

"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident; for, the just shall live by faith." Gal. iii. 10, 11.

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. iii. 20.

"For whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Rom. xiv. 23.

ARE WORKS IGNORED?

Does faith exclude works? and does the preaching of justification by faith ignore the necessity for good works? Never. "Do we then make void [that is, transgress] the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." Rom. iii. 31.

"Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall he justified." Rom. ii. 13. So that, however justification comes it must make the man a doer of the law.

Jesus told the people to work. Said He, "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you; for Him hath God the Father sealed." Then the Jews asked Him how they should do the work, saying, "What shall we do, that we

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might work the works of God?" Here is the reply: Jesus "answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 27-29.

Thus we see that the works which God requires are all in faith; faith itself works. Gal. v. 6. But some one will say, "I know people who make a great deal of faith, and yet their works do not correspond; therefore I don't believe that faith alone will justify a man; in fact, the Apostle James plainly says that Abraham was justified by works."

It is a very presumptuous thing for one to say that he does not believe that faith justifies, when, the Bible so plainly declares that it does, and that he who is justified by faith has peace with God. Rom. v. 1. But let us look for a moment at what James says.

"What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?" James ii. 14.

"There," says our friend, "that's just what I said; faith is not sufficient for justification."

Not quite so fast, please. That is the trouble with the man who says he has faith, and has not works? Simply this, that he has no faith. If he had faith, he would have works, for faith works. The question that the apostle asks is simply this: "Can faith save a man who says that he has it, but who really has it not?" In other words, what doth it profit, though a man say he hath a thousand pounds, and has not a farthing? Will the thousand pounds do him any good? Certainly not. Why not? is it because money is not good for anything? Not at all, but because in order for a man to get any benefit from money, he must actually have it, and not merely say that he has it.

"But the devils have faith, and they are not justified." Not quite so fast again, please. It is true that the devils believe that there is ode God, but that is not faith with them. They have seen God. More than that, they have felt His power. Their belief in the existence of one God is the belief of actual experience. Their belief causes them to tremble, and faith does not do that. Faith works by love, and "there is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear." Gal. v. 6 and 1 John iv. 18. The devils have no faith.

"Wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" James ii. 20. That which is dead does not exist; therefore faith that has no works is not real faith at all. It is only a form; it is a sham. "But," says our friend, "what will you do with the next verse?" We shall do nothing with it but believe it. Let us read it.

ABRAHAM'S CASE

"Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?" James ii. 21. The question admits but one answer, and we answer, Yes. But we would remind the reader that the apostle did not make the division into the verses as they are numbered, and we must not assume that the subject ends with that verse. We have heard very many people refer to Abraham as proof that men are justified by works, quoting the twenty-first verse, as above, but we have never heard one of them go any further, and quote the next two verses, which complete the reference to Abraham. So we will quote them.

"Seest thou how 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: and he was called the friend of God." James ii. 22, 23.

So when Abraham, worked it was his faith that was working; and those works by which he was justified were simply the fulfilment of the scripture, "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness." The works were the product of his faith, and showed that he had it in perfection. Faith includes everything that a man can do to please God; for "without faith it is impossible to please Him." Heb. xi. 6.

"Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." Verse 24. That is, as just illustrated, a man is justified by the works of faith, and not by dead faith, which does not work. And thus we see that the Apostle James does not, as Luther thought, contradict the Apostle Paul, neither does he present the "other side" of the question which Paul preached so zealously; but he teaches the identical thing that is taught in the epistles of Paul.

THE PAPAL IDEA

What is the source of the idea that men may be justified by works? The secret of it is seen in the words which the Jews asked Jesus: "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" John vi. 28. Mark it, "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" They were fully convinced that they could do the works of God, and of course a man must be able to do the works of God, if he is justified by works, for the righteousness of God is the only righteousness that is of any worth.

But in order to be able to do the works of God, one must have to begin with power and goodness equal to the power and goodness of God. So the idea of justification by works is simply the exaltation of self against God. And that is the very spirit of the Papacy,-"that man of sin," "who opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped." 2 Thess. ii. 7.

In the beginning our first parents, deceived by the serpent, who told them that by eating of the forbidden fruit they should be as God, sought justification by their own works. That is, they sought to be like God through their own works. The result is seen in the fall, when they still continued to try to justify themselves before God.

We have just seen that justification by works is the characteristic of the Papacy. But the characteristic of the Papacy is union of Church and State. That is, the civil power is used to compel men to do what the Church says is right. The whole thing springs from the idea that men are justified by the works of the law. When men attempt to enforce religious duties by law, they virtually say, "The people have the goodness in them, and they can do what is right, if they want to. But some of them are too obstinate to do the good that is in them, and some are too lazy, or else they are afraid to do differently from their neighbours. Therefore they must be forced to act out the goodness that is in them. It must be evident that the principle of religious legislation, of making laws to encourage or to compel men to do what is said to be right, is the principle of justification by works. And as such it is directly opposed to the Gospel. Therefore every one who loves the Gospel of Jesus Christ ought with a loud voice to warn men against having anything whatever to do with religion enforced by civil law.

The happiest man in any community, large or small, is he who does most for his fellows.

If grumbling could be exchanged for gold, how many of us would soon be rich!

"'What Shall We Do?'" The Present Truth 13, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

Peter's sermon at Pentecost convicted the multitude of the awful sin of crucifying Christ. What could they do to undo the wicked deed?-Nothing within human power. With the awful guilt upon their souls their cry of agony was, "What shall we do?" The answer was:-

"Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Convicted of slaying the Prince of life, with no power to recover themselves, they had only to repent, confess their share in the death of Christ by burial in baptism, and they could rise from the watery grave with a new life, the sins remitted, and the gift of the Holy Spirit as the power for righteousness. What a change! No wonder those who believed "gladly received" Peter's word. It was glad tidings indeed.

And Peter passed on the same promise to "all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call"-even to us. It was the Jewish rulers who delivered Christ to death by the Romans. But had He not devoted His life to save His people from their sins He need never have allowed Himself to fall into the hands of the wicked. It was the iniquity of every one of us, laid upon Him, that brought Jesus to the cross. Every soul has a share in the guilt of Christ's crucifixion. Therefore to all is sent the promise of pardon and life on the same conditions-"Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

"Warring Races and Creeds in Austro-Hungary" The Present Truth 13, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

The recent turbulent scenes in the Austrian legislative assembly have shown how little peace there is in the empire. The natural prejudices of the different races is intensified by the introduction of religion into politics. A morning paper gives the following picture of the situation in Austro-Hungary:-

"The map of the Dual Monarchy is a mosaic of warring races, tongues, and creeds. Out of forty-one millions of the subjects of the old Emperor, ten and a-half are Germans, who despise everybody else, and throw their inkstands at the Speaker of the House when it is proposed to recognise any other language than that cultured speech. But seven and a-half millions are of that very Bohemian and Slovak race whose linguistic aspirations were the reason of this furious brawl; and nearly four millions are Poles, who love neither Czech nor Teuton; and three millions and a-half are Ruthenians, who do not love the Poles; and a million and a-half are Slovenes, at odds with half as many Italians; and there are over three millions of Serbs and Croats, always in trouble; and near three millions of the Roumanian speech, and, above all, seven and a-half millions of these romantic, non-Aryan anomalies, the Magyars, who are resolved that none of the despised Caucasians shall have any power in Hungary, whatever the rest of Europe may say or do.

"And the war of creeds intensifies the war of races. In every quarter of the monarchy almost there is religious strife. The fanaticism of the dominant majority of Roman Catholics is at odds with Jews and Protestants and freethinkers. Between the Uniate Greeks and the Orthodox Greeks and the Armenians and the Croats there are interminable frictions, and the border feuds of creeds and liturgies extend in helpless tangle from the Adriatic to the Carpathians. In all this there is no principle of unity save one-the personal habit of loyalty cannot but be rudely shaken when the present ruler dies, for every possible successor of his house is hopelessly unequal to the task."

"Wars of Israel" The Present Truth 13, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

A correspondent writing in defence of war, suggests that, from the fact that God fought for Israel against His enemies in old time, and was with Joshua, and David, etc., it "logically" follows that war now may be "undoubtedly correct and holy." But the bad logic lies in the presumption that man can, on his own initiative, rightly assume to act as God. The Lord gives life to all, and as Judge of all hearts knows when that life is finally and hopelessly rejected. He may then withdraw it in justice and mercy. The Lord destroyed Sodom by fire, after having delivered the few who had not wholly rejected life; but it by no means logically follows that one may righteously burn down the house of a neighbour who may be considered wicked. Judgment belongs to God.

The wars of Israel were but the execution of the judgment of God upon the people of Canaan. And note this: Four hundred years before, God had told Abraham that his seed should possess that land, but not then; "For the iniquity of the Amorites," He said, "is not yet full." Gen. xv. 16. For four centuries

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the Lord waited in mercy, but when at last their iniquity was full and they had so rejected life that the very land spued them out. Divine judgments fell upon the Amorites. And the case of Rahab in Jericho shows that God delivered every soul that had not finally and eternally rejected Him.

Two disciples once thought to imitate Elijah by calling down fire upon the Samaritans. Jesus rebuked them very quickly, showing that their spirit was not of God but of the devil. Thus it always is when men impiously assume to suggest and then to execute judgment for God. They but deify their own lusts. God must deal with sin and sinners. Now ill is sending His Gospel to all, and again waiting for the world that rejects His grace to fill up the cup of its iniquity. Then its judgment will surely fall, and in that day "the kings of the earth and their armies" will be destroyed with all sin by the "brightness of His coming." Evidently then there will be no Christians in earth's warring armies. All will have accepted another Captain and be engaged in a warfare that is not carnal. Every Christian is bound to see in "every creature" one to whom he owes the Gospel. His duty is regulated by the positive precept, "Do good unto all men," and by the negative, "Do violence to no man," this last being spoken to soldiers. The Christian who takes Christ as example and these precepts as the rule of life will not be found in line of battle taking human life.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

-About 33,000 vehicles pass over London Bridge every day.

-The strike pay to the engineers is now about ?36,000 per week.

-Australia wants to send troops to join in the war on the Indian frontier.

-China has now about a thousand schools under the direction of foreigners, most of which are of a missionary character.

-The high price and scarcity of food in Havana, the Cuban capital, has driven the poorest of the people to eating dogs, cats, and even rats.

-Bishop Tugwell points out that the liquor traffic in West Africa, which has been a crying scandal for years, has doubled during the past seven years.

-The Afridis have appealed to an Afghan governor for help, but they were refused a hearing. A few tribes have made submission, but most of them are still defiant.

-The Russian railway constructors have had to fight some of the Siberian tribes to keep them from destroying the Siberian railway. The people regard the locomotive as an emissary of the evil one.

-A medical authority warns people against a possible recurrence of influenza. The last epidemic wave came from China, via Russia, and now for months past influenza has been raging in the district of Merv.

-Statistics of British residents in foreign countries shows that France has 40,000, Germany 16,000, and Russia 12,000. The United States census gives the number of British-born residents at 3,300,000, over half of them coming from Ireland.

-A contaminated water supply is responsible for the epidemic of typhoid fever in Maidstone, Kent. About 1,000 cases have occurred and over forty deaths. Several members of one family, in many instances, have been ill together, and business has been interrupted.

-Reduction in wages in the cotton industry is said to be inevitable. Manufacturers claim to have been losing money. An average of one rival mill per week is said to be erected in foreign countries. Japan and China are manufacturing much that they formerly imported in these goods.

-The military authorities of the various Powers, we are told, are exhibiting a feverish interest in wireless telegraph. The Experiments in Italy have been followed by those at Dover. The German, are making others at Kiel, and preparations are being made for more, both in Russia and Austria.

-When the Austrian chamber met for the first time after a recess the other day there was such an uproar that the sitting had to be suspended. Then the Premier challenged a member to a duel, and was himself injured in the contest. The Emperor commended the Premier's conduct and suspended the law under which he was subject to prosecution for engaging in the duel.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

"As for God, His way is perfect." Ps. xviii. 30.

His way is the only perfect way, for of men it is said: "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Rom. iii. 12.

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." Isa. liii, 6. Like sheep, we have made crooked paths, for it is "the workers of iniquity" that "turn aside unto their crooked ways." Ps. cxxv. 5.

Only that which is straight is right, for straight means right; a straight line is a "right-line." Therefore we are exhorted, "Make straight paths for your feet." Heb. xii. 13. That is the nature of the Lord's way, as we read: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Isa. xl. 3.

What is this straight way, this perfect way?-The answer comes in the words of Scripture: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord." Ps. cxix. 1. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Ps. xix. 7. This is the perfect way, because it is the Lord's way; for the law of the Lord is the life of the Lord.

"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." Jer. vi. 16.

The Word to the Believer .-The incorruptible Word is the power by which sinners are born again into the kingdom of grace, and as the new life is begun so it continues, the Word feeding and nourishing the soul and causing it to grow. It is Bible study all the time in the Christian life. And it is a blessed thing to have the Lord talking to us in His Word continually. "When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life." Prov. vi. 22, 23.

"If we ask anything according to His will He heareth us."The more, then, that we know of His Word, in which is the revelation of His will, the more intelligently can we pray. Prayer is not asking that our will may be done, but a seeking of, and a submitting to, God's will.

"Ye cannot hear My word," said Jesus to the angry Pharisees. The voice of prejudice and the clamour of self made it impossible for them to hear the simple truths which the common people heard gladly. He was speaking of life and righteousness, and simple souls who wanted help and strength for right living hung upon His words. The proud and worldly to whom religion was unconnected with life heard the same sound of words, but the words of life fell on deaf ears.

Lord Halifax, President of the English Church Union, advocated at the Church Congress that the Episcopate should authorise the use of the first Prayer Book of Edward VI. which contains much more sacerdotal teaching than the later one. He also advocated the formal return to prayers for the dead and the invocation of saints. His propositions were dissented from by a minority, but the Chronicle's correspondent says that it was evident all along that the E.C.U. party "holds in its grip the sentiments of Churchmen."

The suggestion that the so-called Athanasian Creed should be dropped from the service book called forth warm defence of the creed at the recent Church Congress. In the theological world men talk serious of the councils and the creeds, even men who have access to history and know of the controversies and murderous strife out of which the creeds were evolved. The trouble is that theology becomes merely a set of definitions and theories. Who that knows Jesus in the Word cares about the councils and their creeds. If the councils had known Him they would have sought together a knowledge of His will and commended the Word to posterity. The apostles preached the Word, they did not make a creed about it. All truth is in the Word, and "What is the chaff to the wheat?" asks the Lord.

The Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa, it is repeated from various sources, threatens to disfellowship any of its members who unite with total abstinence societies.

Those who are continually working to get public opinion to favour putting school children through military drill and accustoming them to the use of weapons must surely commend the patriotism of some of the wilder tribes in the Caucasus. A newspaper says:-

Every child is taught to use the dagger almost as soon as he can walk. The children first learn to stab water without making a splash, and by incessant practice acquire an extraordinary command over the weapon.

Life the Catholic faith which the councils were always settling but could never keep settled, the compromises about religious instruction in the Board Schools never allow the controversy to remain settled. It is coming up now, even more feeling being imported into it than was the case three years ago. The whole trouble lies in the failure to see that it is the work of the church and believers to teach the Gospel.

No one is naturally enthusiastic to learn that someone is coming to see him whose presence is no particular pleasure to him. But if it is a dear friend his heart warms and he anticipates his coming with pleasure. What then, does it indicate, when the thought of the second coming of Christ and of the nearness of that event is not a pleasing one, but the reverse? To believers it is "the blessed hope."

The Pall Mall Gazette's Rome correspondent has been writing of the Vatican authorities. He says that there are really three popes. The first, the White Pope, the titular head, Pope Leo. Then there is the Black Pope, so called, the chief of the Jesuits, who, behind the scenes, keep a hold upon papal policy which cannot be shaken off, as more than one pope has found. The third pope is the Red Pope, the cardinal who heads the order of bishops.

We necessarily omit the study in Hebrews this week. It will be resumed in the next number, however.

October 14, 1897

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. 'Ye Are God's Building'" The Present Truth 13, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

In the third chapter of Hebrews we have noted Christ's faithfulness in God's house, "whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." Verse 6. Let us devote a little further study to the nature of God's house.

The house of God is a wonderful building: it grows. Of an ordinary building of brick or stone, we say that it grows from day to day under the hands of the workmen; but God's house grows differently; it grows as a tree or a man grows, because it is alive. See: Christ is the foundation, for "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. iii. 11. But He is a living foundation, "a living Stone," with power to give life to all that come in contact with Him, so that although we are dead, when we come to Him we also "as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1 Peter ii. 5, R.V. Christ is the foundation, the chief factor in the house, "in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Eph. ii. 21, 22.

The Apostle Paul speaks of those who receive the Lord Jesus Christ as "rooted and built up in Him." Col. ii. 7. Thus we see that the house partakes of the nature of the foundation, the dead material becomes living, and takes root and grows like a tree.

What is the object of God's house? It is for "an habitation of God." God builds a house in order that He may dwell in it. But when will He dwell in it? Will He wait until the house is completed before He takes possession?-Not by any means; for it is His presence "through the Spirit," that gives life to the dead material, and makes it grow, and in Him it is complete and perfect all the time (Col. ii. 10), while all the time growing. Throughout eternity the house will be growing, for where there is life there must be growth. Now is the time when God dwells in His house. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" 1 Cor. iii. 16. "Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them and I will be their God, and, they shall be My people." 2 Cor. vi. 16.

THE LIVING THRONE

We have now only to consider what are the characteristics of God's own, real house. There is one portion of Scripture that furnishes all that we need in this line. It is the first chapter of Ezekiel, a chapter which we may meditate on with profit for many a long day. That chapter gives a description, as well as human language can do such a thing, of the throne of God; and as is the nature of the throne of God, such must be the nature of the temple in which the throne is. Let us then read the chapter,-

Now it came to pass in the thirteenth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. . . .

And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

And they went every one straight forward whither the spirit was to go, they want; and they turned not when they went.

As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

When they went they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.

As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went thither was their spirit to go; and the wheel: were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creatures was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one

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had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.

And when they want, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.

And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.

And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man above upon it.

And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.

As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

"The Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King." Jer. x. 10. Nothing can be in His presence, and not live. His throne is a living throne; from the midst of it flows the river of water of life, and by it grows the tree of life. We have already seen that the temple of God is a living house, composed of living stones, and this description of the throne of God, who dwells in the house, is sufficient to show us the nature of the direction and control of the house.

Read what is said in the twentieth verse of the living creatures that compose the throne of God: "Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went;" "for the Spirit of life was in the wheels." Marginal reading. God is not confined to one place; He moves. He "hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet." Nahum i. 3. And wherever He goes, His throne goes with Him. It moves by the influence of His Spirit that pervades it. God thinks, and the thought at once results in action on the part of the living creatures about Him.

Notice that the creatures composing God's throne are all different, as different one from the other as can be imagined; yet there is no disagreement. One does not start off in one direction, and another in another direction, so that there must be a little time lost in settling which way they shall go. That would necessarily be the way, even with the best of instructions, if they each had their own mind; but the mind of God, and that alone, pervades each one, so that all move in unison. It is the perfection of organisation.

The nearest earthly approach to that perfection of united action, is a well-disciplined army. See it in motion; the different divisions move like clock-work, and all the members of any division move as if they were but one man. What causes it?-The word of the commanding officer. He thinks what he wants them to do, and puts that thought into words. At once that thought is transferred to the minds of the men under him, and is transformed into action. Long drill has trained them to hold their minds vacant, so far as their own thoughts are concerned, and to be simply machines moved by the will of the commander. He thinks for them.

THE PERFECTION OF UNITY TO BE SEEN IN CHRIST'S CHURCH

That is the nearest approach to God's perfect organisation that man can produce, and men have made the mistake of trying to model the church after the same pattern, and a very good machine they have often succeeded in producing; but it was after all only a human affair, and not the church of God. In the army, and also in the church when it is at the highest point of perfection that human government and regulation can produce we have uniformity; but in the church of God, the house of God, we have unity. All the members are different, with different capacities and different work to do, but all are united as the various members of the body. The Lord is the Head of the body,-His Spirit fills the house,-so that as He thinks, the members of the body, the parts of the house, act. His life is their life.

The most common mistake among professed Christians is that of reasoning from their own experience, or from that of others. They look to "church history" to see what the church ought to be and do, forgetting that the history of the true church has never been recorded on earth. Or they take counsel of their own experience, and what they have felt or seen, they take as the standard of what ought to be or may be. But with few exceptions, for very short periods of time, "the multitude of them that believed" has never been on earth before the Lord's temple can be the eternal habitation of God. And the world must see it, for that unity is the crowning witness to God's power and goodness. All nature, even though marred by the curse of man's sin, bears witness to God, because everything that God has made is completely subject to Him. Man alone is rebellious. But the witness must be just as complete through man as it is through the lower creation. " When human agents choose the will of God, and are conformed to the character of Christ, Jesus acts through their organs and faculties." What a wonderful condition of things! how desirable, and how blessed the assurance that it is a possibility!

What power the church will have when each individual member is the habitation of God through the Spirit. It will be nothing less than infinite power. Then will speedily be fulfilled the petition, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." That time will come as soon as God's Word, that living and powerful Word, is regarded as the supreme and final authority and is given free course. Then the house on earth, like the household in heaven, will "do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word."

"Securing Uniformity in Russia" The Present Truth 13, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

Enforced uniformity has always been the ideal before the "Catholic" Church, and the wickedness wrought on the plea that the end in view would be for the good of society cannot be told. Still the idea is urged in defence of Sunday laws, and in Russia the clergy with greater power politically carry the wicked principle still further. The Christian World says of the recent activities of the Russian clergy, of which the newspapers have told us:-

"We from Russia that the clergy are in dead earnest in their revived attempts to kill Stundism. The recent conference at Kazan, where resolutions were passed calling on the Government to aid them in crushing the Protestant movement, is described as a most enthusiastic gathering of the clergy. The resolution which was most applauded was that moved by a bishop of a Southern province calling on the authorities to remove Stundist children from their parents, and to place them under Orthodox guardians.

"It would seem, however, that the Holy Synod does not approve of this drastic proposition, as the Bishop of Kazan, the Chairman of the recent Congress, has received a letter, from that reverend body, saying that the Government cannot consent to kidnapping the children, as they have no institutions at their disposal for their reception, and besides, the excitement in Russia, should such a step be taken, would be dangerous to the peace of the community. Another bishop, this time one of the leading members of the Russian hierarchy, now comes forward with a proposal to confiscate the property of sectaries throughout the empire. To starve the heretics into submission to the Church is the beautiful idea of this Christian divine."

"The First Duty to One's Own" The Present Truth 13, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

The men of Israel murmured and said that their children would surely perish if they kept on in the way in which the Lord was leading them. Leaving the Lord out of the consideration, their fears were not unreasonable. But it was the height of unreason to leave Him out. The Lord declared that they should perish in the wilderness,-

"But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised." Num. xiv. 31.

Their first duty to their children was to teach them by example and precept to serve and trust God. But they failed because they looked at the dangers and hardships of the way and left out of their thoughts the fact that God who commanded the way was able to command their strength to walk in it.

"Power from on High" The Present Truth 13, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

The engineer has turned on the power in the engine rooms, and all through the factory the shafting is turning. Not a machine moves. But let the operatives push the levers that make the connection, and the whole factory is quivering with activity.

God's promise is of power from on high for the daily life of overcoming. The power is at work all about us and in us. From out the throne of His power goes the influence that holds all the universe, and the life that flows through every living thing. What we want is to have that power turned into our spiritual lives, so that it may order our ways after the working of almighty power. The lever is the Lord. He is "upholding all things by the word of His power,'" or "His powerful word." Faith receives the Word into the life and makes the life a part of the living machinery of God's universe. Only think of it; all this power that can control the universe, turned to the ordering of our little lives! Is it not a glorious promise, and one to give us confidence and make glad our hearts?

"The Tibetan 'Holy City'" The Present Truth 13, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

Some of the ecclesiastical vestments of the Tibetan priests are so like the Catholic that the Protestant observer, who does not understand the ritualistic value of special trimmings and shapes, might easily think he was looking at the wardrobe of some Catholic priest. The utensils for holy water, and the prayer beads to be seen in the Tibetan exhibit at the British Museum, suggest further close similarities. It is said that the first Catholic missionaries who saw the rites of the Tibetan Buddhists were astonished to see how similar they were to the Catholic ritual in some things.

The explanation is that Catholicism merely copied some of the same heathen ritual and ideas of the ancient Eastern religions which were incorporated into Buddhism. Mr. Landor, the last of unsuccessful travellers to be driven back from Lhassa, has just written of this centre of Tibetan Buddhism; and notice in the following paragraphs how suggestive it all in of Roman Catholicism:-

"Lhassa is a sacred city: the Rome of Tibet, as it were: and pilgrims from all parts of Asia come to worship at the shrine of Buddha, and to bestow more or less lavishly their money-savings in offerings to the various temples and monasteries of the place. Here in the wider streets of this great centre of Buddhism crowd students and fanatics, who by-and-by will make their way back to their distant homes laden with relics, holy rosaries, prayer wheels, and fossil-bones (called by the natives "lightning bones," for they are supposed to possess the wonderful quality of healing wounds and curing various ailments).

"If we are to believe all we hear, in any of the great temples and monasteries of Lhassa, the art of magic and witchcraft is practised with great advantage and success. Fire-breathing, apparent beheading and other fantastic marvels of the kind attract the religious crowd of simple pilgrims, and no doubt impress them with the superiority and unworldly power of the Lamas; while the wild howls and cries and the diabolical dancing of these Buddhist priests would be enough to terrify the majority of mortals.

"The New Year's festivities, according to Nain Singh's account, are of an extraordinary character. They are not unlike

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a saturnalia, and the disorderly crowd is supplied with sports and pastimes of such a dangerous and cruel nature as to often result in the loss of much human life. The Lamas seem to encourage these performances, and, indeed, the Grand Lama-the Pope of Buddhism-is generally the chief spectator and high patron at these shows."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

-All routes to the Klondyke gold fields are now closed by ice.

-Strike riots with bloodshed have occurred in Russian Poland.

-One pound of sheep's wool is capable of producing one yard of cloth.

-Not far short of 900,000 tons of dust is collected in London during the year.

-In the number of murders Italy leads Europe. In the number of suicides Russia is ahead.

-Great forest and prairie fires are reported to be raging in parts of Canada and the United States.

-By a change of ministry in Spain the Liberals have come into power, and it is said they propose to grant a liberal measure of home rule to Cuba.

-Out of a population of 50,000 in Jerusalem says a writer, 30,000 are Jews, and with very few exceptions all live on alms from their co-religionists.

-The Board of Trade report of railway receipts in the Kingdom shows that third-class passengers paid ?35,000,000; second, ?2,000,000; and first, ?3,000,000.

-The British army on the Indian frontier now numbers nearly 70,000 men, a greater number, it is said, than the British troops that faced-Napoleon at Waterloo.

-Further massacres are apprehended in Asia Minor, The Armenian revolutionaries are active, and the Turks are ready to meet any semblance of disorder with violent repression.

-The War Office is about to make an exhaustive test of a new gun, which fires 1,000 shots in two minutes and three seconds, and which can in an emergency fire eleven shots per second.

-The refusal of the employers to arbitrate the questions at issue in the engineering strike and lock-out, is taken to mean that the strife may be prolonged into the winter. The men apparently stand firm, and the employers say that they cannot run their works profitably on the eight-hour day,

-The wheat king of the world resides in Argentina, He is an Italian emigrant, named Guazone, and his broad acres are situated in the south of the province of Buenos Ayres. His crop occupies an area of 66,270 acres. He numbers his workmen by the thousand, and each one receives a certain share of the profit. When his season's crop is harvested he fills over 3,000 railway trucks with the grain.

-The Lee-Metford bullet has been unsatisfactory to military men because it made so small a wound that men hit were not always at once disabled. It was specially treated so as to break up when striking, and now it is said to work well in the bodies of the Indian tribesmen. But Continental authorities on wounds and war are declaring that its effect approaches so nearly to the explosive bullet that it is contrary to military conventions to use it.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

"I don't feel like praying," is the excuse one gives for not praying. Even if the excuse be not uttered, the refraining from prayer because of disinclination to pray, is very common.

One might really just as well say that he is so hungry that he cannot eat, or too tired to think of sleeping, as to say that he cannot pray because he does not feel like praying; for the disinclination to pray is an indication of the most urgent need of prayer. One never needs prayer more than when one does not feel like praying.

"What is the remedy for this feeling?-Prayer; nothing but prayer and the study of the Word, which must always accompany prayer. It is "invariably the case, that when a person does not feel like praying, he does not feel like reading the Bible. Now the only way to overcome indifference to the Bible, is to read and study the Bible; and the only way to cultivate a desire for prayer is to pray.

"But how can I pray when I do not feel like it? Wouldn't it be simply mockery?"-By no means, unless you use a mere form of words, with no thought of their meaning or phrases that have no special meaning; and that is not prayer at all. Do not say anything that is not true, and that you do not know to be true. Then you need not fear, for there is no mockery in the truth.

Begin with the simplest, fundamental truth. It is assumed that you are a professed Christian, and that the reason why you do not feel like praying is that you feel so sinful and unworthy that you have no heart to come to the Lord and talk about yourself. Well, don't talk about yourself; Christians occupy altogether too much time talking and singing and praying about themselves. Talk about something better; talk about the Lord.

Here is something to begin with: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation; that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." 1 Tim. i. 15. This is something to be thankful for; then thank God that He sent His only begotten Son to save you, the chief of sinners. Surely your sense of sinfulness and unworthiness cannot possibly hinder you from doing this.

And when you have thanked God for this "unspeakable gift," if you have not entirely neglected your Bible, your mind will involuntarily, by the Spirit's aid, revert to that other text: "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. 33. What will be the result?-Try it, and you will find your heart so full of thanksgiving to God for the riches of His grace, that has freely given all things to you, the chief of sinners, even "all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Peter i. 3), that you will not know how to cease from praying.

Among the readers of the PRESENT TRUTH are many preachers, and very many more teachers,-religious teachers,-and therefore the following bit from the Archbishop of Canterbury's address at the Annual meeting of the Canterbury Diocesan Conference, may be an interesting and profitable reminder. He said:-

I have been for many years more or less engaged in teaching, and long ago I came to perceive what is visible very quickly to a schoolmaster, but not always to a preacher, viz., that no man is really a student as well as a teacher he gets a kind of freshness in his teaching which nothing on earth besides can give him. I have listened to sermons over and over again to which no exception could possibly be taken. They were perfectly sound in doctrine, and very clear, but somehow or other, I cannot tell exactly why, the impression created was that these words no longer meant to the man who uttered them what they meant twenty years ago.

We sometimes hear it said that "truth is progressive." This is a mistake, for truth is ever the same. Truth cannot change; if it did, it would cease to be truth. But men may, and ought to change. While truth cannot be progressive, because it is of the nature of God,-from everlasting to everlasting, and always infinite,-those who hold the truth must be progressive. In intellectual and spiritual things, life is synonymous with growth. He who does not '"grow in grace," falls from grace. The Gospel is always the same; but he to whom the Gospel means no more than it did years ago, has undoubtedly lost much of what he had. Truth is the same, and the Scriptures do not mean anything more or anything different from what they did when they were written; yet the man who sees no more in any given text, or who has no larger views of the truth than he had forty years ago, has lost the spirit of the truth. He who takes "the sincere milk of the Word," grows thereby.

A press despatch from Rome announced the other day that,-

The Pope is said to have received a few days ago an autograph letter from Queen Victoria, asking him to intervene with the Irish Roman Catholics with a view to the pacification of Ireland. His holiness has replied that he will take advantage of the Roman Catholic pilgrimage to Rome to place recommendations to this end before the bishops and other influential Catholics from Ireland.

Were he himself "subject to the powers that be" instead of being constantly in political revolt against the Italian government, his example might have more influence in Ireland than his words. But if he speaks the word of pacification in reply to this alleged request, it will be for a consideration. Will the consideration be an Irish Catholic University, and a freer use of public money for Catholic schools generally?

The Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army has recently visited nearly the European countries as a privileged military observer. He says of the situation:-

What I have seen does not indicate that the millennium is at hand, when swords will be beaten into ploughshares. There never was a time in the history of the world when so much energy, ingenuity, and wealth were being devoted to war purposes.

As the Bible says of the last days, it is a time when "many people" are talking about turning swords into ploughshares (Isa. ii.), and the peace and safety cry is heard; but all the time the spirit of evil is waking up the men of wall and hastening the preparations for the battle of the great day (Joel iii.).

As an answer to the fancies that Jerusalem is the place toward which all Jews turn with longing, and to which they are eagerly flocking, comes the fact that a number of Jewish artisans, already in Jerusalem, have addressed a petition to the Queen, praying Her Majesty to allow them to establish an agricultural settlement on the island of Cyprus.

Last year the Government revenue from tobacco was nearly eleven millions sterling. This represents a still greater amount paid by the consumer and sent up in smoke, wasted and worse than wasted.

October 21, 1897

"Front Page" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

"It is well that the average British mother should understand," says the Speaker, "that the policy of adventure in tropical continents is bringing us within measurable distance of conscription."

The Queen Regent of Spain has done a gracious thing in ordering that the families of anarchists who have been executed in Spain during recent years, shall be looked up and cared for, and the children educated at her private expense.

The Arabs rival even the Roman Catholic Church in the extravagance of their claims in behalf of certain shrines. Just outside Jeddah they claim to have the grave of Eve, which is visited by about 40,000 pilgrims each year. The grave is fifty cubits long.

"Burdened Italy" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

Burdened Italy .-The burden of taxation in Italy has long been sending multitudes of Italians to North and South America. It was because Italy insisted upon joining in the race of the Powers for great armaments. And now the failure of its attempt to found a colony at the expense of the Abyssinians seems to have been almost a final blow. It cost millions, and taxation has risen until recently numbers of merchants have closed their businesses, being unable to live. Last week there were tax riots in Rome itself. Altogether the condition of Italy is a striking illustration of the folly of militarism. The weaker Powers feel the burden almost as crushing as a defeat in war.

"The Promises of God" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

A short time ago I picked up a book designed to help Christian workers, and found an outline lesson on "The Promises," beginning with this statement: "There are thirty thousand promises in the Bible."

Some man had evidently been courting, and after patient search had arrived at the round number thirty thousand, and set that down as the sum. That is final, no use in looking for any more; thirty thousand and no more, sums up all the promises of God to man!

Well, thirty thousand is a good many; if all would cheerfully accept, and acknowledge, and thank God for thirty thousand promises, they would have enough employment to keep them from complaining for a long time. Very many people are satisfied, after a fashion, with a very small fraction of that number of promises; one could divide the number given by a thousand, and the result would indicate more promises than they ever claim from the Lord. Because they use so few, they think there are but few.

Men limit God to their own comprehension of Him. That was the trouble with the man who reckoned up thirty thousand promises; that was as many as he knew, and he assumed that the Lord couldn't have promised anything that he didn't know anything about. Let us see if there is any possibility of enlarging the list. What does the Bible say about it?

ALL GOD'S THOUGHTS ARE PROMISES

Begin with Jer. xxix. 11: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." This statement was made in connection with a specific promise, and shows us that all the thoughts of God to us are promises of good. Good! Now let us see something about the number of His thoughts toward us.

Turn to Psalm xl. 5, and read: "Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy, thoughts which are to usward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." Then they are more than thirty thousand, for it

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would not take very long to count that many. But read again: "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." Ps. cxxxix. 17, 18. That man who counted thirty thousand promises, can begin again where he left off, and count for very many years to come, yea, throughout eternity, and then he will not have exhausted the list.

One great trouble is, that we do not recognise promises when we see them, just as there are millions of blessings that we never recognise as such, but often call them calamities instead. If we remember that every thought of God to us includes a promise to us, we shall begin to ponder the thoughts of God with more interest. And when we think of this, we shall see that it means that

THE COMMANDS OF GOD ARE PROMISES

Let us test this in one representative case, that is all-inclusive. The ten commandments begin thus: "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. This commandment includes all the rest. Read now in the eighty-first Psalm, and you will see what God means when He says, "Thou shalt." Read verses 8-10:-

"Hear, O My people, and I will testify unto thee; O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto Me, there shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god. I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt; open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."

This is parallel to Isa. Iv. 3: "Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live." In the Hebrew there is but one word for "hear" and "obey." To hear, is to obey. That is because "the word of God is living and active." It is self-fulfilling. Let it find a place in the mind, and it will manifest itself openly. When God says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," He does not mean that we must make Him our God; far from it. The effort to make God our God, can result in nothing else but the worshipping of a false God,-a god no greater nor better than our own feeble comprehension. God knows this, and so His promise is, "I will be their God." So as we read Ps. lxxxi. 5-10 we see that when God said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," He meant simply this: "Listen to Me; meditate upon My words, and I will take upon Myself the responsibility of seeing that there are no strange gods found among you."

AN ILLUSTRATION

A father says to his son, "John, my boy, is that the best pair of boots you have? You must not wear them any more." The mother looks at the little girl's soiled and worn-out frock, and says, "You shall not wear that any more." What do John and Mary do? Do they begin to worry or to cry, and say, "Father and mother say that we must not and shall not wear these clothes any more; what in the world shall we do? We are too young and weak to earn any others, and shall have to go naked. I think they are very hard in their commands." Do they talk like that?-Not a bit of it. They have no other thought but that their parents have promised them some new clothes, and they at once begin to rejoice. Even so it should be with us, when our Heavenly Father says to us, "Those old clothes of yours are too dirty and ragged (Isa. lxiv. 6); they are not fit to be seen; you shall not wear them any more." Instead of complaining at the hardness of God's commandments, we should rather greatly rejoice because of His promise to rejoice because of His promise to clothe us with the garments of salvation, and cover us with the robe of righteousness. Isa. lxi. 10.

Sin by the commandment becomes exceeding sinful. Rom. vii. 13. The commandment of God, in the hands of the Spirit, makes us see how terribly deficient we are; but that is not all; it shows us the deficiency only in order that we may take that which will supply all our need, even that which shows us our lack. For the Spirit convicts of righteousness at the same time that He convicts of sin. John xvi. 8. When God tells us that we are sinners, He is simply telling us that He has the righteousness for us that we lack. When we know this, we can with David rejoice in the law of God, because "His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3.

"Worshipping the Dead" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

In the most benighted Catholic lands the ignorant have little thought of God in their worship. They have gods many, and lords many in the multitude of the Catholic saints and the supreme object of their prayers, the Virgin Mary. Intelligent Catholics deny paying divine honours to the saints, and there is some conflict of testimony as to how they regard Mary, But the last encyclical of the Pope shows authoritatively that Rome exalts Mary, who is dead, to the place of Deity. The Pope says:-

We do not pray to the blessed in the same way as to God; for we ask the Holy Trinity to have mercy on us, but we ask all the saints to pray far us. Yet our manner of praying to the Blessed Virgin has something in common with our worship of God, so that the church even addresses to her the words with which we pray to God: "Have mercy on sinners."

"Are They Intoxicated?" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

It seems from the reports of the meetings of the various societies, that the "friends" of temperance are resolved on devoting their energies to securing Sunday closing. We have no doubt of the sincerity of their friendship, but we cannot but question their wisdom. That the cause of temperance may well pray to be delivered from its friends, is abundantly shown by the report of the Women's Total Abstinence Union, just held in Bristol. The President, "a teetotaller of fourteen years' standing," advised the nailing of their flag to a selected bit of work, and stated that "the foremost point they had to carry" was Sunday closing.

Immediately following that statement is the report of another speaker, from London, who said that hundreds of little children in the courts and slums want to bed drunk every night. In London alone, out of 50,000 persons who went into public-houses one Saturday night in the course of three hours, over 30,000 of them were women, and the awful amount of drunkenness amongst, women must cause a large amount of wretchedness and suffering in the homes, and a great deal of suffering among the little ones.

How this Saturday, night drinking among the women (which is by no means limited to Saturday night), and the daily drunkenness of children is to be affected by Sunday closing, no one has yet pointed out; but notwithstanding these appalling facts, Sunday closing is to absorb the energies of the temperance workers. There seems to be an intoxication that is worse than shat caused by the drink sold at the public-houses, namely the drunkenness produced by the wine of Rome, whose sign is the Sunday.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. Believe To-day, and Rest" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

We have now studied as far as the sixth verse of the third chapter of Hebrews. The next verse begins with "Wherefore," the reference being to the statement in verse 6 that we are the house of God "if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." Faithfulness is the one, essential thing, "wherefore" the exhortation is,

"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke; howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was He grieved forty years? was it not with them that sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." Heb. iii. 13-19.

These verses give, the direct connection from the sixth verse, but verses 7-11 contain an explanation in parenthesis, and these we must also have before us for our present study:-

"As the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness; when your fathers tempted Me, proved He, and saw My works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known My ways. So I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest."

A FEW QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

directing the attention sharply to just what is said, will help us to understand it better than pages of comments. We begin, for the sake of the connection, with the sixth verse, taking the test in the order that we have quoted it.

On what conditions are we the house of God?

"If we hold fast the confidence and the joicing of the hope firm unto the end."

What exhortation is therefore pertinent?

"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in stay of you an evil heart of unbelief."

What would an unbelieving heart cause?

"Departing from the living God."

What is necessary in order to be really partakers of Christ?

That "we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end."

What in the meantime is said?

"To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation."

When was "the provocation," to which the Holy Ghost refers?

"The day of temptation in the wilderness." Verse 8.

Who when they heard did provoke?

"All that came out of Egypt by Moses." R.V.

How long did they grieve Him?

"Forty years."

What does God say they did?

"Your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years."

What did He say of their way?

"They do alway err in their hearts."

Although they saw God's works, what did they not learn?

"They have not known My ways."

What did He therefore swear?

"They shall not enter into My rest."

To whom did God swear that they should not enter into His rest?

"To them that believed not."

Why could they not enter into rest?

"Because of unbelief."

Faithfulness the Essential Thing .-"God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Cor. i. 9. Faithfulness is the rule of His house, for even men's lack of faith cannot make of none effect the faithfuluess of God. Rom. iii. 3, R.V. He is true, although every man be a liar. Moses, the servant of God, was faithful in all His house, and Christ, the Son, was likewise faithful, His faithfulness is identical with that of the Father, for "if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself." 2 Tim. ii. 13. Therefore if we would be a part of the house of God, members of His family, we must "hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." "The faith of Jesus" (Rev. xiv. 12), and nothing less, distinguishes the household of God. It is a "household of faith." Gal. vi. 10.

"Wherefore Take Heed"? -"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith." 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Faith is that which joins us to the Lord. "An evil heart of unbelief" means "departing from the living God, who is the sole source of the life of the house. The house is built on the living Stone; God's presence gives life to the throne on which He sits, and to the soul in which He dwells. Departure from Him means certain death. Wherefore take heed, and keep the faith.

"An Evil Heart of Unbelief." -It is the evil heart that disbelieves. It is the dark fog that rises from the low marshy ground of sin, that obscures the sight, and makes it difficult to see the truth. It is true that unbelief is the primary cause of sin; but sin in its turn breeds unbelief. The unbelieving heart is always evil, no matter how fair the exterior may be. As long as a man loves sin, so long will unbelief cloud his mind; but as soon as the heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and the soul rejoices in the glory of God's sunlight. 2 Cor. iii. 16-18; iv. 2-4.

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When Shall We Believe? -There is only one time, and that is, To-day. "Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." "Exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day." Yesterday is gone; it is not in existence. Neither is there any such time as to-morrow; it is not yet in existence, and when that which men call to-morrow comes, behold, it is to-day. Every man has all the time there is, and that is to-day; no other time has God ever given to men. He saith, "I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee; behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. vi. 2. What is the name of the day of salvation?-To-day; "it is called To-day." He who rejects salvation to-day, rejects it for ever. "To-day" may seem to be a very long day, but be sure that the night is coming.

The Cause of Deafness .-"To-day, if ye, will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Here we see the effect that the heart has on the ears. The heart is deceitful above all things, because it is sinful, "desperately wicked" (Jer. xvii. 9; Mark vii. 21-33), and sin is deceitful. "The deceitfulness of sin" hardens the heart (Heb. iii. 13), and a hard heart makes the ears deaf to the voice of the Holy Spirit. It is not an unnecessary exhortation that is so often repeated in the book of Revelation: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."

God's Works and His Ways .-God says of the children of Israel in the wilderness, they "saw My works forty years," but "they have not known My ways." "He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel." Ps. ciii. 7. Note that while all the children of Israel saw the acts or works of the Lord, Moses only is mentioned as knowing His ways. Why?-Because Moses had his eyes as well as his ears open. His heart turned to the Lord, and therefore he saw Him with unveiled face. A hard heart, "an evil heart of unbelief," makes one blind, as well as deaf. The only reason why God did not make known His ways unto the children of Israel, was that they would not see; for God did all on His part. He showed them His works, and that is the only way any person can make himself truly known. If we know all of a man's doings, then we know the man himself. Although Israel saw God's "wonderful works," "they soon forgat His works," "and His wonders that He had showed them" (Ps. lxxviii. 4-11; cvi. 13); therefore they lid not know His ways.

The Same Things Revealed to Us .-We have no grounds on which to accuse the Israelites, for we are equally guilty with them. We have all seen the wonderful works of the Lord, and yet have remained in ignorance of God's ways. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork." Ps. xix. 1. "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious; and His righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered," or, more literally, "He hath made a memorial for His wonderful works." Ps. cvi. 2-4. What this memorial is will appear in our next study. But the fact is, that God's works are all about us, and they reveal Him to us. "For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made." Rom. i. 20. Every day of our lives we have been beholding the works of God, which clearly reveal "the invisible things of Him," even "His everlasting power and divinity and yet we have not known His ways. Every day God is doing just as wonderful miracles as the dividing of the Red Sea, yet people will stand and look at there, and gravely discuss whether the age of miracles has not passed! Truly there is need for the exhortation, "Take heed."

Knowledge and Life .-What is it to know God?-It is eternal life. "This is life eternal, that they might knew Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." John xvii. 3. He who knows God, enters upon the life eternal, having passed out of death into life. Compare 1 John iii. 14 and iv. 7. We must not make the mistake of confounding eternal life with immortality. Both life and immortality are brought to light through the Gospel (2 Tim. i. 10), but immortality is not bestowed until the "coming of the Lord and the resurrection, at the last trump." 1 Cor. xv. 51-34. Eternal life, however, is to be enjoyed now, if ever, for we are saved only by the life of Christ "made manifest in our mortal flesh." 2 Cor. iv. 11. Compare Rom. v. 10. Only life, eternal life, can conquer death; therefore he who would have the victory over death and the grave, must have eternal life, which is laid hold of only by faith. "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things," that is, the wonderful works of the Lord, "even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord." Ps. cvii. 43. So will they rejoice in the hope which the possession of life eternal gives.

Eternal Life and Rest .-The true God, the knowledge of whom is eternal life, is "the living God and an everlasting King." Jer. c. 10. But "the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary." Isa. xl. 28. That is because He is the living God. The characteristic of eternity is freshness. Eternal life is everlasting youth, so that "they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." Verse 31. Eternal life is rest, ever rest,-rest that remains no matter what disturbances arise. It was to this rest that God called ancient Israel, but into which they could not enter because of unbelief. God swore that they should not enter into His rest, not because He would not permit it, but because it was impossible. They rejected faith, the only thing that brings rest. "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." If they had believed, they would have entered in. We may also enter into the same rest that was offered them, and enter in to-day, if we "take heed" to the voice that calls, "To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not our hearts. "Hear, and your soul shall live," and rest in the Lord."

"Selling the Soul Cheap" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

The methods of trade are a snare to multitudes even of people who count themselves religious. "It is the way all do," is the excuse for little ways of deception and cheating in business. The greengrocer, for instance, who shows one thing in the front of his stall and sells a poorer quality from behind, follows the almost universal methods of the trade, but he sells his soul as cheaply as Esau did when he traded the birthright for a dish of lentils.

People tell little lies for small advantages to be secured, or just because it humours a fancy, forgetting what a tremendous interest they are selling for naught. In one of the morning papers a correspondent who plays golf complains of the cheating at the game, done merely for the pleasure of winning:-

The men whom I know to be habitually dishonest at golf, are men of position and reputation in business and such an accusation, if made and unsubstantiated by more than the bare assertion of the player's partner would recoil on his own head. But the fact remains that there is an amount of cheating at golf which is positively appalling, and which there seems to be no effective way of dealing with.

Doubtless it would be found that men who cheat in a game of skill, have in business so accustomed themselves to the ways of the world in this matter of petty deceptions and departures from strict integrity, that it seems a trifling thing to carry the same principle into recreation.

"Uncertain Treasure" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

There is for most people a wonderful fascination in the idea of betting something for nothing, and it is this hope that creates such a rush to any newly-discovered gold region. Men expect to get gold merely by picking it up. That this hope is especially a vain one in the case of the Klondike mines is shown by reliable information. All the claims are taken up,

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and thousands of men are waiting. "The only way now to share the riches of the Klondike district is to buy an interest in one of the existing claims, and for this much capital is needed. Prices are enormous, running from ?40 to ?400 cash per lineal foot. No man with less than ?5,000 to ?10,000 can hope to buy himself into a good property, and much larger sums are needed to acquire a substantial share." Following is a statement of some of the difficulties to be encountered:-

Would-be miners must also remember that prospecting is arduous and terrible work, as gold is only found on the bed-rock, which lies from 10ft. to 30ft, below the frozen earth and snow, and there are no surface indications whatever. Prospecting can only he carried out in winter, and men must go far, living in tents, with the thermometer at 50deg. below zero, and carrying all their supplies with them over a pathless country. The method of prospecting is also unusually difficult, and can only be learned after considerable experience, which cannot be gained in less than one winter's work.

Yet thousands of men will undergo all that hardship with no certainty of finding any gold. It is estimated that from 50,000 to 100,000 men are only waiting till next spring to join in the mad rush to the gold fields. What would the world say if men exhibited but half the enthusiasm and exposed themselves to half the dangers in the service of God, where there is the "full assurance of hope" and no uncertainty?

"For the Children. What the Arab Saw" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

Keep your eyes wide open and your thoughts wide awake to everything that is good, and you will be in the way of learning many useful lessons. One boy or girl will see nothing interesting, and learn nothing, where another who has learnt to use his eyes will be learning all the time. The habit of observing is useful not only in work but may teach of the life to come; for the Lord teaches us of His own power and salvation by the things that He has made. So He says all are "without excuse" who do not know Him. They see His works, but do not truly observe them and learn of His power.

The Arabs have a story, showing how much may be seen by the observing eye. It is in this wise:-

"What are you looking for?" said an Arab to a man who was walking fast across the desert, looking this way and that way and seeming to be in great trouble.

"I'm looking for my friend," the man replied. "We were travelling together, but this morning I slept too long and he started without me. All day long I have sought for him, but in vain. I can see him nowhere. And I am almost in despair."

"Was your friend," said the Arab, "a lame man and heavy?"

"Yes," said the stranger eagerly. "Have you seen him? When? Where? Oh, tell me, that I may find him!

"Since sunset last night,"said the Arab, "I have seen no man till I saw you. But your friend-was he lame on the right leg? and did he carry a stick in his left hand?"

"You must have seen him!" cried the stranger; "he limped badly, for he had hurt his foot. Which way did he go? Tell me, for without him I will die."

"Your friend," said the Arab, "I have not seen. But three hours ago such a man as you describe, clad in blue raiment, was leading a light-coloured camel that was blind in one eye, and was laden with a burden of dates. He passed this spot on his way to Damascus. There, if you hasten, you will find him."

"Are you a wizard that you know all this?" cried the stranger. "You describe my friend, but you have never seen him. You tell me all about his old camel, and where he has gone. How do you know about him?

"Stranger," said the Arab, "God has given all men eyes, but only to a few has He given the power to use them. All that I have told you, you might have seen for yourself if you had but used your eyes."

"Say not so," replied the other, "for I have looked everywhere, and could see nothing."

The Arab said nothing, but with a sign he motioned the stranger to follow him. As they walked a little way they came to the fresh track of a camel, and on the right-hand side the track of a man.

"See," said the Arab, "there are the foot-marks of your friend and his beast."

"Of a man and a camel, truly," replied the other; "but how do I know that the man was my friend?"

The Arab trod on the sand by the foot-prints. "Look," he said; "do you see any difference between my foot-prints and his?"

The other looked for a time. "Your feet," he said, "sink equally into the sand, but the other's not equally. One foot sinks more deeply, much more deeply, than either of yours, the other less deeply."

Then said the Arab, "We all tread lightly on a lame foot, and a heavy man sinks deeper into the ground on one leg than a spare titan on two."

"True," said the other; "but how do you know the colour of his camel and the hue of his garment, or the burden with which the beast was laden? "Is it so difficult, then," replied he, "to see the colour of the fragment of apparel caught by the thorns, or the hairs that were left on the sand where the camel rested?" And as he spoke he pointed to where the traveller had left behind him a shred of his raiment.

"Yes, I see," said the other; "but how do you know the camel bore a burden of dates, and was blind in one eye?"

"Can you," replied the Arab, "not see the flies feasting on the date juice that dropped on the sand by the side of the camel's track? And wherever the camel browsed, it only grazed on one side, the side on which it could see."

"Verily I perceive thou art a man of wonderful discernment," said the stranger; "but answer me this also: How couldst thou tell that it is but three hours since he passed this spot?"

"Hast thou, then, eyes and seest not? said the other scornfully. "Mark the spot where they lay in the shade of this spreading palm. The shadow of the palm-tree is as the hand of the dial. It was three hours since any shade was possible on that spot. Farewell. Hasten along the road that leadeth to Damascus, there thou wilt find thy friend."

"The Drink Curse" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

At the recent meeting of the Women's Total Abstinence Union in Bristol one speaker said:-

"Belgium, with one-sixth of its deaths due to alcohol, was the most drunken country in the world. England came next. In France the doctors were the pioneers in temperance reform. Inebriate homes were increasing. In Portugal drunkenness was regarded as more shameful than immorality. In Germany habitual drunkards were imprisoned, and might be sent to hard labour for one or two years. Their temperance friends in Russia were expecting great things from the present Tsarina."

Another protested against the liquor traffic amongst native races in West Africa, for the right to trade with which the nations are ready to fight each other. It was said that,-

"In three provinces alone four million gallons of brandy and gin were consumed in one year. When the natives once took to the drink they could not be got to work, and that put a large stop to trade."

And the liquor supplied is of so deadly a character that it demoralises and and kills off the consumers even more rapidly than would otherwise be the case.

"Interesting to Meat Eaters" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

Interesting to Meat Eaters .-At Clerkenwell, last week, a butcher was sentenced to three month's imprisonment for sending to market meat "unfit for human food," with a request to the salesman to "do the best he could with it." In this instance the best thing was done with it, as it was submitted to the Inspector and condemned, as was also its sender. But the item of principal interest to meat-eaters is that this was not the first time that the same butcher had sent bad meat to the market. As this was the first conviction, it must be that the other meat was sold and eaten. The questions will arise, How many other equally unscrupulous butchers are there? and, How much diseased meat escapes detection by the most scrupulous butchers and inspectors? These are harrowing questions that happily cause no qualms to the vegetarian.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

-The railway has reached Buluwayo.

-An earthquake occurred in Spain last week.

-It is said that three out of four newspapers in Austria and Germany are owned by Jews.

-The probable cost of the war on the Indian frontier is set down at two and a-half million pounds.

-Discussions among the tribesmen on the Indian frontier are weakening their opposition to the British advance.

-The French in Madagascar are still fighting with bands of natives who have never accepted the French possession.

-Aid for the striking engineers has come from Australia and Germany, and from trade societies generally in England.

-About one-tenth of the cases treated for hydrophobia at the Pasteur Institute in Paris owe their injuries to the bites of cats.

-In Italy last year nearly 2,000 persons committed suicide. The large increase of such cases is attributed to the existing social misery.

-The Austrian parliament is the scene of almost daily uproar, and representative government is threatened by the bitterness of political rivalry.

-The estimated cost in wages of the lock-out and strike in the engineering trade is about ?750,000, and the cost in trade profits to the employers is put at ?100,000.

-News has come of a severe defeat of Abyssinian troops at the hands of the Somali tribes, whose territory the Abyssinians were raiding last May. Several thousand Abyssinians were killed.

-The French claim parts of the Niger territory in the West African interior which British agents have annexed. There is a rush of expeditions to occupy the disputed area and some danger of collision between the forces.

-The War Secretary declares that the Army must be greatly increased to mast the expansion of the Empire. Higher pay is one lever suggested, and back of it all are the hints of military men at conscription as a means of last resort.

-Samory, the great Mohammedan chief of the tribes about the region of Timbuctoo, West Africa, is gathering an army to hold his own against British and French forces pushing up the Niger. He has a regular army of 13,000 men, drilled by French deserters.

-The Maidstone Water Company's plan of disinfecting their reservoirs and mains was to completely suspend the water supply, fill the reservoirs with disinfecting solution of chloride of lime, and let it run through the mains and through the domestic supply pipes. The typhoid epidemic has continued longer than was anticipated. Nearly a hundred deaths have occurred.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

The Church Missionary Society is sending out fifty-five newly-appointed missionaries this autumn.

Jesus is the Saviour of those who have not power to do anything. He Himself said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing."

And because he confessed it all the time and trusted God, saying, "Not My will, but Thine be done," the Father was able to work His perfect will in Jesus all the time.

A new battleship was launched at Portsmouth last week with "a short religious service." All the Great Powers follow this custom. Imagine the battleships of two opposing Powers, raining shrieking shells upon one another, and on each side the chaplains praying Jesus to bless the guns in their work of killing their enemies!

At the recent annual meeting of the Peace Society the chairman answered the question, "Does trade follow the flag?" in the negative. He said that during the last quarter of a century the military expenditure of the country had gone up twenty-five per cent., while exports and imports had increased but fifteen per cent. Whether war advances trade or not has no bearing, on the iniquity of it; but it is nevertheless a fact that the covetousness of the nations, backed by the sword, is driving the world swiftly toward ruin.

Last Sunday Cardinal Vaughan was present in Paris at the founding of an "Arch-Confraternity for the conversion of England," a prayer union of French Catholics. This is rather hard upon that school in the Establishment which teaches that in England the Anglican creed is Catholic, while across the Channel the Roman creed is Catholic.

The Church Times, in a plea for the so-called "Apostle's Creed" to be taught in the Board Schools, says:-

We can understand the position of those who would remove all religious teaching from the Board Schools, but we fail to appreciate the position of those Evangelicals and High Churchmen who would permit the teachers to give lessons on the Bible, but not on the summary of what the Bible contains.

The difference is simply that of teaching what the Bible says, and of teaching what somebody says the Bible says; and anybody who has noticed how next to impossible it is for one person to report another correctly, can appreciate something of this difference. But this is only a feeble comparison, for here we are dealing with the Word of God, which is infinite. No man or set of men can give any summary of what the Bible teaches. In the Bible we have the truth of God in the simplest and most condensed form in which it can be put in words. In every part are mines of wisdom that would fill volumes, and the infinite fulness of the Spirit of the truth cannot be expressed in words. Every effort, therefore, to give a summary or synopsis of the truth of the Bible in a creed or "Confession of Faith," can result only in a perversion, or at best a minimising of the truth. The man has never yet been born, who could improve upon God's way of stating truth.

The Christian workman is sure of his pay. "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ." Col. iii. 23, 24. The master may be covetous and keep back the hire of the labourer; but God sees it, and the master will answer for it in the day of God. The workman may say, "If I don't get a fair day's wage, I will not do a fair day's work." By this not only does he not better his present condition, but he forfeits the reward of the inheritance. What causes violence in the world is that too often neither masters nor men believe that there is "a Master in heaven."

Here is a good utterance by a speaker at one of the recent missionary conventions. Rev. J. H. Shakespeare said:-

We must suppress what is local and provincial. I am persuaded that if a missionary is to do any good in a heathen land, when he leaves our shores he must cease to be an Englishman.

The same truth applies of course with equal force to any missionary from any other country. And then we may say with equal truth that if any minister wishes to meet with true success in the Gospel work, he must cease to belong to any earthly country, and represent the Kingdom of heaven alone.

It seems that a large number of those American citizens who voted last year for President McKinley, really supposed that his election would secure them prosperity, and now that there is no more employment, and no increase in wages, they complain that they have been "deceived and cheated." This is no doubt true, but the worst feature of the case is that they are just as ready to be deceived the next time the politicians seek to advance their own interests by promising good times to those who vote for them. It is no doubt true that many who make these promises really think that they can make them good; but the fact remains, nevertheless, that those who take them at their own estimate, namely, that they are gods, are sure to be disappointed.

"Be Godlike in your business and business-like in your godliness."

"'When He Shall Appear'" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

"When He Shall Appear." -What then? "We shall be like Him." How is that? "And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin." 1 John iii. 2-5. Sometimes people ask, "What practical bearing has the doctrine of the second coming of Christ?" The scripture quoted shows that it has a most practical bearing on present living. "This hope" is elsewhere called "the blessed hope" of the church; and every one who has this hope of being like Christ when His glory is revealed, will be daily yielding the life to Him now, to follow in His steps.

"In the Philippines" The Present Truth 13, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

In the Philippines .-The friars in the Philippine Islands are said to hold a large share of the wealth of the islands, the compulsory tithe having come to be regarded as rent. They have many monasteries, and their barbarous rule has led to the revolt of the natives in very desperation. The revolt is still unsubdued, and the Jesuit "missionaries" are determined to regain their power. The natives are said to be willing to lay down their arms if the friars are banished and the islands allowed to be represented in the Spanish parliament.

October 28, 1897

"Religion in Italy" The Present Truth 13, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

Reviewing a recent book on Italy, the Edinburgh Review for the current quarter calls attention to the fact that very generally in Italy "worship is almost confined to attendance at mass."

Such religious teaching as there is has no reference to conduct. Sermons consist mainly of panegyrics of the saints-useful rhetorical exercises for the young clergy, but with no bearing on life.

In consequence the masses are almost as ignorant of all that pertains to life and godliness as any people of darkest heathendom.

"Geography and Religion" The Present Truth 13, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

It is seriously argued in Anglican Catholic journals that on the Continent the Roman Church is the true church. In England Anglicanism is Catholic, across the Channel Romanism is Catholic. clergyman suggests the following creed for those of his fellow clergy who make these geographical distinctions in religion:-

"I believe that the Church of Rome is in schism in England-indeed I am rude enough to call her the 'Italian Mission'-and that the Church of England is in schism in Roman Catholic countries. Therefore I believe that what is right in Paris is wrong in London.

"I believe that the Pope is infallible at Boulogne, but I believe that at Folkestone he is liable to err.

"I believe that at Dover 'Transubstantiation is repuguant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the 'nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitious.' (28th Article of the Church of England.) But I believe that at Calais 'There is made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood; which conversion the Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation.' (5th Article of the Creed of Pope Pius the Fourth.)

"I believe that at Dieppe the books of the Apocrypha are inspired. But I believe that at Newhaven they are not."

"The Sure Word. Some Prophecies of Christ's Second Coming" The Present Truth 13, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

The transfiguration on the mount was a miniature representation of the coming of the Lord in glory, to praise the righteous dead, and to translate the living. Ever after that memorable day, the coming of the Lord must have been a more vivid reality to Peter, James, and John, than it had been before.

Jesus said to them, "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He said it upon the throne of His glory," and now these three disciples could realise what that glory would be. They had been eye-witnesses of His majesty, and had beheld the glory of His coming.

SURER THAN SIGHT

Perhaps some may be inclined to say, "If I could have such evidence as that, I should have no doubt about the matter. If I could only see for myself, I should know that these things are so." Well, now read but Peter says immediately after his reference to the transfiguration:-

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter i. 19-21.

The sure word of prophecy is more sure than any panoramic view can be. Our eyes made deceive us, but the word of God "liveth and abideth for ever." It is something that is more sure than anything that man has seen; it is something that comes direct from "the Spirit of truth." Men's eyes may deceive them; but the word of prophecy does not depend upon any human faculty; it "came not in the old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

An instance of how the prophecy came not by the will of man, is afforded by the case of Balaam. It is true that Balaam was not a "holy man of God;" but the fact that he intended to pronounce a curse makes it more apparent that the prophecy came not by the will of man. Balaam was tempted by the promise of a great reward to go and curse Israel, but God, in His great love for His people, "turned the curse into a blessing." When Balak reproached Balaam for not cursing Israel, the latter replied, "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the Lord saith, that will I speak." Num. xxiv. 13.

While Balaam was thus passive in the hands of the Lord, he uttered this prophecy: "I shall see Him, but not now; I shall behold Him, but not nigh; there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city." Num. xxiv. 17-19.

Here we have one instance of the "sure word of prophecy" concerning the conduct of the Lord. Considering the circumstances under which it was uttered, it is a notable instance. It shows most fully that prophecy has in it nothing of the human, but is wholly Divine. No human frailty enters into it, but it comes direct from the Holy Spirit. Thus it is "more sure" than human eye sight. For this reason it is that it was said: "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

THE MOST ANCIENT PROPHECY

Still more ancient than the prophecy given through Balaam is the one uttered by Enoch. Jude speaks of the destruction of the wicked, and says (verses 11, 15): "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand 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 their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

The well-known prophecy uttered by Job is perhaps more ancient than that spoken by Balaam. After expressing a wish that his words might be graven in the enduring rock, he said: "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worm 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; though my reins be consumed within me." Job xix. 25-27.

This prophecy brings to view the Christian's hope, namely, the resurrection of the dead at the coming of the Lord, showing that from the earliest times this was the hope of God's people. It was "the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers." Acts xxvi. 6. But more explicit than any yet quoted, as showing "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," is the following by "the

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sweet psalmist of Israel," who could say, "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue." 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. The word of the Lord, which was in his tongue, said:-

"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. 1-5.

Again the Lord spoke by him to the same intent: "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 lie cometh, for lie cometh to judge the earth; He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth." Ps. xcvi. 11-13.

Turning to the book of the prophet lsaiah, we read as follows, beginning with the, tenth verse of the second chapter:-

"Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low. . . And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In the day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefs of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake the terrible the earth."

This language certainly gives us a vivid idea of the "power and coming" of the Lord.

Again, the Lord speaks through His servant:-

"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. 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, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." Isa. xxiv. 1-6.

Who these few men are that are left from the general destruction that overwhelms those who have transgressed the laws, is told through the same prophet in these words:-

"The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far off." Isa. xxxiii. 14-17.

That these righteous ones are the "few men" who are left after the day of the Lord has laid the land desolate, and destroyed the sinners out of it, is evident from our Saviour's words, recorded in Matt. vii. 13, 14: "Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

Jeremiah, and the later prophets, were also burdened with this same message of the power and glory of the second advent. Therefore, since that event is of such overwhelming importance, how true the words that we "do well" to "take heed" to the sure word of prophecy "as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise."

This present age is called night. Says Paul, "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." Rom. xiii. 12. And this he says in view of the fact previously stated, that it is high time to wake out of sleep, because our salvation is near. The dawning of the day, and the arising of the day-star, refer to the coming of Christ, who is "the bright and morning star." Rev. xxii. 16. So Isaiah, like Paul, tells of the night of darkness, and the coming of the dawn. Looking with prophetic sight down the ages, he says:-

"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 he seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." Isa. lx. 1-3.

This is commonly applied simply to the spread of the Gospel; but what follows, taken in connection with parallel passages in the new Testament, shows that the prophet saw the triumph of the Gospel in the final destruction of the wicked, and the salvation of the righteous in the New Jerusalem. (Read the sixtieth chapter and compare with the twenty-first of Revelation.)

The dawning of the day, and the rising of the day-star, will be when the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth, and the people shall be righteous. This present time is night because the darkness of sin covers the people. In the midst of this night, our only light is that which shines from God's Word. David said: "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Ps. cxix. 105. The lamp of prophecy, lighted from the glory that surrounds the throne of God, sheds its beams amidst the darkness that overspreads the earth, and is the wayfaring man's only guide till the glory of the Lord shall arise in full splendour upon him. Whosoever takes heed to it, his path shall be "as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Prov. iv. 18.

"The Zionist Congress" The Present Truth 13, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

Much has been said of the recently organised Zionist movement, which is an effort on the part of certain Continental Jews to provide a state for Jewish refugees in Palestine after the manner of the modern company promoter. Public attention was called to it by the congress held at Basel, Switzerland, about a month ago. One of our Basel friends who attended the congress, says of it:-

"From the first, a giant effort was made to present a solid front and harmonious action in the congress, and every speech in this direction was cheered to the echo; such enthusiasm was manifested on this point that it seemed as though the delegates were ready to adopt the platform of the Zionists without hearing it. But scarcely was the platform read when winds began to blow from every direction, causing a whirlwind and storm. The scene constantly reminded one of the description of scenes in the trial of Christ. Although centuries have wrought many changes in the Western nations, the Jews, like the nations of the East, remain almost unchanged. And, as is well known, the character of the Jewi is, to an exceptional degree, expressed in bold lines oil his face ; and when these lines are worked successively by extreme surprise, utter contempt, fiery impatience, and assumed agony, all being emphasised with corresponding gestures, the scene is so absorbing that one almost forgets to follow the hues of thought presented.

"One would naturally expect that at such a congress much would be made of the prophecies referring to the restoration made of Israel in the land of promise; but very little reference was made to these. It is evident that the movement is largely of a political character; indeed some of the leading spirits in it are freethinkers.

"It is remarkable that while the Jews have for year looked to the nations of the West as a place of refuge, all at once all efforts in this direction have been abandoned, and their whole attention has been turned to Palestine. How plain it is that the minds of all nations and classes are being prepared for the final gathering in the East! (Joel iii. 11-14.) Could a sign of the times be more plain? Doubtless the Jews, like all other nations, will be gathered in Palestine; but how different will be the outcome of that gathering front what is expected! It will not only be the inaugural of the millennium and the restoration of the true Israel, but also the final overthrow of all worldly nations, including the Jew according to the flesh. See Rev. xvi. 12-21."

Abraham believed the Gospel, and so he looked for the inheritance in the heavenly Jerusalem and the world to come. The work of proclaiming the truth and being a light to the world was taken from the Jewish nation because it refused to believe with faithful Abraham. The kingdom of God was taken from them and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof even to the true Israel of God, all who are Christ's. Instead of encouraging the fleshly Jews in this fleshly view of God's promise of the eternal spiritual inheritance, Christians ought to be constantly teaching them the Gospel of the kingdom promised to the fathers.

"For the Children. Meeting Temptation" The Present Truth 13, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

In three different ways, you will remember, Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness; and every time Jesus said, "It is written," and quoted a Scripture showing the right way. So all through His life on earth Jesus lived by the Word of God, and it was His defence. He is our example, and if every time we are tempted to do wrong we will but stop and think of what God says, and listen in faith to His words, we shall be made strong to escape the temptation. But if we are to have a word from the Lord ready as a shield every time temptation comes we must study the Bible and know what God says. The following story is told of a lad whom his companions once tried to get into a public-house to take a drink. Notice how truly the tempter confesses the reason why he could not get the lad to do wrong:-

"Oh, no, I can't go in there," said John, when one of the boys invited him. "Well, why?"

"Well, the Bible says, took not upon the wine when it is red,"-much less drink it.

The bad boy said: "I know the Bible says that, but come in and take one drink."

He replied, "I cannot do that."

"Well, why?"

"Because my Bible says, 'At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.'"

"Yes, I know the Bible says that; but come in and have one drink."

"No," he said, "my Bible says, 'If sinners entice thee, consent thou not.'"

The bad boy turned off and left, and went over to his companions; and they said:-

"Did you see him?"

"Yes."

"Did you get him to drink?"

"No, I could not get him into the house."

"Why?"

"Because," replied the bad boy, "that fellow was just as chock-full of the Bible as he could he, and I could not do anything with him."

"The Stream that Always Flows" The Present Truth 13, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?" is a Bible question that may well be asked of the multitudes who, in hard times and easy, must have their drink, whether they and their children have sufficient to eat or not. A temperance speaker quoted some statistics showing that good or bad years have little influence on the steady consumption of liquors. He said:-

"In 1883, the best trading year of the past twenty, the consumption of beer averaged 27 gallons 2 pints per head of the population. The year 1856 was the worst of the twenty, and the consumption was 26 gallons 7 pints per head. Again, 1894 was a bad year, yet the average was 29 gallons 3 pints per head, or 3 gallons and 1 pint more than the best year. That was the disheartening phase of the problem."

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

-China is considering plans for a large navy.

-Paris is preparing for a great world's exhibition in 1900.

-Western Australia report; some "new and rich gold finds."

-A tornado in the Philippine Islands last week killed 100 persons.

-Eighty-seven warships are now being constructed in Great Britain.

-The French Army now costs 629,551,397f., an increase of 11,457,000f. in twelve months.

-Crete is still in disorder, Moslems raiding "Christians," and the latter raiding Moslems.

-Another Arctic gold country, reported as rich as Klondike, is said to have been found in Alaska.

-The number of packets delivered by postmen during last year in the United Kingdom was 3,141,715,000.

-There is talk of a Millenary celebration in 1901, a thousand years from the death of King Alfred, the founder of the English nation.

-The boilermakers in London last week canme out on strike, not only against the masters but against the orders of their own union officials.

-The Japanese have entered largely into the manufacture of matches, and are now exporting 2,500,000,000 boxes annually, mostly to China an India.

-The refusal of the Masters' Federation to submit to arbitration has driven the sympathies many to the side of the engineers. The winter coming on, and no one can tell how much further the deadlock will extend.

-The tribesmen who are resisting the advance of the Indian frontier line have shown unusual skill in the art of war, and the losses on the side of the Indian army has been heavier than in any recent wars with native faces.

-Again the racial problem, particularly the rivalries of Germans and Bohemians, led last week to uproar and even fighting in the legislative halls. When the lawmakers of a nation cannot exhibit self-control, in their deliberative assemblies, it not surprising that among the people there is continual outbreaks of violence.

-The report of the Post Office seems to suggest that the public grows more careless and absentminded every year. There is an increase nearly all around in misdirected or undirected mail matter. Property to the value of ?643,171 was found in returned letters, and ?4,692 with no address at all.

-A deputation sent to Germany by the Manchester City Council to study the industrial question returned and made its report last week, to the effect that they found technical education carried far beyond anything we have in this country. As a result the deputation unanimously pronounced the German artisan in the first rank of the world's workmen. They also say that the engineering crisis here is sending much work to Germany.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

The assurance of a resurrection to life with Jesus in the last day is "the power of His resurrection" making the life now a daily living and walking with Him.

The Solicitor-General said last week that increase of armaments was necessary all round, and that "it might be necessary to resort to the ballot, so that a certain proportion of citizens might be required to serve in the militia."

We have received the first number of the Gute Gessundheit ("Good Health"), a monthly health journal published by our Society in Germany. It aims at giving practical helpful instruction in the principles of healthful living, and is sure to be a blessing to many homes.

The Church Times offers thanks for the "pleasing signs of an awakening" from the apathy that has more or less prevailed with respect to the Education campaign. "For West Lambeth a candidate has been found who, if elected, will go to the Board, not as a Progressive, nor a Moderate, nor Conservative, nor a Radical, but as a Churchman who will make the Christian religion the first item in his programme." It is very evident hat there is a strong party whose dearest wish is to make the Board schools mere adjuncts of the Church of England.

"He Himself knew what He would do." John vi. 6. This is said of Jesus, when there were thousands of hungry men and women in the desert, and He asked Philip, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" Philip at once began to calculate and plan, but his calculation only served more clearly to show the difficulties of the situation, without adding any help. But Jesus was not at all disquieted, "for He Himself knew what He would do."

So when the Lord told Ananias to go to the street called Straight, and lay hands on one Saul, of Tarsus, Ananias began at once to remonstrate, and to tell the Lord how much evil Saul had done. Just as if the Lord didn't know anything about it. "I have heard by many of this man," said Ananias, "how much evil he hath done to Thy saints at Jerusalem." Yes, but the Lord knew it, not by hearsay, but by experience, for He was the one persecuted. But "He Himself knew what He would do," so He bade Ananias go his way and perform his errand without further parleying.

Like Ananias, we often imagine that because we have just heard a piece of news, it must be wholly new to the Lord. We see something loom up threateningly before us, whether shadow or substance we cannot tell, and straightway we begin to expostulate with the Lord, or, perhaps, like the children of Israel in the desert, find fault with Him for bringing us this way. Why can we not learn that He knows and cares? "He knoweth the way that I take; when He hath tried Me, I shall come forth as gold." Job xxiii. 10. The one thing that all men, whether professed Christians or not, need to learn, is to believe in God. He is, and He is allwise, all-loving, and all-powerful.

Speaking recently of the Sunday-closing Bill, which is now the chief object of "temperance" zeal, the Bishop of Norwich, while favouring it, did not think that at present it is practicable, in that it is "one-sided and partial legislation," applying only to the poor, and leaving the rich free to drink as much as they please. He said, moreover, that his personal experience taught him that "no person would more heartily welcome a very great restriction on Sunday opening-say to quite a short period in the middle of the day-than the great bulk of honest and right-thinking publicans themselves."

But nobody ever yet heard of a publican of any kind who was in favour of a diminution in the drink traffic, any more than of a clothing merchant who was in favour of people wearing less clothing and a less expensive sort. So the very fact that publicans can be cited as favouring the Sunday closing of public-houses, shows that it is in no sense whatever a temperance measure.

Instead of being a temperance measure, the Sunday-closing effort is in reality an attempt to build up Sunday observance at the expense of temperance reform. The whole tendency of the agitation is to teach people that there is nothing inherently wrong in the liquor traffic, but that the evil consists in carrying it on on Sundays. To illustrate: A mother sees her little boy playing ball on Sunday, and being a devout Sunday observer, says, "John, you must not play ball to-day; it is Sunday." John understands perfectly well that his mother has no objection to ball-playing in itself, but only to Sunday play. But suppose John were worrying a kitten, and his mother should say, "You ought not to worry that kitten to-day, my boy, it is Sunday;" could he think anything else than that it was perfectly allowable to worry kittens on other days than Sunday?

It may be urged that if the public can be educated up to the point of accepting the restriction of the liquor traffic to the last six days of the week, it will be a long step towards getting them to see that it should be suppressed altogether. If this were true, then it would apply to all other business. No; all that can be won by the Sunday-closing agitation is more homage to the Sunday. If there were in it any real recognition of the evil of the liquor traffic, then the man who saw the point would he opposed to the traffic every day. Sin is sin, no matter on what day of the week it is committed. If a man commits a murder, the sin is not enhanced by the fact that the deed was done on the Sabbath. It is a fact that many things are lawful on the six working days of the week, which are not lawful on the Sabbath day, and many of those who believe that Sunday is the Sabbath are labouring hard to put liquor-selling in that list. If they wish to teach the stricter observance of Sunday, they have that right, but let them not delude themselves with the idea that they are furthering the cause of temperance.

The last six months have, says the Missionary Review, witnessed a remarkable change in Ecuador. For more than three hundred years, since the invasion and conquest by Pizarro and his Spaniards, Ecuador has been under almost exclusive piestly rule. The only religion tolerated has been the Roman Catholic. The dominant political party-the conservative-was simply the clerical party. But a curious incident of the late war between China and Japan led to a revolution against this clerical party, and last summer this revolution was successful. The leader of the liberal or revolutionary party, General Alfaro, was chosen president. He is in favour of religious liberty; the constitution has been revised, and the first Protestant missionaries have been permitted to enter the country.

November 4, 1897

"Front Page" The Present Truth 13, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

"Behold, God exalteth by His power: who teacheth like Him?" Job xxxvi. 22.

God is a Teacher. He invites all men to attend His school. "Come now," He says, "and let us reason together." "Learn of Me," He pleads. And the lessons can be learnt only of Him because He alone has power to teach them.

The study is God Himself,-His life and power and glory, as manifested in saving men. This is not as other knowledge and cannot be learnt by merely mental exercise. "And this is life eternal that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." It is life to know this, and it can be taught only by the Teacher who can put the knowledge into the life.

We come to the Teacher and say, "Teach me Thy way, O Lord," and He takes us by the hand and leads us in it. We would learn His meekness, and gentleness and righteousness, and lo, He subdues the sin and headstrong selfishness and lives His gentle life within us. He gives to us the knowledge of the power of eternal life by His own indwelling presence, living the Divine life in the soul. Heaven cannot contain Him, but He dwells with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, and that trembleth at His word. What a Teacher we have in Him, so patient in instructing and so strong with almighty power to teach. Yet only the meek, the one willing to live His life, can even He teach His way.

"Kicking Against the Pricks" The Present Truth 13, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

"And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest; it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." Acts ix. 3. These were the words of the Lord to Saul of Tarsus as he was on his way to Damascus to destroy all the followers of Christ in that city. By considering them carefully, we get an insight into a bit of Saul's previous history.

In the first place, we see that Saul had not been at peace with his own mind, while persecuting the church of Christ, He had been pricked in his conscience. He had been under conviction that the doctrine he was seeking to root out was the truth, yet old prejudices derived from the instruction of the priests and doctors of the law, which had been his life study would not yield, and so time after time he had sought to banish these convictions by renewed zeal in persecution. In these efforts he was sincere, for he could not think that the priests and rulers and learned doctors were all wrong, and the despised sect of Nazarenes in the right; therefore he strove against the prickings of conscience as against the whisperings of Satan.

In the second place, we learn that just as Saul was unconsciously persecuting the Lord, even so the Lord, without his recognising the fact, was patiently giving him instruction all the time. The expression, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks," is an allusion to the way in which oxen were driven, namely, with a sharp goad. A stubborn ox would sometimes kick against the goad, but this only made his case the worse.

In the Hebrew language the word for "ox goad" is derived from a word meaning "to teach." It was with thorns of the desert that Gideon "taught the men of Succoth." Judges viii. 16. It was with a sharp goad that the oxen were reminded of their duty, and taught the way they should go. Even so by the sharp conviction of the Holy Spirit, the Lord was seeking to teach Saul the right way, while Saul was stubbornly resisting.

The Lord was pricking Saul's conscience to awaken him, because He had chosen him for a special work. "He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel; for I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake." Acts ix. 15, 16. See also Gal. i. 15, 16. When we recall the cases of Jeremiah (Jer. i. 4, 5), John the Baptist (Luke i. 13-17), and others that are specially mentioned in the Bible, together with the statement of Christ, that He has given "to every man his work" (Mark xiii. 34), we may well believe that God has a definite work for every man in the world, and that He is seeking to enlighten all in regard to that work, and to lead them to do it. Some shake off all instruction, casting the words of the Lord behind them, so that they never rightly learn what their work in this world is; others come to the point where they see clearly what the Lord would have them do, but are frightened at the hardships involved, and refuse to go out while others, like Saul of Tarsus, make an entire surrender,

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in view of the whole situation, and go forward in their appointed work with a light heart, because no trials ever come to them that they are not prepared for beforehand.

"Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." Heb. xii. 6. He lets affliction come upon them, but it is only in love that He may teach them. "Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." James v. 11. The Lord allowed terrible afflictions to come upon Job, but it was not because He rejoiced in human suffering, but because He would instruct Job, and bring him into closer relation to Himself. "Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy word." Ps. cxix. 67. "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes." Verse 71.

The Lord calls all to Him, that they may learn of Him, but the only way He can teach us some things is by affliction. "We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God." Acts xiv. 34. Even Christ, "though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." Heb. v. 8. If we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified together with http://Him.Hom.viii.17.Let Him. Rom. viii. 17. Let affliction, then, of whatever sort it may be, everything that is crossing to our disposition, or seems to be contrary to us, even though it be the direct result of our own misconduct, be received as from the hand of the Lord, and we shall be sure to experience good from it. From our weakness, let us learn meekness; for "the meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His way." Ps. xxv. 9. Then instead of being obliged to be taught as the horse or the mule, we shall know what it is to be instructed in the way that we should go, guided by the eye of the Lord. Ps. xxxii. 8, 9.

It is not difficult for one who does not desire the truth to find an excuse for rejecting light. When Jesus sent the message to John the Baptist, telling of the work accomplished by the Gospel, He said, "And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me." Even His life gave occasion for those to take offence who did not desire His life in themselves. Those who wanted life received it, those who wanted an excuse for keeping on in their own way found it.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. Resting in God" The Present Truth 13, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

Before we begin the fourth chapter of Hebrews, let us briefly review the third chapter; for, although we have a chapter heading thrown in, there is not the slightest break in the subject. It is impossible to understand the fourth chapter unless the third stands clearly in mind.

In the beginning of the third chapter we are told about the house of God, the rule of which is faithfulness. "God is faithful," and Christ the Son was faithful in all His house, even as Moses was faithful as a servant. We are God's house, provided we hold fast our confidence, that is, provided we are faithful to the end.

If we are thus faithful, we shall find rest in God's house, for it is a place of rest. When Naomi told her two daughters-in-law to return to then own people, because she herself was about to go back to Judea, she said, "The Lord grant that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband." Ruth i. 9. God sustains many relations to His people; indeed He is the fulness of every relation, so that He is Father, Brother, King, and Husband, for He represents Himself as married to the house of Israel. So He gives us the blessing of rest in His house. We become members of God's household by faith (for it is a "household of faith" (Gal. vi. 10), and faith brings rest, as we learn from the statement that "they could not enter in because of unbelief."

Ancient Israel, like the people of these days, saw the works of the Lord, but did not become acquainted with His ways, and therefore they did not enter into His rest. It needs no argument to prove that it is impossible to enter into the Lord's rest while ignorant of His ways; that is self-evident. To know God is eternal life, and there is no eternal life except in the knowledge of Him; but eternal life is eternal rest, because it is everlasting youth. It is unconquerable. Life in light, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness does not quench it. The darker it is, the more brightly does the true light appear. Rest, therefore, God's rest, the only real and enduring rest, is found only in God's life, in an experimental knowledge of His ways.

THE CHARACTERISTIC OF REST

Rest must follow labour. Indeed, rest presupposes labour. But more than this: rest means labour completed. No one can rest from a work that is unfinished. It is true that we can cease our physical exertions for a time, but we do not rest from the labour until we have done with it. We may say that we are resting; but if we must again take up our round of work, that shows that we do not

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rest from our labour. Still more: one does not rest from a task that is unfinished, even though for a time he remits his exertions, for his mind is not at rest. If the night comes on, and we see that there is a task that we ought to have completed, but which is still unfinished, our rest is unsatisfactory. We have regret for the past and anxiety for the future, and though we lay our bodies down to sleep, our rest is broken. Now it is an undeniable truth that,

"Labour with what zeal we will,
Something still remains undone,
Something uncompleted still
Waits the rising of the sun.

"By the bedside, on the stair,
At the threshold, near the gates,
With its menace or its prayer,
Like a mendicant it waits;

"Waits, and will not go away;
Waits, and will not be gainsayed;
By the cares of yesterday
Each to-day is heavier made;

"Till at length the burden seems
Greater than our strength can bear,
Heavy as the weight of dreams,
Pressing on us everywhere.

"And we stand from day to day,
Like the dwarfs of times gone by,
Who, as Northern legends say,
On their shoulders held the sky."

Perfect Work .-But in order that there shall be real, perfect rest, something more is necessary than that a piece of work shall merely be done, in the ordinary use of the word; it must be well done. This is really comprehended in the expression, "work finished," for nothing is done until it is done right. Perfect rest must follow perfect work-work all done, and work well done. When work is thus done, then rest must follow; one cannot in such a case do anything else than rest, and Oh, how sweet such rest is! how inexpressibly enjoyable! What would not one give for such rest? And then to think of rest not merely for a day or an hour, but for ever! That alone would make heaven, even on this old earth.

Unknown to this World .-Such rest as that this world cannot give, because it knows it not. No man can find it in his own work, for no man can, as already seen, do perfect work. "Every man at his best state is altogether vanity." Ps. xxxix. 5. "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Isa. lxiv. 6. Of the whole world it is said, "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Rom. iii. 12. "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. viii. 12. Every man finds in himself the proof of this. No man ever yet did a thing that could not be improved, and of which he himself could not see the possibility of improvement. If a man invents a machine, he spends the rest of his life making improvements on it. If he writes a book, it is no sooner finished than he would like to get out a new edition. Who has not at some time said, "If I had that to do over again"-or "If I had my life to live over again." How then can a mind find rest by his own works? Impossible; because since his work is always incomplete and imperfect, there is something always before him to be done. And so the man toils and struggles in the vain attempt to reach perfection and thus find rest for his soul. Vain attempt indeed it is, for the more he toils and struggles, the more worn out he becomes. "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." Isa. lvii. 20. If he persists in seeking rest by his own efforts, he will work himself into the grave, literally tired to death.

Perfect Rest With God .-"As for God, His way is perfect." Ps. xviii. 30. He does everything right, and does it right the first time. "I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be put to it, not anything taken from it; and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him." Eccl. iii. 14. God never has to say, "if I had that to do over again, I should make this improvement." His goodness is unsearchable, and His righteousness endureth for ever. And He has given Himself to us, that we might be partakers of His perfection. "Oh, how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men!" Ps. xxxi. 19. Therefore Christ, who is the fulness of God, and whose name is "God with us," 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 Iowly of heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Matt. xi. 38, 30.

Rest in Confidence .-In God's house is rest, and we are His house "if we hold fast the confidence." Heb. iii. 6. Rest, therefore, comes by faith. This is self-evident from the fact that a man cannot find rest in himself. Rest is found only in meekness and lowliness. A man must acknowledge the truth, namely, that in him dwells no good thing, before he will accept the perfection that God alone gives. "For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength; and ye would not." Isa. xxx. 13. No; men in these days, just as Israel of old, "being ignorant of God's righteousness; and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." Rom. x. 3. Men who will acknowledge they cannot do their own work as well as they would like to, and that they cannot accomplish as much of it as they would like to, feel themselves perfectly capable of doing God's work. As if any being less than God could do the work of God! As though the creature could do the work of the Creator!

When the Jews asked, "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" Jesus replied, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 28, 29. A child cannot do a man's work; but, compared with God, the greatest man is less than the puniest babe; therefore it is folly for any man to think of doing God's work. "His work is honourable and glorious." Ps. cxi. 3. God's work is nothing less than creation. Now all God's works are in Christ; 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. 16, 17, R.V. Therefore whoever receives Christ, receives the perfect works of God. But we receive Christ by believing on Him. John i. 12. Christ dwells in the heart by faith. Eph. iii. 17. So it is that the work of God is to believe on Him whom God hath sent. The Jews in the days of Moses, like the Jews in the days of Christ's earthly ministry, would not accept Christ and the rest that He alone can give. "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." Heb. iii. 19.

An Exhortation to Us .-"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." Heb. iv. 1.

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Thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear." Rom. xi. 20. It is the same exhortation that is given in Heb. iii. 12: "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." These exhortations, following as they do immediately after the statement that "they could not enter in because of unbelief," show us that the same rest that was held out to them is offered to us. We are to take heed lest we lose it even as they did. This is shown even more plainly still in the next verse.

The Same Gospel .-"For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." Heb. iv. 2. There are some professed believers of the Bible, who deny that the Gospel is more than nineteen hundred years old, claiming that it was not preached before the appearance of Christ on earth. Such ones virtually deny any salvation for all those who lived before Christ's first advent; for salvation is by Jesus Christ alone (Acts iv. 10-12), and the preaching of Christ is the Gospel (Rom. i. 1-3); if, then, there was no Gospel for four thousand years, then of course Christ was not preached in all that time, and so there was no salvation. But the Psalms, to say nothing of the rest of the Bible, are full of Christ. How often do we find references to the Lord's Anointed, namely, Christ, for "Christ" means "anointed." Jesus says that Moses wrote of Him (John v. 46), and Paul writes: "The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached the Gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed." Gal. iii. 5. Ancient Israel "drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ." 1 Cor. x. 1. But as they did not drink by faith, the Word-Christ-did not profit them. They murmured, and in their murmuring they tempted Christ. 1 Cor. x. 9. There is only one Gospel (Gal. i. 8, 9), so that the Gospel which they had is identical with that which is now preached to us. See 1 Peter i. 10-12. Most men would think that it would be putting it strongly to say that the Gospel was preached unto them as well as unto us; but the apostle tells us that the Gospel is preached to us, as well as it was to them; so that we have no more excuse than they had. They had the first opportunity; we are simply called to take what they refused. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.

Entering into Rest .-"For we which have believed do enter into rest." Heb. iv. 3. The proof of this follows in the statement, "As I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest." R.V. That was because they did not believe. The positive side of that oath is, that those who believe shall enter into rest. The rest remains, is left behind for us, for it existed in the days of Israel in the wilderness, and they would not go in; therefore we enter in as soon as we believe. This is seen from the statement already quoted, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 29. But the work of God is complete and perfect; therefore to have the work of God is to have His rest.

Work Finished and Rest Prepared .-They could not enter into God's rest, because of unbelief, "although the works were finished from the foundation of the world." What does that signify?-Simply that the rest was prepared from the foundation of the world; for finished work means rest. When work is finished, rest must follow.

Remember that the rest offered is God's rest; there is, indeed, no other. This rest is found in Christ, who calls all the weary to Himself. The rest is found in Christ, because in Him are all the works of God; He is the righteousness of God. Only in Him is there righteousness and strength.

Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The power of the cross is creative power, for "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Cor. v. 17), or, as the margin of the Revision has it, "there is a new creation." So we see the cross from the foundation of the world.

"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, prepared that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 8-10, margin. We are created in Christ unto good works, but long before we were created the good works were prepared for us; they were finished from the foundation of the world. As soon as man was created, he found everything prepared for him. The Divine power of God had provided for him all things that pertain unto life and godliness. But as before stated, the cross of Christ is creation; therefore on the cross Christ cried out, "It is finished," thus indicating that in His cross, and in that alone, could be found the perfect works that were prepared for man from the foundation of the world.

What a glorious Gospel of great joy! The works of righteousness are all done, and we have but to accept them in Christ, and walk in them. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Rom. x. 4. He has overcome the world (John xvi. 33) and the warfare is finished in Him. Isa. xl. 2. Therefore our faith in Christ is the victory that hath overcome the world. There is no other way under heaven that men can get the victory over sin, except by grasping and holding fast by faith to the fact that sin and Satan have already been conquered. Oh, why will weary, sin-laden souls seek to get righteousness by their own efforts, when the perfect righteousness of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ is all ready to their hand? Cease your vain strivings, and allow God to work in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

"Come, weary soul, and here find rest,
Accept redemption, and be blest;
The Christ who died, by God is crowned,
To pardon on redemption ground."

The Seal of Perfection .-The works were finished from the foundation of the world. Creation and redemption are the same, as we read, in His Son "we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, . . . for in Him were all things created. Col. i. 11-16. The cross of Christ redeems us by creating us anew. All this was done-the works were finished-from the foundation of the world. What is the proof of this?-"For He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in this place again, They shall not enter into My rest." Heb. iv. 4, 5. "God did rest the seventh day from all, His works." That is proof that the works were finished, and that the rest was ready. The work being finished, rest must follow, and so it did, on the seventh day; and this, as the fifth verse in connection with the fourth shows, was the very same rest which the unbelief of the Jews excluded them from, and which God now offers to us.

"In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." "The seventh day is the Sabbath of

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the Lord thy God;" and as Sabbath means rest, and nothing else, we have God's own word for it that the Sabbath of the seventh day is His rest. Ex. xx. 8-11.

After the record of each day of creation we read, "and God saw that it was good." At the close of each day the work was perfect as far as it had been done; but it was not finished, and therefore God could not rest from it until the close of the sixth day. Then God rested, and the seventh day was thus the seal of completion, of perfection. So when we who have wandered from God, and wearied ourselves with our own work, come to God through the cross of Christ, and are there made new creatures, He gives us His Sabbath as the seal of the perfect righteousness that Christ has wrought for us. So as the Sabbath is the memorial of creation,-of creation perfect and complete,-and the cross of Christ creates anew, it follows that the Sabbath is the memorial and the pledge of redemption through His blood.

Only by Faith .-"By grace are ye saved through faith." The work of God is to believe (John vi. 29), and since the work of God is finished and perfect, it is by faith that we enter into rest. The Sabbath, therefore, is not a substitute for faith, but a sign of faith. Without faith, there can be no Sabbath-keeping, for God says that the faithless ones cannot enter into His rest. Whoever professes to keep the Sabbath of the Lord, and yet does not fully and completely trust Christ for righteousness, is playing at being a Christian, He has at best only a form of godliness without the power. We do not keep the Sabbath in order to be saved, but because we are saved. Rest in God is salvation, and they who do not know rest and peace in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, do not know Sabbath-keeping, even though they nominally rest on the last day of the week. The Lord gives His word for it that they who truly keep His Sabbath shall delight themselves in the Lord. Isa. Iviii. 13, 14. The Sabbath, therefore, God's Sabbath, means "joy in the Holy Ghost."

We must leave the further consideration of this subject till next week. This much, however, may be said here: Just as each day of God's work was perfect, and the Sabbath came as the crown of perfection when all was finished, even so there are many people whom God is forming into His own image, who have not as yet come to the light of the Sabbath, or who know it in form only, but not in reality, and yet who are counted perfect in God's sight. The work of grace was begun in them, and He who has begun a good work in them will perfect it unto the day of the Lord Jesus, and ere that perfect day comes they will have seen the truth of the Sabbath, and in it will have learned to rejoice in a power infinitely greater than any they had experienced or even dreamed of in all their previous Christian life. They will by no means consider it a burden laid upon them, since rest cannot possibly be a burden, but they will rejoice in it as a glorious gift which God allows them to share with Him.

"Another Gospel" The Present Truth 13, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

NOT OF REFORMATION BY THE POWER OF GOD

Speaking of the craze for religious reform by political methods, which has taken even more complete possession of the churches in America than with us yet, the American Sentinel, of New York, very truly says:-

"To meet the demand of some of the prominent, religious 'reform' movements of the day, we need a new Bible, in which there shall be some very material alterations of important texts. For instance, the first verses of Isaiah lxi. would need to read like this:-

"The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach the gospel of Christian citizenship; He hath sent me to bind the transgressors of the law, to proclaim captivity to Sabbath desecrators, and the closing of the prison doors upon many that are at liberty; to proclaim the turning of all bad men out of political office, and the reformation of the world by the power of the civil law."

"The Bantu Deity" The Present Truth 13, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

Speaking of the religion of the Bantu peoples of West Africa, Miss Kingsley, the traveller, says:-

They regard their god as the creator of man, plants, animals, the earth, and they hold that having made them he takes no further interest in the affair.

This idea is more catholic than is usually confessed in words. The evolutionist's God is just such an one, who, having started the world has left it to itself. And every man who determines to follow his own evil way, practically says that the Lord hath forsaken the earth. "Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their council from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?"

And do not professing believers all too often put the Lord afar off in their thoughts, in spite of His assurance that He is not afar off but near? Some trouble comes, or some perplexity, and the anxious burden of care presses heavily, and the tried one thinks that he must work out or wear out the problem alone. The Bantu heathen say that their god takes no interest in their affairs. When men who profess better things shut God out from actual interposition in every-day life and trials they make the same cruel confession. The believer in the God that made the heavens

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and the earth, and that sustains all things by His word of power may boldly confess, "He is near that justifieth me. . . . Behold, the Lord God will help me." It is a great thing to believe that God actually lives, and that He does things in this world of His. Just here is the difference between heathenism and Christianity.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

-Electric cabs are now a familiar sight in London streets.

-The journey round the world may now be accomplished in sixty days.

-The largest cargo steamer afloat has just been launched in Belfast for the White Star Line.

-In the United Kingdom 687,000 persons are engaged in coal-mining, and 16,000 in iron-mining.

-It is said that last year the sum of ?8,000,000 was paid in gate-money in the United Kingdom to see football matches.

-Over twenty English and Scotch towns own their own tramways, and make a large profit for municipal expenses.

-Spain's reply to the American note on Cuba declares that Spain can never admit interference with her government of Cuba.

-Russia is founding naval schools in the chief Baltic and Black Sea ports, to prepare men for the navy which is being rapidly increased.

-The Greeks have just discovered that the torpedoes which their battleships carried all through the recent war were perfectly harmless, lacking the fulminating caps.

-The Duchess of Teck, whose sudden death last week came as so sad a surprise to the public, was specially known to the poor of Richmond and vicinity for her constant attention to their needs.

-The anarchy in the Austro-Hungarian parliament is said to threaten the union of the two countries, Hungarian statesmen proposing to withdraw at the end of the year if the scenes continue.

-Warned by the plague, the Bombay authorities are discussing a scheme for demolishing the slum districts of the city and rebuilding on sanitary principles. It is estimated to cost about five millions.

-The clash of British and French interests on the Niger has come to somewhat of a crisis, and two rival expeditious are racing for the disputed territory. The natives can hardly be blamed for not knowing which side is entitled to their territory. The partition of Africa, it is to be feared, may yet bring Great Powsers into collision outside of Africa.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

The life of Christ is the example for Christians; and only by His life now can the believer walk in His steps.

"Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Acts viii. 35. What was the scripture?-It was Isa. liii. 7, 8, "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter," etc. And yet people professing to believe the Bible tell us that the Gospel was not known in the days of Isaiah. Not only Isaiah, but all the prophets, give witness to Jesus, "that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." Acts x. 43. "I said, I will confess My transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin," is the testimony of David. Ps. xxxii. 5.

"But do we not read that in other ages the Gospel was not made known?" Let us see: In Eph. iii. 4, 5 we read about "the mystery of Christ," which is the Gospel, "which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto us His holy apostles and prophets by the Holy Spirit." Thus we see that prophets, as well as apostles, understood and made known the Gospel.

Read the words of Paul in Roman xvi. 25-27, R.V.: "Now to Him that is able to stablish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal, but now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever." The Gospel existed in God from eternity, but was first made known by "the scriptures of the prophets."

Again, we read in 1 Peter i. 10-13 that the prophets enquired and searched diligently into the matter of salvation, and that the things which they ministered are identical with the things "which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven."

This is not a mere theoretical question; it is intensely practical. One might say, "If we accept the Gospel now, what difference does it make to us whether it was preached thousands of years ago or not?" It makes just this difference, that if we deny that it was preached in the days of old, then we put away from us the scriptures which contain the Gospel as it was preached of old, and thus in reality lose the whole, for he who does not learn of Moses rejects Christ. John v. 46, 47: "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?"

The Bible is one book, with one purpose from Genesis to Revelation. Rev, Alexander Mackenzie has well said: "There is no reason for separating the Bible one part from another. Certainly there is no reason for dividing the Old Testament and the New. One of the greatest pieces of injury ever done to the church was the dividing of the Bible. 'Alexander the coppersmith,' Paul says, 'did me much evil.' But he hasn't done half as much as Alexander the bookbinder; and when he adds the impertinence of inserting a family register between Malachi and Matthew, the injury is aggravated."

And it might also be added that whoever first labelled the first portion and the last portion of the Bible respectively the Old Testament and the New Testament, inflicted inexcusable damage upon the church and all mankind. Now that the names are fixed, it is almost impossible to avoid using them in reference, but all should understand that there is no more reason in dividing the Bible into two parts between Malachi and Matthew than between John and the Acts of the apostles. The apostles had nothing but what is termed the Old Testament to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ from, and it was ample; for there is not a truth taught in the later Scriptures that is not set forth in the earlier writings.

Sometimes people have have been blessed while walking in all the light they have known plead these special blessings as a reason for refusing to walk on into fuller light. It is most unreasonable, as every blessing is only to lead us on into deeper experiences; and to stop advancing when the way is plainly seen leading on before, is to lose the benefit of previous experiences.

The following paragraph from a report from two of our Society's workers in a Canadian town shows how a special blessing received in faith but prepares the heart to hear the Word and receive still further blessings:-

An invalid lady came from a distance, having learned that we believe in divine healing. She was prayed for, according to James v. 14, 15. The Lord verified His promise to her, which put songs of praise in her mouth. She remained several days, during which time we taught her "he way of the Lord more perfectly." She returned to her home, and began to keep the Sabbath. She is distributing out literature, and has created a good interest. Another woman from a neighbouring town, who had been afflicted for twenty-five years, was also prayed for in like manner, and afterward instructed upon present truth. She also resolved to keep the Lord's Sabbath, and returned to her home with the assurance that God had verified His promise to her.

"'The Prayer of Faith'" The Present Truth 13, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Prayer of Faith." -A father prays, "Give us this day our daily bread," and God gives the daily bread. But the faith of the father leads him to use the strength and wisdom and all the means provided by God to enable him to earn his livelihood. And all the time he lives by faith. "The prayer of faith shall save the sick," is the promise. But faith in this case no more neglects to make use of all the wisdom and means that Providence affords than in the matter of the daily bread. The use of all the wisdom that may be available in supplying proper conditions for the body in illness is no more a denial of faith than is the use in faith of all the wisdom and means provided for earning a livelihood to supply the needs of the body in health.

"Full of Good Works" The Present Truth 13, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

Full of Good Works .-"This woman [Dorcas] was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did." Acts ix. 36. That was why she did so many good works-she was full of them. Many people try to become good by doing good works; but that is impossible; for a man cannot do good works unless he has them in him; and if he has the good works in him, he will be good. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good! Luke vi. 45. If one is full of good works and almsdeeds, it will not be difficult for them to appear. But how to be full of them? The way is plain: "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." Phil. i. 11.

November 11, 1897

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. The Rest that Remains" The Present Truth 13, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

We have seen that perfect rest follows finished and perfect work. No such work is ever found among men, and therefore real rest is unknown in this world. But "as for God, His way is perfect; and therefore His rest is perfect. The children of Israel did not learn the ways of God and therefore they did not enter into His rest. In Christ Jesus we are created unto good works, which God hath before prepared, that we should walk in them (Eph. ii. 10), and these works are ours by faith, for "this is the work of God, that we believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 29. The Jews did not believe, therefore they did not get the works of God, and consequently they could not enter into His rest; for since God's works are perfect and complete, whoever has the works, has the rest, and he in whom the works of God do not show themselves, does not have the rest.

"Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said, As I have sworn in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into My rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached, entered not in because of unbelief; again, He limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; as it is said, To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would He not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His. Let us labour, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. For the Word of God is quick and powerful." R.V., "living and active." Heb. iv. 1-12.

It may be well to state that the words; "If they shall enter into My rest," are the word for word rendering of the Hebrew idiom for, "They shall not enter into My rest." We shall therefore, without further comment, use the English form of expression, as it is in the Revised Version, instead of the Hebrew form.

It should also be noted that in verse the Revised Version has "Joshua" instead of "Jesus." Those who have Bibles with marginal references will find the word "Joshua" also in the margin. The two are identical in the Hebrew, being derived from the verb meaning, to save, to deliver. "Jesus" means Saviour (Matt. i. 21) as of course Joshua does. Joshua, who led the people of Israel into the earthly Canaan, is a type of Jesus, who leads His people into the heavenly Canaan-the heavenly country for which the patriarchs of old looked. Heb. xi. 16. W hen we recall the subject of the third chapter, how the Israelites failed to enter into rest because of unbelief, and note that in the immediate connection we are told that the promise is left to us because they

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failed, we can readily see that the Joshua who succeeded Moses as leader of Israel, is the one referred to in verse 8. So in our study we shall read it, "For if Joshua had given them rest, then would He not afterward have spoken of another day."

Now, since the main thing is to find out exactly what the Scripture says, we will spend a few moments in asking and answering some

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

Why could not Israel of old enter into God's rest?

"They could not enter in because of unbelief."

What must we therefore fear?

"Lest any" one "should seem to come short of it."

What hope is there of our entering into His rest?

"A promise is left us of entering into His rest."

How do we stand related to it, as compared with the people of old?

"Unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them."

What benefit did they derive from the Gospel?

"The Word preached did not profit them."

Why not?

"Not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."

If we, unlike them, have faith, what advantage shall we have?

"We which have believed do enter into rest."

What assurance is given?

"I have sworn in My wrath, they shall not enter into My rest."

What have we seen to be the only reason why they could not enter in?

"Because of unbelief."

What evidence is there that they might at any time have entered in if they had believed?

"The works were finished from the foundation of the world."

What did God in one place say of the seventh day, which showed that the works were all finished?

"He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works."

What followed God's finished work?

"God did rest."

When did He rest?

On "the seventh day."

What then is the seventh day?

The seventh day is the Rest of the Lord thy God." Ex. xx. 9. (The word Sabbath is simply the untranslated Hebrew word meaning "rest.")

Having said in one place of the seventh day, "God did rest the seventh day from all His works," what did He say of it in another place?

"They shall not enter into My rest."

Nevertheless what must necessarily take place?

"Some must enter therein."

Therefore since they to whom the rest was first offered entered not into it because of unbelief, what has God done?

"Again He limiteth a certain day."

To what time is the offer limited? "To-day."

Where is this word found?

"In David."

What is the word that is spoken to us?

"To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts?"

How is the longsuffering and forbearance of God shown in this offer?

He repeats it in David, "after so long a time."

But of what may we be fully assured, since "some must enter therein," and the ones to whom it was first offered rejected it?

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."

What time is allowed us in which to accept the rest?

"To-day."

What is the condition of one who has entered into His rest?

"He also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His."

Ceasing from his own works, what works, if any, does he have?

"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 prepared, that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 8-10.

What are we then exhorted to do?

"Let us labour therefore to enter into rest."

But what shall we do in order to work the works of God ?

"This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 29.

What in our lesson shows that this is the way we are to labour to enter into rest?

We are exhorted to Iabour to enter into rest "lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."

What shows that the kind of labour that consists in receiving God's Word in simple faith, does not mean idleness and indifference?

"The Word of God is living and active."

God's Oath .-In verse 3 we have the words, "As I have sworn in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest," as proof that "we which have believed do enter into rest." The only oath of God we find recorded in the Bible is in Gen. xxii. 16-18, where God swore to Abraham that in his Seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed, and that his Seed should possess the gate of His enemies; and this is the same that constituted Christ Priest after the order of Melchizedek. See Heb. vi. 13-30. That was a promise of rest, consequent on Abraham's faith. The promise of justification by faith is equal to a statement that the faithless shall not be justified, and likewise the statement, made of the unbelieving, "They shall not enter into rest," is only the reverse side of the oath that they who believe shall enter into rest.

Faith, Works, Rest .-"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." Human works have nothing to do with salvation; for, as we have previously seen, they are always imperfect, and can therefore never be finished, so that rest can follow. But God's works do save us. "For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth." Ps. Ixxiv. 12. "Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work; I will triumph in the works of Thy hands." Ps. xcii. 1. The works of God do save us; and these works we make ours by faith. John vi. 29. The works are perfect and are all done, so that in getting then we get rest; therefore it is that "we which have believed do enter into rest." Whoever believes finds that rest. Our part, therefore, is to acknowledge that our best works are only a damage to us (See Phil. ii. 6, 7), and to recognise and worship God as the sole Creator of all things.

When the Rest was Prepared .-Those who did not and would not believe, could not enter into rest. Of them God swore, "They shall not enter into My rest," and this in spite of the fact that "the works were finished from the foundation of the

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world." It was not because the rest was not ready, that they could not enter in, for it was ready and waiting from the foundation of the world, when the perfect work of God was finished.

What Works? -What works were finished from the foundation of the world?-Manifestly, the works of creation; for in proof of the statement that the works were finished from the foundation of the world, we have this: "For He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works." That "certain place" is Gen. ii. 1-3, where, after the detailed account of the six day's work in creating the heavens and the earth, we read: "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 God created and made." The "finished works," therefore, which afforded the rest, were the new heavens and the new earth, which God pronounced "very good."

Two things are said of the seventh day. In one place God says of it, "And God did rest the seventh day from all His works." In another place He said of it, "They shall not enter into My rest." Thus we see that the rest which God enjoyed on the seventh day, when creation was finished, is the identical rest which He offered to Israel of old, and which He now offers to us. That is the rest into which those who believe do enter in. Let no one think that this is a belittling of God's rest. No; it is not that God's rest is a small thing, but that the Sabbath is a much greater and more blessed affair than most, even of those who regard it, know it to be. God's rest is infinite and eternal; and the seventh day is the Sabbath-rest of the Lord.

Seal and Mark of Perfect, New Creation .-Jesus says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. xi. 35. He gives rest because in Him the works of God are perfect. "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." In Him "we have our redemption, the forgiveness of sins, . . . for in him were all things created." Redemption through Christ is nothing else than creation-a new creation. Just before His crucifixion, Christ said to the Father, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." John xvii. 4. And when He hung on the cross He cried, "It is finished; and He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." John xix. 30. Thus He indicated that in the cross are to be found all the perfect, finished works of the new creation. Now the Sabbath was given as the sign of a perfect creation completed; therefore it is the sign of those perfect works restored by the cross of Christ. That is to say: Since the Sabbath is the sign of a perfect creation completed, and by the cross of Christ a new creation is accomplished, the Sabbath must be the sign of the cross. Try it and see if it is not.

A Gift, Not a Task Exacted .-Here is where so many people mistake: they think that the Sabbath is a hard requirement that God lays on men, and then they soon get in the way of thinking that God cannot require it of us, since He does not desire his people to be burdened, But salvation is not a thing required of us, but a gift to us; and the Sabbath is the sign of Christ's saving power: He saves by the power by which He creates. Rest is not a burden, it is a pleasure. Nothing more absolutely delightful can be imagined than rest in the consciousness of work all done and well done, and this is the privilege of the people of God: "All Thy works shall praise Thee, O Lord, and Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; to make known to the sons of men Thy mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of Thy kingdom." Ps. cxlv. 10-12. "One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts." Verse 4. The Sabbath is the pledge and assurance to us, that the power by which the worlds were made has wrought good works for us in Christ, and that these works are all ours if we believe. This is the rest prepared for us from the foundation of the world. This is the rest to which Christ invites us-rest from our own sinful works.

"Some Must Enter In." -What a blessed assurance this is: Some must enter into that rest. God has sworn by Himself, and it must be done. God does not owe anything to sinful men, but He has put himself under obligations to Himself, so that he says: "I, oven I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember Thy sins." Isa. xliii. 25. So absolutely necessary is it that some must enter into the rest that God has prepared, and which can be entered into only by faith, that even if every man should be false and faithless, God would still remain true to his promise (Rom. iii. 3, 4), for He could take some of the ground and raise up children to Abraham. Matt. iii. 9.

It would be a manifestation of the same power that in the beginning made man of the dust of the ground; it would be only the same creative power now that takes the stony heart and reduces it to dust,-makes it contrite,-und then creates a new man in Christ Jesus. Therefore since God is able, and not only willing, but even under bonds (to Himself) to prepare people for His rest, let "whosoever will" come. "Him that cometh to Me," says Jesus who calls, "I will in no wise cast out." John vi. 37. The case is urgent, and the Lord is not requiring any certificates of good character, or making any examination of candidates. The worst and weakest and most degraded and despised, is accepted without any questions being asked except this: "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?"

"Christ receiveth sinful men,
Even me with all my sin;
Purged from every spot and stain,
Heaven with Him I enter in."

None Compelled .-As anxiously as God longs to save men, and as urgent as the need is, He forces none, How could He? Think what it is that He offers: it is rest-rest from sin. Now it is an utter impossibility to force anybody to take rest. Mere cessation of activity is not necessarily rest. Bind a man who wishes to do a certain thing so tightly that he cannot by any possibility use a muscle, and he will not rest; he will wear himself out by the resistance of his mind against the enforced idleness. God not only does not and will not force anybody to be saved, but He cannot; for the very word "force" implies resistance, and the man who resists does not rest. Those, therefore, who make and enforce laws to compel people to be religious, show that they have not the faintest conception of what the Christian religion is; men who would compel people to keep the Sabbath, have no more idea of what the Sabbath really is, than they have of the language used by the inhabitants of Saturn. There is no one so foolish as to suppose that he can compel another to Iove him by kicking and beating him; yet many

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think that people can be compelled to serve the Lord, not knowing that God is love, and that His service is love. Absolute freedom is what the Lord gives,-freedom from every sort of oppression. This is what the true keeping of the Sabbath brings.

"The Longsuffering of God." -Because some must enter into the rest, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief, therefore God extended the time. When Moses was born, the time of the promise which God had sworn to Abraham drew near (Acts vii. 19), yet five hundred years later, in the days of David, "after so long a time," we hear the Spirit saying, "To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." And still the Spirit says, Come. Men abuse the longsuffering of God, and mockingly say, "Where is the promise of His coming?" but we must remember that "the longsuffering of our God is salvation." He is not willing that any should perish. 2 Peter iii. 3, 4, 9, 15.

A Limited Time.-"Another Day." -Although God is so longsuffering, He has not given men eternity in which to repent and believe. Eternity of rest is what He offers, but He allows men only one day in which to accept the offer; and that day is To-day. "Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor, vi. 2. This is the day of which we read in Ps. cxviii., as we readily see by reading a portion of it: "Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord. This gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter.'" Verses 19, 20. Compare John x. 9: "I am the Door, by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved." "I will praise Thee; for Thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The Stone which the builders rejected is become the head Stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the clay which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice, and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech Thee, O Lord; O Lord, I beseech Thee, send now prosperity." Ps. cxviii. 21, 25. This is the day of the Lord which Abraham rejoiced to see, and in which He was glad (John viii. 56), for the aalvation which he enjoyed is the very same that is now offered to us. It is salvation from sin. See Rom. iv. 1-0. The "accepted time" has been extended, "another day," and so from day to day God is patiently waiting. Who will heed the blessed invitation, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest"?

Ceasing from Our Own Works .-He that has entered into God's rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His; but not for the same reason. God ceased from His works because they were finished and perfect; we are to cease from our own works because they are all imperfection, and there is no hope of making them good. Taking into consideration all the people of the earth, the Lord says, "Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing." Isa. xli. 29. "Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands." Isa. lix. 6. The Lord rested in the contemplation of His own glorious works; we likewise find rest in the contemplation of His, not our own, gloriously perfect work. "By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law, and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe." Rom. iii. 20-22.

It is sometimes supposed that it is only the works of a man before his conversion, that are of no avail for righteousness, and that a man's works are all right after he is once converted. But this is a mistake. The best man in the world is but a man, and not God. The righteousness of the best man is not his own, but the righteousness of God by faith. The righteous man has no more strength than the sinner, but his advantage lies in the fact that He knows and acknowledges the Lord as the source of strength. A man must absolutely and for ever cease from his own works, if he would rest in God. This is what the Sabbath of the Lord-the seventh day, teaches us. Sabbath-keeping in spirit and in truth is the fulness of justification through faith.

Labouring to Enter into Rest .-"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest,"-the rest that still remains. What kind of labour secures that rest?-The labour of faith, for "this is the work of God that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." Paul thanked God for the Thessalonians, when he remembered their "work of faith and labour of love." 1 Thess. i. 9, 3. Faith works by love. Gal. vi. 6. Belief is salvation and rest, for "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "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." Rom. x. 9. But this does not mean idleness and indifference. It means passivity to the Word of God dwelling in us, that it may have free course, but that means intense activity, "for the Word of God is living and active." Oh, weary, troubled soul, believe the Word of the Lord, and believe now.

"Art thou weart, art thou languid, art thou sore oppressed?
Come to Me, saith One, and coming, Be at rest."

"The Soudan" The Present Truth 13, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

The Soudan .-The nations are gathering round this mid-African region, ready to fight one another or the natives for monopoly of it, trade. It is a vast country, about 4,000 miles across, peopled by about 80,000,000 souls. "The Koran is carried thither by the Arab," says Regions Beyond. "The Gospel by Christians?-No. Traders have reached the heart of this country. Gin and gunpowder are finding their way in thither. But messengers of Jesus? The water of life?-Not yet. One feeble light flickers at the junction of the Niger and Binue-the C.M.S. centre, left now without any white missionary. But beyond Lokoja, Islam stretches unbroken sway."

"Naval Outlay" The Present Truth 13, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

Naval Outlay .-During eleven and a half years' service, the present chief naval constructor, Sir W. H. White, has designed about fifty million pounds' worth of ships. It is safe to say that no man since the world began ever equaled this record. "In 1813," he says, "the Navy, exclusive of armament, might have been valued at about ten millions sterling. Its value to-day, according to Parliamentary returns, is sixty-one millions, excluding small ships, steam tugs, and the like." So that nearly five-sixths of the money spent on battle-ships, now in service, has been spent during the past eleven years. During the same period other Powers have been feverishly increasing their naval forces.

"Power of the Imagination" The Present Truth 13, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

It is important in illness to keep up the spirits and let good cheer and hopefulness exert their powerful influence over physical conditions. A person may brood over fancied symptoms until actually ill; and sometimes cases are reported in which, in ailments induced by morbid fancies, a cure has been effected by means which worked on the imagination. A journal describing some cases of this character says:-

"One of the most remarkable cases of this description is connected with the first introduction of nitrous oxide-laughing gas. It was believed that this gas would be of great value in cases of paralysis. Sir Humphrey Davy undertook to experiment with it upon a paralytic patient, who was told that a certain cure for his disorder had just been discovered. Before applying the gas Sir Humphrey placed a small pocket thermometer under the tongue of the patient, who believed that this was a portion of the cure. A moment after the thermometer touched him, he exclaimed gleefully, 'I feel better already.' Sir Humphrey did not undeceive him, but after taking the thermometer from under his tongue, dismissed him, and told him to come again in a few days for a second application. After two or three doses of the thermometer the paralysis seemed entirely cured."

"The 'Dark Ages'" The Present Truth 13, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

A Paris firm of milliners has recently placed an order for twenty thousand gold-finches for next season, which indicates that the custom of wearing birds or birds' wings on the head is still to be continued by people who, by reason of their superior advantages, ought to be much farther in advance of ordinary savages. The French are however by no means the only sinners in this respect; England uses annually about 30,000,000 song birds and birds of beautiful plumage for hat "decoration." It is stated that in the last twenty-five years, not less than three thousand millions (3,000,000,000) of humming birds, birds of Paradise, etc., have been slaughtered as offerings to the goddess of fashion, and in many places these birds have been almost entirely destroyed. When it is remembered that the birds are usually taken in the breeding season, and that the thousands captured each year mean many more thousands of young and helpless birds abandoned to a miserable death-, and moreover that the wings that are used are are from the living birds, some faint idea an be obtained of the horrible cruelty of the business, and of the heartlessness of those who wear this kind of adornment. The Bible tells us that "the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty" (Ps. lxxiv. 20); when therefore we consider the facts just stated, we can see that "darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people" of the whole so-called "civilised world," and that we need not go back of the close of the nineteenth century to find "the Dark Ages."

"Cast-Off Garments" The Present Truth 13, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

Those whose business and circumstances make it necessary that they should not wear clothing until it has reached the utmost limit of usefulness can do better than to sell left-off garments for a trifle to the dealer in old clothes. That may be the easiest way to get rid of them, but a greater service may he done by giving them to people in distress. We need not fear taking business from the "old-clo'" man; he will get plenty of merchandise from those who do not know of anyone who needs worn clothing. As for us, if we don't know such, it is a sin to be confessed. It will do us good to know them. "The cause which I knew not I searched out," said Job, and he had a blessed experience in doing so. Job xxix. 12-16.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

-Bulawayo is lighted by the electric light.

-The population of London has almost doubled since 1850.

-Turkey is reorganising its navy, and ordering new ships.

-Severe shocks of earthquake were felt in Greece last week.

-The French are preparing for an outlay of ?1,000,000 on the world's fair to be held in Paris in 1900.

-The race rivalry which has led to violent scenes in the Austro-Hungarian parliament has given rise to conflicts in provincial towns.

-The new governor of Cuba is confident of success in ending the war by the granting of reforms. The Cuban insurgents however demand complete independence.

-There is danger of a strike amongst cotton mill operatives against a proposed reduction in their wages, The dispute will directly affect about 50,000 workers.

-At various points round the South Coast the sea is encroaching upon the land at the rate of from two to thirty feet each year. The latter figure is reached at Westward Ho.

-The foreign-born and the children of foreign-born people constitute two-thirds of the population of New York. There are in the city 900,000 Germans and over 800,000 Irish.

-The French are still in territory claimed by the British in West Africa, and natives are appealing to the Royal Niger Company for protection against the French expedition.

-The Indian frontier force is now in the home country of the hillmen who are resisting the advance. They find well cultivated valleys and well-built houses, and signs of general prosperity.

-Holland is said to be the worst offender in the importation of spirits into Africa for native consumption. Major Lugard says the natives spend their money for drink instead of for implements of agriculture.

-The Bulawayo Railway was formally opened laat week. It starts from Vryburg, the terminus of the Cape Government Railway, and runs 579 miles to Bulawayo. The cost is estimated at nearly ?2,000,000.

-Canada is glad of a generally prosperous year, due to good harvests and the growth of butter, cheese, and other industries. In a single month ?4,000,000 above the ordinary monthly sum was deposited in the savings banks of the country.

-?36,000 weekly strike pay is now paid to 83,000 engineers. The funds of the society are rapidly being depleted, and if the crisis is prolonged many weeks longer great suffering must follow. The masters are unbending in opposition to the eight-hour demand, and the men equaIly so.

-A severe thunder-storm recently washed out over a hundred miles of the Siberian Railway. Thousands of workmen are employed along the line, hastening it forward. Travellers report excessive drunkenness among them and immorality, and in consequence a heavy mortality.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

Nearly five hundred medical missionaries are at work in mission fields abroad.

It is said that "there are in the whole of Wales not more than fifty Welsh people who are Roman Catholics."

A news agency reports that "a special mass for the conversion of England is to be said every month throughout all the churches in France."

It was stated at the conference of Peace Societies last week that the Secretary for War was taking a special interest in the Boy's Brigade movement. Why shouldn't he? It encourages the martial spirit which military men are seeking in every way to cultivate.

In a book written against the Sabbath of the Lord, designed to show that Christians ought not, like the early disciples of Christ, to rest on the Sabbath day "according to the commandment" (Luke xxiii. 56), we find the following given as one of the "reasons" for not keeping the day: "There is not an allusion to the Sabbath in the entire book of Genesis after chapter ii."

But there is a most direct and positive reference to the Sabbath in the second chapter of Genesis, and that is about as early as it could well he made, since it is in the account of the creation of the world. It is a record of the giving of the Sabbath to man. God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, or appointed it to be observed (compare Josh. xx. 7, and margin), because that in it He had rested from all His work. This is identical with the fourth commandment. Ex. xx. 5-11.

"Yes," says the opposer; "but we do not find any other reference to it in the book." Well, then, let us drop the subject for a moment, and consider a case nearer home. It is nine o'clock in the evening: A father says to his son, "John, did you post that letter, as I directed you this morning at breakfast?'" Now hear the reply of the son: "Why no, father, of course not; how could you expect me to, when you simply told me to do it, and didn't say anything more about it? It was early this morning when you spoke about it, and you didn't allude to it all day afterwards."

Will the son once think of giving such an excuse?-Certainly not, that is the last excuse in the world he would think of making. I fancy I hear the objector to the Sabbath muttering something about its not being a parallel case. Well, perhaps not. "A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master; if I then be a Father, where is Mine houour?" saith the Lord. Mai. i. 6. Is God your Father?

A morning paper, on the authority of its American correspondent, prints the following:-

Several leading newspapers, commenting on the recent Democratic successes and an Mr. Bryan's increasing popularity, express some alarm at the revolutionary spirit which is spreading among the masses throughout the country, and the increasing threats of demagogues against plutocrats and the wealthy educated classes. A fact which, taken with the above, has considerable significance is that; General Miles, commander-in chief of the American Army, is reported to have recommended the Government to provide a Treasury building at Chicago, surmounted by a turret of Gatling guns, which could sweep the streets in case of an attack. He also proposed that the Government buildings in other large cities should be similarly fortified.

The United States seems leading in the van in this matter; but all the world over it is apparent that the restraints of the Spirit of God are being loosened. The fierceness of the struggle for life and for gain, and the competition and rivalries of classes and nations, are threatening the order of society and the peace of nations if it can be said that there is peace amongst the nations, when they are either warring somewhere or preparing to do so all the time.

At the root of all the trouble is selfishness and covetousness. And the last days were to be specially perilous because men should be lovers of their own selves, covetous, fierce, etc. Only God's power in His Gospel can root out and hold down these characteristics of human nature. When the world rejects this Gospel with its salvation from self, and the Spirit of God is resisted, it is easy to see that the "time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation" will sweep over the world very swiftly. But, thank God, the Gospel saves every soul that wants to escape from these things, and saves from the sin and self. There is something better to seek after than the things that the children of this world are seeking for. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," and then "wait for His Son from heaven." The distresses and perplexities among the nations are signs that Christ's coming is near at hand. "These things" have begun to come to pass; "then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Luke xxi. 25-28.

"'Which She Did'" The Present Truth 13, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

"Which She Did." -Dorcas was "full of good works and almsdeeds which she did." Many people are full of good works and almsdeeds which they intend doing as soon as they can find a convenient opportunity. There is danger that good intentions may lull one into inactivity. One may be so full of good intent that the conscience rests easy while nothing is actually done. Dorcas's example is a good one. She was full of good works which she did; and the opportunities come to all of us on the right hand and on the left in this needy suffering world.

"What the Public Wants" The Present Truth 13, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

What the Public Wants.-The cables have given meagre news of the progress of the Australian federation movement, and none at all of the agitation carried on by the church leaders, demanding that the Federal Constitution shall be given a religious character-a step which could only work evil to genuine religious interests. No greater danger has ever faced the people of the colonies yet we hear of details only by the Australian mails. But now that the English cricket team is playing an Australian team, we get fullest details every day of the "brilliant batting," and can learn who hit the ball and to what part of the field it went. The significance of it lies in the fact that the news agencies know what most interests the public.

November 18, 1897

"Withered Branches" The Present Truth 13, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Withered Branches , sad as it may be, are cut off, and burned. So it will be at last with him who does not bear fruit for God. The end is death. But before that comes, the Husbandman exhausts all His love and power to save. He gives all to win man. He suffers all to save man; but with man rests the decision w hether he will be saved.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. A Practical Talk About Sabbath-keeping" The Present Truth 13, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

There are two items in regard to the Sabbath that we should first notice before we take up the closing portion of the fourth chapter of Hebrews. The first is the objection that so many, especially poor people who labour for their daily bread, make to the keeping of the Sabbath, namely,-

"I COULDN'T LIVE IF I KEPT THE SABBATH"

That the seventh day is the Sabbath, and that the Lord has given it to men to keep, is admitted, but against all this is the frightful thought, "I couldn't make a living and keep the seventh day; I should certainly lose my situation."

As to losing the situation, that is quite possible, and yet not so absolutely certain as many suppose. God would have His witnesses everywhere, and in every legitimate calling, and therefore He is able to give His faithful children favour with the people, if He sees that their witness can be of use in any place. People who begin to keep the Sabbath often lose their situations, often because they expect it, and plan for it. Some on becoming Christians seem to think it is necessary to leave unbelieving employers and get among those who have the same faith, forgetting that a light is needed only where there is darkness. The man who cannot live the truth when surrounded by darkness and unbelief, cannot live it anywhere. A candle that will not burn except in the stove, is good for nothing except to throw into the fire. Of course it is understood that the individual must be where God wishes him to be; but if a person accepts the truth while in service among unbelievers, he should take it as God's will that he is to stay there until God makes it plain to him that he should leave. "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it; but if thou mayest be free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman." 1 Cor. vii. 20-22.

The Lord gave Joseph and Daniel, and Nehemiah, and "they of C?sar's household" so much favour with worldly men that they kept important situations while faithfully living the truth of Christ. On the other hand, Abraham had to leave his father's house, and Moses lost one of the best situations that the world ever had to offer any man, and neither of them were ever sorry for it. "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." 2 Chron. xvi. 9. He has always been able to take care of His people. "When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people, He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, He reproved

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kings for their sakes; saying, Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm." Ps. cv. 13-15. The same God lives to-day.

THE LABOURING MAN'S FRIEND

But, as a matter of fact, the Sabbath is the labouring man's friend. It comes to him, laden with God's richest blessings, and brings him perfect rest from all weariness and oppression. All the hopes and aims of Socialists of the best class, and of the most disinterested philanthropists, fall infinitely short of the blessed realities that the Sabbath of the Lord opens before those who accept it. The plans and efforts of the best of social reformers (outside, of course, of those who use Gospel methods only), have not materially if at all lessened the amount of poverty and suffering, but have resulted simply in arousing and augmenting discontent. The Sabbath of the Lord, on the other hand, makes known to men the power that will enable them patiently and contentedly to endure that which for a season must be borne, and gives them the certainty of the speedy removal of all ills.

The Sabbath keeps ever before our minds the wondrous power manifested in creation, that power by which all who believe are saved from sin, and by which all men, whether they believe or not, are kept alive from day to day and from one moment to another. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 25. "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. The Sabbath, which makes known God as Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer (Eze. xx. 12), teaches confidence in Him, for whoever becomes acquainted with God trusts Him. Ps. ix. 10. Therefore the Sabbath takes from the poor man the heavy load of care and anxiety that he has borne so long, by introducing him to the Almighty Father, "in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind." Job xii. 10. It is only when a man does not know the Sabbath and its Lord, that he says, "I couldn't live if I served Him." The one who knows the Lord will rather say, "I cannot live without Him."

Think a moment of the incongruity of the statement by a professed Christian, that he couldn't live if he kept the Sabbath of the Lord; that he wouldn't dare take the risk. But if he dare not trust the Lord for the life that now is, how dare he trust Him for the life to come? If the Lord cannot keep us alive for a few short years, what possible hope is there of eternal life? "Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matt. vi. 32, 33.

SUNDAY THE SIGN OF JUSTIFICATION BY WORKS

We see that the Sabbath is the great and final test of faith in God, and is therefore the seal of righteousness; for "the just shall live by faith," and "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Rom. i. 17; xiv. 23. It is the exact opposite of the Sunday, which is the badge of a system of religion that consists in justification by works. Let it be understood that it is not asserted that all those who observe the Sunday depend on works for justification. Far from it. The writer knows many by personal acquaintance, and is fully persuaded that there are many thousands more, who keep Sunday instead of the Sabbath, thinking it to be the Sabbath, and who nevertheless are loving disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in His merits alone for their salvation. We say "nevertheless," for their trust in the Lord Jesus is in spite of their observance of Sunday, having by no means any connection with it, except to be hindered by it; for if they could but see the Sabbath as it is in Jesus, they would find a "joy and peace in believing" such as they never had before.

Now for the proof that the Sunday stands only for "another Gospel" than that of the Lord Jesus, a Gospel which consists in exalting the creature above the Creator. We have already seen that the Sabbath-God's rest-is the assurance that God's work is perfect and complete, and the acceptance of it in Spirit and in truth, is the ceasing of our own works and the resting in the finished work of God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. God worked, and then rested in the enjoyment of His perfect work; we, having wearied ourselves with our imperfect work, obey His call, and, leaving our works, rest in His.

"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. 11. A fact is a thing done, the fact remains for ever, since it can never cease to be a fact that it has been done. It is a fact that God rested on the seventh day, and that fact will remain throughout eternity. In order, therefore, for the Sabbath to be "changed," from the seventh day to some other day it would have to cease to be a fact that God rested on the seventh day; but that is impossible; so it is impossible for the Sabbath to be changed,-as impossible as for it to cease to be a fact that God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and rested the seventh day.

It is possible that another than the seventh day might have been made the Sabbath day, if God had so ordered it. In that case, however, the week would not have consisted of seven days, as now. Thus: God doubtless could have created all things in five days, and rested the sixth, making a week of six days; or He might have finished the work in four days, and rested the fifth; or He could have completed the work of creation in three days, and rested the fourth; or in two days, resting the third; or, since there is no limit to the power of God, He might have completed the work of creation in one day, and rested the second, making the week consist of but two days, and giving man a Sabbath every second day. God did not do any of these things: we only say that He might have done so if it had seemed good to Him; but one thing He could not possibly have done, and that is, to have created all things in one day, and at the same time rest on that day from all His works. That is to say, the first day of the week is the one day of the week which could not by any possibility be made the Sabbath of the Lord. But the first day of the week has been set apart by man as the Sabbath.

Thus, Dr. Isaac Williams, in "Plain Sermons on the Catechism" (Longmans, Green, & Co.), says:-

The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the Church, has enjoined it.

"The Church," therefore, in attempting to make a Sabbath day which God could not use as the Sabbath, shows itself to be that power "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped." 2 Thess. ii. 4.

Scores of testimonials from doctors of divinity and learned men who themselves observe and teach others to observe Sunday, might be cited to show that the observance of Sunday rests on no Divine

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authority whatever, but is only an ordinance of men. The religion, therefore, of which it stands as the sign, and, as many of its advocates say, even the foundation, is a religion that rests on human works and human inventions, instead of the works and words of the Lord. To make Sunday the Sabbath, the facts and record of creation, must be ignored, and with these go the basis of the Gospel, since redemption is creation. Therefore we repeat that while the Sabbath of the Lord teaches redemption through trust in the finished work of God in Christ, the Sunday teaches redemption through man's own imperfect work.

In so saying, we refer to the institution, and not to any man. As before stated, there are thousands of men and women who are strict observers of Sunday, supposing it to be the Sabbath, who are nevertheless depending on Christ for salvation, so far as they know Him. May God grant that they may soon see Him, as the Alpha, and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the One in whom all things were created, and in whom all things consist, who redeems by no other word than that by which He in the beginning made the worlds. Reader, which will you choose; your own incomplete and imperfect works and unrest, or God's complete and perfect work and His everlasting rest? He calls, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden; and I will give you rest." Now is the time to choose; "to-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."

"The Eternal Present" The Present Truth 13, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

There is a common complaint that unbelievers have against believers in the religion of Christ, and that is that they live too much in the future, and not in the present; that religion concerns itself only with promises that are to be fulfilled at some indefinite future time, and leaves the things of the present entirely alone. Now so far as this complaint is directed against many professed Christians, it is all too applicable, but it is altogether wrong as regards Christianity itself.

He from whom Christianity springs, "went about doing good." His thought was of the poor and the suffering, and they received the most of His attention. To relieve present necessity, occupied His whole time and care. His appearance in this world was made known by the proclamation. "On earth peace, good will toward men." The "glory to God in the highest," was revealed in "grace and truth" bringing salvation to mankind. This salvation is indeed "eternal salvation," including therefore the most distant future, but it is also, because it is eternal, a present salvation. "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." 1 Tim. iv. 8.

Many people always conclude their prayers with a request to be "saved at last." The future seems to be their only anxiety, and often they stumble because of their continual looking to the distant scene. But this is not according to the teaching of the Gospel. "Now," "today," are the words which it most employs. It is quite true that it promises much for the future, but the only assurance; of future salvation is present salvation. He who is saved to-day, has no fear for tomorrow.

The Gospel does not consist in theories or dogmas, but in actual life. It does not present to men and women abstruse problems to puzzle their brains over, or questions for speculative discussion, but present help for daily need. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Ps. xlvi. 1. Real Gospel teaching consists in giving the people such instruction as will help them to live the right kind of life from day to day. It is to the labouring and the oppressed classes that the Gospel appeals. All that labour and are heavy laden are offered rest. When the Lord says, "Come," He means come now, and whoever comes finds rest at once. He does not disappoint anybody.

This is just what the fourth chapter of Hebrews presents, in the statement, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." This verse has been strangely misread, and made to refer only to the future, when it means now. That which remains is not that which is yet to come, but that which has already been,

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and is still in existence. The remnant of a piece of goods is the portion that has not yet been disposed of. So the rest that remains is the rest that God prepared from the foundation of the earth, and which is still open for weary souls to accept.

The Christian life is a life of rest even in toil. "These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John xvi. 33. This rest is found in Christ,-in His life. But His life is eternal life, which He gives to as many as receive Him. "These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God." 1 John v. 13, R.V. So it is that the Gospel has to do with eternal things, but eternal things in the present time. The trouble with people is that they regard eternity as only future, whereas eternity is past, present, and future. It has been, is, and is to be. But specially is it now, God "inhabiteth eternity" (Isa. lvii. 15), but His name is I AM. Eternity with Him is always present. Likewise He desires us to live the life eternal, but always in the present. He who truly believes in Christ, passes from death unto life, from the temporal to the eternal, from the unreal to the real.

And thus it is in a sense true that the Gospel has to do with the next world, rather than with this. Christ "gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." Gal. i. 4. But He delivers us from this present world only by saving us from the evil of it. He gives us rest in righteousness.

But this rest in righteousness-the rest that remains-is the rest that was ready for man from the foundation of the world. Heb. iv. 3-5. As we learned in the second chapter of Hebrews God has put "the world to come" in subjection to man, not to angels. Do not forget that "the world to come" has been put in subjection to man, not is to be put in subjection to him. That world to come is the new earth, the same that God created and gave to man in the beginning. Its rest and peace and power are to be enjoyed in this present time, thus bringing heaven upon earth, and giving men a heaven in which to live, while going to heaven. While the redeemed are to sing a new song on Mount Zion, they are to "come with singing unto Zion." Isa. li. 11.

"God did rest the seventh day from all His work." Heb. iv. 4. "The works were finished from the foundation of the world." Verse 3. That rest God gave to man, and the rest still remains, for in the cross, Christ, in whom all things are created, said, "It is finished." The same rest which is now given, is to be enjoyed in the ages to come, for "He that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto Me, Write; for these things are true and faithful. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." Rev. xxi. 5, 6. The finished work of creation in the beginning, and the finished work of the new creation, are found in the cross of Christ. Oh, come to Christ, believe His word, and find rest now.

"The Theatrical Habit" The Present Truth 13, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

There is a multiplication of suburban theatres in London, and some one has asked Sir Henry Irving what, in his opinion, the influence of this will be on attendance at the great theatres in the West-end.

The more theatres there are, he thinks, the more the public will get into the habit of going to them, and he does not think the new houses springing up all round the metropolis will interfere with the attendances at the London theatres.

He is doubtless quite right. The theatre-going habit, like the drink habit, grows upon those who frequent these places of shallow amusement. And in order to satisfy the unhealthy craving of the public new theatres must be built, and new sensations provided in the plays.

"Novel-Reading" The Present Truth 13, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

It is not usual to find book-sellers protesting against the kind of book which sells best. But a Bath book-merchant does so. He says, in reply to a publisher's circular announcing a new popular novel:-

I look on the issue of any more new novels quite ten years to come as a calamity to mankind in the aggregate of the thousands of years of human life that are wasted by the millions of English-speaking people who consider the new novel useful or desirable mental pabulum. It is a sure sign of the decadence of the race, and the result of such "literary" food is the production of an invertebrate or jelly-fish sort of citizen. That most estimable persons are willing to pander to the vitiated taste for new novels, and to foster it, especially in young people, has always been a puzzle to me.

Such protests in the trade are welcome enough, but they cannot stop the flow of fiction-about five novels a day, the year round in England alone, to say nothing of the mass of the same class of reading in the columns of household journals. It is inevitable that minds that are filled with this kind of mental food have no taste for serious and useful and Christian literature.

"Two 'Rusty' Weapons" The Present Truth 13, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Here are two bits from the Methodist Times which suggest a lesson that may be read over and over again in the story of the struggle of religious factions for worldly power. The Mayor of Lancaster was recently threatened with the penalties of an ancient religious law. Mr. Hugh Price Hughes thus commented on the affair:-

Some Anglican bigot unearthed an ancient Act of Parliament by which any municipal officer was liable to a fine of ?100 if he appeared in the robes and regalia of his choice in any place of worship except the Established Church. . . . Mr. Kelly and Mr. Bunting, have shown that the intolerant Act has been repealed during the Queen's reign. Thus one more rusty weapon is taken out of the hands of intolerant schismatics.

Surely the writer of this vigorous comment is ready to cry "Hands off!" whenever anyone resorts to old religious laws as a means of promoting religious observances. But no; there are other old religious statutes still unrepealed, and Mr. Hughes sees in them a weapon which he thinks should not be allowed to get rusty. Of course people who want to keep Sunday keep it; but those who do not, Mr. Hughes would force to act as though they did. He says:-

We do not suggest anything unreasonable. All we suggest is that the law should sternly prohibit anything and everything of the nature of trade or money-making on Sunday.

That is all. To such rusty old weapons men resort when they forsake the "Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."

"The Motive" The Present Truth 13, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

The Motive of true fruit-bearing, in the Christian life is to glorify God. The vine does not think of itself: it bears for others; it rewards the husbandman's toil. No the Christian will forget self in his desire to labour for God. "Much fruit" for God's glory will he his desire. This will demand much prayer. His asking will not be for selfish things. His will is God's will. The Lord's good pleasure is his pleasure. To such it is said, "Ye, shall ask what ye will, and it shall he done unto you." But the asking will be for God-asking, receiving, abiding, fruitbearing.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

-Vesuvius is again violently active.

-The yellow fever is making ravages in Jamaica.

-Republicans and Carlist revolutionary groups are causing anxiety in Spain.

-Roumania is building six gunboats. The relations between it and Bulgaria are unfriendly.

-A famine is raging in the Archangel province of Siberia. Many are perishing, and winter is come.

-A conspiracy to overthrow the Brazilian government has led to declaring martial law in Rio de Janeiro.

-Malarial fever has been a scourge in the Caucasus. Last month there were nearly a thousand fatal cases.

-Lord Salisbury's Mansion House speech was principally a declaration that Africa and Asia were to be divided up among the Powers, and Great Britain proposes to get its share.

-Mr. Broomhall, the statistician of the corn trade says that there is such a shortage in wheat in Europe that unless a plenteous yield comes from Argentina in their harvest; this month, there will have to be great economy exercised if Europe escapes a bread famine this winter.

-At the Trade Union Congress in Birmingham it was resolved to demand the abolition of child labour under the age of fifteen. The Lancashire weavers have been ballotting on the question and are almost unanimous in favour of allowing the children to work. We believe the present age limit is thirteen.

-Russia is sending a corps of cavalrymen and artillerymen into Abyssinia. Rumour says Russia and France are trying to establish a foothold on the Upper Nile, to prevent all that waterway falling to England when Khartoum is taken. Whatever the truth, all Europe is getting into the African quarrel.

-A novel surgical operation was performed last week in Dublin. A man having lost his eyelids, had the eyelids of a newly-killed pig stitched into the place where his own had been. This, it is said, is the first operation of the kind ever performed in the United Kingdom, and the surgeons hope for a successful result.

-Japan fought China to secure a hold upon Corea; but now Russia, who intervened to get Japan out of Corea, is letting herself in. Gradually Russians are being substituted for officials and advisers of other nationalities. Recently the British Finance Minister was dismissed and his place given to a Russian.

-In the irregular fighting in the war on the Indian frontier the British forces have lost heavily. So also have the Afrides and other natives in the opposing army. Cold weather has already begun and some authorities fear that the expedition will be caught by winter in the mountains, and suffer by failure to receive supplies. The women and children of the natives must also have a hard winter.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

The Peruvian legislature last week passed a bill legalising non-Catholic marriages.

The New South Wales census shows Protestants in that colony number 791,346 and Roman Catholics 286,911.

The Jubilee of the Band of Hope movement was celebrated last week. About 300 attended the initial gathering at Leeds fifty years ago. Now the membership is about four millions.

The venerable George M¸ller, of the Bristol Orphanages, says that he has been enabled to circulate 284,653 Bibles, 1,458,662 New Testaments, and 244,000 other portions of the Word during his active life.

"Our newspapers are," says the Christian, "very generally combative, not to say aggressive, in tone, while the representatives of the 'services' seem bent on driving us into conscription. Again and again has that word been heard lately. Unless we stand very firm, we shall be carried into this European vortex of militarism."

When one knows a certain thing, it is very natural for him to think that everybody else ought to know it. After we have stumbled long over a truth that is new to us, and have at last been able to get into harmony with it, we are apt to forget all our difficulties and to think that if other people do not grasp the truth without a moment's hesitation, it is because they are obstinate, or because they love darkness rather than light. This is not necessarily the case, and our own experience should teach us charity.

It is true that all men ought ever to be ready and willing to recognise truth and to walk in it. David said, "I made haste, and delayed not to keep Thy commandments." Ps. cxix. 60. This is the proper way, and all ought to do the same; but what we say is, that we must not harshly judge those who do not, for they may be even more honest than we are. There are some things that we have never had any difficulty in seeing; but who of us has not had the experience of suddenly seeing light in a portion of Scripture that he has read scores of times, and was perfectly familiar with, but which had never before made the slightest impression on him? Now some of the things that seem so easy to us may appear just as unmeaning to others.

How familiar we are with the truth that God is no respecter of persons; that He loves all men with the same love; and that differences of nationality, custom, or education make no difference with Him; that He would have all men saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. The whole of the Old Testament history shows this. God sent His prophets or messages to different nations, and they all testified of Christ as "a light to lighten the Gentiles;" yet Peter, who was familiar with the Scriptures from his childhood, did not perceive the truth until God sent him a vision and a special message by the Spirit. Strange that it should have taken him so long to grasp so plain a truth! Yes, it is, but no more strange than that we are so "slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken."

Saul of Tarsus thought that he "ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth," and he did. He had given more than ordinary study to the Scriptures, and could no doubt repeat the most of them from memory; yet he saw no Christ in the Bible. Suddenly the Lord appeared to him in the way, "and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God," and wherever he went he reasoned with the people out of the Scriptures, "opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ." Acts ix. 20; xvii. 2, 3. But the Scriptures were just its clear before as afterward, and Saul the persecutor was just as sincere as Paul the apostle. He ought to have seen the truth from the beginning; but he did not, and therefore God patiently waited for him.

Thus it is about the Sabbath of the Lord. There are, as stated elsewhere, in this paper, thousands of earnest Christians; who love the Lord, and rejoice in His salvation, who are familiar with the Bible, who have nevertheless not seen the glorious truth of the Sabbath. They rest in the Lord, and yet they do not see that the creation and the rest that followed give the Gospel all its glory. But light is sown for them, and in time it will dawn upon them with marvellous splendour.

What a comfort it is to know that God is better than men! Those who are misunderstood and misjudged by men have reason to be glad for it, and we all may he drawn by it to repentance for all our wayward selfishness.

Mr. Walsh, a Protestant Churchman, who has just written a book on the history of the Oxford Movement, says:-

Secret ritualistic societies have now come into existence, and they are increasing in number every year. At present the Church of England is literally honeycombed with secret societies.

"In secret have I said nothing," said Jesus to the church rulers who had secretly plotted His death. And the Lord has now no secret societies in His service.

"Getting Ready" The Present Truth 13, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Getting Ready .-Those scriptures foretelling the arming of the nations and the preparations for the battle of that last great day are being fulfilled before our eyes. Statesmen see the dangers. In his Mansion House speech last week, Lord Salisbury said:-

You notice that on all sides the instruments of destruction are piling up-armies become larger, the Powers who concentrate them become greater, the instruments of death become more effective and more numerous, and are improved with every year, and each nation is bound for its own safety to take part in this competition. Those are the things that are done, so to speak, on the side of war. The one hope that we have to prevent this competition from ending in a terrible effort of mutual destruction which will be fatal to Christian civilisation-the one hope we have is that the Powers may gradually be brought together, to act together in a friendly spirit an all subjects of difference that may arise until at last they shall be welded together in some international constitution which shall give at last to the world as the result of their great strength a long spell of unfettered commerce, prosperous trade and continued peace.

But the same Word which tells us the meaning of these things shows that peace and safety will not be the issue. The world is getting ready to act its part in connection with the coming of the Lord. The question for each of us to answer in our experience is, Are we ready to act our part? "Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

November 25, 1897

"The Russian Jew" The Present Truth 13, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The Russian Jew .-Speaking of the hard lot of the Russian Jew, Mr. Arnold White, who has recently visited Russia, says in the Contemporary Review:-

It is clear that a tragedy is brewing in the cities of the Pale. Already the distress in such places as Homel and Berdicheff is appalling. It is increasing. Sooner or later Europe will be startled by a catastrophe.

Amidst all the social and international rivalries the tragedy of the Jewish race is always before the world. In Russia they must realise something of that prediction of Moses: "Thy life shall hand in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life." Deut. xxviii. 66.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. The True Confession of Faith" The Present Truth 13, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

HOW IT IS MADE

We come now to the conclusion of the fourth chapter of Hebrews. The subject of the rest that remains for all who believe has been quite fully considered, although by no means exhausted, and we proceed from the exhortation to give diligence to enter into that rest lest any fall through unbelief, to that which follows, quoting the Revised Version, as being better worded. We must give diligence, or labour, to enter God's rest, because

"The Word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

"Having then a great High Priest, who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need." Heb. iv. 12-16, R .V

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

For, what are we exhorted to labour?

"To enter into that rest."

How is it that we enter into that rest?

"We which have believed do enter into rest." Verse 3.

What then is the work by which we enter into rest?

"This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 29.

And how does faith come?

"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Rom. iii. x. 17.

What evidence is there that this resting on the Word of God does not mean indolence?

"The Word of God is living and active." Greek, "energy."

How keen is it?

"Sharper than any two edged sword."

What does it do, that no two-edged sword can do? "Piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow."

What is said of the understanding of the Word?

"Quick to the heart."

Who is the embodiment of the Word of God?

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." John i. 1, 3, 4, 14.

How much is hidden from the Word?

"There is no creature that is not manifest in His sight."

How do all things stand before Him?

"All things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

What is this ever-present, all-seeing Word?

"A great High Priest."

Where is He exercising His office?

He "hath passed through [or into] the heavens."

How does this concern us?

"We have a great High Priest." (This is quoted from the common version solely on account of the direct form of speech. Precisely the same thing is stated in the Revised Version, but in words that do not allow so direct an answer to the question.)

Seeing that we have such a great High Priest, what should we do?

"Hold fast our confession."

What encouragement have we thus to hold fast?

"For we have not a High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

How much does He know about them?

He "hath been in all points tempted like as we are."

How did He come forth from the temptations?

Without sin."

What may we therefore do?

"Draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace."

Of what may we be confident?

That we may receive mercy and may find grace to help us, in time of need.

Rest Not Inactivity .-The rest that remains for the people of God is obtained by absolute acceptance of God's Word. "The Word of Christ" which is Spirit and life (John vi. 63) is to be allowed to dwell richly in the soul. Col. iii. 16. "To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. iv. 5), and faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Rom. x. 17. But this does not imply idleness and inactivity on the part of the believer. Far from it; for the indwelling "Word of God is living and active." The Greek word here translated "active" and in the common version "powerful," is the word which is transferred into English as "energy." That is to say, the Word of God is force, and, since it is not merely alive, but is life itself, it

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will be seen that the Word of God is vital force. It is, indeed, all the force there is in the universe. Christ upholds all things "by the Word of His power." Heb. i. 3. All things that exist rest on His Word, yet everything in nature is in a state of intense activity. Everything is in motion. Therefore the soul that rests absolutely on the Word of God, and is filled with it, will be as active in the work that God has designed him for, as any part of God's creation. God Himself will work in him to will and to do of His good pleasure.

"The Sword of the Spirit." -The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, Christ is the Word of God, and in the Revelation He is represented with a sharp two-edged sword going out of His mouth. Rev. i. 16. But it is sharper than any two-edged sword on earth, for the sharpest earthly sword can pierce only between different portions of the body, but this pierces every fibre of the body, and the spirit as well.

God's Word Our Life .-In the twelfth and thirteenth verses we have the representation of the indwelling Christ, "the power of God and the wisdom of God." The Word of God piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart, is simply the Word made flesh. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." Christ says that He is "the life." Every pulse beat is but the throbbing of His life. He is our life, for the life is the light of men, and it "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John i. 4, 9. Wherever there is life, there Christ is present, because He is "the life." "In Him all things consist."

The Reckoning Already Made .-Since the living Word is the life of every being, it most naturally follows that it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Thus God knows, because He feels. Not a thing touches humanity that does not touch Him. "He knoweth our frame," not simply because He made it, but because He bears it. Every motion, every thought, comes upon the Word, which "was made flesh," so that He understands our thoughts even better than we do ourselves, since He is more keenly sensitive. Indeed, our hearts deceive us, but not Him. Jer. xvii. 9, 10. "O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off." "For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether." Ps. cxxxix. 1, 2, 4. How is it that He knows it?-Because He is there; prompting the good, as we yield to His influence, and enduring the evil when we hold down the truth in unrighteousness. Therefore all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. The reckoning is all made up every instant. There will be a time of judgment, but not for the purpose of enlightening the Lord. Whatever instant we look into the Word, we can see an accurate estimate of ourselves.

Our Confession .-"Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, let us hold fast our profession," or "confession," as the Revision more accurately renders it. What is this "Confession of faith," to which we are exhorted to hold fast? It is that which is referred to in the two preceding verses. A confession is simply an acknowledgment of the truth. The great truth-the Gospel of great joy-for all people, is that "Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." 1 John iv. 2. Whoever makes that confession is of God, because of the truth, we have been studying about the living and active Word piercing every fibre; now read Rom. x. 8, where of Christ, the Word, we read: "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 shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

"The Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart." For what purpose is it so near?-"That thou mayest do it." Deut. xxx. 14. The living Word is therefore in the mouth and heart of the sinner, in order that he may do it. So near has God brought His saving grace to all mankind. "He is not far from every one of us." No; He is very near, even in our very hearts and mouths, "a very present help in trouble." Lest any should think that this cannot be true of sinners, we will call attention to the following facts in connection with the Scriptures: No one first makes a thing true by confessing it; it does not become a fact because he confesses it, but he confesses it because it is already a fact. Therefore the confession of Christ is but the acknowledgment of the already existing fact, that He "is come in the flesh." The Word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart-in thy flesh; confess this fact, and "thou shalt be saved." This teaches the presence of Christ in every soul, waiting for recognition, in order that He may save.

"Then you would make no difference between a sinner and a Christian?"-Oh, yes, indeed; all the difference in the world, or, rather, all the difference between the world and heaven. Christ has come in the flesh,-that is in all mankind, for man is flesh (Gen. vii. 3),-but while He dwells in the sinner without recognition, and is held down in unrighteousness (Rom. i. 15), in the Christian He dwells "by faith." Eph. iii. 19. The difference between the impenitent sinner and the Christian is the difference between a man who uses the gift of God without any recognition of the Giver, arrogating to himself God's power, and a man who acknowledges that the Lord is his strength, and who yields all to His control.

Take any sinner; let him acknowledge the truth that is evident to every one, that he does not live by his own power, but that Christ is the only vital force, and let him live in constant recognition of that fact, and he will at once and for ever be a Christian, for he will necessarily allow Christ to have His own way, living His own life in full. Thus easy has God made the way of salvation: simply a constant giving up of self to the control of the Power that keeps us alive. What a glorious Gospel this is to every poor sinner! and what a glorious thing to be permitted to proclaim it! Think of the joy of being able to assure the most debased soul that the fact that he still lives is evidence that there is salvation for him, if he desires salvation, and will yield to the power that keeps him alive. He who is our High Priest on the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, is also by the Spirit present in the flesh, with all power in heaven and on earth over all flesh. John xvii. 2. Confess this truth, and you have the victory over the world. 1 John v. 4, 5.

This is the only confession of faith. Men may recite creeds until they are grey, and be no better for it, for you cannot put Christ on paper. The confession of faith is not a dogma nor a formula of belief that can be recited in concert by a class of boys. The true confession of faith-the confession of Christ-is the recognition and acknowledgment of the living truth that Christ dwells personally

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by the Spirit in the one making the confession. Each one must make it for himself, as the result of personal conviction, in words coming from the fulness of his heart, and not dictated to him by another; and not only in words but in action, for the indwelling Word is living and active. The true confession of faith is therefore not a thing for a single hour, but of a lifetime, for it is the Christian life. When this confession is made in truth, the Scriptures will be carefully studied in order that the one confessing may consciously yield to their power, and thus live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Encouragement .-"Let us hold fast our confession." What confession?-That Jesus is come in the flesh in our flesh. Why?-"For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." Clear that statement of the negatives, and we have the equivalent: "We have an High Priest which can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." The original word is "sympathise," which means "to suffer with," and thus it is rendered in many versions. We have a High Priest which suffers with us in all our infirmities. "He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin," and He still dwells in the flesh, suffering all its infirmities, bearing all its weakness and sin, by the same power by which He bore them eighteen hundred years ago without sin. Here is encouragement, yea, joy and rest for the weary sinner.

Not Ashamed .-We have read that He is not ashamed to call us His brethren; therefore He does not despise us. There are Pharisees in the church to-day, as well as in the days when Jesus lived in Judea, who trust in themselves that they are righteous, and despise others; who look with scorn and contempt on a poor outcast, and say, "Come not near to me; for I am holier than thou." But "this Man receiveth sinners." Although no trace of sin ever marred His character, He is all gentleness and tender compassion to the vilest sinner, for He knows the weight of sin. He encourages each one to pour into His ear all his troubles and temptation, saying, "My brother, I know all about it; I have suffered the same things, and I sympathise with you; trust Me, and I will work in you the same power by which I was kept from sin." Who can help loving so tender and loving a Companion and Friend? When we know Jesus as He is, we shall find Him the most companionable of beings. We may tell Him everything, and He will never betray us. The sin that is committed to Him will he kept secret for ever; none other will ever be allowed to know of it: Satan, the adversary of souls, will seek for it, in order to urge it against us in the Judgment, to our ruin, but it cannot he found; and even the Lord Himself will forget it.

Boldness .-"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace, to help in time of need." "Boldly," literally, "free spokenness; license of tongue. Speak out; do not be afraid to talk to Him, for He Himself has put the words in your mouth. He has said, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, I will do." John xiv. 13, You cannot make too large an order, for 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. And you may be sure that what He is able to do He will do, for He has given His life as the pledge, and all things are yours in Him.

"The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not-I will not desert to its foes,
That soul-though all hell should endeavour to shake,
I'll never,-no never,-no never forsake."

"The Spread of a Great Delusion" The Present Truth 13, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

Spiritualism not only grows in the number of its avowed adherents, but its principles make way rapidly. All along Spiritualists have rightly claimed that nearly all Christendom is permeated with the principle; and now they are jubilant at the increasing disposition outside the ranks to apply the principle. They now claim General Booth, of the Salvation Army, as a clairvoyant, one of their organs quoting the following paragraph by Mr. Booth from the War Cry of Oct. 2:-

Through all my history my personal intercourse with the spirit-world has been but limited. I have not been favoured will, many visions, and it is but seldom; that I dream dreams that impart either pleasure or profit, and yet I have a spiritual communion with the departed saints that is not without both satisfaction and service, and specially of late the memories of those with whom my heart has had the choicest communion in the past, if not the very beings themselves, have come in upon me as I have sat at my desk, or lain wakeful in the night season. Amongst these, one form, true to her mission, comes more frequently than all besides, assuring me of her continued partnership in my struggle for the temporal and eternal salvation of the multitudes-and that is my blessed, my beautiful wife!

God knows the need of comfort for hearts sore at the loss of loved ones. He says that we are not to sorrow for those who fall asleep in Jesus, even as others sorrow who have no hope. "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 he caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever he with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. iv. 10-18, Here is the comfort which the '"God of all comfort" giver. And so the "blessed hope" of the coming of the, Lord means not only meeting Him who hath loved us and saved us, but the joyful meeting with those who "sleep in Jesus."

But the truth of the doctrines of the second advent and the resurrection has been so thrust aside that people refuse to take God's comfort. This rejection of the comfort of God opens the way for the evil one to come with his "signs and lying wonders" brought out from his armoury in these last days to deceive the unwary. 2 Thess. ii. 8-13; Rev. xii. 12. He is cunningly laying his snares for the final deception of the world. The Word says of the departed that they have no "more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun" (Eccl. ix. 6), but the enemy persuades men that it is not so. Do they not see manifestations, and can they not believe the evidence of their eyes and senses? The manifestations are here right enough, but if they believe the evidence of their senses rather than the "more sure Word" they will surely be deceived. The world has to deal with "the spirits of devils working miracles," and in Spiritualism Satan is manifesting His miracle-working power.

All the phenomena of Spiritualism, absolutely contradict what the Word says of the nature of man and the state of the dead, while they are absolutely in perfect accord with what the Word says of the deception, of the last days. There can be no mistake in taking God at His Word; there can be nothing else than mistake and deception in following that which is contrary to the Word.

"Spain's Decay" The Present Truth 13, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The history of all the countries that shut out the light of the Reformation conveys a lesson that ought to be thought of more than it is in these days. The idea of enforced uniformity, and of the mingling of religion and politics is taking possession of professed Protestantism, and the spirit of the Papacy is being drunk in by all nations, just as the Revelation predicted of the Iast times. A writer in the evening Echo the other day told the cause of Spain's decay in these words:-

"When Ferdinand and lsbella had made Spain politically one, put down the infamous power of the nobles, and, in a measure, enfranchised the burghers, they, under the inspiration of papal priests, determined to have equal unity in faith and worship. Then emerged that monster of all time, Torquemada, the Chief of the Inquisition. And years afterwards, arose the Jesuits, more subtle, more refined, and, possibly, more devout than Torquemada, but not one whit less cruel. Unity in faith came by the suppression of thought, and with unity not only intellectual degradation, but moral atrophy. The unity was almost perfect. Spain has had no Protestantism, no conformity worthy of the name. The priests have both reigned and ruled. Spain is of their making, or rather unmaking, and standing amidst the mental decadence, the moral decay, the religious degradation of Spain, the priests might say, when asked to show the world the monument of their genius and skill, "Look around."

"The Triple Alliance" The Present Truth 13, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The Triple Alliance helps ltaly to stand against the intrigues of the Papacy. For this reason the Pope has been an enemy of the alliance. Now he is showing such partisan favour to the Dual Alliance, France and Russia, that the German Government has warned him that if it continues there will be reprisals taken against Roman Catholics in Germany.

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Thus goes on still that old game of political religion which princes and popes have played since Constantine's day.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

-The Indian frontier war has been costing ?100,000 a day, it is said.

-There are as a rule 117,000 British soldiers abroad and 108,000 at home.

-The Austrian Budget calls for an increased expenditure on army and navy.

-A town in Peru was totally destroyed by a hurricane last week, with great loss of life.

-The plague in Bombay and Poona has revived and is raging about as of old. Poona is said to be largely deserted.

-Russia reminds Turkey that the Greek indemnity must not be spent on the Turkish navy, but must be applied on the Russian debt.

-A new feature of the plague m India is that a colony of monkeys was attacked near Poona, the authorities having to take measures to trap and isolate diseased animals.

-It is stated that the guns used by the Indian frontier tribesmen have been supplied by Birmingham gunmakers, and smuggled across the frontier by way of the Persian Gulf.

-Spain has lost about 50,000 in killed and wounded in Cuba, and it is estimated that deaths among the Cubans, mostly by starvation and plague have been about 200,000. Still the combat goes on.

-A statistical writer shows than one person in every seventy-nine in the United Kingdom is named Smith, the proportion being the highest in Scotland. Every day 42 Smiths are born, 21 marry, 26 die.

-A violent wind blowing from off the sea last week raised the water in the Neva and the canals of St. Petersburg until parts of the town were flooded and much damage was done, and thousands rendered homeless.

-Germany has landed a force of 1,500 men, at one of the Chinese bays, to enforce a demand for reparation for the murder of two German missionaries by a mob. China is expected to make reparations, but some Berlin papers urge the retention of the bay and a strip of coast.

-Last week Wednesday was a day of repentance and prayer by order of the State in Prussia. Catholics and Germans objected to it as a Lutheran institution. Shops were closed and theatres ceased a moment to let the State sanctify all the iniquity of the year by one day of public profession of repentance.

-The number of discharged soldiers or Army reservists chargeable to the poor rates is indicated by a Local Government Board report. In one night 7,326 men, classified as above, were given shelter in the casual wards of England and Wales, out of a total number of 82,917 men. A Poor Law inspector states that 20 per cent. of the "casuals" have been at one time or another in the military service.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

Are you waiting for the way to open for you to serve the Lord? "I am the Way," says Jesus. Whoever finds Jesus finds the way to live the life according to the truth. He is "the way, the truth, and the life."

The fire in London last week is said to have been the greatest since the fire of 1666. These great fires "make their own wind," as the chief of the fire brigade said, and the flames are swept about as though the very "prince of the power of the air" were directing the work of destruction.

Only worthy Christians, said the German Emperor last week, can fulfil the duty of Prussian soldiers. What a grand force the great German Army would make if all were active Christians. Of course they would follow their Lord's command and go into all the world preaching the Gospel of peace to every creature. They would not carry their weapons, for as Jesus came not to take men's lives but to save them, even so are His followers in the world.

The well-known speaker, Mr. Henry Varley, has written a little pamphlet of forty-seven pages, entitled, "A Present day Delusion. The Seventh-day Adventists and Sabbath Observance." It has been recommended as a "timely" and "trenchant" expose of the wickedness of those who would persuade men to share the Lord's rest, and we therefore give a few specimens from it, that the readers of PRESENT TRUTH may have the opportunity of seeing the strongest arguments that can be adduced against Sabbath-keeping.

Here they are: "foolish assertions;" "false statements;" "specious and misleading statements;" "this miserable delusion of Sabbath-keeping" (these all on one page at the very beginning of the book); "false and foolish statements;" "fanatical delusion;" "mere assertion and empty sound;" "a wide-spread and mischievous propaganda;" "fanatical impertinence;" "stupidity," "dishonesty," "audacity" (these three words occurring in three successive lines); "delusive heresy;" "they lie and do not tell the truth ungodly impudence," with more of the same sort, and the changes rung indefinitely on the word "delusion."

The story is told of a poor tailor who used to attend the scholastic debates of the doctors of theology. The discussions were carried on in Latin, of which language the tailor knew not a word, and his friends therefore asked him what good he got out of his attendance. He replied that it was true that he could not follow the arguments of the speakers, but he knew what subject they were discussing, and by listening he could tell which side was wrong. When asked how he could tell, he answered, "By noticing which party gets angry." Mr. Varley, like Saul of Tarsus, seems to be "exceedingly mad" against Seventh-day Adventists and Sabbath-keeping. The reason is obvious.

It can be set down as a certainty, that he who has the truth does not get angry nor hurl epithets at others who are not in harmony with him; for in the first place, if he knows he has the truth, he can afford to keep cool, knowing that nothing can shake it; and secondly, because the truth as it is in Jesus makes the possessor "gentle to all men," and not "a railer." It is true that men holding some truth have indulged in fierce invective; but their ideas of truth were much beclouded with error. Saul of Tarsus persecuted those who believed more than he did; Paul the Apostle preached Christ and Him crucified. The Gospel of Christ is large enough to absorb all the energies of him who knows it.

"Salvation and the Resurrection" The Present Truth 13, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

Salvation and the Resurrection .-The power of salvation is the power of the resurrection. Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." John v. 25. This agrees with the striking words of the Lord by the prophet Isaiah, "Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live." Isa. Iv. 3. Those who hear the voice of the Son of God will live by the power of the endless life which the Father hath given the Son to have in Himself. John v. 26. But how may we know that such a wonderful thing as changing a man from the death of sin to the life of righteousness can be accomplished?-"Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth." Verses 25, 29. The power by which men are made righteous now is the power by which those who are in the graves will be, raised at the last day. And that this can and will be done is assured by the fact that "now is Christ risen." Every Gospel messenger is therefore simply a witness to the resurrection of Jesus. Do you know that Christ is risen from the dead? If so, how?

"Passive Wickedness" The Present Truth 13, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

Passive Wickedness .-"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." Ps. i. 1. It is not enough not to be a scoffer or a blasphemer; we must not occupy the place of such. The Christian must not even silently occupy a position among ungodly and scornful men, which might lead others to suppose him to belong to those classes. There are two obvious reasons for this. One is on account of the influence upon others, and the other is the influence on one's self. One cannot sit in the seat of the scornful without being influenced by what he hears. "Be not deceived: evil company doth corrupt good manners," or, better rendered, "good morals." 1 Cor. xv. 33. It is not enough not to be positively-wicked; for that is to be passively wicked. What the Lord desires is positive goodness.

"The Gospel Committed to Men" The Present Truth 13, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The Gospel Committed to Men .-Unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak." Heb. ii. 5. Therefore He hath not committed to them the preaching of the Gospel. This is illustrated in the case of Peter and Cornelius. An angel of God was sent to the centurion, but instead of preaching the Gospel to him, he simply directed him to send for Peter, and he, said the angel, "shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved." Even more striking is the case of Saul of Tarsus. "The Lord, even Jesus," appeared to him in the way to Damascus, but He only sent him to the city, saying, "it shall be told thee what thou must do," and the humble disciple Ananias was sent to open his eyes, both physical and spiritual. Even the Lord now that He has ascended, no more preaches the Gospel in person, but "hath given unto us the ministry of reconciliation." 2 Cor. v. 15. Let all Christians remember that the Gospel is not something for them to receive merely, for their own benefit, but for them to receive to give to others. God saves men, in order that they may save others.

December 2, 1897

"A Sign of the End" The Present Truth 13, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

In giving some of the signs by which men might know of the nearness of His second coming and be led to prepare for it, Jesus said: "And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences." Of all these catastrophes the earthquake strikes greatest terror to the heart that does not know of a more enduring foundation than the earth. The quaking, reeling earth, as the end draws near, will more and more plainly warn men to put their trust in things that cannot be shaken.

Men may lightly say that there have always been earthquakes; but the fact remains that the Lord tells us to look upon their increase as a sign of the times. This increase must go on until that last great earthquake when the cities of the nations fall, and the scoffs of scoffers turn to wailings. Then they will cry, "The great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Rev. vi. 17. The Gospel supplies the answer now: "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." He is a happy man who learns now by experience that the Word of God, His promises and His commands, are able actually to support him and hold him up.

One of the most destructive of modern earthquakes was that shown in the cut, at Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, in 1755, in which 60,000 people perished. Lisbon still bears the marks of the visitation. Another equally destructive of human life visited Italy a few years later. And in the present century there has been a great increase in the number of these shocks. They are more carefully reported now than formerly, but a scientific investigator only recently commented on the increase during so short a period as the last ten years. In last month's Quiver magazine, Rev. W. Preston, D.D., called attention to this increase and its significance in an article from which we quote the following:-

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"Previous to Christ's first advent only fifty-eight earthquakes can be counted during a period of 1,700 years. Coming to later times we find the historian recording thirty-five disastrous ones occurring between 1800 and 1565.

"According to the researches of Mallet there have been 2,136 earthquakes in Western Europe alone since the beginning of the Christian era. In this country there were 356 shocks experienced between 1700 and 1844. The year 1568 was a remarkable one for earthquakes. It opened with an awful one at Formosa, which destroyed 30,000 human beings. Upwards of 200 great earthquakes are recorded as having taken place between October, 1,867, and January, 1869. Since that period tokens of the end have not been wanting.

"During the present year the voice of Nature has not been dumb. . . . Not a month has gone by but an earthquake shock has been experienced in some quarter. Reports have come to us from the United States and from Canada respecting them. In Iceland they have been the greatest ever known. In May Peru was visited; and in the Leeward Islands there was great damage done and many lives were lost. Shortly after I left Cairo there was a severe shock, whereby the largest buildings were shaken. During the same month Rome was visited; shocks were also felt in the West Indies, and later on in the northern part of the American continent, while in the southern portion of Australia ninety shocks were experienced during three days. England also had a visitation. And then we have the recent calamitous earthquake at Calcutta, which wrought such disaster over a vast area. . .

"Was there ever a time in the memory of man when were concentrated so many 'earthquakes in divers places' in a limited portion of one year, as have been since the opening of this year of grace 1897 til now. All over the globe, as if by combined conspiracy, there has been havoc, disaster and death. Such signs and omens will make thoughtful men learn wisdom. . . . Bold scoffers ask, 'Where is the promise of His coming?' The dread earthquake replies, and through it the Almighty warns, 'Lo, I come quickly.' God speaks: let man attend. These great and universal earthquakes, certainly unprecedented in their number, are but the footfall, the forerunners of the coming of the Lord."

"That Demon Militarism" The Present Truth 13, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

The spirit of that demon militarism is working all about the Empice. Now it is the editor of the Canadian Magazine urging that in Canada "every able-bodied male between twenty-one and twenty-six years of age should he compelled to drill in a militia corps for at least twelve days in every year."

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. Christ the Sympathetic Priest" The Present Truth 13, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

Our last lesson, the closing portion of the fourth chapter of Hebrews introduced us to Christ as our High Priest who, although in the heavens on the right hand of the Majesty, is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, so that we may come boldly unto the throne of grace, assured that we shall obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. In the following verses the apostle gives us further assurance of Christ's oneness with us, from which we are to derive comfort and encouragement.

"For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts wd sacrifices for sins; who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he also himself is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honour to himself, but he, that is called of God, as was Aaron, So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest, but He that said unto Him, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. As He saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek. Who in the days of His flesh when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared; though He were a Son, ye learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him; called of God an High Priest after the order of Melchisedek. Of whom we have man, things to say, and hard to he uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat [R.V., solid food.] For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. But strong meat [solid food] belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Heb. v. 1-14.

This is a most important portion of Scripture, for it deals with the very heart and soul of the Gospel. It reveals the secret of Christian living and victory. It brings Christ to us in the closest fellowship, as the sympathising friend and companion who, while knowing from experience all the weaknesses of the flesh, and therefore kindly sympathising with those who are in sin, hath all power to deliver. Because it deals with the vital, practical part of Christianity, the enemy of souls has sought to envelop it in a fog, and the consequence

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is that the real truth concerning Christ is by many professed Christians counted as heresy. The whole trouble, however, lies in not taking the Scripture literally at its own word. Let us therefore question it closely, that we may be the better able to study it with true reverence.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

For what is every high priest taken from among men ordained or appointed?

"That he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins."

What kind of person must an high priest necessarily be?

One "who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way."

How can he have compassion on such?

"For that he also himself is compassed with infirmity."

Since the priest must necessarily be one who is compassed with infirmity, what must he therefore do?

"He ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins."

Can a man raise himself to this office?

"No man taketh this honour to himself."

Who only can do the work of priest?

"He that is called of God, as was Aaron."

How did Christ show His fitness for the position?

"Christ glorified not Himself High Priest."

Who set Him apart to that office?

"He that said unto Him, Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee."

What positive declaration did God also make to Christ?

"Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek."

What did Christ do in the days of His flesh?

"Offered up prayers and supplications."

What showed that these prayers and supplications were not mere prayers of ceremony?

He offered up prayers and supplications "with strong crying and tears."

To whom did He offer these earnest petitions?

"Unto Him that was able to save Him from death."

What was it then from which He prayed with such agony of soul to be saved?

"From death."

Was His prayer answered? He "was heard in that He feared."

What was Christ all the time?

"A Son."

What did He nevertheless learn?

"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience."

How did He learn obedience?

"By the things which He suffered."

When did He learn obedience by the things which He suffered?

"In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears."

What did He therefore become?

"The Author of eternal salvation."

To whom?

"Unto all them that obey Him."

When did He become the Author of eternal salvation to all that obey Him?

"Being made perfect."

What was He called-of God to be?

"Called of God an High Priest."

After what order?

"After the order of Melchisedek."

Is this great truth all that there is to be said of Christ?

"We have many things to say, and hard to be uttered."

Why is it so difficult to set forth the whole truth?

"Seeing ye are dull of hearing."

How dull?

"When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God."

The Work of an High Priest .-The office of high priest is no different in kind, but only in degree, from that of ordinary priests. All the people of God are priests (1 Peter ii. 9) deriving their priesthood, as their life, from Christ the Head. Verses 4, 5. Therefore in the work and character of our great High Priest we learn what should be the work and character of all His followers. Every high priest "is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." "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." 1 Peter ii. 5. So in Mal. ii. 6, we read of Jesus Christ: "The law of truth was in His mouth, and iniquity was not found in His lips; He walked with Me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity." Therefore is given the general rule: "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts." Verse 7. The work of high priest, as of all priests, is to make reconciliation for sins, by presenting righteousness. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, and now Christ has committed to us in His stead the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Cor. v. 18, 19.

The Qualifications of High Priest .-He must be taken from among men, since his work is for them. He must be one "who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way." God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, "not imputing their trespasses unto them." He was not condemning, but pitying. Harshness repels, love draws. That is how God draws men to Himself. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Jer. xxxi. 3. But the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man" (Titus iii. 1) appeared in Christ; for "God commended His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. v. 5. Therefore Christ said: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." John xii. 32. It is the goodness of God, that leads men to repentance. Rom. ii. 1. The word "goodness" as applied to God, means all that anybody means by goodness, and much more. It means more than what is ordinarily thought of as strict conformity to the law of right; it means kindness, benevolence, pity, sympathy, forbearance. These are the qualities by which God draws men to Himself. No others can attract. All these are manifested in Christ. "God was is Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." 2 Cor. v. 19. "Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more." "This Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." Luke xv. 2. "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke xiii. 34. Peter denied his Lord with cursing in the hour of His sorest need; "and the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter." Luke xxii. 61. That look melted Peter, and made a new man of him. Oh, what gentleness and tenderness toward frail sinners was manifested in Christ!

"Learn of Me." -"Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." Matt. xi. 29. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Gal. vi. 2. Christ the High Priest is the example to the under priests. "Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Eph. iv. 32. Nothing but love

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can by any possibility win an erring one, and yet professed followers of Christ, who are active and full of zeal in what is called Gospel work, often manifest impatience and even bitterness toward those who through weakness or ignorance wander out of the way. And what would seem most strange, if we did not know the wickedness of the human heart, this harshness, and lack of sympathy is often manifested to the most marked degree toward those who have the most claim on our love. Why is this?-Simply because the errors and frailties of those nearest to us are more likely to affect us personally than are the sins of others, and we find that our Christianity does not go to the extent of forgiving sins committed against us. We can quite readily deal gently with the sinner, so long as we regard the sin as only against God; but when it comes to us personally, that is quite another matter. We love ourselves more than we love God, and so of course much more than we love another person, even our nearest friends. No one can be sure that he loves his friends, until they fall into sin, and into such sin as touches him personally. When that occurs it is too often made evident that the supposed love for others was only self-love. Their ease is disturbed, feelings are ruffled, their pride is touched, their self-love is wounded, and instead of pitying the erring ones, they pity themselves, and so drive the sinner farther away. When love is most needed, then is the least shown. But that is not Christ. Oh, that men and women who bear the name of Christ would learn that He has compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way!

"To Make Reconciliation." -The subject is too vitally important to be left here. The lesson ought to be impressed on every heart. The work of priest is to effect reconciliation. Of Christ it is said that "in all things it behoved Him; to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Heb. ii. 17. "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." Note, reconciling, not creating or increasing enmity. Not even imputing their trespasses unto them, much less upbraiding them or turning the cold shoulder to them for their trespasses. A person may be cowed, but never reconciled, by harsh words or blows, or by surliness. No man ever yet made a friend by acting unfriendly. Christ's work as High Priest is to make reconciliation, to win; if we are not doing the same, we are not associated with Him in His priestly work; and if we are not priests of God, then we are not among His chosen people. It is very evident that we all have need to learn much in "the first principles of the oracles of God."

The Secret of Sympathy .-The true priest can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way. "for that he also himself is compassed with infirmity." No one can sympathise with a sufferer except one who feels the same pain, or at least has a vivid recollection of it. That is what the word itself means. "Sympathy" is made up of two Greek words, which mean, "to suffer with." The word "compassion" has the same meaning, being formed from two Latin words. The only reason why the priest ordained of God has compassion on the ignorant and the erring, is because he himself has the same infirmities. People often mistake pity for sympathy or compassion. Pity may be expressed in words, but sympathy shares the burden. If one is staggering under a heavy load, the sympathiser gets beneath the load and helps bear it. This is true even of heart burdens. If one has lost a friend, a grasp of the hand, or a few words, or anything else done as only one who has lost a friend knows how to do, eases the pain. The true priest of God has kindly compassion for the sinner, because he knows his own frailty. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."

Taken from Among Men .-This is why the priest who is to make reconciliation for the sins of the people must be taken from among men; for only men have sinned. The angels in heaven have not sinned, therefore the work of preaching the Gospel could not be committed to them. They could not put themselves in our place. But the pitiful part is, that even fallen men lift themselves up so high in their own estimation that they forget that they are sinners like others, and so act as though they were not men but gods. Men who are hard in their treatment of the erring, who thrust them back instead of drawing them with sympathy, show that they do not recognise that they are equally weak and erring, and that if they have not actually committed the same sin, it is only because of different circumstances. "All have sinned," "there is no difference," "Man at his best state is altogether vanity." He who remembers this, will never cause another to stumble. How much we need continually to be put in mind that we are but men.

The Man Christ Jesus .-All these qualifications of a high priest are found in Christ, and in Him alone in their fulness. He was taken from among men. Read Deut. xviii. 18: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among the brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth." Raised up from among His brethren, yet in all things "like unto His brethren." So also Ps. lxxxix: "Then Thou spakest in vision to Thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon One that is mighty; I have exalted One chosen out of the people." "The Word was made flesh" and thus bore all the sins and infirmities of the flesh. "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Matt. viii. 17. "Tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin." "He Himself also is compassed with infirmity," because He is still in the flesh ("in thy mouth and in thy heart." Rom. x. 8), and feels everything that mankind feels; and this is true not merely of mankind in general, but of each individual. He is still "the Man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. ii. 5), and is therefore the Mediator. Judgment is committed to Him, "because He is the Son of man." John v. 27.

Upon the expression, "By reason hereof," that is, of being compassed with infirmity, "He ought, as for the people, so also for Himself, to offer for sins," much might be said, but it is perhaps better to leave it to the reader's meditation. There are truths of God which it is not lawful for men to utter. It is impossible for human mind to grasp the depth of the truth of Christ's Divinity and humanity. One thing must not be forgotten, and that is that there is as much the mystery of God in the humanity of Christ as in His Divinity. He was faultless; no taint of sin ever defiled Him, yet He was in the flesh, "sinful flesh." So He insisted on being baptized, for said He, "thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Matt. iii. 15. So He made an offering for His own sins, and in that an offering for the sins of all the people, for it was the sins of the people that He made His own, God was in Christ, not imputing the trespasses of the people unto them, but assuming all the responsibility of them Himself,

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as though He Himself had committed them. The Just suffered for the unjust; for in His suffering the justice of God is revealed. Rom. iii. 26. This was because He was man in every sense of the word, having in Himself, although sinless, all the frailties of mankind. So closely has He identified Himself with us.

The tendency is to minimise the humanity of Christ, as though thereby His Divinity could be exalted. It is the devil who has been instrumental in leading the minds away from Jesus as man, because the more Christ is regarded as remote from us, and out of touch with humanity, the less He is treated as a Saviour. In losing sight of the humanity of Jesus-His oneness with mankind,-men have not, as they thought, exalted His Divinity, but just the contrary; for the Word that was, in the beginning with God, and which was God, is revealed to us only as "made flesh." To ignore the humanity of Christ is therefore to deny His Divinity.

Praying to Be Saved .-This same Jesus who was the only begotten Son of God, and also Priest after the order of Melchisedek, "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." Think of it! The Son of God praying in agony to be saved from death. Dare anyone even remotely suggest that this was only a sort of acting, and that there was no real danger? No; there was no guile in His mouth. He is the Truth itself. He did nothing simply for effect or show. The fact that He prayed, shows that there was need of prayer; and the fact that He prayed with strong crying and tears, shows that the need was urgent. Jesus had voluntarily, for our sakes, put Himself in a place of danger,-where there was danger of death,-and from this He prayed with anguish to be delivered.

The Sting of Death .-"The sting of death is sin." "Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death." Death cannot harm one in whom is no sin. Where there is no sin, there is no danger of death. Therefore that which Jesus really prayed to be saved from was sin, for only in being saved from sin could He be saved from death. He was in the flesh as helpless as we, for He said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing" (John v. 30) yet all our sins were upon Him. His only help lay in God. Read again the twenty-second Psalm, and see, how He trusted in God for deliverance. Also Isa. l. 7, 8. "For 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." Or Ps. xvi. 8, 9: "I have set the Lord always before Me; because He is at My right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore My heart is glad and My glory rejoiceth; My flesh also shall rest in hope." His hope in death was that He had been saved from sin. Mark this: it is not that He had ever committed sin, and that He was saved from its consequences, but that He had all the sins of humanity in His flesh, and was saved from their dominion. Not once did they master Him. Not for an instant did He yield to their power.

Saved from Death .-He "was heard in that He feared," or "for His godly fear." In what was He heard?-In His prayer to be saved from death. "But He died, nevertheless," you say. Yes, but He was not overcome by death; He went into the grave a conqueror. He laid down His own life, that He might, take it again, in spite of death. Not all the power of Satan could take His life from Him. Even on the cross He gave up His own life, and the Roman soldier's spear thrust in His side simply furnished proof that He was already dead. When the appointed time came, He came forth from the grave in spite of all the power Satan could muster. "It was not possible that He should be holden" of death (Acts ii. 24), because He had not once been betrayed into sin. He trusted wholly in God, who was able to save Him from death, and therefore from sin, which causeth death, and was heard for His godly fear. His victory was every moment of His life complete. But it was a real victory, for He fought a real fight. Jesus did not come to earth to amuse the universe with the sight of a sham fight with sin. This idea, altogether too general, that Jesus was not in the same situation as we are, and that He had not to resist sin as we do, not having temptations in the same way that we do, is the reason for so many sham victories, among professed Christians.

"By His Stripes We Are Healed." -"We being made, perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." Now we come to the joy of the truth that Jesus was in all respects in our condition, with all our weaknesses, wholly dependent on God for deliverance. We must not think that He was simply in a condition similar to ours, but that He is in our identical condition, for it was our sins that were in Him. He was here in our behalf. His whole life-work was for us, not for Himself. The victory He gained was our victory. So when we come into temptation, and sin presses us closely, "this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith." Remember that the sin is already overcome. Jesus in the flesh overcame it for us, and He still lives in our flesh to maintain the victory which He has gained, provided we will confess Him. Isn't there the joy of victory in this truth? My sins are already overcome, and I have but to enjoy the fruits of victory, which is peace. Who would be overcome by an enemy which he knew was already overcome and disarmed? This confidence in what Christ has done for us is our strength. He has the joy of victory, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. Therefore let us say, and continue to say from the heart: "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.

"Prayers for the Dead" The Present Truth 13, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

On Sunday evening, November 11, the sermon in St. Joseph's Retreat, the Roman Catholic church at Highgate Hill, was on "The Catholic Doctrine of Purgatory." In keeping with the tendency of human nature to seek to justify itself in any course by saying to the accuser, "You do the same thing," the priest who delivered the sermon read the following extract from the Globe of November 6:-

From a paper issued by the Protestant "Guild of All Souls," we learn that on Monday evening last (the eve of AIl Souls) "vespers for the dead" were said or sung in 153 churches, and that on Tuesday morning masses for the dead were offered in 230 churches.

No comments are needed; the fact speaks for itself.

"Friday Observance" The Present Truth 13, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

One of the correspondents of the Church Times is concerned over the disregard of Friday. After the statement "that a true and loyal churchman" is "under obligation to observe all Fridays (except Christmas Day) as days of fasting and abstinence, both as regards food and amusements, such as dinner parties, garden parties, theatres, dancing, shooting, etc.," he adds, "As a priest, I have always taught my people to observe Friday," and then complains, that it is not uncommon in the country to see priests "in complete lay attire," taking part "in a shooting party on Friday,'" and says that "such practices lower the standard of Christian life among the people."

This statement we can readily believe; but the fact that the things are done on Friday has nothing to do with the lowering of the standard of Christian life. Let the clergy complained of leave off their attendance at "theatres, dancing, shooting, etc." on every day of the week, and their Friday work or recreation will have no influence whatever in lowering the standard of Christian life. Christianity consists in living a Christlike life all the time, and not in slavish observance once or twice a week of things not commandment, or even hinted at in the law of God. As men multiply observances not required, it will always be noticed that they neglect those which God does require, and which He has made a means of grace.

"The Mob Spirit" The Present Truth 13, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

The Mob Spirit .-We know nothing of the methods of controversy employed by certain anti-Romanist lecturers in Manchester and the North, but they certainly cannot have said anything a tenth part as hard of the Church of Rome as that which is said by the Catholic Times when it expresses the opinion that when lecturers enrage Catholics to such a degree by calumnies and falsehoods of the vilest kind that they cannot restrain their indignation, and the police authorities find it necessary to prohibit a meeting in order to prevent the shedding of blood, we think the shame falls upon those who aid and abet the slanderers.

Christians are never enraged by slander. If the Catholic Times is wrong in suggesting the danger of bloodshed it prints the worst of slanders on the Church of Rome; if it is right, when then truly the papal principles are again shown to find their expression in mob violence; as when the monkish mobs filled Rome and Constantinople and Alexandria with bloodshed in the days when the creed was in process of making. Since those days there have often been Romish mobs and Protestant mobs; but wherever the mob spirit is there will be found the papal principles, in whatever name the appeal to force may be made.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

-Germany has under way a naval boom. China is reinforcing the garrisons of her maritime towns.

-The United States proposes to increase its standing- army.

-10,000 people are said to be out of work on the Rand, the Transvaal gold district.

-Close upon 31,000 persons are now employed in cycle factories in the United Kingdom.

-Influenza is so prevalent in South Lincolnshire that the school attendance is seriously affected.

-A terrific dust storm in Victoria wrecked many buildings in several towns of that colony the other day.

-A prairie fire has swept over a tract of territory in Texas nearly two-thirds the size of Wales, destroying many ranches.

-Before London's great fire was done smoking last week, Melbourne was suffering a million-pound loss by fire in a crowded business portion of that city.

-A Bill prohibiting public football matches has been passed by the Georgia Legislature. Other American States are moving in the same direction, the game being declared more dangerous, demoralising and brutal than prize-fighting.

-The Manchester Ship Canal Company is providing for the large increase of grain imports by building in Manchester a huge elevator and warehouse, to store 40,000 tons, Manchester is the distributing centre for a population of eight millions.

-A little time ago telegrams reported a cyclone in Chittagong, Upper Burmah, and little was thought of it. Later advices state however that a tidal wave swept over large areas, about 1,000 lives being lost, and nearly a million people being rendered homeless.

-A officer of the Bombay Police says: "There is no use disguising the fact that not only is the plague very bad, but it is increasing and spreading. Here in the Satara district it is worse than anywhere, and the mortality is appalling, and no measures or precautions seem to be of any avail."

-The scenes in the Austrian Parliament culminated last week in a general fight among the deputies, fists, feet, and sticks being used. With such a temper among the law-makers of the empire, it will not be strange if there is a general revival of violence among the people. Race jealousy is the cause of the hateful temper. Austria is made up of many nationalities, each jealous of the other.

-It is suggested that if Germany holds to the slice of Chinese territory which she has occupied on the excuse of protecting missionaries, Russia, France, and Great Britain will have to seize each an equal amount of territory, so that Germany may not have more than her share. And what of China? Well, China is helpless and so there is no special danger from that quarter. And China is heathen, too, and the other powers are "Christian."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

It is said that every official of the little State of Monte Carlo, that chief gambling resort of Europe, has to provide himself with a certificate showing that he goes to Confessional.

The martydom of Stephen seemed but to whet the appetite of the Jewish rulers for blood, and a great persecution began against the Christians in Jerusalem, "and they were all scattered abroad throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." "Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word." Acts viii. 1, 4.

Reference is made to this in Acts xi. 19, 20, where we read that "they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Autioch, preaching the Word to none but Jews only. And some of them . . . spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus."

If in reading these verses we allow our attention to be absorbed by the fact that the disciples at first preached to the Jews only, we shall miss the great lesson that the narrative contains for us. The main thing is, that they preached the Word, that is, they preached the Lord Jesus. With their hearts full of that Word, it was sure to be only a question of time when their lips would proclaim it to all, without regard to race or nationality.

Note that they preached the Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "All things were made by Him." "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." They preached the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as is plainly stated in Acts xi. 20. They did not merely preach about Christ, but they preached Christ Himself, the Word made flesh, Christ was in their hearts, and came forth in their words, so that all who heard the Word spoken received Christ. It was for the hearers then to decide whether they would keep Him or reject Him.

Pay special attention to the fact that all the church went everywhere preaching, "except the apostles." Jesus had said, "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts i. 8), but it was not the apostles who first witnessed in Judea and Samaria and, the adjoining countries. It was those whom a proud hierarchy has contemptuously designated the "lay members." That is, they were-simply people, without any titles added to their names.

Thus in the very beginning God made it unmistakably evident that the Gospel was committed to all, not to a few select ones in the church. The church itself exists for the sole purpose of showing forth the excellencies of Christ. Is the church doing that work now? Imagine that all the professed Christians in any town in England were suddenly obliged to leave their homes, and flee for their lives, wandering through the country; how many of them would go about preaching the Word? How many of them would be in a condition to do so? This is a is a question for each individual to consider for himself.

"But" we cannot all be expected to preach; we have not had the training;" some may say. That depends on what one means by preaching. If it be to stand up in a public place before an assembly, and to deliver a nicely-arranged sermon having more or less connection with the Bible, it is true that all cannot preach, and cannot and ought not to be expected to. All that may be done, and yet there be no real preaching of the Word. Who supposes for a moment that the disciples went everywhere delivering sermons? They were common people, of the same sort that compose the bulk of the Christian churches in these days. "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called." 1 Cor. i. 26. Whatever they did can be done, and ought to be done by all Christians in every age.

The Greek word in Acts viii. 4, which is rendered "preaching" is the word which we have Anglicised as "evangelising." An evangel is good tidings, an evangelist is one who announces good news, and to evangelise is to proclaim or announce good tidings. The disciples therefore went everywhere proclaiming to those whom they met the good news which they had received, namely, salvation from sin, by Jesus Christ. Not all had the same power, or the same gift of language, but every one could tell what he knew. All could tell the power and speak to the praise of Him who had called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. That is all that is required. He who has a personal, acquaintance with the Lord, can tell somebody else about Him.

There is another word, however, used in Acts, xi. 19, to describe the same work that we are talking about. In our version we have the word "preaching," and that is perfectly correct, for the same Greek word is often used of the announcing of the Gospel by the prophets and apostles and Christ; but in the Revised Version we have the more common rendering, "speaking." Now the primary meaning of the Greek word here used is "to talk, chatter, babble." The noun derived from it means, "talking, babbling, gossip." It is the regular word used to signify common conversation. The very same Greek word comes to its almost unchanged through the Latin and the German, as "lullaby" and in Lollard, a name given to those "Biblemen" who in the days of W ycliffe went through the country singing and talking. The disciples, therefore, went everywhere chatting the Word.

We have now the whole story; wherever; the disciples went, the burden of their conversation was Jesus. People are usually inclined to talk most of that which they know best, and they knew Jesus better than anything else. As they made the acquaintance of people, and entered into conversation with them, their "gossip," so to speak, was Jesus. It was not idle, meaningless talk, but easy, natural conversation such as with people who did not know the Lord would be common gossip. This is not so very hard work, is it? It is simply to tell the news, not the ordinary news, the gossip of the newspapers and the street, but the good news of salvation, which is for all people. Tell only what you know, but be sure that what you know is the truth. "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God." 1 Peter iv. 10. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom" (Col. iii. 16), and that will be your qualification for the work.

December 9, 1897

"A Message of Comfort" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

"SHE HATH RECEIVED DOUBLE"

"Comfort ye, comfort saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Isa. xi: 1, 2.

Here is a message of comfort; it is a message sent direct from "the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort," and therefore it contains true comfort; yet so perverse is human nature, that with scarcely an exception everybody finds a cause for discouragement and doubt in the passage rather than comfort.-We are suspicious even of God, so that whenever He holds out to us a good morsel, we examime it cautiously before tasting it, lest peradventure it contain poison. So in the case of the text before us, many people get no comfort out of it, because they are afraid of that word "double."

The assumption is that God promises His people double punishment, that is, twice as much punishment as they deserve, and of course they cannot see any comfort in that prospect; and no wonder. But here is where our suspicious nature deceives us, for the text does not say what our fears imagine it to say.

It is true that in some places in the Bible double punishment is spoken of, as for example, Jer. xvi. 18: "I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double." Jer. xvii. 18: "Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded; let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed; bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction." Also concerning Babylon in Rev. xiii. 3-7: "Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her."

The last text is the strongest of all, and at the same time gives us a clear insight into what is meant by double recompense. The wicked eat of the fruit of their own way, and are filled with their own devices. Prov. 1. 31. "He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate." Ps. vii. 15, 16. That is, the wickedness of the wicked recoils or doubles back upon them. "In the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double." That is, fill it again to her for her own portion, even as she filled it for others. That to "double unto her double according to her works "does not mean to give her twice as much as she deserves, but exactly what her wicked works merit, is seen from the expression itself, and from the next clause: "How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her." The only thing which God gives to people more than they deserve is mercy.

But note that these references concerning rendering double have no likeness whatever to Isa. vl. 1, 2. For those speak of destruction, while this one speaks of comfort; and there is no comfort either in or after destruction. Those are to the obstinate and determined persecutors of

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God, while this is to the people of God. Speak comfortably, or, literally, as indicated in the margin, to the heart of Jerusalem, "and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Note that the comfort lies in the fact that she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins; and note further that this receiving of double is identical with the pardoning of iniquity.

Note further that the double has been received; it is past, not future. Therefore even though we call it double punishment, it is punishment that has been suffered, and is now over. Well, there is comfort in that, certainly. It is not destruction, then, that is sure. Instead of trembling over the prospect of judgments to come, we may, by the authority of God's Word, rejoice in the assurance that all the penalty for sins has been borne. How?-Read Isa. liii. 4-6:-

"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But 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."

"He was wounded for our transgressions;" "the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed." By Himself He hath purged our sins. Heb. i. 3. This is the comfort which God proclaims to all mankind, for "He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John ii. 2. The comfort of sins atoned for is ours, if we do not reject it. The assurance that all our sins are upon Him is the cause of everlasting joy to its, provided we do not insist on bearing them all ourselves.

In Christ the victory over sin is already ours. This is also our comfort, for He says: "These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have; overcome the world." John xvi. 33. Cry unto the people that their warfare is already accomplished, that it is an assured fact, and that they may now and for over delight themselves in peace; "for He is our peace." If we but meet the enemy in the faith of Christ, we have only to deal with one that is already defeated, so that we may always be singing the song of victory. "Thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Thank God that this message of comfort, this good tidings of great joy, is "for all people." Take it yourself, and then make known far and wide the message of free, full, and complete salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

"The Hour of His Coming" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

The Lord gives the evidence in the Word by which we may know when His coming is near at hand, even at the door. We may see these evidences even now, and the message to the world is a message of preparation for the coming of the Lord. "But of that day and hour knoweth no man." Matt. xiv. 36. Yet some men are continually guessing and speculating and making calculations about periods and cycles in the effort to fix the date for the Lord's coming.

Now, this much we know, "The Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." Luke xii. 40. When men, therefore, have made their last guess, we may know that at that hour at least the Lord will not come. His coming will take all unawares who are not following His instructions. The knowledge of the exact time of His coming would not prepare a soul for that day. "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when He will return from the wedding; that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching." Luke xii. 35-37.

"Protection for the Churches" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

A recent number of the Christian contained a communication entitled, "The Filching of the Sabbath," in which, after mentioning Sunday concerts, and referring to other forms of Sunday pleasure-seeking, the writer suggests the following action:-

I would suggest that this is a matter which should be taken up seriously by Free Church Council, and particularly the London and National Federations. I would also point out the necessity this matter suggests of the churches in every town uniting for the purpose (among other things) of securing the election upon public bodies of men who will defend things which Christians count dear.

The competition against the churches is getting very keen, and it is for those within to show the same degree of activity as those without, and that can be most effectively done by combining in the way I have mentioned.

Note the close of the first and the beginning of the second paragraph. "The competition against the churches is getting very keen," and they are advised to combine for the purpose of securing the election of men who will see that they get legal protection against competition. That is to say, the "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" are encroaching too much on the churches, and the power of the State must be invoked to protect the church against sin.

But what is the church for in this world?-Simply to leaven the world with truth. "Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?" Salt is a preserver, a protective against infection; now when the salt has so far lost its savour that it must cry out for protection against itself being infected, what a sad state of things is revealed. The Saviour says that when salt gets in that condition, "it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." When salt has to be preserved against contamination, it is not worth preserving. Its mission is to preserve, not to be preserved.

"War in India" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

Among the items of news from the war on the mountain tribes in India, is one stating that

Private--, who distinguished himself at Dargai, and again during the attack on the rearguard in the Waran Valley, where, being separated from his comrades, and attacked by three tribesmen, he shot one, bayoneted the second, and, unable to extricate his weapon, killed the third with a boulder, will no doubt receive the Victoria Cross.

A man in uniform kills three men, and receives a medal from the Government; a man in plain clothes kills but one man and is hanged by the same Government. No wonder simple people get confused in the matter of morals.

"Gambling" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

Gambling .-The financial report of the Monte Carlo Casino shows that the proprietors spent 100,000 francs this year in returning to their homes persons who had lost all their money at the gaming tables .A like amount was devoted to "the prevention of suicide." Notwithstanding this charitable attention to the victims of their gambling den thirty-five persons committed suicide there in the year.

"Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word." God always deals well with His servants.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. 'In the Name of Jesus'" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

A few points in the fifth chapter of Hebrews, in addition to what we had last week, can still profitably claim our attention, but as we had the text before us then, with questions upon it, we will not repeat them. That which is of special interest is what is said of Christ in verse 7. This may well be taken in connection with Heb. iv. 16.

We are exhorted to come boldly unto the throne of grace. But how shall we come? "What are our recommendations"? Can we come presenting what we have done as a recommendation to favour? No; for what we have done shows us deserving of death. The criminal dare not come boldly into court, claiming freedom on account of his crimes. We have nothing of our own with which to appear before the King.

Neither can we claim anything by virtue of what we promised to do. We have made promises too often, and broken them, to have any confidence placed in them. Our promises are worthless, because however good the intention may be to perform, we find in us no good thing with which to fulfil the promise. "Man at his best state is altogether vanity;" so that we have nothing in ourselves, whether past, present, or future, to give us boldness in coming to the King on His throne with our requests.

But we have better promises than our death own, even the King's own promises. And we have a warrant from the King's own Son: "And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall w ask anything in My name, I will do it." John xiv. 13, 14. Now the only thing we need is deliverance from sin; when we have that, we have everything worth having, both in this world and in the world to come. We know that Jesus was delivered from sin, for "in the days of His flee he when He had offered up prayer and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death," He "was heard." Heb. v. 7. Although in the flesh, "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom. viii. 3), as weak as the weakest man that ever lived, for no man can be weaker than to be able to do nothing of himself (see John v. 30),-yet He was delivered from all the sins of the flesh.

But what has that to do with us. How is it that we can ask anything in His name, and for His sake? This is the question which reaches to the very core of the Gospel. It is the "mystery," over which the unbeliever stumbles, calling it folly and injustice, because he does not see the vital connection between Christ the only-begotten Son of all mankind. "The Word was made flesh." Who 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. For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham." Heb. ii. 14-16. He took your flesh, my flesh, the flesh of all mankind, sinful flesh, so that He was in all things made like unto His brethren. They are partakers of flesh and blood: "He also Himself likewise took part of the same."

Whatever we have, He had, even the self-same things. John pointed to Jesus, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away; bears! the sin of the world." There is not a temptation that has oppressed any human being, and overcome him, that did not press in with all its might upon Jesus, without overcoming Him. But the temptation was none the less real. People seem to think that the fact that Jesus never sinned is proof that He was not tempted in the same way that we are. As much as to say that if He had been tempted as we are, He would have sinned! Or, in other words, the same as saying that there is no possibility of successfully resisting temptation. They who would separate Jesus from the fullest share in our human nature, do not realise that in so doing they are labouring to deprive mankind of all hope.

It was our sins that nailed Jesus to the cross. 1 Peter ii. 2-1. And it was our sins, that He bore in the garden of Gethsemane and in the wilderness of temptation. It was our sins (He had none of His own) for deliverance from which He spent whole nights in prayer. But He "was heard in that He feared." Ah, thank God for that. What? Why, Jesus of Nazareth, in the flesh, in the weakest human flesh, with your and my sins upon Him, was delivered from them, He gained the victory over them. Isn't that joyful news? Believe it, accept it, and pass it to others.

"Let us therefore hold fast our confession?" What confession?-"That Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, in our flesh; that "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." He is still "touched with the feeling of our infirmities." Whatever affects us, also affects Him. "He ever liveth to make intercession" for us. That is, He prays for us now as He did when on earth; and as surely as He was heard them, so surely will He be heard now.

So we come in His name. It is "not I but Christ." Christ in me is making petition to be delivered from this sir.

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do not ask for my own sake; I have no personal claim in the Lord; but I ask it for His sake. Can there be any doubt that the prayer will be heard?-Certainly not; for it has already been heard, and answered. This very sin from which we are praying to be delivered, your own personal sin, and mine,-has been agonised over and conquered! The victory, then, is ours, is it not?-Most assuredly. "Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

THE GOSPEL IN UNSELFISHNESS

Can you not see that even in personal conflict with sin, the fundamental principle of the Gospel-self-forgetfulness-comes in? "He saved others; Himself He cannot save." This was true of Christ on the cross. The same must be true of us; and the same spirit of absorbed interest in others, and self-forgetfuluess, must be in even our most earnest prayer for personal help, if we would pray the prayer that is certain to be answered. When we come to the throne of grace absorbed in the thought that it is Jesus who is pleading to be delivered from the sins that oppress us, that it is He and not we who are appearing before God, and we lose sight and thought of ourselves in our interest in His mortal struggle with sin, then we are saved. Our personality is lost in His; we lose ourselves in Him; and then comes the thrilling thought, He was heard! He gained the victory over this very trial! Human words cannot describe the joy of the thought, because it is "the joy of the Lord." And the joy of the Lord is our strength. Nehemiah viii. 10.

Jesus was "made of the seed of David according to the flesh" but "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Dan. i. 3, 4. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead was the demonstration of the fact that He was the Son of God with power. It was impossible for Him to be held by the grave, because He had done no sin. But being raised from the dead, He was raised to the right hand of God, from which place He sends the Holy Spirit to all, thereby coming to dwell in all who believe. So we read that "being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." This is a parallel to what we read in Christ's prayer. John xvii. 1, 2: "Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee; as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him."

"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." Do you know Him? If not, make haste to become acquainted with Him as the Son of God and the Son of man.

CHRIST "GLORIFIED NOT HIMSELF"

An important lesson is to be learned from the first portion of the fifth of Hebrews. If every one who professes to be Christian would learn it, there would never be any seeking for place, any striving for the mastery, in the church. No one would ever put himself forward for a position of prominence or supposed honour.

No more honourable position than High Priest was ever known. If ever any position of responsibility and honour was to be coveted, that is the place. And no one more worthy of all honour than Jesus Christ ever lived. He was in every way worthy of the position. Therefore if anybody in the world could ever plead his own claims to any position, Jesus might have sought the office of High Priest for Himself. But what are the facts?

"No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an high priest, but He that said unto Him, Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee."

THE LESSON FOR US

What is the lesson-Just this: Since Jesus, who was in every way worthy, and perfectly fitted for the position of High Priest, would not and did not put Himself forward for the place, there is no human being who can ever with any grace lay claim to my office or preferment. No; not with any grace, for just to the extent that any man pleads his own cause, and seeks a position, does he show himself ignorant and destitute of the grace of Christ.

Because Jesus humbled Himself, therefore "God also hath highly exalted Him." Phil. ii. 9. His modesty, His humility, the utter absence of self-glorification, were the marks which showed His worthiness. Let every member of the church get this portion of the Word of God indelibly fixed in his mind. We may not advance ourselves, we may not plead our fitness for any place, nay, we may not even in our own minds canvass the ground and think ourselves worthy of the place. Love "seeketh not her own." We must not only be silent before others, but we must not exalt ourselves to the place, even in our own thoughts. Therein lies all the danger. If we exalt ourselves even in thought, we are putting ourselves ahead of Christ, for He did not exalt Himself. Thus we would be showing our oneness with the "man of sin" (2 Thess. ii. 3, 4) instead of Christ.

"A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven." John iii. 37. And whatever God designs that a man shall have He is fully able to see that the right man has, instead of another. "Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

"The New Missioning" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

Two German Roman Catholic missionaries were murdered by a Chinese mob, Germany at once lauded troops, seized Kiso Chao Bay, and now demands of China:-

1. ?50,000 to the relatives.

2. Erection of a Cathedral in China.

3. Refunding of the cost of landing troops.

4. Punishment of murderers and officials.

5. A railway monopoly in Shangtung.

6. Permanent occupation of the bay seized.

It suggests a new version of the beatitudes: Blessed is that country whose missionaries are persecuted in weak, heathen lands. This attitude of Germany has, it said, astonished the Powers, but Germany has only carried a little further the policy of all the Powers. This connection of Governments with missions is the curse of foreign missions.

There are still missionaries in all the great societies who believe the Gospel; and who love the people in heathen darkness, and in persecution bless and curse not, praying for those that persecute them as their Lord tells them to do. They are Christians. But as at home the spirit of the times is leading toward appeal to legal force and political methods, abroad there is a growing readiness to appeal to home. Governments for the punishment of persecutors. This only fortifies the ignorant heathen, who needs help and salvation, in his belief that the missionary is but the foreign representative of a foreign religion.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

-Italy's finances show an improvement and the Government propose to reduce taxation.

-Martial law was proclaimed in Prague, in Bohemia, last week, and rioting has broken out in many parts of Austria.

-Spain complains that sixty-six armed expeditions have left the United States for Cuba to help the insurgents since the war began about two years ago,

-A revolt has broken out in Albania, the Turkish province north of Greece. Moslem and "Christian" joined in the revolt, and there has been some bloodshed.

-The masters proposed arbitration in the matter of reducing wages in the cotton trade and the workers have voted against arbitrating. A strike seems inevitable in Lancashire.

-The British Government is negotiating a treaty with China for the acquisition of territory on the mainland, opposite Hong Kong, for the purpose of erecting forts and defences covering Hong Kong.

-There are rumours of a great strike of railway workers about Christmas. The companies say they cannot grant the men's demands, and thousands of men have given their names to a strike programme.

-Day after day the conference between men and masters in the engineering trade has gone on, little headway apparently being made. Meanwhile women and children suffer, and the cold weather has come.

-A poor woman was charged in London with pawning shirts which she was making up for a City firm. It was stated that the accused was paid threepence for making a dozen shirts, she finding her own cotton.

-The gale round the coast last week furnished an enormous list of wrecks and casualties. The high tide in the Thames broke the river walls and submerged much land between London and the sea. Cottages were filled to the first floor with water, and hundreds of families have suffered.

-The United States Government is proposing to send a relief expedition to Klondyke. The latest reports from the gold country express fears of desperate conditions for thousands who are wintering there without sufficient supplies. Crime was breaking out, and hungry men were using violence to secure food. Probably the lust of gold never lured men into e region more forbidding than this Polar Eldorado.

-A Russian representative in Korea urges his Government to ensure Russian control of the country. "Korea is a rich country," he says, "and productive enough to make it worth Russia's while to make the sacrifices necessary for the firm establishment of her influence." It is the way of the world. If a country is rich enough to make it pay, and too weak to stand, almost any of the Powers are willing to make the "sacrifice."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

Several Roman Catholic societies in America are, it is announced, to give the Pope a Christmas present of "a cross of gold set with ninety diamonds," valued at ?9,000. Our readers may make their own comments.

Austria is torn by dissension. When the legislative chamber is turned into a scene of lawlessness by the law making body, it is not surprising that the people follow their representatives and begin rioting. "The general outlook," says the latest report, "remains distinctly gloomy." As the world throws off the restraints of the law of God, the spirit of general lawlessness must increase.

The success of the schools for Chinese conducted by our missionaries in Honolulu has made it necessary to answer the call for a school in another island of the Hawaiian Group. There are thousands of Japanese in these islands for whom work must be undertaken. As the result of the Chinese day-schools, a Chinese Sabbath-school has been organised, officered by Sabbath-keeping Chinese.

That is a grand declaration which the London Missionary Society makes to its people under the French authorities in Madagascar:-

We declare again what we have often made known, that the London Missionary Society has no connection with the English Government. Its only object is the conversion of men and women. We beg you then to make known to everybody that there is not the slightest hope of England's interfering on your behalf, either now or in the future.

To save men, with no connection with, or reliance on, any government on earth, that is the business of Christian societies loyal to the Kingdom of Heaven.

"The Sea and the Waves Roaring" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Sea and the Waves Roaring." -"The winter hurricanes are in deadly earnest this year," said the Chronicle last week. "Every day, almost every hour, ships are going down on our sand-lined or rock-bound coasts, and men with them, and women and children are being cast adrift upon the world." It was a veritable tidal wave which swept up the Thames and upon the East Coast, and the damage done has been declared to be unparalleled in recent times.

"To Save Life" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

To Save Life .-The name of the Margate lifeboat, Friend to All Nations, nine of whose crew lost their lives last week, tells the character of the lifeboat service round our coasts, whether paid or voluntary. When signals of distress are heard or seen, in almost any fishing village a crew of brave men are ready to fight their way through the breakers to save life. No one thinks about who it is in need of help; human beings are in danger, and the lifeboats go to save them. Some shipwrecked Russians, who had lost their course, said they knew they were off the British coast when they saw the lifeboats coming to their help. Here is heroism of a different order from that of the battle-field. There men are daring and doing to take the lives of others, of a different nationality usually, but lives which will leave some poor home desolate; and decorations and Victoria Crosses and even national fame are the rewards. Here men fight the elements, putting life in jeopardy, to save the lives of strangers, and lives snatched from death are the rewards of success.

"A Bishop on the Sabbath" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

The Bishop of Chester has just issued a pastoral letter on Sunday observance. We commend his explanation of the origin and authority of Sunday observance to those who think Sabbath-keeping an absurd thing. He first quotes Dean Vaughan as follows:-

It would contradict history to assert the identity of Sabbath and Sunday. There is no evidence whatever of an express and formal change of the day.

It would also contradict the Bible, even as the Dean indicates: "There is no evidence whatever of an express and formal change of the day."After stating, what is a natural sequence of the last admission, that the Sunday was not at first distinguished by abstinence from labour, the Bishop quotes further:-

As the church became more and more a settled resident in the world, it needed more and more the counteracting influence of that periodical religious rest which is the principle of the Sabbath. Then the adapting power of the great Head of the church guided her to invest more and more the new Sunday with all that was of essential value in the old Sabbath. Without any formal change of day, or any dogmatical re-institution of the Sabbath of the Deoalogue the church was guided by the Holy Spirit to make her Lord's Day in some sense Sabbatical, and so to increase its consecrating influence upon a society constrained to have the world too much with it.

How can thoughtful persons who read such statements fail to ask for the proof that the Lord or the Holy Spirit had anything to do with this change, since it is admitted that they themselves have said nothing about it? It is quite too common for men and women who are determined to have their own way, to excuse themselves in it by affirming that they are led by the Spirit. They then make the Holy Spirit to be nothing other than themselves. In the case before us, "the church," having thrown off the authority of God, proceeded to put itself in the place of God, by trying to give the same authority to "the new Sunday" that God gave to the old Sabbath.

"Which Pope" The Present Truth 13, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

Which Pope? -Of what use is it to reject one pope merely to accept another? The man who says that he will be bound by no man's opinions or dictum, is to be praised, provided he is consistent; but too often he is as zealous a papist as any Romanist. For while he fiercely declaims against being bound by the ideas of a mere man, he is in that very position, in that he resolutely follows his own opinions. He is his own pope. We submit that he has not improved matters at all. There is probably no man in the world who would be more of a success as a pope than Leo XIII. If I were to have a pope I should choose him, for I think that he fills the position far more successfully than I could, having had more experience. "What would you have a man do? Shall he have no mind at all? Whom shall he trust? or shall he trust nobody? "Trust the Lord." Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. "Thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." And the curse rests upon him just as much if he trusts in himself as if he trusted in some other man. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord." Jer. xvii. 5, 7. "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." Prov. xviii. 36. Why should a man trust to his own foolish heart, when Christ, the wisdom of God, is given him.

December 16, 1897

"The Man with the Muck-Rake" The Present Truth 13, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

"The interpreter takes them apart again, and has them first into a room where was a man that could look no way but downwards, with a muck-rake in his hand; there stood also one over his head with a celestial crown in his hand, and proffered him that crown for his muck-rake; but the man did neither look up nor regard, but raked to himself the straws, the small sticks, and the dust of the floor."-Bunyan.

"As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool." Jer. xvii. 11. "The wise shall inherit glory; but shame shall be the promotion of fools." Prov. iii. 35.

"Love not the world, neither the things of the world. If any man love the world, the love of the life, is not of the Father, but is of the world, and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he chat doeth the will of God abideth for ever." John ii. 15-17.

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour than silver and gold." Prov. xxii. 1. "For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Cor. iv. 18. "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Matt. xvi. 36.

"Some Phases of the Sabbath Question" The Present Truth 13, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

THE "DISPENSATIONS," AND THE REIGN OF GRACE

From a reader of the PRESENT TRUTH in Hull, we have received the following letter which, according to his request, we publish. We have made no change whatever, except to number the paragraphs for the sake of convenience in reference.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESENT TRUTH:-Sir:-There is a great deal in your paper I enjoy, but your position re the Sabbath is to me simply absurd.

1. Is it not according to the New Testament Scriptures a fact that our Lord was in the town all the Jewish Sabbath? He had fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law, and by this He closed the old dispensation; and by rising on the first day of the week introduces a new dispensation, namely a reign of grace, and not law. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one who believes." Rom. x. 4.

2. Is it not a fact that after the resurrection neither Christ nor His apostles ever went to worship, nor to the synagogue on the Sabbath, unless it be to protest and to tell out the glad tidings of "Jesus and the resurrection?"

3. Moreover, have we not the clearest statement that the risen Christ met His disciples three Sunday nights, as they met for worship, and breathed on them the Holy Ghost?

4. Did not the ascension of our Lord take place on the first day of the week, and the descent of the Holy Spirit take place also an that day?

5. We read that they met on the first day of the week; they were asked to give on the first day of the week, and John was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. We have therefore the clearest statements for apostolic authority for keeping the first day and not the seventh.

6. The whole genius of our Christianity is bound up with the change, as the old order of things has given way for the reign of the Spirit, and not of the letter; i.e. the law.

7. I am sure that no one can controvert the facts as given above, and trust that you will give this a place in your paper; and by being taught of God we may have Christian liberty, not license; but to keep the day that cur Lord and Saviour burst the bonds of death and hell, and rose a victor on our behalf. Yours in blessed hope of our Lord's speedy coming.
G. W. G. WEBSTER.

These very same arguments against the Sabbath come under our notice very frequently, but we usually pass them by unheeded, since we have no desire or time for controversy, preferring to present truth positively instead of negatively; but when a correspondent puts them to us in all sincerity, thinking doubtless that they present an entirely new phase of the Sabbath question, we are glad to give them attention. As the statements made are the common objections against the Sabbath, we do so the more readily, since the consideration of them may help many, to whom they seem to be real arguments against the Sabbath.

1. This paragraph contains several common misapprehensions, which need to be considered in detail. We first note the reference to

"The Jewish Sabbath." -This is a term found not once in the entire Bible. The seventh day of the week, nowadays commonly called Saturday, which the Jews kept, and to some extent still keep, is declared to be "the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Ex. xx. 10. In the days when the Eastern controversy was raging, the Emporer Constantine, who was a famous theological tinker, said, "Let us have nothing in common with the contemptible Jewish rabble," and so the festival was transferred from the time of the Passover, which might be any day of the week, to Sunday. From that time, and even before, there has everywhere been a bitter prejudice against the Jews, which has extended to everything that they have had to do with except money. So the Sabbath of the Lord came to be called in contempt "the Jewish Sabbath," the enemies of the truth well knowing that a contemptuous epithet will have more effect against a man or an institution than will a statement of fact. If Christians would strictly confine themselves to Bible terms for Bible things, and would call the seventh day by its right name, "the Sabbath of the Lord" or "the Lord's day," it would not be as easy for them to pass it by. Many who never give a second thought to what they have called "the Jewish Sabbath," would feel very serious over trampling upon the Lord's "holy day." Isa. lviii. 13. The fact, however, that the Sabbath was kept by the Jews before any of the so-called "Christian nations" were in existence, is nothing against it. Jesus Himself said, "Salvation is of the Jews." John iv. 22. Jesus was a Jew, brought up after the manner of the Jews. The news of His birth was first made known to Jewish shepherds, and it was Jewish fishermen whom He first sent out to preach. The whole Bible, with the exception of two books of the New Testament (if it be a fact that Luke was a Greek), and possibly one of the Old, was written by Jews. Shall we call it "the Jewish Gospel," "Jewish salvation," "the Jewish Bible," etc., and reject the whole thing?

"Jesus Fulfilled the Law." -The statement is that Jesus "had fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law." Good. We believe it, because He "did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." 1 Peter ii. 22. The common conclusion is the therefore we have nothing to do with thy law. Let us see what that means: Jesus did a certain thing; therefore we must not do that thing. Jesus was baptized to "fulfil all righteousness" (Matt. iii. 15) therefore we must not be baptized, and must be on our guard against doing any righteousness. The argument, in short, is "Avoid following the example of Jesus, a you would the pestilence." We wish everybody to see just what is involved in the argument that Jesus kept the Sabbath and fulfilled every jot of the law, and that therefore we need not. All that it means is that we must not do as Jesus did. It may seem "absurd" to keep the Sabbath that Jesus kept; but this argument against it is a good deal worse than absurd. He left us an example, that we "should follow His steps." 1 Peter ii. 21. "He that saith He abideth in Him ought Himself also so to walk even as He walked." John ii. 6. Christ fulfilled the law, "the righteousness of the law might be fufilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." Rom. viii. 4. What propriety is there in people calling themselves Christians, and repudiating the ways of Christ? "Why call ye Me Lord, Lord

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and do not the things which I say?" Luke vi. 46.

"A New Dispensation." -The statement is that Christ by rising on the first day of the week "introduces a new dispensation-namely, a reign of grace." We call attention, in passing, to the fact that our correspondent makes this statement as confidently as though it were a Scripture truth, as he no doubt thinks it is, without stopping to hunt for or quote the authority for it. It ought to be understood that in a matter of this kind every statement that is made should have the fullest warrant of Scripture, and that warrant should be given; for a man's assertions count for nothing. But now as to the matter of "dispensations." It would be well here, also, if people would confine themselves to Scripture terms. If they did, no such words as "old dispensation," or "new dispensation" would ever be seen or heard. The Greek word for "dispensation" occurs but seven times in the Bible, three of these being Luke xvi. 2, 3, 4 where it is rendered, as it should always be, "stewardship." The Apostle Paul says, "A dispensation of the Gospel is committed unto me." 1 Cor. ix. 17. The words "of the Gospel" are added by the translators, so that we have the exact rendering in the Revision, "I have a stewardship entrusted to me." So has every man who has received the grace of God. 1 Peter iv. 10.

But the common idea that there are various "dispensations," in the sense that God deals with men differently during one period of time from what He does during another period, is utterly unscriptural, and most dishonouring to God. The terms "patriarchal dispensation," "Levitical dispensation," "Christian dispensation," are absolutely destitute of meaning. "I am the Lord, I change not," says God. Mal. iii. 6. Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Heb. xiii. 8. With God "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James i. 17. All the people that have ever lived on the earth shall at the last day stand together before the Judgment seat; what a spectacle it would then be, if God should divide the multitude into sections, according to the age in which they lived, and judge one by one standard and another by another, so that one man would be condemned in a course that another would be justified in pursuing! Think you that every mouth would be stopped in such a case? Would there not be many complaints of unfairness and partiality? But this matter of dispensations will appear in still clearer light as we consider the statement that the "new dispensation" supposed to have begun at the resurrection of Christ, is

"A Reign of Grace-and Not Law." -If this means anything, it means that before the resurrection of Christ there was no grace for mankind! But God lived before that time, and if there were no grace it was only because He was not gracious. Who dare say it in that way? Who dare bring such a charge against God? When people lightly use terms coined by men, without thinking of their meaning, they often say things that they would not if they gave heed to their words. It is well to have these statements analysed. We repeat: The statement that at the resurrection of Christ "a new dispensation-namely, a reign-of grace," began is the same as saying that before that time there was no grace-that God was not gracious. Now let us see the facts in the case.

Hundreds of years before the resurrection, the Psalmist wrote: "The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory." Ps. lsxxiv. 11. And again: "For Thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee." Ps. lxxxvi. 5. Solomon wrote that God "giveth grace unto the lowly." Prov. iii. 34. Again: "The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion." Ps. cxi. 4.

Nehemiah prayed to God saying, "Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness." Neh. ix. 17. For this he had the warrant of God Himself, who revealed Himself to Moses by name as "The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." Ex. xxxiv. 6, i.

Take particular notice that this was at the very time of the giving of the law. So the reign of grace was in progress then. Indeed, the case is even stronger, for we read that "the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin had reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. v. 20, 21. If there were any such thing as the beginning of the reign of God's grace, one might from the hasty reading of this text conclude that it began at the giving of the law on Sinai. But although grace reigned there, it did not begin even there; the giving of the law simply made the already existing grace to abound. "Is the law then against the promises of God: God forbid." Gal. iii. 21.

Moreover the grace was not limited God said by Isaiah, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else." Isa xlv. 23. God preached the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, "In thee shall all nations be blessed." Gal. iii. 8. And this Gospel which was preached to Abraham was identical with the Gospel that Paul preached; for there is but one. Gal. i. 6-8. The "blessing of Abraham" come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ (Gal. iii. 13, 14); and that blessing was the blessing of cleansing from sin. Rom. iv. 6-9. We see, therefore, that the reign of grace is not only compatible with Sabbath-keeping, but that the proclaiming of the law of the Sabbath even made grace to abound. God was just as good and kind and merciful in the days of Mores as He is to-day.

Now we wish especial attention to b given to this charge which we bring again; the Sunday. Everybody knows that the statement, that we are not under the law but under grace, and that a change from law to grace began at the resurrection of Christ, is the great argument for Sunday observance. Nobody ever seeks to uphold Sunday observance without repeating it. Without this, Sunday would have no excuse for existence, for nobody is so foolish as to believe that Sunday dates from before Christ. But we have already shown that the statement that grace began at the resurrection of Christ, and effected a change in the law, is the same as to say that God was not gracious before that time, and that therefore there was no salvation. But

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this is contrary to the Bible, and a libel on God's character. So then, the Sunday can exist as a supposedly "Christian institution" only by directly denying the unchangeability of God's righteousness, and the grace of Christ the eternal Son of God; in short by denying the Gospel. We do not by any means say that Sunday observers intend to do this; far from it; but by the use of unscriptural terms which have no meaning, and of scriptural expressions without thinking of their meaning, they unconsciously deny the very first principles of the Gospel. Sunday is anti-Christian, and just to the extent that it is defended is the everlasting Gospel of God's grace denied.

2. It is true that the apostles everywhere proclaimed the glad tidings of "Jesus and the resurrection;" but the time when and the place where they did it have nothing whatever to do with the Sabbath question. Paul preached daily in the streets and market-places of Athens. Acts xvii. 17. He also preached every day for two years at Corinth. Acts xix. 9, 10. Every day the apostles and believers worshipped in the temple and from house to house. Acts ii. 46. Of course therefore they met on the Sabbath, and Sunday too. But let this fact be borne in mind. The Sabbath rests on the immutable Word of God. The fourth commandment bids us keep holy the seventh day, not because somebody met for worship on that day, but because on that day God rested from all His work of creation, and blessed and sanctified it. If all the people on earth met together for worship on the seventh day, and if all the people ever since creation had kept the Sabbath, that would not add a feather's weight to the sacredness of the day, nor would it be any reason why we should keep it. The reason would always remain the same, namely, the commandment of the Lord. And if not a man since the days of Christ had kept the Sabbath, its sacredness and obligation would remain undiminished. "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it." Eccl. iii. 14.

3. Would our correspondent favour us with the Scripture record of the "three Sunday nights" on which the risen Christ met His disciples as they met for worship? We have read the New Testament carefully with reference to this very point, and can say with positiveness that there is no record that Christ ever after His resurrection met with His disciples as they met for worship. We have the account of His meeting with them on one Sunday night, and one only,-the same day that He arose,-while they were eating their supper (Mark xvi. 14), but it would be difficult to manufacture Sunday observance out of that. But this again has nothing whatever to do with the question. The fact that Jesus did not meet with the disciples for worship on Sunday, is not the reason why men should not keep that day. The reason is that God has given it to men as a labouring day.

4. Ascension Day .-We shall have to ask our friend to lookup the church calendar, as well as to do a little calculating for himself. Jesus rose from the tomb on the first day of the week; He was with the disciples and "seen of them forty days." Acts ii. 1-3. These are the facts. Now let our friend use his mathematical skill, and see if he can make forty days from any given Sunday end on any succeeding Sunday. It must fall on a Thursday, or at the most, on a Friday. We notice this, not because it would make a particle of difference with the Sabbath if Jesus had ascended on Sunday, but that it may be clearly seen how terribly destitute the Sunday institution is of argument to support it.

5. This paragraph answers itself. There is indeed the account of one single religious meeting on the first day of the week (Acts xx. 7), although, since the apostles preached every day, there were no doubt many more; but we must not forget that on this occasion while Paul was preaching, his travelling companions were labouring to make time on their journey, and that according to the Bible reckoning the meeting in question took place on what is commonly known as Saturday night, and as soon as it gas light on Sunday morning Paul startee off by a short cut to overtake his fellows. Conybeare and Howsen (Life of Paul) regard this as so self-evident that they refer to it as a matter of course, without making any explanation. We have also the direction for each one to lay by something by himself, on the first day; but to call these incidental references to the day "the clearest statements" of authority for keeping the day, does not need to be called absurd. When one is going about so serious a matter as throwing the fourth commandment overboard, there ought to be at least one plain commandment authorising the change.

Yes, John was in the Spirit on the Lord's day; what we now wait for is some proof for the assumption that that day was Sunday. Calling a sheep a goat does not make it a goat, neither does the fact that men say that the Lord's day was Sunday, make it so. "Well, can we not know what day it is that John calls the Lord's day?" Most certainly we can since John as a follower of Christ held the Word of God; and here are the Scripture facts:-

"The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord." Ex. xx. 10.

God calls the Sabbath "My holy day." Isa. lviii. 13.

Christ said, "The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." Matt. xii. 8.

Therefore the seventh day is and always has been, and always will be, "the Lord day."

6. This paragraph is answered in the remarks on the first paragraph, and need no further consideration.

7. We have given "the facts as give above a place in the paper, and every reader can decide for himself as to whether or not they can be controverted. Facts cannot be controverted, but assumptions can, and the observance of Sunday rests wholly on assumption. The Sabbath of the Lord, on the contrary, rests on fact namely: "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that them is, and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." The facts remain and so does the Sabbath. We have of course said nothing in this article as the deep and broad significance of the Sabbath as the assurance of perfect redemption through the cross of Christ, for. We have not been giving the arguments for the Sabbath, but only showing the emptiness of some of the arguments for Sunday-keeping.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. The Power of the World to Come" The Present Truth 13, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

In reading the fifth chapter of Hebrews, we always stop with wonder and awe over the picture presented in verses 7-9. The thought of the only-begotten Son of God absolutely in the condition of the weakest man in the flesh, so that, oppressed by temptation, and with no power in Himself to resist, He was constrained to cry out with tears of anguish to Him who alone could save Him from threatening destruction, seems to some irreverent, yet it is just the picture that is presented to us by the apostle, and it is the sinner's comfort; for He was delivered, and it was in our flesh, and from our sins, that He was delivered; therefore in Him we have the victory and are free! But great as is this truth, the apostle writes as though he had not yet begun to say the really deep and difficult things about Christ. The dulness of his hearers, that is, our dulness, hinders him from giving utterance to all the wonderful things that he had seen in Christ.

It is a fact that to the great mass of professed Christians these things are enigmas. These things, which are the very foundation principles of the Gospel, are unknown to thousands of professors in every denomination under heaven. Therefore it is necessary that they be taught the first principles of their profession. But that is a sad condition of things. For note well, the Christian is in this world "in Christ's stead." Christians indeed are chosen as priests of God, to show forth the excellences of God, even as Christ did. Now it is true that there is always more for the Christian to learn, since no one can be a teacher who does not continually keep learning; but it is also true that the teacher must be well grounded in the first principles, else he cannot teach at all. Most people seem to think that a church is simply a company assembled to receive instruction from some man; whereas it is a people called out to be taught of God and to teach other people. The least in the church ought certainly to be familiar with the alphabet of Christian knowledge. This is so self-evident that the apostle's conclusion in the beginning of the test that follows is most natural:-

"Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For 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 power 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." Heb. vi. 1-6.

The Whole Contains the Parts .-Some fancy that in the first two verses the Apostle speaks slightingly of repentance faith toward God, baptism, etc., because he exhorts us to leave the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, and go on to perfection. These are indeed the first principles, but the apostle does not by any means say that they should be ignored. Quite the contrary. He exhorts us to go on to perfection, and perfection can be acquired only by adhering to first principles. It is an axiom, that the whole is equal to the sum of all the parts. If any of the part; are lacking, the whole is lacking by just so much. Every part is essential in order to make a perfect whole. The twenty-six letters of the alphabet lie at the beginning of all learning. For a time the child is wholly absorbed with them, but soon he masters them. Then we say to him, "Let us now leave these first principles, and go on to something higher." Does that mean that he has nothing more to do with the alphabet, and can ignore them?-By no means; he can never get away from them without going wrong. He must use them continually; but we should not like to have him talk of nothing else but the alphabet, however essential it is. Let us take these first principles of the doctrine of Christ, and proceed to build on them.

Only One Foundation .-"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. iii. 11. That foundation is eternal. It is the Rock of Ages. That once laid, there is no need of laying another; indeed, there can be no other. Therefore if we lay again the foundation of repentance, it can only be because we have repudiated the one, true foundation. We cannot overturn or tear down the foundation which God Himself has laid; but we reject it, so that it will be to us as though it were not laid. The exhortation, therefore, to "go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation," is an exhortation to hold fast to the first principles. "As ye have therefore received the Lord Jesus Christ, so walk ye in Him; rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught." Col. ii. 6, 7. The trouble, with too many is that they forget first principles. If, having learned one truth, they would understand that it is always and everywhere the truth,

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and would hold to it in every case, they would never go wrong; for the highest perfection consists simply in the use of first principles, The multiplication table contains all the principles that the most accomplished mathematician can ever use; for it is capable of endless combinations. When one has accepted Christ, He has the key of all knowledge, for He is the truth. Everything is in Christ, and that is why one can go on advancing to all eternity in the knowledge of Christ.

The Laying on of Hands .-This is the one expression in the list that gives special difficulty. Not but that the others afford room for much thought and study; but they are to a degree understood and practised, while the laying on of hands is not so well understood. It must, however, be remembered that not all the things mentioned in this list are things to be practised, as the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. But the laying on of hands is something to be done, and the question is often asked, "Why is not the laying on of hands generally practised?" The only reply is, Because of ignorance of the principles of the doctrine of Christ. Suppose some one should say, "Let us all adopt the practice of laying on hands;" then the question would be, "What for?" Certainly it would be but mockery to go through the ceremony of laying hands on people, while not knowing the object of the act. The first thing, therefore, is to learn why hands were laid on men.

Paul wrote to Timothy: "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." 1 Tim. iv. 13. So it appears that some gift was imparted by the laying on of hands. If it were not so in any case, then the act would be a farce. What the gift was, if it was in all cases the same, is an open question.

Some will tell us that the laying on of hands was always for the imparting of the Holy Ghost. It is true that sometimes the Holy Ghost was imparted in this way, but not always. Instances may be seen in Acts viii. 15-18; xix. 6. But in the case of the disciples on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 1-4), the Holy Ghost was imparted without any laving on of hands; likewise in the case of Coruelius and his friends. Acts x. 44. "One thing, however, is certain, that while the gift of the Holy Ghost was imparted both with and without the laying on of hands, so that the laying on of hands is not an absolute necessity to the receiving of the Spirit, something in the possession of the one who laid on hands was always imparted to the one on whom the hands were laid.

There is therefore one other factor in the answer to the question, Why is not the laying on of hands universally practised in the church? and that is, because as a general thing no one has anything to impart by that method. To go through the ceremony, simply because we see that the apostles sometimes did it, without the apostolic power, and with no results, would be to reduce sacred things to the level of child's play. Note that nowhere have we any commandment to lay on hands. Therefore we are safe in concluding that the possession of a gift that may be imparted by the laying on of hands, will of itself direct the possessor in the matter of how, when, and why it should be done. Let us therefore pray for "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him."

The Powers of the World to Come .-What is the power of the world to come?-Since the world to come is the earth made new, it is evident that the power thereof must be creative power. In other words, it is the fulness of the mighty power of God. It is the mighty power which God wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead. Eph. i. 19, 30. That is the power by which men are made new creatures. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. i. 16), and in the things that God has made that power-"eternal power"-is seen. Verse 20. The Word of the Gospel is the Word that plants the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth. See Isa. l. 16. The power of the world to come is therefore all the power of the cross, or all the power of God.

An Impossibility .-The sum of verses 4-6 is that if one rejects and despises all this power, having once known and tasted it, it is impossible to renew him again to repentance. Of course, since there is no greater power than that which he has rejected. There is no other name under heaven, except that of Christ, by which salvation can be had. If, now, one treads under foot the Son of God, and counts the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing (Heb. x. 29), it is evident that there is no hope for him. It is simply the question that we had in the beginning of our study, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?

The Danger of Falling .-Is it possible that one who has gone so far as to be made partaker of the Holy Ghost, and to taste the good Word of God and the power of the world to come, having been fully enlightened, to fall away? Some say it is not, but if it were not, the apostle would not have shown the hopelessness of such a fall. How does one stand?-"By faith." Rom. xi. 20. The question then is, Is it possible for a man to depart from the faith, and thus to fall? We have only to read 1 Tim. iv. 1, for an answer. We are familiar enough with the old saying that the fact that they turned away is an evidence that they were never fully in the faith, but that is easily disproved. Take for example the case of Peter. While on his way to meet Jesus on the water, he sank. Why did he sink?-Because his faith wavered. He doubted. Shall we say that the fact that he began to sink is an evidence that he had not walked on the water by faith? That would be to deny the fact. It is possible for a person to lose the faith by which he stands; therefore "be not highminded but fear."

A Ground of Hope .-Those of whom the apostle speaks in the text before us, are those "who were once enlightened." When they turned away, therefore, they did it with their eyes open. They deliberately turned away from the light. They have rejected everything that God has for them. Therefore it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance. They are hardened, and have no hatred of sin, and no desire for salvation. Cannot the poor, trembling, fearful soul, who imagines that this text cuts off his hope of salvation, see that it does not mean him at all. He would be saved, but is afraid that he cannot be. But the text speaks of those who do not wish to be saved. They cannot be moved to repentance. Christ is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him. Heb. vii. 25. The worst sinner in the world, yea, the worst backslider, may be saved, provided he repents. The only hopeless case is the man who feels no sorrow for sin. There is hope, for "the Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all that be bowed down." Ps. cxlv. 14. So we may say, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise." Micah vii. 8. Yet it is better not to fall, and from this we may be kept, for He "is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." Jude 24.

"A Hindu Convert's Riches" The Present Truth 13, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

When Christ places the claims of truth and His salvation before all else it is because He is before all things, and throne who forsakes all to follow Him finds greater treasures than earth can afford. The experience of a Hindu convert, told by Mr. Hay, a Baptist missionary, shows how truly the Lord fulfils His promise to the one who must needs forsake all to follow Christ. This is the story:-

"A young man called at the mission in Dacca under conviction of the truth. He said that in his home there was a widowed mother; she had an older son, a thriftless, profligate fellow. The young convert coveted the privilege of being the comfort and support of that mother; but he knew that he would forfeit it if he took his stand openly as a Christian. In that same home he also had a widowed sister, who would also need all the help and all the solace that a true brother could give, but he would be deprived of the opportunity of ministering to her if he became openly a Christian.

"But when they had knelt in prayer again, the Master's mind was made so plain to him, and the power of the Holy Spirit came upon him so greatly, that he declared himself desirous of being baptized there and then. In the little chapel, without any ceremony, that young man passed through the waters of baptism. He went straight to his village home, fifty miles away, and from that home he wrote relating what had happened.

"He told how from the moment he entered the home and told his tale his sister had refused to touch food; how, while he was writing, his mother lay prostrate on the floor sobbing as if her heart would break; how his elder brother had stood beside him, and, pointing to his prostrate mother, had said, 'To save her will you not come back into Hinduism?' He told how he had been constrained to rush out into the darkness that he might be alone with God, and how there he asked whether he might, for a few years at least, make a secret of the fact that he believed in Christ, and how the answer came to him, 'No; follow Me.' He closed his letter by saying that he had grace given to him to stand against the whole world.

"A few days later he came on to Dacca. He told Mr. Hay that as soon as his relatives saw that he was resolved upon standing true to his convictions, their hearts were set as flints against him; how what looked like overwhelming grief in the case of the mother proved itself to be the degrading power of an awful fanaticism; how she rose from the state of prostration and uttered with fearful vehemence that curse which every Hindu convert dreads more than anything else. He told how the brother and sister joined with the mother in thrusting him out from the home, tossing out into the road a few scraps of clothing. Gathering his little all together, he came on fasting and footsore to Dacca. He (Mr. Hay) asked, 'How do you feel about it all?' Meekly lifting his eyes, he said, 'Rich toward God!'"

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

-The proposed addition to the German navy will involve an outlay of ?20,900,000.

-Great Britain controls twenty-one out of every 100 square miles of the earth's surface.

-The United States financial return shows a deficit of over 18,000,000 dollars for the year.

-"Worth," in proper names, such as Kenilworth, etc., signifies that the place stands upon a tongue of land.

-During the last fifteen years the number of persons undergoing penal servitude in Great Britain and Australia has diminished by nearly a third.

-Another gale last week sent a high tide up the Thames, re-flooding large districts. Many wrecks and casualties were also reported round the coasts.

-The cotton employers have decided not to reduce wages now, so that the calamity of a general strike of operatives in Lancashire is averted.

-Cold weather is putting a stop to the advance of the expeditions on the Indian frontier. Some tribes have submitted, but the leading ones are still defiant.

-The average mortality of the Lagos colony is 52 per 1,000, as against 19 for England. The mortality of whites in Lagos is still higher. Out of 150 Europeans twenty-nine died during the past year.

-Hundreds of broken-down horses are imparted into Antwerp from England, a sorry procession passing along the streets to the slaughtering houses, of horses which have had nothing to eat since their sale in England.

-The latest news from Klondike is from a newspaper correspondent, who is an expert miner himself, to the effect that the reports of riches are greatly exaggerated, and that provisions are running short and much sickness prevails.

-Of every 1,000 inhabitants of the globe 558 live in Asia, 212 in Europe, 111 in Africa, 82 in America, five in Oceans and the Polar regions, and only two in Australia. Asia contains more than one-half of the total population of the earth, and Europe nearly one-fourth.

-Germany has marched its marines back into the Chinese territory and taken the city of Kiao Chao, fifteen miles from the bay occupied. All the Powers seem to take it for granted that the partition of China must speedily follow. German ships and marines are being hurried to join the China squadron.

-A national conference of trades unions is preparing to meet to consider whether all unions shall levy on their men to sustain the engineers, or whether the engineers shall accept the masters' terms and return to work. The engineers have not funds to go further than a week or two longer. They have spent about ?250,000 in strike pay in the pending dispute.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

It is estimated that the money loss to the country of the year's strikes and lock-outs is ?15,000,000.

"In exchange for free education," says a morning paper, "the youth of England should be made to learn (military) drill."

By a typographical error overlooked, the word "town" appears in the letter printed on the second page of this number, instead of "tomb," as it should read.

We expect soon to be able to supply, through our own agents, that excellent journal, the Good Health Magazine, from which we have often taken selections, as in our Home department this week.

Sunday, the 19th, is "Peace Sunday," and all ministers of the Gospel are urged to devote that day to sermons on peace. It is said that many have signified their intention of doing so. That is good, but since the Gospel of Christ is "the Gospel of Peace," it is a matter of wonder what they are preaching the rest of the year, if "Peace Sunday" is something out of the ordinary line.

The Catholic Centre party in Germany are said to have made the repeal of the anti-Jesuit laws a condition of supporting the Naval Bill. "It is strongly believed in papal-inner circles," says a correspondent, "that a message will soon be issued (by the Pope) to German Catholics that will declare it their duty to the Church to support the Naval Bill."

Speaking on the Naval Bill, the German Foreign Secretary said that Germany could not stand aside and "look on at other countries dividing the world among them," but must claim "a share in countries which have a rich future." There is an international epidemic of the lust of conquest. Scripture prophecy represents the nations of earth under the symbols of fierce and ravenous beasts, and such is their nature. "The nations are angry," and the division of the spoils of weaker peoples is bound to involve the great Powers in terrible conflict. The Lord's coming is drawing very near.

"If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us." 1 John i. 10. God cannot lie; therefore it is a fearfully wicked thing to make Him out to be a liar. The only thing for us to do is to confess that we have sinned. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John i. 9.

But suppose a man confesses that he is a sinner, and thus removes the charge of falsehood from God, but refuses to believe that God has pardoned his sins. That is just the same as though he had never confessed his sin; for "he that beileveth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son." 1 John v. 10. Don't stop half way in your acknowledgment that God is true, for that is the same as not beginning. Admit God's truthfulness, by confessing your sins, and then bear testimony to His righteousness and faithfulness, by declaring with full assurance that your sins are forgiven.

Speaking of the engineering crisis, Mr. Ismay, one of the great shipping proprietors, said the other day:-

There was now in progress at home the greatest strike and labour disturbance of all history-the Engineers' Strike. Both sides in their determination to fight to the last were strongly representative of our race.

And whichever side wins, it is the same in these industrial wars as in national ware, the defeated are only the more determined to avenge their defeat.

The Pope, it is stated by a Berlin correspondent, has approved Germany's action in seizing Chinese territory as part punishment for the murder of two missionaries by the ignorant Chinese mob. "He feels," we are told, "the highest sympathy with the plans to open up China to civilisation and Christianity." Of course; it is exactly the papal idea of "Christianity," that it should be carried to the heathen at the point of the bayonet. The same kind of talk is heard in England in Church and State, and in all Christendom. "For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication," and under the cloak of pious zeal for Christianity and civilisation "the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." Do you hear the voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, My people"? Rev. xviii. 3, 4.

A Berlin doctor, a "freethinker," charged with attacking the Christian and Jewish religions, was sent to prison last week for holding up to contempt the teachings, customs, and institutions of a religious community recognised by the State.

Such a method of answering unbelief is worthy the worst traditions of official religion, always anti-Christian. Not only will this ruling do injustice to infidels who are made so by the ghastly farce of official religion, but it will serve to harry any who preach the Gospel in its purity who may bring against themselves the fury of officious ecclesiastics. It is doubtless true, as a German judge said a few years ago, that if Martin Luther could now appear in Germany and should preach as he did in Reformation times, he would be imprisoned for it under the laws of professedly Protestant Germany.

"The True Reformer" The Present Truth 13, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

The True Reformer .-A traveller is one who travels, and not one who stays at home and writes books of travel. A worker is one who works, and not one who enjoys seeing other men work. So a writer is one who himself writes, and a reformer is one who reforms himself, and not, as seems to be the popular idea, one who sets himself the task of reforming everybody else after his ideas. It is true that the work of a real reformer does not end with himself, since everybody, however humble, has an influence, and so his example, coupled with precept, invites others to reform. But no man has any claim to the title of reformer, who simply devises schemes for others to carry out. Come! is the watchword of true reform. "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come."

"A Wicked Profession" The Present Truth 13, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

A Wicked Profession .-Lord Charles Beresford, who ought to know, said the other day:-

The best fighting men were the "scallywags" of society, amongst whom he placed himself. He did not wish to be misunderstood, and he therefore mentioned that in his youth he was a boy who robbed orchards, who hated the idea of life at the desk, and to whom the prospect of a career in the Army or Navy was always most attractive. It was such men, he believed, who made soldiers and sailors.

December 23, 1897

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. The Fruits of Grace" The Present Truth 13, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

Our last lesson, Heb. vi. 1-6, showed that the unpardonable sin is the sin that is not repented of, or, rather, the sin of wilfully rejecting the grace that brings salvation.

"How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men." Matt. xii. 31.

SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT

It was through the eternal Spirit "that Christ offered Himself." Heb. ix. 14. The rejection of the Holy Ghost is the rejection of the means of salvation which the Holy Spirit provides. Now "whosoever will" may be saved. "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." John iii. 16. There is no sin that man can possibly commit for which there is not forgiveness, for "with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption." Ps. cxxx. 7. But if a man will not be forgiven, if he does despite to the Spirit of grace; how can there be salvation for him? Will you say, "Is not God able to provide other means?" If you do, you impeach His goodness, by implying that His present salvation is deficient-that He has not done all that He could. But He has given Himself, and that is all that there is to give; it is enough, and none need reproach God because there is no salvation for those who will not be saved ; no life for those who reject the Author of life.

Bear in mind that the text speaks of those whom it is impossible to renew again unto repentance, and not of those who repent but cannot find salvation. The fault, therefore, is not with God, but with the ones who resist all His gracious efforts to renew them. For note further that the very text implies the utmost effort on the part of God, for it says, "it is impossible, . . . if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance." But if the utmost effort were not put forth, it could not be said that it is impossible. So the test before us teaches us, contrary to what many think, that God never remits His efforts to save men. Here then is hope for the sinner. Do you wish to be saved?-"Yes." Well, God is most anxious for you to be saved; now if you are willing and anxious, and He is also willing and anxious, what can hinder it? for He has all power.

AN ILLUSTRATION

So we continue our reading in the same line:-

"For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God; but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned." Heb. vi. 7, 8.

The bringing forth of fruit by the earth is used by the Lord as an illustration of the bearing of the fruits of righteousness by men. "For as 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, so shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth." Isa. Iv. 10, 11. "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." Isa. lxi. 11.

Again we read: "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. But it is the rain from heaven, that causes the earth to bring forth and bud; therefore, as already read, the rain that falls on the earth is a visible representation of the grace and righteousness that God rains upon men. Thus we read: "Drop down ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together." Isa. xlv. 8.

ON THE JUST AND ON THE UNJUST

Let us now see how it is with the rain upon the earth. God said to Job: "Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, where there is no man; to satisfy the desoate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?" Job xxxviii. 25-27. God's rain is like His grace; indeed, it is His grace, for Christ refers to it to show His kindness and forgiveness: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to then that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may he the children of your Father which is in heaven; for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and unjust." Matt. v. 44, 45. God sends rain upon the wicked man's farm, as well as the garden of the saint;

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yea, He sends rain on the desert, on the barren rocks, and on the sea. He is not sparing of His gifts. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Rom. v. 20.

Just as the rain comes for the purpose of causing the earth to bring forth fruit, and it falls not only on the soft, rich soil, but on the hard, barren, desolate places, so with God's grace that brings salvation. The barren soil, or the soil that brings forth only thorns and thistles cannot plead as an excuse that it does not receive any encouragement in the shape of moisture. So in the text before us, Heb. vi. 7, 8, the rain is represented as falling oft upon both the earth that is fruitful and upon that which brings forth thorns and thistles. The earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it "receiveth blessing of God. But if it bear thorns and briers, it is rejected. It receives the grace of God in vain. So we see that even those texts which men so naturally use to prove that God has laid some hindrance in the way of their salvation, are full of encouragement.

It is all mercy that comes from God. "Yes, but the Bible says, that He hath mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth." Very true; but you should read the connection. Go back a few verses: "What shall we say, then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath lie mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth." Rom. ix. 14-18.

PHARAOH'S HARD HEART

Can you not see that it is all mercy and compassion? He does not say that He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and that He will withhold it from whom He will withhold it. No; but it is mercy and compassion. But how about the hardening? Why, that comes simply from mercy rejected. When the plagues were on Pharaoh he said, "I have sinned," and promised to obey the Lord, and let Israel go; but as soon as God took away the plague, his heart was hardened. There are some folks who look upon kindness and favour as an indication of weakness. When God took away the plagues, Pharaoh looked upon it as an evidence that God was giving way, and that he was prevailing, and so he presumed upon God's mercy. The same sunshine has both a softening and a hardening effect. The rain that falls upon some soil makes it soft for the plough, while the same rain makes other soil hard and stiff.

"But the earth is not to blame for that." No; of course not, for the earth is inanimate, and so is not an absolutely perfect illustration of man, who is endowed with the power to reason and to will. Man is to blame if he receives the gifts of God in vain. The rain of grace falls constantly. "Showers of blessing" the Lord gives. If the soul drinks it in, the fruits of righteousness will be brought forth, for they are the fruits meet for Him by whom it is dressed. If, in spite of God's ever-flowing mercy, the soul remains obdurate, despising the riches of His goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing nor caring that this goodness is to bring it to repentance, it heaps up to itself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. See Rom. ii. 4, 5. But God will be clear when He judges.

"But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which ye have showed toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." Heb. vi. 9, 10.

"It is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phil. ii. 13), yet He gives the soul credit for the work which it allows God to accomplish in it just as though it was spontaneous. There is nothing without God, yet He says, "For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself." Mark iv. 28. He counts it to the credit of the earth; just as though it had done it all. So when we yield to the influence of His Spirit, and the fruits of the Spirit appear, God counts it to us just as though we ourselves had originated it; for He endows us with His own Divine nature, and calls it our own. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" "Praise the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever."

"There's a wideness in God's mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There's a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.

"If our love were but more simple,
We should take Him at His word;
And our lives would be all sunshine
In the sweetness of our Lord."

"Papal Supremacy" The Present Truth 13, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

Speaking of the Papist riots in Manchester against lectures hostile to the Papacy, the Methodist Times says:-

Papists, especially Irish Papists, who are very clever journalists, have to a large extent either muzzled or corrupted our Press. So far as we are aware the entire metropolitan Press has maintained a conspiracy of silence in relation to the Manchester riots. If the brutal rioters had been Protestants, every newspaper in England would have denounced them in long leading articles. There is scarcely a secular newspaper which has not in its office an editor, sub-editor, news editor or reporter, who is a Papist. News hostile to Popery is constantly excluded. Fictions and extravagant eulogies and exaggerations on the side of Popery are placarded daily.

This is undoubtedly true, yet in spite of it, the Methodist Times declares that "Romanism is going down, down, down, all over the world." The wish is undoubtedly father to the thought. To be sure it says, "A century ago the Romanist population outnumbered the Protestant population by one hundred millions. To-day we are equal in number. At the present rate of progress we shall within the first two decades of the twentieth century, outnumber them by thirty millions." We do not

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know as to the correctness of these figures; but they do not signify in this case. Nothing in this world is more misleading than religious statistics. It is not quantity, but quality that counts. When the Romanists are all Romanists, and a large proportion of the so-called Protestants are imbued with Romanist principles, the figures do not afford much ground for self-congratulation.

"Boys' Literature" The Present Truth 13, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

A morning paper, which makes a specialty of its literary page, says in reviewing the Christmas literature for boys:-

Adventure and daring are still the staple and unfailing theme. The old three-decker, the pirateship, the treasure island, and the glorious wars are the things which still delight the sons of an age which is called degenerate. We have heard the present Bishop of London tell a story of a perfectly model boy. He had gained a Board-school scholarship, and the local County Council had engaged to train him free for any craft or trade he might desire, and when asked to write down what he wished to be, he wrote: "A pirate, please." How far the County Council was legally bound to fulfil this holy desire we do not know, but we could willingly have written a whole library of books for that boy.

A taste for stories of blood and crime is here treated as a hearty symptom, something proving that the age is not "degenerate." Such a taste proves rather that it is. It is far from being amusing, as the reviewer regards it.

"Survivals from Old Pagan Superstitions" The Present Truth 13, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

BURNING THE YULE LOG

As Christmas itself comes not from any connection with the birth of Christ-for He was not born at this time of the year, and Christmas was invented several centuries after Christ to take the place of the Roman festival of the Saturnalia-so, too, it is interesting to notice that many of the old world customs connected with it are distinctly traceable to their ancient origin in pagan sun or fire worship. In the Christmas number of the Queen, Lady Cunninghame has an article on the subject in which she says:-

"Many a religious observance, as well as many a household habit and everyday custom, may be traced back to times which, pagan and barbaric as they were, have given to the world of to-day some of its most cherished and poetic fancies. Let us give as an instance appropriate to the present season the burning of the Yule Log. . . . It takes the burning of the Yule Log out of the category of ordinary Christmas customs when we realise that it owes its origin to the religious ceremonies of pagan ancestor worship, and that the old-fashioned custom of lighting the Christmas log from the remains of the old one is a link in the chain that binds its to bygone times, when, to quote Max M¸ller, 'the hearth was the first altar, the father the first elder, his wife, and children, and slaves, the first congregation, gathered together round the sacred fire.'

"It is not fifty years ago since, in Lanarkshire, it was considered unlucky to give a light to anyone on the morning of the New Year, and if the house fire was allowed to go out that day recourse must be had to the embers of the village bonfire. . . . In heathen days there was a sacred fire burning on a public hearth in every village, which was never allowed to go out. The Beltane fires of the Middle Ages were evidently in direct succession from these village hearths, round which all might gather. A curious relic of fire-worship was to be met with in Scotland when the century was young. It was called the festival of 'The Clavie,' and was held every year soon after Christmas, the scene being the little fishing village of Burghead. A tar-barrel was burnt on the shore, and as it fell to pieces there was a wild rush on the part of the fishwives of the place, eager to secure a piece of the lighted wood. With this a fire on each cottage hearth was at once lighted, which must be kept alight for the rest of the year if any 'luck aboot the hoose' was to be expected.

"An Admission Concerning Baptism" The Present Truth 13, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

The Rev. Canon Gore is delivering the Advent lectures in Westminster Abbey, and in the one on "Baptism and Confirmation," as published in The Church Times of December 10, we find the following statement:-

Baptism, you know, was at first administered,-at least generally,-by immersion. . . . This going down into the water, this plunging under the water, and this rising again from the water, represented the burial of Christ: "Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him." It was part of the symbol. It has been my privilege in India to baptize a good many people by immersion at one time: and certainly it has a power of symbolism which our modern methods of baptizing here in the West have not. Nor can we but desire that where circumstances admit of it this practice of baptism by immersion should continue, and should be practised, so that people should not forget that this was the original and normal mode in which people were meant to be baptized, and which carried with it a perfect symbolism, such as the other has only in part.

This is simple truth, and there is no reason in the world why the expressive symbol should not be retained, for circumstances always admit of it. It was not the inclemency of the weather, but the spirit of apostasy from the Word, that led to its abandonment. Christ sent His disciples to preach the Gospel and to baptize, not sprinkle, in all the world, and He understood the climate of the world. The writer of this note has himself administered baptism in the open air in zero weather, and has seen the ordinance administered when the ice had to be broken, but has never heard of an instance where the slightest illness of inconvenience resulted. Men live, not die, by the word of the Lord.

"Strikes" The Present Truth 13, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

The last Board of Trade return shows that in the last three years 15,500,000 days were lost in trade strikes. That is nearly equal to an entire year's idleness on the part of 60,000 men. The net difference in wages is shown to be a loss of some 18,500,000 a week. These figures ought to lead the labouring men to a serious consideration of the question if strikes pay. There is, to be sure, a far higher objection to strikes, but this is a thing that can be appreciated even by those who reject the law of Christ.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

-British ships carry seven-tenths of the world's ocean-borne commerce.

-Engineers in Hamburg work 50? hours for 24s. In England the rate is 39s. for 54 hours.

-Two-thirds of the Spanish people are said to be Carlists, opposed to the present dynasty.

-Westmoreland is the most thinly populated county in England, having seven acres to each inhabitant.

-The departure of the German squadron for Chinese waters was the occasion of the most enthusiastic demonstrations in Germany.

-90,000 men, women, and children in Thessaly are dependent on charity from abroad. The suffering caused by war does not cease when the war ceases.

-Even now in Greece there is a strong party against the acceptance of the treaty of peace with Turkey, and the Government delayed its conclusion fearing a defeat in the Greek Chamber.

-Every ton of Atlantic water, when evaporated, yields 11 pounds of salt; a ton of Pacific water, 79 pounds; Arctic and Antarctic maters yield 85 pounds to the ton, and Dead Sea water, 187 pounds.

-The Jewish population of the world in January, 1897, was estimated at 10,000,000, distributed as follows: In Europe,7,701,208; in Asia, 260,000; in Africa, 336,506; in America, 772,000; in Australia, 15,135.

-While Austria is politically in a state bordering on chaos, Hungary has shown in contrast such strength and firmness that it is said to be more than Austria a bulwark of the Austrian Throne and of the Dual Monarchy. One party in Hungary desires separation, but it seems to be in the minority.

-The warships of the various Powers are hovering round the Chinese Coasts. When the word is given there is sure to be a scramble for China, which is a far richer prize than Africa. Russian warships are said to be shadowing British and Japanese ships. A Bible Society agent says that Russian soldiers are all about in Manchuria.

-The retirement of the advance frontier force in the Afridi country toward winter quarters was accomplished under severe fighting. The tribesmen fought bravely, and those really responsible for the rising are reported defiant as ever. It is considered quite probable in military circles at home that the campaign will be taken up in the spring. Now the snows and cold weather make the advance impossible.

-According to a consular report, the great salt wells at Tsz-Liu-Ching, in China, find work for no fewer than 350,000 people, in respect of the operation of the wells, and the necessary refining machinery. Most of the shafts are from 3,000 to 3,000 feet deep, and are said to have been bored by a form of hammer drill, supported at the end of bamboo ropes. The brine is raised from the wells by buckets and windlasses, the latter being driven by buffalo power.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

An effort is being made, it is said, to give the Roman Catholic Archbishop a seat in the House of Lords as a life Peer, along with the Anglican Bishops.

The Bishop of London has been presented with a new mitre, of burnished ivory, on which, in gold letters, in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, are the words, "Holiness to the Lord."

Many think it hard that the Lord should ask them to turn aside from the world and walk in the way of His commandments. The hardness, however, is in the world's way. "The way of the transgressor is hard," and the multitude find it so too late. Only Christ's yoke is easy and His burden light.

"The world, one feels it more and more," says Dean Farrar, "is an amalgamation of falsities, hypocrisies, and prejudices; it still swaggers on in amicable alliance with the nominal Church, arm in arm with the flesh and the devil." True words; and God calls to every soul to come out from the world and be separate from all its spirit and ways.

"I'll tell you what I think about this portion of Scripture," says some one who is anxious to do me good. No; don't do it; I am not at all concerned to know what you think about it; tell me what you know, and if you don't know anything about it, don't tell me anything. I can't afford to be bothered with anybody's guesses or speculations. I have ignorance enough of my own, without taking in somebody else's ignorance also. What I want is more light, not more fog. Tell me what you know, and tell how and why you know it, so that others may know it as well as you do, not because you have told them, but because they can see it for themselves.

The Lord told Paul that He would send him to the Gentiles, "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light." Acts xxvi. 17, 18. Two things are therefore necessary: to have our eyes open, and to turn towards the light. To have open eyes in the dark, or to have eyes shut in the light, are both the same thing, and both amount to blindness.

There are many blind people who are not aware of it. The Lord says: "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; I counsel thee to buy of lIe gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." Rev. iii. 17, 18.

What is the characteristic of a blind man?-This, that he cannot see. That is all. Now how often we hear one say, when a truth plainly stated in the Scripture is presented to him: "I cannot see it. The man doesn't know that he is blind. Indeed, while still protesting that he cannot see the thing that is put in plain, simple terms, he will sometimes presume to give a discourse upon light! Ah, we don't need to go to a blind man to learn to distinguish colours; and whoever says, "I can't see," thereby declares himself to be blind. "Awake, thou that sleepest, and rise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light," for He is the Light, and He has the eyesalve.

A letter just received from a brother who has been sent by the Danish Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, to labour in Iceland, says:-

Before I started I did hot know any Icelandic Sabbath-keepers. But here on the journey I have already met two, a man and his wife. They received the truth in America, through reading and had seen but one Adventist before they mat me; but they have been so strongly worked upon by the Spirit of God, to do something for Iceland, that they have sold their little farm, and are now on their journey to their native land, to seek to spread the truth.

Thus is the knowledge of God's Sabbath spread throughout the world. Truly, not in vain are the islands waiting for His law.

At a meeting of the Glasgow Corporation on the 16th, the question of opening the People's Palace on Sundays was discussed pro and con with great fervour, and to great length. Of course the fourth commandment was quoted against Sunday opening, and, unfortunately, there seemed to be no one present who was able to tell the council that the fourth commandment has no reference whatever to Sunday, except to tell all men to work on it. The proposal to open on Sundays was lost, eighteen members voting for it, and forty-four against it.

"Dishonouring the Cross of Christ" The Present Truth 13, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

Dishonouring the Cross of Christ.-Cardinal Kopp has sent the following telegram to the German Emperor:-

The voyage of your illustrious brother to the Far East for the protection of the Cross is consecrated by the sincerest blessings.

We have nothing to say of the work in which the Emperor is engaged, but would only call attention to the idea that the cross is to be protected. Only the weak need protection. But the cross of Christ is the power of God. It is the protector and refuge of those who flee to it. It has no more need of protection than has God Himself. All so-called "holy wars;" all crusades, every exercise of force for the "defence" or "support" of the religion of Christ, is simply an evidence of unbelief in the value of that religion. Heathen gods must needs be protected, since they cannot help themselves; but God is the Refuge of His people. No greater contempt could be heaped upon the cross, than to talk about protecting or defending it. If men would but acknowledge their own helplessness, and trust the power of the cross to save, we should hear no more patronising talk about defending the Lord, and wars would cease unto the ends of the earth.

"What War Is" The Present Truth 13, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

What War Is .-Writing in the British Medical Journal, of gunshot wounds on the modern battle-field, a surgeon, who treats the matter merely from the professional point of view, says some things which show the demoniacal nature of war. Of the new Dum-dum bullet, now being used on the Indian frontier, he says:-

I am told on authority that on impact it collapses "like a concertina," making so ghastly a wound that in all probability it would be forbidden in European warfare.

And of a service revolver bullet, he says:-

On entering the body, the front acts like a wadding punch, cutting a clean circular hole, which does not close up, like those caused by other bullets. Expansion commences at once, and after travelling six inches it produces a jagged hole four inches in diameter, a wound doubtless sufficient to finish even a fanatic.

These results are attained after long study and experimentation to produce such a bullet.

December 30, 1897

"The Throne of David. 'The Sure Mercies of David'" The Present Truth 13, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

"I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever, with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever; Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn unto David My servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up Thy throne to all generations." Ps. lxxxix. 1-4.

This covenant with David was made after he became king, as we learn from the seventh chapter of 2 Samuel; but it was in effect made long before. When David was yet a shepherd lad, the Lord sent Samuel to anoint him king over Israel. The anointing was accomplished, and David was the chosen king. Yet for a long time there was no visible evidence of it. Instead of donning royal robes and taking his place at the head of the people, he retained his shepherd's frock and staff, and continued at the head of his father's flock.

Then came the time when he was called to court, but only as the servant of the king. But his position was far from enviable. Not only was he a servant, but he was hated, and his life was in constant danger. So this anointed king was obliged to flee for his life, and hide with a few friends in the caves of the mountains, living as best he could. The king with all his army hunted him like a partridge, so that he could not remain long in any place, but must continually flee, yet he did not lose courage. A study of David's confidence in God during these wanderings is a most profitable employment. Let us note two or three instances.

THE SLAUGHTER OF THE PRIESTS

Once in his flight from the wrath of Saul, who was bent on taking his life, David came to the high priest at Nob, and received food. One of Saul's ruffians, Doeg the Edomite was present, and went and told Saul that Ahimelech the high priest had inquired of the Lord for David, and had given him bread and the sword of Goliath. This was enough for the mad monarch. He at once called to him the high priest, and all the priests that were with him, the entire family of priests, and although they were innocent of the slightest disloyalty, he ordered them, eighty-five in all, to be slaughtered simply because one of them had performed a kindness to David. This shows the bitterness of Saul's rage against David.

"And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David. And Abiathar showed David that Saul had slain the Lord's priests. And David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul; I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house. Abide thou with me, fear not; for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life; but with me thou shalt be in safeguard." 1 Sam. xiii. 20-23.

Such language would have been vain presumption if it had not been for the promise of God. As it was, it showed sublime confidence. David, an outlaw, who was so hated that not only those who showed him a kindness, but even the relatives of such ones, were ruthlessly slain, said to a refugee, Abide with us, fear not; the same one is seeking the lives of us both; but you are safe with me.

DAVID IN THE WILDERNESS OF ZIPH

At another time, David in his flight from Saul took refuge in a cave in the wilderness of Ziph. But the Ziphites were treacherous, and, desiring to curry favour with Saul, they went to him, and betrayed David's hiding-place. Not only did they tell Saul where David was, but they added: "Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king's hand." 1 Sam. xxiii. 20.

This pleased Saul wonderfully, but as he had often failed to seize David, just when he thought he had him fast, he determined not to be foiled this time. So he sent the Ziphites back: with instructions to take particular note of all David's hiding-places, and come again with information, and then, said he, "I will go with you, and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah."

This plan was carried out, and Saul and his men went to the place where David was; "and Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them." Just then, however, a messenger

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came to tell Saul that the Philistines had invaded the land, and so he was compelled to turn back, just as David seemed to be in his grasp. Thus the Lord delivered David; but before this deliverance appeared, just when the men of Ziph were leading Saul and his force to his hiding-place, when it seemed as though escape was impossible, David took his harp and sang this song of trust:-

"Save me, O God, by Thy name, and judge me by Thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul; they have not set God before them. Behold, God is mine helper, the Lord is with them that uphold my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies; cut them off in Thy truth. I will freely sacrifice unto Thee; I will praise Thy name, O Lord; for it is good. For He hath delivered me out of all trouble; mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies." Ps. liv. See the title to the psalm.

Note that David did not say, The Lord will deliver me, but, "The Lord hath delivered me." How was that, since he was in a great danger at the time that the psalm was composed? Why, the Lord had done it by His promise. The promise to David was just the same to him as though he had already seen the deliverance. Yea, he had seen it, since faith makes one see as present reality the things that are yet to come.

DAVID FLEEING FROM ABSALOM

We pass by many interesting incidents, and come to the time when David had been on the throne a long time, and his own eon had rebelled against him. In the basest manner Absalom had treacherously turned the hearts of the people from David, and now had only one desire, and that was to take his father's life. Taken wholly by surprise by the strong conspiracy that had secretly been formed against him, David was forced to flee from his palace, with but a few attendants, and so seemingly hopeless was his case that a miserable creature dared to curse him to his face, and throw stones at him, declaring that God was now punishing him for his sins as he deserved. While thus an outcast, he sang again, as we read in the third psalm:-

"Lord, how are they increased that trouble me l many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God. But Thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about. Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God; for Thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord; Thy blessing is upon Thy people."

David was not saved nor did he trust in God because of his own goodness, but because of God's mercy. David was a sinful man, as are all men; but his heart was tender, he acknowledged his sinfulness and God's righteousness, and believed God's promise. It is natural for men to think that God is unrighteous because they are; and the more they know themselves to be unrighteous, the more they think God to be the same. Thus it is: It is most common for one to say, "I am so great a sinner, I dare not believe that God forgives my sins." But God has declared that His righteousness consists in the forgiveness of sins. 1 John i. 9. Therefore to say or to think that God cannot or will not forgive sins, is to charge Him with being unrighteous. Thus it is that sinners often make God out to be as bad as they are.

Not so with David; sinful as he was, he would insist that God was nevertheless righteous and faithful. God had promised him that he should be king, and not only that, but that his throne should stand for ever. But this promise was through Christ, for the throne of David was the throne of the Lord (1 Chron. xxix. 33), and the promise that he should sit on the throne and that it should be established for ever, was the promise of everlasting righteousness which God would freely give him through Christ.

So David's confidence was in God's promise. God had said that he should he king, and no man or men could frustrate God's purpose. It was not for David's sake but for the Lord's own sake, to vindicate His kindness and faithfulness, that God preserved David, and in this David was confident.

THE SAME FULFILLED UNTO US

"And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again." Acts xiii. 32, 33.

To every one the call is sent, "Come ye to the waters! And he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."

The promise is, "To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with Me on My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." Rev. iii. 21. Yea, He hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood," and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father." Rev. i. 5, 6. "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light." 1 Peter ii. 9. And the "Holy Spirit of promise" is the anointing oil that assures us of this.

Therefore the Lord says, "Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." Isa. Iv. 3. As surely as David was delivered from His enemies, because God had made him a promise, just so surely shall we be delivered, "if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." Therefore let us sing,

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began; that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He sware to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life." Luke i. 68-75.

"Protestant Loyalty" The Present Truth 13, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

In a statistical article showing the numerical superiority of professed Protestants over Roman Catholics, the Methodist Times says:-

When Protestants have learned to be as loyal to Christ as Romanists are to the Pope, the unnatural victories of Romanism will end for ever.

That is the vital point. The fact that so many people called Protestants are not loyal to Christ, but substitute human ways and customs for the ways of Christ, is what gives Romanism the lead, even though its numbers are seemingly fewer; for a Protestant that is not loyal to Christ, is in all essential particulars a Papist.

"Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. Our Strong Consolation" The Present Truth 13, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

When we began the study of the book of Hebrews, we said that we should take up the first four or five chapters. With this number we close the sixth chapter, and since this is even more than we contemplated doing or promised to do when we began, we shall discontinue the study for a few months, to resume it later. In the meantime other portions of the Bible will be studied, no less interesting and profitable than the book of Hebrews; and as every part of the Bible is a help to the study of every other part, we shall derive the more profit from Hebrews when we proceed with it.

It will be remembered that the portion of the epistle comprising the latter part of the fifth chapter and the first half of the sixth, is a personal appeal. Those to whom it is addressed are charged with being dull and slow to apprehend the deep truths of the Gospel, and are exhorted to go on unto perfection; they are warned of the danger of receiving the grace of God in vain, but are at the same time encouraged by a recognition of the fact that they had already shown love to the Lord in ministering to the saints. Then the exhortation, and the encouragement which we find in our present

SCRIPTURE LESSON

"And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end; that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us; 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, after the order of Melchisedek." Heb. vi. 11-20.

Some Peculiar Idioms .-The words; "Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee," are a literal translation of the Hebrew words of the promise, in Gen. xxii. 17. But everybody who has given any study to language knows that an idiom, that is, a characteristic expression, in one language, does not make good sense if translated word for word into another language. A word for word translation is not an exact rendering. In the Hebrew language, repetition, whether of a sentence or phrase, or a word, or even of a single letter in a word, indicates emphasis, positiveness. For example, in Gen. ii. 16 we have the statement, "Thou mayest freely eat," which is as plain as anything can be; but the word for word rendering of the equally plain expression in the Hebrew, is given in the margin, "eating thou shalt eat," which in English means nothing. So also in the next verse, where we read, "Thou shalt surely die," we have in the margin, "dying thou shalt die." This latter expression, although meaningless, is the word for word rendering of the Hebrew words conveying the positive assurance, "I will certainly bless thee, and I will surely multiply thee."

Not Slothful, but Faithful and Patient .-Be not slothful, but followers [or, imitators] of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Faith and patience! Trust and endure. We see that faith means activity, since it is contrasted with slothfulness. Faith works. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and "the Word of God is living and active." The "wicked and slothful servant" is the servant who does not have faith in the Master.

The Promise to Abraham .-The promise to Abraham was that which the Spirit men through the Gospel in Christ (Gal. iii. 17), in promises of God; and it Gentiles-all nations-through Jesus Christ. Gal. iii. 13, 14. When God made it to Abraham, "He believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness." Gen. xv. 6. The promise is therefore that by which righteousness is obtained.

There is probably no other subject in the Bible, concerning which so great a web of speculative nonsense has been spun, as that of the promise to Israel, which is none other than to Abraham. All this confusion

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would be avoided, if men would but hold to the plain words of the Bible, letting them stand for just what they say.

Note this:-

"For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him [Christ] is the yea; wherefore also through Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us." 2 Cor. i. 20.

God makes no promise, except in Christ; the promise to Abraham, as already seen, was confirmed in Christ (Gal. iii. 17); therefore no promise of God is fulfilled except to Christians. Not that God does not keep faith with all; but that all His promises are such that whoever accepts them thereby becomes a Christian. Any talk about promises to be fulfilled to Jews, as distinct from Christians, comes from ignorance or rejection of the everlasting Gospel, which is the same in every age and to all people.

"He Obtained the Promise." -In the eleventh chapter of Hebrews it is said of Abraham and all his posterity, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises" (verse 13), and still later, "These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise." Verse 39. Yet in Heb. vi. 15, it is said of Abraham, "And so, after he had patiently endured, he received the promise." How is this?-It is easily reconciled, when we consider that, "in Isaac shall thy seed be called." Isaac was the child of promise, born of the Spirit. His birth was life from the dead. See Rom. iv. 19. So when Abraham was tried he offered up Isaac; "and he that received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called; accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure." Heb. xi. 17-19. Christ is the Seed, and He could come only through Isaac's line; yet so firmly did Abraham's faith grasp Christ as the One "who is, and who was, and who is to come" that he calmly proceeded to offer up Isaac, assured that the Christ who was to come from him was already alive from the dead, with power to raise Isaac from the dead so that the promise that He should be born of his line might be fulfilled. Truly Abraham had the promise, even as he who for a surety knows the promise of God that he shall be "heir of the world," already has tasted "the power of the world to come."

"Two Immutable Things." -What these two immutable things are, by which we have "a strong consolation," is plainly stated in the text. They are the promise and the oath of God. God's promise is unchangeable; "the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." 1 Peter i. 25. The Word needs nothing added to it to strengthen it. Let men remember this, when they presume to uphold God's Word by assertions of their own. Any attempt of man to strengthen the Word of God, is but a reproach to it, a disparagement of it. The Lord receives not the testimony of man, and His cause is never strengthened by quotations from eminent men of the world in favour of the Bible. Abraham did not need anything more than the Word of God, for, let it be noted, the oath was not added for his sake, but for ours. Read Gen. xxii. 1-18 and James ii. 21-24. There we see that the oath was not given until after Abraham's faith in the promises had been shown to be perfect.

"Interposed Himself by an Oath." -Thus we have it in the margin of verse 17. God swore by Himself. Now when one swears by any object, that object is put up as a forfeit. If the thing sworn is not fulfilled, the object is forfeited, God set Himself apart as a forfeit, or, interposed Himself between those to whom the promise was made and the possibility of failure. The promise is as sure as the life of God. If the promise should fail of fulfilment, in a single particular, then God would cease to exist. So sure is it. But if God should cease to exist, then would the universe be annihilated, for He is its support. Now God has created all things in Jesus Christ, and in Him all things consist (Eph. iii. 9; Col. i. 16, 17), so that it is literally true that in Christ we have all things. Rom. viii. 32. All the promises of God are in Christ, so that the oath of God is in Christ; Christ is set forth as the very being and presence of God. Thus it is that the existence and stability of the whole universe depends on the fulfilment of God's promise to us. And what is the promise?-Righteousness; the forgiveness of sins. "Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." Acts xiii. 38. Forgiveness of sins comprises cleansing from all unrighteousuess (1 John i. 9) and complete redemption. Eph. i. 7. That God will do this, that He is faithful to His promise, and that not a sinner can apply in vain to Him for pardon and cleansing, we have the assurance in every blade of grass, in the sun, moon, and stars, that still pursue their courses. The snow and vapours and stormy wind fulfil His Word. Ps. cxlviii. 8. "For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever; Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens." Ps. lxxxix.

For Our Sakes .-Abraham's faith was counted to him for righteousness. "Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." Rom. iv. 23-25. So the oath was sworn to Abraham, "that we might have a strong consolation." You and I have an interest in that oath to Abraham, and therefore in the promise to him. Every soul who comes to God, comes to Him by virtue of that which God promised to Abraham.

Christians Children of Abraham .-"Know ye therefore that they which are 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. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." Gal. iii. 7-9. The oath of God to Abraham gives strong consolation to those who flee to Christ for refuge. On this is based the hymn beginning,

"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word;
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
Who unto the Saviour for refuge have fled?"

But it is sinners that flee for refuge to Christ, and it is sinners that have a firm foundation for their faith in fleeing to Him for refuge. It was for the benefit of us sinners that the oath was given, for God would not leave the shadow of a chance for a reasonable doubt in the mind of any sinner. To be sure the same consolation remains for those who have been made saints; "for if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Rom. v. 10. Let every soul come to the Lord with this assurance of pardon and acceptance, that God has more at stake than he has, even as God's life is worth more than any man's. Thus, if God should refuse to hear my prayer, and should not forgive my sins, I should be lost, but God would also be lost, and His loss would be greater than mine.

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If we believe God, and hold to His Word, our cases are as sure as His. Surely this is a strong consolation.

Christ the Forerunner .-This hope is as an anchor sure and steadfast, which entereth into that which is within the veil, that is in the secret dwelling-place of God, into which place Jesus the Forerunner is entered for us. A forerunner implies others following after. We have already seen that Christ is for ever identified with mankind as Brother. He is one with us. He is the Son of man, "the Man Christ Jesus." Well, now, there is one Man-the representative Man-already in the presence of God in person. He is already seated "on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens," a King on the Father's throne. But it is one of us, who has gone there; One who is made in all things like unto His brethren. He is indeed "the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. viii. 29), but we are joint-heirs with Him. Verse 17. Therefore if we believe in Him, if we have "put on Christ" in baptism, and are become Abraham's seed, and children of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Gal. iii. 26-29) we have the same right to enter heaven and sit upon the throne that He has. He has simply gone before us to show us the way, and to prepare a place for us. John xiv. 1-3.

A Kingly Priest .-"Made an High Priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedek." Who was Melchisedek?-He was "king of Salem" and "priest of the Most High God." Heb. vii. 1. So Christ is both King and Priest. "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the Man whose name is The BRANCH; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a Priest upon His throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." Zech. vi. 13, 13. What is Christ's work as Priest?-"To make reconciliation for the sins of the people." How much power has He to do this?-All His power as King; all the power of the throne of grace on which He sits. What more could be said to give confidence to a trembling soul? He is King of righteousness, and also King of peace. Let Him reign in your heart, "and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." "Blessed be His glorious name for ever; and let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen and Amen."

"A Head Master on Education" The Present Truth 13, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

There has been of late some wholesome comment on the subject of education. Attention having been called to the fact that boys are crammed with a certain amount of Latin and Greek, which their station in life gives them no opportunity to use, even if they had learned it so that it could be used, a head master writes thus to the Daily Mail:-

I have long felt that, in nine cases out of ten, the teaching of dead languages to middle-class boys is a dead failure. But we headmasters still persist in digging a certain amount of Latin, and less Greek, into the stony surface of the brain which the average middle-class boy possesses, not (I think) because we are convinced that by so doing we shall improve the intelligence of the pupil, or give him a taste for literature, but solely because these things are demanded by the parents and the public in the interests of the "examination."

The fact is, the whole system of modern "education" is superimposed on a basis of cram, with an examination as the ultimate end to be aimed at. Hence the disastrous results that ensue in so many cases. Education is everywhere being sacrificed to examination.

The fault lies in the system, not in the teachers; but the fact is, that what is commonly called teaching children consists in showing them how to "do" certain puzzles, instead of developing their power to think.

"Items of Interest" The Present Truth 13, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

-France is now sending milk to England.

-Over 1,000 troops left England last week for India.

-Earthquakes were reported from Asia Minor last week.

-In setting free his Greek prisoners of war last week, the Sultan gave ?1 to each private, and ?5 to each non-commissioned officer.

-There is said to be a great increase in the use of snuff, the habit being revived as a fashionable craze.

-The Post Office is starting motor-car mail coaches. One runs from London to Redhill, Surrey.

-A grave symptom of the unrest in Austria is the refusal of troops on several recent occasions to obey orders. The racial rivalries run all through the army.

-A statistician tells us that the Queen reigns over one continent, 100 peninsulas, 500 promontories, 1,000 lakes, 3,000 rivers, and 10,000 islands.

-The Christmas-tree is quite a modern innovation, so far as this country is concerned. It has only been introduced during the present century, and was brought over by the Prince Consort.

-Large numbers of flintlock guns, six feet long, are made in Birmingham at six shillings each, and many of these weapons find a large market in Darkest Africa.

-Fishermen were prosecuted in Wales last week for fishing on Sunday. The charge was dismissed as the act was committed on the high seas, out of the court's jurisdiction.

-The most disastrous drought known for many years is now devastating parts of Cape Colony. Stock is perishing in vast numbers and farmers are being ruined wholesale.

-The general gathering of ships of war about the Chinese coast shows that all the nations directly interested think it well to be ready to take a hand in the division of China the moment the word is given.

-The Russian government is buying immense stores of provisions in America for its forces in Easter Asia. A Chicago packing house recently sold Russian agents 10,000 tons of salt beef. The problem now in the great army campaigns is to feed the men. The coal supply also troubles the great navies. Battleships are useless without coal.

-An ingenious competition has, says a newspaper, been started at Newcastle for the benefit of the locked-out engineers. One of the establishments in the town has offered prizes for bread-making, and as many as 9,000 loaves have been sent in. After the prizes have been adjudged the 10,000 loaves are to be distributed amongst those who are unemployed in consequence of the engineering strike. The loaves have been sent from all parts of the county of Northumberland.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 13, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

"It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts xx. 35.

These are the words of the Lord Jesus, who speaks with authority in this matter, for He "gave Himself for us," and giving Himself, He gave all things. "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." 2 Cor. viii. 9.

That there is profit in giving is seen from the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. xiii. 3: "If I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing." There is no blessing to be received if one gives without love; but if love prompts the gift, there is profit to the giver.

Love therefore is the soil out of which all good grows. It was Christ's love that led Him to give Himself for us. Love is the priceless gift; money cannot be compared with it, and all the wealth of the world cannot buy it. Therefore he who gives love, gives everything, the bestowal of his goods must necessarily accompany the gift. And even though he has no goods to bestow, in giving love he bestows infinitely more than the one who gives millions of money without love. The blessing, therefore, of giving is the rich blessing of love.

Seven Aberystwyth fishermen were summoned a few days ago at Aberayrou (Cardiganshire) Petty Sessions, for fishing in Cardigan Bay on Sunday, Nov. 21. The proceedings were taken under an Act passed for "the better observance and keeping holy of the Lord's day." The case was dismissed on the ground that the offence was not, committed in the parish where the charge was brought.

The Roman Catholics have a fine church in Seoul, the capital of Korea. A Russian representative, urging upon his country the importance of making its influence paramount, suggests among other steps that Russia should build at Seoul "an Orthodox Church at least equal in size and splendour to the church constructed by the Roman Catholic missions." Thus the Koreans are to be impressed with the superiority of the Orthodox religion.

"Salvation Offered for Sale" The Present Truth 13, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

Salvation Offered for Sale.-We note in the papers that a priest in Canterbury is soliciting money for the support of a Roman Catholic church and school, and offers the following inducement:-

Every donor of at least 1s. 6d. will be presented with Indulgenced Rosary Beads (Dominican Dolour or Five Wounds) that have touched the Sacred Relies of St. Thomas, or a lovely little Crucifix specially blessed for a holy and happy death.

That means that for one shilling and sixpence, the giver will be assured of salvation at last, regardless of what his life has been. There have been men who would gladly have given thousands for such an assurance.

But on the authority of Peter, of whom Roman Catholics boast, nay, on the authority of the Holy Spirit, who spoke by Peter, it is evident that what is offered by this Canterbury priest is a fraud, and that those who give their money expecting to get salvation in return, are cruelly deluded. Peter told a man that he was in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity, because he thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. Acts viii. 20-23.

The gift of God is so expensive that money cannot buy it. "Ye have sold yourselves for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money." It is procurable only with "the unsearchable riches of Christ." Eph. iii. 8. "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, with silver and gold, from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ." 1 Peter i. 18, 19. To mention money, as an equivalent for such a treasure, is blasphemy. Therefore whoever gets it must receive it as a gift.

"The Dark and the Bright Side" The Present Truth 13, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

In its Christmas day greeting the Daily Mail presented the following graphic statement of the outlook throughout the world:-

"If we look abroad, it is not peace we see. The world is full of strife and misery. War broods over the cast and the west, and rumours of war echo from China almost to Peru. In India and Borneo our stout-hearted brothers are battling; at home a devastating strike makes many a home poorer for the loss of wage. In the West Indies the most loyal are wondering how long England can be bribed by cheap sweets and jam to let her fairest colonies rot and perish-the less loyal think of turning to a kinder foster mother. At the Cape men's minds are anxious and the outlook uncertain. And everywhere there is injustice, cruelty, poverty and wrong to claim our anger, help and pity."

No one can say that this picture is in the best overdrawn utterance. Nor was it written in any pessimistic spirit, for the editorial teemed with exhortations to look on the brighter side of things, and to make merry. Well, we will look on the brighter side of things, and that is that these troubles are but omens of the coming of the Prince of peace to put an end to war and strife, to deliver the poor from the oppressor, and to establish everlasting justice in the earth. This is the only remedy, and it is sure and certain.

¹ [From "The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan," by Mrs. E. G. White, International Tract Socity.]

² In an oath there are two parts-the condition, and the consequence if that condition is unfulfilled. For instance, a man swears, "I will forfeit one thousand pounds, if I do not save that man from prison;" or, "I pledge myself that I will not allow the prisoner to escape." The Hebrew is very concise, and gives us the condition, without naming the consequence in connection with the oath. Each one can fill in all the dire results that his imagination can picture, if God should break His word. When God swears by Himself, He really pledges His very existence to be forfeited,-if the thing turns out contrary to His word; but that awful alternative is not stated, because it is beyond the range of possibility. Therefore we should always read this expression, wherever it occurs, as it is in the Revised Version: "As I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest."

³ The word "groves" in this and the following texts, is a very unfortunate, misleading rendering of the original. The Revision has "Asherah." As we can see by carefully noting the use of the term, it cannot mean a grove of trees, since we read of groves being set up "under every green tree, and in the house of the Lord." The thing itself was an obscene image pertaining to the lascivious rites of one form of sun-worship.